Show TREASURE FISHING J How The Pearl Finding Industry Is Carried On TIlE SHARKS AiD MANEATERS Exploits Native Divers In the Waters ofj the Gulf of California A Profitable Business LA VESTANA B C Mex Aug I lSS Special correspondence of THE HERALD Pearl fishing has its fascinations even to the distant lookeron although he knows that by no human possibility can any ofT of-T the treasures that may be brought up ever I fall into his hands With what interest I DC WATCHES PJinPARATIONS 1 as the fleet of small sailboats collects on n the spot to be searched and the fishers pre pare to descendin what suspense does he wait during the few seconds that seem like hours while the venturesome diver below theurface walking the ocean floor among unknown dangers and with what anxiety does he see the exhausted toiler hauled up again apparently for the moment more dead than alive yet taking good care of his precious sack of shells in spite of sharks or maneaters or whatever may betide The best time of year for pearl fishing is between the first of May and the last of October and the best time of day is from about G oclock in the morning till high noon the remaining hours until dark being employed in opening the oysters and looking look-ing for the treasures they may contain The vessels used in the business are what are called plungers of two or three tons burden each manned with a crew of six men including the divers Messrs Gonzales Gon-zales Ruffo employ twenty one of these vessels and as many divers and others who hold government rights in different places send out many more Nowadays most of the divers are those known as machine men that is they are equipped with waterproof dress helmet leads for the breast and shoulders shoes of copper and lead a suit which altogether weighs more than one hundred and fifty pounds but beyond doubt the most successful are toct the naked Yaquis who plunge in headforemost T head-foremost and can remain as long as 120 seconds under water I was so fortunate as to have a letter of I introduction to the present owner of the f fisheries in Yenta bay and there obtained ob-tained my first near view of the entire modus opctandt from first to last without which I could never have left the spot with any degree of satisfaction Where will not curiosity TIll HERITAGE OF THE sex lure l any daughter of Eve It has led me over heights into depths and through perils innumerableinto gold and silver and copper and coal mines to search for opals at Amalco and Inerebaro for carbuncles among the mountains of Sonora emeralds atTeapilcotopazes Durango amethysts And moss agates at Jalisco and it was this same spirit of curiosity alone not journalistic journal-istic ambition nor ardent pursuit of knowledge knowl-edge that induced me to go pearl fishing to risk life and limb for the sake of holding in my hand a few grayish particles fresh from the sea a little carbonate of lime mixed with organic matter I Ventana bay lies about midway between Cape San Lucas and Molege and forms a i sort of semicircle thirteen miles long and 1 six miles deep well protected from winds u1 and breakers The country hereabouts is Kitindescribably desolate desert sands un printed by human feet broken here and there by precipitous cliffsthe eternal silence disturbed only by screaming sea c3ni leIKa h pulls ahd the restless dashing of the waves A tropic sun beats pitilessly upon the dreary beach which stretches back with low undulations toward unexplored mountains moun-tains Were a romancer looking the world over for some secluded place to people with ocean castaways a la Robinson Crusoe here is the exact spot minus only the beauties which that ancient mariner discovered dis-covered on his desert island Lying off the lonesome coast however area are-a hundred islands great and small all more or less fertile and picturesque and between these and the barren beach lie the fisheries The little village of La Ventana lies near the shore some ten miles west of Arena A road leads to San Antonio Anto-nio the celebrated Triunfo silver mines a distance of fifteen miles At one time all TUB PRODUCTS OF THE MINES which were considerable were brought to La Ventana for shipment but at present they are taken to La Paz To the south is an extensive plain covered with sand and cacti and on the north the coast hills rise from the waters edge forming with the high peaks of the interior an unbroken chain stretching to La Paz bay The twin peaks of Los Cacacniles standing about a mile apart and each over four thousand feet I r me high seven miles from this place and thirtyfive miles from La Paz In them are k are gold silver and copper which ore being worked by a company from San Antonio An-tonio Texas under charge of Mr Charles E Hal a well known new York mining The oyster beds facing Ventana cover a tract some fifteen miles