Wonderful Women Divers

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 September 1910, Page 4

Wonderful Women Divers

Almost every day thousands of pounds are being spent on pearls by people who are eager to posses them but have little, if any, idea of the romance surrounding their history and their cultivation. Although to-day our associations with the ha<i East are closer than they ever have been, it is doubtful whether many English people realise that •Japan has been famous as a centre of the pearl industry foir more than fifteen centuries. In ancient times Japanese- pearls wore used more for general decoration than for personal adornment. They were to be found in old lacquer wolrk, desks, furniture or cloisonne work, "inro," "net.suke," tobacco bags, and sometimes in sword handles. The history of Japan contains not many refefrences to the use of pearls in connection with feminine jewellery. Evidently in ancient times there were mo brooches, bracelets, rings, or pendants. Only the hair was ornamented. Hence it is that large pearls in old .Japan were only used for hairpins and for tobacco bags and for string fasteners, and that many valuable pearls weire lapped in cloth. This lanoing was attended with not a little superstition. When two pearls were thus lapped together, it. was thought that they would multipU in time. Still another superstition was that a pearl wrapped in a cloth was regarded as a family treasure, the ]X)Ssession of which ensured prosperity to the family. More curious than these customs is the use of pearls as a medicine. The ancient Greeks were in tho habit of drinking pearls to improve the skin. The ancient Japanese took thein into the system to improve the eyc-

sight. Among the many different methods employed in Japan fo'r pearl fishing none is more interesting than that employed by the women divers, who obtain the pearl oysters. Pearl fishing is conducted mainly by men divers in Australia and India and other countries, but in the region about Ago Bay, 111 the province of Shima, the Bay of Gokasho in the province of Ise. as well as in other parts of the country, women are employed in diving.

The women along the coast of the Bay of Ago and the Bay of Gokasho, when they reach thirteen or fourteen yea if!, by which time they have completed a primary school education, go to sea and learn to dive. Thus they arc trained more or less from childhood in their vocation. Their native towns and villages lie along the seashore. Hence it is but natural that they , should all dive and swim almost from babyhood, They are in the water almost all the year round, except in the coldest season, from tho end of December to the beginning of February. Vet even during this inclement season they sometinics dive for pearls.

These women divers wear a special dress. White underwear is worn, and the hair is twisted up into a hard knot. The eyes arc protected by glasses to prevent the entrance of water. Tubs are suspended from the waist. A boat 111 command of a man is assigned to every five or ten women divers to carry them to and from the fishing grounds. When the divers arrive on the grounds they leap into the water at once, and begin to gather oysters at the bottom. The oyster.are dropn-ed int-o the tubs suspended from their waists. When these vessels are filled, the divers arc raised to the surface and jump into the boat.

The Mikimolo pearl farms lie at a depth of from five to thirty fathoms, with an average of ten fathoms. The women dive to the bottom without any special apparatus, and retain their breath while the\ remain under the water. They sta\ under the snrfa'O from one to tkro'cminutes. . When thev are chilled they return to the shore, and warm themselves at fires built in huts especially for the pur.pose, and then return and resume their work.

Tim women engaged in (.his work vary in aire from thirleen to forty years. Women from twenty-five t'<; thirty-five make the best divers. b;»caMso of their i>hysi<-nl strength and experience. The hrmis of lahmn very with the seasons. Tn wnnn s'intmcr went.her annul six to eiuh: hours constitute a rhiv's work, "in "old weather the divers cannd wi rk more than from one to two hours. lYe wages paid range from Mxpenec to hall a ciown ada v. The luVhest ever paid is t.nir shillings. Astonishing as it may seem, some of the women manage to save "onsidrrabh money,_ largely because the erst:, of living is very low. Movt ~f the youug d, vers try to earn their marriage down- !iv dirin.o-. Even af ter marriage inanv of them support their families m this way.