Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1919 — FORGET ALL CARES [ARTICLE]

FORGET ALL CARES

Pearl Divers Have No Thought for the Morrow. During the Brief Fishing Season They Make Much Money and Spend It With the Most Reckless Prodigality. The Paumotu islands —sometimes called “gold mines” of the eastern Pacific—present a weird and picturesque scene during the season for pearl fishing. From August On come the natives from the surrounding islands to dive for pearls in the calm, waters of the lagoon-thrown open for the purpose. Witmn the narrow strip of sand which surrounds the fishing ground are huddled 3,000 or more, in a mushroom city, sheltered beneath corrugated iron or thatched huts. It Is a motley company. •; —; There are Paumotu divers, bronzed sea gods—who, with their ancestors have been for ages masters of the deep and conquerors of the shark in his own native element. The diver is the center of solicitude for the buyer and trader. He is the indispensable object of the moving picture man who, has hastily built his theater of corrugated iron where he dispenses amusement at metropolitan prices. It is the diver who spends his earnings riding in the wheezy motorcar which the owner operates along a half-mile of sandy beach. It is his earnings which attract a host of others.

In his habits of spending his earnings the Paumotu diver is much like the American prospector and miner of the days of gold strikes and boom mining—eamps. —In the days of his prosperity nothing is too good for him. He buys the choicest of foods and tinned goods. He is proud of the appearance of his women folk and lavishes on them silks, satins, laces Chinese shawls, high-heeled shoes, picture hats and corsets, the last a recent discovery. All of these thingb the trader thoughtfully has provided. Sunday is an Easter parade, and a performance at the picture theater like an evening at the opera. In no “golden horseshoe” in the world are more observant or critical eyes, and woe betide the Paumotu belle who fancies she can attend two of these functions clad in the same costume without being subject to scornful comment. A good diver during the season will bring up several tons of shells which recompense him well. The diver takes no thought for the morrow. He and his wife bask in affluence and enjoyment. He spends as fast as he earns. When December comes and the fishing season is over they return to their little atoll and the simple life with nothing remaining for his months of tolLbut some soiled finery, the memorv of a good time and the anticipation of a repetition of their pleasure the next year.