square and have been formany generationslis the possession of one family Through the courtesy of the present owner the desire of my heart was attained and I was permitted to go out one early morning with the fishing party Our boat was a seventon affair manned b I three ladies four oarsmen thn divers a cook and the telegraphrope man Ar rdng at the spot to be searched anchor was cast and a Yaquis diver scrambled over the edge of the boat with his knife in his teeth and a big stone in his hands and dropped out of sight like a lump of lead Ho went merely as a scout to report whether the locality was rich enough to 4 pay for working In less than one minute I he returned puffing like a porpoise with the vervict Vastante nto rich enough Then the machine men prepared for business busi-ness They were handsome though worthy young fellows but became objects of terror when once inside their grotesque armor with its bulging opticsthe more uncanny when dimly seen down among tie denizens of the deep through twenty fathoms of water I Imagine Imagne a stout sixfooter carrying two hundred pounds of his own weight covered with forty pounds of armor on his chest twenty on nis back with plates of i iron inclosing his arms and legs a massive helmet on his head with its great gaping lanterns fcr eyes and immense leaden shoes on his feet and you will no longer wonder why fit THE SHARKS FLEE IS DISMAT and any other species of marine monster would desire a more digestible meal Through the clear greenish crystal we could watch their downward course till a sudden darkening of the waters announced that the leaden shoes had disturbed the soft sand of the ocean floor The telegraph man in the boat held his wire with a hand as steady as though its nerves were of steel Soon the preconcerted signal a slight pull followed by the stronger ones announced that the field was good and the divers were all right Then for three long hours we waited while the sun beat pitilessly piti-lessly down on our blistering noses consumed uioli f cg h sumed with fear for the fate of our late companions in that sunless city six miles below whose coral avenues imagination imagna mes ppoplcd with mermaids sea serpents and other submarine mysteries Sharks were continually prowling about in more or less dangerous proximity and occasionally occasion-ally a maneater showed his big black back shining like polished ebony while hundreds of Spanish navigators spread their finny sails and wiry seagars dartsd around us At length the unseen operators down below be-low telegraphed to be brought t the surface sur-face and being speedily hauled up appeared I ap-peared not much the worse for their long immersion though somewhat exhausted < y Each had his basket full of shells but whether hi contained fortune or failure could only bo determined when opened on I land in the presence of the boat owner lad tie VThe diver is expected to exercise Judgment Te selecting the oysters leaving the younger growth undisturbed while it is I well known that the largest and oldest shells seldom contain pearls though they are sometimes brought up for the value of the shells On rising to the surface each empties his basket or bag into the nearest surfboat which little craft under careful guard deliver their loads to the waiting schooners which discharges its accumulated accumu-lated cargo on shore when the days fishing is concluded Of course A year STRICT POLICE SYSTEM is maintained to prevent thieving Yet in spite of all precautions stealing is constantly con-stantly going on No sooner has the schooner deposited its cargo a stinking mass that out sients far famediCologne tnan it is immediately surrounded by well armed soldiers while the shells are opened and searched for pearls When the little gray treasures have been carefully collected col-lected their value is estimated and a settlement made at once with the divers settement Usually their wages amount to 25 per cent of the total find whatever it may be and are paid by an allotment of the pearls or shells taken during the day This makes a rather uncertain income but is better both for masters and men as it encourages a naturally indolent people td greater diligence genco Though the fishing season continues less than half a year the profit of the divers should bs sufficient to maintain them in comfort during the months of enforced idleness idle-ness and allow a wide margin lor the gambling gamb-ling and other extravagances towhich they are extravagnces adicted It frequently happens however that a diver having drank and gambled himself into abject poverty before the working season rolls around again goes about offering a genuine treasure for a shilling or a bottle of Mexican Mex-ican tanglefoot but if the European agents are gone he can hardly dispose of it at any price The Indian divers are wonderful