"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٢‎٣‎١] (١٢٦٢/٧٤٨)

2231
v as 50 plunges in a day if the weather is favourable^ but only 10 or
oTjf ^ W ater is cold. It is rarely that a diver is attacked by a shark
Tariur or dogfish (Kalb-al-Bahr j.^1 ) ; but in 1900 an
1 sual number of sharks made their appearance off the banks and
Ttacked 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
^ er e 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 i^m
boat ; to which the Ghais can swim on reaching the surface and be hauled
N 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 case 5 ', to diseases of the respiratory system and to deafness.
A common ailment among divers is a skin disease, to guard against
thich those who are liable to it occasionally rub themselves before g 0 iug
to sleep with a decoction, called Jaft , from the inner shell or t e
Persian acorn.* Senna leaves and a few other common drugs are carried
by pearling boats; but, in case of serious illness, recourse is genera y
had, whatever the nature of the symptoms, to actual cautery with a hot
<1
iron.
Social life, customs and discipline on the Arabian pearl banks.
Social life on the banks is confined to the hours of the evening, w ^en
the Nakhudas and their crews visit friendly boats to enjoy co ee ' wa . er
cakes and tobacco, and to compare notes of their proceedings. During
UlliCB auu LUUclCUU, ana tu Xiuuco v-^ r -r 1 1 .C 44. 1 rvf
the season a small bazaar is formed on Dalmah Island tor e sa e o
supplies, and Taw washes or petty dealers and Musaqqams come ere
to buy pearls and recover debts.
* Dr. S. J. Thorns, M.D., of the American Mission Hospital, PahraiD, writes t—
" It has been my observation that pearl-divers are prone to disease o ® ^ ^
system that may be caused by over-distention of the a S ,. ' r
hffimorrbage and pulmonary emphysema, also to deafness froni P ei ? , , ,
ear«drum, and to various forms of aural catarrh ; but, with the method
divers here, not to " paralysis and cramp". In six years of ? x P eil ® nce ,. amone
^t seen a case of paralysis due to diving. There is a peculiar skin , fishermen
^ers and all classes that spend most of their lives in the sea such as the tisherm
and boatmen. The skin takes on a glazed appearance and breaks
postules which generally heal in a few weeks without treatment if they ao noi g
into the salt water during this time, but I have never fotind a trea .
enced the disease perceptibly where the patient pursued 0 ccuP a ^jn the sei
water. I believe the divers do use the decoction mentioned (Jaft) son ^ ,' |-^| e
difficult to say of how much value it is as a prophylactic^ but it s^msto have little,
if any, curative effect when the disease is once established .