Anthropologist Joseph Deniker said that the very hairy peoples are the Ainus, Iranians, Australian aborigines, Toda, Dravidians and Melanesians while Deniker said the American Indian, San, Mongol and Malay people are glabrous (not hairy).
He was described by his fellow authors of Skeptical (David Vernon, Dr Colin Groves and Simon Brown) as a 20th Century 'Renaissance Man' as his interests were wide ranging from Melanesian languages, to channelling, Tarot cards and bawdy songs.
These same Austronesian people are thought to have continued their expansion eastward, to occupy Melanesian and Polynesian islands around 2000 years ago.
Traditional Melanesian choir singing features heavily in the soundtrack of the film The Thin Red Line, which is set against the backdrop of the Battle for Guadalcanal.
He also intensively studied Melanesian languages, including the Mota language.