WORLD’S OLDEST MAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19473, 7 May 1925, Page 13

WORLD’S OLDEST MAN.

ALLEGED 140 YEARS OLD. AFRICAN NATIVES In !i kraal near Lydenburg a veterinary surgeon recently found a native who is reported to bo 140 years old. Stories of native longevity in South Africa are usually regarded with suspicion; but this untutored native describes historical personalities anil events with convincing vividness. The veterinary surgeon found the old man, almost blind, crawling about .the kraal on his hands and knees. “How old are you?” asked the surgeon. “Wo natives do not count our ages by the years as you white people do,” replied the native. “When did Ihe first white man come to this village, then?” queried the veterinary surgeon. “The first was Louis Trichardt —I remember him well. He was returning from Zoutpansborg, and passed through here on his way to the lands of the Portuguese near the big water.” Louis Trichardt was the first of the Voortrekkers (Dutch farmers who were dissatisfied with British rule) to leave the Cape Colonv. He must, have reached the old man’s village about the year 1836. “When I was n youngster,” croaked the old native, “I worked in the GraafT Reinet district, and I can remember the time when the English and Dutch made war on one another.” This would have been the war preceding the second occupation of the Cane in 1806. The old man has already survived two wives, and is hoping to outlive the (bird, whose comnanionship he is at present enjoying. His ago is probably greater than that of Old Jan, the last purebred Rushman. who died recently at the reputed age of 130. Old Jan was to have I>ecn taken to Wembley, but bis health failed.