LETTER IV. 



Voyage to Teneriffe Continued, 



We progress in our voyage with every success that 

 could be anticipated. The weather has been fine and 

 agreeable, except in the night of the 21st instant, when 

 we were visited, at midnight, by a torrent of rain. The 

 lightning gleamed with awful and vivid flashes, and the 

 thunder rolled in quick successive peals from clouds imme- 

 diately over our heads. The morning following, the 

 clouds had passed away, and pleasant gales, as usual, con- 

 tinued to waft us along. 



The flying-fish are still seen skipping over the dark-blue 

 waves, and occasionally I catch a glimpse of the parrot-fish, 

 commonly, but improperly called the dolphin, which is 

 quite another sort of fish, (DcJpldnus clcJplus. Lix.) and 

 belongs to the whale family. The parrot-fish (^ Co 7'_?/^/z^«« 

 cceruJca. Lix.) has a head of an odd structure, resembling 

 thatof the spermaceti v/hale. The mouth is small, and 

 each mandible is armed with a single row of even 

 teeth, so that they appear to be entire bones. Its irides 

 are of a bright red ; on the back is a long fin indented 

 on the edge ; behind the gills are two more fins : also 

 one under the abdomen, and another near the extreme 

 end. The tail is forked, and the color of the whole 

 fish, when alive, is entirely blue. It is taken in great 

 abundance on the coast of the Bahama Islands, and 

 is found in most of the seas between the tropics. It is 

 considered by some, as delicate food. 



Scarcely any other beings endowed with life, have 

 come under notice, except petrels and sternge, or sea- 

 swallows. The last appellation takes its name from their 

 excessively long and pointed wings, and from their forked 



