FRENCH MELANESIA. 

 Inhabitants. 



343 



The discovery of polished jade hatchets in the quaternary formations of New 

 Caledonia attests the presence of man in these oceanic lands from a very remote 

 epoch; attempts have even been made to discriminate the descendants of the 

 primitive element amongst the present tribal groups. But, however this be, 

 the kanakas* or " men," belong mainly to the Melanesian family, as shown by 



Fig. 146. — Native of Mare, Loyalty Isles. 



their almost black, or at least deep brown comjolexion, highly prominent cheek- 

 bones, and crisp or frizzly hair, naturally of a black colour, but in many districts 

 still dyed yellow or white with lime. The lobe of the ear is also pierced for the 

 insertion of wood, bone and other ornaments, and the heads of the children of 



* This now familiar Polynesian term denotes no particular race, but is commonly applied by the 

 Trench in a coUective sense to all the inhabitants of New Caledonia and the neighbouring archipelagoes. 



