Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-02-22
: pwARFs IN The PYRENEEs.
a New Theory to Account For Race OF
Little People In Spain.

"a NOW XneOrY I'd ACCOunL ECE . %huSO ~
Little People In Spain.
There has long dwelt in the heart of
the Pyrenees on the old Catalonian Dor
der Of Spain curious race of dwarfs,
supposed by some to be Of Tartar origin.
A writer in q 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 5115 inches in height, and
have short, i'll formed legs, great bel
lies, small eyes, fat noses and pale, IN
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 800 feet above sea
level. The mountains rise about the
town to height of 5000 to 5000 feet,
and command All 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
minerally, and is famous for its medic
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 shepherds, 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 Is or 20 days with supply OF
food.
1t is said that formal marriage is al
most unknown among them. The wom-
en- in 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 1t Is now
it was thought luc,:y 10 1--WE enc OF
these dwarfs il a family, AMI TIE dwarfs
were hired out and even so!l TO lie used
in beggary in neshbog;ng cites. There
are somewhat similar d;acts II ether
valleys of the Pyrenecs, Lut tie numter
is decreasing and those Of the Elias
valley are reduced 10 u f.; i:..;iiE-c;::ii;.
The writer Of The Cosmos a-t;clo re-
jects the theory Of Z Ch.Gc.o c-i3;a fer
the dwarfs, and believes lat they arc
merely the degenerate descendants OF
the ordinary natives, i'll nourished for
generations upon diet Of potatoes and
black bread. The fact that with im-
proved means of communication the
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 neighbors 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 the
dreaded waters. There is reason to be-
lieve that the waters of the spring are
beneficial to the stomachs of well nour-
ished persons, but injurious to those
who are accustomed to an unwh olesome
diet, and it is entirely possible that the
i'll fed dwarfs have been injured by
drinking of the spring New York Sun.