A RACE OF PARIAHS.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1288, 6 May 1878, Page 3

A RACE OF PARIAHS.

[“ Scientific American,”] Since the middle ages the name of cagots has been given to a proscribed race of people dwelling chiefly on the northern elope of the Pyrenees, For centuries they have been objects of aversion to other inhabitants of the region. Possessing, it is said, bodily deformities of a repulsive nature, popular opinion among the peasantry once imputed to them the grossest crimes, compelled them to dwell in isolated localities, and to wear a distinguishing badge, denied them entrance to churches except by a special door, and forbade their participation in religious rites, or even their employment in factories or reception in religious refuges. They could not bear arms, walk barefoot, or drink from public fountains; their testimony in court was always doubted, and they were compelled to marry only among themselves. In this last particular they havo always differed from leprous colonies, where propagation of tho race is interdicted, and nonce, although, through the progress of eiviUpat’-oii public prejudice against those unfortiumi.es osw become greatly modified and they have been accorded many lights, still this anomalous peorlo yet exists and constitutes an exceedingly curious study to tho anthropologist. The theories which have been advanced to account for their proscription arc very numerous. One tradition ascribes thoir descent to the Visigoths conquered by Clovis at the battle of Vouille, and derives their name from tbe French words chiens Goths (Gothic dogs) ; another makes them the descendants of crusaders who had returned from the Holy Land, infected with leprosy; another described them as derived from a community excommunicated by Pope Innocent 111. The fact, however, that all traditions agree in ascribing to personal repulsiveness a prominent reason for the isolation of these people, and that the treatment to which by long custom they are subjected is similar in many respects to that applied to lepers, indicates the possibility of some form of leprosy rarely seen at present being the true cause of their proscription.

A careful physiological study recently made by M. de Rochas, of all the settlements of cagote now existing in Europe, exhibits fcbfir

condition at the present time and shedo some light on their probable' origin. M. de Rocha;; states that scared j a village exists in the Pyrenees in which a certain quarter has not for a long period been regarded as set apart for the oagoSs, and that in the churches traces arc yet visible of the do ore devoted tc them, although these portals ara now walled up. The prejudice against the rare is rapidly becoming effaced. Mixed marriages are more common, and the acquisition of fortunes has elevated the condition of individuals. In three large settlements visited there were very few characteristics observable on the part of the cagots to distinguish them from other inhabitants. Although in all cases mentioned in other visits their rights were curtailed, only one is jjmentioned where the condition of the race was such as to warrant their prosscription, and this fully verified the tradition in respect to physical and moral repulsivenees.

A curious fact regarding the cagots is that their habits and manners and language are always the same as those of the people with whom they reside. Other scattered races, no matter how widely disseminated, always retain some race individuality. The cagots are destitute of this, and thus theories attributing to them a common national origin are overthrown in favor of the hypothesis of leprosy. This terrible malady was chiefly brought into Europe from the East, and during the 13th century over 19,C10 cases were known, 2C DO of which were in Franco, The disease remained endemic until the beginning of the 16lh century, when it rapidly decreased, and now is practicallyunkrown in all]European [countries excepting in Norway and the Grecian Archipelago. Two principal types of the malady are recognised : Elephantiasis, the true leprosy of the middle ages, and the socalled white leprosy, which is closely connected with albinism of the present time. Of albinism there are also two types, one depending upon a disease, the other being a phenomenon due to the stoppage of development of the colouring matter of the skin. M. do Rochas, who has examined all varieties of leprosy, has distinguished several forms of the disease affecting the cagots, ranging from its lightest manifestation, which simply shows itself in the colour of the eyes and hair, up to a horribly repulsive malady. Albinos caused by white leprosy, ho states, have white hair and beards, blue eyes, and not red ones as phenomenal albinos possess, muddy skins, and epidermis more or less rough. There is an excessive predominance of the lymphatic system, and the body exhales a peculiar and disagreeable odour. No doubt appears but that this was the disease which affected the cagots of Europe, and which caused them at first to bo confounded with the true lepers. The distinction was afterwards made, but the proscription of the former continued, despite the fact that their descendants gradually lost all traces of the infection.