CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 73 
‘¢ It is most particularly enjoined to every person who 
may be on shore to return on board, as soon as possible, on 
seeing the signal for that purpose.” 
‘The scantiness and short duration of the sea breezes and 
the current kept us nearly stationary, until the 5th, when in 
the afternoon a fresh sea breeze sprung up at W.S. W. with 
which we stood to the south, and soon shoaled our water 
from 22 to 13 fathoms, which depth we carried without 
alteration until 8 o’clock, when we deepened to 18 fathoms, 
and the next cast had no ground with 150 fathoms of line; 
whence it was evident we were in the deep channel of the 
river Congo or Zaire, and thus had overshot my intention, 
which was, in consequence of the expected velocity of the 
stream, to anchor on the edge of the bank, and take the next 
sea breeze to cross it. We had now however no alternative 
but to stand on, and the breeze lasting for near an hour, 
carried us across the fathomless channel, and we struck 
soundings in 23 fathoms on this side, as suddenly as we had 
Jost them on the other; the wind at the same time failing, 
we anchored in that depth, and found no current whatever ; 
indeed in the deep channel of the river it must have been 
insignificant, in comparison with what we had been led to 
expect, certainly not above two miles an hour. 
L 
