the peninsula itself. Nearly all come from the seaports on the opposite coast of Sonora. There is a master, termed armador, who is sometimes owner of the vessel and outfit. Sometimes he is only a supercargo intrusted with the commercial department of the undertaking, its real owner being a merchant, resident in Guaymas, Mazatlan, or some other Pacific port. "The armador finds the vessel, a schooner of twenty to forty tons, the diving-boats, the provisions required for a three months' sojourn among the placeres, with all the implements required in the calling. Both these and the food provided are of the simplest kind; the latter consisting of dried figs, some sun-dried beef (tasajo), with a quantity of Mexican beans (frigoles), and maize meal to make the universal dish called atole. The armador is also provided with cash to purchase their share of the pearls from his divers; but he finds a more profitable currency in a keg or two of aguardiente, distilled from the wild maguey, or mezcal plant. "He has nothing to do either with the management of the craft or the actual diving for the oysters. The first is in charge of a skipper, called the arraez, who has four or five not very expert sailors to assist him. These are mostly half-caste Mexican Indians; though white men, and sometimes negroes, form a portion of the crew. "The 'buzos' or divers are nearly all full-blooded Indians of the Yaqui tribe, the most powerful in Sonora. They are men who have practised diving until they are almost as much at home under the water as upon its surface. They commonly follow their perilous calling for about three months in the year, that is, while the fishery lasts. When it is over, they return with their gains-not very heavy — and betake themselves to other occupations ; for the Yaquis, besides being one of the most warlike, are also an industrious race. Many of them take their women along with them to the fishery, where they are also accompanied by the crones or sorceresses of the tribe, who are supposed to have the power of insuring success in their enterprise. "As the 'buzos' are by no means of prudent habits, at the outset of each expedition they look to the armador for their outfit. It consists of a knife, a yard or two of coarse baize (bayeta) to wrap their loins in, and a few trifles required in their simple cuisine. This outfit is considered in the light of an advance of wages, to be deducted from the first product of their industry. "At whatever time the different vessels may start from their ports of embarkation, they all arrive about the same time at the common rendezvous. Of these there may be several more or less frequented, according to the popularity which the placeres have obtained in the preceding year. There is no monopoly as to the ground. The oyster-beds are not preserved ; though they are not quite so free as the ocean itself, since a tax of twenty per cent on the 'take' is demanded by the government. In former times, when the Spaniards held sway in these parts, and the Virgin was more revered, she too came in for her diez mo. This religious tribute is now abolished, to the great chagrin of the Californian fathers of the Church. The divers are not paid in cash, but in pearls, or more strictly speaking, in oys ters. When they have fished up a certain number, and before the shells are opened, the partition is made. One fifth goes to the custom-house, whose officer is upon the spot to guard against contrabandism; though in his own dealings with the government he is less particular. The residue is divided into two equal portions; one half for the armador, the other remaining the property of the divers. The pearls rarely stay long in possession of these. The unsettled score for advanced wages, and the yearning for aguardiente, soon tempt the precious pearls out of the pockets of those who have procured them with so much toil, and at so great risk of life; and the Indian too often returns to his native village as poor as when he left it. - The arreo is some "He is himself not so very innocent; he will secrete a pearl whenever he can find the chance, and dispose of it upon opportunity. This he has no difficulty in obtaining; since one half the employment of the arreos and armadors consists in the purchasing of pearls that have been surreptitiously abstracted from the shells by the buzos in their boats, each supercargo trading with the divers belonging to some rival owner. times paid a regular salary by the week or month, and so also is the armador, who is not the owner of the vessel he is in charge of. Often, however, both share in the enterprise, or are allowed to take a number of divers on their own account. The daily routine of the pearl-diver is sufficiently monotonous, unless when it is varied by some perilous adventure with a shark, a manta, or other monster of the deep. "The men have their breakfast of atolé (a sort of gruel made of Indian meal) along with roast or stewed tasajo. At eleven they are rowed out in their boats, small craft without decks. Each is provided with a stick of about twelve inches in length, pointed at both ends, — the points having been hardened by fire. It is the butaca, the buzo's only weapon for defence against the sharks. He carries it stuck behind his girdle of cotton stuff, the sole garment he deigns to wear while engaged in diving. If attacked, he simply inserts the butaca inside the jaws of the shark, placing it transversely between them, just as they have opened to swallow him. The monster becomes its own