Solomon Islanders have long traded model canoes with other islanders. In the mid-nineteenth century, they began to make them for sale. This is one of many instances where production for the Western market began with the earliest contact. The model is a faithful replica of the sacred bonito canoe. Its iconography alludes to the cult of the bonito fish, and features the frigate bird, the fish itself, the blueback sprat (another fish), and a dog. The stylized frigate bird at the prow represents the bird's key role for the fishermen, who locate schools of bonito by watching birds that follow the fish.

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