Malaita cash equivalent. It is also worn as an adornment and status symbol. The standard unit, known as the "tafuliae", is several strands 1.5 m in length. Previously the money was also manufactured on Makira and Guadalcanal. It is still produced on Malaita, but much is inherited, from father to son, and the old traditional strings are now rare. Porpoise teeth are also used as money, often woven into belts. Malaita Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. South Malaita Island, also known as "Small Malaita" and "Maramasike" for Areare speakers and Malamweimwei known to more
Choiseul Province capital of the province. When the natives first arrived and discovered the big island, they called it Lauru. Then, in 1568, the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira rediscovered the island and named it San Marcos ('Saint Mark'). Mendana himself never set foot on Lauru. He called it San Marcos, because he saw the island from Santa Isabel on the Day of Saint Mark. 200 years later in 1768, the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville saw the island again and named it Choiseul after the Minister of foreign affairs and statesman Choiseul. Today, the two most common names