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vi CONTENTS
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CONTENTS vii
Flexibility Exercises 313
Exercises For the Prevention and Rehabilitation of
Lower Back Pain 316
Chapter 9
Comprehensive Fitness Programming 318
Traditional Fitness Activities 320
Walking 321
Jogging 321
Strength Training 321
Hiking 322
Aerobics and Group Cardio Classes 322
Swimming 322
Water Aerobics 323
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viii CONTENTS
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CONTENTS ix
Health Care Costs of Tobacco Use 474
Trends 474
Chapter 15
Why People Smoke 475
Lifetime Fitness and Wellness 509
Smoking Addiction and Dependency 475 Life Expectancy and Physiological Age 512
“Why Do You Smoke?” Test 475 Conventional Western Medicine 513
Smoking Cessation 476 Finding a Physician 513
“Do You Want to Quit?” Test 476 Searching for a Hospital 513
Breaking the Habit 477 Complementary and Alternative Medicine 519
Quitting Cold Turkey 480 Types of CAM Practice 520
Cutting Down Gradually 480 Costs for CAM 520
Nicotine-Substitution Products 481 CAM Shortcomings 520
Electronic Cigarettes 481 Finding a CAM Practitioner 521
Life after Cigarettes 484 Integrative Medicine 522
Assess Your Behavior 487 Quackery and Fraud 522
Assess Your Knowledge 487 Looking at Your Fitness Future 525
Health/Fitness Club Memberships 525
Chapter 14 Personal Trainers 526
Purchasing Exercise Equipment 527
Preventing Sexually Transmitted
Infections 488 Self-Evaluation and Behavioral Goals for the Future 530
Self-Evaluation 530
Types and Causes of Sexually Transmitted
Behavioral Goals for the Future 530
Infections 491
The Fitness and Wellness
Chlamydia 491
Experience and a Challenge for the Future 530
Gonorrhea 492
Assess Your Behavior 536
Syphilis 493
Assess Your Knowledge 536
Trichomoniasis 493
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Genital Warts 494 Appendix A: Physical Fitness
Genital Herpes (HSV) 495 and Wellness Profile 538
Hepatitis 496 Appendix B: Nutritive Value
HIV and AIDS 496 of Selected Foods 540
Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections 504
Wise Dating 504
Notes and Suggested Readings 554
Monogamous Sexual Relationship 504 Answer Key 566
Reducing the Risk for STIs and HIV Infection 505
Glossary 567
Assess Your Behavior 507
Assess Your Knowledge 507 Index 575
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Preface
The American lifestyle does not provide the human body the environment affects our health is vital if we wish to
with sufficient physical activity to enhance or maintain ade- achieve and maintain wellness. Yet we are so habituated to
quate health. In reality, our way of life is such a serious this modern-day environment that we miss the subtle ways
threat to our health that it increases the deterioration rate of it influences our behaviors, personal lifestyle, and health
the human body and leads to premature illness and every day. As you study and assess physical fitness and
mortality. wellness parameters, you will need to take a critical look at
your behaviors and lifestyle—and most likely make selected
People in the United States say they believe that physical ac-
lifetime changes to promote overall health and wellness. As
tivity and positive lifestyle habits promote better health, but
you understand and live the concepts presented in this
most do not reap these benefits because they simply do not
book, your value system will change and you’ll be prepared
know how to implement and maintain a sound physical fit-
to embark on a lifetime physical fitness and wellness
ness and wellness program that will yield the desired results.
journey.
About one-half of the adults in the United States do not
achieve the recommended daily amount of aerobic activity The book is organized in the most efficient manner possi-
and an ever lower amount meet the guidelines for muscular ble for students to derive the greatest benefit from its con-
(strength) fitness, thereby placing themselves at risk for pre- tents. Each chapter starts with the chapter objectives,
mature morbidity and early death. followed by Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Real Life
Stories that will pique the students’ interest in the chapter’s
Furthermore, the energy (caloric) expenditure that used to
topic. The chapter contents are presented next, with exten-
result from activities other than planned daily exercise and
sive use of graphs, charts, tables, activities, critical thinking
basic body functions has also substantially decreased during
questions, keys to wellness, informational boxes, behavior
the last century (known as nonexercise activity thermogene-
modification boxes, definitions of key terms, and photo-
sis or NEAT). Examples of these activities include standing
graphs to maximize student learning, content retention,
and walking while performing tasks, yard work, houseclean-
and motivation for healthy lifetime behavioral change. As
ing, gardening, taking stairs, walking to and from stores or
no other textbook, the Hoegers’ Fitness & Wellness series
offices, or using a bicycle as the primary mode of transpor-
makes exceptional use of these special pedagogical aids
tation, and so on. NEAT used to represent a major portion
and high-interest features.
of daily energy expenditure. This overall decline in physical
activity accelerates aging, obesity, and loss of physical func- A unique feature of Lifetime Physical Fitness & Wellness is
tion, and further contributes to the development of chronic the activity experiences provided as key information is ad-
disease and premature mortality. dressed in each chapter. These activities allow each student
to develop A Personalized Program according to individual
A regular exercise program is as close as we get to the mira-
needs. All chapters highlight key wellness concepts through-
cle pill that people look for to enjoy good health and quality
out the text and conclude with Assess Your Behavior and As-
of life over a now longer lifespan. Myriad benefits of exercise
sess Your Knowledge sections so that students may evaluate
include enhanced functional capacity; increased energy;
the impact of the subject matter on their personal lifestyle
weight loss; improved mood, self-esteem, and physical ap-
and their understanding of the chapter contents through 10
pearance; and decreased risk for many chronic ailments, in-
multiple-choice questions.
