Page:Historical account of Lisbon college.djvu/79

 derived, there is also acquired a perfect ease and self-possession, in deep water, and an expertness and power in swimming, which is always a permanent advantage to those who possess them, and there are few who having passed their Course in Lisbon, may not, when leaving it, claim to be fairly expert swimmers. The present writer attributes, humanly speaking, the saving of his life to these qualities; when on one occasion having unconsciously ventured upon weak ice it gave way under him, and had it not been for the facility he had acquired of getting into a boat from deep water, the accident might easily have proved fatal.