course regulated by the weather and the state of the tide. The
captain himself went out first of all in the whale-boat, and from
it prospected for shells at the bottom of the crystal sea. The
water was marvellously transparent, and leaning over the side of
the boat, Jensen peered eagerly into his sea-telescope, which is
simply a metal cylinder with a lens of ordinary glass at the
bottom. Some of the sea-telescopes would even be without this
lens, being simply a metal cylinder open at both ends. Although
they did not bring the objects looked at nearer the vision, yet
they enabled the prospector to see below the ruffled surface of the
water.

The big whale-boat was followed at a respectful distance by the
flotilla of smaller boats, each containing from four to six Malays.
When Jensen discerned a likely spot through his peculiar telescope,
he gave the signal for a halt, and before you could realise what
was going to happen, the native divers had tumbled out of their
boats, and were SWIMMING in a weird way down to the bottom of the
translucent sea. As a rule, one man was left in each little boat
to follow the movements of the divers as they returned to the
surface. Not only did these divers wear no mechanical "dress," but
they used no stimulants or palliatives of any kind to aid them in
their work. All they carried was a small sheath-knife hung from
the waist by a piece of string. The water for the most part was
only two or three fathoms deep, but sometimes it would be as much
as eight fathoms,--which was the greatest depth to which the men
cared to go. When he reached the bottom, the diver would grope
about for shells, and generally return to the surface with a
couple, held in his left hand and hugged against his breast; the
right hand was kept free and directed his movements in swimming.