Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1849-07-26

He read the papers. gave signal, and waS
joined by class Of 81 pupils, who, in the wa
ter, equipped, executed series of military
movements.
Or. Franklin was an excellent swimmer,
and his ir.rucions for learning TO swim, beng
some of the bes, ever given, are copied al full
length in this work.
Lord Byron was an excellent swimmer,
and prded himself much on his acquatc leats.
In imitation OF Leander. he swan the Helle-
spon,, narrow strait which divides Europe
and Asia, in an hour and ten minutes, with a
strong tide against him. He swami the Tagus
in three hours, and afterwards swan four hours
and twenty minutes without a rest, al Venice.
CDR Bedal. an English gentleman, swam
for wager, between Liverpool and Runcorh,
in 1927, distance Of "a miles, which he per-
formed at the rate Of six miles an hour--with
the tide, probably,
"a French sailor was washed overheard
from sioop a. nine o'clock, in Sept, 1920,
and picked up next morning, and this, be il
ted, in rough sea.
" How important rs it, ib country like ours,
that every man should learn to swim Storms
strew our vast sea-coasts with wrecks steam
boats are liable TO accidents from collision, ex-
plosions. or fire, on our rivers and our lakes
pleasure boats frequently upset, and numerous
accidents occur from the sudden breaking Of
ice In winter. The necessity of saving ones
own life by swimming. or the opportunity Of
saving the lives of others, may happen TO any
one, and 10 many these things must often octuf
i'd the course of their lives.
"At the burning Of the steamboat Efe, on
Lake Erie, Of .he hundred or more persons
lost, every one nigh. have been saved. had they
been able to swim. 'Fhe eap,ain Of the boa.
was indebted TO a negro, who could swim, for
an oar which saved his life. In hundred
such melancholy disasters on our lakes, rivers,
and The ocean, valuable lives might have been
saved by a lntte pains in learning to swim
Nothing is so important in learning TO swim
as confidence in ones powers, and in the
buoyaney of tie liquid element; and perhaps
one acquires cosfdence in himself by no
means sooner than by knowing what can be
done by others. | shall therefore give few
additional examples of the skill in swimming
to be acquired by habit, begging my readers to-
remember, "Whaiever man has done, man can
do" and ,ha. we do not vary, in any Important
degree, in physicist organization, from those
who have acquired this arl in lis highest per-
fection.
The Caribs are expert a, all gyhinss,ie' ex-
ercises,' and particularly a, swimming, as il
they were born in the water, and formed for
it. They swim like fish, and the women are
as skillfuf as the men, When canoe over
turns from carrying TOO much saii, they never
lose their baggage. and drownding is seldom OF
never heard Of On such occasions, the chill
dfen are seen swimming around their mothers
like SO many little fish, and the mothers sup
port themselves in she wafer with infants at
the breast, while the men bale out The canoes
fn 1879 vessel was oyerset in a squall off
Martinique, in which was one Carib, the rest
being Europeans. All were los, but the Ca
rib, who, after supporting the violence of the
tempest, as well as hunger and thirst, for 60
hours, reached the land in safety
But some OF the mos, beautiful descriptions
Of bathing and winning are given ninMr. Mel.
ville's narrative Of his residence in Typee
valley in the Marquesas. one oflhe fines. groups
Of islands in ,Ee South Seas. | shall DO par
doned for quoting, at some length, from his in
ieresting pages. By the operation Of The 90 Ia.
boo"-a religious prohibi.ion-ihe use of caC
noes is no. allowed TO the females of Marquesas;
/" consequently, when Marquesan lady voya-
ges by water, she puts in fequisItioR the pad.
dies of her own fair body.
1--WE had approached within fnife and
half, perhaps, of The foot of the bay, " hen some
Of the islanders, who by this time had man,
aged to scramble aboard Of us, directed our st.
,en,ion To- singular conmo,ion in The ~.,.,
ahead of the vessel. At first ims,;ned !, -
be produced by shoa Of Ash, sporting ., The
surface. but our savage friends assured n. ,ba,
i. was caused BY shes, of wb;nbenie,'
(young giIis,l ~no is this manner were coming
on lfo@ the shore 10 welcome Us As they
Grew hearer. and watched the rislng and
sinking Of their forms, and beheId the uplied
right arm, bearing above The waller the girdls
Of 'appa, and their long dark hair trailing be-
side them as they swan. almos. fancied they
could be nothing else than so many mermsids"
Through The Typee valley runs clear
stream of fresh waller, in which The whole pop
ulalion. old and young, baihs morning and ghr.
Describing his frs. bath, our author says -
.. From the verdan. surfaces Of the large stones
that lay scattered about, The natives were now
sliding of, diving, and ducklng in the wafer,
the young girl. springing buoyan,ly into the
air, with their long tresses about their shoul.