The San Francisco call., 1899-07-02


his time in the vicinity of his humble
home out. near Cough and Lombard
streets And he says that he owes his
long life to plentiful diet of cabbage and
tobacco.
His brown. shriveled skin is tightly
drawn over his skull, and his deep-set
ewes are dull and almost dead. His dark
bony hands remind you of a skeleton,
and his touch sends a shiver through you.
He does not seem like a being of this
world.
But the old man is able to get around
pretty lively, even though he does nave
to grope his way a good deal. little
blindness is to be expected at 113 years OF
age. He attends 70 all the work about
his little cabin takes care of the yard,
and has time to feel a deep interest in
family of white rabbits that he keeps for
pets.
The story of Appi Maru Modi's life IS
somewhat remarkable, and the wonder Is
that he has been able to crowd 1t into the
113 years to which he lays claim.
His father was one of the native princes
whose power and glory have departed.
The first fifteen years of his life he
passed among the tawdy splendors of
! native court. until at last his adventur-
Gus disposition fred by tales OF an out
/ side world. told by wandering seamen, he
! left behind home and people and dis
guised as a low caste native slowed away
on trading vessel bound for Singapore.
! His stay in Singapore came to sum-
mary end through an encounter with sail
! ors from a British man-of-war then an
! chored in the harbor. A mess boy was
| needed and Appi Maru Modi drew the
attention of the sailors He was invited
/ to go on board. He refused. His protest
was overruled and he was shanghaied on
! board the man-of-war, when the cat
persuaded him to bear his lot with as
/ sumed resignation.
A long cruise through the waters of the
| Malaysian archipelago finally ended at
! Calcutta Here he was sold to provide
! the means for drunken carouse for his
late shipmates. His purchaser was the
| skipper of a little trading vessel, cruis-
! ing among the islands of the Philippine
group Five years he spent among Spain.s
/ loosely held island possession During
those five years he visited island after
| island from Mandandoro to the Sulu
group This was eighty-five years ago.
! The Spaniards even then, he says, were
! lighting the natives. His most vivid
recollection of Manila was a compactly
built city on the bank of a sluggish
stream, surrounded on three sides by high
walls, the river forming the other bound
ary.
For twenty years following his sojourn
in the Philippines few of the islands of
the Pacific north or south, but knew
ing and trading among the islands of the
South Seas; sealing and whaling in the
/ North Pacific from Alaska to Japan and
| Siberia.
Drifting eastward in 1845 this scion of
a royal house was filling snug berth In
one of the trading schooners controlled
by John Jacob Astor, sailing from Van
couver B. c. Nearly four years passed
cruising along the coast, when early in
1919 the word reached Vancouver of the
mad rush for gold in California
The captain of the vessel Immediately
| loaded with an assortment from the linn
tied supplies at Vancouver and sailed for
San Francisco. where he expected to
realize fabulous prices for his cargo. His
lust for gold was shared by the majority
of his crew, and when near the entrance
4 to the bay Appi Maru Modi, with two
shipmates to bear him company, slipped
over the side and started to swim to the
land, where fortunes were to be made In