We happened, exactly at 12 o'clock, to be in the sun's zenith, and the sunbeams fell so perpendicularly that every object was perfectly shadowless.

We put books, chairs, ourselves in the sun, and were highly delighted with this unusual kind of amusement.

Luckily we had chanced to be at the right spot at the right time; had we, at the same hour, been only one degree nearer or one degree further, we should have lost the entire sight; when we saw it we were 14 degrees 6' (a minute is equal to a nautical mile).
All observations with the sextant {9} were out of the question until we were once more some degrees from the zenith.
17th August.

Shoals of tunny-fish, (fish four and five feet long, and belonging to the dolphin tribe,) were seen tumbling about the ship.

A harpoon was quickly procured, and one of the sailors sent out with it on the bowsprit; but whether he had bad luck, or was unskilled in the art of harpooning, he missed his mark.