Experiments conducted with water slurries of 1 mm particles of specific gravity 1.59 in a laboratory pipeline 0.105 m in diameter have provided evidence of a change in the friction mechanism at velocities above 3 m/s. These flows were stratified and at low velocities the frictional pressure gradients were in satisfactory agreement with the predictions of the conventional two-layer model. However at higher velocities the friction is substantially lower than predicted. Measurements of concentration and velocity distributions within the pipe show that no major change in flow regime occurs concurrently with the change in the friction mechanism. It appears that the effect is due to a change in the nature of the particle-wall interaction, of a type which suggests that an inward-acting force affects the particles adjacent to the wall.