LONGEVITY OF INDIANS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1217, 27 January 1886, Page 5

LONGEVITY OF INDIANS.

The other day an old fellow named Jose Ouoire Ojeda, died in a town of the State of Jelisco, Mexico, aged 115 years. He had been married twice, and only a year ago thought seriously of tho third wife, when death came along to stop his matrimonial schemes. Some time ago an old fellow was living in San Miguel de Allende, aged 135 years, a man still vigorous. The re-

cords of the parish church confirm his claims to a great age. Not long ago down in the pretty little tropical village of Oriz.iba, there died an old woman aged 140 years, and a few months ago a woman named Martini Rivera died here at the age of 150 years, a fact thoroughly attested. The Indians have a proverb that their hair is black when that of the Spaniards is growing gray. A local paper noted the other day, the case of the Indian, Juan Santiag, who died in 1884, at the age of 143 years. This old chap left two independent grandchildren, both aged men, whose years were respectively 111 and 109 years, The grandfather married as the Indians do very young, and it is not surprising that he should have left descendants who were themselves centenarians. The secret of this extraordinary longevity among the Indians is tfaeir simple diet and. regular habits. They themselves say that when an Indian goes into service and eats the food o£ the white man the Indian's teeth begin to decay. Their perpetual grinding of tortillas keeps their teeth white, and the lime in the tortillas makes their teeth bone.