cluding obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
As stated as far back as 1982 in the prestigious Journal of the Scientific evidence has clearly shown that improving the
American Medical Association, “There is no drug in current quality—and most likely the longevity—of our lives is a
or prospective use that holds as much promise for sustained matter of personal choice. The biggest challenge we face in
health as a lifetime program of physical exercise.” the 21st century is to learn how to take control of our per-
sonal health habits to ensure a better, healthier, happier,
The benefits of exercise along with healthy lifestyle habits
and more productive life. The information presented in
are only reaped through action. Along with the most up-to-
this book has been written with this goal in mind and
date health, fitness, and nutrition guidelines, the informa-
provides the student with the necessary tools and guide-
tion in this book provides extensive behavior modification
lines to implement and adhere to a Lifetime Physical Fit-
strategies to help you abandon negative habits and adopt
ness and Wellness Program. The emphasis throughout the
and maintain healthy behaviors.
book is on teaching the students how to take control of
Many of the behaviors we adopt are a product of our envi- their personal lifestyle habits so that they can do what is
ronment and value system. Unfortunately, we live in a necessary to stay healthy and realize their highest poten-
“toxic” health/fitness environment. Becoming aware of how tial for well being.
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xi
New in the 14th Edition ● A broadened discussion on the concept of chronic and acute
inflammation and the role of nutrition in its prevention
All 15 chapters in the 14th edition of Lifetime Physical ● New content about the current recommendations for sat-
Fitness & Wellness: A Personalized Program have been urated fat replacement in the diet for cardiovascular dis-
revised and updated according to recent advances and ease prevention
recommendations in the field, including information re- ● Additional information on the key role of adequate pro-
ported in the literature and at professional health, fitness,
tein intake throughout the day for health and weight
and sports medicine conferences. In addition to selected
management
new photography, figures, and keys to wellness and insert
boxes, the following are the most significant changes to ● New updates on nutrient supplements, including Vitamin
this edition. D supplementation
habit formation
● The latest recommendations for a suitable rate of training
An introduction to mindfulness and willpower and their
progression for individuals suffering from chronic diseases
●
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xii PREFACE
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xiii
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xiv PREFACE
© Ricardo Raschini
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xv
Chef de Mission (Chief of Delegation) for the Venezuelan
Olympic Team at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin,
Italy. Husband and wife have been jogging and strength
training together for more than 38 years. They are the proud
parents of five children, all of whom are involved in sports
and lifetime fitness activities. Their motto: “Families that
exercise together, stay together.”
Amber L. Fawson and Cherie I. Hoeger received their de-
grees in English with an emphasis in editing for publication.
For the past 15 years Amber has enjoyed working in the
publication industry and has held positions as an Editorial
Coordinator for BYU Studies, Assistant Editor for Cengage
Learning, and freelance writer and editor for tertiary educa-
tion textbooks and workbooks. During the last decade, Che-
rie has been working as a freelance writer and editor;
writing research and marketing copy for client magazines,
newsletters, and websites; and contracting as a textbook
copy editor for Cengage Learning (previously under Thom-
son Learning and the Brooks/Cole brand).
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xvi PREFACE
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
1
Physical Fitness
and Wellness
The human body is extremely resilient during
youth—not so during middle and older age.
The power of prevention, nonetheless, is
yours: It enables you to make healthy lifestyle
choices today that will prevent disease in the
future and increase the quality and length of
your life.
Objectives
Understand the health and fitness consequences
of physical inactivity.
Identify the major health problems in the United
States.
Learn how to monitor daily physical activity.
Learn the Federal Physical Activity Guidelines
for Americans.
Define wellness and list its dimensions.
Define physical fitness and list health-related
and skill-related components.
State the differences among physical fitness,
health promotion, and wellness.
Distinguish between health fitness standards
and physical fitness standards.
Understand the benefits and significance of
participating in a comprehensive wellness
program.
List key national health objectives for the
year 2020.
Determine if you can safely initiate an exercise
program.
Image Source/Getty Images
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
2 Lifetime Physical Fitness and Wellness: A Personalized Program
FAQ
Why should I take a Is the attainment of good physi- highest potential for well-being within
fitness and wellness cal fitness sufficient to ensure all dimensions of wellness.
S
cientific findings have shown that physical inactivity Advances in technology, however, have almost com-
and a negative lifestyle seriously threaten health and pletely eliminated the necessity for physical exertion in
hasten the deterioration rate of the human body. daily life. Physical activity is no longer a natural part of our
Movement and physical activity are basic functions for which existence. We live in an automated society, where most of
the human organism was created. the activities that used to require strenuous exertion can be
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1 Physical Fitness and Wellness 3
I am pretty athletic and played baseball mistake choosing the college I did. procrastination. I could no longer
and basketball in high school. I also In order to blow off steam, I started wait to write a paper until the
grew up eating well, since my dad is a going to frat parties and drinking night before it was due and still
chef who specializes in healthy cuisine. too much. I would often get sick expect to get eight hours of sleep.
So when I got to college, I was sure and then suffer a hangover This change actually helped
that I was already doing everything the next morning. I didn’t me do better in my classes,
necessary to be healthy. However, see this as a problem which relieved some of
at the same time that I was congratulat- because it seemed to be my stress. The times when
ing myself for my healthy lifestyle, something a lot of stu- I still felt stressed out, I
I was practicing some very unhealthy dents were doing. And started meditating or lis-
habits without even thinking about it. to add to all that, after tening to relaxing music
My sleep schedule was horrible. months of high-impact instead of going out and
I would sometimes only get three to running on concrete sur- drinking. I also learned about
Karin Hildebrand Lau/ShutterStock.com
four hours of sleep a night. At times faces, I ended up injuring how to exercise safely and
I would pull an “all-nighter” and other my knee. I was barely able to move prevent injuries. I took up swimming,
times I would crash and sleep for around, let alone work out. I was only since it is a good, low-impact workout.
