South Malaita Island 3 main dialects! - Sa'a dialect- widely spoken by 75% of the population of South Malaita. - Tolo (mix areare) dialect- is spoken by 20% of the population. - Lau dialect- is spoken by 5% of the people. South Malaita Island, also known as Small Malaita and Maramasike for Areare speakers and Malamweimwei known to more than 80% of the islanders, is the island at the southern tip of the larger island of Malaita in the eastern part of the Solomon Islands. It is called "small" to distinguish it from the much larger mainland. It is now part of Malaita
Malaita that vivax malaria is endemic. Malaitans once believed in anthropoid apes that lived in the center of the island, which are said to be tall and come in troops to raid banana plantations. According to Malaitian oral history, a Polynesian woman named Barafaifu introduced dolphin drive hunting from Ontong Java Atoll; she settled in Fanalei village in South Malaita as it was the place for hunting. Dolphin hunting ceased in the mid-19th century, possibly because of the influence of Christian missionaries. However, in 1948 it was revived at settlements on several islands, including Fanalei, Walande (10 km to the north),