Longevity. Mafeus, who wrote the history of the Indies, which has always been a model of veracity as well as elegant composition, mentions a native of Bengal, named Numas de Cugna, who died 1566, at the age of 370. He was a man of great simplicity and quite illiterate; but of so extensive a memory, that he was a kind of living chronicle, relating distinctly and exactly what had happened within his knowledge in the compass of his life, together with all the circumstances attending it. He had four new sets of teeth; and the color of his hair and beard had been very frequently changed from black to grey, and from grey to black. He asserted that in the course of his life, he had 700 wives, some of whom had died, and the others he had put away. The first century of his life passed in idolatry, from which he was converted to Mahometanism, which he continued to profess to his death.—The account is also confirmed by another Portuguese author, Ferdinand Lopez Casteguedo, who was historiographer royal.
Salem Observer, Feb. 22, 1834.
LONDON, May 28.
Remarkable Inſtances of Longevity in Europe.
Thomas Parre, of Shropſhire, died on the 16th of November, 1635, aged 152.
James Bowes, of Killinworth, in Shropſhire, died the 15th of Auguſt, 1656, aged 152.
Anonymous, of Yorkſhire, aged 140, and his ſon, aged 100, were both living, and attended to give evidence at York Aſſize, in 1664.
F. Sagar, of Lancaſhire, died in January, 1668, aged 112.
Henry Jenkins, of Yorkſhire, died on the 8th of December, 1670, aged 169.