twelve hours. I drank huge amounts in my second year of college when I I feel like just how sometimes problems
of black coffee, diet soda, or energy took a fitness and wellness class. It was can snowball and lead to more prob-
drinks to stay alert. I was under a lot of then that I really thought about how lems, small changes for the better can
stress—I was pre-med and I was strug- my lifestyle was affecting my health sometimes snowball too; and once you
gling in some of my classes. My two and wellness. During the course of the improve one habit, other things in your
roommates and I did not get along, so class, I made several changes. I tried life become easier to fix. Because of the
there was constant fighting and tension to even out my sleep schedule and get changes I have made, the rest of my
between us. I felt isolated and unhappy, seven to eight hours a night. To make college career has been much healthier
and I questioned whether I had made a that happen, I had to work on my and happier than my first year.
accomplished by machines with the simple pull of a handle diseases, such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, influenza, kidney
or push of a button. disease, polio, and other diseases of infancy. Progress in the
Most nations, both developed and developing, are experi- medical field largely eliminated these diseases. Then, as more
encing an epidemic of physical inactivity. In the United people started to enjoy the “good life” (sedentary living, alco-
States, physical inactivity is the second greatest threat to pub- hol, fatty foods, excessive sweets, tobacco, and drugs), we saw a
lic health and is often referenced in new concerns about parallel increase in the incidence of chronic diseases such as
“Sitting Disease” and “Sedentary Death Syndrome” or SeDS. cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory
(The number-one threat to public health is tobacco use—the diseases (Figure 1.1).
largest cause of preventable deaths.) As the incidence of chronic diseases climbed, we recog-
Worldwide obesity now claims triple the number of victims nized that prevention is the best medicine. Consequently, a
as malnutrition. Over the last two decades the world has fitness and wellness movement developed gradually in the
transitioned from one where populations did not have
enough to eat to one where, even in developing countries, an
GLOSSARY
abundance of unhealthy food and inactivity is causing obe-
sity, chronic diseases, and premature death. There is hope Sedentary Death Syndrome Sedentary Description of a
that, while individuals may feel powerless facing malnutri- (SeDS) Cause of deaths attrib- person who is relatively inactive
tion, people with the right knowledge and support can arm uted to a general lack of regular and whose lifestyle is character-
themselves against physical inactivity and obesity. Widespread physical activity. ized by a lot of sitting.
interest in health and preventive medicine in recent years is Health A state of complete Chronic diseases Illnesses
motivating people to reexamine the foods they eat, incorpo- well-being—not just the ab- that develop as a result of an
rate more movement into daily life activities, and participate sence of disease or infirmity. unhealthy lifestyle and last a
in organized fitness and wellness programs. Life expectancy Number of long time.
At the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy for a years a person is expected to live
child born in the United States was only 47 years. The most based on the person’s birth year.
common health problems in the Western world were infectious
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
4 Lifetime Physical Fitness and Wellness: A Personalized Program
Figure 1.1 Causes of deaths in the United States Figure 1.2 Factors that determine health and longevity.
for selected years.
100
90 Genetics
80
Percent of all deaths
70
60
50
Health &
40 longevity
30
20
© Cengage Learning
Environment Behavior
10
0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2010
Year
Influenza and
pneumonia Cancer
Cardiovascular
Tuberculosis
Accidents
disease
All other causes
1.1 Life Expectancy
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics. Currently, the average life expectancy in the United States is
79.6 years (77.1 years for men and 81.9 years for women). In the
past decade alone, life expectancy has increased by one year—
1980s. People began to realize that good health is mostly the news, however, is not all good. The data show that people
self-controlled and that the leading causes of premature now spend an extra 1.2 years with a serious illness and an extra
death and illness can be prevented by adhering to positive two years of disability. Mortality has been postponed because
lifestyle habits. We all desire to live a long life, and wellness medical treatments allow people to live longer with various
programs seek to enhance the overall quality of life—for as chronic ailments (cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes).
long as we live. Based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO),
There are three basic factors that determine our health the United States ranks 33rd in the world for life expectancy
and longevity: genetics, the environment, and our behavior (see Figure 1.3). Japan ranks first in the world with an overall
(Figure 1.2). In most cases we cannot change our genetic cir- life expectancy of 84.46 years. While the United States was
cumstances, though the budding field of epigenetics is showing once a world leader in life expectancy, over recent years, the
us that select genes can be switched on and off with lifestyle increase in life expectancy in the United States has not kept
choices. (For a more in-depth discussion on epigenetics see pace with that of other developed countries.
“Genetic vs Environmental Risk,” Chapter 11, pages 392–393.) Several factors may account for the current U.S. life expec-
We can certainly, however, exert control over the environment tancy ranking, including the extremely poor health of some
and our health behaviors so that we may reach our full physical groups (such as Native Americans, rural African Americans,
potential based on our genetic code. How we accomplish and the inner-city poor) and fairly high levels of violence (no-
this goal will be thoroughly discussed through the chapters of tably homicides). The current trend is a widening disparity
this book. between those in the United States with the highest and lowest
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1 Physical Fitness and Wellness 5
Figure 1.3 Life expectancy at birth for selected countries as of 2015. obese. As a nation, we are seeing the consequences
of these numbers unfold. The latest statistical up-
date from the American Heart Association reported
Brazil 70 77 that the incidence of diabetes has been climbing
Mexico 73 78 dramatically each year in parallel step with the in-
creased incidence of obesity.4 Currently, one of ten
United Arab Emirates 74 80
adults has type 2 diabetes. If we are unable to
Argentina 74 81 change the current trend, by 2050 the number of
adults suffering from diabetes could be one in three.
United States 77 82
This will be one in three of our current elementary
United Kingdom 78 83 to college-age youth. Diabetes is the third most ex-
pensive chronic disease to treat, preceded only by
Germany 78 83
angina (heart disease) and hypertension, respec-
Canada 79 84 tively. All three of these chronic conditions are
Spain 79 84
linked with obesity.5 Additional information on the
obesity epidemic and its detrimental health conse-
France 78 85 quences is given in Chapter 5.
