AND THE ATMOSPHERE. 209 



that it is almost unnecessary for me to men- 

 tion them. Having been favored with an an- 

 swer to some inquiries which I have made 

 upon this subject, from CAPT. HORSBURGH, a 

 man of the greatest veracity, and who has had 

 the best opportunity of accurate observation, 

 having navigated the Indian seas for 27 years, 

 I shall give an extract of his letter to me. 



" I cannot give you any particulars relative 

 to the length of time divers can remain sub- 

 merged, from actual experience, excepting the 

 following instance. I was an officer of the 

 Gunjavar, a large ship belonging to Surat, in 

 1787, and being disabled, by a storm, in the 

 China sea, we took shelter in Galong Bay, at 

 the island of Hainan, which fronts the Gulf of 

 Tonqeen. When about to sail from thence, 

 our cable parted close to the anchor, in endea- 

 vouring to weigh it ; and we got two fishermen, 

 who went down, and fixed a hawser to the an- 

 chor, which lay in 11 fathoms water. These 

 men swam from the surface to the bottom, by 

 bodily strength, without any weight affixed to 

 them, in order to help their descent, and they 

 swam down alternately, to relieve each other 

 in the work they undertook, until it was com- 

 pleted ; by which we recovered the anchor. 

 Each of them went down about four or five 

 times, in the depth of 11 fathoms, and were 

 about two minutes under water, as near as I 



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