DISTRIBUTION OF INHERITABLE TRAITS 197 



of the hills and a human inertia that objects to raising the 

 weight of the body, the valley becomes an endogamous 

 center. Such a tendency is much exaggerated in the great 

 valleys of the Appalachian chain. The cradle of the Jukes, 

 however, was in a small valley hemmed in by steep hills 

 only 300 feet high. The valleys of the Taconic Range, of 

 the Catskills, of the Ramapo Moimtains of New York are, 

 or have been, regions of much f^ ^Jf ( )J^M iWMWir^^ ^ 

 inbreeding and not a little in- I^^^^^^HllH 

 cest, and the product has been fi JI^S^^H^m 

 much feeble-mindedness, crimi- Hflfw 



As the mountains rise to the Ij^M^mH^iW 

 southwestward so do inbreed- fT^S^mJ^^^^ 



reaching their fullest fruition flf\|^^^^HyBH 



in the mountain fastnesses of |)/|^^^BBHB 



western Virginia and eastern M^^^^Sim wK P^i \ ( ((/ 

 Kentucky and Tennessee. But 



-^ i¥ . r XV- Fig. 172.— A portion Of the U. 



the story OI the enect OI this g. Geological Survey topographic 



mountain range and its valleys "^^p «f *^^ ^^e^of^ ^^ *^^ "^f^^ 



^ ^ , of the center of the home of the 



upon consanguineous matingS, Jukes, showing long, well watered 



aeiect, ana crune m America ^^^j^ ^. ^^^^^ contour interval, 

 has still to be written. 20 feet. 



In other countries, longer settled, the influence of moun- 

 tain barriers is better appreciated. Very famous are the 

 cretins and the imbeciles of the Alps. And from the Chin 

 Hills of Burmah, the Rev. H, East writes about that place as 

 follows (American Naturahst, 1909) : ''Rau Vau village has 

 been isolated for about seven generations. It contains about 

 sixty houses and possibly two hundred inhabitants. Of 

 these, ten are idiots, many are dwarfs and some hydroce- 

 phaUc. A number of cases of syndactyhsm and brachy- 

 dactyUsm occur." 



