Me lanes i ans

Natives of the islands between New Guinea and the Fiji Islands. They are negritos, closely allied to the PAPUANS (q.v.), but in the eastern islands the stock is largely Polynesian, though the language is Papuan. The archipelagoes included are the Solomon Is., Admiralty Is., New Britain, New He brides, New Caledonia. Great diversity exists among the different islanders. The Admiralty islanders are remarkable for having feet like those of the apes, the great toe being much shorter than the other toes, which are prehensile. Spears and clubs, rather than bows, are the usual weapons; they wear an ornament piercing the septum of the nose, take great pains in dre ing their hair fantastically, and wear little or no clothing. Melanochroi. Dark-skinned Iranians, or Caucasians, as the Hindoo, Semitic and Hamitic branches. See MAN.