The largest gem I ever found was shaped just like a big cube, more than an inch square.

It was, however, comparatively worthless.

Actually the finest specimen that passed through my hands was about the size of a pigeon's egg, and of exquisite colour and shape.

Some of the pearls were of a beautiful rose colour, others yellow; but most were pure white.
The greatest enemy the divers had to fear in those waters was the dreaded octopus, whose presence occasioned far greater panic than the appearance of a mere shark.
These loathsome monsters--call them squids, or devil-fish, or what you will--would sometimes come and throw their horrible tentacles over the side of the frail craft from which the divers were working, and actually fasten on to the men themselves, dragging them out into the water.

At other times octopuses have been known to attack the divers down below, and hold them relentlessly under water until life was extinct.