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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Zincali, by George Borrow
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Zincali
+       an account of the Gypsies of Spain
+
+
+Author: George Borrow
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 15, 2019  [eBook #565]
+[This file was first posted on April 15, 1996]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZINCALI***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1901 John Murray edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+                          [Picture: Book cover]
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE ZINCALI
+
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                            AN ACCOUNT OF THE
+                             GYPSIES OF SPAIN
+                             BY GEORGE BORROW
+
+                                AUTHOR OF
+                           ‘THE BIBLE IN SPAIN’
+                                ‘LAVENGRO’
+                                   ETC.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                   ‘_For that which is unclean by nature_,
+                              _thou canst entertain no hope_; _no washing_
+                                    _will turn the Gypsy white_.’—FERDOUSI
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                              NEW IMPRESSION
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                  LONDON
+                      JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
+                                   1901
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+         Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
+
+
+
+
+TO
+THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+THE EARL OF CLARENDON, G.C.B.
+
+
+                    KEEPER OF HER MAJESTY’S PRIVY SEAL
+
+                             ETC., ETC., ETC.
+
+MY LORD,
+
+_I feel it not only a gratification but an honour to be permitted to
+dedicate these volumes_ {0} _to your Lordship_, _the more particularly as
+they are connected with Spain_, _a country in which it was so frequently
+my fortune to experience such prompt and salutary aid from your Lordship
+in the high capacity of representative of our Gracious British
+Sovereign_.
+
+_The remembrance of the many obligations under which your Lordship has
+placed me_, _by your energetic and effectual interference in time of
+need_, _will ever in heartfelt gratitude cause me to remain_, _with
+unfeigned sentiments of respect_,
+
+_My Lord_,
+
+                       _Your most devoted Servant_,
+
+                                                            GEORGE BORROW.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+IT is with some diffidence that the author ventures to offer the present
+work to the public.
+
+The greater part of it has been written under very peculiar
+circumstances, such as are not in general deemed at all favourable for
+literary composition: at considerable intervals, during a period of
+nearly five years passed in Spain—in moments snatched from more important
+pursuits—chiefly in ventas and posádas, whilst wandering through the
+country in the arduous and unthankful task of distributing the Gospel
+among its children.
+
+Owing to the causes above stated, he is aware that his work must not
+unfrequently appear somewhat disjointed and unconnected, and the style
+rude and unpolished: he has, nevertheless, permitted the tree to remain
+where he felled it, having, indeed, subsequently enjoyed too little
+leisure to make much effectual alteration.
+
+At the same time he flatters himself that the work is not destitute of
+certain qualifications to entitle it to approbation.  The author’s
+acquaintance with the Gypsy race in general dates from a very early
+period of his life, which considerably facilitated his intercourse with
+the Peninsular portion, to the elucidation of whose history and character
+the present volumes are more particularly devoted.  Whatever he has
+asserted, is less the result of reading than of close observation, he
+having long since come to the conclusion that the Gypsies are not a
+people to be studied in books, or at least in such books as he believes
+have hitherto been written concerning them.
+
+Throughout he has dealt more in facts than in theories, of which he is in
+general no friend.  True it is, that no race in the world affords, in
+many points, a more extensive field for theory and conjecture than the
+Gypsies, who are certainly a very mysterious people come from some
+distant land, no mortal knows why, and who made their first appearance in
+Europe at a dark period, when events were not so accurately recorded as
+at the present time.
+
+But if he has avoided as much as possible touching upon subjects which
+must always, to a certain extent, remain shrouded in obscurity; for
+example, the original state and condition of the Gypsies, and the causes
+which first brought them into Europe; he has stated what they are at the
+present day, what he knows them to be from a close scrutiny of their ways
+and habits, for which, perhaps, no one ever enjoyed better opportunities;
+and he has, moreover, given—not a few words culled expressly for the
+purpose of supporting a theory, but one entire dialect of their language,
+collected with much trouble and difficulty; and to this he humbly calls
+the attention of the learned, who, by comparing it with certain
+languages, may decide as to the countries in which the Gypsies have lived
+or travelled.
+
+With respect to the Gypsy rhymes in the second volume, he wishes to make
+one observation which cannot be too frequently repeated, and which he
+entreats the reader to bear in mind: they are _Gypsy compositions_, and
+have little merit save so far as they throw light on the manner of
+thinking and speaking of the Gypsy people, or rather a portion of them,
+and as to what they are capable of effecting in the way of poetry.  It
+will, doubtless, be said that the rhymes are _trash_;—even were it so,
+they are original, and on that account, in a philosophic point of view,
+are more valuable than the most brilliant compositions pretending to
+describe Gypsy life, but written by persons who are not of the Gypsy
+sect.  Such compositions, however replete with fiery sentiments, and
+allusions to freedom and independence, are certain to be tainted with
+affectation.  Now in the Gypsy rhymes there is no affectation, and on
+that very account they are different in every respect from the poetry of
+those interesting personages who figure, under the names of Gypsies,
+Gitános, Bohemians, etc., in novels and on the boards of the theatre.
+
+It will, perhaps, be objected to the present work, that it contains
+little that is edifying in a moral or Christian point of view: to such an
+objection the author would reply, that the Gypsies are not a Christian
+people, and that their morality is of a peculiar kind, not calculated to
+afford much edification to what is generally termed the respectable
+portion of society.  Should it be urged that certain individuals have
+found them very different from what they are represented in these
+volumes, he would frankly say that he yields no credit to the presumed
+fact, and at the same time he would refer to the vocabulary contained in
+the second volume, whence it will appear that the words _hoax_ and
+_hocus_ have been immediately derived from the language of the Gypsies,
+who, there is good reason to believe, first introduced the system into
+Europe, to which those words belong.
+
+The author entertains no ill-will towards the Gypsies; why should he,
+were he a mere carnal reasoner?  He has known them for upwards of twenty
+years, in various countries, and they never injured a hair of his head,
+or deprived him of a shred of his raiment; but he is not deceived as to
+the motive of their forbearance: they thought him a _Rom_, and on this
+supposition they hurt him not, their love of ‘the blood’ being their most
+distinguishing characteristic.  He derived considerable assistance from
+them in Spain, as in various instances they officiated as colporteurs in
+the distribution of the Gospel: but on that account he is not prepared to
+say that they entertained any love for the Gospel or that they circulated
+it for the honour of Tebléque the Saviour.  Whatever they did for the
+Gospel in Spain, was done in the hope that he whom they conceived to be
+their brother had some purpose in view which was to contribute to the
+profit of the Calés, or Gypsies, and to terminate in the confusion and
+plunder of the Busné, or Gentiles.  Convinced of this, he is too little
+of an enthusiast to rear, on such a foundation, any fantastic edifice of
+hope which would soon tumble to the ground.
+
+The cause of truth can scarcely be forwarded by enthusiasm, which is
+almost invariably the child of ignorance and error.  The author is
+anxious to direct the attention of the public towards the Gypsies; but he
+hopes to be able to do so without any romantic appeals in their behalf,
+by concealing the truth, or by warping the truth until it becomes
+falsehood.  In the following pages he has depicted the Gypsies as he has
+found them, neither aggravating their crimes nor gilding them with
+imaginary virtues.  He has not expatiated on ‘their gratitude towards
+good people, who treat them kindly and take an interest in their
+welfare’; for he believes that of all beings in the world they are the
+least susceptible of such a feeling.  Nor has he ever done them injustice
+by attributing to them licentious habits, from which they are, perhaps,
+more free than any race in the creation.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
+
+
+I CANNOT permit the second edition of this work to go to press without
+premising it with a few words.
+
+When some two years ago I first gave _The Zincali_ to the world, it was,
+as I stated at the time, with considerable hesitation and diffidence: the
+composition of it and the collecting of Gypsy words had served as a kind
+of relaxation to me whilst engaged in the circulation of the Gospel in
+Spain.  After the completion of the work, I had not the slightest idea
+that it possessed any peculiar merit, or was calculated to make the
+slightest impression upon the reading world.  Nevertheless, as every one
+who writes feels a kind of affection, greater or less, for the
+productions of his pen, I was averse, since the book was written, to
+suffer it to perish of damp in a lumber closet, or by friction in my
+travelling wallet.  I committed it therefore to the press, with a
+friendly ‘Farewell, little book; I have done for you all I can, and much
+more than you deserve.’
+
+My expectations at this time were widely different from those of my
+namesake George in the _Vicar of Wakefield_ when he published his
+paradoxes.  I took it as a matter of course that the world, whether
+learned or unlearned, would say to my book what they said to his
+paradoxes, as the event showed,—nothing at all.  To my utter
+astonishment, however, I had no sooner returned to my humble retreat,
+where I hoped to find the repose of which I was very much in need, than I
+was followed by the voice not only of England but of the greater part of
+Europe, informing me that I had achieved a feat—a work in the nineteenth
+century with some pretensions to originality.  The book was speedily
+reprinted in America, portions of it were translated into French and
+Russian, and a fresh edition demanded.
+
+In the midst of all this there sounded upon my ears a voice which I
+recognised as that of the Mæcenas of British literature: ‘Borromeo, don’t
+believe all you hear, nor think that you have accomplished anything so
+very extraordinary: a great portion of your book is very sorry trash
+indeed—Gypsy poetry, dry laws, and compilations from dull Spanish
+authors: it has good points, however, which show that you are capable of
+something much better: try your hand again—avoid your besetting sins; and
+when you have accomplished something which will really do credit to —
+Street, it will be time enough to think of another delivery of these
+_Gypsies_.’
+
+Mistos amande: ‘I am content,’ I replied; and sitting down I commenced
+the _Bible in Spain_.  At first I proceeded slowly—sickness was in the
+land, and the face of nature was overcast—heavy rain-clouds swam in the
+heavens,—the blast howled amid the pines which nearly surround my lonely
+dwelling, and the waters of the lake which lies before it, so quiet in
+general and tranquil, were fearfully agitated.  ‘Bring lights hither, O
+Hayim Ben Attar, son of the miracle!’  And the Jew of Fez brought in the
+lights, for though it was midday I could scarcely see in the little room
+where I was writing. . . .
+
+A dreary summer and autumn passed by, and were succeeded by as gloomy a
+winter.  I still proceeded with the _Bible in Spain_.  The winter passed,
+and spring came with cold dry winds and occasional sunshine, whereupon I
+arose, shouted, and mounting my horse, even Sidi Habismilk, I scoured all
+the surrounding district, and thought but little of the _Bible in Spain_.
+
+So I rode about the country, over the heaths, and through the green lanes
+of my native land, occasionally visiting friends at a distance, and
+sometimes, for variety’s sake, I stayed at home and amused myself by
+catching huge pike, which lie perdue in certain deep ponds skirted with
+lofty reeds, upon my land, and to which there is a communication from the
+lagoon by a deep and narrow watercourse.—I had almost forgotten the
+_Bible in Spain_.
+
+Then came the summer with much heat and sunshine, and then I would lie
+for hours in the sun and recall the sunny days I had spent in Andalusia,
+and my thoughts were continually reverting to Spain, and at last I
+remembered that the _Bible in Spain_ was still unfinished; whereupon I
+arose and said: ‘This loitering profiteth nothing’—and I hastened to my
+summer-house by the side of the lake, and there I thought and wrote, and
+every day I repaired to the same place, and thought and wrote until I had
+finished the _Bible in Spain_.
+
+And at the proper season the _Bible in Spain_ was given to the world; and
+the world, both learned and unlearned, was delighted with the _Bible in
+Spain_, and the highest authority {1} said, ‘This is a much better book
+than the _Gypsies_’; and the next great authority {2} said, ‘something
+betwixt Le Sage and Bunyan.’  ‘A far more entertaining work than _Don
+Quixote_,’ exclaimed a literary lady.  ‘Another _Gil Blas_,’ said the
+cleverest writer in Europe. {3}  ‘Yes,’ exclaimed the cool sensible
+_Spectator_, {4} ‘a _Gil Blas_ in water-colours.’
+
+And when I heard the last sentence, I laughed, and shouted, ‘_Kosko
+pennese pal_!’ {5}  It pleased me better than all the rest.  Is there not
+a text in a certain old book which says: Woe unto you when all men shall
+speak well of you!  Those are awful words, brothers; woe is me!
+
+‘Revenons à nos Bohémiens!’  Now the _Bible in Spain_ is off my hands, I
+return to ‘these _Gypsies_’; and here you have, most kind, lenient, and
+courteous public, a fresh delivery of them.  In the present edition, I
+have attended as much as possible to the suggestions of certain
+individuals, for whose opinion I cannot but entertain the highest
+respect.  I have omitted various passages from Spanish authors, which the
+world has objected to as being quite out of place, and serving for no
+other purpose than to swell out the work.  In lieu thereof, I have
+introduced some original matter relative to the Gypsies, which is,
+perhaps, more calculated to fling light over their peculiar habits than
+anything which has yet appeared.  To remodel the work, however, I have
+neither time nor inclination, and must therefore again commend it, with
+all the imperfections which still cling to it, to the generosity of the
+public.
+
+A few words in conclusion.  Since the publication of the first edition, I
+have received more than one letter, in which the writers complain that I,
+who seem to know so much of what has been written concerning the Gypsies,
+{6} should have taken no notice of a theory entertained by many, namely,
+that they are of Jewish origin, and that they are neither more nor less
+than the descendants of the two lost tribes of Israel.  Now I am not
+going to enter into a discussion upon this point, for I know by
+experience, that the public cares nothing for discussions, however
+learned and edifying, but will take the present opportunity to relate a
+little adventure of mine, which bears not a little upon this matter.
+
+So it came to pass, that one day I was scampering over a heath, at some
+distance from my present home: I was mounted upon the good horse Sidi
+Habismilk, and the Jew of Fez, swifter than the wind, ran by the side of
+the good horse Habismilk, when what should I see at a corner of the heath
+but the encampment of certain friends of mine; and the chief of that
+camp, even Mr. Petulengro, stood before the encampment, and his adopted
+daughter, Miss Pinfold, stood beside him.
+
+_Myself_.—‘Kosko divvus {7}, Mr. Petulengro!  I am glad to see you: how
+are you getting on?’
+
+_Mr. Petulengro_.—‘How am I getting on? as well as I can.  What will you
+have for that nokengro {8}?’
+
+Thereupon I dismounted, and delivering the reins of the good horse to
+Miss Pinfold, I took the Jew of Fez, even Hayim Ben Attar, by the hand,
+and went up to Mr. Petulengro, exclaiming, ‘Sure ye are two brothers.’
+Anon the Gypsy passed his hand over the Jew’s face, and stared him in the
+eyes: then turning to me he said, ‘We are not dui palor {9}; this man is
+no Roman; I believe him to be a Jew; he has the face of one; besides, if
+he were a Rom, even from Jericho, he could rokra a few words in Rommany.’
+
+Now the Gypsy had been in the habit of seeing German and English Jews,
+who must have been separated from their African brethren for a term of at
+least 1700 years; yet he recognised the Jew of Fez for what he was—a Jew,
+and without hesitation declared that he was ‘no Roman.’  The Jews,
+therefore, and the Gypsies have each their peculiar and distinctive
+countenance, which, to say nothing of the difference of language,
+precludes the possibility of their having ever been the same people.
+
+_March_ 1, 1843.
+
+
+
+
+NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
+
+
+THIS edition has been carefully revised by the author, and some few
+insertions have been made.  In order, however, to give to the work a more
+popular character, the elaborate vocabulary of the Gypsy tongue, and
+other parts relating to the Gypsy language and literature, have been
+omitted.  Those who take an interest in these subjects are referred to
+the larger edition in two vols. {10}
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                             INTRODUCTION
+On the Gypsies in general—Name and Language—The Russian              1
+Gypsies—Gypsies at Moscow—Hungarian Gypsies—Wallachia and
+Moldavia—English Gypsies, or Rommany—Gypsy
+Fortune-tellers—Gypsy Jockeys—Gypsy Will—Thurtell—Gypsy
+Clans—Names of Families—Gypsy Law—Pazorrhus—The
+Patteran—Baptismal Papers—Gypsies of the East—Artifice of
+Timour—Bishop of Forli
+                             THE ZINCALI
+                                PART I
+                              CHAPTER I
+Of the Spanish Gypsies in general—Names—Arrival—Egyptian            41
+Penitents—Peculiarities of Spain—Provinces which the Gypsies
+principally frequented
+                              CHAPTER II
+Manner of Life—Predatory Habits—The Traveller—Jews and              48
+Gypsies—The Forge—The Sparks—Gypsy Counts—Martin del
+Rio—Facility in speaking Languages—Proverbs
+                             CHAPTER III
+Excesses of the Gitános—The Bookseller of Logroño                   61
+                              CHAPTER IV
+Gypsy Colonies in various Towns of Spain                            71
+                              CHAPTER V
+Cannibalism—The Forest—Anecdotes—Food of the                        76
+Gypsies—Child-stealing—Connection of the Gitános with the
+Moors of Barbary
+                              CHAPTER VI
+Barbary and its Tribes—Beni Aros—Sidi Hamed au Muza—The             85
+Children of the Dar-Bushi-Fal, a Sect of Thieves and
+Sorcerers, probably of Gypsy Origin
+                             CHAPTER VII
+Chiromancy—Torreblanca—Gitánas—The Gitána of Seville—La             98
+Buena Ventura—The Dance—The Song—Tricks of the Gitánas—The
+Widow—Occult Powers
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+The Evil Eye—Credulity of Eastern Nations on this                  115
+subject—Remedies for the Evil Eye—The Talmud—Superstitions
+of the North
+                              CHAPTER IX
+Exodus of the Jews: that of the Gypsies—Indifference of the        122
+Gitános with respect to Religion—Ezekiel—Tale of Egyptian
+Descent—Quiñones—Melchior of Guelama—Religious Tolerance—The
+Inquisitor of Cordova—Gitános and Moriscos
+                              CHAPTER X
+The Expulsion of the Gitános; a Discourse addressed by Dr.         137
+Sancho de Moncada to Philip the Third
+                              CHAPTER XI
+Various Laws issued against the Spanish Gypsies, from the          151
+time of Ferdinand and Isabella to the latter part of the
+Eighteenth Century, embracing a period of nearly Three
+Hundred Years
+                             CHAPTER XII
+Carlos Tercero—His Law respecting the Gitános                      166
+                               PART II
+                              CHAPTER I
+Badajoz—The Gypsies—The Withered Arm—Gypsy Law—Trimming and        177
+Shearing—Metempsychosis—Paco and Antonio—Antonio and the
+Magyar—The Chai—Pharaoh—The Steeds of the Egyptians
+                              CHAPTER II
+Madrid—Gypsy Women—Granada—Gypsy Smiths—Pepe                       194
+Conde—Seville—Triana—Cordova—Horses—The
+Esquilador—Characteristic Epistle—Catalonia, etc.
