| Show I DIVERS WHO HO SPECULATE I 1 Away O Off on the Persian Gulf These amphibians mph to Take Tak Chances I on the Outcome of Their Dangerous Calling Calling Big Big Profits Sometimes in ina ina a Venture 1 The comm commuters lel's w were re telling fish stories The Englishman who is visiting visit visit- ing ipg a married ug d daughter ter in in Jersey Jerse lis listened us- us with the norm normal l Englishman's Interest in m sport Much or a a fisherman yourself asked one of the commuters Well VeIl I dont don't go In for forit it It now now I never saw a tarpon or a musk but Ive I've landed a a. salmon saimon or two In my time said aid the Englishman Englishman modestly Then h s added Ive seen seen queer quee fishing though and and once once- I caught a a fish that I sold f for r shoe 1500 The The commuters commuters' commuters commuters' looked impressed Th They y had been testing the elasticity itY of truth uth a trifle hUie themselves What were y you u u fishing for asked the most curious quiet quiet- Pearls said t the e Englishman ly ly- outside of ot the commuters' commuters preserves s so they they quieted do down nIt n. n It was a lon time ago the Englishman Englishman Englishman En En- went but it was good sport I think I preferred It Jt to salmon fishing Im I'm unpatriotic enough to like ike ike the Far East better than the Scottish country I was was b born iA in iu India Give me a blue blu sky and anda a broiling sun and anda a sea ea bluer tha s sky y I hate your gray gray worlds I was sent home to t to my y grandfather i when I was wasa a yot but as as soon soon as I gr grew w up up and and was my own own master ster a began legan globe tr trotting I tr trotted into nto a good many vay way corners most of them In Asia South Southern rn Europe Isn't sp sq bad in lie the summer time Did you ever go coral down down on the coast of Corsica or Sicily No well that has its picturesque features feature too And I suppose you ou never fished for sponges Ive gone out with coral and sponge fleets but once I spent a Whole season with on th the the- banks Inthe Inthe in inthe the Persian gulfI gulf I hadn't any Idea of staying th there re when I 1 happened along I was ya travelIng traveling travel travel- ing log with a of jewel I had seen pearl fishing on the Ceylon banks The government ran things down there you know but the Ceylon haul had nev never r equaled the Persian pe perl pearl harvest Anybody could fish I In Inthe inthe the Persian gulf The divers dame came from all along the coast but the rights of the different outfits were defined by custom The boats stuck to the limits the Pirate coast bo boats ts to theirs c I dropped down there early in June The pearl seas season seatOn n begins in June but most of the June diving Is done in shallow water r At least that's the way It used to tobe be I suppose diving apparatus has has' changed things there thereas as everywhere although they tell me methe methe methe the native divers still work along Inthe in inthe inthe the old way in the gulf gult I got the pearl fever It wasn't that I cared so bo much about th the pearls but the whole thing interested me So I stayed bought a boat hIred some divers and went into the business One literally bought the divers drivers The fishermen were beastly poor The whole trade was run by merchants They owned the boats and the divers money for the work seasons at a Shylo k rate of Interest If the fishers had big luck they might payout and find themselves rich at the end of the season season If th they y had poor might be In debt up to their eye rows and starve My men iTea thought they had a snap I put pul up the money and gave them equal shares with me mein in all findings Now I 1 tell you iou the pearl business Is the biggest l lottery speculation I ever ran up against It beats the Derby and Monte Carlo lo i-lo and your national game of ot I k Merchants l fakirs locked to the pearl dis district district dis- dis in season Nobody knew v what he was getting If Jf he bought the oysters unopened They were worth about 2 a hundred In that state Y You u might ht buy buya a carload and get nothing Then again I knew of natives na who bought small smal basketfuls of oysters oysters' and found enough pearls in then thera to set them up for life lif Sometimes 2 the divOtS re elved wages wages wages starvation wages lore often they got a certain share of ot the oysters oyster Usually there t a fixed scale A iS Aman Aman iSman man was paid according to his skill The Th boats eCe of different sizes ten to twenty tons There were vere usually three or four tour thousand housand of them on the banks from June J to September and 1 I remember th the i year I w wars S there th the value of ot the annual haul wits was estimated estimated estimated esti esti- mated