Switzerland 80 85 Life expectancy for men in the United States is
almost 5 years lower than for women. For years it
Japan 81 88 had been assumed that the difference is based on
65 70 75 80 85 90 biology, but we are learning that most likely the
Years gender gap is related to lifestyle behaviors most
*Dark color is men; light color is women. commonly observed in men. Around 1980, the
gender gap in life expectancy was almost 8 years.
SOURCE: Central Intelligence Agency, “The World Factbook,” https://www.cia.gov/library The decrease in the gender gap is thought to be due
/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html, accessed March 30, 2015. to the fact that women are increasingly taking on
jobs, habits, and stressors of men including drink-
ing and employment outside the home.
life expectancy. For example, males in Fairfax County, Vir- Men, nonetheless, still report higher stress on
ginia can expect to live as long as males in Japan, while those the job and are less likely to engage in stress management
in Bolivar County, Mississippi have the same life expectancy programs. Also, 95 percent of employees in the 10 most dan-
as males in countries with much lower life expectancies, like gerous jobs are men. Furthermore, men’s health is not given
Pakistan. Physical activity trends by U.S. county, in most the same degree of attention in terms of public health poli-
cases, are aligned with life expectancy trends.1 cies. Fewer programs are available that specifically target
The United States also has not made headway with many men’s health issues. Thus, men need to take a more proactive
leading risk factors. Some countries, like Australia, have role for their own health and public health policies.
made progress by arranging primary care to better detect and “Masculinity” itself is also partially to blame. Studies have
intervene with hypertension, for example. The latest data in- consistently shown that men are less likely to visit a physician
dicate that one in four adults have at least two chronic condi- when something is wrong and are less likely to have preven-
tions, and among the elderly in the United States, four in five tive care visits to be screened for potential risk factors such as
are living with a minimum of two chronic diseases. In terms hypertension, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, sub-
of preventative health service, most of these patients do not stance abuse, and depression or anxiety. It is a troubling para-
receive 56 percent of the clinical recommendations from the dox considering that men are at greater risk for each of the
U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. Eva H. DuGoff of top risk factors for chronic disease. As a result, chronic
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has said, diseases in men are often diagnosed at a later stage, when a
“Our system is not set up to care for people with so many cure or adequate management is more difficult to achieve.
different illnesses. Each one adds up and makes the burden of Men also drive faster than women and are more likely to
disease greater than the sum of its parts.” 2 engage in risk-taking activities. Of all road traffic fatalities
While not a single country has managed to lower its obesity among countries studied in the most recent OECD report, a
rate in more than 30 years, some countries have seen slower disparate 74 percent of victims were men.
rises in obesity than the United States. A report by the Organ- Although life expectancy in the United States gradually in-
isation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) creased by 30 years over the past century, scientists from the
found that while the United States far outspent every other National Institute of Aging believe that in the coming decades
country in health care cost per capita, it also easily had the high- the average lifespan may decrease by as much as five years.
est rates of obesity of all 36 OECD countries.3 According to es- This decrease in life expectancy will be related primarily to the
timates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, growing challenges of inactivity and obesity. The current gen-
35.1 percent of the adult population in the United States is eration of children may not outlive their parents.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
6 Lifetime Physical Fitness and Wellness: A Personalized Program
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter 1 Physical Fitness and Wellness 7
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Automobile accidents are the number one the incidence of collision resulting is among the most dangerous driv-
cause of death for teens in the United in death increases with the number ing activities.11
States. Recent studies on distracted driving of teen passengers. 9. Reaching for a moving object or
have used new technology, including real- 5. Though crash risk is lower when turning in your seat increases
time brain imaging, to offer new insight talking with a passenger, cognitive accident collision by 8 to 9 times.
about protecting ourselves behind the workload can be the same as when 10. Texting while driving increases
wheel. Following are insights for drivers. talking on a cell phone. Topic of collision incidence by 16 times.
1. Listening to the radio is nearly as conversation and emotional involve- Driving while talking on a cell
safe as driving with no distractions. ment affects safety in both types of phone is done more frequently by
conversation. more drivers for longer lengths of
2. Having a cell phone conversation
increases collision incidence four- 6. The brain does not multitask, but time than texting, and so causes
fold. The risk is identical for a rather switches attention between more deaths. Consider using your
hands-free device and a hand tasks. Some dual tasks do not cause phone’s do not disturb setting or an
held phone.9 a problem; others do. When driving app that blocks texting while driv-
and holding a conversation the ing. Because our minds are social
3. Having a cell phone conversation
brain often recognizes conversation and curious, we find text alerts dif-
causes the brain to screen out 50
as the primary task. Switching is a ficult to ignore.
percent of visual cues. The ability
complex process that requires 11. Parents driving children are just
to look directly at but not “see” an
events to be committed to short as likely to talk on the phone and
object is termed “inattention
term memory before they can be use distractions including naviga-
blindness.” It is not uncommon for
“encoded,” the stage when the tion systems as other drivers.12
a distracted driver running a red
brain chooses what to “see.” It is
light to collide with the second or 12. Using Apple’s Siri while driving to
not uncommon for switching time to
third car in an intersection, having get directions, send texts, post to
be tenths of a second, the differ-
not “seen” the first cars. Talking on social media, or check appoint-
ence of several car lengths when
a phone while driving decreases re- ments can be as dangerous as tex-
breaking. This is termed “reaction
action time to pedestrians in a ting while driving, even when
time switching costs.”
crosswalk by 40 percent.10 hands-free.13
7. Because the majority of trips do not
4. Having a conversation with an adult 13. We cannot control what informa-
involve a situation that requires
passenger is safer than holding a tion our brain chooses to encode
split-second timing, drivers can
conversation on a cell phone. and screen out while driving. We
gain a false sense of security about
Passengers who are experienced can control our decision to use a cell
being able to multitask.
drivers help the driver by pausing phone or to speak up when a driver
conversation and by pointing out 8. Making a left turn while talking on is putting passengers in danger.
cues as needed. For a teen driver, a cell phone or hands free device
not smoking and not breathing cigarette smoke; getting a a better quality of life. Proper nutrition, exercise, stress man-
pneumonia vaccine if older than age 50 and a current or ex- agement, and abstinence from cigarette smoking are of little
smoker; and avoiding swimming pools for individuals sensi- help if the person is involved in a disabling or fatal accident as
tive to chlorine vapor. a result of distraction, a single reckless decision, or not wear-
ing seat belts properly.
