Finding the shell is by no means an easy matter, and much natural hunter-craft is necessary. Of a neutral color, it is not at all conspicuous as it lies on a gray coral bed, itself covered with coral or sponge or hidden in dense masses of gorgeous seaweeds. Still less visible is the shell on a muddy bottom, for there it embeds itself and exposes only half an inch or so of the “lip.” As the boat is impelled by the tide, the diver may have to walk rapidly in a swinging gait; and if he should stumble or fall while stooping to pick up the shell, recovery of balance may be difficult. He must be constantly on the alert and has many dangers to avoid. Sharks are numerous in these clear tropical waters; but although disaster sometimes results, they are timid, a stream of air bubbles from the sleeve of the dress sending them away in fright. More fruitful sources of danger are fouled air-pipes, broken pumps, falling into holes, and especially paralysis from recklessly deep diving.

When the diver wishes to come up, he closes the escape valve in his helmet; his dress fills and distends with air, causing a speedy return to the surface, and the tender hauls him alongside by means of the life-line. After “blowing” for a few minutes with the helmet removed, and usually enjoying the indispensable cigarette, he returns to the bottom.

When the Mergui reefs were first exploited by diving apparatus, the bulk of the shells were secured from depths of ten to twelve fathoms. These shallow reefs have been exhausted, temporarily, at least, and the divers now work in deeper water, fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five fathoms, if the bottom is very uneven and rocky. Many shells are found in the depressions between the large boulders, which may be twenty or thirty feet deeper than the surrounding areas.

The oysters are opened by means of the long-bladed working-knife of the country, known as dah-she. The flesh is thrown into a large basket or washtub, where it is searched by the proprietor of the boat, who takes each piece between the hands and squeezes and feels through every part of it. After the flesh has been carefully examined, the sediment at the bottom of the tub is washed and panned to obtain those pearls which have fallen through the flesh tissues. The Mergui pearls are commonly of good color and luster, and compare favorably with those from the Sulu Archipelago or the Dutch East Indies.

The sea-green shell of the snail (Turbo marmoratus) is gathered in large quantities by the nude diving Selangs, who barter it to Chinese traders at the equivalent of Rs.8 or 10 per 100 in number. The flesh is also dried and disposed of to these traders under the name of thadecon, at about Rs.3 per viss of 3.33 pounds. This mollusk yields a few greenish yellow pearls.

In 1895, three pearl reefs were discovered off the Bassein coast in the district of Irawadi.[[165]] These proved fairly remunerative for one season and a portion of another, when they were abandoned.

THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE RED SEA, GULF OF ADEN, ETC.

Under the Ptolemies, and even long after—under the Califs—these were islands whose merchants were princes; but their bustle and glory have since departed from them, and they are now thinly inhabited by a race of miserable fishermen.

James Bruce (1790).

The Red Sea was one of the most ancient sources of pearls, furnishing these gems for centuries before the Christian era, and particularly during the reign of the Ptolemies. These pearls were alluded to by Strabo, Ælianus, and other classical writers. Although the prominence of the fisheries has suffered by comparison with those of Persia and Ceylon, the yield has been more or less extensive from the days of Solomon up to the present time.