Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-02-17
DWARFS IN THE PYRENEES.
A New Theory to Account Tor q Race of
Little People In Spain.

Little People In Spain.
There has long dwelb in the heart of
the Pyrenees on the old Cataloniau Dor
der of SDain a curious race of dvarfs,
supposed by some to be of Tartar origin.
A writer in a recent issue of Cosmos
describes them and advances theory Of
their origin in cOnsOnance with modern
anthropology.
They inhabit the valley of the Ribas
in the northwestern part of the Span
ish province now called Corona. They
never exceed 81 . inches i'll height, and
have short, i'll formed legs, great bel
| lies, small eyes, fiat noses and pale, I'M
wholesome compilations. They are usu-
ally stupid, often to the verge Of idiocy,
and much subject to goiter and scrofu
lous affections. The chief town of the
Ribas valley is Ribas, place Of 1900
inhabitants, about 500 feet above sea
level. The mountains rise about the
town to height of 5000 to 5000 feet,
and command an amazingly beautiful
panorama of mountain, plain and river,
with Spanish cities visible upon the one
side and French upon the other. The
region is rich, both agriculturally and
inal springs. In this paradise dwell
the dwarfs, perhaps as degraded race
of men and women as may be found in
any civilized community. They are
almost without education and inhabit
wretched huts when they have any shell
ter. The most intelligent are employed
as sheDherds, and in summer they live
for months at an elevation Of more than
5000 feet without shelter. Here they
see no human creature save some Of their
own kind, often idiots, who are sent up
every 1 5 or 20 days with a supply of
food.
It is said that formal marriage is al
most unknown among them. The wom-
EN- III some instances are employed III
the village of Ribas as nurses for chill
dren, and as such are found tender and
faithful. Before communication through
out the region was as easy as it is now
it was thought lucky to have one of
these dwarfs in family, and the dwarfs
were hired out and even sold to be used
in beggary in neighboring cities. There
are somewhat similar dWarfs in other
valleys of the Pyrenees, but the number
is decreasing, and those of the Ribas
valley are reduced to few individuals.
The writer of The Cosmos article re-
jects the theory of a Chinese origin for
the dwarfs, and believes that they are
merely the degenerate descendants Of
the ordinary natives, i'll nOUrished for
generations upon diet of potatoes and
black bread. The fact that with i'm
proved means of communication tho
dwarfs are decreasing helps to confirm
the writer theory, and he believes that
with proper nourishment and decent
shelter their descendants would gradu
ally return to the normal type. Mean
while the neiShbors of the dwarfs look
upon them with curious mixture Of
feelings. The fact that the dwarfS drink
much at particular mineral spring has
given rise to superstition that who
ever drinks of it will become deformed,
and the normal natives are Mortified to
see visitors experimenting with tho
dreaded waters. There is reason to be-
lieve that the waters of the spring arc
beneficial to the stomachs of well nour-
ished persons, but injurious to these
who are accustomed to an unwh OlesonSo
diet, and it is entirely possible that the
i'll fed dwarfs have been injured by
drinking of the spring. New York Sun.