Wing Shells, Pearl Oysters and Hammer Oysters — Part 1

There are two moments in a diver's life:

One, when a beggar, he prepares to plunge;

Then, when a prince, he rises with his pearl.

Throughout the seas of the equatorial regions are scattered pearl fisheries where thousands of people are engaged in diving for the pearl-bearing mollusks. Ceylon has ten, operated under government control. Nearest to us are the Panama and Lower California fisheries. Four to five thousand boats manned by divers work in the Persian Gulf each summer. The harvest of one year in this locality alone adds to the world's wealth in gems and mother-of pearl $2,000,000. This is the average, according to official statistics. The shells are smaller, but of better grade than those of Tahiti and of Panama. Australian fisheries produce small but very brilliant pearls. The Pacific Islands have many fisheries, noted the world over for their gems. The most famous pearls come from the Sulu Islands. Tahiti is the centre from which the products of the South Pacific fisheries are exported. Amsterdam, Hamburg, St. Petersburg, Paris and London are the great markets for these. Bagdad is the chief market for white seed pearls from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Bombay distributes round pearls of yellowish colour, for which Hindus have a preference.

White pearls are the most valuable, outranking yellow, green, pink and gray ones which are also held in high esteem, especially when two or more are perfectly matched. Globular pearls, free from flaws or discoloration, bring the highest prices. Pear-shaped ones rank next in value. Any form, so it be symmetrical and pleasing, is acceptable. Perfect pearls increase in price in geometrical ratio with increased weight and size. Pearls are not worked or polished, as most gems are. They are very soft, with a lustre nothing can improve.

No shells under five years old contain pearls of value. The growth of the sixth year doubles their value in mother-of-pearl. The seventh year again doubles it. The restriction of fishing protects these young mollusks, and prolongs the life of the industry which, when unrestricted, exhausts the beds. In many places diving suits are never used, and dredging is forbidden by law. A famous Chinese fishery is worked one season, then it is left undisturbed for ten or fifteen years.

The pearl fishery at Bahreim, on the Persian Gulf calls together for the spring season, March, April and May, thousands of persons. The divers bring their families, and build huts of palm and bamboo. Boats carrying fifteen to twenty men go daily to the banks which lie under ten to twelve fathoms of water.

The diver is naked, his body rubbed with oil. He stuffs his nose and ears with cotton. A clamp is often worn on the nose. He carries a knife to fight off sharks, and to loosen the oysters. A basket hangs on his neck. He has a bar with a large shot at each end under his feet. He is framed by three wooden pieces attached to the loaded bar. A rope lets this frame down and hauls it up in two minutes or less time. The diver has about seventy-five oysters. Fifty times a day he will take the trip.

The two great afflictions of divers are rheumatism and ulcers. The reward of this exhausting form of labour is a fluctuating, elusive thing. The uncertainty of it does not lessen its hold on the people who take it as a matter of course. The Ceylon fisheries give the diver one-fourth of his shells, divided when he comes up. Another plan is to pile the shells until they open, when the soft parts are thoroughly scanned for free pearls, which are the most valuable, and the shells are cleaned for shipment as mother-of-pearl. At this time the diver gets his share.

In one of the best-managed fisheries in the South Sea Islands the divers work by contract that binds them for the season. They are paid by the ton for their shells, graded into three qualities. The pearls found belong to the divers, who sell them usually to the company. The best grounds are near the bases of large patches of coral, at ten to fifteen fathoms depth. Women and children make expert divers. All get excellent wages, which they squander upon tawdry finery at the company's store, and Saturday and Sunday are spent in carousing.

The Albatross on a recent cruise spent some time near this pearl fishery, and one of the party gives a vivid account of a visit to see the divers at work.

We took passage in one of the small cutters employed in the fishery, and on arriving at our destination made fast to a cutter anchored over a submerged growth of coral. Two other cutters were anchored close by. Three divers were on one boat and five on the other, one of whom was a woman. Each of the divers is provided with a water glass with which he scans the water before going down. The glass is sixteen inches square at the top, twelve inches at the bottom, and twelve inches deep. (A hollow cubical vessel.) It has a notch in the side in which to rest the neck. By its aid the bottom can be seen to a depth of twenty fathoms, and shells located. By locating clumps of shells before going down, much labour is saved. Instead of the diver exhausting his energy in diving at random and searching for shells after reaching bottom, he goes directly to the spot where the shells lie. At other times, in shallow water, he goes down to explore the bottom. In this way clusters of shells are located before any are taken.