Dec. •s • C o lo n e l G e r h o l t , h a v i n g s e r v e d i n f h i s b P - Years Mon.
Ibhy 4® years ' ’> : v H S P |p p |i 80 W
1793
Jan. 19 Mr. J. D. Times * | | | | p v- - $$ 67
Feb. 3 Mr. J. D. Kustner - w " 76
'A Jacob vandeBey (a free woman Pf colour)'■Wm
Mar. 4 Sklamon Blafieo - - 85
8 Mr. 5 “
April 3 A. H1. Dickson' (a- fisherman) 60
M a y b S a m p s o n - - ’88
June 3® D. van Pardo (a free woman of Colour) 8$ P 1
As this 'list *includes only eleven months, it shew« »that people
of an advanced .ffge are not rare here; to which T can
add, that I Have myself seen many persons apparently» very bid.'
There4s, fdr inStance, a negro woman living with my landlady, who
is supposed to ‘be oho hundred and twenty years old,for though She
cannot tell herself WhaPher exaet age is,»yet she can relate circumstances
that happened within her knowledge, in this colony, -when
she ’Was a child, from whence ‘it appears ‘She »mhst be about the
above mentioned age; 'and JI have been »told by h very respectable
person that he Jknows-fi negro woman of one hundred and thirty
ybails did.* It might be asked what art do they possess of lengthening
their lives to so great period in a country which is repOted to be
so unhealthy? The only answer is, their diet. They life, as we may-
say, after the manner of the »Patriarchs. With regard to the negroes
attaining sb great an age, it might be said, that their'Constitutions
agree betterwith. the temperature of this climate; but the'Jews also
live to a very advanced period here, as they »likewise adhere strictly
* Though these great age? mayjie somew^t exaggerate^ b y - r e ^ n r t , y et
there can be uojdoubt o f thetwo women having arrived a t a mqst , protracted period ^
human existence.
tp a wholesqme piet;j and you will also find in the list some very old
Dutchmen, and some who were not born in the colony, amongst
them is an officer who served forty years, and certainly exposed
himself often to the different effects of tfie climate; but from all
the information I could obtain concerning these persons, it appeared
that they all lived .very temperately..
To the ladies this climate is partieularly favourable, and it is said,
that instances are not rare where they enter into the third and fourth
marriage; undoubtedly it is,1 in a great measure,».owing to their
mode.of Jiving, that they surpass so much our sex in longevity.
However, this climate does not require a, severely abstemious diet,
but o,nty to enjoy the comforts of life wi,th moderation,* it is acorn*
pion^observation in the West Indies, that the English five the shorte
st,;^ ,Fren ch longer than them, and the Spaniards the longest
of all; and the bills ,pf mortality justify the remark.