116 R. H. MATHEWS. 
telegraph station. The town is situated onthe right bank 
of the Todd River, somewhat less than half a mile below 
the junction of Charles Creek, and is only a primitive 
country village. 
The journey from Stuart or Alice Springs to Port Darwin 
is sometimes undertaken by bicyclists. Mr. McDonald 
was the most successful, as he did the journey without any 
outside help. He was, however, fortunate in having a 
good rain on most of the sandy part of the way. Rain on 
a sandy camel-pad makes it almost as good as asphalt for 
a bicycle. Mr. A. Lennox was another of the successful 
wheelmen from Alice Springs to Port Darwin. Several 
others have done the journey, but bave taken longer time, 
and have had assistance in various ways from other 
travellers. Footmen also make the trip right through. 
Occasionally, by their own carelessness, they get into 
distress and cut the telegraph wire, a recognised practice 
in extreme cases. The line maintainers then go out and 
succour them, as well as repair the damage to the tele- 
graph line. The distance from Alice Springs to Port 
Darwin is about 1,030 miles; the last 200 miles, from Pine 
Creek to Palmerston, being covered by a railway. 
To the east and north-east of Alice Springs, a good many 
blackfellows are employed by the miners at Winnecke and 
Arltunga, aS water drawers, wood collectors and horse 
shepherds. The native women do washing and general 
laundry and scullery work. The younger and better 
looking ones are often promoted to the position of temporary 
wives of their employers. The ubiquitous rabbit is very 
numerous in that region, and is a valuable addition to the 
aboriginal food supply. In 1899, I described the eight 
intermarrying sections in this region,’ and at present the 
1 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., xxxvu1.,76. The Kat’-tit-ya or Kat’-titch-a 
tribe about Barrow Creek, have a similar organization to that of the 
Arran‘da, with some modifications in the section names. The Kattitya 
tribe has been erroneously reported as the “‘ Kaitish”’ by some writers. 
