MELANESIA, one of the three great divisions of the oceanic islands in the central and western Pacific. It embraces the New British Archipelago, north-east of New Guinea, the Louisiade, Solomon, Santa Cruz, New Hebrides and Loyalty islands, New Caledonia, Fiji and intervening small groups. The name (Gr. Oas, black, and
island) is derived from the black colour of the prevailing native race, the Papuan and its allied tribes. (See A large element of Papuan origin (see PAPUANS) is found in the population of Melanesia. There have, however, been several movements through Melanesia of stocks from Indonesia and the main land. Some of these stocks were themselves of mixed origin before contact was established with the Papuan elements found by them on their arrival. The population is, therefore, not homo geneous and exhibits considerable variation. The heads are usually long, but here and there are round-headed groups. The stature varies from short to medium. The forehead is commonly rounded and the brow ridges are not usually prominent. The nose is gen erally broad and is sometimes straight, and smaller than in the Papuan. The hair is of the woolly type and is sometimes curly or wavy. The skin is sometimes very dark, shading to copper coloured.
Four kinds of social systems are found in Melanesia. Dual organisation with matrilineal descent is now found only in the Banks islands, Northern New Hebrides and perhaps one part of the Solomon islands. It may, however, have had a much wider extension. Then there are groups organised in totemic clans which are exogamic and matrilineal in one or two parts. Local exogamy is found in Murlav and perhaps else where, while the clan system is found in the western Solomons and one or two other islands where marriage is regulated solely by kinship.
An important feature of Melanesian society is the secret societies which are found in the Torres and Banks islands, in the Northern New Hebrides. Some indications are found in New Caledonia ; in Fiji they occur in the interior and again definitely in the Bismarck Archipelago. With the exception of Fiji the societies are associated with matrilineal descent and are most developed where dual organisation is found. The insti tution known as the men's house is here as elsewhere a prominent feature of secret societies. The use of masks is also important and it is suggested that the organisation of secret societies is in part due to the desire of immigrants to keep their magical proc esses hidden from the aborigines, because their supremacy rested on the superiority of their magic to that of the previous inhabi tants. In one island, that of Mota, there are 77 societies with various sub-divisions. It is believed that the members represent ghosts, probably spirits of the dead. Societies own marks which
are used to protect property. The importance of this institution from an economic aspect, therefore, is considerable.
In certain cases the status of chief is conditioned by the reputation of the individual or by his rank in the men's club house, and in other cases definite hereditary patrilineal chief ship is found.
An interesting feature is the habit of adoption, which complicates social structure and may start quite early. In Mota, a new-born infant becomes the child of the man who pays the chief helper or midwife. The sisters of the father settle who shall be the midwife so that the father has a good chance of claiming his child as his own. The real father recovers his child under difficult conditions. The real mother would nurse the child. Cases of adult adoption are also permitted and associated with them is the practice of exchanging names. Whether there is evi dence for communism in respect of children indicating a prior communism over their mothers is not clear; the vicissitudes of Melanesian history are totally hid from us.
An extended form is found in the Santa Cruz area. Elsewhere it has undergone modification. In several groups is found the belief in descent from the totem animals, from human beings closely identified with them.
In one area Fox has recorded the presence of no less than twenty-one methods of disposing of the dead, wherein are traced the effects of contacts with various cultures of religious beliefs and of social distinctions.
There are gods and nature spirits but the most prominent concept is undoubtedly that of Mana (q.v.). Magic is used to further private ends, for economic purposes as in garden culture and hunting. Knowledge of the right magical formulae is as essential to the canoe builder as knowledge of the correct engineering formulae is to the naval architect.
is most developed in the W. Solomon Is., hardly present in the matrilineal area and completely absent from S. Melanesia. It was of very great importance in the social life of the people, essential in the completion of a new house, the launch ing of a new canoe, garden cultivation and religious ritual. With its suppression enterprise has been diminished, the zest of life has gone and the deterioration of the people has been accelerated. The intricate investigations made by Malinowski into the Econ omics of the Trobriand Islanders reveal the existence of a com plicated system of trade and the circulation of special kinds of articles.
The Melanesians (1891) ; W. H. R. Rivers, History of Melanesian Society (1914) ; C. G. Seligman, The Melanesians of New Guinea; B. Malinowski, The Argonauts of the Western Pacific; C. E. Fox, The Threshold of the Pacific.