La'aka is a named adalo (ancestral spirit) of the Kwaio of northern Malaita, one of the powerful dead who are sustained by the sacrifice and taboo-observance of their living descendants and who grant or withhold protection and prosperity in return. She stands here for the worshipped-ancestor complex that runs across Malaita and forms the living heart of south-east Solomonic religion – the counterpart, in the Kwaio-speaking north of the island, of the 'ataro venerated at Sa'a and Ulawa. Her home tradition is that of the Kwaio; details of her particular acts are only sparsely reported.