Mafofo is one of the two pre-eminent nanarang, the culture heroes who created and shaped the Wogeo world and stand as the ultimate arbiters of proper conduct. Paired throughout tradition with Onka, he gave the islanders their ability to raise an abundance of food and valuables and to conduct the overseas voyages and great ceremonial exchanges through which headmen achieve renown and display their power. Anderson treats the two heroes together as the source of kastom, the inherited order of correct practice, making Mafofo less a remote creator than the guarantor of the exchange economy and social hierarchy that organize island life.