METHODS OF FISHING
and
fifty-eight degrees W. and latitude nine degrees S., can do twenty to
twenty-five fathoms and will even go deeper when tempted by the sight
of a few oysters lying in a hole or depression near by. Going below
twenty-five fathoms results almost invariably in a sort of paralysis.
The diver comes up howling and incapable of motion and unless
companions at once seize and rub him vigorously with salt water until
circulation is restored, a process lasting sometimes many hours, he
dives no more. If restored he will dive again next day, and such is
their recklessness that the same temptation would lead him to take the
risk again.
Monsters
abound in these waters. Should the diver be attacked by a devil-fish,
shark, or sword-fish, he does not use a knife, as blood would attract
other devils of the sea and becloud the water to his own confusion.
Instead he seeks to avoid his enemy, and if the troubler is a
sword-fish, tries to find shelter among the rocks. If the fish departs
quickly, he escapes; but the time of a live man one hundred feet under
water is short and sometimes the sword-fish over-stays it.
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