ative city.

CAGOTS, a people found in the Basque provinces, Bearn, Gascony and
Brittany. The earliest mention of them is in 1288, when they appear to have
been called Christiens or Christianos. In the 16th century they had many
names, Cagots, Gahets, Gafets in France; Agotes, Gafos in Spain; and
Cacons, Cahets, Caqueux and Caquins in Brittany. During the middle ages
they were popularly looked upon as cretins, lepers, heretics and even as
cannibals. They were shunned and hated; were allotted separate quarters in
towns, called _cagoteries_, and lived in wretched huts in the country
distinct from the villages. Excluded from all political and social rights,
they were only allowed to enter a church by a special door, and during the
service a rail separated them from the other worshippers. Either they were
altogether forbidden to partake of the sacrament, or the holy wafer was
handed to them on the end of a stick, while a receptacle for holy water was
reserved for their exclusive use. They were compelled to wear a distinctive
dress, to which, in some places, was attached the foot of a goose or duck
(whence they were sometimes called _Canards_). And so pestilential was
their touch considered that it was a crime for them to walk the common road
barefooted. The only trades allowed them were those of butcher and
carpenter, and their ordinary occupation was wood-cutting. Their language
is merely a corrupt form of that spoken around them; but a Teutonic origin
seems to be indicated by their fair complexions and blue eyes. Their crania
have a normal development; their cheek-bones are high; their noses
prominent, with large nostrils; their lips straight; and they are marked by
the absence of the auricular lobules.

The origin of the Cagots is undecided. Littre defines them as "a people of
the Pyrenees affected with a kind of cretinism." It has been suggested that
they were descendants of the Visigoths, and Michael derives the name from
_caas_ (dog) and _Goth_. But opposed to this etymology is the fact that the
word _cagot_ is first found in the _for_ of Bearn not earlier than 1551.
Marca, in his _Histoire de Bearn_, holds that the word signifies "hunters
of the Goths," and that the Cagots are descendants of the Saracens. Others
made them descendants of the Albigenses. The old MSS. call them Chretiens
or Chrestiaas, and from this it has been argued that they were Visigoths
who originally lived as Christians among the Gascon pagans. A