North-west Australian Fishery. 147
water,
affords a suitable place for the repair of boats, and most of the
Pearling-fleet are laid up here from April to October. During these
months the temperature of the water and atmosphere is so low, that
naked diving cannot be carried on, and thus these fine calm months of
easterly weather are lost to all but a few, who are now beginning to
use European diving apparatus, the author having been the first to use
them on a large scale.
The
" Pearlers " or " Nor - Westers " as they are usually styled, generally
combine sheep farming with Pearling, thus employing the divers on the
station during the cold season. A finer but rougher set of men it would
be hard to find. They are the product of a hard and dangerous but
healthy life; and there is amongst them an unwritten code of honour
that is seldom broken, and is indeed, more strictly observed than the
rules which receive tacit consent but sparse observance, in more
refined circles. Removed from the amenities and restraints of more
civilised life, it is not to be wondered at that drinking, gambling and
fighting are favourite recreations of this bronzed and stalwart class,
but their fighting is carried on in true English fashion, and the
effects are transient and harmless.
These men are clannish to a degree, and a new arrival is not unfrequently made the subject
