It is a French colony, and has been used by that government as a penal settlement since 1864.
In
1897, rich beds of pearl-oysters were discovered off the west coast of
this island. They are most numerous between the shore and the barrier
reefs on the west coast from Pouembout River to Gomen Bay, and
especially about the small island of Konienne at the mouth of the
Pouembout River. They are also abundant among· the Loyalty Islands off
the eastern coast of New Caledonia, and especially at the island of
Lifu.1 The shell is similar to that from Torres Straits, and
the yield of pearls is very large. Several concessions have been
obtained to exploit these beds, one of them covering 130 miles in
length. The industry is carried on by means of scaphanders, in a manner
similar to that of Torres Straits. Virtually all of the catch is sent
to France.
The
natives of the South Sea Islands, and particularly of Penrhyn and the
Tuamotu group, are doubtless the most expert divers in the world. This
can be readily appreciated by those who have read of Hua Manu in C. W.
Stoddard's thrilling narrative, or have heard the story of the brown
woman who swam for forty hours in a storm with a helpless husband on
her back. Accustomed to the water from infancy, these human otters
swim all day long as readily as they would walk, go miles from shore
without a boat in search of fish which they take by means of baited
hook and line, and boldly attack a shark single-handed. Seemingly
fabulous stories are told of their descending, unaided, 150 feet or
more beneath the surface, and remaining at lesser depths for nearly
three minutes, far surpassing any modern records of the divers of India.
The
water in the South Seas is wonderfully clear, enabling the fishermen to
detect small objects at considerable depths, and especially so when
using the water-telescope, similar to that employed in the Red Sea
fisheries. By immersing this to a depth of several inches and cutting
off the light from the upper end as he gazes through it down into the
waters, the fisherman can readily inspect the bottom at a depth of
fifteen fathoms, and thus locate the shells before he descends.
The
diving is quite unlike that in Ceylon and Arabia. The men do not
descend on stones, but swim to the bottom. The diver is stripped to his
paréu or breech-clout, his right hand is protected by a cotton
mitten or by only a wrapping of cotton cloth, and in his left hand he
carries a pearl shell to assist in directing his movements and in
detaching the oysters at the bottom. In preparing for a deep descent,
he sits for several minutes in characteristic attitude with hands
hanging over knees, and repeatedly inflates his lungs to the fullest
capacity, exhaling
1 Seurat, "L'huître perlière," Paris, 1900, p. 133.
