ody weighs but little. It is very
simple, as almost any youthful swimmer knows, to go to the bottom if
one can dive from a float, pier, or boat, but to be able to dive down
ten feet from the surface requires practice. In most cases to go
deeper would require a weight after the manner of the Southern sponge
and pearl fishers. Grasp a ten or fifteen pound stone and dive in; to
come up the swimmer lets go and rises to the top.

[Illustration: Throwing feet for dive from surface.]

Diving For Lost Objects

In covering a considerable area in search for bodies or lost objects,
several ropes can be anchored with grapnels or rocks in squares and a
systematic search thus maintained by divers. Going down from the
surface is not so simple and the knack is attained by practice,
especially by athletic lads. The secret is to swim to a point where a
sounding is to be made, and to plunge the head and shoulders under,
elevating the hips above the surface to drive the shoulders deep and
give chance for a few strokes--breast stroke preferred--until the
whole body in a vertical position is headed for the bottom. The
elevation of the feet and lower legs in the air gives the body
additional {286} impetus downward, and when the object is attained a
push-off from the bottom with both feet sends the swimmer to the
surface in quick order. To carry any weight ashore, it is necessary to
carry it low on the body, hugged close to the waist line, allowing one
hand and both feet for swimming, or if on the back, hold by both hands
using the feet as propellers.

[Illustration: Artificial respiration (a)]

[Illustration: Artificial respiration (b)]

Restoring Breathing

Knowledge of resuscitation of the apparently drowned is an important
part of the equipment of a first-class scout, and a great many lives
could have been saved had it been more general. To be effective no
time must be lost in getting the apparently drowned person out of the
water and getting the {287} water out of him. The Schaefer or prone
method requires but one operator at a time and no waste of time in
preliminaries.

When taken from the water the patient is laid on the ground face
downward, arms extended above the head, face a little to one side, so
as not to prevent the free passage of air. The operator kneels astride
or beside the prone figure and lets his hands fall into the spaces
between the short ribs. By letting the weight of the upper body fall
upon his h