Byzantine chroniclers, reporters
and travellers who described Slavs they had met or heard of. This would
be some time ago, say sixth or seventh century. These Slavs had a
wonderful idea of lying in ambush--I cannot call it a military
stratagem, it is so amphibious. They lay down in shallow pools, showing
only the end of a blow-pipe to breathe through, and so waylaid the
enemy. The Byzantines must have been up against the Czechs, who seem to
me distinctly amphibious in summer-time. True, the stratagem described
is no longer in use; it is too simple for modern times and methods;
besides, I do not know many Bohemians of whom I could say that they are
built for that man[oe]uvre, that they would ever be able effectively to
conceal their manly proportions in shallow pools. No, I do not think it
could be done to-day. One _buirdly_ body, whose proportions were not
easy to conceal, caught my eye one day as I was paddling about among a
swarm of merry swimmers. He stood out among the crowd, a majestic
figure. It was not his costume--simplicity itself--which attracted my
attention, not his fiercely upturned moustache nor the red and white
jockey cap that crowned his square-cut head. It was his massive
stateliness as a whole. Surely he had taken guidance from Marcus
Aurelius: "Be thou like a promontory"!

[Illustration: BE THOU LIKE A PROMONTORY.]

On sunny summer days all Prague seems to be on or in the river, and a
very sensible and healthy way it is to spend the hot hours of the
day--and it can be appreciably hot in Prague. As a rule you may reckon
on long spells of fine weather throughout Bohemia, as the country is
sheltered on the weather side by the high mountains which hold up the
rain. So all Prague turns out to enjoy the river and the sunshine.
During the summer months the inhabitants of Prague, a very white-skinned
race, turn ripe brown in the parts exposed to the sun; and, as I
suggested before, a considerable aggregate surface is thus exposed. In
contrast to low-cut white frocks, brown necks recall sights familiar to
Eastern travellers. I do not suggest that this detracts from the charm
of the ladies of Prague, to which I pay ready tribute. And in winter
the normal fairness of skin of the Aryan reasserts itself, while the
charm remains--in fact, intensifies. It is singularly pleasant to watch
the younger generation at play on or in the river. They are all good,
strong swimmers, but their chief delight seems to lie in ea