+                             CHAPTER III
+General Remarks on the Present State of the                        207
+Gitános—Inefficiency of the Old Laws—Prospects of the
+Gitános—Partial Reformation—Decline of the Gypsy Sect—Fair
+of Leon—Love of Race—Gypsy executed—Numerical Decrease
+                              CHAPTER IV
+Illustrations of Gypsy Character—The Gypsy Innkeeper of            221
+Tarifa—The Gypsy Soldier of Valdepeñas
+                              CHAPTER V
+Various Points connected with the Gitános—Dress—Physical           243
+Characteristics—The Gypsy Glance—Extracts from a Spanish
+work
+                              CHAPTER VI
+Certain Tricks and Practices of the Gypsy Females—The              252
+Bahi—Hokkano Baro—Ustilar Pastésas—Shoplifting—Drao—The
+Loadstone—The Root of the Good Baron
+                             CHAPTER VII
+The Marriage Festival—Eastern Jews—Their Weddings                  266
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+Attempts made to enlighten the Gitános—The Inward                  274
+Monitor—The One-eyed Gitána—Pépa and Chicharóna—The Gypsy
+Congregation
+                               PART III
+                              CHAPTER I
+The Poetry of the Gitános                                          287
+                              CHAPTER II
+Spurious Gypsy Poetry of Andalusia                                 298
+Brijindope.—The Deluge                                             304
+The Pestilence                                                     310
+On the Language of the Gitános                                     313
+   Robber Language                                                 335
+   The Term ‘Busno’                                                354
+Specimens of Gypsy Dialects                                        357
+Vocabulary of their Language                                       365
+                               APPENDIX
+Miscellanies in the Gitáno Language                                415
+The English Dialect of the Rommany                                 428
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+Gypsy’s Marriage Dance (_photogravure_)                 _Frontispiece_
+The Rearguard of the Marching Gypsies                _To face page_ 50
+Travellers attacked by the Gitános                                  52
+A Song of Egypt                                                    108
+The Gypsy Smith of Granada                                         196
+The Murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde                             198
+Roasting Chestnuts by the side of the                              200
+Guadalquiver
+A Gypsy Family                                                     222
+
+
+
+
+THE GYPSIES
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+THROUGHOUT my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar interest for
+me.  Indeed I can remember no period when the mere mention of the name of
+Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard to be described.  I cannot
+account for this—I merely state a fact.
+
+Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have
+accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present
+animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of their
+people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis, and, like
+the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by passing through an
+infinite number of bodies, attain at length sufficient purity to be
+admitted to a state of perfect rest and quietude, which is the only idea
+of heaven they can form.
+
+Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy with
+these people, I have come to the following conclusions respecting them:
+that wherever they are found, their manners and customs are virtually the
+same, though somewhat modified by circumstances, and that the language
+they speak amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly anxious
+to keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but
+has been subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their
+countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker or
+fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but invariably
+darker, at least in Europe, than those of the natives of the countries in
+which they dwell, for example, England and Russia, Germany and Spain.
+
+The names by which they are known differ with the country, though, with
+one or two exceptions, not materially for example, they are styled in
+Russia, Zigáni; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in Germany, Zigeuner;
+all which words apparently spring from the same etymon, which there is no
+improbability in supposing to be ‘Zincali,’ a term by which these people,
+especially those of Spain, sometimes designate themselves, and the
+meaning of which is believed to be, _The black men of Zend or Ind_.  In
+England and Spain they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitános, from a
+general belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two
+words are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance
+that Bohemia was one of the first countries in civilised Europe where
+they made their appearance.
+
+But they generally style themselves and the language which they speak,
+Rommany.  This word, of which I shall ultimately have more to say, is of
+Sanscrit origin, and signifies, The Husbands, or that which pertaineth
+unto them.  From whatever motive this appellation may have originated, it
+is perhaps more applicable than any other to a sect or caste like them,
+who have no love and no affection beyond their own race; who are capable
+of making great sacrifices for each other, and who gladly prey upon all
+the rest of the human species, whom they detest, and by whom they are
+hated and despised.  It will perhaps not be out of place to observe here,
+that there is no reason for supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is
+derived from the Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some
+people not much acquainted with the language of the race in question have
+imagined.
+
+I have no intention at present to say anything about their origin.
+Scholars have asserted that the language which they speak proves them to
+be of Indian stock, and undoubtedly a great number of their words are
+Sanscrit.  My own opinion upon this subject will be found in a subsequent
+article.  I shall here content myself with observing that from whatever
+country they come, whether from India or Egypt, there can be no doubt
+that they are human beings and have immortal souls; and it is in the
+humble hope of drawing the attention of the Christian philanthropist
+towards them, especially that degraded and unhappy portion of them, the
+Gitános of Spain, that the present little work has been undertaken.  But
+before proceeding to speak of the latter, it will perhaps not be amiss to
+afford some account of the Rommany as I have seen them in other
+countries; for there is scarcely a part of the habitable world where they
+are not to be found: their tents are alike pitched on the heaths of
+Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and their language is heard
+at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of London and Stamboul.
+
+
+
+THE ZIGÁNI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES
+
+
+They are found in all parts of Russia, with the exception of the
+government of St. Petersburg, from which they have been banished.  In
+most of the provincial towns they are to be found in a state of
+half-civilisation, supporting themselves by trafficking in horses, or by
+curing the disorders incidental to those animals; but the vast majority
+reject this manner of life, and traverse the country in bands, like the
+ancient Hamaxobioi; the immense grassy plains of Russia affording
+pasturage for their herds of cattle, on which, and the produce of the
+chase, they chiefly depend for subsistence.  They are, however, not
+destitute of money, which they obtain by various means, but principally
+by curing diseases amongst the cattle of the mujíks or peasantry, and by
+telling fortunes, and not unfrequently by theft and brigandage.
+
+Their power of resisting cold is truly wonderful, as it is not uncommon
+to find them encamped in the midst of the snow, in slight canvas tents,
+when the temperature is twenty-five or thirty degrees below the
+freezing-point according to Réaumur; but in the winter they generally
+seek the shelter of the forests, which afford fuel for their fires, and
+abound in game.
+
+The race of the Rommany is by nature perhaps the most beautiful in the
+world; and amongst the children of the Russian Zigáni are frequently to
+be found countenances to do justice to which would require the pencil of
+a second Murillo; but exposure to the rays of the burning sun, the biting
+of the frost, and the pelting of the pitiless sleet and snow, destroys
+their beauty at a very early age; and if in infancy their personal
+advantages are remarkable, their ugliness at an advanced age is no less
+so, for then it is loathsome, and even appalling.
+
+A hundred years, could I live so long, would not efface from my mind the
+appearance of an aged Ziganskie Attaman, or Captain of Zigáni, and his
+grandson, who approached me on the meadow before Novo Gorod, where stood
+the encampment of a numerous horde.  The boy was of a form and face which
+might have entitled him to represent Astyanax, and Hector of Troy might
+have pressed him to his bosom, and called him his pride; but the old man
+was, perhaps, such a shape as Milton has alluded to, but could only
+describe as execrable—he wanted but the dart and kingly crown to have
+represented the monster who opposed the progress of Lucifer, whilst
+careering in burning arms and infernal glory to the outlet of his hellish
+prison.
+
+But in speaking of the Russian Gypsies, those of Moscow must not be
+passed over in silence.  The station to which they have attained in
+society in that most remarkable of cities is so far above the sphere in
+which the remainder of their race pass their lives, that it may be
+considered as a phenomenon in Gypsy history, and on that account is
+entitled to particular notice.
+
+Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gypsy as a wandering
+outcast, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a settled and
+civilised life, or—if abandoning vagabond propensities, and becoming
+stationary—as one who never ascends higher than the condition of a low
+trafficker, will be surprised to learn, that amongst the Gypsies of
+Moscow there are not a few who inhabit stately houses, go abroad in
+elegant equipages, and are behind the higher orders of the Russians
+neither in appearance nor mental acquirements.  To the power of song
+alone this phenomenon is to be attributed.  From time immemorial the
+female Gypsies of Moscow have been much addicted to the vocal art, and
+bands or quires of them have sung for pay in the halls of the nobility or
+upon the boards of the theatre.  Some first-rate songsters have been
+produced among them, whose merits have been acknowledged, not only by the
+Russian public, but by the most fastidious foreign critics.  Perhaps the
+highest compliment ever paid to a songster was paid by Catalani herself
+to one of these daughters of Roma.  It is well known throughout Russia
+that the celebrated Italian was so enchanted with the voice of a Moscow
+Gypsy (who, after the former had displayed her noble talent before a
+splendid audience in the old Russian capital, stepped forward and poured
+forth one of her national strains), that she tore from her own shoulders
+a shawl of cashmire, which had been presented to her by the Pope, and,
+embracing the Gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the splendid gift,
+saying, that it had been intended for the matchless songster, which she
+now perceived she herself was not.
+
+The sums obtained by many of these females by the exercise of their art
+enable them to support their relatives in affluence and luxury: some are
+married to Russians, and no one who has visited Russia can but be aware
+that a lovely and accomplished countess, of the noble and numerous family
+of Tolstoy, is by birth a Zigána, and was originally one of the principal
+attractions of a Rommany choir at Moscow.
+
+But it is not to be supposed that the whole of the Gypsy females at
+Moscow are of this high and talented description; the majority of them
+are of far lower quality, and obtain their livelihood by singing and
+dancing at taverns, whilst their husbands in general follow the
+occupation of horse-dealing.
+
+Their favourite place of resort in the summer time is Marina Rotze, a
+species of sylvan garden about two versts from Moscow, and thither,
+tempted by curiosity, I drove one fine evening.  On my arrival the
+Zigánas came flocking out from their little tents, and from the tractir
+or inn which has been erected for the accommodation of the public.
+Standing on the seat of the calash, I addressed them in a loud voice in
+the English dialect of the Rommany, of which I have some knowledge.  A
+shrill scream of wonder was instantly raised, and welcomes and blessings
+were poured forth in floods of musical Rommany, above all of which
+predominated the cry of _Kak camenna tute prala_—or, How we love you,
+brother!—for at first they mistook me for one of their wandering brethren
+from the distant lands, come over the great panee or ocean to visit them.
+
+After some conversation they commenced singing, and favoured me with many
+songs, both in Russian and Rommany: the former were modern popular
+pieces, such as are accustomed to be sung on the boards of the theatre;
+but the latter were evidently of great antiquity, exhibiting the
+strongest marks of originality, the metaphors bold and sublime, and the
+metre differing from anything of the kind which it has been my fortune to
+observe in Oriental or European prosody.
+
+One of the most remarkable, and which commences thus:
+
+    ‘Za mateia rosherroro odolata
+    Bravintata,’
+
+(or, Her head is aching with grief, as if she had tasted wine) describes
+the anguish of a maiden separated from her lover, and who calls for her
+steed:
+
+    ‘Tedjav manga gurraoro’—
+
+that she may depart in quest of the lord of her bosom, and share his joys
+and pleasures.
+
+A collection of these songs, with a translation and vocabulary, would be
+no slight accession to literature, and would probably throw more light on
+the history of this race than anything which has yet appeared; and, as
+there is no want of zeal and talent in Russia amongst the cultivators of
+every branch of literature, and especially philology, it is only
+surprising that such a collection still remains a desideratum.
+
+The religion which these singular females externally professed was the
+Greek, and they mostly wore crosses of copper or gold; but when I
+questioned them on this subject in their native language, they laughed,
+and said it was only to please the Russians.  Their names for God and his
+adversary are Deval and Bengel, which differ little from the Spanish
+Un-debel and Bengi, which signify the same.  I will now say something of
+
+
+
+THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIGÁNY
+
+
+Hungary, though a country not a tenth part so extensive as the huge
+colossus of the Russian empire, whose tzar reigns over a hundred lands,
+contains perhaps as many Gypsies, it not being uncommon to find whole
+villages inhabited by this race; they likewise abound in the suburbs of
+the towns.  In Hungary the feudal system still exists in all its pristine
+barbarity; in no country does the hard hand of this oppression bear so
+heavy upon the lower classes—not even in Russia.  The peasants of Russia
+are serfs, it is true, but their condition is enviable compared with that
+of the same class in the other country; they have certain rights and
+privileges, and are, upon the whole, happy and contented, whilst the
+Hungarians are ground to powder.  Two classes are free in Hungary to do
+almost what they please—the nobility and—the Gypsies; the former are
+above the law—the latter below it: a toll is wrung from the hands of the
+hard-working labourers, that most meritorious class, in passing over a
+bridge, for example at Pesth, which is not demanded from a well-dressed
+person—nor from the Czigány, who have frequently no dress at all—and
+whose insouciance stands in striking contrast with the trembling
+submission of the peasants.  The Gypsy, wherever you find him, is an
+incomprehensible being, but nowhere more than in Hungary, where, in the
+midst of slavery, he is free, though apparently one step lower than the
+lowest slave.  The habits of the Hungarian Gypsies are abominable; their
+hovels appear sinks of the vilest poverty and filth, their dress is at
+best rags, their food frequently the vilest carrion, and occasionally, if
+report be true, still worse—on which point, when speaking of the Spanish
+Gitános, we shall have subsequently more to say: thus they live in filth,
+in rags, in nakedness, and in merriness of heart, for nowhere is there
+more of song and dance than in an Hungarian Gypsy village.  They are very
+fond of music, and some of them are heard to touch the violin in a manner
+wild, but of peculiar excellence.  Parties of them have been known to
+exhibit even at Paris.
+
+In Hungary, as in all parts, they are addicted to horse-dealing; they are
+likewise tinkers, and smiths in a small way.  The women are
+fortune-tellers, of course—both sexes thieves of the first water.  They
+roam where they list—in a country where all other people are held under
+strict surveillance, no one seems to care about these Parias.  The most
+remarkable feature, however, connected with the habits of the Czigány,
+consists in their foreign excursions, having plunder in view, which
+frequently endure for three or four years, when, if no mischance has
+befallen them, they return to their native land—rich; where they squander
+the proceeds of their dexterity in mad festivals.  They wander in bands
+of twelve and fourteen through France, even to Rome.  Once, during my own
+wanderings in Italy, I rested at nightfall by the side of a kiln, the air
+being piercingly cold; it was about four leagues from Genoa.  Presently
+arrived three individuals to take advantage of the warmth—a man, a woman,
+and a lad.  They soon began to discourse—and I found that they were
+Hungarian Gypsies; they spoke of what they had been doing, and what they
+had amassed—I think they mentioned nine hundred crowns.  They had
+companions in the neighbourhood, some of whom they were expecting; they
+took no notice of me, and conversed in their own dialect; I did not
+approve of their propinquity, and rising, hastened away.
+
+When Napoleon invaded Spain there were not a few Hungarian Gypsies in his
+armies; some strange encounters occurred on the field of battle between
+these people and the Spanish Gitános, one of which is related in the
+second part of the present work.  When quartered in the Spanish towns,
+the Czigány invariably sought out their peninsular brethren, to whom they
+revealed themselves, kissing and embracing most affectionately; the
+Gitános were astonished at the proficiency of the strangers in thievish
+arts, and looked upon them almost in the light of superior beings: ‘They
+knew the whole reckoning,’ is still a common expression amongst them.
+There was a Czigánian soldier for some time at Cordoba, of whom the
+Gitános of the place still frequently discourse, whilst smoking their
+cigars during winter nights over their braséros.
+
+The Hungarian Gypsies have a peculiar accent when speaking the language
+of the country, by which they can be instantly distinguished; the same
+thing is applicable to the Gitános of Spain when speaking Spanish.  In no
+part of the world is the Gypsy language preserved better than in Hungary.
+
+The following short prayer to the Virgin, which I have frequently heard
+amongst the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania, will serve as a specimen
+of their language:—
+
+    Gula Devla, da me saschipo.  Swuntuna Devla, da me bacht t’ aldaschis
+    cari me jav; te ferin man, Devla, sila ta niapaschiata, chungalé
+    manuschendar, ke me jav andé drom ca hin man traba; ferin man, Devia;
+    ma mek man Devla, ke manga man tre Devies-key.
+
+    Sweet Goddess, give me health.  Holy Goddess, give me luck and grace
+    wherever I go; and help me, Goddess, powerful and immaculate, from
+    ugly men, that I may go in the road to the place I purpose: help me,
+    Goddess; forsake me not, Goddess, for I pray for God’s sake.
+
+
+
+WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA
+
+
+In Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the eastern-most regions of Europe, are
+to be found seven millions of people calling themselves Roumouni, and
+speaking a dialect of the Latin tongue much corrupted by barbarous terms,
+so called.  They are supposed to be in part descendants of Roman
+soldiers, Rome in the days of her grandeur having established immense
+military colonies in these parts.  In the midst of these people exist
+vast numbers of Gypsies, amounting, I am disposed to think, to at least
+two hundred thousand.  The land of the Roumouni, indeed, seems to have
+been the hive from which the West of Europe derived the Gypsy part of its
+population.  Far be it from me to say that the Gypsies sprang originally
+from Roumouni-land.  All I mean is, that it was their grand resting-place
+after crossing the Danube.  They entered Roumouni-land from Bulgaria,
+crossing the great river, and from thence some went to the north-east,
+overrunning Russia, others to the west of Europe, as far as Spain and
+England.  That the early Gypsies of the West, and also those of Russia,
+came from Roumouni-land, is easily proved, as in all the western Gypsy
+dialects, and also in the Russian, are to be found words belonging to the
+Roumouni speech; for example, primavera, spring; cheros, heaven; chorab,
+stocking; chismey, boots;—Roum—primivari, cherul, chorapul, chismé.  One
+might almost be tempted to suppose that the term Rommany, by which the
+Gypsies of Russia and the West call themselves, was derived from
+Roumouni, were it not for one fact, which is, that Romanus in the Latin
+tongue merely means a native of Rome, whilst the specific meaning of Rome
+still remains in the dark; whereas in Gypsy Rom means a husband, Rommany
+the sect of the husbands; Romanesti if married.  Whether both words were
+derived originally from the same source, as I believe some people have
+supposed, is a question which, with my present lights, I cannot pretend
+to determine.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+No country appears less adapted for that wandering life, which seems so
+natural to these people, than England.  Those wildernesses and forests,
+which they are so attached to, are not to be found there; every inch of
+land is cultivated, and its produce watched with a jealous eye; and as
+the laws against trampers, without the visible means of supporting
+themselves, are exceedingly severe, the possibility of the Gypsies
+existing as a distinct race, and retaining their original free and
+independent habits, might naturally be called in question by those who
+had not satisfactorily verified the fact.  Yet it is a truth that, amidst
+all these seeming disadvantages, they not only exist there, but in no
+part of the world is their life more in accordance with the general idea
+that the Gypsy is like Cain, a wanderer of the earth; for in England the
+covered cart and the little tent are the houses of the Gypsy, and he
+seldom remains more than three days in the same place.
