Evening star., 1935-02-10
Bv Richard Halliburton

NSssSSS>SSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSS$
~ = ES BEEN drunk for the last hun
A dred and thirty years." sighed
the great-granddaughter Of the
old Caucasian soldier seated be-
fore me and clutching his vodka
bottle. I've given up all hope Of
reforming him"
when did he first take to drink" asked.
~Ahout 1e03," she said.
Zapara Kiut, either because Of, or despite his
alcoholism has lived to be 152 years old. He is
the Oldest person in the world II we are to
accept the report of the Soviet scientists who
came all the way from Moscow to the Caucasus
to make q special study Of this extraordinary
case Of longevity. Zapara has no birth certif-
cate, but from things he remembered and his
torical events he took part in, the birth date
Of 1882 was agreed upon.
A. might be expected, the most long-fved
race Of people on earth-the race whose oldest
member Is Zapara-are mountaineers. They live
In Abkhazia, q province Of Georgia, in barbaric
villages perched on the Black Sea slopes Of the
Caucasus Mountains. From his shack Zapara
can look directly down upon the sea, a thousand
feet below. For 152 years he has been contem-
plating it. This contemplation, plus his noun
tain heritage plus the everlasting sunshine.
plus his vodka, seem to have provided an ideal
combination that has prolonged Zapara's life
70 twice the length allowed the rest of us.
On learning about this notable figure felt
that to get an interview it was worth making the
long hard journey to Abkhasia His country is
too mountainous to permit railroads. But there
Is motor road of q sort, and donkey trails: If
committee Of scientists could reach his house,
] could-and did.
I found him living In q crude plank shack
the very same shack in which he was born in
1882. And I have said, it faced the Black
Sea. Behind the mountain wall lowered up to
10000 feet.
MHEN my Interpreter and presented our
selves at his front door, Zapara refused to
see us. For the first time in 152 years, 50 hAs
great-granddaughter reported, he was sick
bronchitis-and felt ashamed. sent him in Q
bottle Of vodka as q present. He drank half
tumbler Of this potent liquor and decided his
bronchitis wasn't so lad after all. Another half
In fact, he would put on his best clothes in my
honor. And so this modern Methuselah ap-
peared, wearing a goats hair turban and long
cossack coat adorned with cartridges
Zapara Kiut proved to be a rather small and
slender man, no more than feet 6 inches.
Among the many centenarians living in Alb
khazia not one is more than feet 8. The taller
they grow the sooner they die He had q thin
gnarled face with the usual Abkhazian hooked
nose, and a short grey beard In America he
could have passed for IS or co. His eyesight
was excellent. We had to raise our voices only
slightly to make him hear. He was particularly
proud OF his teeth, more than half of which re-
manned.
Seating him In q chair in the sunshine and
pouring more vodka into his glass, managed to
start him talking. He spoke no Russian-only
Georgian But my interpreter spoke Georgian
too His earliest recollections were of his IA.
theirs goat f1ocks. which as boy he shepherded
On the higher slopes of the Black Sea coast In
those days he lived Summer and Winter in the
open, covered by q goats hair tent and subsist-
ing mostly on goats meat. While he was so
occupied, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were
euilotlned In Paris Q793), the French Revolu-
ton was turning France upside down, and
George washington was serving his first term
~ President.
Young zapara at an early age came into DOS
session Of rifle and with it secured the snow
capped peaks In search Of deer and bear But
Ior schooling he had no use. Anyway, schools
N this savage mountain country were unheard
o. SO zapara never learned to read or write
FOR l52 years he has never signed his name
This TACT started me wondering If illiteracy
were the first requirement for longevity.
The end Of the eighteenth century found his
native Georgia struggling against conquest by
the Russians Zapara Joined the armed bands Of
nountaineers and for several years kept up a
guerrilla warfare against the invaders But by
1905, when Zapara was 23. these bands had all
been defeated and dispersed. The Russian army
was in complete control, and all hope of Geor-
gian independence had faded
ca ytv,