PEARL-DIVING IN MANIHIKI

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21456, 24 April 1935, Page 12

PEARL-DIVING IN MANIHIKI

Romantic Trade of the Lagoons BATTLE WITH SHARK (SIVKCIAkLI WRITTEN FOE THE PEESS.) [By R. K. PALMAR.] XIV. Manihiki has perhaps the most beautiful atoll of the upper Cooks, its inhabitants are noted for generosity and their skill in making surpassingly fine hats, and it is a model of cleanliness. But when the visitors on the Matai forget all those things they will still remember Manihiki as the place where, through many fathoms of clear water, a brown figure could be seen moving towards the sea-bot-tom, for it was there that we saw the romantic trade of pearl diving, which we had missed at Penrhyn. . While the resident agent, Captain J. A. McCulough, was busy with his mail, three of us went out _on the lagoon with a native crew in one oi their pearling boats, well-finished craft about 15 feet long, made on the island. The boat was decked for three or four feet from the bow, and here, as soon as the breeze had carried us a mile or so out on the lagoon, a boy perched, watching the bottom. The five others in the crew sat back and smoked our cigarettes. Good pearling ground seemed to be a long way off, but by the time we were a few minutes from the jetty we did not much mind whether we reached it or not. In the shadow of the mainsail it was pleasantly cool, the lagoon was blue beyond belief, and nothing was more to our taste than to 101 lin the boat waching the other sails dotted about, the tiny islands that poked above the water here and there, or the fringe of palmcovered coral that stretched right round us, nowhere more than two or three miles away. The boy in the bows called to the others, the sails were lowered, and the anchor —a piece of brass that had once been part of one of the ships that have ended their sailing days on the reef —was dropped. Twelve fathoms of rope ran out before the anchor touched bottom.

The diver of the party, a man of 40 or so, took his wooden float and plaited pearl-basket from the bottom of the boat and threw them overboard. His diving-glasses, plain glass set in wooden frames that would fit tight against the skin, were washed and fitted, and then he slipped into the water. Pushing the float and basket in front of him, he swam slowly round, his face under watei - , while he examined the bottom.

The First Dive What he could see we did not know; to us the bottom seemed to be merely patches of light and shade, which apparently meant a great deal to him. j Satisfied that he was in a good place, he rested for a moment or two, smiled at us, turned over, and disappeared, Ilia feet kicking as he left the surface. The depth these trained divers can reach is remarkable. An ordinary good swimmer begins to feel very uncomfortable at about 20 feet, if he can get dov/n as far as that, but the Penrhyn or Manihiki diyer has hardly begun his dive at that depth. A European who used to live at Penrhyn disbelieved the divers when they told him they could work at 20 fathoms until he began to use a diving suit. One day lie got down to 20 fathoms — and felt less inclined than ever to believe the natives' claim—when he felt something touch him and turned to see one of the divers beside him, smiling at him. Our diver flickered down towards the vari-coloured bottom at an amazing speed as far as we could see him. Unfortunately there was a slight ripple on the water so that we could not watch him at work, as one sometimes can. Each of us was confident that he could see the diver moving, but when he actually broke the surface—it seemed many minutes later, but no one had a watch—he was a chain away on the other side of the boat.

He smiled at us, but he had nothing in his hand, and we wondered aloud, quite safely since none of the crew could talk English, whether this was a ramp arranged for gullible travellers. We decided, while he rested on his float, that visitors at Manihiki are so rare that the natives were unlikely to have developed a method of deceiving them. We were right, for he repeated the performance, and this time brought to the top a big shell, nine inches across. There could be no deception. The anchor rope had definitely run out its 12 fathoms before the anchor touched.

Search for Pearls By this time the boat which had been sent to the islet on the reef where the lepers were segregated was on its way back, and there was no time for more pearling, and the sail was hoisted again. Going back, one of the other boys opened the big oyster and carefully pressed its flesh through his fingers.. We all said, "Of course there's no chance of a pearl," as we watched, hoping that there might be a miracle and three pearls. But even in the pipis that clung to the big shell there was not a pearl or a blister. We did not feel inclined to solace ourselves, as the natives did, by eating the oyster.

Twelve fathoms, 72 feet, is a good forking depth for the pearlers. Only one or two of the older men can now reach much more than 15, even though the population is trained from the time it can walk. Three little boys at Penrhyn, none more than 10, could all dive, and their father said they could work at three to four fathoms.

A'; Penrhyn Philip Woonton, the resi-1 dent agent, who knows everything there is to be known about the natives there, had described to us how the divers work when they get below a certain depth, making one stroke of the arms, than holding their noses and blowing hard to equalise the pressure in the. middle ear. They do not take in great chestfuls of air before they go under, or they would be too buoyant to reach the depths. Effect of Pressure The deep-water work has its dangers, the most common being the physical effect of the pressure. Deafness and partial paralysis are fairly common among the older men. But the lagoons have other and more dramatic perils. When Dr. Ellison was inspecting the people of Penrhyn on a previous visit, he noticed one man who had no triceps on one arm. "How did that happen?"' he asked. "Shark," said the man, as a New Zealander might say "motor-cycle," and no more explanation would he give.

The then resident agent, who had been in the island since boyhood; told the whole story. He had been fishing with four natives one day, all of them diving down tc the best depth for fish, swimimrig about among them, picking out those that were best to eat, and stringing them on a line attached to the upper arm. This is a common native mett-jd of fishing in the lagoons, and one to which the fish appear to have no objection, for they move calmly abcut while the men swim among them. Sometimes a maneating shark appears, and the natives make for the surface, unstringing a fish at a time, and tossing them to the shark which, no more astute than other

fish, stops for the small bait, and lets the big one get away. On this occasion, the agent said, three of the boys came to the surface, and, since they had seen no sign of a shark, waited unconcernedly for the fourth. He did not come up. The interval lengthened, and the men knew something was wrong. Still no sign, and they dived. On the way down they met their companion coming up, both his arms bent out behind him, and firmly clenched between those arms and his back, a great shark. From his upper arm blood flowed quickly, colouring the water he had passed through. Down many fathoms, after the others had gone to the surface, there had been a fierce battle. The shark had dived not at the man, but at his string of fish, but the string had been short and the triceps went, too. The diver know tha. once the shark had tasted blood he would want more; there was nothing for it but to fight. Quick as thought, he pushed one arm round behind him, over the shark, and held it. The shark threshed, wanting food. The man fought, wanting to live. At last he got his other arm round the shark, and slowly worked his way to the top, t&king the attacker with him. Then his friends reached him. Fortunately there was a warship in the lagoon, and its surgeon, the first man to hear the almost incredible tale of presence of mind in horrifying circumstances, saved the diver's life. Manihiki gave us presents to take away, after the women had beaten the drums and koriros to call the people, and we saw there the finest piece of workmanship in the islands, a carved table with an intricate design inlaid in pearl-shell, worked by a master craftsman who would be kept busy, were he in New Zealand, producing high-priced furniture for wealthy people. The hats, mats, baskets, and fans are all valued, but for two of us thi most treasured souvenir is half a pearl shell, the back laboriously filed and sandpapered smooth on the voyage back. It is the only piece of shell that we actually saw dived for.