+
+At present they are considered in some degree as a privileged people;
+for, though their way of life is unlawful, it is connived at; the law of
+England having discovered by experience, that its utmost fury is
+inefficient to reclaim them from their inveterate habits.
+
+Shortly after their first arrival in England, which is upwards of three
+centuries since, a dreadful persecution was raised against them, the aim
+of which was their utter extermination; the being a Gypsy was esteemed a
+crime worthy of death, and the gibbets of England groaned and creaked
+beneath the weight of Gypsy carcases, and the miserable survivors were
+literally obliged to creep into the earth in order to preserve their
+lives.  But these days passed by; their persecutors became weary of
+pursuing them; they showed their heads from the holes and caves where
+they had hidden themselves, they ventured forth, increased in numbers,
+and, each tribe or family choosing a particular circuit, they fairly
+divided the land amongst them.
+
+In England, the male Gypsies are all dealers in horses, and sometimes
+employ their idle time in mending the tin and copper utensils of the
+peasantry; the females tell fortunes.  They generally pitch their tents
+in the vicinity of a village or small town by the road side, under the
+shelter of the hedges and trees.  The climate of England is well known to
+be favourable to beauty, and in no part of the world is the appearance of
+the Gypsies so prepossessing as in that country; their complexion is
+dark, but not disagreeably so; their faces are oval, their features
+regular, their foreheads rather low, and their hands and feet small.  The
+men are taller than the English peasantry, and far more active.  They all
+speak the English language with fluency, and in their gait and demeanour
+are easy and graceful; in both points standing in striking contrast with
+the peasantry, who in speech are slow and uncouth, and in manner dogged
+and brutal.
+
+The dialect of the Rommany, which they speak, though mixed with English
+words, may be considered as tolerably pure, from the fact that it is
+intelligible to the Gypsy race in the heart of Russia.  Whatever crimes
+they may commit, their vices are few, for the men are not drunkards, nor
+are the women harlots; there are no two characters which they hold in so
+much abhorrence, nor do any words when applied by them convey so much
+execration as these two.
+
+The crimes of which these people were originally accused were various,
+but the principal were theft, sorcery, and causing disease among the
+cattle; and there is every reason for supposing that in none of these
+points they were altogether guiltless.
+
+With respect to sorcery, a thing in itself impossible, not only the
+English Gypsies, but the whole race, have ever professed it; therefore,
+whatever misery they may have suffered on that account, they may be
+considered as having called it down upon their own heads.
+
+Dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of the female Gypsy.
+She affects to tell the future, and to prepare philtres by means of which
+love can be awakened in any individual towards any particular object; and
+such is the credulity of the human race, even in the most enlightened
+countries, that the profits arising from these practices are great.  The
+following is a case in point: two females, neighbours and friends, were
+tried some years since, in England, for the murder of their husbands.  It
+appeared that they were in love with the same individual, and had
+conjointly, at various times, paid sums of money to a Gypsy woman to work
+charms to captivate his affections.  Whatever little effect the charms
+might produce, they were successful in their principal object, for the
+person in question carried on for some time a criminal intercourse with
+both.  The matter came to the knowledge of the husbands, who, taking
+means to break off this connection, were respectively poisoned by their
+wives.  Till the moment of conviction these wretched females betrayed
+neither emotion nor fear, but then their consternation was indescribable;
+and they afterwards confessed that the Gypsy, who had visited them in
+prison, had promised to shield them from conviction by means of her art.
+It is therefore not surprising that in the fifteenth and sixteenth
+centuries, when a belief in sorcery was supported by the laws of all
+Europe, these people were regarded as practisers of sorcery, and punished
+as such, when, even in the nineteenth, they still find people weak enough
+to place confidence in their claims to supernatural power.
+
+The accusation of producing disease and death amongst the cattle was far
+from groundless.  Indeed, however strange and incredible it may sound in
+the present day to those who are unacquainted with this caste, and the
+peculiar habits of the Rommanees, the practice is still occasionally
+pursued in England and many other countries where they are found.  From
+this practice, when they are not detected, they derive considerable
+advantage.  Poisoning cattle is exercised by them in two ways: by one,
+they merely cause disease in the animals, with the view of receiving
+money for curing them upon offering their services; the poison is
+generally administered by powders cast at night into the mangers of the
+animals: this way is only practised upon the larger cattle, such as
+horses and cows.  By the other, which they practise chiefly on swine,
+speedy death is almost invariably produced, the drug administered being
+of a highly intoxicating nature, and affecting the brain.  They then
+apply at the house or farm where the disaster has occurred for the
+carcase of the animal, which is generally given them without suspicion,
+and then they feast on the flesh, which is not injured by the poison,
+which only affects the head.
+
+The English Gypsies are constant attendants at the racecourse; what
+jockey is not?  Perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even racing,
+at least in England.  Jockeyism properly implies _the management of a
+whip_, and the word jockey is neither more nor less than the term
+slightly modified, by which they designate the formidable whips which
+they usually carry, and which are at present in general use amongst
+horse-traffickers, under the title of jockey whips.  They are likewise
+fond of resorting to the prize-ring, and have occasionally even attained
+some eminence, as principals, in those disgraceful and brutalising
+exhibitions called pugilistic combats.  I believe a great deal has been
+written on the subject of the English Gypsies, but the writers have dwelt
+too much in generalities; they have been afraid to take the Gypsy by the
+hand, lead him forth from the crowd, and exhibit him in the area; he is
+well worth observing.  When a boy of fourteen, I was present at a
+prize-fight; why should I hide the truth?  It took place on a green
+meadow, beside a running stream, close by the old church of E-, and
+within a league of the ancient town of N-, the capital of one of the
+eastern counties.  The terrible Thurtell was present, lord of the
+concourse; for wherever he moved he was master, and whenever he spoke,
+even when in chains, every other voice was silent.  He stood on the mead,
+grim and pale as usual, with his bruisers around.  He it was, indeed, who
+_got up_ the fight, as he had previously done twenty others; it being his
+frequent boast that he had first introduced bruising and bloodshed amidst
+rural scenes, and transformed a quiet slumbering town into a den of Jews
+and metropolitan thieves.  Some time before the commencement of the
+combat, three men, mounted on wild-looking horses, came dashing down the
+road in the direction of the meadow, in the midst of which they presently
+showed themselves, their horses clearing the deep ditches with wonderful
+alacrity.  ‘That’s Gypsy Will and his gang,’ lisped a Hebrew pickpocket;
+‘we shall have another fight.’  The word Gypsy was always sufficient to
+excite my curiosity, and I looked attentively at the newcomers.
+
+I have seen Gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish;
+and I have also seen the legitimate children of most countries of the
+world; but I never saw, upon the whole, three more remarkable
+individuals, as far as personal appearance was concerned, than the three
+English Gypsies who now presented themselves to my eyes on that spot.
+Two of them had dismounted, and were holding their horses by the reins.
+The tallest, and, at the first glance, the most interesting of the two,
+was almost a giant, for his height could not have been less than six feet
+three.  It is impossible for the imagination to conceive anything more
+perfectly beautiful than were the features of this man, and the most
+skilful sculptor of Greece might have taken them as his model for a hero
+and a god.  The forehead was exceedingly lofty,—a rare thing in a Gypsy;
+the nose less Roman than Grecian,—fine yet delicate; the eyes large,
+overhung with long drooping lashes, giving them almost a melancholy
+expression; it was only when the lashes were elevated that the Gypsy
+glance was seen, if that can be called a glance which is a strange stare,
+like nothing else in this world.  His complexion was a beautiful olive;
+and his teeth were of a brilliancy uncommon even amongst these people,
+who have all fine teeth.  He was dressed in a coarse waggoner’s slop,
+which, however, was unable to conceal altogether the proportions of his
+noble and Herculean figure.  He might be about twenty-eight.  His
+companion and his captain, Gypsy Will, was, I think, fifty when he was
+hanged, ten years subsequently (for I never afterwards lost sight of
+him), in the front of the jail of Bury St. Edmunds.  I have still present
+before me his bushy black hair, his black face, and his big black eyes
+fixed and staring.  His dress consisted of a loose blue jockey coat,
+jockey boots and breeches; in his hand was a huge jockey whip, and on his
+head (it struck me at the time for its singularity) a broad-brimmed,
+high-peaked Andalusian hat, or at least one very much resembling those
+generally worn in that province.  In stature he was shorter than his more
+youthful companion, yet he must have measured six feet at least, and was
+stronger built, if possible.  What brawn!—what bone!—what legs!—what
+thighs!  The third Gypsy, who remained on horseback, looked more like a
+phantom than any thing human.  His complexion was the colour of pale
+dust, and of that same colour was all that pertained to him, hat and
+clothes.  His boots were dusty of course, for it was midsummer, and his
+very horse was of a dusty dun.  His features were whimsically ugly, most
+of his teeth were gone, and as to his age, he might be thirty or sixty.
+He was somewhat lame and halt, but an unequalled rider when once upon his
+steed, which he was naturally not very solicitous to quit.  I
+subsequently discovered that he was considered the wizard of the gang.
+
+I have been already prolix with respect to these Gypsies, but I will not
+leave them quite yet.  The intended combatants at length arrived; it was
+necessary to clear the ring,—always a troublesome and difficult task.
+Thurtell went up to the two Gypsies, with whom he seemed to be
+acquainted, and with his surly smile, said two or three words, which I,
+who was standing by, did not understand.  The Gypsies smiled in return,
+and giving the reins of their animals to their mounted companion,
+immediately set about the task which the king of the flash-men had, as I
+conjecture, imposed upon them; this they soon accomplished.  Who could
+stand against such fellows and such whips?  The fight was soon over—then
+there was a pause.  Once more Thurtell came up to the Gypsies and said
+something—the Gypsies looked at each other and conversed; but their words
+then had no meaning for my ears.  The tall Gypsy shook his head—‘Very
+well,’ said the other, in English.  ‘I will—that’s all.’
+
+Then pushing the people aside, he strode to the ropes, over which he
+bounded into the ring, flinging his Spanish hat high into the air.
+
+_Gypsy Will_.—‘The best man in England for twenty pounds!’
+
+_Thurtell_.—‘I am backer!’
+
+Twenty pounds is a tempting sum, and there men that day upon the green
+meadow who would have shed the blood of their own fathers for the fifth
+of the price.  But the Gypsy was not an unknown man, his prowess and
+strength were notorious, and no one cared to encounter him.  Some of the
+Jews looked eager for a moment; but their sharp eyes quailed quickly
+before his savage glances, as he towered in the ring, his huge form
+dilating, and his black features convulsed with excitement.  The
+Westminster bravoes eyed the Gypsy askance; but the comparison, if they
+made any, seemed by no means favourable to themselves.  ‘Gypsy! rum
+chap.—Ugly customer,—always in training.’  Such were the exclamations
+which I heard, some of which at that period of my life I did not
+understand.
+
+No man would fight the Gypsy.—Yes! a strong country fellow wished to win
+the stakes, and was about to fling up his hat in defiance, but he was
+prevented by his friends, with—‘Fool! he’ll kill you!’
+
+As the Gypsies were mounting their horses, I heard the dusty phantom
+exclaim—
+
+‘Brother, you are an arrant ring-maker and a horse-breaker; you’ll make a
+hempen ring to break your own neck of a horse one of these days.’
+
+They pressed their horses’ flanks, again leaped over the ditches, and
+speedily vanished, amidst the whirlwinds of dust which they raised upon
+the road.
+
+The words of the phantom Gypsy were ominous.  Gypsy Will was eventually
+executed for a murder committed in his early youth, in company with two
+English labourers, one of whom confessed the fact on his death-bed.  He
+was the head of the clan Young, which, with the clan Smith, still haunts
+two of the eastern counties.
+
+
+
+SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+It is difficult to say at what period the Gypsies or Rommany made their
+first appearance in England.  They had become, however, such a nuisance
+in the time of Henry the Eighth, Philip and Mary, and Elizabeth, that
+Gypsyism was denounced by various royal statutes, and, if persisted in,
+was to be punished as felony without benefit of clergy; it is probable,
+however, that they had overrun England long before the period of the
+earliest of these monarchs.  The Gypsies penetrate into all countries,
+save poor ones, and it is hardly to be supposed that a few leagues of
+intervening salt water would have kept a race so enterprising any
+considerable length of time, after their arrival on the continent of
+Europe, from obtaining a footing in the fairest and richest country of
+the West.
+
+It is easy enough to conceive the manner in which the Gypsies lived in
+England for a long time subsequent to their arrival: doubtless in a
+half-savage state, wandering about from place to place, encamping on the
+uninhabited spots, of which there were then so many in England, feared
+and hated by the population, who looked upon them as thieves and foreign
+sorcerers, occasionally committing acts of brigandage, but depending
+chiefly for subsistence on the practice of the ‘arts of Egypt,’ in which
+cunning and dexterity were far more necessary than courage or strength of
+hand.
+
+It would appear that they were always divided into clans or tribes, each
+bearing a particular name, and to which a particular district more
+especially belonged, though occasionally they would exchange districts
+for a period, and, incited by their characteristic love of wandering,
+would travel far and wide.  Of these families each had a sher-engro, or
+head man, but that they were ever united under one Rommany Krallis, or
+Gypsy King, as some people have insisted, there is not the slightest
+ground for supposing.
+
+It is possible that many of the original Gypsy tribes are no longer in
+existence: disease or the law may have made sad havoc among them, and the
+few survivors have incorporated themselves with other families, whose
+name they have adopted.  Two or three instances of this description have
+occurred within the sphere of my own knowledge: the heads of small
+families have been cut off, and the subordinate members, too young and
+inexperienced to continue Gypsying as independent wanderers, have been
+adopted by other tribes.
+
+The principal Gypsy tribes at present in existence are the Stanleys,
+whose grand haunt is the New Forest; the Lovells, who are fond of London
+and its vicinity; the Coopers, who call Windsor Castle their home; the
+Hernes, to whom the north country, more especially Yorkshire, belongeth;
+and lastly, my brethren, the Smiths,—to whom East Anglia appears to have
+been allotted from the beginning.
+
+All these families have Gypsy names, which seem, however, to be little
+more than attempts at translation of the English ones:—thus the Stanleys
+are called Bar-engres {25}, which means stony-fellows, or stony-hearts;
+the Coopers, Wardo-engres, or wheelwrights; the Lovells, Camo-mescres, or
+amorous fellows the Hernes (German Haaren) Balors, hairs, or hairy men;
+while the Smiths are called Petul-engres, signifying horseshoe fellows,
+or blacksmiths.
+
+It is not very easy to determine how the Gypsies became possessed of some
+of these names: the reader, however, will have observed that two of them,
+Stanley and Lovell, are the names of two highly aristocratic English
+families; the Gypsies who bear them perhaps adopted them from having, at
+their first arrival, established themselves on the estates of those great
+people; or it is possible that they translated their original Gypsy
+appellations by these names, which they deemed synonymous.  Much the same
+may be said with respect to Herne, an ancient English name; they probably
+sometimes officiated as coopers or wheelwrights, whence the
+cognomination.  Of the term Petul-engro, or Smith, however, I wish to say
+something in particular.
+
+There is every reason for believing that this last is a genuine Gypsy
+name, brought with them from the country from which they originally came;
+it is compounded of two words, signifying, as has been already observed,
+horseshoe fellows, or people whose trade is to manufacture horseshoes, a
+trade which the Gypsies ply in various parts of the world,—for example,
+in Russia and Hungary, and more particularly about Granada in Spain, as
+will subsequently be shown.  True it is, that at present there are none
+amongst the English Gypsies who manufacture horseshoes; all the men,
+however, are tinkers more or less, and the word Petul-engro is applied to
+the tinker also, though the proper meaning of it is undoubtedly what I
+have already stated above.  In other dialects of the Gypsy tongue, this
+cognomen exists, though not exactly with the same signification; for
+example, in the Hungarian dialect, _Pindoro_, which is evidently a
+modification of Petul-engro, is applied to a Gypsy in general, whilst in
+Spanish Pepindorio is the Gypsy word for Antonio.  In some parts of
+Northern Asia, the Gypsies call themselves Wattul {26}, which seems to be
+one and the same as Petul.
+
+Besides the above-named Gypsy clans, there are other smaller ones, some
+of which do not comprise more than a dozen individuals, children
+included.  For example, the Bosviles, the Browns, the Chilcotts, the
+Grays, Lees, Taylors, and Whites; of these the principal is the Bosvile
+tribe.
+
+After the days of the great persecution in England against the Gypsies,
+there can be little doubt that they lived a right merry and tranquil
+life, wandering about and pitching their tents wherever inclination led
+them: indeed, I can scarcely conceive any human condition more enviable
+than Gypsy life must have been in England during the latter part of the
+seventeenth, and the whole of the eighteenth century, which were likewise
+the happy days for Englishmen in general; there was peace and plenty in
+the land, a contented population, and everything went well.  Yes, those
+were brave times for the Rommany chals, to which the old people often
+revert with a sigh: the poor Gypsies, say they, were then allowed to
+_sove abri_ (sleep abroad) where they listed, to heat their kettles at
+the foot of the oaks, and no people grudged the poor persons one night’s
+use of a meadow to feed their cattle in.  _Tugnis amande_, our heart is
+heavy, brother,—there is no longer Gypsy law in the land,—our people have
+become negligent,—they are but half Rommany,—they are divided and care
+for nothing,—they do not even fear Pazorrhus, brother.
+
+Much the same complaints are at present made by the Spanish Gypsies.
+Gypsyism is certainly on the decline in both countries.  In England, a
+superabundant population, and, of late, a very vigilant police, have done
+much to modify Gypsy life; whilst in Spain, causes widely different have
+produced a still greater change, as will be seen further on.
