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THE PEARL
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through incantations to preserve them from the sharks which abound in these waters.
This
shark-charming power is believed to be hereditary and not dependent on
the religion of the conjuror and he can, if ill or absent, convey the
power to a substitute so that it will be respected by the sharks. To
make matters doubly sure the divers arm themselves with a short,
pointed piece of ironwood. This however is not their main reliance for
a "wise woman" was able to avert a panic which was well under way,
after one of the divers was bitten at the Tuticorin fishing of 1890.
Excepting the loss of a limb occasionally not much damage is done by
the sharks, a fact which sustains the implicit faith of the natives in
their shark-charmers.
When
the day set by the Government officials arrives, the fleet puts to sea
after numerous ceremonies. The boats, which range from ten to fifteen
tons, are grouped in fleets of sixty to seventy. Beside the divers they
are manned by ten or more sailors, a steersman, and if possible by a
shark-charmer (pillal karras). The boats leave at midnight in order to
be
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