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NEWSPAPER REPORTS DEPICTING THE HARSH ENVIRONMENT THE BOYS FACED AND POTENTIAL TRAGEDIES WHICH WOULD END THEIR EXPEDITION (PENNED 30 YEARS EARLIER)  

“…..It is no exaggeration to say that there are places in the island that the foot of man has never trodden, and are as inaccessible as any place in the world.   Strange as it may seem, in a tropical island, these places so high up in the hills have a climate that is as near as it is possible for one to get in comparison the colder regions of the world and when one adds to it almost incessant rain and mist of terrifying density one should be able to see what anyone getting lost up there is against.   First of all there is no food of any kind to be found at that altitude.  You can see water and cannot get to it and it means cutting your way through moss-covered vegetation from which moisture is always dripping even at high noon.  It is never dry.  The sun appears for a few seconds and then it is gone, might be, never to  reappear for the remainder of the day…..

AND….

“Over a precipice dropping almost sheer for thousands of  feet the five missing  high school boys went several days ago.  They went over this precipice voluntarily, a deed of outstanding courage that the seasoned bushmen now  definitely on their trail will not emulate whether these lads are found dead or alive.  Their struggle through the woods, their descent of hazardous cliffs and their climb over almost impregnable peaks will let their names go down in history as the most, valiant of Jamaica's sons. They have either gone to their doom or else they have reached a ledge from which they dare not proceed, either downwards or upwards…..”