i8o 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



thick, baked over the fire on a large circular iron plate 

 (formerly on a stone or slate, hence the name " bakestone " 

 or " backstone "). This is excellent, either split open and 

 buttered when hot, or the next day cut edgeways into slices 

 of bread-and-butter, a delicacy fit for any lady's afternoon 

 tea. 



A little rocky stream bordered by trees and bushes ran 

 through the farm, and was one of my favourite haunts. 

 There was one little sequestered pool about twenty feet long 

 into which the water fell over a ledge about a foot high. 

 This pool was seven or eight feet deep, but shallowed at the 

 further end, and thus formed a delightful bathing-place. 

 Ever since my early escape from drowning at Hertford, I 

 had been rather shy of the water, and had not learned to 

 swim ; but here the distance was so short that I determined 

 to try, and soon got to enjoy it so much that every fine warm 

 day I used to go and plunge head first off my ledge and swim 

 in five or six strokes to the shallow water. In this very 

 limited sphere of action I gained some amount of confidence 

 in the water, and afterwards should probably have been able 

 to swim a dozen or twenty yards, so as to reach the bank of 

 a moderate-sized river, or sustain myself till some neighbour- 

 ing boat came to my assistance. But I have never needed 

 even this moderate amount of effort to save my life, and 

 have never had either the opportunity or inclination to 

 become a practised swimmer. This was partly due to a 

 physical deficiency which I was unable to overcome. My 

 legs are unusually long for my height, and the bones are 

 unusually large. The result is that they persistently sink 

 in the water, bringing me into a nearly vertical position, and 

 their weight renders it almost impossible to keep my mouth 

 above water. This is the case even in salt water, and being 

 also rather deficient in strength of muscle, I became dis- 

 inclined to practise what I felt to be beyond my powers. 



The parish being so extensive we had to stay at many 

 different points for convenience of the survey, and one of 

 these was about five miles up the Dulais valley, where we 

 stayed at a small beershop in the hamlet of Crynant. I was 



