Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/426

402 Doctor Bronson asked if it was profitable.

"Very much so," was the reply. "At one time pearl-shell was worth £250 a ton; the pearls were reckoned to pay the cost of the work, so that the money obtained for the shell was clear profit. Even when shell fell to half that price the profits were heavy; and certainly they ought to be, to induce a man to endure the privations of the work.

"The best pearls are from the west coast of Australia; they are not equal to Oriental pearls in color, but they are very large, and are eagerly sought. One was sold in London for £1500, or $7500; and frequently single pearls bring as high as $2000.

"I stopped a short time at Somerset, which is the most northerly town in Australia, and entirely devoted to the pearl-fishery. The men living there are a rough lot, wearing very little superfluous clothing, and quite careless about appearances. They go out with sloops and schooners, and send down divers in just the same way that pearl-diving is carried on in Ceylon and the Persian Gulf. Their divers are all black men, and in fact many of them come from the Persian Gulf, being attracted to Australia by the higher wages paid there. The shells are shaped like oyster-shells, and are from twelve to fifteen inches across. The lining of the shell, technically known as nacre, or mother-of-pearl, is the article sought; but the oyster is carefully examined to see that no pearls are missed."

"Didn't I read not long ago about the drowning of many pearl-fishers on the coast of West Australia?" said one of the youths.

"Quite probably," was the reply, "and you are liable to hear of such a calamity at any time. The West Australian fisheries are subject to terrific hurricanes. The signs of these hurricanes are well known, and