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Show Pearl-Diving a Gamble. I Natives Along the Persian Gulf Walk the Sea's Floor I at Twenty fathoms, Picking Up Shells. I The Commuters were telling fish sto-rliM sto-rliM The englishman, who Is visiting n limn led daughter In Jersey, listened with tha noinul IhigllBhman'H Intttcst In spcri. "Much nf a flshcrmnn jourBclff" nsktd unci of the coniinutirs. "Well, I don't go In for It now, I never saw n tarpon of u niuskellungc, hut I've landed a ntmon or two In my time," said tho lhigllshiunn, modestl). Then he added. "I've seen eiueer fishing, though, nnd onto I enuglit a fish that I sold for jtr.no." Tho commuters looked Impressed They had been testing tho elasticity of truth a trllle themselves. "Whnt vveie )0it fishing for7" asked the most cuilous. "I'eals," wild the L'ngllshmnn, quietly. Thnt was outside of tho commuters' preserves, so they eiuleted eluwn. "It wns it long time ago," the englishman english-man went on, ' but It wus good spoil. I think I pieferred It to pnlmon fishing. I'm unpatriotic enough to llko tho far Cast better than the Scottish eoiinlr). I wns born In India, (live me n blue sky nnd a broiling nun nnd a sea bluer than tho sky. I hnte your gra) worlds. "1 was sent homo to my gtundfather when I was a )oungsler, but ns soon ns I giew up and was my master, I bc-gnn bc-gnn globe-trotting. I trotted Into n good many out-nf-the-way corners, thn most of them In Asia, Southern lhirope Isn't so bad in the summer time. Did ott ever go coral llshing down on tho coast of Corsica or Hlclly7 No, well, that has lis picturesque features, too. And I suppose ou never fished for sponges? "I've gone out with coral and Bpongo fleets, but onee I spent a whole season with penrlets nn tho Iluliriln banks In the Persian gulf, "t hadn't any Idea of stnylng there when 1 happened along. I was traveling with a couple of Jewel merchants. I had seen peurl llshing on the Ceylon dinks. The government ran things down theie, oit know, but thn Cc)lon haul had never equaled the I'crslan harvest. Anybody Any-body could fish In the rersian gulf. Tho divers enmn from nil along tho mist, but Iho rights of the different outfits wcrn defined by custom Tho Ilnlueln boats stuck to their limits, the I'lrata Co ist boats to liiclra, "Now, I tell )ou, the peurl business Is thn Inrgest lottery speculation I ran up against It beats thu Derby and Mnnto Carlo and jour nntlnnnl game of poker. Alcrchnnts, fakirs, spec ulutors, all Hocked tn the pearl district In season. sea-son. Nobody knew whnt he was getting If ho bought the oysters unopened They wero worth about S: a hundred In thnt state. Yntt might buy a carload mid get nothing Then ugaln I knew of natives H who bought small basketfuls of oysters H und found enough pearls In them to set H Idem up In life H 'Sometimes the divers received wages H starvation wages More often they got H a certain slum of the oysters. Usually H theie wasn't it fixed scale A man wan H paid ncrordlng tu his skill Tho boats H wero of different size, ten to twenty H tons, Thero wero usually 3000 or tOOO H of them on the banks from Juno to Sep- H tember, and 1 lemember the year I was H there the nluo of the annual haul was H estimated ut between f 100,000 and ft.00,- H 000 sterling. Ordlnnrll) ten men went H with a boat and took along five big dlv- H Ing stnnes. When they reached tha H fishing grounds thty anchored, nnd halt H the men stripped and went over the H side Then tha diving Btones, fastened H to ropes, were lowered from the boat. H Tho diver stopped up his nose with clay H or vvnx, drew n long breath, set one foot H on tho diving slone and held the rope. H The chum In the boat let tdo stone go. H Tip -slow n (c the bottom. You'll hear H nil sorts nf wild stories nbout the length H of time these rhnps will stay under tha H water, hut they are fairy tales. Men H who knew told inn that ninety seconds H wns tdn limit, and Hint there wero H mlgdty few divers vvdo could stay down H for a minute. Only tvvo of my men H could deut forty seconds. H "Hut to go buck to my old pilot. Ho H rather cnju)cd a row wild a shark and H always carried n knife, lie had a lot ot H sons and trained Idem nil to the water H llko fish. They wei a dropped in as soon H ns they could toddlo nnd their father M wouldn't hnve nuy foolishness. He gave H them regular lessons and no matter bow H they suffered, down they hnd lo go. H livery ono of them dad dls ear drums H luptiired dy deep diving. At 10 and 12 M yenis or ngo those doys could go down H twcnty-llv fnt I in ins, nnd tdey could H fliase coins clown Into deep water and H catch them deforo they touched bottom. H One of the sons vvris nt Ilahreln while M was there a Hue, villainous looking fel- M low, nnd the dent diver on tho banks. H "After the bouts were full of oysters M Hie men would lake Idem to one of tho H Islands nnd dnnd Idem over to tde mer- H cluiuts selling their shnre unopened or fM opening them and Inking their chances H of making nntdlng. Tde men who H opened the oysters for tdo owners did n. H lot of stealing, of course, although they H wero all watched They were wonder- H fully clever nt hiding a good pearl when H they found nne, and swallowing pearls H wan nne or their favorite tricks. Then H thero wero all sorts or fraud worked by M the fakirs, mock pearls palmed nrf and H Rood pearls lost hy legerdemain, and H hcnvMi knows vv lint besides, M "I didn't make my fortune thnt sum- H mer. In furl, I think I rame nut only H about I.M09 ahead of the game, but I got H a generous nmnunt of experience and rubbed against queer things and queer B people "New York Sun. JM |