CAGOTS is the name given to a tribe of men, of manners and customs akin to those of the gypsies, who are found scattered through various parts of Beam and Gascony, in France. They are usually thought to be the descendants of the Visigoths, who remained in France after their defeat by Clovis, in the 5th century. Until the French revolution of 1790, they received even worse treatment than that which generally falls to the lot of remnants of conquered races. They were forced to wear a peculiar dress, were forbid den to practice all but the most menial trades, and were obliged to live isolated, either in separate villages or in separate quarters of the towns. So complete was their estrange ment from the other inhabitants, that they were forced to enter the churches by doors specially set apart for them. Since that revolution, they have been placed, as regards the law, on an equal footing with other citizens, but socially they are still regarded as a degraded race. Their language has been, so far back as is known, a corrupt dia
lect of that spoken in the surrounding country; but their blue eyes, fair hair, and fair complexion, mark them out as ethnologically distinct, and speak to a Teutonic origin. From a great liability to the diseases afflicting cretins, probably caused by their exposed manner of life and insufficient nourishment, they were at one time erroneously thought to belong to that unfortunate class. Tribes, whose history and present condition greatly resemble those of the C., are to be found in Brittany, where they receive the name of " Caveux;" and in Poitou, Maine, and Anjou, where they receive the name of " Colli berts. ' See Michel's Histoire des Races liaudites de la Prance et de l'Espagne (History of Outcast Races in France and Spain), Par. 1847.