Page 257 - Neglected Arabia Vol I (1)

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Pearls
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Mrs. Louis P. Dame
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. AVE you ever slopped at a jeweler's window and gazed on the
. costly pearl necklaces and ihe brooches and other things >ct
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with pearls? Did it ever occur tu you to wonder where they
I came from and what they had gone through before they were
1 placed in the window display? It may seem strange to you to learn
' that this little island on which we live, this far-away, forlorn little town,
ii the real center of the pearl trade of the world. If it were not for the
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pearls this town would fade away, there would be no reason for its
existence. I’
' There are the divers, who make a bare living diving under the blue
waters to bring up the oyster shells, there are the men who hold the

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I’EARLING BOATS
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rupes, and the rest of the diving boat's crew, there are the men who go . i !
: 1 out from boat to boat to speculate on the success of the catch and bring
i in the pearls, there are the merchants and brokers who buy and sell the !
: pearls, and there are the other folks who supply the necessities of life
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j for all these groups. Indeed everything in this island centers directly i
i or indirectly on the pearl industry.
The main diving season began after the last month of Ramadhan, and ; *!
i *c saw hundreds of boats with their white sails Hung to the breeze going
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j jut to sea. It is really a very pretty sight to see, like a great flock of
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! white-winged birds on the deep blue watei.
1 A diver’s equipment is very crude. When he dives he dons no rubber »• !
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