a
a
probably the relique of some château heretofore belonging to the bishops of the Vallaisan
country.
From the top of the mountain, the view of the course of the Rhône is both noble
and extensive, including the side from which it takes its source to vrhere it runs into
the Lake of Geneva ; for the town of Martignie, or Martignac, which is nearly contiguous,
is, as it were, placed at the summit of the angle formed by the direction of the
valley of the Rhône, whose opening may be nearly computed at eighty-two degrees, the
source of that river being almost in a south-eastern direction from the town, and its
mouth, or entrance, at the north-north-western.
Before I conclude the description of this part of the Lower Valíais, I must not omit
noticing a melancholy infirmit>', and, I may say, a woeful impediment to beauty, which
affects a considerable number of the inhabitants, called the goitres, which is an excrescence
in the neck,—an appearance the most unsightly and disgusting that can be imagined.
This is attributed, by many of the faculty, to a swelling of the glands j and by
others to a tumor, or morbid swelling, produced by an almost total relaxation in the
nervous system, or in the constitutions of the miserable beings who are thus afflicted.
But the cause of this evil is probably partly physical, and partly moral ; and those
which are the most afflicted are named Crelins. For a more complete account of this
subject, see the works of Messrs. Haller, Tissot, and Graner.
These Cretins are positively in such a degree of brutishness, or mental imbecillity, that
they not only are shocking to humanity, but fiU the mind with sentiments of horror,
combined with pity, at viewing a fellow-creature thus degraded and afflicted. There are
some, even, who have this loathsome disease to such excess, that their goîtres hang half
way down their body, so that it is impossible to discern the passage from the head to
the body ; others, again, have several of these swellings, joined or united, as it were,
together, and are, if possible, still more hideous and disgusting.
These miserable beings have, in general, a yellow and sickly countenance ; their fiesh
flabby and livid ; the tongue extremely thick, so that they cannot articulate, but make
a croaking noise ; the features deformed ; the eyes inflamed, with a look of languor and
heaviness; walking with great difficulty, and so excessively indolent, that even in the
absolute want of common necessaries they require assistance, and oftentimes to be fed
with a spoon, like a new-bom infant. Those who are not so severely attacked, render
themselves sometimes useful in menial capacities ; and there have been instances of
their marrying, and children resulting from these marriages: but what is more remarkable,
this dreadful malady seldom makes its appearance till the unfortunate victims (if
one may so call them) are seven or eight years of age, and then it goes on gradually
increasing till the age of puberty; for till then it is seldom known to reign to any violent
degree. Some physicians have been led to attribute the origin of this complaint to the
melted ice and snow, which the people of the country drink; others, again, to the selenitic
and calcareous particles with which the water is impregnated; but many, I think,
with greater appearance of probability, suppose it to be in a great measure owing
to the noxious effluvia, which proceed from the marshes and swampy grounds that
generally lie at the bottom of the deep valleys of the Alps, added to the want of
circulation of the air, and the intense heat experienced during the summer-months, as
at Maurienne in Savoy, the city of Aosta, &c. where that infirmity reigns. Monsieur de
Saussure judiciously observes, that goitres are unknown in the Alps, wherever the elevation
exceeds three thousand feet above the level of the sea. It may, however, be presumed
that this complaint in some measure depends on the nature of the bodies of the
individuals themselves, since, in the same vaUeys, they are not all equally affected.
These poor wretches, with their deplorable appearance, are by no means mischievous;
but on the contrary, meek and humble to an extreme,—for innocence and torpitude seem
to be their chief characteristics. They are even, I may add, beloved, and waited
on with care and attention by the rest of the inhabitants, who, from religious ideas, as
well as from their natural goodness of character, consider these inoffensive beings as
predestined by heaven to be guarded by that malady from sin and ftiture punishment.
I have often had occasion to witness mothers sending their children to help and comfort
those who were incapable of doing any tiling for themselves, telling them, at the
same time—" They will pray for you, my children j and their prayers must be heard, for
they are saints on earth." And thus the maternal mandate, dictated by religion and
compassion, was no sooner issued than cheerfully complied with:—a forcible and
convincing proof that true principles of religion (let that religion be what it may) not
only wonderfully tend towards relieving our personal afflictions, but inspire us with
the proper desire of pouring the balm of comfort into the wounds of the unfortunate.