CHAPTER XXII
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THURSDAY ISLAND
THE metropolis of the pearl-fishing industry of the Pacific Ocean is Thursday Island. It lies in Torres Strait off the north coast of Queensland and is part of that state. I visited it on my way to Java and the East Indies, but its story rightly belongs with that of Australia, and so I tell it here.
If you will turn to the map you will see that Torres Strait, which separates Australia from New Guinea, is spotted with islands. There are hundreds of them, some inhabited by strange tribes and others sparsely settled by Australians. There are islands for every day of the week, and when we came into the harbour of Thursday Island we were told we must go on to Friday Island for quarantine.
Thursday Island is scarcely more than a tiny speck in Torres Strait, but owing to its excellent harbour it is a port of call for ships on their way through the passage. All the steamers that go about north Australia to Europe stop here. There are also steamers for Japan, China, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia, as well as vessels bound for New Guinea and the islands of the South Seas.
The island has a military importance, as it commands Torres Strait and is one of the defences of the British possessions in this part of the world. The harbour is large enough and deep enough for the biggest warships; it has been strongly fortified and has also a coaling station.
Through its commerce and pearl fisheries a considerable town has grown up on the island. Two piers have been built out into the harbour for the accommodation of the smaller steamers, and back of these are the warehouses and stores. There are six hotels, three or four churches, and the large house of the governor, who is a Queensland official. This stands on a little hill at one end, not far from the barracks, great two-story buildings with galleries around them, looking not unlike one of our second-class summer hotels.
The port has one of the most mixed populations of this part of the world. I had no sooner stepped on the wharf than I was surrounded by representatives of all the peoples of the South Pacific. There were brown men, black men, and yellow men; Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, East Indians, Fijians, Papuans, and Australian aborigines. There were pearl divers, beachcombers, bêche-de-mer fishermen, and adventurers of all colours and races. Thursday Island is a sort of Suez for an area of nearly twenty thousand square miles of island-sprinkled ocean between New Guinea and Australia. The town itself is far cleaner than many of its population, being quite free from epidemics, for the Queensland government rigidly enforces the health regulations. Native councillors elected by the people must see that the villagers keep their houses, food, and clothing clean, that they go regularly to church, and that they send their children to school. These black officials strut about in red jerseys with the word “Councillor” in white letters across the front.
The chief interest in Thursday Island lies in its pearl fisheries. Pearls and shells are the principal subjects of discussion, and the finding of a large pearl is talked of everywhere. The best pearl shells are taken from the coral islands and lagoons. The oysters grow to an enormous size, often having shells as big as a tin wash basin. The average weight of a pair of shells is about two pounds. The oysters lie on the bottom of the sea or cling to the coral rocks. They do not like sand or mud, and will not thrive where the tide shifts the bottom about. They grow largest where they can fasten themselves to coral formations. There are many caverns in the reefs, and the oysters attach themselves to the roofs of these submarine caves in clusters of a dozen or more. They cling to the rocks by a cartilage, or muscle, that extends out near the hinge of the shell, and then branches off into multitudinous threads, each of which glues itself to the rock.
Several years ago a perfect pearl, weighing thirty-two and a half grains and valued at five thousand dollars, was taken out of the Thursday Island grounds. But this was a rare find, indeed, for most of the money in getting pearl oysters comes from the shells and not from the occasional pearls within them. It is estimated that only one shell in a thousand contains a pearl. In a recent year the value of Australia’s export of pearl shell was nearly two million dollars, while the value of the pearls shipped in the same year was only about one sixth as much.
Shell is cash at Thursday Island, and in the world’s markets the better quality commands from five hundred to a thousand dollars a ton. It is used for making mother-of-pearl knife handles, buttons, and in all sorts of inlaid work. Trading vessels sail from island to island collecting the shell from the natives, in exchange for tobacco, calico, and other goods. The traders pay from sixty to one hundred dollars per ton for shell that will sell in London for about ten times as much.
The Japanese have almost monopolized the diving at Thursday Island, for they will stay longer under water and risk more than any one else. Among the divers are also many South Sea Islanders, besides Danes, Swedes, and Malays. The proprietors of the pearl ships say the Japanese are the best, and that the others often pretend to be sick.
