54 
RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE. 
or by the season; in this boat he sends his agent to superintend the 
whole, with a crew of about fifteen men, including generally five or 
six divers. The divers commence their work at sun-rise and finish at 
sun-set. The oysters, that have been brought up, are successively con¬ 
fided to the superintendant; and when the business of the day is done, 
they are opened on a piece of white linen : the agent of course keeping 
a very active inspection over every shell. The man who, on opening an 
oyster, finds a valuable pearl, immediately puts it into his mouth, by 
which they fancy that it gains a finer water; and, at the end of the 
fishery, he is entitled to a present. The whole speculation costs about 
one hundred and fifty piastres a month; the divers getting ten piastres; 
and the rest of the crew in proportion. The second and the safest mode 
of adventure is by an agreement between two parties, where one defrays 
all the expences of the boat and provisions, &c. and the other conducts 
the labours of the fishery. The pearl obtained undergoes a valuation, 
according to which it is equally divided : but the speculator is further 
entitled by the terms of the partnership to purchase the other half of 
the pearl at ten per cent, lower than the market price. 
The divers seldom live to a great age. Their bodies break out in 
sores, and their eyes become very weak and blood-shot. They can re¬ 
main under water five minutes; and their dives succeed one another 
very rapidly, as by delay the state of their bodies would soon prevent 
the renewal of the exertion. They oil the orifice of the ears, and put a 
horn over their nose. In general life they are restricted to a certain regi¬ 
men ; and to food composed of dates and other light ingredients. 
They can dive from ten to fifteen fathoms, and sometimes even more; 
and their prices increase according to the depth. The largest pearl are 
generally found in the deepest water, as the success on the bank of 
Kharrack , which lies very low, has demonstrated. From such depths, 
and on this bank, the most valuable pearls have been brought up ; the 
largest indeed which Sir Harford Jones ever saw, was one that had 
been fished up at Kharrack in nineteen fathoms water. 
It has been often contested, whether the pearl in the live oyster is as 
