ADVENTURES OF DIVERS.
GOING UNDER WATER.—PEARL DIVING.—COSTUME OF THE DIVERS.—HOW THEY DESCEND.—OBTAINING THE PEARL OYSTERS.—DIVING-BELLS.—HOW THEY ARE MADE.—ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.—ADVENTURES IN DIVING-BELLS.—SUBMARINE ARMOR.—ITS CONSTRUCTION AND USE.—A DIVER’S ADVENTURE.—A HORRIBLE SIGHT.—THE DIVER’S STORY.—A PEARL DIVER AND A SHARK.—A NARROW ESCAPE.—STRATEGY IN THE WATER.—PEARL DIVING.—PREPARATORY STEPS TO BE TAKEN.—PREPARING FOR THE SEVERE TASK.—TRAINING THE PAPOOSES IN MEXICO.—HOW TO AVOID SHARKS AND DOG-FISH.—THE WAYS THAT ARE DARK, AND THE TRICKS THAT ARE VAIN.
To go under the water is pretty nearly as difficult as to go under the earth. Man is not made to live in the water, although he has been known to pass many hours there without touching land. A great many persons seem to have a dread of water in any shape. They rarely bathe, and never drink the liquid when they can obtain anything stronger. It frequently becomes necessary for men to go beneath the surface of the water, exploring the wrecks of ships, and searching for valuable things that are to be found with a varying quantity of fathoms above them. In the East Indies, and in South America, and other parts of the world, the primitive form of diving without any apparatus whatever has been popular for many hundreds of years. The pearl divers of the East are dressed in a costume somewhat resembling that of the famous Greek Slave, minus her fetters. The diver, when preparing to go below, arms himself with a pick, with which to break away the pearl oysters. He is provided with a stone weighing forty or fifty pounds, and attached to a rope several feet in length. Filling his lungs with air, he grasps the rope in his hand, and then jumps from the side of the boat into the water. The weight of the stone carries him down. When he reaches the bottom, he detaches the oysters from the rocks, places them in a bag at his side, and then rises with his prize to the surface. Ordinarily he does not remain more than a minute, or a minute and a half, below the surface, though instances have been known of pearl divers who would remain as long as four or five minutes under the water. Of course he can only remain as long as the air which has been taken into his lungs will last him, and every one who tries to hold his breath knows that this cannot be for a long time.
The diver generally closes his nostrils with a split stick, or something of the sort, to prevent the entrance of the water, and he is very careful to keep his mouth tightly shut. Water and air do not mix well in one’s lungs, and no man has ever yet invented a system of breathing water instead of air. At the depth to which the pearl diver descends, the pressure of the water causes a very unpleasant sensation in the ears, and before he has made many subaqueous journeys the drum of the ear is generally broken. The breakage of the ear-drum causes no serious injury beyond rendering the person who has undergone it hard of hearing, and instances have been known of divers becoming entirely deaf in consequence of the injury to their ears.
PEARL DIVING IN THE EAST INDIES.
IMPROVEMENTS IN DIVING.
DIVING-BELLS.
As an improvement upon the primitive form of diving, the Diving-Bell was invented. It is called a bell on account of its shape, and not in consequence of any sonorous quality. It is constructed in the general shape of a bell, or an inverted tumbler; it is lowered, mouth downwards, into the water by means of ropes attached to a ship, a boat, or the arm of a derrick projecting over the water. Generally, however, it is let down from a ship’s side. The earliest diving-bells had no arrangement for supplying them with air. After the quantity within the bell was exhausted, the diver gave a signal by means of a rope, and the bell was drawn to the surface. At present the diving-bell has a flexible rubber tube attached to it, by which it is constantly supplied with fresh air, so that a diver may remain several hours under water without suffering for want of a pure atmosphere. The foul air is let out through a valve in the top of the bell, and is constantly rising in the shape of little bubbles. The pure air is forced down by means of a pump, which must be kept in steady operation. As long as this pump is at work, and the bubbles are rising from the bell, those above can be assured that everything is satisfactory; but let the bubbles cease to rise, and it is instantly known that something is going wrong.