The fishing is done by fleets consisting of one large boat, of, say, one hundred tons, and several smaller ones. The divers work from the small boats, each of which has a pump to supply them with air when they are under the surface. As even the small boats cost several thousand dollars each, the business takes considerable capital. The diver prepares for his plunge by slipping on over heavy flannels a diving suit to which ropes and air tubes are attached. He wears a metal helmet with circles of glass set in it so that he may see about him. His boots are soled with plates of copper or lead weighing about twenty-eight pounds to each foot, while the total weight of his equipment may be more than one hundred and fifty pounds.
When a diver goes down he takes with him a net bag, which he fills with shells. He then jerks the signal rope and is pulled up. The shells are counted and weighed, and he is paid according to what he has found. One diver has a record of having gathered one thousand pairs of shells in a day, but half this number is considered a good showing.
Even with the most modern equipment, one hundred and eighty feet is considered the maximum depth at which divers can work safely, although some have gone to a depth of two hundred or more feet. As the shallower beds have given out, the divers have had to go deeper and deeper and Queensland has made a law forbidding diving below the safety level. But the state courts have held that a diver must actually be seen below that depth before violation of the statute can be proved, and, as the reefs are quite remote and supervision is virtually impossible, the men often take great risks. At one hundred feet below the surface the pressure is sixty pounds to the square inch, and it increases as the diver goes deeper. At a certain depth he is attacked by pains in his muscles and joints, deafness and spells of fainting, and a kind of paralysis called “diver’s palsy.” If he is brought too quickly to the surface the sudden removal of the pressure may cause profuse bleeding or even death. Every year ten per cent. of the Torres Strait divers die from the immediate effects of their calling.
I am told that the profession has other great dangers. The Strait swarms with tiger sharks, which here grow to a length of twenty feet. They follow the pearl luggers, attracted by the pieces of salt beef now and then thrown from the boats. Unless very hungry, they trouble only the naked divers and the man in a suit can open an aircock and make enough bubbles to frighten them away. When the naked diver is attacked by a shark he stirs up the water and thus often confuses his enemy so that he gets back alive, although he may perhaps be maimed for life by the teeth of the terrible fish. As a rule the divers are not afraid of the sharks, but they do not spear fish at the bottom of the sea without first ascertaining whether there are sharks about, for the dead fish would surely draw them.
Another terror is the great squid. This marine monster fastens its long tentacles upon anything within its reach. If disturbed it vomits an inky fluid which discolours the waters about, and the diver, bewildered in the gloom, is liable to fall against the rocks and be caught.
In the native pearl fisheries much of the diving is done by women, who go down without suits. They fasten stones to their feet to enable them to sink, but do not plug up their nostrils and ears as do the pearl divers of India. Most of them can stay under water only a few seconds more than a minute, and they cannot work in such deep waters as the men in diving dress.
Pearls worth one hundred dollars are quite common and a big one, lately discovered, sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. Since an oyster may contain a thousand-dollar pearl, and the pearls are so small they can be easily stolen, the opening of the shells is carefully watched. A knife much like a common table knife, with a thin, flexible blade and a strong handle, is used. A good operator can open a ton of shells in a day and not miss a pearl. The shells containing the pearls have sometimes a curious appearance so that experts can tell before they are opened that they have pearls in them. Such shells are always laid aside to be handled by the proprietor or the foreman of the sloop.
Sometimes one oyster will contain a dozen small pearls and even more. Such oysters are often diseased and their shells are rough, but on the other hand a perfectly healthy oyster may contain a fine round pearl of large size. Many people believe that some irritating substance is the cause of every pearl. Looked at through a microscope, a pearl cut in two shows concentric layers like an onion with a hole, or sometimes a grain of sand in the centre. It is supposed that the grain of sand irritates the oyster so that it exudes carbonate of lime, coating the scratchy particle over and over until there has been formed a smooth round ball that does hot hurt.
The islands about Torres Strait are probably volcanic fragments of the immense continent supposed once to have connected Asia and Australia. Only the larger ones are inhabited.
The natives’ community house is in the centre of most South Sea island villages. All discussions, feasts, and gatherings are held here, the traveller is free to use it, and the peddler finds it at once a hotel and show room.