MAN'S THIGH-BONE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17237, 17 April 1930, Page 6

MAN'S THIGH-BONE

LAKE TE ANAU MYSTERY STALKERS' DISCOVERY The discovery by a party of stalkers in a remote arm of Lake Te Anau, of a human thigh-bone with a quantity of tissue still adhering to it, recalls the disappearance, many years ago, of Quinton MacKinnon. The discovery which was made in a locality rarely, visited by human beings, opens up interesting possibilities, writes a Dunediu correspondent. When returning to the shores of Lake Te Anau in the north fiord after a stalking expedition in the rugged and little-known country of that district, a party of Invercaigill stalkers recently

liscovered the thigh-bone of a human leing lying just outside a small cave in he bush about a ouarter of a mile from

the Lugar Burn. This discovery is particularly interesting in view of the fact that several people believe that the bone is part of

the lemains of Quinton MacKinnon, who was lost somewhere in that region many years ago. MacKinnon's boat was discovered lying in about 6ft. of water ■a short distance from Ijetweeu the island and the mainland, but his body was never Bound.

Beyond picking the bone up and examining it casually, the party thought no more of the matter, but on their return to liwercargill, and recounting their experience, they learned that a previous stalking party had found traces of a barefoot imprint of a man's foot.

The imprint was at the time of its detection perfectly defined in soft earth, but so far as could be ascertained, no human being had ever been known to have visited that particular locality before. Now the more recent discovery of the thigh bone, with a quantity of tissue still adhering to it, makes conjecture very interesting. Whether or not the remains are those of Quinton MacKinnon, is extremely difficult to establish. Beyond the stalking parties whim have gone there in iccent years, no one has ever been known to visit the north arm.

The reported find, together with the previous one, shows conclusively, however, that human feet'have, traversed the bush between the Glaisnock River and the Lugar Burn.