THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THURSDAY ISLAND
The metropolis of the pearl-fishing industry of the Pacific Ocean
is Thursday Island. It lies in Torres Strait off the north coast
of Queensland and is part of that state. I visited it on my way to
Java and the East Indies, but its story rightly belongs with that of
Australia, and so I tell it here.
If you will turn to the map you will see that Torres Strait, which
separates Australia from New Guinea, is spotted with islands. There are
hundreds of them, some inhabited by strange tribes and others sparsely
settled by Australians. There are islands for every day of the week,
and when we came into the harbour of Thursday Island we were told we
must go on to Friday Island for quarantine.
Thursday Island is scarcely more than a tiny speck in Torres Strait,
but owing to its excellent harbour it is a port of call for ships on
their way through the passage. All the steamers that go about north
Australia to Europe stop here. There are also steamers for Japan,
China, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia, as well as vessels
bound for New Guinea and the islands of the South Seas.
The island has a military importance, as it commands Torres Strait and
is one of the defences of the British possessions in this part of the
world. The harbour is large enough and deep enough for the biggest
warships; it has been strongly fortified and has also a coaling
station.
Through its commerce and pearl fisheries a considerable town has grown
up on the island. Two piers have been built out into the harbour for
the accommodation of the smaller steamers, and back of these are the
warehouses and stores. There are six hotels, three or four churches,
and the large house of the governor, who is a Queensland official. This
stands on a little hill at one end, not far from the barracks, great
two-story buildings with galleries around them, looking not unlike one
of our second-class summer hotels.
The port has one of the most mixed populations of this part of the
world. I had no sooner stepped on the wharf than I was surrounded by
representatives of all the peoples of the South Pacific. There were
brown men, black men, and yellow men; Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese,
East Indians, Fijians, Papuans, and Australian aborigines. There were
pearl divers, beachcombers, _bêche-de-mer_ fishermen, and adventurers
of all colours and races. Thursday Island is a sort of Suez for an
area of nearly twenty thousand square miles of island-sprinkled ocean
between New Guinea and Australia. The town itself is far cleaner
than many of its population, being quite free from epidemics, for
the Queensland government rigidly enforces the health regulations.
Native councillors elected by the people must see that the villagers
keep their houses, food, and clothing clean, that they go regularly
to church, and that they send their children to school. These black
officials strut about in red jerseys with the word “Councillor” in
white letters across the front.
The chief interest in Thursday Island lies in its pearl fisheries.
Pearls and shells are the principal subjects of discussion, and the
finding of a large pearl is talked of everywhere. The best pearl shells
are taken from the coral islands and lagoons. The oysters grow to an
enormous size, often having shells as big as a tin wash basin. The
average weight of a pair of shells is about two pounds. The oysters
lie on the bottom of the sea or cling to the coral rocks. They do not
like sand or mud, and will not thrive where the tide shifts the bottom
about. They grow largest where they can fasten themselves to coral
formations. There are many caverns in the reefs, and the oysters attach
themselves to the roofs of these submarine caves in clusters of a
dozen or more. They cling to the rocks by a cartilage, or muscle, that
extends out near the hinge of the shell, and then branches off into
multitudinous threads, each of which glues itself to the rock.
Several years ago a perfect pearl, weighing thirty-two and a half
grains and valued at five thousand dollars, was taken out of the
Thursday Island grounds. But this was a rare find, indeed, for most
of the money in getting pearl oysters comes from the shells and not
from the occasional pearls within them. It is estimated that only one
shell in a thousand contains a pearl. In a recent year the value of
Australia’s export of pearl shell was nearly two million dollars, while
the value of the pearls shipped in the same year was only about one
sixth as much.
Shell is cash at Thursday Island, and in the world’s markets the
better quality commands from five hundred to a thousand dollars a ton.
It is used for making mother-of-pearl knife handles, buttons, and in
all sorts of inlaid work. Trading vessels sail from island to island
collecting the shell from the natives, in exchange for tobacco, calico,
and other goods. The traders pay from sixty to one hundred dollars per
ton for shell that will sell in London for about ten times as much.
The Japanese have almost monopolized the diving at Thursday Island,
for they will stay longer under water and risk more than any one else.
Among the divers are also many South Sea Islanders, besides Danes,
Swedes, and Malays. The proprietors of the pearl ships say the Japanese
are the best, and that the others often pretend to be sick.
