For some unexplained reason, they seemed much afraid, and were with difficulty induced to believe that our intentions were nothing but good. From answers to questions, we learned that the people of Little Nicobar have nearly all died--a piece of information that one seems to obtain everywhere but in Kar Nicobar and Chaura. The name of the island they gave as Pulo Panjang (_Malay_=Long Island); it is called "Ong" in their own language; among themselves the Nicobarese do not employ the names familiar to us.[69] Little Nicobar, the second largest island of the Archipelago, has an area of 58 square miles. It is broken up into hilly ranges, the highest summits being Mount Deoban, 1428 feet, near the centre of the island, and Empress Peak, 1420 feet, at the north-east corner. The bed rock is a calcareous sandstone, easily disintegrated, and overlaid by a deep soil capable of sustaining a rich and varied vegetation. The hills are thickly wooded from base to summit, and there are no grassy spaces like those found on the northern islands. The nature of the forest varies according to position and soil. In the beach forest, _Pandanus larum_ and _P. odoratissimus_, _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, _Barringtonia speciosa_, _Terminalia catappa_, and _Calophyllum inophyllum_, are extremely plentiful; in the littoral forest of the level inlets, _Mimusops littoralis_, _Calophyllum spectabile_ (canoe wood), and _Eugenias_, are the best represented species; while palms (_Ptychoraphis augusta_ and _Areca catechu_) and cane-brakes are common in the moister parts. The high forest of the hills contains fine specimens of _Terminalia procera_, _C. spectabile_, _Myristica irya_, _Artocarpus lakoocha_, and _Garcinia speciosa_. No Dipterocarpus trees occur. The population of Little Nicobar and Pulo Milo is 67: in fact, with the exception of Kondul, the inhabitants are fewer than those of any other island of the group. Its people speak, with some variations, the dialect of Nankauri: only for certain objects, and these, singular to say, of first necessity--coconuts, palms, pandanus, etc.--do they employ different expressions.[70] The same language is spoken by the people of Great Nicobar. According to Hamilton, they all partook, two hundred years ago, of the unpolished nature of their mountainous islands, and were more uncivil and surly than those of the northward! Should the group again receive a European settlement, I know of no spot more suited to the purpose than this: in accommodation for shipping only is it excelled by the splendid harbour at Nankauri; in all else it is far superior--in the formation and greater area of ground, in fertility of soil, and in the presence of water. We landed first on Little Nicobar near some ruined huts which once formed the village of Makachia[.n], deserted since 1898, when the few remaining people either died or removed elsewhere; and after passing through a belt of coco palms, found ourselves in the jungle.