LOST IN THE BUSH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 8, 10 January 1912, Page 2

LOST IN THE BUSH.

THREE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD. IN THE UREWERA COUNTRY. YOUNG MAN'S TRYING EXPERIENCE. There is probably no wilder and more desolate country in New Zealand to-day than the region between Gisborne and Opotiki beyond Motu, where the tribe of Rua reigms. It is the Urewera Country, with its high, mountain ranges cleft by huge chasms and clothed in the densest bush. It is almost uninhabited, and there are only a few rough tracks through it piercing the forest' and skirting precipices and climbing sheer ridgee. It is crossed by the bridle-track linking the Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay district*. Through it the Gisborne-Opotiki railway will some day pact., but at present it is virtually a No Man's Land almofct without settlement. It was in this primeval wilderness that a young medical student 'of Otago University just before the Christmas holidays was lost tot three days ill the bush, and after a trying- experience managed to escape with his life. He told the story to a Post representative on his way" home to Duuedin. THE BEGINNING OF THE LOSTG RIDE. "It was on Friday morning about 10 o'clock 1 started from Opotiki for the long ride over the bridle-track to Motu. It rained all day and ■hailed as I struck into the mountains. It is a very lonely country, as there is not a single house between Papamoa and Motu. The bridle-track i& terrible. In places it la hewn out of the solid rock for a mile at a stretch, and there is just room for horse and rider. One slip- and you would be over into the gully below — co steep and so deep that you can't see the bottom of it from the track. I had an aXe with, me and I needed it to cut away trees that had fallen across the track. As I travelled along in the storm, I could "hear trees crashing over one another as they fell into the abyss, uprooted by the gale. It was bueh, bush all along , full of pigeons and' pigs. Now and again, the Dig boar* were bold enough to come on the track, and they almost scared the life out of the horse with their- snorting and sniffing. OVERTAKEN BY DARKNESS. "I rode as hard as I could, to get out of th« bush, if possible, before the day was done. But darkness came on early with the perpetual rain. I came to a place where there were two tracks. One went straight ahead and the other turned to the left. The side track seemed to be newly cut, so thinking this was thfc con tinuation of the track along which I had come already, I took it, although the horse jibbed and wanted to go straight ahead. For an hour or so I pushed on, and then I discovered I was on a branch, track down to the old road. It was now too dark and too late to turn back) so I went on a little, looking to see ff there might be a bush camp or a settler's' whare about somewhere. There was nothing but bueh. WITHOUT MOON OR ST4RS. /'lt was now midnight, and too dark to travel on such a rough track without moon or stars to help me pfck out the way. So I pulled • mt& the bush and searched for a hollow tree. I plunged far into the bush, but I could not lind one. I was too dog-tired to go any further, so I pulled the saddle off the horse, and, .after; tying the reins to ' my arm I lay down -to sleep/ I could not sleep. I was too hungry, cold, wet, and miserable. .LOST FOR ANOTHER' DAY. "When daylight came next morning I knew I was lost. Still, the horse had to be fed, bo I travelled •further' and further into the bush looking for grass. 1 found a patch or two for him, but I ,had no food for myself. While I wandered in this way the day passed. 1 had to spend another night in the ,bush. I felt terribly hungry, as I had had nothing to eat for a day and a half. I lay down again on the saddle, and spent the night awake in misery. COLD, WET, AND HUNGRY. "On Sunday the hungry feeling wore off, 'and I a<jain tried to find the track, but again without success. I could not get out into the open to. find the lay of the country. The rain came down in bucltetsful on Sunday night, and I felt bo despondeut and utterly wretched that I prayed a tree would fall on me and end it ail. All Monday I wander.cd on, searching for the track, and at last, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when I was just about done, I struck it all right. I was glad. THE TRACK AT LAST. "I kept to it all night, and early after midnight I saw something white in the distance. I took it for a cowshed, and made up my mind to pass the night there. When I reached it I found it was a house. I knocked and kicked at the door and rattled at the windows, but got no answer. -I went round to the back door and opened it, and shouted at the top of my voice. There was no answer. I unsaddled " my horse and Jeft him in the yard and went inside. I heard a clock ticking in the next room, and,i groping my way in the darkness, I found it and a box of patches beside it. I lit a candle and inspected the house. There was a nice bed in one of the rooms, and it was not long before I was sound asleep , in it. I awoke early next morning, made a fire and dried my clothes, and had a. feed of seeded ra'isius — all the food I could lind about. Then I caught my horse and rode on towards Motu, where I had the first decent meal I had had for nearly four days. That is all. The rest ol the way to Giaborne nothing happened, but I am .just up from a bad attack of rheumatism, through the four days' exposure in the bush."