e, the dog, at once perceiving it, plunged off the taffrail to
seize it, swimming toward the shark, and barking as loud as he could. I
fully expected that the monster would have dispatched him in a moment;
but to my surprise the shark was frightened and swam away, followed by
the dog, until the boat that was lowered down picked him up."

"I don't think the shark could have been very hungry."

"Probably not; at all events I should not have liked to have been in
Neptune's place. I think the most peculiar plan of escaping from sharks
is that pursued by the Cingalese divers, and often with success."

"Tell me, if you please."

"The divers who go down for the pearl oysters off Ceylon generally drop
from a boat, and descend in ten or twelve fathoms of water before they
come to the bed of pearl oysters, which is upon a bank of mud: it often
happens that when they are down, the sharks make for them, and I hardly
need say that these poor fellows are constantly on the watch, looking in
every direction while they are filling their baskets. If they perceive a
shark making for them, their only chance is to stir up the mud on the
bank as fast as they can, which prevents the animal from distinguishing
them, and under the cover of the clouded water they regain the surface;
nevertheless, it does not always answer, and many are taken off every
year."

"A lady, proud of her pearl necklace, little thinks how many poor
fellows may have been torn to pieces to obtain for her such an
ornament."

"Very true; and when we consider how many pearl-fisheries may have taken
place, and how many divers may have been destroyed, before a string of
fine pearls can be obtained, we might almost say that every pearl on the
necklace has cost the life of a human creature."

"How are the pearls disposed of, and who are the proprietors?"

"The government are the proprietors of the fishery, I believe; but
whether they farm it out yearly, or not, I can not tell; but this I
know, that as the pearl oysters are taken, they are landed unopened and
packed upon the beach in squares of a certain dimension. When the
fishing is over for the season, these square lots of pearl oysters are
put up to auction, and sold to the highest bidder, of course 'contents
unknown;' so that it becomes a species of lottery; the purchaser may not
find a single pearl in his lot, or he may find two or three, which will
realize twenty times the price which he has paid for his lot."

"