A RACE OF LEPERS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XXIV, 12 June 1897, Page 746

A RACE OF LEPERS.

In Southwestern France, in Bearn and the Basque province, live the Cagote, a people who are the descendants of lepers. For centuries they have lived apart from their neighbours — their little bouses, called ‘ chrestiaas,’ and the peculiar cancerous odour about them warning away any stranger. Thanks to the greater intelligence of the present age, the old prejudice which prevented effort toward improving their condition is fast dying out. As a result the scourge is gradually disappearing, and year by year the ebrestiaas of the Cagote become fewer and fewer. In the old days each Cagot's shoulder was marked with a bright red sign, representing a hand disfigured by leprosy. They were not permitted to enter a church but by a special door, nor to approach the common holy water basin, having one for their sole use. Once one of these Cagote who dared dip his fingers into the holy water tank of his healthy brethren was punished by having his hand nailed to the church door for several days.