South Malaita Island Province. South Malaita came under effective control of the colonial administration after the Solomon Islands was declared a British Protectorate in 1893. The administration included the collection of taxes from the islanders. During the colonial days, the island was divided by the colonial government and missionary establishments into the "Asimeuri", "Asimae", and "Raroisu'u" districts. Away from Malaita, most people from "Small" or "South" Malaita usually just say the word "South", everyone knows what they mean. People on the island, however, preferred to identify only with members of their extended families, where ties are the strongest, and with members of their
Choiseul pigeon claimed that the species was very tame, allowing local hunters to approach it and pick it up off of its perch by hand. They reported that the species had stones in its gizzard. It laid a single dark, cream-coloured egg in an unlined depression on the ground. The egg was about in size, which is considered small in proportion to the bird. The Choiseul pigeon was non-migratory and is thought to have lived on the forest floor in lowland forests, including coastal swampy areas that lacked mangroves. The Choiseul pigeon is usually considered to have been endemic to the island