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138 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
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In
fishing, if the current is slight, the boat is permitted to drift
therewith, and if there is little or no current, it is propelled by
oars as may be required. The diver —fully dressed in the rubber suit
with helmet, etc.,—goes overboard easily by means of a Jacob's ladder
of five or six rungs on the port side of the boat, and is lowered by an
attendant, who gives close attention to the lines, the crew having
manned the pump in the meantime. On reaching bottom, the diver walks
along, following the course of the moving boat and swinging his
shoulders from side to side to take in a wide vision in his search for
oysters. In clear water he can discover them at a distance of
twenty-five or thirty feet, even when fifteen fathoms below the
surface; but sometimes the water is so clouded that it may be
necessary for him to go almost on hands and knees to see them, and when
the seaweeds are thick and high, he may locate them almost as much by
feeling as by sight. Owing to this difficulty in seeing the oysters,
the work is suspended in rough weather and for many days following. The
catch is placed in a sack or basket of quarter-inch rope, which is
raised when filled, emptied, and returned to the bottom by means of a
rope.
Finding
the shell is by no means an easy matter, and much natural hunter-craft
is necessary. Of a neutral color, it is not at all conspicuous as it
lies on a gray coral bed, itself covered with coral or sponge or hidden
in dense masses of gorgeous seaweeds. Still less visible is the shell
on a muddy bottom, for there it embeds itself and exposes only half an
inch or so of the "lip." As the boat is impelled by the tide, the diver
may have to walk rapidly in a swinging gait; and if he should stumble
or fall while stooping to pick up the shell, recovery of balance may be
difficult. He must be constantly on the alert and has many dangers to
avoid. Sharks are numerous in these clear tropical waters ; but
although disaster sometimes results, they are timid, a stream of air
bubbles from the sleeve of the dress sending them away in fright. More
fruitful sources of danger are fouled air-pipes, broken pumps, falling
into holes, and especially paralysis from recklessly deep diving.
When
the diver wishes to come up, he closes the escape valve in his helmet;
his dress fills and distends with air, causing a speedy return to the
surface, and the tender hauls him alongside by means of the life-line.
After "blowing" for a few minutes with the helmet removed, and usually
enjoying the indispensable cigarette, he returns to the bottom.
When
the Mergui reefs were first exploited by diving apparatus, the bulk of
the shells were secured from depths of ten to twelve fathoms. These
shallow reefs have been exhausted, temporarily, at
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