swimmers swim-mers apparently a much at home in the themselves deep sea as are the finny tribes They brave all manner of sea monsters without the slightest fear and show wonderful won-derful skill in their work They can swim I equally well with one hand and one foot or with both feet and hands while they rapidly rapid-ly knock off the shells from the reefs and rock to which they so tenaciously cling and cram them into the sack of woven maguey fibre suspended by a rope around the neck A knife or a short stout stick rn naaoipr and serves both for weapon and implement and while tearing up the shells he continually runs from side to side in order to elude the vigilance his marine foes by stirring Tip the sand and rendering the water turbid If a shark insists on making a meal of him the wily Indian plays around him until the huge fish flops over on his side so as to bring his lancelike teeth into better action and then just as the TERRIBLE JAWS ARE ABOUT TO CLOSE upon him ho forces his knife or stick grasped firmly in the middle upright into the sharks mouth thus spiking him as effectually as General Scott did theMexi cn cannon at Chepultepec Sometimes alas the operation is not successful performed per-formed and the brave fellow rises no more from the under world only a momentarj reddening fate of the water telling his horrible fateThe fatigue from diving without apparatus appa-ratus is very great and the fishers frequently quentlv discharge quantities of water and blood from the ears and nostrils on being drawn into the boat But this does not hinder them from making forty or fifty plunges in the course of a day Each diver generally remains under water about ten minutes at a time but a few are able to endure it three or four minutes without any modern breathing apparatus and we are assured that a native Indian frcm Anjauga will actually tually remain submerged six minutes One of the most successful fishers on the California coast is the owner of some pearl oyster beds near Molege who employs only naked Indian divers Every day during the fishing season he sends out twenty surfboats surf-boats each manned by twentyone men Ten of these are divers and they go down alternately five at a time thus keeping tfcs I work constantly going on while half the divers are recovering from the consequent fatigue The other twelve are the captain chief boatmen rowers and divers assistants assist-ants all kept busy as bees Each boat is furnished with five large perforated stones pyramidal shaped and rounded at the top and bottom Each of these is fixed to a rope and the diver when about to plunge seizes one of the ropes with the toes of his right foot while with the other he sustains his network bag Then he grasps another rope with his right hand while with his left he keep the water out of his nostrils FIGHTS HIS DEEP SEA ENEMIES and fills his bag with shells On no account ac-count must he let go of the rope in his right hand for by it only can he signal those above to pull him up when he can no longer endure the unnatural element We read that a similar process is made use of in Ceylon where the divers become so dextrous dex-trous in the use of their feet that they employ em-ploy them as readily as their hands for the most snre purposes threading needles with their toes and picking up straws glass beads and the smallest articles I The native divers having been almost 1 born in the water seem to have acquired an amphibious nature akin to most of the I Southsea islanders and if travelers wish to amuse themselves by tossing overboard I handfuls of coin these Californians will instantly duck for it and come up laughingly with the smallest pie e They depend a great deal upon certain signs charms and incantations and call vigorously vigor-ously upon Santa Guadalupe and all the other saints and saintesses both for protection pro-tection and miraculous direction Most of the Gulf bottom Is soft and sandy especially suited to this branch of the oyster family The complete indiffer Cube of the divers to that source of terror to novices the sharks that infest the shining shin-ing waters is scarcely less astonishing than their skill in destroying the monsters Of the hundreds who daily go down into the l2ep scarcely a diver is ever injured butt but-t is not uncommon for careless schooner bys to be snapped overboard and swal lowed in a twinkling or left to sink down among the oysterbeds short of a leg or arm Whether the divers skill has become a matter of tradition among the shark family I cannot say but certain it is that every one of these huge monsters avoid him as a natural enemy and never ventures into close quarters with him unless urged to battle by excessive hunger But they seem to be eternally on the lookout for landlubbers and can distinguish one with the eye of a connoiseur FANNIE B WARD |