CHAPTER XIV. PEARLS. "Ocean's gems, the purest Of Nature's works! What days of weary journeyings, MONG the rare and beautiful objects of creation may be mentioned PEARLS, which rank with the most valuable A of precious gems, and are highly prized as ornamental appendages by the rich and the noble in all countries. While admiring these jewels, you may not know, perhaps, at what perils and cost of life they are obtained, for it is necessary to seek for them in the depths of the ocean, and although the divers employed for this purpose are very strong and expert, still in the Indian Sea and the Eastern Archipelago, where the true pearl-oysters are found, sharks are numerous, and it is necessary to take every precaution against those voracious monsters. This occupation was formerly considered so dangerous that only condemned criminals were thus employed, but many thousand persons now obtain a livelihood by these means in the Persian Gulf and at Ceylon. At one time, when the Dutch had possession of this beautiful island, the number of large pearls obtained there was considerable. These pearl-divers are a hardy race of men, singularly adapted to their hazardous occupation, and very superstitious; for before 148 PEARL-DIVERS AND SHARK-CHARMERS. commencing operations, they consult the "shark-charmer," a wiseacre who pretends to have the power of preserving his dupes from the angry jaws of the great sea-scourge, and makes a good living by it, the office being handed down from father to son as hereditary. The divers have such confidence in their powers, or spells, that they will not descend to the bottom of the deep without. knowing that one of the enchanters is present in the expedition. Two of the "charmers" are constantly employed, one going out regularly in the head pilot's boat, while the other performs certain ceremonies on shore, such as consulting the auguries, which, if auspicious, ensure the divers in their perilous submarine occupations by closing the mouths of the sharks at the word of command. The "charmer" is shut up in a room where nobody can see him, from the period of the sailing of the boats until their return. He has before him a brass basin filled with water, containing one male and one female fish made of silver. If any accident should happen from a shark at sea, it is believed that one of these fishes is seen to bite the other. The divers also say that if the conjuror is dissatisfied, he has the power of making the sharks attack them, on which account he is sure of receiving liberal presents daily. The Gulf of Manaar, where the pearls are found (and which separates Ceylon from the continent of India on the north-west), abounds in sharks; and, however the divers may consider their lives "charmed," the risks are lessened by the sea-monsters being alarmed at the unusual number of boats, the noise of the crews, and the constant descending of the baskets for the shells. It is not improbable that the dark skins of the divers are also some protection. It seems that the pearl-divers in the Persian Gulf in former times were so conscious of this advantage of colour, that they were accustomed to blacken their limbs in order to baffle their powerful enemy. This is related by Massoudi, one of the earliest of Arabian geographers, who adds, "that the divers filled their ears with cotton steeped in oil, and compressed their nostrils with a piece of tortoise-shell." The pearl fishery of the Bahrem Islands (in the Persian Gulf) produces a most abundant supply of these ocean gems, the produce |