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One may swim holding both feet out of the water, and this is very easy ; you may also not only remain so in one place, but also make advances forward. You must place yourself on the back, and bend the small of it contrariwise to what is practised in other ways of swimming; your hands must be on your belly, the palms of them open, moving them to and fro, like oars, which must sustain your body while your feet are shown. This way of swimming serves to show you whether your feet are clean or not, after having taken them from the bottom.

By this way you remain upright in the water without making any motion with your hands, only you move the water round with your legs from you, the soles of your feet being perdendicularperpendicular [sic] to the bottom : you may make use of this if you are cast into the water bound hand and foot. Swimming on the belly is also serviceable in this rencounter. Treading the water is very advantageous, for it leaves us the free use of our hands. One may make use of it in defending one's self ; but it ought not to be practised where the bottom is full of rushes or weeds, for they