'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎60r] (124/180)

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pearling season about 1 • 30 or 2 p.m .) when it is suspended for prayers, a few cups
of coffee, and an hour's rest; nor is it again interrupted, after being resumed in the
afternoon, until the approach ol evening. Soon after Maghrib or evening prayers
the divers take a substantial meal of fish, rice and dates, and then, after a little
smoking and coffee-drinking, retire to rest for the night.
The Ghais, before entering the sea, strips of his clothes, places a pair of horn
pincers called Fatam (plural Aftamah) on his nose to compress his nostrils, plugs
his ears with cotton-wool, or bees 1 wax, and puts on leather finger-stalls, called
Khabat (singular Khabatah) to protect his fingers from abrasions; he also attaches
a small bag or Diyin (plural Diyain) of coir matting to his person, by hanging it
round his neck or fastening it to his waist. To aid him in his descent he has
a stone or lead sinker weighing 10 to 14 lbs.; this is fastened to a rope called Zaibal
(plural Ziyabil), having above the weight a noose, in which the diver_places his
foot and so is lowered to the bottom of the sea; a second rope, called Ida (plural
Ayadi), is fixed to his girdle and is used to raise him to the surface again. On
reaching the bottom the diver removes his foot from the noose in the Zaibal, which
is immediately hauled up by his attendant Saib, and proceeds to grope his way
along the bottom with one hand and one foot, using the second foot to propel
himself and the disengaged hand to collect oysters within his reach, and place
them in the Diyin. It is said that the oysters are generally found open-mouthed,
but close up when approached. When he cannot hold his breath any longer, the
diver signals to the Saib by jerking the Ida to which he clings, and is immediately
pulled up to the surface and relieved of the shells he has brought. The shells gathered
by a Ghais in a single plunge or Tabbah (plural, Tabbat) generally number from
3 to 20; sometimes however he returns entirely empty-handed. The time occupied
by the plunge is usually from 40 to 75 seconds, but only a few divers can remain
below water for more than one minute.* In the intervals between plunges, the
Ghais, unless the sea is rough, rests in the water, supporting himself by an oar
or by a rope which hangs over the side of the boat. The same diver will make
as many as 50 plunges in a day if the weather is favourable, but only 10 or 20 if the
water is cold. It is rarely that a diver is attacked by a shark (Jarjur) or dogfish
(Kalb-al-Bahr); but in 1900 an unusual number of sharks made their appearance
off the banks and attacked nearly 30 divers, two of whom were killed under water,
while others were rescued in a precarious condition. The diver sometimes suffers
from the stings of the devil-fish or Hammah, and when there are many of these
about he wears a long white shirt to protect him from their embraces. The
exertion of diving is greatly increased by the existence of a current, and, where
currents prevail, the diver is frequently floated away to a distance from the boat,
and comes up much exhausted; in such places a long rope is allowed to trail from
the boat, to which the Ghais can swim on reaching the surface and be hauled in
by the Saib.
Here it may be mentioned that the occupation of diving, though a severe form
of labour and fatiguing at the time, is not considered by those engaged in it to be
particularly injurious to the health, and that it is practised even by old men; on the
other hand, it undoubtedly gives rise, in some cases, to diseases of the respiratory
system and to deafness, A common ailment among divers is a skin disease, to
guard against which those who are liable to it occasionally rub themselves belore
going to sleep with a decoction, called Jaft, from the inner shell of the Persian
acorn, t Senna leaves and a few other common drugs are carried by pearling
boats; but, in case of serious illness, recourse is generally had, whatever the nature
of the symptoms, to actual cautery with a hot iron.
* In Ceylon it was observed that few divers remained more than minutes below, and that
none reached 2 minutes; 15 oysters was apparently an ordinary number for a diver to bring up
with him. . «r i
t Dr. S. J. Thomas, M.D., of the American Mission Hospital, Bahrain, writes:— It has
been my observation that pearl-divers are prone to disease of the respiratory system that may be
caused by over-distention of the lungs and pressure, such as hemorrhage and pulmonary
emphysema, also to deafness from perforation of the ear-drum, and to various forms oi aural
catarrh; but, with the method used by the divers here, not to " paralysis and cramp . In six years
of experience here I have not seen a case of paralysis due to diving. There is a peculiar skin disease
among divers and all classes that spend most of their lives in the sea such as the nshermen and
boatmen. The skin takes on a glazed appearance and breaks out in small postules which generally
heal in a few weeks without treatment if they do not go into the salt water during this time, but ave
never found a treatment that influenced the disease perceptibly where the Patient pursued his
occupation in the sea water. T believe the divers do use the decoction mentioned (Jatt) sometimes,
and it is difficult to say of how much value it is as a prophylactic; but it seems to have little, i any,
curative effect when the disease is once established ".
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