The Opelousas courier., 1883-09-08
INDIAN LONGEVITY.
1--WE Indian Women, One of Whom is III
Years Old, Graphically Described.

1--WE Indian Women, One of Whom is III
Years Old, Graphically Described.
Helen Hunt describes The Present
Condition of the Mission Indians of
Southern California in the Century,
and speaks as follows Of two aged San
Gabriel women ga few rods from
the old mission church of San Gabriel,
IN a hut made of bundles of the tule
reeds lashed to sycamore poles, as the
a Gabriel Indians made them a hun
dred years ago, live two old Indian
women, Laura and Benjamin.. Laura
is lO2 years old, Benjamin. III. The
record of their baptisms is still to be
seen in the church books SO there ear
be no dispute as to their age. 1t seems
not at all incredible, however. If I
had been told that Benjamina was a
Observation-Disclosures Nile mummy,
resuscitated by some mysterious pro-
cess, [ should not have denurred much
at the tale. The first time I
saw them the two were crouching
over a fire on the ground, under a
sort of booth porch, in front of their
hoVel. Laura was making a feint OF
grinding acorn meal in a stone bowl ;
Benjamina was raking the ashes, with
her claW-like old fingers, fer hot Goals
to start the fire afresh her skin was
like an elephants, %shriveled, black,
hanging in folds and welts on her neck
and breast and bony arms it was not
like anything human; her shrunken
eyes, bright as beads, peered out from
under thickets of coarse grizzled gray
hair. Laura wore a white cloth band
around her head, tied on with a strip
of scarlet flannel; above that, a tat
tered black shawl, which gave her the
look of an aged imp. Old baskets, old
pots, old pans, old stone mortar5 and
pestles, broken tiles and bricks, rags,
straw, boxes, legless chairs-in short,
all conceivable rubbish-Were streWn
about or piled up in the place, making
the weirdest of backgrounds for the
aged cr0nes' figure. Inside the
hut were two hedsteads and a few
boxes, baskets and nets; and drying
grapes and peppers hung on the walls.
A few feet away was another hut, only
a trife better than this; four genera
lions were living in the two. Benja-
mina's stepdaughter, aged eighty, was
a fine creature. With a white band
straight around her forehead c'ose to
the eyebrows and a gay plaid handker-
chief thrown on above it, falling
squarely each side of her face, she
looked like an old Bedouin sheik.
"Our Mexican friend remembered
Laura as she vas fifty years ago. She
was then, even at fifty-two, celebrated
as one of The sWiftest unners and best
ballplayers in all the San Gabriel
games. She was a singer, too, in the
choir. Coaxing her up on her feet,
patting her shoulders, entreating and
.caressing her as n would a child, he
succeeded in persuading her to chant
for IS the Lords Prayer and part of the
litanies, as she had been wont to do it in
the old days. It was a groteslue and
incredible sight. The more she stirred
and sang and lifted her arms, the les
alive she looked. We asked the step
daughter if they were happy and
wished to live. Laughing, she re-
peated the question to them. 'Oh,
yes, we wish to live forever they
replied. They were greatly terrified,
the daughter said, when tie railway
cars first ran through San Gabriel.
They thought it was the devil bringing
fire to burn up the world. Their chief
solace is tobacco. To Leg it, Benja-
nina will creep about in the village by
the hour, bent double over her staff,
tottering at every step. They sit for
the most part silent, motionless, on
the ground their knees drawn up,
their hands clasped over them, their
heads sunk ON their breasts. In my
drives in the San Gabriel valley, L
often saw them sitting thus, as if they
were dead. The sight had an in
describable fascination. 1t seemed that
to be able to penetrate into the recesses
Of their thoughts would be to lay hold
upon secrets as old as the earth"