LOST IN THE BUSH.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3099, 3 June 1881, Page 4

LOST IN THE BUSH.

Tho Manawatu Standard, reforrring to the story of the man who was recently lost in the bush, says : —" To our mind tho most incredible feature is Johnson's retaining his presence of mind. We don't suppose that one other man in a thousand weald have passed through such a terrible ordeal with unimpaired intellect. Johnson has the appearance of being quite sixty years of age, though we learn with great surprise, that he is only 34. He has gone through, what to most men would have induced a lingering and agonising death; or lunacy. It was difficult to realize what his sufferings must have been during that fearful four weelis detention in the forest. When he lost himself ho was somewhat corpulent, certainly stout, but now he is terribly reduced his clothes hanging about his wasted frame. His eyes are terribly sunken, his cheekbones prominent, and his whole appearance that of a man who must have been very near death's door. His intellect does not appear at present to bare suffered in the least, though it is highly probable that fever may supervene, in which case delirium will most probably set in. His haggard appearance as the horse bore him slowly through tho township to the hotel, caused deep sympathy for the poor fellow rescued from his terrible condition. It is singular that where he came out of the forest, and crossed the river, he di-opped on his countrymen, who did what they could for his necessitous condition. The poor fellow's feet appeared to have suffered very severely, and they are so swollen. and painful that walking is next to impossible without assistance. His legs bend under his weight as he drags himself painfully along. It is difficult to say what symptoms may manifest themselves hereafter, and it will likely be a very long time before the results of what lie has endured pass away, if indeed, they ever do entirely. His billhook and pocket compass will serve to remind him hereafter of his terrible journey, and his miraculous escape from a lingering death in the solitude of the vast forest. The incident shows what human nature can endure, and how a poor creature clings to life, even when all hope of relief seems to have departed. Jonson, or course, had been inured to hardships and a rigorous climate all his life ; indeed, had it been otherwise, it would have been next to impossible that he could have survived. Another strange thing is that his voice does not appear to have lost its power, which generally happens when a person is lost in the bush. Altogether, his experience and rescue are among the most tnarvellows it is possible to imagine, and we do not know that there is another case on record where a poor fellow has been so long lost, having been found alive. When he saw that he had reached civilization again, he plunged into the river, which was pretty deep and with a swift current, remarking afterwards that he might as well get drowned, as die of exposure and starvation. Further incidents in this startling narrative have yet to be related."