PELEW, Pellew, Palau, or Palao, Islands, a group in the -western Pacific at the intersection of 134° 30' E. long, by 7°, 8°, and 9° N. lat., which, as it is often considered part of the Caroline Archipelago, has been described in the article Caroline Islands, vol. v. pp. 125, 126. The name Islas Palaos, by which the islands are first designated, is of doubtful but certainly not of native origin, and was originally applied by the Spaniards in an indefinite way to all the islands east of Mindanao (Philippines). The English form “Pelew” may be a corruption either of Palao or of Peleliu (Pellelew), the proper name of one of the southern islands. According to Miklukho-Maklay (Izvyest-iya of the Imp. Russian Geogr. Soc., 1878, pp. 257-297; cf. Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., Berlin, 1878) the ordinary nomenclature on our maps is often erroneous, the correct forms being Babeltop, Kayangel (not Yanguel or Kiangle), N’yaur (not Angaur or Angour), Arkledeu (not Korph), Namalakal (not Amanakal), <tc. The men vary in height from 5 feet to 5 feet 7 inches, the women from 4 feet 9 to 5 feet 2. The character of the hair differs greatly in different individuals; both sexes wear it wound up in a back-knot. Tattooing (but not of a very elaborate type) is in vogue, especially among the women, by whom the operation is always performed. The skull shows a strong tendency to brachycephalism. Adults of both sexes have their teeth carefully blackened by teldadek (a kind of earth). Sir John Lubbock (The Origin of Civilisation) places the Pelew Islanders among the peoples destitute of religion; but Miklukho-Maklay found among them a well-developed Shamanism, every village having a kalit i or shaman, and the group containing five high kalits with an extensive jurisdiction. The ornithology of the ...