PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 471 
which in the day of the Spanish discoveries were teeming 
with population. These same raiders also caused a great 
change to be made in the houses of the people and the 
location of their villages, as the shore natives were com- 
pelled to build large tree-houses in which to take refuge, 
or to place their villages on mountain ridges or inacces- 
sible positions inland, to escape the ever-present danger of 
attack. 
In the large islands, also, the fact that many of the 
people lived inland, whilst the others were located on the 
beach, had a good influence, not only on the character of 
the people, but also on the commercial relationship. The 
men on the beach have at once a great contempt for the 
bushmen, and a constant dread of attack from them, and 
it may be safely said that on most large islands there was 
a state of constant feud between the inland and coast 
people; but each had wants which the others could supply, 
and so the necessities of commerce arising from the 
different localities in which they lived often compelled 
more peaceful relations than would otherwise have ob- 
tained. The bushmen wanted fish, salt water, and the 
articles of trade which the coast dwellers could procure, 
whilst they in turn required food, weapons, shields, and 
other articles which the inland people alone could obtain 
and sell. Even amongst the coast tribes there were arti- 
cles which, owing again to physical features, could only 
be obtained in certain localities, but were highly prized 
in other places; and the necessities of commerce again 
influenced the character of the people, and necessitated 
peaceful relations between them. For example, Port 
Moresby natives are great makers of pottery, but have no 
sago, and so for many months the women made pottery, 
which the men took in their large lakatoi for many miles 
at certain periods of the year, to exchange for sago and 
other articles. The New Britain money—called diwara 
or tambu in and about the Gazelle Peninsula—-is made of 
a species of nassa which is only obtained many miles down 
the coast. It is valueless in the places where the shell is 
found, but is highly prized in those places where it has be- 
come the currency of the country. This necessitates long 
voyages to procure the shells, and the interchange of pro- 
perty amongst the people. It also affects the character 
of the people, as the necessity for making these voyages 
has changed in no slight degree the habits of the people 
from those of a shore-living race to those of a seafaring 
people, and has also caused them to improve the quality 
and capacity of their canoes. In the Solomons, also, the 
