out
submarine armor, the fee was five pesos annually, for each of the
greatest number of nude divers to be employed by the vessel during any
voyage, and the same sum for each of the greatest number of dredges or
rakes to be employed beneath the surface at any one time ; but this did
not apply to vessels under 15 tons, owned and operated wholly by native Moros, until January 1, 1906.
It was also made unlawful to catch
or to have in one's possession within the Moro province "any pearl
shell or any bivalvular or lateral plate, or any pearl shell of less
than 4-1/2 inches in diameter, measured with a flat, rigid measuring
rod along the line of the ligament which joins one binocular or lateral
plate to the other at the hinge, unless the lateral plate of such shell
be more than 7 inches in diameter measured with a flat, rigid measuring
rod from the outer edge of the horny lips to the center of the hinge,
the rod being so placed as to form a right angle with the line of the
hinge."1
According
to a report furnished by the Mining Bureau at Manila, there were seven
vessels fishing with diving-suits in the Sulu Archipelago in 1905,
each representing an investment of about 6000 pesos. In 1906 there,
were ten vessels engaged in this industry, and the collection on
licenses for that fiscal year amounted to 3375 pesos. These vessels are
mostly small Moro craft which cannot venture upon distant cruises in
the archipelago for prospecting purposes, and their operations are
confined for the most part to the immediate vicinity of Jolo. Each
vessel carries one diver, a tender, a cook, and four sailors. In
addition to food supplies, the sailors and the cook each receive twelve
to fifteen pesos per month, the tender thirty to forty pesos per month,
and the diver the same amount and in addition thereto a bonus of twenty
cents for each shell secured. Near Jolo the vessels work throughout the
year, but farther north very little fishing is done from December to
April, when monsoons prevail. The man in charge of each vessel is
obliged by law to keep an accurate record of the number and weight of
shells found, and his figures are checked up by a customs official at
either Jolo or Zamboanga, the ports of discharge.
To enable them to secure pearl-oysters at depths of from twenty to forty fathoms, the Sulus have long made use of a dredge (badja) peculiarly
constructed of native materials, and admirably adapted to the purpose.
This consists of five or more long wooden teeth slightly curved and
spreading outward, with an expanse at the ends of twenty inches or
more. The dredge is properly balanced by two stones, and a bridle rope
is so attached to it that, when thrown overboard and towed behind a
canoe drifting with the current or the wind, the im-
*Act No. 43, amended June 7, 1904·
