MENTAWI  , a

chain of islands in the Dutch East Indies, off the west coast of Sumatra, between I° and 30 30' S . There are twenty-one islands in all, of which the majority lie close to or between the four largest—Siberut, Sikaban or Sipora, North Pageh and South Pageh . The two last (also called Pagi or Poggy) are sometimes termed the Nassau Islands . The total land area is 1224 sq. m . The islands are included in the administration of Padang, Sumatra . They are apparently volcanic . Coral reefs lie off the coasts and render them difficult of access . The natives in language and customs present affinities with some Polynesians, and have been held to be a survival of the eastward immigration of people of Caucasian stock which took place before those which established the " pre-Malay "peoples (such as the Dyaks and Battas) in the Malay Archipelago . The islands produce some coco-nuts, sago, trepang and timber .