The Island is reckoned nigh a Square, each Side 18 Leagues long, hilly, and lays under the _Æquinoctial_, 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 Bays, of either of the four Continents; the only large and remarkable one, is that of _Benin_ and _Calabar_, towards which the Currents of each Coast tend, and is strongest from the Southward, because more open to a larger Sea, whose rising it is (tho' little and indiscernable at any Distance from the Land,) that gives rise to these Currents close in Shore, which are nothing but Tides altered and disturbed by the Make and Shape of Lands.