We were now upon the small piece of land called by the natives _To'bee_, but known to navigators by the name of _Lord North's Island_, situated between the third and fourth degrees of north latitude, and in longitude one hundred and thirty-one degrees twenty minutes east. It is also known by the name of _Nevil's Island_ and _Johnston's Island_; and it has been hitherto considered by navigators and others as uninhabited. This is not surprising; as we were told by the natives, that no white man had ever visited the place; though it seemed, from the pieces of iron in their possession, and from other circumstances, that they had had some communication with the Spaniards and Portuguese in that quarter of the world.[4] Like many other islands in those seas, this is surrounded by a coral reef, which is from an eighth to one half of a mile wide; but outside of the reef the water is apparently fathomless, the water being as blue as it is in the middle of the ocean; and the largest vessels may in many places approach within a quarter of a mile of the beach. The whole island rises so little above the level of the sea, that the swell often rolls up to a considerable distance inland. It is about three quarters of a mile in length, and not far from half a mile in width. There were upon it three villages, situated on the shores, and containing, in all, between three and four hundred souls, at the time when we were taken there; but the number was considerably diminished by famine and disease before we left. The inhabitants are in a state of entire barbarism and ignorance. The men wear a sort of girdle or belt made of the bark of a tree. This is girded round the loins so as to leave one end to hang loose behind, the other is brought forward and fastened to the belt in front. This is their only clothing. The females, after arriving at the age of womanhood, wear an apron made of the leaves of a plant, by them called _kurremung_, split into fine strips and plaited. This extends from the loins nearly to the knees. Some few wear rings upon their wrists made of white shells, and some had this kind of ornament made of turtle-shell. In their ears, which are always bored, they sometimes wear a leaf; and round their necks a necklace made of the shell of the cocoa-nut, and a small white shell, called _keem_ shell. The children go entirely naked. The complexion of these islanders is a light copper color; much lighter than the Malays, or the Pelew islanders; which last, however, they resemble in the breadth of their faces, high cheek bones, and broad flattened noses. They do not color their teeth, by chewing any thing, as many of those islanders do; but their teeth are so strong that they can husk a cocoa-nut with them instantly.