Travels in India (Tavernier) 98.1

98.1

Pearls are found in the eastern and western seas, and both for the satisfaction of the reader and for the purpose of not omitting anything upon this matter, although I have not been in America, I shall mention nevertheless all the places where there are pearl-fisheries, commencing with those in the East. In the first place, there is a pearl-fishery round the island of Bahren, in the Persian Gulf. It belongs to the King of Persia, and there is a good fortress there, where a garrison of 300 men is kept. The water which is drunk in this island and that used on the coast of Persia is salt, and has an unpleasant taste, and it is only the people of the country who can drink it. As for strangers, it costs them not a little to obtain good water, for they have to get it out at sea from half a league distance from the island up to nearly two leagues. Those who go in boats for it should number five or six, one or two of whom dive to the bottom of the sea, having suspended from their waistbands a bottle or two, which they fill with water and then cork them well. For at the bottom of the sea there, for about two or three feet in depth, the water is fresh, and the best that can be drunk. When those who have dived to the bottom of the sea to get this water, pull a small cord which is attached to one of those who remain in the boat, it is the signal to their comrades to haul them up.