VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. 27 
east, a current from the south setting against us. We were to-daj'^ 
in latitude 34" 23' and the air in this southern hemisphere is mucli 
colder, than in the same degree and season in the northern : we were 
even glad to be on deck, to warm ourselves hy the sun. 
14th. A small species of cat-fish was thrown on board by a Wave. 
Its appearance is singular. Its head in a bag, with two large eyes, 
but without any thing deserving the name of a body. Eight long 
tails or antennae proceed from the back of the head, two longer 
than the rest, and furnished with claws. All of them are orna- 
mented with pearls or beads on the edges. The whole fish was 
about six inches long. The cold was to-day very troublesome, and 
on account of the strong current from the south, and the state of 
the wind, we tacked, and stood towards the south, fearing to make 
the land too far to the northward. 
15th. The captain, Mr. Buck, and two of the missionaries, went 
out in the jolly boat, when Mr. Buck shot two albatrosses. This is 
a magnificent bird. The wings extend to above eight feet, when 
spread. Its beak is about five inches long, hooked, and tipped with 
red, an orange-coloured line running along the upper edge. Its 
forehead broad, and, like the breast and belly, of the purest white, 
covered with the most beautiful, soft, downy plumage. Its webbed 
feet are w^hite, and its wings black and grey, and furnished with 
three joints. The first turns the wing, when at rest, towards the 
tail, the second back to the breast, and the third again towards the 
tail. The tail is short in proportion to the size of the bird. Those 
shot were both ducks, and we supposed a much larger bird of the 
same kind, with a white back, which flew about the ship, but could 
not be shot, to be the drake. A smaller bird, called by some tlie 
Cape pigeon, came on board, and was killed. This pretty creature 
had a pointed bill, black, and about an inch and a half long; its 
crown black; its back, and the top of its wings, of a blueish grey; its 
feet webbed, but furnished with long sharp claws, like a land-bird; 
its belly and throat snow-white. The whole bird al)out a foot long 
from the head to the tip of the tail, which is forked and fan-sliaped. 
