The honeycombed eighteen pounder, which was the signal gun of former years, is choked with drifting sand, and the air of misery about the place is indescribable.
Now that the diving helmet has rendered subaqueous discoveries, so easy, I am surprised that a government survey has not been made of the whole north-west coast of Ceylon.

It seems reasonable to suppose that the pearl oyster should inhabit depths which excluded the simple diver of former days, and that our modern improvements might discover treasures in the neighborhood of the old pearl-beds of which we are now in ignorance.

The best divers, without doubt, could never much exceed a minute in submersion.

I believe the accounts of their performances generally to have been much exaggerated.

At all events, those of the present day do not profess to remain under water much more than a minute.
The accounts of Ceylon pearl fisheries are so common in every child's book that I do not attempt to describe the system in detail.