A BOY LIVING ELEVEN MONTHS IN THE WATER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 4, 4 January 1877, Page 2

A BOY LIVING ELEVEN MONTHS IN THE WATER.

A physiological phenomenon of an unprecedented character has attracted considerable notice from tourists in the Rotorua (Auckland) country. At the outlet of the small warm stream flowing from lake Rotomahana into Tarawea, several hot water springs occur. In a bath which receives the overflow from one of these springs, a Maori boy about thirteen years old has lived uninterruptedly for eleven months, the whole of his body up to the neck being immersed. The poor little fellow was suffering from disease of the knee, attended with acute pain, and was brought to this bath by his parents in the hope of effecting a cure. He found almost instant relief, but upon leaving the bath the pains returned with greater intensity. He then exhibited the strongest reluctance to get out of tha water, and was permitted to remain in it continuously, sitting on the bottom, with a support of fern for his head. After a month or two, removal became impossible. When the lad was taken out of tbe bath, he suffered the most excruciating agony, and became rigid. Upon returning to the bath his pain ceased, and he was able, to move about in the water with freedom and ease. He has now remained in this position e'eren months. A roof of thatch has been biilt over him, and his parents supply him with food. The little fellow can speak a few disjointed words of English, and asks visitors for bread. He is free from pain, but has wasted away until his body has become reduced to skin and bone— a living skeleton, his face, however, still preserving fair propo rtioss. He can move his limbs with freedom, and holds up his swollen and blistered kree, which formed the original cause of his trouble, for the inspection of visitors. The water in the bath is as hot as can comfortably be borne by a healthy hand, and through remaining stagnant, except so far as it has been purified by the small overflow, has become of a dark green color. The skin of the boy's hands, and other portions of his body, has turned a whitish water-worn hue, resembling that produced by soda in warm water. The case is one calculated to excite curiosity among medical men.