THE DWARFS OF THE ATLAS.
[To ram EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Following up your suggestion, in your article on "The Dwarfs of the Atlas," that the "little people "owe their sacred character in different parts of the world to their connection with the working of metals, I would remark that such metals are chiefly obtained by subterranean excavations, and that such excavations are at all times, and even with the aid of all our modern appliances, an extremely difficult and arduous operation. In primitive days, these difficulties must have been many times greater, so much so that at first every advantage would be taken of natural fissures and caverns, and there would be a premium for the purpose of such operations upon smallness of stature combined with the necessary strength. Under these circumstances, the occurrence of a well-made dwarf, and still more of a family or tribe of such dwarfs, in a primitive community, would give that community an enormous advantage in the struggle for life, and would be regarded as a special gift of God, to be most jealously and sacredly guarded from robbery by envious neighbours. The report mentioned by you that the dwarfs of the Atlas possess great skill in sinking deep wells as well as in working metals, favours the
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