CHAPTER VI.

DAVY JONES’S LOCKER AND ITS TREASURES. Clarence’s Dream—Davy Jones’s Locker—Origin of the Term—Treasures 66 of the Ocean—Pearl Fishing—Mother o’ Pearl—Formation of Pearls—Art and Nature combined—The Fisheries—The Divers and their _modus operandi_—Dangers of the Trade—Gambling with Oysters—Noted Pearls—Cleopatra’s Costly Draught—Scottish Pearls very Valuable—Coral—Its Place in Nature—The Fisheries—Hard Work and Poor Pay—The Apparatus Used—Coral Atolls—Darwin’s Investigations—Theories and Facts—Characteristics of the Reefs—Beauty of the Submarine Forests—Victorious Polyps—The Sponge a Marine Animal—The Fisheries—Harpooning and Diving—Value of Sponges