+
+Gypsy law does not flourish at present in England, and still less in
+Spain, nor does Gypsyism.  I need not explain here what Gypsyism is, but
+the reader may be excused for asking what is Gypsy law.  Gypsy law
+divides itself into the three following heads or precepts:—
+
+    Separate not from _the husbands_.
+
+    Be faithful to _the husbands_.
+
+    Pay your debts to _the husbands_.
+
+By the first section the Rom or Gypsy is enjoined to live with his
+brethren, the husbands, and not with the gorgios {28} or gentiles; he is
+to live in a tent, as is befitting a Rom and a wanderer, and not in a
+house, which ties him to one spot; in a word, he is in every respect to
+conform to the ways of his own people, and to eschew those of gorgios,
+with whom he is not to mix, save to tell them _hoquepenes_ (lies), and to
+chore them.
+
+The second section, in which fidelity is enjoined, was more particularly
+intended for the women: be faithful to the _Roms_, ye _juwas_, and take
+not up with the gorgios, whether they be _raior_ or _bauor_ (gentlemen or
+fellows).  This was a very important injunction, so much so, indeed, that
+upon the observance of it depended the very existence of the Rommany
+sect,—for if the female Gypsy admitted the gorgio to the privilege of the
+Rom, the race of the Rommany would quickly disappear.  How well this
+injunction has been observed needs scarcely be said; for the Rommany have
+been roving about England for three centuries at least, and are still to
+be distinguished from the gorgios in feature and complexion, which
+assuredly would not have been the case if the juwas had not been faithful
+to the Roms.  The gorgio says that the juwa is at his disposal in all
+things, because she tells him fortunes and endures his free discourse;
+but the Rom, when he hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and
+whispers to himself, _Let him try_.
+
+The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is highly
+curious.  In the Gypsy language, the state of being in debt is called
+_Pazorrhus_, and the Rom who did not seek to extricate himself from that
+state was deemed infamous, and eventually turned out of the society.  It
+has been asserted, I believe, by various gorgio writers, that the Roms
+have everything in common, and that there is a common stock out of which
+every one takes what he needs; this is quite a mistake, however: a Gypsy
+tribe is an epitome of the world; every one keeps his own purse and
+maintains himself and children to the best of his ability, and every tent
+is independent of the other.  True it is that one Gypsy will lend to
+another in the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the
+borrower is pazorrhus, or indebted.  Even at the present time, a Gypsy
+will make the greatest sacrifices rather than remain pazorrhus to one of
+his brethren, even though he be of another clan; though perhaps the
+feeling is not so strong as of old, for time modifies everything; even
+Jews and Gypsies are affected by it.  In the old time, indeed, the Gypsy
+law was so strong against the debtor, that provided he could not repay
+his brother husband, he was delivered over to him as his slave for a year
+and a day, and compelled to serve him as a hewer of wood, a drawer of
+water, or a beast of burden; but those times are past, the Gypsies are no
+longer the independent people they were of yore,—dark, mysterious, and
+dreaded wanderers, living apart in the deserts and heaths with which
+England at one time abounded.  Gypsy law has given place to common law;
+but the principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and base
+indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus because Gypsy law
+has become too weak to force him to liquidate a debt by money or by
+service.
+
+Such was Gypsy law in England, and there is every probability that it is
+much the same in all parts of the world where the Gypsy race is to be
+found.  About the peculiar practices of the Gypsies I need not say much
+here; the reader will find in the account of the Spanish Gypsies much
+that will afford him an idea of Gypsy arts in England.  I have already
+alluded to _chiving drav_, or poisoning, which is still much practised by
+the English Gypsies, though it has almost entirely ceased in Spain; then
+there is _chiving luvvu adrey puvo_, or putting money within the earth, a
+trick by which the females deceive the gorgios, and which will be more
+particularly described in the affairs of Spain: the men are adepts at
+cheating the gorgios by means of _nok-engroes_ and _poggado-bavengroes_
+(glandered and broken-winded horses).  But, leaving the subject of their
+tricks and Rommany arts, by no means an agreeable one, I will take the
+present opportunity of saying a few words about a practice of theirs,
+highly characteristic of a wandering people, and which is only extant
+amongst those of the race who still continue to wander much; for example,
+the Russian Gypsies and those of the Hungarian family, who stroll through
+Italy on plundering expeditions: I allude to the _patteran_ or _trail_.
+
+It is very possible that the reader during his country walks or rides has
+observed, on coming to four cross-roads, two or three handfuls of grass
+lying at a small distance from each other down one of these roads;
+perhaps he may have supposed that this grass was recently plucked from
+the roadside by frolicsome children, and flung upon the ground in sport,
+and this may possibly have been the case; it is ten chances to one,
+however, that no children’s hands plucked them, but that they were
+strewed in this manner by Gypsies, for the purpose of informing any of
+their companions, who might be straggling behind, the route which they
+had taken; this is one form of the patteran or trail.  It is likely, too,
+that the gorgio reader may have seen a cross drawn at the entrance of a
+road, the long part or stem of it pointing down that particular road, and
+he may have thought nothing of it, or have supposed that some sauntering
+individual like himself had made the mark with his stick: not so,
+courteous gorgio; ley tiro solloholomus opré lesti, _you may take your
+oath upon it_ that it was drawn by a Gypsy finger, for that mark is
+another of the Rommany trails; there is no mistake in this.  Once in the
+south of France, when I was weary, hungry, and penniless, I observed one
+of these last patterans, and following the direction pointed out, arrived
+at the resting-place of ‘certain Bohemians,’ by whom I was received with
+kindness and hospitality, on the faith of no other word of recommendation
+than patteran.  There is also another kind of patteran, which is more
+particularly adapted for the night; it is a cleft stick stuck at the side
+of the road, close by the hedge, with a little arm in the cleft pointing
+down the road which the band have taken, in the manner of a signpost; any
+stragglers who may arrive at night where cross-roads occur search for
+this patteran on the left-hand side, and speedily rejoin their
+companions.
+
+By following these patterans, or trails, the first Gypsies on their way
+to Europe never lost each other, though wandering amidst horrid
+wildernesses and dreary defiles.  Rommany matters have always had a
+peculiar interest for me; nothing, however, connected with Gypsy life
+ever more captivated my imagination than this patteran system: many
+thanks to the Gypsies for it; it has more than once been of service to
+me.
+
+The English Gypsies at the present day are far from being a numerous
+race; I consider their aggregate number, from the opportunities which I
+have had of judging, to be considerably under ten thousand: it is
+probable that, ere the conclusion of the present century, they will have
+entirely disappeared.  They are in general quite strangers to the
+commonest rudiments of education; few even of the most wealthy can either
+read or write.  With respect to religion, they call themselves members of
+the Established Church, and are generally anxious to have their children
+baptized, and to obtain a copy of the register.  Some of their baptismal
+papers, which they carry about with them, are highly curious, going back
+for a period of upwards of two hundred years.  With respect to the
+essential points of religion, they are quite careless and ignorant; if
+they believe in a future state they dread it not, and if they manifest
+when dying any anxiety, it is not for the soul, but the body: a handsome
+coffin, and a grave in a quiet country churchyard, are invariably the
+objects of their last thoughts; and it is probable that, in their
+observance of the rite of baptism, they are principally influenced by a
+desire to enjoy the privilege of burial in consecrated ground.  A Gypsy
+family never speak of their dead save with regret and affection, and any
+request of the dying individual is attended to, especially with regard to
+interment; so much so, that I have known a corpse conveyed a distance of
+nearly one hundred miles, because the deceased expressed a wish to be
+buried in a particular spot.
+
+Of the language of the English Gypsies, some specimens will be given in
+the sequel; it is much more pure and copious than the Spanish dialect.
+It has been asserted that the English Gypsies are not possessed of any
+poetry in their own tongue; but this is a gross error; they possess a
+great many songs and ballads upon ordinary subjects, without any
+particular merit, however, and seemingly of a very modern date.
+
+
+
+THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI
+
+
+What has been said of the Gypsies of Europe is, to a considerable extent,
+applicable to their brethren in the East, or, as they are called,
+Zingarri; they are either found wandering amongst the deserts or
+mountains, or settled in towns, supporting themselves by horse-dealing or
+jugglery, by music and song.  In no part of the East are they more
+numerous than in Turkey, especially in Constantinople, where the females
+frequently enter the harems of the great, pretending to cure children of
+‘the evil eye,’ and to interpret the dreams of the women.  They are not
+unfrequently seen in the coffee-houses, exhibiting their figures in
+lascivious dances to the tune of various instruments; yet these females
+are by no means unchaste, however their manners and appearance may denote
+the contrary, and either Turk or Christian who, stimulated by their songs
+and voluptuous movements, should address them with proposals of a
+dishonourable nature, would, in all probability, meet with a decided
+repulse.
+
+Among the Zingarri are not a few who deal in precious stones, and some
+who vend poisons; and the most remarkable individual whom it has been my
+fortune to encounter amongst the Gypsies, whether of the Eastern or
+Western world, was a person who dealt in both these articles.  He was a
+native of Constantinople, and in the pursuit of his trade had visited the
+most remote and remarkable portions of the world.  He had traversed alone
+and on foot the greatest part of India; he spoke several dialects of the
+Malay, and understood the original language of Java, that isle more
+fertile in poisons than even ‘far Iolchos and Spain.’ From what I could
+learn from him, it appeared that his jewels were in less request than his
+drugs, though he assured me that there was scarcely a Bey or Satrap in
+Persia or Turkey whom he had not supplied with both.  I have seen this
+individual in more countries than one, for he flits over the world like
+the shadow of a cloud; the last time at Granada in Spain, whither he had
+come after paying a visit to his Gitáno brethren in the presidio of
+Ceuta.
+
+Few Eastern authors have spoken of the Zingarri, notwithstanding they
+have been known in the East for many centuries; amongst the few, none has
+made more curious mention of them than Arabschah, in a chapter of his
+life of Timour or Tamerlane, which is deservedly considered as one of the
+three classic works of Arabian literature.  This passage, which, while it
+serves to illustrate the craft, if not the valour of the conqueror of
+half the world, offers some curious particulars as to Gypsy life in the
+East at a remote period, will scarcely be considered out of place if
+reproduced here, and the following is as close a translation of it as the
+metaphorical style of the original will allow.
+
+    ‘There were in Samarcand numerous families of Zingarri of various
+    descriptions: some were wrestlers, others gladiators, others
+    pugilists.  These people were much at variance, so that hostilities
+    and battling were continually arising amongst them.  Each band had
+    its chief and subordinate officers; and it came to pass that Timour
+    and the power which he possessed filled them with dread, for they
+    knew that he was aware of their crimes and disorderly way of life.
+    Now it was the custom of Timour, on departing upon his expeditions,
+    to leave a viceroy in Samarcand; but no sooner had he left the city,
+    than forth marched these bands, and giving battle to the viceroy,
+    deposed him and took possession of the government, so that on the
+    return of Timour he found order broken, confusion reigning, and his
+    throne overturned, and then he had much to do in restoring things to
+    their former state, and in punishing or pardoning the guilty; but no
+    sooner did he depart again to his wars, and to his various other
+    concerns, than they broke out into the same excesses, and this they
+    repeated no less than three times, and he at length laid a plan for
+    their utter extermination, and it was the following:—He commenced
+    building a wall, and he summoned unto him the people small and great,
+    and he allotted to every man his place, and to every workman his
+    duty, and he stationed the Zingarri and their chieftains apart; and
+    in one particular spot he placed a band of soldiers, and he commanded
+    them to kill whomsoever he should send to them; and having done so,
+    he called to him the heads of the people, and he filled the cup for
+    them and clothed them in splendid vests; and when the turn came to
+    the Zingarri, he likewise pledged one of them, and bestowed a vest
+    upon him, and sent him with a message to the soldiers, who, as soon
+    as he arrived, tore from him his vest, and stabbed him, pouring forth
+    the gold of his heart into the pan of destruction, {36} and in this
+    way they continued until the last of them was destroyed; and by that
+    blow he exterminated their race, and their traces, and from that time
+    forward there were no more rebellions in Samarcand.’
+
+It has of late years been one of the favourite theories of the learned,
+that Timour’s invasion of Hindostan, and the cruelties committed by his
+savage hordes in that part of the world, caused a vast number of Hindoos
+to abandon their native land, and that the Gypsies of the present day are
+the descendants of those exiles who wended their weary way to the West.
+Now, provided the above passage in the work of Arabschah be entitled to
+credence, the opinion that Timour was the cause of the expatriation and
+subsequent wandering life of these people, must be abandoned as
+untenable.  At the time he is stated by the Arabian writer to have
+annihilated the Gypsy hordes of Samarcand, he had but just commenced his
+career of conquest and devastation, and had not even directed his
+thoughts to the invasion of India; yet at this early period of the
+history of his life, we find families of Zingarri established at
+Samarcand, living much in the same manner as others of the race have
+subsequently done in various towns of Europe and the East; but supposing
+the event here narrated to be a fable, or at best a floating legend, it
+appears singular that, if they left their native land to escape from
+Timour, they should never have mentioned in the Western world the name of
+that scourge of the human race, nor detailed the history of their flight
+and sufferings, which assuredly would have procured them sympathy; the
+ravages of Timour being already but too well known in Europe.  That they
+came from India is much easier to prove than that they fled before the
+fierce Mongol.
+
+Such people as the Gypsies, whom the Bishop of Forli in the year 1422,
+only sixteen years subsequent to the invasion of India, describes as a
+‘raging rabble, of brutal and animal propensities,’ {37} are not such as
+generally abandon their country on foreign invasion.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI
+PART I
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+GITÁNOS, or Egyptians, is the name by which the Gypsies have been most
+generally known in Spain, in the ancient as well as in the modern period,
+but various other names have been and still are applied to them; for
+example, New Castilians, Germans, and Flemings; the first of which titles
+probably originated after the name of Gitáno had begun to be considered a
+term of reproach and infamy.  They may have thus designated themselves
+from an unwillingness to utter, when speaking of themselves, the detested
+expression ‘Gitáno,’ a word which seldom escapes their mouths; or it may
+have been applied to them first by the Spaniards, in their mutual
+dealings and communication, as a term less calculated to wound their
+feelings and to beget a spirit of animosity than the other; but, however
+it might have originated, New Castilian, in course of time, became a term
+of little less infamy than Gitáno; for, by the law of Philip the Fourth,
+both terms are forbidden to be applied to them under severe penalties.
+
+That they were called Germans, may be accounted for, either by the
+supposition that their generic name of Rommany was misunderstood and
+mispronounced by the Spaniards amongst whom they came, or from the fact
+of their having passed through Germany in their way to the south, and
+bearing passports and letters of safety from the various German states.
+The title of Flemings, by which at the present day they are known in
+various parts of Spain, would probably never have been bestowed upon them
+but from the circumstance of their having been designated or believed to
+be Germans,—as German and Fleming are considered by the ignorant as
+synonymous terms.
+
+Amongst themselves they have three words to distinguish them and their
+race in general: Zíncalo, Romanó, and Chai; of the first two of which
+something has been already said.
+
+They likewise call themselves ‘Cales,’ by which appellation indeed they
+are tolerably well known by the Spaniards, and which is merely the plural
+termination of the compound word Zíncalo, and signifies, The black men.
+Chai is a modification of the word Chal, which, by the Gitános of
+Estremadura, is applied to Egypt, and in many parts of Spain is
+equivalent to ‘Heaven,’ and which is perhaps a modification of ‘Cheros,’
+the word for heaven in other dialects of the Gypsy language.  Thus Chai
+may denote, The men of Egypt, or, The sons of Heaven.  It is, however,
+right to observe, that amongst the Gitános, the word Chai has frequently
+no other signification than the simple one of ‘children.’
+
+It is impossible to state for certainty the exact year of their first
+appearance in Spain; but it is reasonable to presume that it was early in
+the fifteenth century; as in the year 1417 numerous bands entered France
+from the north-east of Europe, and speedily spread themselves over the
+greatest part of that country.  Of these wanderers a French author has
+left the following graphic description: {43}
+
+    ‘On the 17th of April 1427, appeared in Paris twelve penitents of
+    Egypt, driven from thence by the Saracens; they brought in their
+    company one hundred and twenty persons; they took up their quarters
+    in La Chapelle, whither the people flocked in crowds to visit them.
+    They had their ears pierced, from which depended a ring of silver;
+    their hair was black and crispy, and their women were filthy to a
+    degree, and were sorceresses who told fortunes.’
+
+Such were the people who, after traversing France and scaling the sides
+of the Pyrenees, poured down in various bands upon the sunburnt plains of
+Spain.  Wherever they had appeared they had been looked upon as a curse
+and a pestilence, and with much reason.  Either unwilling or unable to
+devote themselves to any laborious or useful occupation, they came like
+flights of wasps to prey upon the fruits which their more industrious
+fellow-beings amassed by the toil of their hands and the sweat of their
+foreheads; the natural result being, that wherever they arrived, their
+fellow-creatures banded themselves against them.  Terrible laws were
+enacted soon after their appearance in France, calculated to put a stop
+to their frauds and dishonest propensities; wherever their hordes were
+found, they were attacked by the incensed rustics or by the armed hand of
+justice, and those who were not massacred on the spot, or could not
+escape by flight, were, without a shadow of a trial, either hanged on the
+next tree, or sent to serve for life in the galleys; or if females or
+children, either scourged or mutilated.
+
+The consequence of this severity, which, considering the manners and
+spirit of the time, is scarcely to be wondered at, was the speedy
+disappearance of the Gypsies from the soil of France.
+
+Many returned by the way they came, to Germany, Hungary, and the woods
+and forests of Bohemia; but there is little doubt that by far the greater
+portion found a refuge in the Peninsula, a country which, though by no
+means so rich and fertile as the one they had quitted, nor offering so
+wide and ready a field for the exercise of those fraudulent arts for
+which their race had become so infamously notorious, was, nevertheless,
+in many respects, suitable and congenial to them.  If there were less
+gold and silver in the purses of the citizens to reward the dexterous
+handler of the knife and scissors amidst the crowd in the market-place;
+if fewer sides of fatted swine graced the ample chimney of the labourer
+in Spain than in the neighbouring country; if fewer beeves bellowed in
+the plains, and fewer sheep bleated upon the hills, there were far better
+opportunities afforded of indulging in wild independence.  Should the
+halberded bands of the city be ordered out to quell, seize, or
+exterminate them; should the alcalde of the village cause the tocsin to
+be rung, gathering together the villanos for a similar purpose, the wild
+sierra was generally at hand, which, with its winding paths, its caves,
+its frowning precipices, and ragged thickets, would offer to them a
+secure refuge where they might laugh to scorn the rage of their baffled
+pursuers, and from which they might emerge either to fresh districts or
+to those which they had left, to repeat their ravages when opportunity
+served.
