We have studied the properties of the plasma sheet in the distant magnetotail during a 12-h interval when the GEOTAIL satellite stayed rather continually in the plasma sheet. When magnetic reconnection was operative at the distant neutral line the tailward flow speed in the distant plasma sheet is given by the sum of the Alfven speed and the tailward flow speed in the tail lobe. Appreciable twist of the tail should be incorporated in order to properly estimate the magnetic flux that traverses the distant neutral sheet to the south. The magnetic field beyond the distant neutral line is characterized by active and persistent oscillations whose power spectrum has a kink around 0.01 Hz. These oscillations roughly satisfy the Wal¿n relation and could be due to incidence of the interplanetary Alfven waves along the IMF-type field lines that fill the plasma sheet beyond the distant neutral line. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union