The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-04-09
DWARFS IN THE PYRENEES.
Theory of Their Origin Derived from
Their Legendary History.

Their Legendary History.
There has long swelt in the heart OF
the Pyrenees, on the old Catalonian
border of Spain, race of dwarfs, sup.
posed by some to be of Tartar origin.
They inhabit the valley of the Ribas
in the northwestern part of the Spanish
province now called Corona. They
never exceed 51b inches in height, and
have short, Informed legs, great bellies,
small eyes, fiat noses and pale, unwhole-
some compilations. They are usually
stupid, often to the verge OF idioey,
and much subject to goitre and serof-
ulous 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 agricultnrally and
minerally, and is famous for its medic
inal springs. In this paradise dwell
the dwarfs, perhaps as degraded a race
of men and women as may be found in
any civilized community. They are al
most without education, and inhabt
wretehed huts when they have any
shelter. The most intelligent are EN-
ployed as shepherds, and in summer
they live for months at an elevation Oh
more than 6,000 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
n supply of food.
1t is said that formal marriage is al
most unknown among them. The wom-
en- in some instances are employed in
the village of Rabas as nurses for chill
dren, and as such are found tender and
faithful. Before communication
throughout the region was as easy as
il is now it was thought lucky to have
one of these dwarfs in a family, and
the dwarfs were hired out and even
sold to be used in beggary in neighbor.
ing 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
a few individuals.
The writer rejects the theory of a
Chinese origin for the dwarfs, and be-
lieves that they are merely the degener-
ate descendants of the ordinary natives,
ill-nourished for generations upon a
diet of potatoes and black bread. The
fact that with improved means of COM
munieation the dwarfs are decreasing
helps to confirm the writer's theory,
and he believes that with proper nour-
ishment and decent shelter their de-
scendants would gradually return to
the normal type. Meanwhile the neigh
bors of the dwarfs look upon them with
curious mixture of feelings. The fact
that the dwarfs drink much at partic-
ular mineral spring has given rise to IA
superstition that whoever drinks of it
will become deformed, and the normal
natives are Mortified to see visitors ex-
perimenting with the dreaded waters.
There is reason to believe that the
waters of the spring are beneficial to
the stomachs of well-nourished persons,
but injurious to those who are accus-
toned to an unwholesome diet, and it
is entirely possible that the ill-fed
dwarfs have been injured by drinking
of the spring.-Cosmos.