+
+After crossing the Pyrenees, a very short time elapsed before the Gypsy
+hordes had bivouacked in the principal provinces of Spain.  There can
+indeed be little doubt, that shortly after their arrival they made
+themselves perfectly acquainted with all the secrets of the land, and
+that there was scarcely a nook or retired corner within Spain, from which
+the smoke of their fires had not arisen, or where their cattle had not
+grazed.  People, however, so acute as they have always proverbially been,
+would scarcely be slow in distinguishing the provinces most adapted to
+their manner of life, and most calculated to afford them opportunities of
+practising those arts to which they were mainly indebted for their
+subsistence; the savage hills of Biscay, of Galicia, and the Asturias,
+whose inhabitants were almost as poor as themselves, which possessed no
+superior breed of horses or mules from amongst which they might pick and
+purloin many a gallant beast, and having transformed by their dexterous
+scissors, impose him again upon his rightful master for a high
+price,—such provinces, where, moreover, provisions were hard to be
+obtained, even by pilfering hands, could scarcely be supposed to offer
+strong temptations to these roving visitors to settle down in, or to vex
+and harass by a long sojourn.
+
+Valencia and Murcia found far more favour in their eyes; a far more
+fertile soil, and wealthier inhabitants, were better calculated to entice
+them; there was a prospect of plunder, and likewise a prospect of safety
+and refuge, should the dogs of justice be roused against them.  If there
+were the populous town and village in those lands, there was likewise the
+lone waste, and uncultivated spot, to which they could retire when danger
+threatened them.  Still more suitable to them must have been La Mancha, a
+land of tillage, of horses, and of mules, skirted by its brown sierra,
+ever eager to afford its shelter to their dusky race.  Equally suitable,
+Estremadura and New Castile; but far, far more, Andalusia, with its three
+kingdoms, Jaen, Granada, and Seville, one of which was still possessed by
+the swarthy Moor,—Andalusia, the land of the proud steed and the stubborn
+mule, the land of the savage sierra and the fruitful and cultivated
+plain: to Andalusia they hied, in bands of thirties and sixties; the
+hoofs of their asses might be heard clattering in the passes of the stony
+hills; the girls might be seen bounding in lascivious dance in the
+streets of many a town, and the beldames standing beneath the eaves
+telling the ‘buena ventura’ to many a credulous female dupe; the men the
+while chaffered in the fair and market-place with the labourers and
+chalanes, casting significant glances on each other, or exchanging a word
+or two in Rommany, whilst they placed some uncouth animal in a particular
+posture which served to conceal its ugliness from the eyes of the
+chapman.  Yes, of all provinces of Spain, Andalusia was the most
+frequented by the Gitáno race, and in Andalusia they most abound at the
+present day, though no longer as restless independent wanderers of the
+fields and hills, but as residents in villages and towns, especially in
+Seville.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+HAVING already stated to the reader at what period and by what means
+these wanderers introduced themselves into Spain, we shall now say
+something concerning their manner of life.
+
+It would appear that, for many years after their arrival in the
+Peninsula, their manners and habits underwent no change; they were
+wanderers, in the strictest sense of the word, and lived much in the same
+way as their brethren exist in the present day in England, Russia, and
+Bessarabia, with the exception perhaps of being more reckless,
+mischievous, and having less respect for the laws; it is true that their
+superiority in wickedness in these points may have been more the effect
+of the moral state of the country in which they were, than of any other
+operating cause.
+
+Arriving in Spain with a predisposition to every species of crime and
+villainy, they were not likely to be improved or reclaimed by the example
+of the people with whom they were about to mix; nor was it probable that
+they would entertain much respect for laws which, from time immemorial,
+have principally served, not to protect the honest and useful members of
+society, but to enrich those entrusted with the administration of them.
+Thus, if they came thieves, it is not probable that they would become
+ashamed of the title of thief in Spain, where the officers of justice
+were ever willing to shield an offender on receiving the largest portion
+of the booty obtained.  If on their arrival they held the lives of others
+in very low estimation, could it be expected that they would become
+gentle as lambs in a land where blood had its price, and the shedder was
+seldom executed unless he was poor and friendless, and unable to cram
+with ounces of yellow gold the greedy hands of the pursuers of blood,—the
+alguazil and escribano? therefore, if the Spanish Gypsies have been more
+bloody and more wolfishly eager in the pursuit of booty than those of
+their race in most other regions, the cause must be attributed to their
+residence in a country unsound in every branch of its civil polity, where
+right has ever been in less esteem, and wrong in less disrepute, than in
+any other part of the world.
+
+However, if the moral state of Spain was not calculated to have a
+favourable effect on the habits and pursuits of the Gypsies, their
+manners were as little calculated to operate beneficially, in any point
+of view, on the country where they had lately arrived.  Divided into
+numerous bodies, frequently formidable in point of number, their presence
+was an evil and a curse in whatever quarter they directed their steps.
+As might be expected, the labourers, who in all countries are the most
+honest, most useful, and meritorious class, were the principal sufferers;
+their mules and horses were stolen, carried away to distant fairs, and
+there disposed of, perhaps, to individuals destined to be deprived of
+them in a similar manner; whilst their flocks of sheep and goats were
+laid under requisition to assuage the hungry cravings of these thievish
+cormorants.
+
+             [Picture: The Rearguard of the Marching Gypsies]
+
+It was not uncommon for a large band or tribe to encamp in the vicinity
+of a remote village scantily peopled, and to remain there until, like a
+flight of locusts, they had consumed everything which the inhabitants
+possessed for their support; or until they were scared away by the
+approach of justice, or by an army of rustics assembled from the
+surrounding country.  Then would ensue the hurried march; the women and
+children, mounted on lean but spirited asses, would scour along the
+plains fleeter than the wind; ragged and savage-looking men, wielding the
+scourge and goad, would scamper by their side or close behind, whilst
+perhaps a small party on strong horses, armed with rusty matchlocks or
+sabres, would bring up the rear, threatening the distant foe, and now and
+then saluting them with a hoarse blast from the Gypsy horn:—
+
+    ‘O, when I sit my courser bold,
+       My bantling in my rear,
+    And in my hand my musket hold—
+       O how they quake with fear!’
+
+Let us for a moment suppose some unfortunate traveller, mounted on a
+handsome mule or beast of some value, meeting, unarmed and alone, such a
+rabble rout at the close of eve, in the wildest part, for example, of La
+Mancha; we will suppose that he is journeying from Seville to Madrid, and
+that he has left at a considerable distance behind him the gloomy and
+horrible passes of the Sierra Morena; his bosom, which for some time past
+has been contracted with dreadful forebodings, is beginning to expand;
+his blood, which has been congealed in his veins, is beginning to
+circulate warmly and freely; he is fondly anticipating the still distant
+posada and savoury omelet.  The sun is sinking rapidly behind the savage
+and uncouth hills in his rear; he has reached the bottom of a small
+valley, where runs a rivulet at which he allows his tired animal to
+drink; he is about to ascend the side of the hill; his eyes are turned
+upwards; suddenly he beholds strange and uncouth forms at the top of the
+ascent—the sun descending slants its rays upon red cloaks, with here and
+there a turbaned head, or long streaming hair.  The traveller hesitates,
+but reflecting that he is no longer in the mountains, and that in the
+open road there is no danger of banditti, he advances.  In a moment he is
+in the midst of the Gypsy group, in a moment there is a general halt;
+fiery eyes are turned upon him replete with an expression which only the
+eyes of the Roma possess, then ensues a jabber in a language or jargon
+which is strange to the ears of the traveller; at last an ugly urchin
+springs from the crupper of a halting mule, and in a lisping accent
+entreats charity in the name of the Virgin and the Majoro.  The
+traveller, with a faltering hand, produces his purse, and is proceeding
+to loosen its strings, but he accomplishes not his purpose, for, struck
+violently by a huge knotted club in an unseen hand, he tumbles headlong
+from his mule.  Next morning a naked corse, besmeared with brains and
+blood, is found by an arriéro; and within a week a simple cross records
+the event, according to the custom of Spain.
+
+    ‘Below there in the dusky pass
+       Was wrought a murder dread;
+    The murdered fell upon the grass,
+       Away the murderer fled.’
+
+To many, such a scene, as above described, will appear purely imaginary,
+or at least a mass of exaggeration, but many such anecdotes are related
+by old Spanish writers of these people; they traversed the country in
+gangs; they were what the Spanish law has styled Abigeos and Salteadores
+de Camino, cattle-stealers and highwaymen; though, in the latter
+character, they never rose to any considerable eminence.  True it is that
+they would not hesitate to attack or even murder the unarmed and
+defenceless traveller, when they felt assured of obtaining booty with
+little or no risk to themselves; but they were not by constitution
+adapted to rival those bold and daring banditti of whom so many terrible
+anecdotes are related in Spain and Italy, and who have acquired their
+renown by the dauntless daring which they have invariably displayed in
+the pursuit of plunder.
+
+              [Picture: Travellers attacked by the Gitános]
+
+Besides trafficking in horses and mules, and now and then attacking and
+plundering travellers upon the highway, the Gypsies of Spain appear, from
+a very early period, to have plied occasionally the trade of the
+blacksmith, and to have worked in iron, forming rude implements of
+domestic and agricultural use, which they disposed of, either for
+provisions or money, in the neighbourhood of those places where they had
+taken up their temporary residence.  As their bands were composed of
+numerous individuals, there is no improbability in assuming that to every
+member was allotted that branch of labour in which he was most calculated
+to excel.  The most important, and that which required the greatest share
+of cunning and address, was undoubtedly that of the chalan or jockey, who
+frequented the fairs with the beasts which he had obtained by various
+means, but generally by theft.  Highway robbery, though occasionally
+committed by all jointly or severally, was probably the peculiar
+department of the boldest spirits of the gang; whilst wielding the hammer
+and tongs was abandoned to those who, though possessed of athletic forms,
+were perhaps, like Vulcan, lame, or from some particular cause, moral or
+physical, unsuited for the other two very respectable avocations.  The
+forge was generally placed in the heart of some mountain abounding in
+wood; the gaunt smiths felled a tree, perhaps with the very axes which
+their own sturdy hands had hammered at a former period; with the wood
+thus procured they prepared the charcoal which their labour demanded.
+Everything is in readiness; the bellows puff until the coal is excited to
+a furious glow; the metal, hot, pliant, and ductile, is laid on the
+anvil, round which stands the Cyclop group, their hammers upraised; down
+they descend successively, one, two, three, the sparks are scattered on
+every side.  The sparks—
+
+    ‘More than a hundred lovely daughters I see produced at one time,
+    fiery as roses: in one moment they expire gracefully circumvolving.’
+    {54}
+
+    The anvil rings beneath the thundering stroke, hour succeeds hour,
+    and still endures the hard sullen toil.
+
+One of the most remarkable features in the history of Gypsies is the
+striking similarity of their pursuits in every region of the globe to
+which they have penetrated; they are not merely alike in limb and in
+feature, in the cast and expression of the eye, in the colour of the
+hair, in their walk and gait, but everywhere they seem to exhibit the
+same tendencies, and to hunt for their bread by the same means, as if
+they were not of the human but rather of the animal species, and in lieu
+of reason were endowed with a kind of instinct which assists them to a
+very limited extent and no farther.
+
+In no part of the world are they found engaged in the cultivation of the
+earth, or in the service of a regular master; but in all lands they are
+jockeys, or thieves, or cheats; and if ever they devote themselves to any
+toil or trade, it is assuredly in every material point one and the same.
+We have found them above, in the heart of a wild mountain, hammering
+iron, and manufacturing from it instruments either for their own use or
+that of the neighbouring towns and villages.  They may be seen employed
+in a similar manner in the plains of Russia, or in the bosom of its
+eternal forests; and whoever inspects the site where a horde of Gypsies
+has encamped, in the grassy lanes beneath the hazel bushes of merry
+England, is generally sure to find relics of tin and other metal,
+avouching that they have there been exercising the arts of the tinker or
+smith.  Perhaps nothing speaks more forcibly for the antiquity of this
+sect or caste than the tenacity with which they have uniformly preserved
+their peculiar customs since the period of their becoming generally
+known; for, unless their habits had become a part of their nature, which
+could only have been effected by a strict devotion to them through a long
+succession of generations, it is not to be supposed that after their
+arrival in civilised Europe they would have retained and cherished them
+precisely in the same manner in the various countries where they found an
+asylum.
+
+Each band or family of the Spanish Gypsies had its Captain, or, as he was
+generally designated, its Count.  Don Juan de Quiñones, who, in a small
+volume published in 1632, has written some details respecting their way
+of life, says: ‘They roam about, divided into families and troops, each
+of which has its head or Count; and to fill this office they choose the
+most valiant and courageous individual amongst them, and the one endowed
+with the greatest strength.  He must at the same time be crafty and
+sagacious, and adapted in every respect to govern them.  It is he who
+settles their differences and disputes, even when they are residing in a
+place where there is a regular justice.  He heads them at night when they
+go out to plunder the flocks, or to rob travellers on the highway; and
+whatever they steal or plunder they divide amongst them, always allowing
+the captain a third part of the whole.’
+
+These Counts, being elected for such qualities as promised to be useful
+to their troop or family, were consequently liable to be deposed if at
+any time their conduct was not calculated to afford satisfaction to their
+subjects.  The office was not hereditary, and though it carried along
+with it partial privileges, was both toilsome and dangerous.  Should the
+plans for plunder, which it was the duty of the Count to form, miscarry
+in the attempt to execute them; should individuals of the gang fall into
+the hand of justice, and the Count be unable to devise a method to save
+their lives or obtain their liberty, the blame was cast at the Count’s
+door, and he was in considerable danger of being deprived of his insignia
+of authority, which consisted not so much in ornaments or in dress, as in
+hawks and hounds with which the Señor Count took the diversion of hunting
+when he thought proper.  As the ground which he hunted over was not his
+own, he incurred some danger of coming in contact with the lord of the
+soil, attended, perhaps, by his armed followers.  There is a tradition
+(rather apocryphal, it is true), that a Gitáno chief, once pursuing this
+amusement, was encountered by a real Count, who is styled Count Pepe.  An
+engagement ensued between the two parties, which ended in the Gypsies
+being worsted, and their chief left dying on the field.  The slain chief
+leaves a son, who, at the instigation of his mother, steals the infant
+heir of his father’s enemy, who, reared up amongst the Gypsies, becomes a
+chief, and, in process of time, hunting over the same ground, slays Count
+Pepe in the very spot where the blood of the Gypsy had been poured out.
+This tradition is alluded to in the following stanza:—
+
+    ‘I have a gallant mare in stall;
+       My mother gave that mare
+    That I might seek Count Pepe’s hall
+       And steal his son and heir.’
+
+Martin Del Rio, in his _Tractatus de Magia_, speaks of the Gypsies and
+their Counts to the following effect: ‘When, in the year 1584, I was
+marching in Spain with the regiment, a multitude of these wretches were
+infesting the fields.  It happened that the feast of Corpus Domini was
+being celebrated, and they requested to be admitted into the town, that
+they might dance in honour of the sacrifice, as was customary; they did
+so, but about midday a great tumult arose owing to the many thefts which
+the women committed, whereupon they fled out of the suburbs, and
+assembled about St. Mark’s, the magnificent mansion and hospital of the
+knights of St. James, where the ministers of justice attempting to seize
+them were repulsed by force of arms; nevertheless, all of a sudden, and I
+know not how, everything was hushed up.  At this time they had a Count, a
+fellow who spoke the Castilian idiom with as much purity as if he had
+been a native of Toledo; he was acquainted with all the ports of Spain,
+and all the difficult and broken ground of the provinces.  He knew the
+exact strength of every city, and who were the principal people in each,
+and the exact amount of their property; there was nothing relating to the
+state, however secret, that he was not acquainted with; nor did he make a
+mystery of his knowledge, but publicly boasted of it.’
+
+From the passage quoted above, we learn that the Gitános in the ancient
+times were considered as foreigners who prowled about the country;
+indeed, in many of the laws which at various times have been promulgated
+against them, they are spoken of as Egyptians, and as such commanded to
+leave Spain, and return to their native country; at one time they
+undoubtedly were foreigners in Spain, foreigners by birth, foreigners by
+language but at the time they are mentioned by the worthy Del Rio, they
+were certainly not entitled to the appellation.  True it is that they
+spoke a language amongst themselves, unintelligible to the rest of the
+Spaniards, from whom they differed considerably in feature and
+complexion, as they still do; but if being born in a country, and being
+bred there, constitute a right to be considered a native of that country,
+they had as much claim to the appellation of Spaniards as the worthy
+author himself.  Del Rio mentions, as a remarkable circumstance, the fact
+of the Gypsy Count speaking Castilian with as much purity as a native of
+Toledo, whereas it is by no means improbable that the individual in
+question was a native of that town; but the truth is, at the time we are
+speaking of, they were generally believed to be not only foreigners, but
+by means of sorcery to have acquired the power of speaking all languages
+with equal facility; and Del Rio, who was a believer in magic, and wrote
+one of the most curious and erudite treatises on the subject ever penned,
+had perhaps adopted that idea, which possibly originated from their
+speaking most of the languages and dialects of the Peninsula, which they
+picked up in their wanderings.  That the Gypsy chief was so well
+acquainted with every town of Spain, and the broken and difficult ground,
+can cause but little surprise, when we reflect that the life which the
+Gypsies led was one above all others calculated to afford them that
+knowledge.  They were continually at variance with justice; they were
+frequently obliged to seek shelter in the inmost recesses of the hills;
+and when their thievish pursuits led them to the cities, they naturally
+made themselves acquainted with the names of the principal individuals,
+in hopes of plundering them.  Doubtless the chief possessed all this
+species of knowledge in a superior degree, as it was his courage,
+acuteness, and experience alone which placed him at the head of his
+tribe, though Del Rio from this circumstance wishes to infer that the
+Gitános were spies sent by foreign foes, and with some simplicity
+inquires, ‘Quo ant cui rei hæc curiosa exploratio? nonne compescenda
+vagamundorum hæc curiositas, etiam si solum peregrini et inculpatæ vitæ.’
