Kofu is a means of payment of the Kwaio, an ethnic group found in central Malaita. It is made from grey cone snail beads strung to different lengths. Each length has its own name. The spectrum goes from single beads to strings of only 3 centimeters to multiple-corded objects of more than 6 meters length. Kofu buys virtually everything: local products like betel nut or chalk, of foreign goods like rice or tinned fish. Kofu is also indispensible for ritual payments like on weddings and funerals or as compensations.