at between yeen and sterling ten men went with witha a boat and took along five big diving stones reached the fishing grounds they anch red and half the themen themen themen men strIpped nd went vent over oer the side Then the ng stones fastened to ropes were lowered from the boat The diver his nose with clay or 01 wax vax put a small all basket on his arm drew a long set one foot on the diving stone find held the rope The chum in the the- boat let the stone go Tip- Tip down to the You'll he heal l al all all sorts of ot wild the tories Stories about the length of time thes these chaps will stay underwater under underwater water but t they y are fairy tales Men who knew told me that ninety seconds was the limit limI and that there were mighty few divers who ho cold stay down for tor a minute Only two of my men could beat forty seconds When rhen the t lIver diver has picked up as rj j r many shells as he can he comes to the surface and the man in the boat hauls the stone up The rhe diver rests a few minutes and goes down again When he Is played ou out he gets Il Into to the boat and the other man takes his turn Figuring Figuring Fig FIg- on a basis of bf payment In oysters which he would usually sell unopened the diver would earn about 2 cents fo foa for fora a dive There were lots of exaggerated stories told about the sufferings of the divers their short lives and the diseases disease of all kinds from which the they suffered The work vork does give them inflamed eyes but I didn't see anything of ul ulcers ulcers ulcers ul- ul cers and par paralysis and lung trouble and andall andall andall all that The deep breathing gave them chests that were ere astonishing and their muscular development was fine Of course when a boy was first learnIng learning learn learn- ing the sea deep-sea diving he had to take tak hi his his- punishment bleeding at the ears ear and mouth and nose and all that sor sort of lOt thing but most of the divers had lived In the wa water ter from the time Lim they were babies anc never knew when hen th they y did first learn to dive The Arabs were vere the star divers and they used to flock floe down to Ba not not only for profit b but t be because ause they enjoyed the work Some of the men couldn't learn t to work in deep water but others could coul take a twenty-fathom twenty depth The Th average diver couldn't w wik ik in more mor than twelve fathoms bu but you never neve saw savy such swimmers mers In your life Ive I've known my men to swim six lor or seven miles at a stretch Just for fun anc and them seem fresh as ees afterward Up in the Red sea the divers beat bea those on the gulf There was one ol old fellow up there a a. pilot t arid and the greatest greatest greatest great great- est diver civer in all the co country He didn't think anything of twenty-five twenty fathoms and would dive and bring mud am and shells up from a thirty five bottom He was scarred all over from fights and had had some close clos shaves But as a rule the divers didn't didn didn't mind sharks at all The only thin thing th they y were afraid of was a s sWordfish They grew sl sixteen foot swordfish ou out there and many a diver divOr has peen been killed d dby by one of those horrible saw noses- noses just literally cut In two But to go back to my old pilot H Hrather He rather enjoyed a row with a shark anc and always carried a knife He had a lo loof lot lotof lotof of sons and trained them all to the water water wa wa- vater va- va ter like fish They were dropped In a aspon as soon spon as they could toddle and their father wouldn't have any He gave them regular lessons grid and n no matter how they suffered down the they had to go Every Everyone one of them had hi his ear drums ruptured by deep diving A At 10 and 12 years those boys could g go godown godown down twenty five fathoms and t the they ey could chase coins thrown into deep 9 vatar va tel tar an and l catch them before they touched touche bottom One of ot the sons as at while I 1 was there there there-a a fine villainous villainous- fellow and the best diver o othe on the banks After the boats w were re full of oyster the men would take them to one of th the islands and hand them over to the merchants merchants mer mer- chants selling their share unopened o or I opening them and taking their chance of making nothing The rn m men men- n n- who wh opened the oysters for the owners dida did dk a lot of ste stealing of ot course although they were well watched They were wonderfully clever at hiding a good gooc pearl when they f found und one and ad swa lowing pearls was one of their favorite Then there were all sorts of ot frauds worked by the fakirs mock pear pearls palmed off and good pearls lost b by legerdemain and heaven knows knows' wh what besides New New York Sun |
