ABSTRACT
Gilbertese children are taught to swim almost before they can walk; and first they learn to swim under water, because it is easier than swimming on the surface. We were brought up to do the same, and our progress was the subject of heated arguments between our nurses. Joan, who could understand all that was said, naturally sided with her own nurse; and once, after listening for a while to Faasola’s comments on my backwardness, she seized me by the hair and dragged me out into a deeper part of the lagoon, where she held me firmly under water for what seemed like several minutes.
