In truth, the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar are among the most perfect of human-kind. In their commerce with us they showed themselves to be child-like and ignorant, yet virtuous, trustworthy people, without ambition or the thirst of knowledge, but also without jealousy or envy. If ever any breach between themselves and the Europeans has been pushed the length of violence, such has pretty certainly resulted rather from their being in a measure suddenly incited to self-defence than from any open predisposition to mischief. When we inquired of one of the natives in what manner breach of faith is punished on the island, he replied with the utmost _naïveté_;--"We never have such--we are all good;--but in your country there must be many evil men, else what for would you require so many guns?" In company with some of the natives we had proceeded upon a stroll through the magnificent cocoa forest along the beach, in the course of which we reached several huts scattered at random through the thicket, the inhabitants of which received us in the most cordial manner. Their wives and children however had all retired in a body, and during our entire stay never once made their appearance. Indeed the natives, in the hope of hastening our departure, pretended that their families had in their panic fled into the forest, and must starve of hunger if we should remain long, and so prevent them from returning to their usual abodes. This however was but a hoax. The natives knew well enough where their families were lurking, and provided them with food and drink. This extreme shyness of the female portion of the population arises apparently from the incivilities of which the sailors of the merchant vessels were guilty towards the natives, whose moral feelings and delicacy of mind, considering their low state of civilization, becomes doubly extraordinary. An attempt to penetrate deeper into the interior of the island was baffled through the obstacles which are interposed by the unchecked luxuriance of tropical nature. The vegetation grows densely down to the very sea, which is separated from the rich foliage above only by rocky reefs and narrow dunes of sand, washed by the furious surf. A broad belt of _Rhizophoræ_, gigantic _Barringtonias_, _Pandanus_, _Areca_, and cocoa-palms, encircles the island, to which succeeds a somewhat higher land grown with dense grass and interspersed with groups of trees, from which, lastly, spring a few thickly-wooded peaks of about 150 to 200 feet in height. Through this girdle it requires the most violent efforts to force one's way, while, on the other hand, it is wholly impossible, owing to the dense tangle of climbing plants and bamboo, to advance further into the forest over the grass flat, unless a path be previously cleared with hedge-knives, which, even could more time be devoted, would call for immense exertion. Our researches therefore were necessarily confined for the most part to the coast region.