Divers soon find themselves able to remain under water two minutes; some occasionally stay three minutes, but never longer. Young divers at first are curiously affected; blood rushes from the nose, eyes, and ears, when they come up, caused by the compression of the lungs. It is a painful sight, but rest and cold water are the only remedies applied, and, after a short time, the bleeding is not renewed on diving. [Sidenote: THE OPENING OF THE SEASON.] The opening of the season is marked by a ceremony, intended to be very solemn. A sorcerer is brought with the divers, to exorcise the sea, and protect them. In the performance of his important duty, this highly-gifted personage addresses awful language to the dog-fish, setting forth his past atrocities and admonishing him to act a better part in future. A single plunge enables a diver to secure five or six oysters, sometimes seven or eight, but rarely more. The boats which attend them are managed by rowers, or are secured by an anchor, or a stone, fastened to a rope. Some of the divers have a rope around them, attached to the boat. The most prudent course is to be as little encumbered as possible, that they may avoid the sharks and dog-fish. They are, however, generally armed with a short stick, made of hard wood, and pointed. A lookout or watcher is in each boat, to give a signal to those under water when danger is apparent. [Sidenote: THE WAYS THAT ARE DARK.] The gangs of younger divers divide into three parties, and rest for longer periods. They go to their labor fasting. When below, they of course snatch the oysters up as quickly as possible, using the short stick they carry, when necessary to separate them from any other substance. Finding an oyster likely to contain a pearl, the stick is sometimes used to open it, and the diver will reappear with a shell or two, and tell that during three minutes immersion he could discover nothing but shells. The fraud is often discovered, and the stick freely used on the head or back of the cheat. _Jules Verne_, in his _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea_, gives the account of an adventure of a pearl-diver, which is of the most thrilling nature; Prof. Aronnax has gone down to the bottom of the sea, in a peculiar diving apparel, which allowed him to remain under water for a considerable time, with Captain Nemo of the Nautilus, and two or three other men. The professor tells his story thus: “About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do with.