Page:Art of swimming rendered easy.pdf/18

 all dive down, the two hands must be turned back to back, and close to one another ; after which you must extend them with all the swiftness you eancan [sic], your thumbs turned upwards, and your forefingers towards the bottom; and if you have a mind to deseenddescend [sic] yet lower, you must, as your hands are extended, still strike them down lower in the water. If, eantrariwisecantrariwise [sic], you would reaseendreascend [sic] towards the surfaeesurface [sic] of the water, you must keep the palms of your hands open, and your thumbs towards one another, as when you swim on your belly; the palms of your hands being towards the bottom, and your two thumbs, as I have just now said, towards one another. He that would swim in the middle, or between top and bottom, must grasp with both his arms the water before him, attracting it towards him, keeping in the mean while his thumbs turned more towards, the bottom of the water than the rest of his hands. You may have occasion to swim thus, when you are to seek for any thing at the bottom of the water, or to pass unseen from one shore to another; sometimes to help one in danger of being drowned: But in this last case, you must take earecare [sic] not to come too near, neither under water, nor on the surface, to any one in that danger, for if such a one takes hold of you, you are in great danger of being lost.