Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/278

 the nose and ears. I believe the average time these divers can exist under water to be thirty seconds, during which time they detach all the pearl oysters they can seize, but these men do not live long as a rule; they are weakened, ulcers form in their eyes, sores come upon their bodies, and they are frequently seized with apoplexy at the bottom of the sea.”

“Yes,” I replied, “it is an unpleasant avocation, and only to satisfy a caprice. But what number of oysters can a boat capture during the day?”

“From 40,000 to 50,000. It is said that in 1814 the English Government, having taken the fishing on its own account, the divers, during twenty days’ working, brought up 76,000,000 of oysters.”

“Well, at any rate these fishers are well paid?”

“Not at all. In Panama they make only one dollar a week. More frequently they receive a halfpenny for every pearl oyster; and how many do they bring up which contain no pearl!”

“A halfpenny for these poor people who enrich their masters! It is iniquitous.”

“Well, Monsieur, you and your companions shall visit the Manaar Bank, and if by chance we find some early fisher there we will see him at work.”

“That’s a bargain, captain.”

“By-the-by, M. Aronnax, are you afraid of sharks?”

“Sharks!” I exclaimed.

This appeared a somewhat difficult question, to me at least.

“Well?” asked the captain.

“I must confess,” I said, “that I am not yet very familiar with that genus.”

“Well, we people here are accustomed to them, and so