When in the middle of the pull, if the sculls are not short enough, or even if the head and body are slightly turned, one of the hands will go higher than the other; and, as the right is generally the stronger, it may go above, and the left below. It is often found difficult to keep one hand clear of the other in pulling a pair of sculls. This is so much the case, indeed, that the inexperienced frequently suffer more from the knocking and rubbing of the backs and sides of the hands against each other, than from the friction of the handles of the oars in the palms of the hands. This may be easily obviated by attending to the following advice:-- Having seated yourself in the centre of the thwart, with your feet close together against the centre of the stretcher, ship your sculls, but, before pulling a stroke, move your body three or four inches to the right hand, and still retain your feet in the centre: thus you will be sitting rather obliquely; this will throw your right shoulder more forward, and consequently the right hand; and thus the hands will work perfectly clear of each other. This rule, however, must be modified by the circumstances of river-rowing. A waterman writes us as follows:--“As to carrying one hand above the other, my way is, that if, for instance, I go from Greenwich to Blackwall against tide, I keep down on the Greenwich side, in general look toward the shore, and having my face over the left shoulder, my right hand is then above. If I go from Greenwich to London, my face is turned over the right shoulder, and the left hand is then uppermost.” [Illustration: _Plate XXIX_ _Page 102._ Beginning of the Pull. Middle of the Pull.] [Illustration: _Plate XXX_ _Page 103._ End of the Pull. Return of the Sculls.] (The usual position in the middle of the pull is shown in Plate XXIX. fig. 2.) The end of the pull must not take place till the elbows have approached the tops of the hips, the hands are brought towards the chest, and the body is thrown well back. There would be a loss of power, however, if the hands were brought too near the chest; and the body should not be thrown further back than it may easily and quickly recover its first position for the next stroke.--(Plate XXX.) As the water is being delivered from the sculls, the elbows sink, the wrists are bent up, and the backs of the hands are turned towards the fore-arms, in order to feather the sculls.--(Plate XXX. fig. 1.) In the return of the sculls, the hands must remain turned up until the sculls are put into the water.--(Plate XXX. f. 2.) In the middle of the return, if the sculls are not short, or if the head and body be turned, one of the hands also goes higher than the other.