Page:Account of a most surprising savage girl.pdf/17

17 they entered for the sake of drinking, which they performed by dipping in their chin up to the mouth, and sucking the water like horses. But they most frequently entered the rivers to catch the fish they saw at the bottom, which they brought on shore, to open, skin and eat them.

Having hinted to Mademoiselle le Blanc, the difficulty I had to believe it possible, for her to make her way out of a deep river, in the way she mentioned, without the assistance of her hands and breath; she assured me, that without such assistance she always mounted to the surface, a very little breath being sufficient for that purpose, having given an example only four years ago. Of this she shewed me the way, standing upright, with both arms held straight up, as if holding something above the water, having the end of her handkerchief between her teeth, like a fish, breathing at the same time softly, but without stopping, with each corner of her mouth alternately, as a smoaker breathes with one side of his mouth, while he holds his pipe in the other.In this way, by le Blanc’s account, she and her companion passed the Marne, in their way