+
+With the Counts rested the management and direction of these remarkable
+societies; it was they who determined their marches, counter-marches,
+advances, and retreats; what was to be attempted or avoided; what
+individuals were to be admitted into the fellowship and privileges of the
+Gitános, or who were to be excluded from their society; they settled
+disputes and sat in judgment over offences.  The greatest crimes,
+according to the Gypsy code, were a quarrelsome disposition, and
+revealing the secrets of the brotherhood.  By this code the members were
+forbidden to eat, drink, or sleep in the house of a Busno, which
+signifies any person who is not of the sect of the Gypsies, or to marry
+out of that sect; they were likewise not to teach the language of Roma to
+any but those who, by birth or inauguration, belonged to that sect; they
+were enjoined to relieve their brethren in distress at any expense or
+peril; they were to use a peculiar dress, which is frequently alluded to
+in the Spanish laws, but the particulars of which are not stated; and
+they were to cultivate the gift of speech to the utmost possible extent,
+and never to lose anything which might be obtained by a loose and
+deceiving tongue, to encourage which they had many excellent proverbs,
+for example—
+
+    ‘The poor fool who closes his mouth never winneth a dollar.’
+
+    ‘The river which runneth with sound bears along with it stones and
+    water.’
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE Gitános not unfrequently made their appearance in considerable
+numbers, so as to be able to bid defiance to any force which could be
+assembled against them on a sudden; whole districts thus became a prey to
+them, and were plundered and devastated.
+
+It is said that, in the year 1618, more than eight hundred of these
+wretches scoured the country between Castile and Aragon, committing the
+most enormous crimes.  The royal council despatched regular troops
+against them, who experienced some difficulty in dispersing them.
+
+But we now proceed to touch upon an event which forms an era in the
+history of the Gitános of Spain, and which for wildness and singularity
+throws all other events connected with them and their race, wherever
+found, entirely into the shade.
+
+
+THE BOOKSELLER OF LOGROÑO
+
+
+About the middle of the sixteenth century, there resided one Francisco
+Alvarez in the city of Logroño, the chief town of Rioja, a province which
+borders on Aragon.  He was a man above the middle age, sober, reserved,
+and in general absorbed in thought; he lived near the great church, and
+obtained a livelihood by selling printed books and manuscripts in a small
+shop.  He was a very learned man, and was continually reading in the
+books which he was in the habit of selling, and some of these books were
+in foreign tongues and characters, so foreign, indeed, that none but
+himself and some of his friends, the canons, could understand them; he
+was much visited by the clergy, who were his principal customers, and
+took much pleasure in listening to his discourse.
+
+He had been a considerable traveller in his youth, and had wandered
+through all Spain, visiting the various provinces and the most remarkable
+cities.  It was likewise said that he had visited Italy and Barbary.  He
+was, however, invariably silent with respect to his travels, and whenever
+the subject was mentioned to him, the gloom and melancholy increased
+which usually clouded his features.
+
+One day, in the commencement of autumn, he was visited by a priest with
+whom he had long been intimate, and for whom he had always displayed a
+greater respect and liking than for any other acquaintance.  The
+ecclesiastic found him even more sad than usual, and there was a haggard
+paleness upon his countenance which alarmed his visitor.  The good priest
+made affectionate inquiries respecting the health of his friend, and
+whether anything had of late occurred to give him uneasiness; adding at
+the same time, that he had long suspected that some secret lay heavy upon
+his mind, which he now conjured him to reveal, as life was uncertain, and
+it was very possible that he might be quickly summoned from earth into
+the presence of his Maker.
+
+The bookseller continued for some time in gloomy meditation, till at last
+he broke silence in these words:—‘It is true I have a secret which weighs
+heavy upon my mind, and which I am still loth to reveal; but I have a
+presentiment that my end is approaching, and that a heavy misfortune is
+about to fall upon this city: I will therefore unburden myself, for it
+were now a sin to remain silent.
+
+‘I am, as you are aware, a native of this town, which I first left when I
+went to acquire an education at Salamanca; I continued there until I
+became a licentiate, when I quitted the university and strolled through
+Spain, supporting myself in general by touching the guitar, according to
+the practice of penniless students; my adventures were numerous, and I
+frequently experienced great poverty.  Once, whilst making my way from
+Toledo to Andalusia through the wild mountains, I fell in with and was
+made captive by a band of the people called Gitános, or wandering
+Egyptians; they in general lived amongst these wilds, and plundered or
+murdered every person whom they met.  I should probably have been
+assassinated by them, but my skill in music perhaps saved my life.  I
+continued with them a considerable time, till at last they persuaded me
+to become one of them, whereupon I was inaugurated into their society
+with many strange and horrid ceremonies, and having thus become a Gitáno,
+I went with them to plunder and assassinate upon the roads.
+
+‘The Count or head man of these Gitános had an only daughter, about my
+own age; she was very beautiful, but, at the same time, exceedingly
+strong and robust; this Gitána was given to me as a wife or cadjee, and I
+lived with her several years, and she bore me children.
+
+‘My wife was an arrant Gitána, and in her all the wickedness of her race
+seemed to be concentrated.  At last her father was killed in an affray
+with the troopers of the Hermandad, whereupon my wife and myself
+succeeded to the authority which he had formerly exercised in the tribe.
+We had at first loved each other, but at last the Gitáno life, with its
+accompanying wickedness, becoming hateful to my eyes, my wife, who was
+not slow in perceiving my altered disposition, conceived for me the most
+deadly hatred; apprehending that I meditated withdrawing myself from the
+society, and perhaps betraying the secrets of the band, she formed a
+conspiracy against me, and, at one time, being opposite the Moorish
+coast, I was seized and bound by the other Gitános, conveyed across the
+sea, and delivered as a slave into the hands of the Moors.
+
+‘I continued for a long time in slavery in various parts of Morocco and
+Fez, until I was at length redeemed from my state of bondage by a
+missionary friar who paid my ransom.  With him I shortly after departed
+for Italy, of which he was a native.  In that country I remained some
+years, until a longing to revisit my native land seized me, when I
+returned to Spain and established myself here, where I have since lived
+by vending books, many of which I brought from the strange lands which I
+visited.  I kept my history, however, a profound secret, being afraid of
+exposing myself to the laws in force against the Gitános, to which I
+should instantly become amenable, were it once known that I had at any
+time been a member of this detestable sect.
+
+‘My present wretchedness, of which you have demanded the cause, dates
+from yesterday; I had been on a short journey to the Augustine convent,
+which stands on the plain in the direction of Saragossa, carrying with me
+an Arabian book, which a learned monk was desirous of seeing.  Night
+overtook me ere I could return.  I speedily lost my way, and wandered
+about until I came near a dilapidated edifice with which I was
+acquainted; I was about to proceed in the direction of the town, when I
+heard voices within the ruined walls; I listened, and recognised the
+language of the abhorred Gitános; I was about to fly, when a word
+arrested me.  It was Drao, which in their tongue signifies the horrid
+poison with which this race are in the habit of destroying the cattle;
+they now said that the men of Logroño should rue the Drao which they had
+been casting.  I heard no more, but fled.  What increased my fear was,
+that in the words spoken, I thought I recognised the peculiar jargon of
+my own tribe; I repeat, that I believe some horrible misfortune is
+overhanging this city, and that my own days are numbered.’
+
+The priest, having conversed with him for some time upon particular
+points of the history that he had related, took his leave, advising him
+to compose his spirits, as he saw no reason why he should indulge in such
+gloomy forebodings.
+
+The very next day a sickness broke out in the town of Logroño.  It was
+one of a peculiar kind; unlike most others, it did not arise by slow and
+gradual degrees, but at once appeared in full violence, in the shape of a
+terrific epidemic.  Dizziness in the head was the first symptom: then
+convulsive retchings, followed by a dreadful struggle between life and
+death, which generally terminated in favour of the grim destroyer.  The
+bodies, after the spirit which animated them had taken flight, were
+frightfully swollen, and exhibited a dark blue colour, checkered with
+crimson spots.  Nothing was heard within the houses or the streets, but
+groans of agony; no remedy was at hand, and the powers of medicine were
+exhausted in vain upon this terrible pest; so that within a few days the
+greatest part of the inhabitants of Logroño had perished.  The bookseller
+had not been seen since the commencement of this frightful visitation.
+
+Once, at the dead of night, a knock was heard at the door of the priest,
+of whom we have already spoken; the priest himself staggered to the door,
+and opened it,—he was the only one who remained alive in the house, and
+was himself slowly recovering from the malady which had destroyed all the
+other inmates; a wild spectral-looking figure presented itself to his
+eye—it was his friend Alvarez.  Both went into the house, when the
+bookseller, glancing gloomily on the wasted features of the priest,
+exclaimed, ‘You too, I see, amongst others, have cause to rue the Drao
+which the Gitános have cast.  Know,’ he continued, ‘that in order to
+accomplish a detestable plan, the fountains of Logroño have been poisoned
+by emissaries of the roving bands, who are now assembled in the
+neighbourhood.  On the first appearance of the disorder, from which I
+happily escaped by tasting the water of a private fountain, which I
+possess in my own house, I instantly recognised the effects of the poison
+of the Gitános, brought by their ancestors from the isles of the Indian
+sea; and suspecting their intentions, I disguised myself as a Gitáno, and
+went forth in the hope of being able to act as a spy upon their actions.
+I have been successful, and am at present thoroughly acquainted with
+their designs.  They intended, from the first, to sack the town, as soon
+as it should have been emptied of its defenders.
+
+‘Midday, to-morrow, is the hour in which they have determined to make the
+attempt.  There is no time to be lost; let us, therefore, warn those of
+our townsmen who still survive, in order that they may make preparations
+for their defence.’
+
+Whereupon the two friends proceeded to the chief magistrate, who had been
+but slightly affected by the disorder; he heard the tale of the
+bookseller with horror and astonishment, and instantly took the best
+measures possible for frustrating the designs of the Gitános; all the men
+capable of bearing arms in Logroño were assembled, and weapons of every
+description put in their hands.  By the advice of the bookseller all the
+gates of the town were shut, with the exception of the principal one; and
+the little band of defenders, which barely amounted to sixty men, was
+stationed in the great square, to which, he said, it was the intention of
+the Gitános to penetrate in the first instance, and then, dividing
+themselves into various parties, to sack the place.  The bookseller was,
+by general desire, constituted leader of the guardians of the town.
+
+It was considerably past noon; the sky was overcast, and tempest clouds,
+fraught with lightning and thunder, were hanging black and horrid over
+the town of Logroño.  The little troop, resting on their arms, stood
+awaiting the arrival of their unnatural enemies; rage fired their minds
+as they thought of the deaths of their fathers, their sons, and their
+dearest relatives, who had perished, not by the hand of God, but, like
+infected cattle, by the hellish arts of Egyptian sorcerers.  They longed
+for their appearance, determined to wreak upon them a bloody revenge; not
+a word was uttered, and profound silence reigned around, only interrupted
+by the occasional muttering of the thunder-clouds.  Suddenly, Alvarez,
+who had been intently listening, raised his hand with a significant
+gesture; presently, a sound was heard—a rustling like the waving of
+trees, or the rushing of distant water; it gradually increased, and
+seemed to proceed from the narrow street which led from the principal
+gate into the square.  All eyes were turned in that direction. . . .
+
+That night there was repique or ringing of bells in the towers of
+Logroño, and the few priests who had escaped from the pestilence sang
+litanies to God and the Virgin for the salvation of the town from the
+hands of the heathen.  The attempt of the Gitános had been most signally
+defeated, and the great square and the street were strewn with their
+corpses.  Oh! what frightful objects: there lay grim men more black than
+mulattos, with fury and rage in their stiffened features; wild women in
+extraordinary dresses, their hair, black and long as the tail of the
+horse, spread all dishevelled upon the ground; and gaunt and naked
+children grasping knives and daggers in their tiny hands.  Of the
+patriotic troop not one appeared to have fallen; and when, after their
+enemies had retreated with howlings of fiendish despair, they told their
+numbers, only one man was missing, who was never seen again, and that man
+was Alvarez.
+
+In the midst of the combat, the tempest, which had for a long time been
+gathering, burst over Logroño, in lightning, thunder, darkness, and
+vehement hail.
+
+A man of the town asserted that the last time he had seen Alvarez, the
+latter was far in advance of his companions, defending himself
+desperately against three powerful young heathen, who seemed to be acting
+under the direction of a tall woman who stood nigh, covered with barbaric
+ornaments, and wearing on her head a rude silver crown. {69}
+
+Such is the tale of the Bookseller of Logroño, and such is the narrative
+of the attempt of the Gitános to sack the town in the time of pestilence,
+which is alluded to by many Spanish authors, but more particularly by the
+learned Francisco de Cordova, in his _Didascalia_, one of the most
+curious and instructive books within the circle of universal literature.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THE Moors, after their subjugation, and previous to their expulsion from
+Spain, generally resided apart, principally in the suburbs of the towns,
+where they kept each other in countenance, being hated and despised by
+the Spaniards, and persecuted on all occasions.  By this means they
+preserved, to a certain extent, the Arabic language, though the use of it
+was strictly forbidden, and encouraged each other in the secret exercise
+of the rites of the Mohammedan religion, so that, until the moment of
+their final expulsion, they continued Moors in almost every sense of the
+word.  Such places were called Morerias, or quarters of the Moors.
+
+In like manner there were Gitanerias, or quarters of the Gitános, in many
+of the towns of Spain; and in more than one instance particular barrios
+or districts are still known by this name, though the Gitános themselves
+have long since disappeared.  Even in the town of Oviedo, in the heart of
+the Asturias, a province never famous for Gitános, there is a place
+called the Gitaneria, though no Gitáno has been known to reside in the
+town within the memory of man, nor indeed been seen, save, perhaps, as a
+chance visitor at a fair.
+
+The exact period when the Gitános first formed these colonies within the
+towns is not known; the laws, however, which commanded them to abandon
+their wandering life under penalty of banishment and death, and to become
+stationary in towns, may have induced them first to take such a step.  By
+the first of these laws, which was made by Ferdinand and Isabella as far
+back as the year 1499, they are commanded to seek out for themselves
+masters.  This injunction they utterly disregarded.  Some of them for
+fear of the law, or from the hope of bettering their condition, may have
+settled down in the towns, cities, and villages for a time, but to expect
+that a people, in whose bosoms was so deeply rooted the love of lawless
+independence, would subject themselves to the yoke of servitude, from any
+motive whatever, was going too far; as well might it have been expected,
+according to the words of the great poet of Persia, _that they would have
+washed their skins white_.
+
+In these Gitanerias, therefore, many Gypsy families resided, but ever in
+the Gypsy fashion, in filth and in misery, with little of the fear of
+man, and nothing of the fear of God before their eyes.  Here the swarthy
+children basked naked in the sun before the doors; here the women
+prepared love draughts, or told the buena ventura; and here the men plied
+the trade of the blacksmith, a forbidden occupation, or prepared for
+sale, by disguising them, animals stolen by themselves or their
+accomplices.  In these places were harboured the strange Gitános on their
+arrival, and here were discussed in the Rommany language, which, like the
+Arabic, was forbidden under severe penalties, plans of fraud and plunder,
+which were perhaps intended to be carried into effect in a distant
+province and a distant city.
+
+The great body, however, of the Gypsy race in Spain continued independent
+wanderers of the plains and the mountains, and indeed the denizens of the
+Gitanerias were continually sallying forth, either for the purpose of
+reuniting themselves with the wandering tribes, or of strolling about
+from town to town, and from fair to fair.  Hence the continual complaints
+in the Spanish laws against the Gitános who have left their places of
+domicile, from doing which they were interdicted, even as they were
+interdicted from speaking their language and following the occupations of
+the blacksmith and horse-dealer, in which they still persist even at the
+present day.
+
+The Gitanerias at evening fall were frequently resorted to by individuals
+widely differing in station from the inmates of these places—we allude to
+the young and dissolute nobility and hidalgos of Spain.  This was
+generally the time of mirth and festival, and the Gitános, male and
+female, danced and sang in the Gypsy fashion beneath the smile of the
+moon.  The Gypsy women and girls were the principal attractions to these
+visitors; wild and singular as these females are in their appearance,
+there can be no doubt, for the fact has been frequently proved, that they
+are capable of exciting passion of the most ardent description,
+particularly in the bosoms of those who are not of their race, which
+passion of course becomes the more violent when the almost utter
+impossibility of gratifying it is known.  No females in the world can be
+more licentious in word and gesture, in dance and in song, than the
+Gitánas; but there they stop: and so of old, if their titled visitors
+presumed to seek for more, an unsheathed dagger or gleaming knife
+speedily repulsed those who expected that the gem most dear amongst the
+sect of the Roma was within the reach of a Busno.
+
+Such visitors, however, were always encouraged to a certain point, and by
+this and various other means the Gitános acquired connections which
+frequently stood them in good stead in the hour of need.  What availed it
+to the honest labourers of the neighbourhood, or the citizens of the
+town, to make complaints to the corregidor concerning the thefts and
+frauds committed by the Gitános, when perhaps the sons of that very
+corregidor frequented the nightly dances at the Gitaneria, and were
+deeply enamoured with some of the dark-eyed singing-girls?  What availed
+making complaints, when perhaps a Gypsy sibyl, the mother of those very
+girls, had free admission to the house of the corregidor at all times and
+seasons, and spaed the good fortune to his daughters, promising them
+counts and dukes, and Andalusian knights in marriage, or prepared
+philtres for his lady by which she was always to reign supreme in the
+affections of her husband?  And, above all, what availed it to the
+plundered party to complain that his mule or horse had been stolen, when
+the Gitáno robber, perhaps the husband of the sibyl and the father of the
+black-eyed Gitanillas, was at that moment actually in treaty with my lord
+the corregidor himself for supplying him with some splendid thick-maned,
+long-tailed steed at a small price, to be obtained, as the reader may
+well suppose, by an infraction of the laws?  The favour and protection
+which the Gitános experienced from people of high rank is alluded to in
+the Spanish laws, and can only be accounted for by the motives above
+detailed.
+
+The Gitanerias were soon considered as public nuisances, on which account
+the Gitános were forbidden to live together in particular parts of the
+town, to hold meetings, and even to intermarry with each other; yet it
+does not appear that the Gitanerias were ever suppressed by the arm of
+the law, as many still exist where these singular beings ‘marry and are
+given in marriage,’ and meet together to discuss their affairs, which, in
+their opinion, never flourish unless those of their fellow-creatures
+suffer.  So much for the Gitanerias, or Gypsy colonies in the towns of
+Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+‘LOS Gitános son muy malos!—the Gypsies are very bad people,’ said the
+Spaniards of old times.  They are cheats; they are highwaymen; they
+practise sorcery; and, lest the catalogue of their offences should be
+incomplete, a formal charge of cannibalism was brought against them.
