They
are usually stupid, often to the verge of idiocy, and much
subject to goiter and scrofulous affections. The chief town of
the Ribas Valley is Ribas, a place of 1500 inhabitants. about 800
feet above sea-level. The mountains rise about the town to a
height of from 6000 to 8000 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 minerally, and is famous
for its medicinal 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 almost without education, and
inhabit wretched huts when they have any shelter. The most
intelligent are employed as shepherds, and in summer they live
for months at an elevation of more than 6000 feet without
shelter. Here they see no human creature save some of their own
kind, often idiots, who are sent up every fifteen or twenty days
with a supply of food.
"It is said that formal marriage is almost unknown among them.
The women in some instances are employed in the village of Ribas
as nurses for children, and as such are found tender and
faithful.
Pages:
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616