Kakamora

The kakamora are small people in the traditions of the Solomon Islands, especially Makira (San Cristobal), Guadalcanal and Malaita. They are described as between half a metre and one metre tall, with long black hair and long fingernails, living in caves and mountain hideaways and feeding on wild bush foods. They are said to use no fire, to have a mischievous reputation and to become aggressive if cornered. Local names include mumu in southern Malaita, dodore in northern Malaita and kalibohibohi on Guadalcanal; a similar belief, nopitu, is recorded in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu.

Much of what outsiders know comes from the Anglican missionary Charles Fox (1878–1977), who wrote about them in The Threshold of the Pacific (1924) and appeared to take their existence seriously, describing beings without houses, tools or fire who lived in holes and caves. He later used the word as the title of a 1962 book. Another colonial officer, Dick Horton, described very short people he said he had seen in the 1930s at Veramakuru on Guadalcanal, in his 1965 book The Happy Isles.

The belief has been given new life by the 2003 discovery of Homo floresiensis, a small human relative, on Flores in Indonesia. Some writers suggest the kakamora tales might preserve memories of small-statured people, but no archaeological evidence connects any such population with the Solomon Islands. The film Moana (2016) borrowed the name for a crowd of coconut-armoured pirates, which has no relation to the traditional lore.

The kakamora are part of living Melanesian storytelling and are presented here as such.

Very small people, half a metre to one metre tall, with long black hair and long fingernails; said to be strong, without houses, tools or fire.

Mountain caves and holes in the forests of Makira, Guadalcanal and Malaita.

The Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia records the kakamora as ‘legendary midget humans’, and Disney’s Moana brought the name to a global audience in a very different form.