The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-27

| hundred mile line of railroad into tn, interior to tap the copper and til
 mines. The enterprise was a hazard
 ous one, for at that time two tribe!
 of blacks the Womeras and Alligators
 were waging fierce war on the settlers
 of Port Darwin.
 | Gradually, and after hardships tha
 need not be detailed here, the engineers | got the first fifty-mile section of theil | work done, and steamships brought UT | thousands of tons of material and hun
 dreds of laborers for the completion
 of the road for that district. It Is hard
 to give an accurate idea of the way the sight of these preparation affected the
 people of the character of the aborig- ines. The "navvies" went about their
 work armed and, with all the neces-
 sary ballast for the roadbed close at
 hand, it was only a little over a year
 before their labors began to assume
 definite shape.
 Some blacks were laid away by their
 tribesmen with bullet holes in their
 bodies as mementoes of the advance of
 civilization, and a few of the workmen
 perlshed miserably from poisoned spear
 wounds before a sort of tacit truce was
 patched up, Plodding steadily in the
 tropical sun, the contractors pushed ahead through the ferns and wattle trees, laying rails as they went, so that
 construction trains could deliver ma- terial as the work progressed
 The Womeras had disappeared al- most as soon as operations started, but the Alligators hung round in the bush, making casional night attacks on the men till the day when the first work train went puffing south. At the sight of it they tracked away into the interior and all trace of them was lost till the first section, running down to Alice River, was completed The first pas senger coaches were put on, and all Port Darwin made trips along the line and rejoiced at the improvement over bullock team travel.
 Soon the natives began to come back from their bush haunts. tnidly at first and in parties of two or three, and gaz- ed with awe, not unmixed with venera- tion, at the trains speeding along at thirty-mile gait. It was thought we'll, mainly in order to prevent destruction of the rails and roadbed, to educate them up to the meaning of the inno- vation, and after while few diplo mats were sent out to confer with the head tribesmen.
 It took months of argument to con- vince them, but finally the whole Won1era tribe consented to track to Port Darwin and place themselves in the hand of @ committee on arrange ments." So in fear and trembling they arrived at the settlement, and one bright afternoon two hundred men, wo- men and children were selected to make the trip to the river.
 A dozen flat cars were put behind an engine. and into these blacks were ,oaxed and showed, with instructions to hold on and keep still, whatever hap ,ened. A thousand other natives saw | hem off, and all along the line were spread little groups of Alligator men who screamed a welcome as the train ewtp by.
 It was probably the strangest col ection of passengers ever carried on ailroad train. As soon as the run tarted the whistle of the locomotive ooted a joyful accompaniment to the tile of the wheels. The blacks be- ,an their peculiar shrill cries, partly n fear and partly in admiration, and waved their arms about their heads as he speed increased. The children nunchd danedlion seeds and clung o their mothers, and two old women rooned a solemn chant and held their eads in their hands, afraid to look up. 1t the head of the first car was an old hief standing erect with his arms fold- q and ready to meet the death he be- eyed the white people had trioked him
 Gradually, getting used to the novel notion and with an increasing sense of ecurity, the majority became reas- ured, and by the time Alice River ras reached nearly all were supremely appy over the adventure. They warmed out of the cars, sounded the heels, pointed to the position of the m in the heavens and marveled at the istance they had come in such a. little me. and wound up with a general lunge into the cool waters of the yer There was no need to coax them into ( le cars for the return trip. With the {