Instructions in All Kinds of Gymnastic Exercises (extract)

47 from seven to ten feet long. Such a pole naturally diminishes towards the top; but it is better to plane off the lower end a little. In the annexed figure a b is, the natural growth, and « c is the lower end planed off. PREPARATORY EXERCISES. The learner, who is supposed to be already expert in vaulting and leaping, places him­ self beforea small ditch, with a pole, which he seizes in such a manner, that the right hand may be about the height of the head, and the left about that of the hips, and fixes it in the ditch. See fig. 1. Plate VI. He now endeavours, by making a spring with his left foot, to lay the weight of his body upon the pole, and, by means of this support, to swing himself to the opposite bank. In this swing, he passes his body by the right of the pole, and makes, at the same time, a turn, so that at the descent, his face is di­ rected to the place whence he made the leap. The usual faults committed by the begin-