+Cheats they have always been, and highwaymen, and if not sorcerers, they
+have always done their best to merit that appellation, by arrogating to
+themselves supernatural powers; but that they were addicted to
+cannibalism is a matter not so easily proved.
+
+Their principal accuser was Don Juan de Quiñones, who, in the work from
+which we have already had occasion to quote, gives several anecdotes
+illustrative of their cannibal propensities.  Most of these anecdotes,
+however, are so highly absurd, that none but the very credulous could
+ever have vouchsafed them the slightest credit.  This author is
+particularly fond of speaking of a certain juez, or judge, called Don
+Martin Fajardo, who seems to have been an arrant Gypsy-hunter, and was
+probably a member of the ancient family of the Fajardos, which still
+flourishes in Estremadura, and with individuals of which we are
+acquainted.  So it came to pass that this personage was, in the year
+1629, at Jaraicejo, in Estremadura, or, as it is written in the little
+book in question, Zaraizejo, in the capacity of judge; a zealous one he
+undoubtedly was.
+
+A very strange place is this same Jaraicejo, a small ruinous town or
+village, situated on a rising ground, with a very wild country all about
+it.  The road from Badajoz to Madrid passes through it; and about two
+leagues distant, in the direction of Madrid, is the famous mountain pass
+of Mirabéte, from the top of which you enjoy a most picturesque view
+across the Tagus, which flows below, as far as the huge mountains of
+Plasencia, the tops of which are generally covered with snow.
+
+So this Don Martin Fajardo, judge, being at Jaraicejo, laid his claw upon
+four Gitános, and having nothing, as it appears, to accuse them of,
+except being Gitános, put them to the torture, and made them accuse
+themselves, which they did; for, on the first appeal which was made to
+the rack, they confessed that they had murdered a female Gypsy in the
+forest of Las Gamas, and had there eaten her. . . .
+
+I am myself well acquainted with this same forest of Las Gamas, which
+lies between Jaraicejo and Trujillo; it abounds with chestnut and cork
+trees, and is a place very well suited either for the purpose of murder
+or cannibalism.  It will be as well to observe that I visited it in
+company with a band of Gitános, who bivouacked there, and cooked their
+supper, which however did not consist of human flesh, but of a puchéra,
+the ingredients of which were beef, bacon, garbanzos, and berdolaga, or
+field-pease and purslain,—therefore I myself can bear testimony that
+there is such a forest as Las Gamas, and that it is frequented
+occasionally by Gypsies, by which two points are established by far the
+most important to the history in question, or so at least it would be
+thought in Spain, for being sure of the forest and the Gypsies, few would
+be incredulous enough to doubt the facts of the murder and cannibalism. . . .
+
+On being put to the rack a second time, the Gitános confessed that they
+had likewise murdered and eaten a female pilgrim in the forest aforesaid;
+and on being tortured yet again, that they had served in the same manner,
+and in the same forest, a friar of the order of San Francisco, whereupon
+they were released from the rack and executed.  This is one of the
+anecdotes of Quiñones.
+
+And it came to pass, moreover, that the said Fajardo, being in the town
+of Montijo, was told by the alcalde, that a certain inhabitant of that
+place had some time previous lost a mare; and wandering about the plains
+in quest of her, he arrived at a place called Arroyo el Puerco, where
+stood a ruined house, on entering which he found various Gitános employed
+in preparing their dinner, which consisted of a quarter of a human body,
+which was being roasted before a huge fire: the result, however, we are
+not told; whether the Gypsies were angry at being disturbed in their
+cookery, or whether the man of the mare departed unobserved.
+
+Quiñones, in continuation, states in his book that he learned (he does
+not say from whom, but probably from Fajardo) that there was a shepherd
+of the city of Gaudix, who once lost his way in the wild sierra of Gadol:
+night came on, and the wind blew cold: he wandered about until he
+descried a light in the distance, towards which he bent his way,
+supposing it to be a fire kindled by shepherds: on arriving at the spot,
+however, he found a whole tribe of Gypsies, who were roasting the half of
+a man, the other half being hung on a cork-tree: the Gypsies welcomed him
+very heartily, and requested him to be seated at the fire and to sup with
+them; but he presently heard them whisper to each other, ‘this is a fine
+fat fellow,’ from which he suspected that they were meditating a design
+upon his body: whereupon, feeling himself sleepy, he made as if he were
+seeking a spot where to lie, and suddenly darted headlong down the
+mountain-side, and escaped from their hands without breaking his neck.
+
+These anecdotes scarcely deserve comment; first we have the statement of
+Fajardo, the fool or knave who tortures wretches, and then puts them to
+death for the crimes with which they have taxed themselves whilst
+undergoing the agony of the rack, probably with the hope of obtaining a
+moment’s respite; last comes the tale of the shepherd, who is invited by
+Gypsies on a mountain at night to partake of a supper of human flesh, and
+who runs away from them on hearing them talk of the fatness of his own
+body, as if cannibal robbers detected in their orgies by a single
+interloper would have afforded him a chance of escaping.  Such tales
+cannot be true. {79}
+
+Cases of cannibalism are said to have occurred in Hungary amongst the
+Gypsies; indeed, the whole race, in that country, has been accused of
+cannibalism, to which we have alluded whilst speaking of the Chingany: it
+is very probable, however, that they were quite innocent of this odious
+practice, and that the accusation had its origin in popular prejudice, or
+in the fact of their foul feeding, and their seldom rejecting carrion or
+offal of any description.
+
+The Gazette of Frankfort for the year 1782, Nos. 157 and 207, states that
+one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged with this practice;
+and that the Empress Teresa sent commissioners to inquire into the facts
+of the accusation, who discovered that they were true; whereupon the
+empress published a law to oblige all the Gypsies in her dominions to
+become stationary, which, however, had no effect.
+
+Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own knowledge.
+
+After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a few
+lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet.  I believe that it has been
+asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are perfectly
+indifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they can appease
+their hunger; and that they have no objection to partake of the carcasses
+of animals which have died a natural death, and have been left to putrefy
+by the roadside; moreover, that they use for food all kinds of reptiles
+and vermin which they can lay their hands upon.
+
+In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same time it
+must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of the Gypsies in
+regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to favour the
+supposition.  This observation chiefly holds good with respect to those
+of the Gypsy race who still continue in a wandering state, and who,
+doubtless, retain more of the ways and customs of their forefathers than
+those who have adopted a stationary life.  There can be no doubt that the
+wanderers amongst the Gypsy race are occasionally seen to feast upon
+carcasses of cattle which have been abandoned to the birds of the air,
+yet it would be wrong, from this fact, to conclude that the Gypsies were
+habitual devourers of carrion.  Carrion it is true they may occasionally
+devour, from want of better food, but many of these carcasses are not in
+reality the carrion which they appear, but are the bodies of animals
+which the Gypsies have themselves killed by casting drao, in hope that
+the flesh may eventually be abandoned to them.  It is utterly useless to
+write about the habits of the Gypsies, especially of the wandering
+tribes, unless you have lived long and intimately with them; and
+unhappily, up to the present time, all the books which have been
+published concerning them have been written by those who have introduced
+themselves into their society for a few hours, and from what they have
+seen or heard consider themselves competent to give the world an idea of
+the manners and customs of the mysterious Rommany: thus, because they
+have been known to beg the carcass of a hog which they themselves have
+poisoned, it has been asserted that they prefer carrion which has
+perished of sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because they have
+been seen to make a ragout of boror (_snails_), and to roast a
+hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that reptiles of every
+description form a part of their cuisine.  It is high time to undeceive
+the Gentiles on these points.  Know, then, O Gentile, whether thou be
+from the land of the Gorgios {82a} or the Busné {82b}, that the very
+Gypsies who consider a ragout of snails a delicious dish will not touch
+an eel, because it bears resemblance to a _snake_; and that those who
+will feast on a roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste a
+squirrel, a delicious and wholesome species of game, living on the purest
+and most nutritious food which the fields and forests can supply.  I
+myself, while living among the Roms of England, have been regarded almost
+in the light of a cannibal for cooking the latter animal and preferring
+it to hotchiwitchu barbecued, or ragout of boror.  ‘You are but half
+Rommany, brother,’ they would say, ‘and you feed gorgiko-nes (_like a
+Gentile_), even as you talk.  Tchachipen (_in truth_), if we did not know
+you to be of the Mecralliskoe rat (_royal blood_) of Pharaoh, we should
+be justified in driving you forth as a juggel-mush (_dog man_), one more
+fitted to keep company with wild beasts and Gorgios than gentle
+Rommanys.’
+
+No person can read the present volume without perceiving, at a glance,
+that the Romas are in most points an anomalous people; in their morality
+there is much of anomaly, and certainly not less in their cuisine.
+
+‘Los Gitános son muy malos; llevan niños hurtados a Berberia.  The
+Gypsies are very bad people; they steal children and carry them to
+Barbary, where they sell them to the Moors’—so said the Spaniards in old
+times.  There can be little doubt that even before the fall of the
+kingdom of Granada, which occurred in the year 1492, the Gitános had
+intercourse with the Moors of Spain.  Andalusia, which has ever been the
+province where the Gitáno race has most abounded since its arrival, was,
+until the edict of Philip the Third, which banished more than a million
+of Moriscos from Spain, principally peopled by Moors, who differed from
+the Spaniards both in language and religion.  By living even as wanderers
+amongst these people, the Gitános naturally became acquainted with their
+tongue, and with many of their customs, which of course much facilitated
+any connection which they might subsequently form with the Barbaresques.
+Between the Moors of Barbary and the Spaniards a deadly and continued war
+raged for centuries, both before and after the expulsion of the Moriscos
+from Spain.  The Gitános, who cared probably as little for one nation as
+the other, and who have no sympathy and affection beyond the pale of
+their own sect, doubtless sided with either as their interest dictated,
+officiating as spies for both parties and betraying both.
+
+It is likely enough that they frequently passed over to Barbary with
+stolen children of both sexes, whom they sold to the Moors, who traffic
+in slaves, whether white or black, even at the present day; and perhaps
+this kidnapping trade gave occasion to other relations.  As they were
+perfectly acquainted, from their wandering life, with the shores of the
+Spanish Mediterranean, they must have been of considerable assistance to
+the Barbary pirates in their marauding trips to the Spanish coasts, both
+as guides and advisers; and as it was a far easier matter, and afforded a
+better prospect of gain, to plunder the Spaniards than the Moors, a
+people almost as wild as themselves, they were, on that account, and that
+only, more Moors than Christians, and ever willing to assist the former
+in their forays on the latter.
+
+Quiñones observes: ‘The Moors, with whom they hold correspondence, let
+them go and come without any let or obstacle: an instance of this was
+seen in the year 1627, when two galleys from Spain were carrying
+assistance to Marmora, which was then besieged by the Moors.  These
+galleys struck on a shoal, when the Moors seized all the people on board,
+making captives of the Christians and setting at liberty all the Moors,
+who were chained to the oar; as for the Gypsy galley-slaves whom they
+found amongst these last, they did not make them slaves, but received
+them as people friendly to them, and at their devotion; which matter was
+public and notorious.’
+
+Of the Moors and the Gitános we shall have occasion to say something in
+the following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THERE is no portion of the world so little known as Africa in general;
+and perhaps of all Africa there is no corner with which Europeans are so
+little acquainted as Barbary, which nevertheless is only separated from
+the continent of Europe by a narrow strait of four leagues across.
+
+China itself has, for upwards of a century, ceased to be a land of
+mystery to the civilised portion of the world; the enterprising children
+of Loyola having wandered about it in every direction making converts to
+their doctrine and discipline, whilst the Russians possess better maps of
+its vast regions than of their own country, and lately, owing to the
+persevering labour and searching eye of my friend Hyacinth, Archimandrite
+of Saint John Nefsky, are acquainted with the number of its military
+force to a man, and also with the names and places of residence of its
+civil servants.  Yet who possesses a map of Fez and Morocco, or would
+venture to form a conjecture as to how many fiery horsemen Abderrahman,
+the mulatto emperor, could lead to the field, were his sandy dominions
+threatened by the Nazarene?  Yet Fez is scarcely two hundred leagues
+distant from Madrid, whilst Maraks, the other great city of the Moors,
+and which also has given its name to an empire, is scarcely farther
+removed from Paris, the capital of civilisation: in a word, we scarcely
+know anything of Barbary, the scanty information which we possess being
+confined to a few towns on the sea-coast; the zeal of the Jesuit himself
+being insufficient to induce him to confront the perils of the interior,
+in the hopeless endeavour of making one single proselyte from amongst the
+wildest fanatics of the creed of the Prophet Camel-driver.
+
+Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary?  This is a
+question which I have frequently asked myself.  Several respectable
+authors have, I believe, asserted the fact, amongst whom Adelung, who,
+speaking of the Gypsies, says: ‘Four hundred years have passed away since
+they departed from their native land.  During this time, they have spread
+themselves through the whole of Western Asia, Europe, and Northern
+Africa.’ {86}  But it is one thing to make an assertion, and another to
+produce the grounds for making it.  I believe it would require a far
+greater stock of information than has hitherto been possessed by any one
+who has written on the subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in
+asserting positively that after traversing the west of Europe, they
+spread themselves over Northern Africa, though true it is that to those
+who take a superficial view of the matter, nothing appears easier and
+more natural than to come to such a conclusion.
+
+Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is opposite to
+Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running between, less wide than
+many rivers.  Bands, therefore, of these wanderers, of course, on
+reaching Tarifa, passed over into Africa, even as thousands crossed the
+channel from France to England.  They have at all times shown themselves
+extravagantly fond of a roving life.  What land is better adapted for
+such a life than Africa and its wilds?  What land, therefore, more likely
+to entice them?
+
+All this is very plausible.  It was easy enough for the Gitános to pass
+over to Tangier and Tetuan from the Spanish towns of Tarifa and
+Algeziras.  In the last chapter I have stated my belief of the fact, and
+that moreover they formed certain connections with the Moors of the
+coast, to whom it is likely that they occasionally sold children stolen
+in Spain; yet such connection would by no means have opened them a
+passage into the interior of Barbary, which is inhabited by wild and
+fierce people, in comparison with whom the Moors of the coast, bad as
+they always have been, are gentle and civilised.
+
+To penetrate into Africa, the Gitános would have been compelled to pass
+through the tribes who speak the Shilha language, and who are the
+descendants of the ancient Numidians.  These tribes are the most
+untamable and warlike of mankind, and at the same time the most
+suspicious, and those who entertain the greatest aversion to foreigners.
+They are dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have always remained, to a
+certain degree, independent of the emperors of Morocco.  They are the
+most terrible of robbers and murderers, and entertain far more reluctance
+to spill water than the blood of their fellow-creatures: the Bedouins,
+also, of the Arabian race, are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would
+not have failed instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever
+they found them, and in all probability would have exterminated them.
+Now the Gitános, such as they arrived in Barbary, could not have defended
+themselves against such enemies, had they even arrived in large
+divisions, instead of bands of twenties and thirties, as is their custom
+to travel.  They are not by nature nor by habit a warlike race, and would
+have quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most other people, engage
+in wars from what appears to be an innate love of the cruel and bloody
+scenes attendant on war.
+
+It may be said, that if the Gitános were able to make their way from the
+north of India, from Multan, for example, the province which the learned
+consider to be the original dwelling-place of the race, to such an
+immense distance as the western part of Spain, passing necessarily
+through many wild lands and tribes, why might they not have penetrated
+into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore may not their descendants be
+still there, following the same kind of life as the European Gypsies,
+that is, wandering about from place to place, and maintaining themselves
+by deceit and robbery?
+
+But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of Barbary
+are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for a company of
+foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from the nearest seaport
+in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.  True it is, that, from
+their intercourse with the Moors of Spain, the Gypsies might have become
+acquainted with the Arabic language, and might even have adopted the
+Moorish dress, ere entering Barbary; and, moreover, might have professed
+belief in the religion of Mahomet; still they would have been known as
+foreigners, and, on that account, would have been assuredly attacked by
+the people of the interior, had they gone amongst them, who, according to
+the usual practice, would either have massacred them or made them slaves;
+and as slaves, they would have been separated.  The mulatto hue of their
+countenances would probably have insured them the latter fate, as all
+blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the Moor are properly slaves, and
+can be bought and sold, unless by some means or other they become free,
+in which event their colour is no obstacle to their elevation to the
+highest employments and dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and
+provinces, or even to their ascending the throne.  Several emperors of
+Morocco have been mulattos.
+
+Above I have pointed out all the difficulties and dangers which must have
+attended the path of the Gitános, had they passed from Spain into
+Barbary, and attempted to spread themselves over that region, as over
+Europe and many parts of Asia.  To these observations I have been led by
+the assertion that they accomplished this, and no proof of the fact
+having, as I am aware, ever been adduced; for who amongst those who have
+made such a statement has seen or conversed with the Egyptians of
+Barbary, or had sufficient intercourse with them to justify him in the
+assertion that they are one and the same people as those of Europe, from
+whom they differ about as much as the various tribes which inhabit
+various European countries differ from each other?  At the same time, I
+wish it to be distinctly understood that I am far from denying the
+existence of Gypsies in various parts of the interior of Barbary.
+Indeed, I almost believe the fact, though the information which I possess
+is by no means of a description which would justify me in speaking with
+full certainty; I having myself never come in contact with any sect or
+caste of people amongst the Moors, who not only tallied in their pursuits
+with the Rommany, but who likewise spoke amongst themselves a dialect of
+the language of Roma; nor am I aware that any individual worthy of credit
+has ever presumed to say that he has been more fortunate in these
+respects.
+
+Nevertheless, I repeat that I am inclined to believe that Gypsies
+virtually exist in Barbary, and my reasons I shall presently adduce; but
+I will here observe, that if these strange outcasts did indeed contrive
+to penetrate into the heart of that savage and inhospitable region, they
+could only have succeeded after having become well acquainted with the
+Moorish language, and when, after a considerable sojourn on the coast,
+they had raised for themselves a name, and were regarded with
+superstitious fear; in a word, if they walked this land of peril
+untouched and unscathed, it was not that they were considered as harmless
+and inoffensive people, which, indeed, would not have protected them, and
+which assuredly they were not; it was not that they were mistaken for
+wandering Moors and Bedouins, from whom they differed in feature and
+complexion, but because, wherever they went, they were dreaded as the
+possessors of supernatural powers, and as mighty sorcerers.