destroyer. But the buzo occasionally encounters an enemy against which his pointed butaca is but a poor means of protection. This is a species of ground-shark called the tintorero, far more formidable than the common kind, far more voracious and cunning of fence. Fortunately he is of rarer occurrence than his gray congener; and when he makes his appearance upon a placer, there is a general combination among the divers to give chase to and destroy him. Another monster, yet more rare and more dreaded, is the manta, or blanket-fish, sometimes called marrayo, -an enormous species of polypus, which enwraps the diver in its vast floating folds, and drags him down to the dark caverns of the deep. "The diver's toil is too severe to be long continued. It is over by the hour of two; when he is rewarded by his dinner of tasajo and frigoles. The afternoon is spent in the distribution of the spoils. The armador sees that his shells are placed in a pile exposed to the sun; where, after a time, the rough valves relax their sinewy contact, and are easily opened. The process of washing is then performed in tubes or tanks constructed for the purpose: and the precious pearls come glistening forth to gratify the eyes that stand anxiously expecting them. When one larger than common appears, a valuable viuda (widow), - for by this name are known those of deep purplish color, then may be witnessed the usual signs of rejoicing; the fortunate proprietor fancying for the time that he has been richly rewarded for his toil. It is, in fact, a similar excitement to that experienced by the gold-digger who has discovered a nugget, or the gambler who has won a grand stake; and in this may be found the charm of the pearl-diver's life; otherwise it would be an existence so tame as to become intolerable. "You will think I am a long while in coming to the promised adventure?" said my lieutenant, after completing his extended account. "It is possible I may have talked you asleep, Captain." "On the contrary, you have kept me awake. I have been very much interested in all you have said. I pray you go on." "Well, I told you the Yankee whaler carried his diminished crew, of whom your humble servant was one of the survivors, to the pearl placeres. He had no difficulty in finding them. He knew there were some near Cerralvo, where he had once been before; and on sighting this island we saw the assembled fleet of the regular pearl-fishers, for it was in the season of the buzeo. We dropped anchor in their midst, our craft, although only a two-hundred-ton schooner, appearing like a leviathan among them. "Once on the ground, however, our skipper did not see his course so clear. What was he to do for divers? There was n't a man among his crew who could have brought up an oyster from the bottom; few, indeed, who desired to engage in such an undertaking. I was myself—I don't say it with any intention of boasting-the best swimmer aboard, the best diver too; but in that I should have appeared a novice among the Yaquis, who were plunging about the place. Our skipper tried to detach a number of them from the service of their legitimate masters, but without any success. Partly from natural jealousy, and partly that they were bound by contract, they resisted his bribes; though he offered them a percentage far exceeding that which they were obtaining. "On his purpose becoming known to the Mexicans, we found ourselves in a hornet's nest. The arreos and armadors, backed by their motley crews, united in a body against us; and we were in danger of being mobbed in the middle of the ocean. We were allowed to land; but our stay upon shore was not desirable. Whenever we went among the huts and tents of the buzos, we were followed by a crowd of scolding crones; who, regarding us in the light of interlopers, poured every imprecation upon our heads. He ap "You would suppose that our skipper would have given the thing up, and sailed back to the Pacific in search of cachalots. He was not the man to yield so easily. He had come into the Gulf of California to fish for pearls ; and for pearls he would fish. So did he declare his determination. pealed to his crew of whalers, myself among the rest. Stung by the slighting treatment we had received from the Mexican fishermen, and a trifle stimulated by their jeers, we were but too willing to assist him; and we at once determined to have a try at the trade of diving for oysters. “As it chanced, there were two or three independent buzos upon the island. These, secured by a golden bribe, consented to become our instructors. "I shall never forget the sensation I experienced in making my first descent to the bottom of the great deep. I had often been under water before; and thought nothing of taking a header from the bulwarks of a ship or the parapet of a bridge. But then I only went down to come up again as soon as I could, and as soon as the pressure upon the ears became painful. I had never gone to that depth where the drum of your ear seems suddenly to burst, with an explosion as of a cannon fired close to your head, and followed by an instantaneous cessation of the pain! "Directed by one of the divers, I underwent this experience. With arms joined overhead, I made a somersault out of one of the ship's boats, going down at the first plunge as far as the impetus would carry me. At the depth of three or four fathoms I felt the water grow colder; and the pain both in my eyes and ears was then excruciating. I was prepared for this; and also to find that I could not go deeper without making an exertion of my arms and limbs. I felt light as a cork, with a constant tendency to 'bob' up again to the surface. “There was much to make me yield to this tendency. There was the fear of going too deep, but more than that did I dread at such a depth to encounter the sharks or other monsters who might be down below. My confidence had not been confirmed by what I had heard before taking the dive. While standing by the gunwale of the boat, I had listened to the talk of the Mexican fishermen, who, amidst jeering shouts, also gave voice to a cry of more unpleasant significance: Guarda te los tintoreros! Guarda la manta!' 