The thrones and palaces of Babylon and Ninevah from sea to sea; a thousand miles on horseback .. . receive the oysters; the former stripnaked, and dive to the bottom of the sea. The ears ofthe divers are stuffed with bees-wax, and their nostrilsare compressed with a piece of elastic horn; to theirwaist is fastened a small basket to contain the all is ready, they place their foot upon a stone at-tached to a rope, inhale a long breath, raise their rightarm as a signal to ^ay out the rope, and descend with 46 THRONES AND PALACES OF the stone, holdiug fast to the rope witli the left h
The thrones and palaces of Babylon and Ninevah from sea to sea; a thousand miles on horseback .. . receive the oysters; the former stripnaked, and dive to the bottom of the sea. The ears ofthe divers are stuffed with bees-wax, and their nostrilsare compressed with a piece of elastic horn; to theirwaist is fastened a small basket to contain the all is ready, they place their foot upon a stone at-tached to a rope, inhale a long breath, raise their rightarm as a signal to ^ay out the rope, and descend with 46 THRONES AND PALACES OF the stone, holdiug fast to the rope witli the left collected as many oysters as he can, the diverpulls the signal cord, and his comrades haul him to thesurface again. Some hardy divers can remain under wa-ter eighty seconds, and one could remain six minutes;but ordinarily the time is from forty to fifty make from tw^elve to fifteen descents a day, andbring up a hundred oysters each time. Where the wa-ter is less deep, a pole is driven into the bottom of thesea, and the divers descend head-first along the pole. 1^ k^^t^. TUE 1-KARL-FISHER. Having previously filled their mouth with oil, they spirtout the oil as soon as they reach the bottom, which clar-ifies the shallow water, and enables them to see the oys-ters. Loaded with the treasures of the sea, they re-ap-pear on its surface. But so exhausting are their labors,that divers are short-lived. They rarely attain the primeof life, and in appearance are thin and languid. Theyare frequently compelled to defend themselves against BABYLON AND NINEVEH. 47 the monsters of the deep. They seem not to fear theshark, but they dread the saw-fish, which has been knownto cut a diver completely in two. Although their laborsare so exhausting, and at times so perilous, yet they arepoorly paid. The proportions of the gains are two tothe diver and four to the master; but the needy fisher-man is forced in winter to borrow from his banker, andpay thirty per cent, on the loan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbabylon, bookyear1876
