Their language appears to be different from those of the other islands in that quarter; we found that the three natives of the Pelew islands, that accompanied us, could not understand any thing they said; though I observed afterwards, occasionally, a resemblance in two or three words. The reader will, however, be enabled to judge for himself, by means of a short vocabulary of common words which will be found at the end of this narrative. I may add, that the Pelew chiefs had never heard of Lord North's island; but they are acquainted with the _Caroline_ islands. A detail of all that befell us would serve only to give pain to the benevolent, or at most to show how much human beings can endure. I shall attempt but little more than to describe the sufferings of a day; observing once for all, that for the term of two long years we experienced the same privations, and were subjected to the same brutal treatment; life, during all that time, being no better than the constant succession of the most acute sufferings. This island, unlike the Pelews, is one of the most horrible and wretched on the face of the globe. The only product of its soil worth mentioning is the cocoa-tree; and those are of so dwarfish and miserable a growth as to bear but very few nuts. These few, however, constitute the food of the inhabitants, with the exception of a species of fish caught occasionally near the shore. The only animals or creeping things known on the island are lizards and mice, and, during our stay there, scarcely a solitary sea-fowl was known to have alighted on the island, and but few fish were taken by the natives. The character of the inhabitants much resembles that of the island itself. Cowardly and servile, yet most barbarous and cruel, they combine, in their habits, tempers, and dispositions, the most disgusting and loathsome features that disgrace humanity. And, what may be regarded as remarkable, the female portion of the inhabitants outstrip the men in cruelty and savage depravity; so much so, that we were frequently indebted to the tender mercies of the men for escapes from death at the hands of the women. The indolence of the natives, which not even the fear of starvation itself can rouse to exertion, prevents their undertaking the least toil, although a little labor, well applied, might be made to render them infinitely more comfortable.[5]