Accidents Accidents do not just happen. We cause accidents, and we are
Accidents are the fourth leading cause of death. Even though victims of accidents. Although some factors in life, such as
not all accidents are preventable, many are. Fatal accidents earthquakes, tornadoes, and airplane accidents, are completely
are often related to abusing drugs, not wearing seat belts, and beyond our control, more often than not, personal safety and
distracted driving. accident prevention are a matter of common sense. Most
Most people do not perceive accidents as a health problem.
Even so, accidents affect the total well-being of millions of GLOSSARY
Americans each year. Accident prevention and personal safety Cardiovascular Of or relating to the heart and blood vessels.
are part of a health-enhancement program aimed at achieving
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man like as we are, and that he worshiped a God whom he could not
see, but who was always near us. Let us learn to worship
Nickelseyn’s God.” So the tribe came down from their hills to the
Christian teachers at Peshawur, and there were baptized.
XV
A. D. 1853
THE GREAT FILIBUSTER
THE Mormons are a sect of Christians with some queer ideas, for
they drink no liquor, hold all their property in common, stamp out any
member who dares to think or work for himself, and believe that the
more wives a man has the merrier he will be. The women, so far as I
met them are like fat cows, the men a slovenly lot, and not too
honest, but they are hard workers and first-rate pioneers.
Because they made themselves unpopular they were
persecuted, and fled from the United States into the desert beside
the Great Salt Lake. There they got water from the mountain streams
and made their land a garden. They only wanted to be left alone in
peace, but that was a poor excuse for slaughtering emigrants.
Murdering women and children is not in good taste.
The government sent an army to attend to these saints, but the
soldiers wanted food to eat, and the Mormons would not sell, so
provisions had to be sent a thousand miles across the wilderness to
save the starving troops. So we come to the herd of beef cattle
which in May, 1857, was drifting from the Missouri River, and to the
drovers’ camp beside the banks of the Platte.
A party of red Indians on the war-path found that herd and camp;
they scalped the herders on guard, stampeded the cattle and rushed
the camp, so that the white men were driven to cover under the river
bank. Keeping the Indians at bay with their rifles, the party marched
for the settlements wading, sometimes swimming, while they pushed
a raft that carried a wounded man. Always a rear guard kept the
Indians from coming too near. And so the night fell.
“I, being the youngest and smallest,” says one of them, “had
fallen behind the others.... When I happened to look up to the
moonlit sky, and saw the plumed head of an Indian peeping over the
bank.... I instantly aimed my gun at his head, and fired. The report
rang out sharp and loud in the night air, and was immediately
followed by an Indian whoop; and the next moment about six feet of
dead Indian came tumbling into the river. I was not only overcome
with astonishment, but was badly scared, as I could hardly realize
what I had done.”
Back came Frank McCarthy, the leader, with all his men. “Who
fired that shot?”
“I did.”
“Yes, and little Billy has killed an Indian stone-dead—too dead to
skin!”
At the age of nine Billy Cody had taken the war-path.
In those days the army had no luck. When the government sent
a herd of cattle the Indians got the beef, and the great big train of
seventy-five wagons might just as well have been addressed to the
Mormons, who burned the transport, stole the draft oxen and turned
the teamsters, including little Billy, loose in the mountains, where
they came nigh starving. The boy was too thin to cast a shadow
when in the spring he set out homeward across the plains with two
returning trains.
One day these trains were fifteen miles apart when Simpson, the
wagon boss, with George Woods, a teamster, and Billy Cody, set off
riding mules from the rear outfit to catch up the teams in front. They
were midway when a war party of Indians charged at full gallop,
surrounding them, but Simpson shot the three mules and used their
carcasses to make a triangular fort. The three whites, each with a
rifle and a brace of revolvers were more than a match for men with
bows and arrows, and the Indians lost so heavily that they retreated
out of range. That gave the fort time to reload, but the Indians
charged again, and this time Woods got an arrow in the shoulder.
Once more the Indians retired to consult, while Simpson drew the
arrow from Woods’ shoulder, plugging the hole with a quid of
chewing tobacco. A third time the Indians charged, trying to ride
down the stockade, but they lost a man and a horse. Four warriors
had fallen now in this battle with two men and a little boy, but the
Indians are a painstaking, persevering race, so they waited until
nightfall and set the grass on fire. But the whites had been busy with
knives scooping a hole from whence the loose earth made a
breastwork over the dead mules, so that the flames could not reach
them, and they had good cover to shoot from when the Indians
charged through the smoke. After that both sides had a sleep, and at
dawn they were fresh for a grand charge, handsomely repulsed. The
redskins sat down in a ring to starve the white men out, and great
was their disappointment when Simpson’s rear train of wagons
marched to the rescue. The red men did not stay to pick flowers.
It seems like lying to state that at the age of twelve Billy Cody
began to take rank among the world’s great horsemen, and yet he
rode on the pony express, which closed in 1861, his fourteenth year.
The trail from the Missouri over the plains, the deserts and the
mountains into California was about two thousand miles through a
country infested with gangs of professional robbers and hostile
Indian tribes. The gait of the riders averaged twelve miles an hour,
which means a gallop, to allow for the slow work in mountain passes.
There were one hundred ninety stations at which the riders changed
ponies without breaking their run, and each must be fit and able for
one hundred miles a day in time of need. Pony Bob afterward had
contracts by which he rode one hundred miles a day for a year.
