Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/177

 above the water, and be sure the latter is deep enough. The feet should be kept close together and the arms extended out before her, always having the palms down as they should strike the water first to save the face. When teaching to dive one of the best methods is to stand behind the diver, and as she goes to dive hold her ankles, and as she falls forward, give them a lift as it were so as to send them down first and protect the stomach. The eyes should be closed first but directly the pupil is in the water she should open them. It is a good plan to get accustomed to keeping the eyes open under water. It will not hurt the eyes and may often save the head. She should gradually accustom herself to different heights, and one thing to be borne in mind when going down she must hold the hands down, but directly she wants to come up turn them up. It is very strange how the hands act like a rudder. I have now said all there is to be said about actual swimming, plain swimming that is, but there are many different styles of fancy swimming practiced by professionals and also by boys who frequent the baths. I will not say very much about them, though a few words would not be out of place.

—This is a very fast mode of swimming, also looks very pretty if done by a graceful swimmer. Lie in the water on the left side with your face turned towards your right shoulder, and half the head being under water. You shoot out the left hand above the head, or in advance of it rather, under water all the time while the right hand is extended along the body. For the first stroke you sweep the left hand down till close to the left knee, at the same time the right hand sweeps out with a short stroke and back again into position. You just work the arms alternately like that while the legs kick out in the ordinary way. This is the fastest mode of swimming and it should be practiced on both sides.

is much the same as the last, but instead of pushing the right hand forward under water and making only a short stroke, it is lifted right out of the water and thrown far ahead and dipped in again, as if drawing the water towards you with a powerful sweep. Boys are very fond of this style, chiefly, I think, because it splashes very much. There is another stroke by which the swimmer reaches round with the right hand as far behind his head as possible thus giving a long sweep, but it is very ugly and extremely exhausting.

An expert swimmer can vary his own pleasure in many ways, while a good diver can do wonders under water merely by knowing how to make use of his hands as rudders, turning them down or up accordingly as he wants to sink or rise. There is no exercise so good for both sexes of young people. If the girls who have round shoulders were taught to swim there would be no occasion for the