CLAM-FISHING IN THE PACIFIC.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2168, 5 February 1881, Page 3

CLAM-FISHING IN THE PACIFIC.

In diving for clams (as in octopus diving) it is usual to provide oneself with a sharppointed stake or an iron rod. At Aitutaki when the tide is out, clams are pioked up everywhere on the reef. At Maulte men dive for themgon the ocean side of the narrow flinging reef when the sea is smooth. On reaohing the bottom the diver stabs the gaping olam, which—for the mollusk is very tenacious of life—at once firmly grasps the weapon. The diver now tugs away with both hands until the olam is dislodged. A couple of expert natives with a canoe will get as many as a hundred in a day when a feast is in preJiaration. At Manihiki and Bakaanga the argest clams are about two spans in length, the animal itself being sufficiently large to satisfy the hunger of three persons. Olamdiving is woman's work is those atolls. Yet it is surprising how few aooidents ocour. The reason for this may be, they dive in comparatively shallow water. Not long since a native was feeling about at the bottom of the lagoon of one of the Faumotu atolls for the dark-edged pearl oyster, when he unfortunately inserted the fingers of his left hand between the valves of a clam. The diver was instantly, made prisoner by the mollusk. His agony was intense. Was it possible to get free ? As the clam was in a hollow just adapted to its size, he could not sever the byssua. At length, in sheer terror of drowning, he cut off his {four fingers with the knife pearl divers carry with them, and rose to the surface a sadder, if not a wiser man. A similar occurrence took place at Penrhyns ; but the diver, instead of maiming himself for life, foroed his knife between the valves, and released himself. Should the clam be attached to a smooth bit of ooral, the speediest mode of resoue is to sever the bundle of silky filaments by which it moors itself. On a neighboring island, ere this could be done, the forefinger of the right hand of a clam-diver was lopped off. Brought ashore in baskets, clams live for some time. Children in their play are apt to put their finger between the open valves, and so get oaught. Their screams soon bring their parents to the rescue, which is effected by stabbing the clam through the cavity for the byssus. The supply of clams in the Faoifio is inexhaustible. If a party of divers should remove all the large ones from any particular locality for a grand feast, and should return next year to the same spot, no difference would be perceived, so rapid is the growth of the olam in these warm waters. Pearls of a peculiarly brilliant hue are occasionally found in the clam.—Bev. W. Wyatt Grill, of Raratonga, in the "Leisure Hour."