Fortunately it was not for long, for soon we cut the Sturt Creek, and, following it, reached the Denison Downs Homestead—­the last settlement to the southward, and I should say the most out-of-the-way habitation in Australia of to-day.  The nearest neighbours are nearly one hundred miles by road, at Flora Valley; in every other direction there is a blank, hundreds of miles in extent.  A solitary enough spot in all conscience!  Yet for the last ten years two men have lived here, taking their chances of sickness, drought, floods, and natives; raising cattle in peace and contentment.  Terribly rough, uncouth chaps, of course?  Not a bit of it!—­two men, gentlemen by birth and education, one the brother of a bishop, the other a man who started life as an artist in Paris.  A rough life does not necessarily make a rough man, and here we have the proof, for Messrs. Stretch and Weekes are as fine a pair of gentlemen as need be.  How they came to migrate to such a spot is soon told; they brought cattle over during the rush, hoping to make a large fortune; however, the rush “petered out,” half their cattle died, and with the remainder they formed their station, and have remained there ever since, year by year increasing their herd, now numbering some four thousand head, and looking forward to the time when they hope to be well repaid for their labours.  A large, single-roomed iron shed, on the bank of a fine big pool, is their home, and there with their flocks and herds they live, like the patriarchs of old, happy and contented.  In fact, the only people I have ever come across, who seemed really satisfied with life are some of these far-away squatters.

Numerous natives were collected round the station, and about them Mr. Stretch told me many interesting things.  Their marriage laws were expounded to me over and over again, but without pencil and paper nothing can be learned, so confusing are they.

It was not until my return that I worked out the following relationships, but I feel confident of their accuracy:—­

Marriage laws.

The aboriginals of Northern and Central Australia are governed in their social life by marriage laws and class systems of the most intricate kind.  It is generally supposed that these laws have for their object prevention of consanguinity and incest.  The laws are strictly adhered to, any offender against them being punished by death.  I owe the information on this subject to Mr. Stretch, who took great pains to make clear to me the fundamental principles, from which I have worked out the various combinations.  I have tried to arrange these laws and the relationships resulting from them in an intelligible form, and have been greatly aided by a paper by Mr. Gillen, published in the “Horn Scientific Expedition,” on the McDonnell Range tribes.  I was unable to get the tribal names, but this, for the purposes of explanation only, is unnecessary.

The aboriginals in question belong to the Eastern district of Kimberley generally, and more particularly to the Sturt Creek.  These natives are descended from eight original couples, who have given their names to the eight classes into which the tribe is now divided.