scattered, the villages are small and numerous, the people small in stature, and of peaceable disposition.
But little is known of the natives on the north-east coast; the few that were visited were visited during the cruise of the "Governor Blackall." Several places were visited where no white man had ever been before; although shy, the natives appeared to be friendly; in some places the villages were very large.
Most of the islands in the Louisiade Archipelago and D'Entrecasteaux Group are thickly populated; the natives are, however, treacherous, and less to be trusted than those on the mainland; in most of the islands also, as well as on the mainland from South Cape to Bentley Bay, the natives have been and are cannibals.
From what is known of the interior, the villages appear to be numerous, and the people friendly. At Mr. Forbes' station, the furthest settlement inward hitherto attempted, the natives are not only friendly, but have caused tribes living far away in the interior to become friendly also.
During his tours of inspection. Sir Peter Scratchley personally visited no fewer than 18 districts, 27 islands, 34 inland villages, and nearly 60 coast villages. Except on rare occasions, no arms were carried; and on no single occasion was the slightest hostility shown, or was there a single disturbance with the natives.
The social and political organization of the New Guinea natives is quite rudimentary. Even the tribes in the West, who are less barbarous than elsewhere, have no fully developed tribal system, such as existed in Fiji, Java, or New Zealand. On the other hand, however, nowhere are they nomadic or so low in the scale as the Australian black.
The infinite variety of dialects to be found throughout the Protected Territory is a prominent element of difficulty in dealing with the natives, whether for trading or investigation purposes. Not only each district, but each village, has very frequently a different dialect. The Motu dialect prevails over the largest area, namely, from Port Moresby to Kapa Kapa.
Owing not improbably to the influence of the Malay element they have everywhere shown themselves ready to trade with Europeans, and eagerly exchange, not only natural products, pigs, &c. but even personal ornaments, relics, house utensils, &c. for tobacco, axes, cloth, &c. They have also a good deal of inland trading among themselves, the inland supplying the coast tribes with food products in exchange for fish, salt, &c. In the Port Moresby district large expeditions are annually made to the Gulf of Papua for the purpose of exchanging the pottery (burnt clay pots) made at Port Moresby for the sago
