Caroline Island lies 596 nautical miles south of the equator. It is about 125 miles east of Vostok, 125 miles northeast of Flint, 420 miles southeast of Starbuck, 640 miles west of Hivaoa, Marquesas, and 450 miles north and a little west of Papeete, Tahiti. It is a long, slender atoll, shaped like the bone point of a southeastern Polynesian trolling hook. It measures about five and three-quarters miles north and south, tapering from a width of a little over a mile at the southern end; about thirteen miles in circumference. Two dozen islets surround a shallow lagoon, into which there is no passage through the connecting reef which will admit more than a ship's boat. The islets are 15 to 20 feet high to the top of the highest land. Most of them are covered with groves of coconut palms and the remnants of low forest trees. The reef does not dry at low water. The sea breaks heavily on the weather side. The reef is said to extend about a mile off the southwest and southeast points, although not so shown on charts. There is no anchorage. Landing can be made through a narrow break in the reef off the northwest point of the southern islet. At high water a ship's boat can reach shore; at low water one must wade 1,400 feet across the reef in knee-deep water. The climate is warm but pleasant, with equable temperature. Sea and migratory birds are numerous. The only land mammals are reddish-brown rats. Fish are abundant both about the reef and in the lagoon. There must have been Polynesian inhabitants on Caroline Island some time prior to its discovery, for graves, containing adzes, and native temple platforms have been found, especially on the two northern islets.