Having
got hold of the idea that I was dealing with 100, and comparing the
relation of 49 to that round number, I fell into an unfortunate mistake
yesterday, by which the performance of the " Arab" diver, timed by
Capt. Donnan, was greatly depreciated. As readers will have seen for
themselves, one minute and forty-nine seconds, is not merely an
approach to one minute-anda-half, but closely verges on two minutes, being
only eleven seconds short of that period. The stay under water was
twenty-seven seconds in advance of Sir Henry Ward's timing, twenty-six
beyond our own, and sixteen in excess of the longest dive ever observed
by Mr. Twynam. I have Captain Donnan's authority for saying that the
period under water now observed by him, is the longest on record in the
annals of the Ceylon Pearl Fishery. Captain James Steuart, so long the
Inspector of the Pearl Banks and who collected so much information
regarding them, never knew a diver to remain at the bottom
longer than eighty-seven seconds, or to attain a great depth than
thirteen fathoms; -while on ordinary occasions they seldom exceeded
fifty-five seconds in nine fathoms of water. It is very true that Le
Beck says that in 1797 he saw "a Caffre (?) boy from Karical,
remain down for the space of seven minutes," but we have no details as
to the chronometer used or the precautions to secure accuracy otherwise
taken. Although, therefore, seven is a perfect number, we take leave to
doubt it. We may be prepared to admit that a human being may bold his
breath and retain life under water for two minutes, or, at the very
utmost three. But allegations that twice the latter period or more of
non-inspiration and non-aeration of the blood has been endured, seem
incredible. In the absence of a good time-measurer and careful and
conscientious observers to watch its movements and the diver's
re-appearance, even two minutes under water might easily be
exaggerated into six, so long does the interval between disappearance
and reappearance seem to the spectator. Six minutes is the period
mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica, latest edition, but
as no authority is given I must remain sceptical. In the same article
it is stated that, as the result of their trying vocation, the divers
are short-lived. Here, also, I prefer the testimony of such
largely-experienced and careful observers as Mr. Twynam and Capt.
Donnan. The men, generally, make good earnings, live well, being nearly
all meat-eaters, look well and have as good chances of prolonged life
as those who follow less hazardous occupations. One reason, no doubt,
is that instead of any attempt to remain under water for prolonged
periods, their average stay below is somewhat under rather than over
one minute. With prolonged intervals to recover breath, to rest and to
sun themselves by the sides of the boats (working as they do by
relays), their labour hours, as far as diving is concerned, extend only
to the seven or six-and-a-half hours from daylight to l p. m.
The
problem of bow to obtain a sufficiency of properly trained divers, if
the sea-harvest prospects of Ceylon and India for the next two years
are to be realized, is a most serious one. I have already indicated
that, what with the fishery now proceeding; a second to be undertaken
in November of this year and a third in March-April of next year, Capt.
Donnan estimates the removal from the Ceylon banks of not far from two
hundred and fifty millions of oysters in twelve months. Large as this
number is, it sinks into insignificance, when compared to the Indian
estimate of nine hundred millions on the banks off Tuticorin. That was the estimate about a year ago, and from the account given in the article we quote from the Madras Mail, of
the oysters lying over a foot deep on the banks, (the habit of this
mollusk being to cling not merely to foreign substances but to each
other in large aggregations) we suppose no adverse influences of
currents or suran have yet operated to add one more to the many
disappointments endured by our Indian neighbours. The Ceylon banks, no
doubt, owe much of their success to their specially sheltered position,
the long, alligator-like island of Karaittivu contributing considerably
to this result. In the comparative quiet, the fresh water brought down
by the rivers mixes with the salt water. We submit as a question for
