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ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 203
others
without shells. Others would be swimming to regain their dinghy or
squatting in their places for the few minutes' rest permitted, and, if
the wind were at all fresh, shivering with cold ; for although the
weather might be extremely hot, the constant plunging in and out for
many hours at a time tended to reduce the bodily temperature
considerably. The white men would be seen standing up in each dinghy.
They were lightly clad, with shirt sleeves and trousers rolled up, in
all varieties and colours of costume, from the regulation shirt,
trousers, and felt hat, with leather belt sustaining sheath-knife and
pouch, to the more comfortable pyjama suit, or even the Malay sarong.
Some would be straining hard at the end of the scull-oar, forcing the
boat against wind and tide in the endeavor to keep it as long as
possible on the "patch," which was marked by the discoverer's buoy,
which also might be observed nodding on the surface, and canted over by
the swiftly rushing tide. Others, their men all being below, just kept
the dinghy's head to wind until, by judicious use of the oar and
well-calculated drifting, all the divers reappear on the surface within
a short distance from their own boat. This is the secret of saving the
divers from wasting their powers and time uselessly. ... As may be
supposed, where the tide sweeps the divers along the bottom at the
rate of three or four or even six miles an hour, they have to be very
smart in seeking and grabbing any shell within reach. I have never
tested them with a time-keeper ; but by counting seconds on many
occasions, from the moment a diver's head sank below until it again
came above the surface, I estimated the average time under water was
fifty-seven seconds. Part of this is of course expended in swimming to
the bottom, where they can remain only a very few seconds, as time must
be allowed for reaching the surface before letting go their breath.
Practice in ever-varying depths enables them to gauge this limit of
time to a nicety. But sometimes they cut things too fine, and then a
catastrophe was inevitable, unless much watchfulness was exercised by
the white man, who has to keep his eyes turned in all directions once
his men are down. So long as a diver can hold his breath the pressure
forces him to the surface at a speed which seldom requires accelerating
by strokes with the hands or feet ; but the moment he lets go his
breath—if under water—his upward course is arrested and his body
commences to sink. Now, when the white man sees this, either he must
plunge in to the rescue himself, or direct such divers who may be on
the top to do the needful.
On
a calm day, when one can see far into the blue clear depths below, I
have often seen one of my men shooting rapidly upwards until within
perhaps a foot or two from the surface, when a sudden gush of bubbles
from the man's mouth would tell its own tale. Instantly he would begin
to sink gently downwards, and only quick action could save this diver
who had miscalculated his time. However, as it was not infrequent for
divers to go down and never come up at all, one may conclude that,
where the time to be allowed is comprised in so few seconds, even the
most experienced make fatal errors.1
The
difficulties in securing labor at length resulted in experiments with
the scaphander or diving dress, and gradually its adoption by
1 "Australind," London, 1900, pp. 233-239.
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