ons, living altogether on fish,
berries, and roots.

The pearl-fisheries of which we were speaking give employment to a
singular class of laborers, consisting of Malays, Lascars, South Sea
Islanders, Australian aborigines, runaway sailors, and West Indian
negroes. Formerly the oysters were raised from four or five fathoms'
depth solely by divers, but dredging has lately been adopted with good
success. The pearl-oyster is a large mollusk, the shell weighing
sometimes as much as eight pounds. The divers are paid fair wages, and
whatever pearls they find become their perquisites, it being the shells
alone that the employer seeks to secure. These, when properly dried and
cleansed, he ships to Europe, where they bring an average of five
hundred dollars per ton. When diving is depended upon for raising the
oysters, a boat is very fully equipped, and the captain, who is the
diver, descends in a full set of armor. Air-pumps supply the necessary
atmosphere to enable him to remain for half an hour and more under
water, during which time he fills the canvas bags which are sent down to
him empty and drawn up by those remaining in the boat. Considerable
capital is embarked in this business. One enemy the divers have to look
out for is the shark. These dreadful creatures do not swarm on the coast
of West Australia, but are nevertheless sometimes seen there; and when
that is the case the diver signals his crew to draw him to the surface,
for though he is armed with a long knife, he could hardly cope with
these ravenous monsters in their own element.

The coast-line of the colony is set down as being three thousand miles
in length on the Indian Ocean, and some hundreds upon the Southern
Ocean. The country is known to be auriferous, but to what extent it is
impossible to say. There are two or three hundred miles of railroad here
belonging to the Government, and more is under contract to be built in
this year of 1888, covering short routes between comparatively populous
points. Immigration is encouraged by liberal appropriations, and the
population is increasing steadily if not rapidly. The late discovery of
gold-fields at the Kimberly district on the Fitzroy River has already
turned public attention thither, and settlers and adventurers are sure
to follow fast. Government survey has shown that on the territory
traversed by the Mary, Margaret, Elvira, and Ord rivers an immense
number of gold-bearing quartz-reefs exist, besides surface d