The pearl fishery commences in April, and lasts till towards the end of May. It attracts a concourse of visitors not only from the interior of the island, but from various parts of India, whose diversities of language, dress, and manners produce a striking effect. The sea-shore, at other times solitary, is, on the eve of the fishery, suddenly covered with innumerable huts, composed of a few poles stuck in the ground, interwoven with bamboo and covered with the leaves of the cocoa-nut palm. These temporary dwellings often shelter as many as 150,000 persons. The signal for commencing the fishery is given at daybreak by the firing of cannon, and at that moment the several boats cast anchor in the fishing-ground, for at midnight they had left the shore in an extensive fleet, so as to be on the spot at the desired moment. Each boat has its own proper bounds, beyond which it is not lawful to work, and government vessels are on the spot to see that no infringement of contract takes place. The boats each carry a captain, a pilot, and twenty men, of whom ten are experienced divers. Five divers descend at once, the other five taking the plunge when the first ascend. Thus a little time is allowed for regaining strength. In order to descend as rapidly as possible through the water, the diver places his feet on a large stone made fast to one end of a rope, the other end being secured to the boat. He also takes another rope, to the end of which is attached a net, or basket, to contain the oysters. The upper extremity of this second rope is held by two men in the boat. The diver is also provided with a strong knife for detaching the oysters, and as a means of defence against sharks, which are very numerous in those seas, but which do not often attack the divers, being perhaps scared by the noise of the assemblage, and the continual plunging of so great a number of persons. The diver no sooner reaches the ground than he gathers oysters with all possible speed into his basket, and then letting go the rope to which the stone is attached, he pulls that which is held by the sailors, and rapidly ascends to the surface. Some divers make very dexterous use of their feet, holding the net with one foot, clasping the stone with the other, and thus leaving one hand free to close the nostrils, while the other hand holds the rope in descending.