noctial, a wooden Bridge juſt without the Town, being ſaid not to deviate the leaſt Part of a Minute, either to the Southward or Northward; and notwithſtanding this warm Scituation, and continual vertical Suns, the Iſlanders are very healthy, imputed by thoſe who are diſpoſed to be merry, in a great Meaſure to the Want of even ſo much as one Surgeon or Phyſician amongſt them.
Iſle Del Principe, the next in Magnitude, a pleaſant and delightful Spot to the grave, and thoughtfull Diſpoſition of the Portugueſe, an Improvement of Country Retirement, in that, this may be a happy and uninterrupted Retreat from the whole World.
I ſhall divide what I have to ſay on this Iſland, into Obſervations made on our Approach to it, on the Seas round it, the Harbour, Produce of the Iſland and Seaſons, Way of Living among the Inhabitants, ſome Cuſtom of the Negroes, with ſuch proper Deductions on each as may illuſtrate the Deſcription, and inform the Reader.
We were bound hither from Whydah, at the latter Part of the Month July, when the Rains are over, and the Winds hang altogether S. W. (as they do before the Rains, S. E.) yet with this Wind (when at Sea) we found the Ship gained unexpectedly ſo far to the Southward, (i. e. Windward,) that we could with eaſe have weathered any of the Iſlands, and this ſeems next to impoſſible ſhould be, if the Currents, which were ſtrong to Leeward, in the Road of Whydah, had extended in like Manner croſs the Bite of Benin: No, it muſt then have been very difficult to have weathered even Cape Formoſa: On this Occaſion, I ſhall farther expatiate upon the Currents on the whole Coaſt of Guiney.
The Southern Coaſt of Africa runs in a Line of Latitude, the Northern on an Eaſtern Line, but both ſtrait, with the feweſt Inlets, Gulphs or