The fishing is done by fleets consisting of one large boat, of, say,
one hundred tons, and several smaller ones. The divers work from the
small boats, each of which has a pump to supply them with air when they
are under the surface. As even the small boats cost several thousand
dollars each, the business takes considerable capital. The diver
prepares for his plunge by slipping on over heavy flannels a diving
suit to which ropes and air tubes are attached. He wears a metal helmet
with circles of glass set in it so that he may see about him. His boots
are soled with plates of copper or lead weighing about twenty-eight
pounds to each foot, while the total weight of his equipment may be
more than one hundred and fifty pounds.
When a diver goes down he takes with him a net bag, which he fills with
shells. He then jerks the signal rope and is pulled up. The shells are
counted and weighed, and he is paid according to what he has found. One
diver has a record of having gathered one thousand pairs of shells in a
day, but half this number is considered a good showing.
Even with the most modern equipment, one hundred and eighty feet is
considered the maximum depth at which divers can work safely, although
some have gone to a depth of two hundred or more feet. As the shallower
beds have given out, the divers have had to go deeper and deeper and
Queensland has made a law forbidding diving below the safety level. But
the state courts have held that a diver must actually be seen below
that depth before violation of the statute can be proved, and, as the
reefs are quite remote and supervision is virtually impossible, the
men often take great risks. At one hundred feet below the surface the
pressure is sixty pounds to the square inch, and it increases as the
diver goes deeper. At a certain depth he is attacked by pains in his
muscles and joints, deafness and spells of fainting, and a kind of
paralysis called “diver’s palsy.” If he is brought too quickly to the
surface the sudden removal of the pressure may cause profuse bleeding
or even death. Every year ten per cent. of the Torres Strait divers die
from the immediate effects of their calling.
I am told that the profession has other great dangers. The Strait
swarms with tiger sharks, which here grow to a length of twenty feet.
They follow the pearl luggers, attracted by the pieces of salt beef now
and then thrown from the boats. Unless very hungry, they trouble only
the naked divers and the man in a suit can open an aircock and make
enough bubbles to frighten them away. When the naked diver is attacked
by a shark he stirs up the water and thus often confuses his enemy so
that he gets back alive, although he may perhaps be maimed for life by
the teeth of the terrible fish. As a rule the divers are not afraid of
the sharks, but they do not spear fish at the bottom of the sea without
first ascertaining whether there are sharks about, for the dead fish
would surely draw them.
Another terror is the great squid. This marine monster fastens its long
tentacles upon anything within its reach. If disturbed it vomits an
inky fluid which discolours the waters about, and the diver, bewildered
in the gloom, is liable to fall against the rocks and be caught.
In the native pearl fisheries much of the diving is done by women, who
go down without suits. They fasten stones to their feet to enable them
to sink, but do not plug up their nostrils and ears as do the pearl
divers of India. Most of them can stay under water only a few seconds
more than a minute, and they cannot work in such deep waters as the men
in diving dress.
Pearls worth one hundred dollars are quite common and a big one, lately
discovered, sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. Since an oyster may
contain a thousand-dollar pearl, and the pearls are so small they can
be easily stolen, the opening of the shells is carefully watched. A
knife much like a common table knife, with a thin, flexible blade and
a strong handle, is used. A good operator can open a ton of shells
in a day and not miss a pearl. The shells containing the pearls have
sometimes a curious appearance so that experts can tell before they are
opened that they have pearls in them. Such shells are always laid aside
to be handled by the proprietor or the foreman of the sloop.
Sometimes one oyster will contain a dozen small pearls and even more.
Such oysters are often diseased and their shells are rough, but on the
other hand a perfectly healthy oyster may contain a fine round pearl
of large size. Many people believe that some irritating substance is
the cause of every pearl. Looked at through a microscope, a pearl cut
in two shows concentric layers like an onion with a hole, or sometimes
a grain of sand in the centre. It is supposed that the grain of sand
irritates the oyster so that it exudes carbonate of lime, coating the
scratchy particle over and over until there has been formed a smooth
round ball that does hot hurt.
[Illustration: The islands about Torres Strait are probably volcanic
fragments of the immense continent supposed once to have connected Asia
and Australia. Only the larger ones are inhabited.]
[Illustration: The natives’ community house is in the centre of most
South Sea island villages. All discussions, feasts, and gatherings are
held here, the traveller is free to use it, and the peddler finds it at
once a hotel and show room.]