Page 259 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

240 COAST OF ARABIA. [cir.

scend; and, even there, how immense must
be the pressure of the fluid by which lie was
surrounded!

The only assistance he makes use of con­
sists of a stone fastened to a rope: on the
former he places his foot, and the latter, when
he is ready, is “ payed down” as fast as pos­
sible after him. A tug on this, when his
object was accomplished, formed the signal
for hauling him again to the surface. Neither

father nor sons appeared to stand in much
dread of the sharks*, though the old man bore
on his arm the scar of a large wound which
he had received in a desperate conflict with
one of these monsters. Amidst the reefs they
are occasionally so numerous and voracious,
that the large coral-fish, which we occasion­
ally hooked at the bottom, were frequently
bitten in two by them before they could be

drawn to the surface. Here it not unfre-
quently became necessary for him to go down
to clear the anchor; but he evinced no disin-

* There really appears some grounds for Sertir’s assertion that,
owing to the dingy colour of tlieir skins, these monsters rarely
attack a native, while the whiteness of a European usually proves
an irresistible bait to their epicurean palate.