SWIMMING.
General Remarks.--Rate of Swimming. People swim much more slowly than is commonly supposed. In races between first-rate swimmers, for distances of 300 yards and upwards, the average pace of two miles an hour is barely, if at all, exceeded.
Learning to Swim.--A good way of teaching a person to swim, is a modification of that adopted at Eton. The teacher may sit in a punt or on a rock, with a stout stick of 6 or 10 feet in length, at the end of which is a cord of 4 feet or so, with loops. The learner puts himself into the loops; and the teacher plays him, as a fisherman would play a fish, in water that is well out of his depth: he gives him just enough support to keep him from drowning. After six or a dozen lessons, many boys require no support at all, but swim about with the rope dangling slack about them. When a boy does this, he can be left to shift for himself. The art of swimming far is acquired, like the art of running far, by a determination to go on, without resting a moment, until utterly unable to make a stroke further, and then to stop altogether. Each succeeding day, the distance travelled is marvellously increased, until the natural limit of the man's powers is attained. The chilliness consequent on staying long in water is retarded by rubbing all over the body, before entering it, about twice as much oil or bear's-grease as a person uses for his hair.
To support those who cannot Swim.--If a person cannot swim a stroke, he should be buoyed up with floats under his arms, and lashed quite securely, to his own satisfaction; then he can be towed across the river with a string. If he lose courage halfway, it cannot be helped: it will do him no harm, and his swimming friend is in no danger of being grappled with and drowned. For very short distances, a usual way is for the man who cannot swim to hold his friend by the hips. A very little floating power is enough to buoy a man's head, above still water. (See "African Swimming Ferry," below.)
Landing through Breakers.--In landing through a heavy surf, wait for a large wave, and come in on the crest of it; then make every possible exertion to scramble up to some firm holding-place, whence its indraught, when it returns, can be resisted. If drawn back, you will be heavily battered, perhaps maimed, certainly far more exhausted than before, and not a whit nearer to safety. Avoid receiving a breaker in the attitude of scrambling away from it on hands and knees: from such a position, the wave projects a man headforemost with fearful force, and rolls him over and over in its surge. He ought to turn on his back the instant before the breaker is upon him; and then all will go well, and he will be helped on, and not half-killed by it. Men on shore can rescue a man who is being washed to and fro in the surf, by holding together, very firmly, hand-in-hand, and forming a line down to the sea: the foremost man clutches the swimmer as soon as he is washed up to him, and holds him firmly while the wave is retiring. The force of the indraught is enormous, and none but strong men can withstand it.
Floats.--If a traveller can swim pretty well, it is a good plan to make a float when he wishes to cross a river, and to lay his breast upon it, while his clothes and valuables are enclosed in a huge turban on his head. In this way, he may cross the broadest streams and float great distances down a river. He may tie paddles to his hands. His float may consist of a faggot of rushes, a log of wood, or any one of his empty water-vessels, whether barrels or bags; for whatever will keep water in, will also keep it out. The small quantity of air, which might escape through the sides of a bag, should be restored by blowing afresh into it, during the voyage. A few yards of intestine blown out and tied here and there, so as to form so many watertight compartments, makes a capital swimming belt: it may be wound in a figure of 8 round the neck and under the armpits. When employing empty bottles, they should be well corked and made fast under the armpits, or be stuffed within the shirt or jersey, and a belt tied round the waist below them, to keep them in place.
African Swimming Ferry.--The people of Yariba have a singular mode of transporting passengers across rivers and streams, when the violence and rapidity of their currents prevent them from using canoes with safety. The passenger grasps the float (see fig.), on the top of which his luggage is lashed; and a perfect equilibrium is preserved, by the ferry-man placing himself opposite the passenger, and laying hold of both his arms. They being thus face to face, the owner of the float propels it by striking with his legs. The natives use as their float two of their largest calabashes, cutting off their small ends, and joining the openings face to face, so as to form a large, hollow, watertight vessel.
