same reason, diving in the Indian Ocean in the two quarters of the summer and the winter would become impossible.
Besides Al-Kindi and Nasr, others who have seen diving being done in
the Persian Gulf, say that the period of diving is two months when the
temperature is high and the heat is considerable. During this period, the
water at the depth of the sea is tranquil, while for the rest of the period
it is agitated and turbid.
These people say that, during the winter, the river water diminishes,
as also the water that falls into the Persian Gulf. This is the reason why
at the end of spring and at the advent of summer, the water in the sea
diminishes and diving is possible. When the air is hot and the rivers are in
spate, the water of the sea becomes turbid. It becomes difficult to hold
the breath and diving becomes impossible.
This bears witnesses to the statement of Yashu' Bakht, the priest of
Persia who says: Divers find it difficult to hold back their breath in sweet
water. In brackish water one can hold his breath for a longer period.
The Nature of Diving
if we wish to find the real nature of diving, we should turn to Arabic
poetry, especially that of Mukhabbal Sa'di with the following verses:
I paid a considerable price for (the pearl) which had been brought by
one having slender bones and the shape of an arrow. With oil rubbed
upon his chest, he took it out of a stormy and /<jfc/m/-riddled sea.
The poet says he has bought the pearl for a high price from a slenderbodied diver whose chest was anointed with oil so as to be safe from the
heat of the sun and brought out the pearl from a sea that was in spate
and had the dangerous lakhm fish in it. The lakhm is a dangerous fish
which attacks with its large and long tail. It is called the jamal al-bahr
(the sea-camel). These couplets shed light upon the dangers latent in
diving. Ibn Ahmar says:
The diver saw in the storm of the sea, horrid scenes, large vortices
(haraqala) and fishes.
Being furious and persistence, he cared not a whit for his life, although once he was very concerned with regard to his life.
Haraqal means the largeness of a thing, while 'anidau means "'furious".
The poet 'Ajyaj says:
Or like a hug mass of water (Ocean)
With high waves abounding in frightful creatures.
Farra' says lakhm is the frog. Abu al-"Abbas "Ummani says: "Lakhm
is pishwa: in Persian. It is not dangerous: it is Kharast known as kawsaj 88 that is dangerous." Lexicographers say that it is a marine flesheater. Its head is like that of the lion and it harbours them (its young
ones?) in its stomach, gestating them through the mouth. It has twelve
