Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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In preparing for descent, the fisherman takes hold of the rope from which the diving stone is suspended, puts one foot in the loop just above the stone and places the other foot in the rim of a net basket, eighteen inches wide, made of coir rope. When ready, he signals his attendant, inhales several good breaths, closes his nostrils with a fitaam or nostril-clasp of flexible horn attached to a cord around his neck, raises his body somewhat above the surface to give force to the descent, releases the slip-knot retaining the stone, and sinks rapidly to the bottom. Immediately disengaging his foot from the stone, he throws himself in a stooping position on the ground and collects as many oysters as possible during the fifty seconds or more in which he is able to remain under water. When near his limit of endurance, he hastily gives a signal jerk to the rope attached to the basket, and the watchful attendant hauls him up as speedily as possible, the diver frequently quickening the ascent by hand over hand movement up the rope. When near the surface, he lets go of the rope and with his arms close to his body pops above the surface puffing and blowing. The contents of the net bag are emptied into a large basket by the attendant, and the dead shells and other refuse are separated from the live oysters and thrown back into the sea, the diver having worked too rapidly at the bottom to discriminate closely as to what he gathered.