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| Solomon Islands Ten Dollars Note |
Solomon Islands Banknotes 10 Dollars banknote 1977 Queen Elizabeth II
Solomon Islands Monetary Authority
Obverse: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and sundry embellishments of Solomon Islands "custom" designs & artifacts: At top are the pictures of stylized birds. Lower are fish. Lower, centered, is a bowl in the shape of a bird, possibly a hornbill, photo courtesy of Taylor A. Dale - Tribal Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. On the right side (lower) is the traditional Solomon Islands jewelry - Kapkap. On the right side above is Dafi pearl shell gorget with frigate bird overlay from Malaita Island. Dafi are similar to kina shell jewelry in New Guinea. Denominations in numerals are in top and lower right corners, in words centered.
Reverse: Woman in Langa Langa lagoon making shell-money, and sundry embellishments of Solomon Islands "custom" designs and artifacts. Lower is the flying fish, symbolizes wealth of Ocean. Denominations in numerals are in top and lower left corners, in words and in numeral in lower right corner.
Watermark: Falcon landing.
Original Size: 150 × 80 mm.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited, London, England.
Signatures: Chairman: Mr. John Palfrey; Member Monetary Authority: Mr. Jezriel Korinihona.
Solomon Islands Banknotes - Solomon Islands Paper Money
Solomon Islands Monetary Authority
1977-1981 "Queen Elizabeth II" Issue
2 Dollars 5 Dollars 10 Dollars 20 Dollars
Flying fish
The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes of class Actinopterygii. Fish of this family are known as flying fish. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera. Flying fish can make powerful, self-propelled leaps out of water into air, where their long, wing-like fins enable gliding flight for considerable distances above the water's surface. This uncommon ability is a natural defense mechanism to evade predators.
The oldest known fossil of a flying or gliding fish, Potanichthys xingyiensis, dates back to the Middle Triassic, 235–242 million years ago. However, this fossil is not related to modern flying fish, which evolved independently about 66 million years ago.
Woman in Langa Langa lagoon making shell-money
Shell money maker (woman) with traditional pump drill at work. They drilling the holes in shells by it. Mostly, for shell money, they using shells of Spondylus molluscs,
Those pump drills are used for a long time already by shell money makers at Lagoon Langa Langa, on west coast of Malaita island, Solomon islands.
Langa Langa Lagoon or Akwalaafu is a natural lagoon on the West coast of Malaita near the provincial capital Auki within the Solomon Islands. The lagoon is 21 km in length and just under 1 km wide. The "lagoon people" or "salt water men" live on small artificial islands built up on sand bars over time where they were forced to flee from the headhunters of mainland Malaita.
The islands in the lagoon are renowned for their shell money minting process, their "shark worship" beliefs, their shipbuilding skills and tourism. The most popular and well known of this islands is Laulasi which has had a thriving tourism industry dating back to the early 1970s; although tourism is largely underdeveloped. The Langa Langa Lagoon provides opportunities for snorkeling, and the villagers provide shell making demonstrations.
Based on observations going back to Charles Woodford's in the early 1900s, Matthew Cooper described seven forms of Langalanga shell valuables, which vary with colour, bead size, level of finish and number of strings. Bata was traded through intermediaries over long distances, although it was once scarcer than today. (Deck 1934) No longer used for day-to-day purchases, once modern drills were introduced bata became almost ubiquitous in the Solomon Islands, essential for bridewealth payments and other ceremonies. Short strings are also sold as fashionable necklaces throughout the Western Pacific. The processing-cutting, drilling and polishing-is complex, involves the whole community and was incorporated into religious practices. Elaborate rituals (insuring against shark attack) accompanied the diving for shells and collection was limited to certain seasons to conserve supply. Most of the processing was women's work, while males did the diving, long-distance trading and final polishing. Without modern tools, one tafuli'ae is estimated to have taken one woman one month to produce, which gives some idea of its relative value. In polygamous households there was a division of labour, but it is unlikely that any women fully dedicated their time to making bata since they shared many household duties. (Woodford 1908; Bartle 1952; Cooper 1971; Connell 1977).
Shell money
The history of shell-money making in the Langa Langa lagoon is patchy. Stories retold from myths said that the first person to introduce shell money to the Langalanga lagoon was a woman from Buin in Bougainville. She was banished and floated in a coconut shell from Buin to Guadalcanal and finally to Malaita and landed at Tafilo, a village at Lalana near Laulasi. Traditionally, there had been substantive trade between the Langalanga people and people from Buin in shell money until the emergence of the Bougainville crises. Most of the private ship owners from the constituency generated capital through shell money trade to build their ships. They took shell money to Buin and traded it for cash and used the cash to build wooden boats.
As the production rate increased, shell resources were depleted, particularly in Langalanga lagoon. Even in the 1970s some types of shell were rare. The limited land available for agriculture, has the consequence that the production of shell money is a continuing source of income. The creation of shell money is also an important cultural symbol to the people of the Langalanga lagoon.
Four different types of shell are used in making shell money, A red lipped rock oyster known as "romu" (Chama pacifica in the family Chamidae), white shell known as "ke'e" (Beguina semiorbiculata in the Carditidae), black horse mussel shells called "kurila" (Atrina vexillum in the Pinnidae) and thick white disks from a rigid cockle known as "kakadu" or"kakandu" (Anadara granosa in the Arcidae).
Kapkap
Santa Cruz tema kapkap is a full-moon style breast ornament worn at dances. The overlay motif is usually said to represent the distinctive stark outline of a frigate bird, but other interpretations are an ancestor depicted with spine and ribs or a caterpillar that infects banana plants.
Diving frigate birds are important because they show fishermen where schools of bonito (tuna) are. Frigate birds and hornbills dating from about 3000 b.p. are shown in petroglyphs in the Poha Valley cave near Honiara.