The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-01
MAY BE TWO CENTURIES OLD.
awo-ISa-Nam, Chief of the skIquam-
ish Tribe of FIat-Head Indians.

tsh Tribe of FIat-Head Indians
Qwo-Ka-Num IS in all probability the
Oldest living man. He is certainly $50
years old. and II may be that two CEN
turtles have passed since his birth. He In
chief of the Skiquamish, a tribe of fat
head Indians, who paddle their canoes
about the waters and tributaries Of Puget
Sound.
He says that there is no older man
than himself living in the world to-day,
ana MS word is law unto his people, But
ne can't tell his age In years. The other
native tribes living along that coast be-
neVe Qwo-ka-Num is the superior OF
every one else in age, for all their own
old men say that they knew him when
they were youths, and that he was a very
old man then. They say further, that
their records show that the aged chief
was born many years before the white
men came to that country and that his
wisdom is as great as his age.
His spirit will never die" say they.
a world correspondent found this an
Client chief with his tribe, encamped on
of Puget Sound. One very old squaw was
being fed some fish soup by another al
most as helpless.
"She is the fifteenth wife of OWo- K A.
Num-" said the guide.
Her ancient husband had evidently out
hved the love OF the varieties OF life, for
nothing IN his surroundings betokened his
rank. He was lying doubled up like a
Jackkntfe in a heap Of hot sand A fold
OF q blanket was thrown over him; a torn
and dirty shirt partly covered his body
that was all; surely a strange garb for so
celebrated a chief.
He presented an awful picture of age.
his race was turned upward directly at
the sun. The sun gave him life but no
slght. lie was blind. A shaggy name OF
iron-gray hair covered his head The balls
or his eyes had sunk in the sockets His
body seemed shrunk to bones over which
was stretched skin. The feet and hands
looked IKE knot growths, such as are seen
on ola oaks. His hands and feet were YER
liable claws. He did not move Once in
a while a slight inspiration, but no visible
trace Of expiration. He seemed to be
thlng OF constant sleep.
The correspondent measured him. He
was two feet five inches high and thirteen
inches wide OF this hight his head took
eleven inches. Flattening his skull when
a enid, as is the custom Of his people,
II had grown upward. He was shriInk
ttogether, pinched up; yet. they say he
did not weigh fifty pounds.
All his joints were stiff. All the verte-
brae had cemented together forming the
spine in one rigid curve. Every rib of the
sternum could be seen, shrunk in their
sockets, now ossified beyond movement
The skin stretched over these bones like
q stiffened veil. The skull had shrunk but
showed any indication of articulation and
with some effort they were moved, the
arms barely raising an inch. These were
rigid, curved inward, the fingers being in
the same curve, clasped over each other
The jaw was but slightly movable ON its
pivot; it had fallen low down and a little
open always. The gums and tongue were
white in color, seemingly bloodless. His
upper teeth had worn away, but the lower
still remained, ground down level with
the gum. The face hung in wrinkles and
lobed. The ear, as long as a pencil, stood
out from the skull. The nose was heavy,
the lips also and they folded over each
other Small white hair grew on the chin
and lips. Two sightless horny orbs pro-
truded from the hollow socket just enough
to catch the light.
For twenty years his people have fed
him on soft clans and other sea food
the form of soup. But though b
sightless, almost incapable of
he could hear and speak. IT
the first big ship. He
first powder. Fifty "
old to go to the coun
his gray-haired grands
a chief before the natl,
to point their arrows witt
than 125 years ago. So
at least $50 years old.