Chizerots and Burins

Chizerots and Burins form one of those peculiar races in France that live isolated in the midst of the rest of the population, and are despised and hated by their neighbours. They are found in the arrondissement of Bourg-en-Bresse, in the department of Ain; and the communes of Sermoyer, Arbigny, Boz, and Ozan belong to them. According to tradition, they are descended from the Saracens. Although industrious and prosperous, they are held in the utmost contempt and detestation by their peasant neighbours, often themselves indolent and destitute. They are looked upon as covetous and malicious, and scarcely would the daughter of a small farmer or well-to-do day-labourer become the wife of one of them, so that they mostly marry among themselves. From time immemorial, they have been field-labourers, cattle-dealers, butchers, and the like. Many of them are very good-looking, the young women in particular being handsome and clear-complexioned, with large black eyes. See Michel, Histoire des Races Maudites de la France et de l'Espagne (2 vols. Paris, 1847).