CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE, 48 
The currents, from leaving Porto Praya until in latitude 
6°, longitude 15°, set to the south and S.E.; they then 
changed to the N. EK. and E. N. E., with various degrees of 
velocity, from 8 to 40 miles a day, and retained this direc- 
tion until we made Prince's Island. 
The winds until the 5th of May, when we crossed the 
meridian of Cape Palmas, at the distance of 15 leagues 
from that Cape, were very light and variable, between south 
and S.W. The greatest heat of the atmosphere was 85° in 
a clear calm at 2 P. M., and the least 74° after heavy rain ; 
the rain water as it fell being at 75°. The various trials of 
the temperature of the sea gave between 81° and 82° at the 
surface, and 63°to 64° at the depth of 200 fathoms. A large 
shoal of the bottle-nose porpoise or dolphin of naturalists, 
( Delphinus delphis) was seen; flocks of tropic birds, and a 
few men-of-war birds (Pelicanus aquila) now also accompa- 
nied our course. It was observed that’ the former bird 
fishes in the manner of the gull, flying low, and seizing 
its prey only at the surface, and often sitting on the water ; 
while the man-of-war bird soars very high, hovers on the 
wing like the kite, and darts perpendicularly on its prey, 
diving after, and carrying away, the largest flying-fish into 
the air. 
After passing Cape Palmas, the light southerly air was 
