As the fishery increased rapidly in extent, the problem of securing nude divers became a serious one, and “nigger hunting” became rather common, the Australian black man representing the cheapest form of labor, working for his food, tobacco, and the simplest articles of clothing. There was no complaint that the men thus impressed were treated with inhumanity; on the contrary they were well fed and cared for; yet, with a view to protecting them and preventing even a suspicion of wrong-doing, the Australian government enacted regulations restricting pearling contracts with the natives. Nearly every year these regulations became more stringent, affecting the hours for diving, and limiting the work to depths of six and a half fathoms, so that the employment of Australian aborigines in the fishery became extremely troublesome and annoying. The government of the Netherlands also placed severe restrictions on the employment of natives of the Dutch Indies, requiring security of £20 per head for the repatriation of each man; and the local chiefs or rajahs also expected a rake-off before permitting their men to ship. These Malays—from the islands of Solor, Allor, Adonare, etc.,—also expected much better pay and better provisions than the Australian blacks. The following interesting account by Henry Taunton gives a graphic description of the fishery as carried on at that time: The work was far from easy. It was exhausting and perilous for the divers, and full of privation, exposure, and danger for the white men. Only the hope of a prosperous season reconciled one to the life. When shells were plentiful and the weather fine, the work was exciting and interesting enough; but during rough weather, when one had to be constantly straining at the oar to keep the dinghy from drifting too rapidly, or when hour after hour might pass without the men bringing up a single shell, the discouragement was great. The rays of the vertical sun beating down on one’s shoulders at such times seemed as if it would never reach the western horizon, which was the signal for returning on board.