has
a share of the profits upon the whole. A small tax is also levied on
each boat by the sheikh of the port to which it belongs. During this
period they live on dates and fish.
Wellsted's
description of the manner in which the divers in the Persian Gulf carry
on their occuÂpation is worth quotation, inasmuch as it embodies the
results of personal observation. " When about to proceed to business,
they divide themselves into two parties, one of which remains in the
boat to haul up the others, who are engaged in diving. The latter,
having provided themselves with a small basket, jump overboard, and
place their feet on a stone, to which a line is attached. Upon a given
signal this is let go, and they sink with it to the bottom. When the
oysters are thickly clustered, eight or ten may be procured at each
descent ; the line is then jerked, and the person stationed in the boat
hauls the diver up with as much rapidity as possible. The period during
which they can remain under water has been much over-rated ; one minute
is the average, and I never knew them but on one occasion, to exceed a
minute and a half."
Among
the dangers of the pearler in the Persian Gulf, the dreaded saw-fish
may be mentioned as the chief enemy. This shark-like creature is
furnished