Now, none of the famous riders of history, like Charles XII, of
Sweden; Dick, King of Natal, or Dick Turpin, of England, made
records to beat the men of the pony express, and in that service Billy
was counted a hero. He is outclassed by the Cossack Lieutenant
Peschkov, who rode one pony at twenty-eight miles a day the length
of the Russian empire, from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, and by Kit
Carson who with one horse rode six hundred miles in six days.
There are branches of horsemanship, too, in which he would have
been proud to take lessons from Lord Lonsdale, or Evelyn French,
but Cody is, as far as I have seen, of all white men incomparable for
grace, for beauty of movement, among the horsemen of the modern
world.
But to turn back to the days of the boy rider.
“One day,” he writes, “when I galloped into my home station I
found that the rider who was expected to take the trip out on my
arrival had gotten into a drunken row the night before, and had been
killed.... I pushed on ... entering every relay station on time, and
accomplished the round trip of three hundred twenty-two miles back
to Red Buttes without a single mishap, and on time. This stands on
the record as being the longest pony express journey ever made.”
One of the station agents has a story to tell of this ride, made
without sleep, and with halts of only a few minutes for meals. News
had leaked out of a large sum of money to be shipped by the
express, and Cody, expecting robbers, rolled the treasure in his
saddle blanket, filling the official pouches with rubbish. At the best
place for an ambush two men stepped out on to the trail, halting him
with their muskets. As he explained, the pouches were full of
rubbish, but the road agents knew better. “Mark my words,” he said
as he unstrapped, “you’ll hang for this.”
“We’ll take chances on that, Bill.”
“If you will have them, take them!” With that he hurled the
pouches, and as robber number one turned to pick them up, robber
number two had his gun-arm shattered with the boy’s revolver-shot.
Then with a yell he rode down the stooping man, and spurring hard,
got out of range unhurt. He had saved the treasure, and afterward
both robbers were hanged by vigilantes.
Once far down a valley ahead Cody saw a dark object above a
boulder directly on his trail, and when it disappeared he knew he was
caught in an ambush. Just as he came into range he swerved wide
to the right, and at once a rifle smoked from behind the rock. Two
Indians afoot ran for their ponies while a dozen mounted warriors
broke from the timbered edge of the valley, racing to cut him off. One
of these had a war bonnet of eagle plumes, the badge of a chief, and
his horse, being the swiftest, drew ahead. All the Indians were firing,
but the chief raced Cody to head him off at a narrow pass of the
valley. The boy was slightly ahead, and when the chief saw that the
white rider would have about thirty yards to spare he fitted an arrow,
drawing for the shot. But Cody, swinging round in the saddle, lashed
out his revolver, and the chief, clutching at the air, fell, rolling over
like a ball as he struck the ground. At the chief’s death-cry a shower
of arrows from the rear whizzed round the boy, one slightly wounding
his pony who, spurred by the pain, galloped clear, leaving the
Indians astern in a ten mile race to the next relay.
After what seems to the reader a long life of adventure, Mr. Cody
had just reached the age of twenty-two when a series of wars broke
out with the Indian tribes, and he was attached to the troops as a
scout. A number of Pawnee Indians who thought nothing of this
white man, were also serving. They were better trackers, better
interpreters and thought themselves better hunters. One day a party
of twenty had been running buffalo, and made a bag of thirty-two
head when Cody got leave to attack a herd by himself. Mounted on
his famous pony Buckskin Joe he made a bag of thirty-six head on a
half-mile run, and his name was Buffalo Bill from that time onward.
That summer he led a squadron of cavalry that attacked six
hundred Sioux, and in that fight against overwhelming odds he
brought down a chief at a range of four hundred yards, in those days
a very long shot. His victim proved to be Tall Bull, one of the great
war leaders of the Sioux. The widow of Tall Bull was proud that her
husband had been killed by so famous a warrior as Prairie Chief, for
that was Cody’s name among the Indians.
There is one very nice story about the Pawnee scouts. A new
general had taken command who must have all sorts of etiquette
proper to soldiers. It was all very well for the white sentries to call at
intervals of the night from post to post: “Post Number One, nine
o’clock, all’s well!” “Post Number Two, etc.”
But when the Pawnee sentries called, “Go to hell, I don’t care!”
well, the practise had to be stopped.
Of Buffalo Bill’s adventures in these wars the plain record would
only take one large volume, but he was scouting in company with
Texas Jack, John Nelson, Belden, the White Chief, and so many
other famous frontier heroes, each needing at least one book
volume, that I must give the story up as a bad job. At the end of the
Sioux campaign Buffalo Bill was chief of scouts with the rank of
colonel.
Colonel Cody
(“Buffalo Bill”)
In 1876, General Custer, with a force of nearly four hundred
cavalry, perished in an attack on the Sioux, and the only survivor
was his pet boy scout, Billy Jackson, who got away at night
disguised as an Indian. Long afterward Billy, who was one of God’s
own gentlemen, told me that story while we sat on a grassy hillside
watching a great festival of the Blackfeet nation.
After the battle in which Custer—the Sun Child—fell, the big
Sioux army scattered, but a section of it was rounded up by a force
under the guidance of Buffalo Bill.
“One of the Indians,” he says, “who was handsomely decorated
with all the ornaments usually worn by a war chief ... sang out to me
‘I know you, Prairie Chief; if you want to fight come ahead and fight
me!’
“The chief was riding his horse back and forth in front of his men,
as if to banter me, and I accepted the challenge. I galloped toward
him for fifty yards and he advanced toward me about the same
distance, both of us riding at full speed, and then when we were only
about thirty yards apart I raised my rifle and fired. His horse fell to
the ground, having been killed by my bullet. Almost at the same
instant my horse went down, having stepped in a gopher-hole. The
fall did not hurt me much, and I instantly sprang to my feet. The
Indian had also recovered himself, and we were now both on foot,
and not more than twenty paces apart. We fired at each other
simultaneously. My usual luck did not desert me on this occasion, for
his bullet missed me, while mine struck him in the breast. He reeled
and fell, but before he had fairly touched the ground I was upon him,
knife in hand, and had driven the keen-edged weapon to its hilt in his
heart. Jerking his war-bonnet off, I scientifically scalped him in about
five seconds....