Makeshift Life-belt.--A moderately effective life-belt may be made of holland, ticking, canvas, or similar materials, in the following manner, and might be used with advantage by the crew of a vessel aground some way from the mainland, who are about to swim for their lives:--Cut out two complete rings, of 16 inches outer diameter and 8 inches inner diameter; sew these together along both edges, with as fine a needle as possible and with double thread: add strong shoulder-straps, so that it shall not, by any possibility, slip down over the hips; and, lastly, sew into it a long narrow tube, made out of a strip, a foot long and two inches wide, of the same material as the belt. At the mouth of this, a bit of wood, an inch long, with a hole bored down its middle, should be inserted as a mouthpiece. Through this tube the belt can be re-inflated by the swimmer while in the water, as often as may be necessary; and, by simply twisting the tube and tucking its end in the belt, its vent can always be closed. After a canvas belt is thoroughly drenched, it will hold the air very fairly: the seams are its weakest parts. For supporting a swimmer in calm water, a collar is as good as a belt.
Transport on Water.--Parcels.--The swimmer's valuables may as well be put inside the empty vessel that acts as his float, as in the turban on his head (see "Floats"). A goat-skin is often filled half full of the things he wants to carry, and is then blown out and its mouth secured. A very good life-belt may be bought, which admits of this arrangement: it has a large opening at one end, which is closed by a brass door that shuts like the top of an inkstand, and is then quite air-tight.
A small parcel, if tightly wrapped up in many folds, will keep dry for a long time, though partly immersed in water: the outside of it may be greased, oiled, or waxed, for additional security. If deeply immersed, the water is sure to get in.
Swimming with Horses.--In crossing a deep river, with a horse or other large animal, drive him in: or even lead him along a steep bank, and push him sideways, suddenly into the water: having fairly started him, jump in yourself, seize his tail, and let him tow you across. If he turns his head with the intention of changing his course, splash water in his face with your right or left hand, as the case may be, holding the tail with one hand and splashing with the other; and you will, in this way, direct him just as you like. This is by far the best way of swimming a horse: all others are objectionable and even dangerous with animals new to the work,--such as to swim alongside the horse, with one hand on his shoulder; or, worst of all, to retain your seat on his back. If this last method be persisted in, at least let the rider take his feet out of the stirrups, before entering the water.
To float a Wagon across a River.--It must be well ballasted, or it will assuredly capsize: the heavy contents should be stowed at the bottom; the planking lashed to the axletrees, or it will float away from them; great bundles of reeds and the empty water-vessels should be made fast high above all, and then the wagon will cross without danger. When it is fairly under weigh, the oxen will swim it across, pulling in their yokes.
Water Spectacles.--When a man opens his eyes under water, he can see nothing distinctly; but everything is as much out of focus, as if he looked, in air, through a pair of powerful spectacles that were utterly unsuited to him. He cannot distinguish the letters of the largest print in a newspaper advertisement; he cannot see the spaces between the outstretched fingers, at arm's length, in clear water; nor at a few inches' distance in water that is somewhat opaque. I read a short paper on this subject, at the British Association in 1865, in which I showed the precise cause of this imperfection of vision and how it might be remedied. If the front of our eyeballs had been flat, we should have had the power of seeing under water as clearly as in air; but instead of being flat, they are very convex, consequently our eye stamps a concave lens of high power into the water, and it is the seeing through this concave eyeglass which our eyeball makes for itself, that causes the indistinctness of our vision. Knowing the curvature of the eyeball, it is easy to calculate (as I did in the memoir mentioned above) the curvature of a convex lens of flint-glass that should, when plunged into water, produce effects of an exactly equal and contrary value, exactly neutralizing the effects of the concave eyeglass of water, if it were held immediately in front of the pupil of the eye. I have made several experiments with a view to obtaining serviceable spectacles, for seeing under water. The result is as follows:--experience has shown the distance from the eyeball at which spectacle-glasses can be most conveniently placed; now at that distance, the joint effect of the concave water-lens and the convex glass spectacle-lens, is to produce an opera-glass of exceedingly low magnifying power, that requires a small adjustment for accurate definition at different distances.
If the spectacle-lens be of flint-glass and doubly convex, each of its faces should have a curvature of not greater than 6 1/2 tenths of an inch, nor more than 8 1/2 tenths of an inch in radius: within these limits, it is practicable to obtain perfectly distinct vision under water by pressing the spectacles forwards or backwards to a moderate degree. Lenses of these high magnifying powers are sometimes sold by spectacle-makers, for persons who have undergone an operation for cataract. I have tried, but hitherto without much success, to arrange the fittings by which the lenses are secured so that by a movement of the jaw or by an elevation of the eyebrows, I could give the necessary adjustment of the glasses, leaving my hands free for the purpose of swimming. (See also, under "Fishing;' 'To see Things deep under Water.')