The Pendulum
This is another very clever trick, requiring considerable practise; the main essential is ability to float. The “pendulum” is primarily a balancing feat, a well-inflated chest being the main requisite.
The body should first be allowed to float on the water, with the arms stretched out beyond the head and in line with the body. The head must be thrown well back while the body is kept perfectly still. Then take a deep inhalation, bringing the head well forward, as if to look at the feet. Simultaneously with this movement draw hands toward the head. These combined movements will cause the body to sink, and thus assume a perpendicular position in the water.
When the body has assumed a perpendicular position, the arms must be brought to the front of the body, stretched well out, and at the same time the head must be sunk between the arms until the face and arms lie on the surface of the water. When the arms and head are down, the feet will rise and the body float on the surface with the face down.
To come back to the first position, the head must be tilted backward and the hands drawn to the back of the head. Again the feet will sink and the body be swung back to a perpendicular position with the face above water. One must then stretch the arms at full length behind the head, with the palms upward, gradually inclining the head backward until the legs once more rise to the surface, and the body floats face upward.
Repetition of these movements produce a swinging similar to that of a pendulum. The movements must be accomplished with regularity, at all times keeping the legs straight and together.