“The Indians came charging down upon me from a hill in hopes
of cutting me off. General Merritt ... ordered ... Company K to hurry
to my rescue. The order came none too soon.... As the soldiers
came up I swung the Indian chieftain’s topknot and bonnet in the air,
and shouted: ‘The first scalp for Custer!’”
Far up to the northward, Sitting Bull, with the war chief Spotted
Tail and about three thousand warriors fled from the scene of the
Custer massacre. And as they traveled on the lonely plains they
came to a little fort with the gates closed. “Open your gates and hand
out your grub,” said the Indians.
“Come and get the grub,” answered the fort.
So the gates were thrown open and the three thousand warriors
stormed in to loot the fort. They found only two white men standing
outside a door, but all round the square the log buildings were
loopholed and from every hole stuck out the muzzle of a rifle. The
Indians were caught in such a deadly trap that they ran for their lives
back to camp.
Very soon news reached the Blackfeet that their enemies the
Sioux were camped by the new fort at Wood Mountain, so the whole
nation marched to wipe them out, and Sitting Bull appealed for help
to the white men. “Be good,” said the fort, “and nobody shall hurt
you.”
So the hostile armies camped on either side, and the thirty white
men kept the peace between them. One day the Sioux complained
that the Blackfeet had stolen fifty horses. So six of the white men
were sent to the Blackfoot herd to bring the horses back. They did
not know which horses to select so they drove off one hundred fifty
for good measure straight at a gallop through the Blackfoot camp,
closely pursued by that indignant nation. Barely in time they ran the
stock within the fort, and slammed the gates home in the face of the
raging Blackfeet. They were delighted with themselves until the
officer commanding fined them a month’s pay each for insulting the
Blackfoot nation.
The winter came, the spring and then the summer, when those
thirty white men arrived at the Canada-United States boundary
where they handed over three thousand Sioux prisoners to the
American troops. From that time the redcoats of the Royal Northwest
Mounted Police of Canada have been respected on the frontier.
And now came a very wonderful adventure. Sitting Bull, the
leader of the Sioux nation who had defeated General Custer’s
division and surrendered his army to thirty Canadian soldiers, went
to Europe to take part in a circus personally conducted by the chief
of scouts of the United States Army, Buffalo Bill. Poor Sitting Bull
was afterward murdered by United States troops in the piteous
massacre of Wounded Knee. Buffalo Bill for twenty-six years
paraded Europe and America with his gorgeous Wild West show,
slowly earning the wealth which he lavished in the founding of Cody
City, Wyoming.
Toward the end of these tours I used to frequent the show camp
much like a stray dog expecting to be kicked, would spend hours
swapping lies with the cowboys in the old Deadwood Coach, or sit at
meat with the colonel and his six hundred followers. On the last tour
the old man was thrown by a bad horse at Bristol and afterward rode
with two broken bones in splints. Only the cowboys knew, who told
me, as day by day I watched him back his horse from the ring with all
the old incomparable grace.
He went back to build a million dollar irrigation ditch for his little
city on the frontier, and shortly afterward the newspapers reported
that my friends—the Buffalo Creek Gang of robbers—attacked his
bank, and shot the cashier. May civilization never shut out the free
air of the frontier while the old hero lives, in peace and honor, loved
to the end and worshiped by all real frontiersmen.
XVII
A. D. 1860
THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT
WHEN the Eternal Father was making the earth, at one time He
filled the sea with swimming dragons, the air with flying dragons, and
the land with hopping dragons big as elephants; but they were not a
success, and so He swept them all away. After that he filled the
southern continents with a small improved hopping dragon, that laid
no eggs, but carried the baby in a pouch. There were queer half-
invented fish, shadeless trees, and furry running birds like the emu
and the moa. Then He swamped that southern world under the sea,
and moved the workshop to our northern continents. But He left New
Zealand and Australia just as they were, a scrap of the half-finished
world with furry running birds, the hopping kangaroo, the shadeless
trees, and half-invented fish.
So when the English went to Australia it was not an ordinary
voyage, but a journey backward through the ages, through goodness
only knows how many millions of years to the fifth day of creation. It
was like visiting the moon or Mars. To live and travel in such a
strange land a man must be native born, bush raised, and cunning at
that, on pain of death by famine.
The first British settlers, too, were convicts. The laws were so
bad in England that a fellow might be deported merely for giving
cheek to a judge; and the convicts on the whole were very decent
people, brutally treated in the penal settlements. They used to
escape to the bush, and runaway convicts explored Australia mainly
in search of food. One of them, in Tasmania, used, whenever he
escaped, to take a party with him and eat them one by one, until he
ran short of food and had to surrender.
Later on gold was discovered, and free settlers drifted in, filling
the country, but the miners and the farmers were too busy earning a
living to do much exploration. So the exploring fell to English
gentlemen, brave men, but hopeless tenderfeet, who knew nothing
of bushcraft and generally died of hunger or thirst in districts where
the native-born colonial grows rich to-day.
Edgar John Eyre, for instance, a Yorkshireman, landed in
Sydney at the age of sixteen, and at twenty-five was a rich sheep-
farmer, appointed by government protector of the black fellows. In
1840 the colonists of South Australia wanted a trail for drifting sheep
into Western Australia, and young Eyre, from what he had learned
among the savages, said the scheme was all bosh, in which he was
perfectly right. He thought that the best line for exploring was
northward, and set out to prove his words, but got tangled up in the
salt bogs surrounding Torrens, and very nearly lost his whole party in
an attempt to wade across. After that failure he felt that he had
wasted the money subscribed in a wildcat project, so to make good
set out again to find a route for sheep along the waterless south
coast of the continent. He knew the route was impossible, but it is a
poor sort of courage that has to feed on hope, and the men worth
having are those who leave their hopes behind to march light while
they do their duty.