'Beware of the ground-sharks! Beware of the blanket-fish!" "But while their cries had done much to terrify, they had also done something to fortify me in my determination to reach the bottom. At four fathoms depth I remembered them; and knowing the reproaches that would hail my sudden reappearance, I once more kicked energetically upwards, and with head downward continued my descent. I soon after felt that indescribable sensation, that tapping of the tympanum, accompanied by its unearthly report, preceded by excruciating pain, and followed by a proportionate pleasure, such as one feels on escaping from the shock of a shower-bath! "This over, I no longer dreaded going down; and, renewing my exertions, I soon found myself at the bottom of the sea. I did not stay to look for oysters; the most precious pearl could not have detained me. I felt that I had done enough for one dive; and ceasing to battle against the buoyancy of the water, I was carried back to the surface without making the slightest ⚫ exertion, Blood was oozing from my ears, eyes, and nostrils. But there was no pain; and my instructor comforted me with the declaration, that the triple hemorrhage was always experienced in such cases, at the same time assuring me against any evil results. "On my next attempt at diving, I brought up an oyster which chanced to contain a very large pearl of the kind known as viuda. I felt no little elated by my success, scarce attributing it to chance. "We - that is the crew of the whaler, skipper included — had been all - along under the belief that the pearl-oysters were deposited in 'beds' at the bottom. We supposed they would be found strewed over the sand or pebbles as thickly as shells upon a sea-beach. My first dive showed me the incorrectness of this belief, and that 'beds' applied to the depositories of the pearl-bearing bivalve is a misnomer, arising from its application to the banks whereon are found the oysters of the common species. Instead of a sandy or pebbly bed, I found the bottom of the Californian Gulf- at least that part where we had set about collecting the pearls to be an incongruous chaos of rocks; with here and there dark fissures between them a foot or two in width, and often running down to the depth of eight or ten feet. To these rocks, both on their sides and top, the shell-fish were attached, clinging to them with their threads, like barnacles to the copper of a ship. The light at such a depth-eight fathoms it was glimmered dim as twilight; but I had no difficulty in discovering the oysters. Though not set thickly over the rock, I could see several at a time, and with sufficient distinctness to know that they were the objects for which I had gone down. They appeared of great size, so much larger than those I had observed in the hands of the buzos above, that for the moment I fancied myself the fortunate finder of some rich placer, for a long time left undisturbed. I was then unacquainted with a very simple phenomenon: the magnifying power of light, or rather semi-darkness, at that great depth. On seizing hold of a shell-fish, one of the largest that was near me, I was not undeceived. Strange to say, it felt to the touch just as it appeared to the eye, - proving how one of our senses may lead the other astray. It was not till after I had got back into the boat and examined my treasure, that I perceived it was no bigger than several others already there; although, as above stated, it contained one of the largest and most precious of pearls. "I afterwards ascertained that the size of the shell is no criterion either of the bulk of the enclosed pearl, or its value in other respects. Often a medium-sized oyster is fished up, producing a pearl of high price, while some of the largest shells are found altogether wanting in that portion of their contents so much coveted. Very small shells, however, being those of young fish, are scarce worth the trouble of washing. "During my first spell at diving I was cured of another misconception, as were also my fellow-whalesmen. I had been under the impression that the shells only needed 'picking up,' and bringing along with one to the surface. Picking up, indeed! It required all my strength to detach them from the stones to which they clung by their broad beard-like fringe, as firmly fixed as if the air had been pumped from under them. Several times, while in the act of tugging at a shell, I was compelled to let go, or else have my fingers lacerated by the sharp spinous protuberances set all over its exterior. Letting go too abruptly was followed by a sudden ascent to the surface, — just as if one had been holding on to the projection of a cliff, and by relaxing his hold had fallen gently to the bottom. It was like reversing the order of gravitation, and, instead of downwards, making a descent upwards! "To all these phenomena - strange at first-we soon became accustomed; |