Eyre’s party consisted of himself and his ranch foreman Baxter, a
favorite black boy Wylie, who was his servant, and two other natives
who had been on the northward trip. They had nine horses, a pony,
six sheep, and nine weeks’ rations on the pack animals.
The first really dry stage was one hundred twenty-eight miles
without a drop of water, and it was not the black fellows, but Eyre,
the tenderfoot, who went ahead and found the well that saved them.
The animals died off one by one, so that the stores had to be left
behind, and there was no food but rotten horse-flesh which caused
dysentery, no water save dew collected with a sponge from the
bushes after the cold nights. The two black fellows deserted, but
after three days came back penitent and starving, thankful to be
reinstated.
These black fellows did not believe the trip was possible, they
wanted to go home, they thought the expedition well worth
plundering, and so one morning while Eyre was rounding up the
horses they shot Baxter, plundered the camp and bolted. Only Eyre
and his boy Wylie were left, but if they lived the deserters might be
punished. So the two black fellows, armed with Baxter’s gun, tried to
hunt down Eyre and his boy with a view to murder. They came so
near at night that Eyre once heard them shout to Wylie to desert.
Eyre and the boy stole off, marching so rapidly that the murderers
were left behind and perished.
A week later, still following the coast of the Great Bight, Wylie
discovered a French ship lying at anchor, and the English skipper fed
the explorers for a fortnight until they were well enough to go on.
Twenty-three more days of terrible suffering brought Eyre and his
boy, looking like a brace of scarecrows, to a hilltop overlooking the
town of Albany. They had reached Western Australia, the first
travelers to cross from the eastern to the western colonies.
In after years Eyre was governor of Jamaica.
II
Australia, being the harshest country on earth, breeds the
hardiest pioneers, horsemen, bushmen, trackers, hunters, scouts,
who find the worst African or American travel a sort of picnic. The
bushie is disappointing to town Australians because he has no
swank, and nothing of the brilliant picturesqueness of the American
frontiersman. He is only a tall, gaunt man, lithe as a whip, with a
tongue like a whip-lash; and it is on bad trips or in battle that one
finds what he is like inside, a most knightly gentleman with a vein of
poetry.
Anyway the Melbourne people were cracked in 1860 when they
wanted an expedition to cross Australia northward, and instead of
appointing bushmen for the job selected tenderfeet. Burke was an
Irishman, late of the Hungarian cavalry, and the Royal Irish
Constabulary, serving as an officer in the Victorian police. Wills was
a Devon man, with some frontier training on the sheep runs, but had
taken to astronomy and surveying. There were several other white
men, and three Afghans with a train of camels.
They left Melbourne with pomp and circumstance, crossed
Victoria through civilized country, and made a base camp on the
Darling River at Menindie. There Burke sacked two mutinous
followers and his doctor scuttled in a funk, so he took on Wright, an
old settler who knew the way to Cooper’s Creek four hundred miles
farther on. Two hundred miles out Wright was sent back to bring up
stores from Menindie, while the expedition went on to make an
advanced base at Cooper’s Creek. Everything was to depend on the
storage of food at that base.
While they were waiting for Wright to come up with their stores,
Wills and another man prospected ninety miles north from Cooper’s
Creek to the Stony Desert, a land of white quartz pebbles and
polished red sandstone chips. The explorer Sturt had been there,
and come back blind. No man had been beyond.
Wills, having mislaid his three camels, came back ninety miles
afoot without water, to find the whole expedition stuck at Cooper’s
Creek, waiting for stores. Mr. Wright at Menindie burned time,
wasting six weeks before he attempted to start with the stores, and
Burke at last could bear the delay no longer. There were thunder-
storms giving promise of abundant water for once in the northern
desert, so Burke marched with Wills, King and Gray, taking a horse
and six camels.
William Brahe was left in charge at the camp at Cooper’s Creek,
to remain with ample provisions until Wright turned up, but not to
leave except in dire extremity.
Burke’s party crossed the glittering Stony Desert, and watching
the birds who always know the way to water, they came to a fine
lake, where they spent Christmas day. Beyond that they came to the
Diamantina and again there was water. The country improved, there
were northward flowing streams to cheer them on their way, and at
last they came to salt water at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
They had crossed the continent from south to north.
With blithe hearts they set out on their return, and if they had to
kill the camels for food, then to eat snakes, which disagreed with
them, still there would be plenty when they reached Cooper’s Creek.
Gray complained of being ill, but pilfering stores is not a proper
symptom of any disease, so Burke gave him a thrashing by way of
medicine. When he died, they delayed one day for his burial; one
day too much, for when they reached Cooper’s Creek they were just
nine hours late. Thirty-one miles they made in the last march and
reeled exhausted into an empty camp ground. Cut in the bark of a
tree were the words “Dig, 21 April 1861.” They dug a few inches into
the earth where they found a box of provisions, and a bottle
containing a letter.
“The depot party of the V. E. E. leave this camp to-day to return
to the Darling. I intend to go S. E. from camp sixty miles to get into
our old track near Bulloo. Two of my companions and myself are
quite well; the third, Patten, has been unable to walk for the last
eighteen days, as his leg has been severely hurt when thrown from
one of the horses. No person has been up here from Darling. We
have six camels and twelve horses in good working condition.
William Brahe.”
It would be hopeless with two exhausted camels to try and catch
up with that march. Down Cooper’s Creek one hundred fifty miles the
South Australian Mounted Police had an outpost, and the box of
provisions would last out that short journey.
They were too heart-sick to make an inscription on the tree, but
left a letter in the bottle, buried. A few days later Brahe returned with
the industrious Mr. Wright and his supply train. Here is the note in
Wright’s diary:—