+
+There is in Barbary more than one sect of wanderers, which, to the
+cursory observer, might easily appear, and perhaps have appeared, in the
+right of legitimate Gypsies.  For example, there are the Beni Aros.  The
+proper home of these people is in certain high mountains in the
+neighbourhood of Tetuan, but they are to be found roving about the whole
+kingdom of Fez.  Perhaps it would be impossible to find, in the whole of
+Northern Africa, a more detestable caste.  They are beggars by
+profession, but are exceedingly addicted to robbery and murder; they are
+notorious drunkards, and are infamous, even in Barbary, for their
+unnatural lusts.  They are, for the most part, well made and of comely
+features.  I have occasionally spoken with them; they are Moors, and
+speak no language but the Arabic.
+
+Then there is the sect of Sidi Hamed au Muza, a very roving people,
+companies of whom are generally to be found in all the principal towns of
+Barbary.  The men are expert vaulters and tumblers, and perform wonderful
+feats of address with swords and daggers, to the sound of wild music,
+which the women, seated on the ground, produce from uncouth instruments;
+by these means they obtain a livelihood.  Their dress is picturesque,
+scarlet vest and white drawers.  In many respects they not a little
+resemble the Gypsies; but they are not an evil people, and are looked
+upon with much respect by the Moors, who call them Santons.  Their patron
+saint is Hamed au Muza, and from him they derive their name.  Their
+country is on the confines of the Sahara, or great desert, and their
+language is the Shilhah, or a dialect thereof.  They speak but little
+Arabic.  When I saw them for the first time, I believed them to be of the
+Gypsy caste, but was soon undeceived.  A more wandering race does not
+exist than the children of Sidi Hamed au Muza.  They have even visited
+France, and exhibited their dexterity and agility at Paris and
+Marseilles.
+
+I will now say a few words concerning another sect which exists in
+Barbary, and will here premise, that if those who compose it are not
+Gypsies, such people are not to be found in North Africa, and the
+assertion, hitherto believed, that they abound there, is devoid of
+foundation.  I allude to certain men and women, generally termed by the
+Moors ‘Those of the Dar-bushi-fal,’ which word is equivalent to
+prophesying or fortune-telling.  They are great wanderers, but have also
+their fixed dwellings or villages, and such a place is called ‘Char
+Seharra,’ or witch-hamlet.  Their manner of life, in every respect,
+resembles that of the Gypsies of other countries; they are wanderers
+during the greatest part of the year, and subsist principally by
+pilfering and fortune-telling.  They deal much in mules and donkeys, and
+it is believed, in Barbary, that they can change the colour of any animal
+by means of sorcery, and so disguise him as to sell him to his very
+proprietor, without fear of his being recognised.  This latter trait is
+quite characteristic of the Gypsy race, by whom the same thing is
+practised in most parts of the world.  But the Moors assert, that the
+children of the Dar-bushi-fal can not only change the colour of a horse
+or a mule, but likewise of a human being, in one night, transforming a
+white into a black, after which they sell him for a slave; on which
+account the superstitious Moors regard them with the utmost dread, and in
+general prefer passing the night in the open fields to sleeping in their
+hamlets.  They are said to possess a particular language, which is
+neither Shilhah nor Arabic, and which none but themselves understand;
+from all which circumstances I am led to believe, that the children of
+the Dar-bushi-fal are legitimate Gypsies, descendants of those who passed
+over to Barbary from Spain.  Nevertheless, as it has never been my
+fortune to meet or to converse with any of this caste, though they are
+tolerably numerous in Barbary, I am far from asserting that they are of
+Gypsy race.  More enterprising individuals than myself may, perhaps,
+establish the fact.  Any particular language or jargon which they speak
+amongst themselves will be the best criterion.  The word which they
+employ for ‘water’ would decide the point; for the Dar-bushi-fal are not
+Gypsies, if, in their peculiar speech, they designate that blessed
+element and article most necessary to human existence by aught else than
+the Sanscrit term ‘Pani,’ a word brought by the race from sunny Ind, and
+esteemed so holy that they have never even presumed to modify it.
+
+The following is an account of the Dar-bushi-fal, given me by a Jew of
+Fez, who had travelled much in Barbary, and which I insert almost
+literally as I heard it from his mouth.  Various other individuals,
+Moors, have spoken of them in much the same manner.
+
+‘In one of my journeys I passed the night in a place called Mulai-Jacub
+Munsur.
+
+‘Not far from this place is a Char Seharra, or witch-hamlet, where dwell
+those of the Dar-bushi-fal.  These are very evil people, and powerful
+enchanters; for it is well known that if any traveller stop to sleep in
+their Char, they will with their sorceries, if he be a white man, turn
+him as black as a coal, and will afterwards sell him as a negro.  Horses
+and mules they serve in the same manner, for if they are black, they will
+turn them red, or any other colour which best may please them; and
+although the owners demand justice of the authorities, the sorcerers
+always come off best.  They have a language which they use among
+themselves, very different from all other languages, so much so that it
+is impossible to understand them.  They are very swarthy, quite as much
+so as mulattos, and their faces are exceedingly lean.  As for their legs,
+they are like reeds; and when they run, the devil himself cannot overtake
+them.  They tell Dar-bushi-fal with flour; they fill a plate, and then
+they are able to tell you anything you ask them.  They likewise tell it
+with a shoe; they put it in their mouth, and then they will recall to
+your memory every action of your life.  They likewise tell Dar-bushi-fal
+with oil; and indeed are, in every respect, most powerful sorcerers.
+
+‘Two women, once on a time, came to Fez, bringing with them an
+exceedingly white donkey, which they placed in the middle of the square
+called Faz el Bali; they then killed it, and cut it into upwards of
+thirty pieces.  Upon the ground there was much of the donkey’s filth and
+dung; some of this they took in their hands, when it straight assumed the
+appearance of fresh dates.  There were some people who were greedy enough
+to put these dates into their mouths, and then they found that it was
+dung.  These women deceived me amongst the rest with a date; when I put
+it into my mouth, lo and behold it was the donkey’s dung.  After they had
+collected much money from the spectators, one of them took a needle, and
+ran it into the tail of the donkey, crying “Arrhe li dar” (Get home),
+whereupon the donkey instantly rose up, and set off running, kicking
+every now and then most furiously; and it was remarked, that not one
+single trace of blood remained upon the ground, just as if they had done
+nothing to it.  Both these women were of the very same Char Seharra which
+I have already mentioned.  They likewise took paper, and cut it into the
+shape of a peseta, and a dollar, and a half-dollar, until they had made
+many pesetas and dollars, and then they put them into an earthen pan over
+a fire, and when they took them out, they appeared just fresh from the
+stamp, and with such money these people buy all they want.
+
+‘There was a friend of my grandfather, who came frequently to our house,
+who was in the habit of making this money.  One day he took me with him
+to buy white silk; and when they had shown him some, he took the silk in
+his hand, and pressed it to his mouth, and then I saw that the silk,
+which was before white, had become green, even as grass.  The master of
+the shop said, “Pay me for my silk.”  “Of what colour was your silk?” he
+demanded.  “White,” said the man; whereupon, turning round, he cried,
+“Good people, behold, the white silk is green”; and so he got a pound of
+silk for nothing; and he also was of the Char Seharra.
+
+‘They are very evil people indeed, and the emperor himself is afraid of
+them.  The poor wretch who falls into their hands has cause to rue; they
+always go badly dressed, and exhibit every appearance of misery, though
+they are far from being miserable.  Such is the life they lead.’
+
+There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of the
+Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there is a
+foundation of truth in all the facts stated.  The belief that they are
+enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into a black man had its origin in
+the great skill which they possess in altering the appearance of a horse
+or a mule, and giving it another colour.  Their changing white into green
+silk is a very simple trick, and is accomplished by dexterously
+substituting one thing for another.  Had the man of the Dar-bushi-fal
+been searched, the white silk would have been found upon him.  The
+Gypsies, wherever they are found, are fond of this species of fraud.  In
+Germany, for example, they go to the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly
+similar, one in their hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks
+filled with water; when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they
+pretend to be dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but
+contrive to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the
+wine-seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the contents back,
+as he thinks, into the butt—but it is not wine but water which he pours.
+With respect to the donkey, which _appeared_ to be cut in pieces, but
+which afterwards, being pricked in the tail, got up and ran home, I have
+little to say, but that I have myself seen almost as strange things
+without believing in sorcery.
+
+As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere feats of
+legerdemain.
+
+I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary, they are
+the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+CHIROMANCY, or the divination of the hand, is, according to the orthodox
+theory, the determining from certain lines upon the hand the quality of
+the physical and intellectual powers of the possessor.
+
+The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in the hand, and
+the triangle which they form in the palm.  These lines, which have all
+their particular and appropriate names, and the principal of which is
+called ‘the line of life,’ are, if we may believe those who have written
+on the subject, connected with the heart, with the genitals, with the
+brain, with the liver or stomach, and the head.  Torreblanca, {98} in his
+curious and learned book on magic, observes: ‘In judging these lines you
+must pay attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together
+with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the line be
+well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour, without being
+intermitted or _puncturis infecta_, it denotes the good complexion and
+virtue of its member, according to Aristotle.
+
+    ‘So that if the line of the heart be found sufficiently long and
+    reasonably deep, and not crossed by other accidental lines, it is an
+    infallible sign of the health of the heart and the great virtue of
+    the heart, and the abundance of spirits and good blood in the heart,
+    and accordingly denotes boldness and liberal genius for every work.’
+
+In like manner, by means of the hepatal line, it is easy to form an
+accurate judgment as to the state of a person’s liver, and of his powers
+of digestion, and so on with respect to all the other organs of the body.
+
+After having laid down all the rules of chiromancy with the utmost
+possible clearness, the sage Torreblanca exclaims: ‘And with these
+terminate the canons of true and catholic chiromancy; for as for the
+other species by which people pretend to divine concerning the affairs of
+life, either past or to come, dignities, fortunes, children, events,
+chances, dangers, etc., such chiromancy is not only reprobated by
+theologians, but by men of law and physic, as a foolish, false, vain,
+scandalous, futile, superstitious practice, smelling much of divinery and
+a pact with the devil.’
+
+Then, after mentioning a number of erudite and enlightened men of the
+three learned professions, who have written against such absurd
+superstitions, amongst whom he cites Martin Del Rio, he falls foul of the
+Gypsy wives in this manner: ‘A practice turned to profit by the wives of
+that rabble of abandoned miscreants whom the Italians call Cingari, the
+Latins Egyptians, and we Gitános, who, notwithstanding that they are sent
+by the Turks into Spain for the purpose of acting as spies upon the
+Christian religion, pretend that they are wandering over the world in
+fulfilment of a penance enjoined upon them, part of which penance seems
+to be the living by fraud and imposition.’  And shortly afterwards he
+remarks: ‘Nor do they derive any authority for such a practice from those
+words in Exodus, {100a} “et quasi signum in manu tua,” as that passage
+does not treat of chiromancy, but of the festival of unleavened bread;
+the observance of which, in order that it might be memorable to the
+Hebrews, the sacred historian said should be as a sign upon the hand; a
+metaphor derived from those who, when they wish to remember anything, tie
+a thread round their finger, or put a ring upon it; and still less I ween
+does that chapter of Job {100b} speak in their favour, where is written,
+“Qui in manu hominis signat, ut norint omnes opera sua,” because the
+divine power is meant thereby which is preached to those here below: for
+the hand is intended for power and magnitude, Exod. chap. xiv., {100c} or
+stands for free will, which is placed in a man’s hand, that is, in his
+power.  Wisdom, chap. xxxvi. “In manibus abscondit lucem,” {100d} etc.
+etc. etc.
+
+No, no, good Torreblanca, we know perfectly well that the witch-wives of
+Multan, who for the last four hundred years have been running about Spain
+and other countries, telling fortunes by the hand, and deriving good
+profit from the same, are not countenanced in such a practice by the
+sacred volume; we yield as little credit to their chiromancy as we do to
+that which you call the true and catholic, and believe that the lines of
+the hand have as little connection with the events of life as with the
+liver and stomach, notwithstanding Aristotle, who you forget was a
+heathen, and knew as little and cared as little for the Scriptures as the
+Gitános, whether male or female, who little reck what sanction any of
+their practices may receive from authority, whether divine or human, if
+the pursuit enable them to provide sufficient for the existence, however
+poor and miserable, of their families and themselves.
+
+A very singular kind of women are the Gitánas, far more remarkable in
+most points than their husbands, in whose pursuits of low cheating and
+petty robbery there is little capable of exciting much interest; but if
+there be one being in the world who, more than another, deserves the
+title of sorceress (and where do you find a word of greater romance and
+more thrilling interest?), it is the Gypsy female in the prime and vigour
+of her age and ripeness of her understanding—the Gypsy wife, the mother
+of two or three children.  Mention to me a point of devilry with which
+that woman is not acquainted.  She can at any time, when it suits her,
+show herself as expert a jockey as her husband, and he appears to
+advantage in no other character, and is only eloquent when descanting on
+the merits of some particular animal; but she can do much more: she is a
+prophetess, though she believes not in prophecy; she is a physician,
+though she will not taste her own philtres; she is a procuress, though
+she is not to be procured; she is a singer of obscene songs, though she
+will suffer no obscene hand to touch her; and though no one is more
+tenacious of the little she possesses, she is a cutpurse and a
+shop-lifter whenever opportunity shall offer.
+
+In all times, since we have known anything of these women, they have been
+addicted to and famous for fortune-telling; indeed, it is their only
+ostensible means of livelihood, though they have various others which
+they pursue more secretly.  Where and how they first learned the practice
+we know not; they may have brought it with them from the East, or they
+may have adopted it, which is less likely, after their arrival in Europe.
+Chiromancy, from the most remote periods, has been practised in all
+countries.  Neither do we know, whether in this practice they were ever
+guided by fixed and certain rules; the probability, however, is, that
+they were not, and that they never followed it but as a means of fraud
+and robbery; certainly, amongst all the professors of this art that ever
+existed, no people are more adapted by nature to turn it to account than
+these females, call them by whatever name you will, Gitánas, Zigánas,
+Gypsies, or Bohemians; their forms, their features, the expression of
+their countenances are ever wild and Sibylline, frequently beautiful, but
+never vulgar.  Observe, for example, the Gitána, even her of Seville.
+She is standing before the portal of a large house in one of the narrow
+Moorish streets of the capital of Andalusia; through the grated iron
+door, she looks in upon the court; it is paved with small marble slabs of
+almost snowy whiteness; in the middle is a fountain distilling limpid
+water, and all around there is a profusion of macetas, in which flowering
+plants and aromatic shrubs are growing, and at each corner there is an
+orange tree, and the perfume of the azahár may be distinguished; you hear
+the melody of birds from a small aviary beneath the piazza which
+surrounds the court, which is surmounted by a toldo or linen awning, for
+it is the commencement of May, and the glorious sun of Andalusia is
+burning with a splendour too intense for his rays to be borne with
+impunity.  It is a fairy scene such as nowhere meets the eye but at
+Seville, or perhaps at Fez and Shiraz, in the palaces of the Sultan and
+the Shah.  The Gypsy looks through the iron-grated door, and beholds,
+seated near the fountain, a richly dressed dame and two lovely delicate
+maidens; they are busied at their morning’s occupation, intertwining with
+their sharp needles the gold and silk on the tambour; several female
+attendants are seated behind.  The Gypsy pulls the bell, when is heard
+the soft cry of ‘Quien es’; the door, unlocked by means of a string,
+recedes upon its hinges, when in walks the Gitána, the witch-wife of
+Multan, with a look such as the tiger-cat casts when she stealeth from
+her jungle into the plain.
+
+Yes, well may you exclaim ‘Ave Maria purissima,’ ye dames and maidens of
+Seville, as she advances towards you; she is not of yourselves, she is
+not of your blood, she or her fathers have walked to your climate from a
+distance of three thousand leagues.  She has come from the far East, like
+the three enchanted kings, to Cologne; but, unlike them, she and her race
+have come with hate and not with love.  She comes to flatter, and to
+deceive, and to rob, for she is a lying prophetess, and a she-Thug; she
+will greet you with blessings which will make your hearts rejoice, but
+your hearts’ blood would freeze, could you hear the curses which to
+herself she murmurs against you; for she says, that in her children’s
+veins flows the dark blood of the ‘husbands,’ whilst in those of yours
+flows the pale tide of the ‘savages,’ and therefore she would gladly set
+her foot on all your corses first poisoned by her hands.  For all her
+love—and she can love—is for the Romas; and all her hate—and who can hate
+like her?—is for the Busnees; for she says that the world would be a fair
+world if there were no Busnees, and if the Romamiks could heat their
+kettles undisturbed at the foot of the olive-trees; and therefore she
+would kill them all if she could and if she dared.  She never seeks the
+houses of the Busnees but for the purpose of prey; for the wild animals
+of the sierra do not more abhor the sight of man than she abhors the
+countenances of the Busnees.  She now comes to prey upon you and to scoff
+at you.  Will you believe her words?  Fools! do you think that the being
+before ye has any sympathy for the like of you?
+
+She is of the middle stature, neither strongly nor slightly built, and
+yet her every movement denotes agility and vigour.  As she stands erect
+before you, she appears like a falcon about to soar, and you are almost
+tempted to believe that the power of volition is hers; and were you to
+stretch forth your hand to seize her, she would spring above the
+house-tops like a bird.  Her face is oval, and her features are regular
+but somewhat hard and coarse, for she was born amongst rocks in a
+thicket, and she has been wind-beaten and sun-scorched for many a year,
+even like her parents before her; there is many a speck upon her cheek,
+and perhaps a scar, but no dimples of love; and her brow is wrinkled
+over, though she is yet young.  Her complexion is more than dark, for it
+is almost that of a mulatto; and her hair, which hangs in long locks on
+either side of her face, is black as coal, and coarse as the tail of a
+horse, from which it seems to have been gathered.
+
+There is no female eye in Seville can support the glance of hers,—so
+fierce and penetrating, and yet so artful and sly, is the expression of
+their dark orbs; her mouth is fine and almost delicate, and there is not
+a queen on the proudest throne between Madrid and Moscow who might not
+and would not envy the white and even rows of teeth which adorn it, which
+seem not of pearl but of the purest elephant’s bone of Multan.  She comes
+not alone; a swarthy two-year-old bantling clasps her neck with one arm,
+its naked body half extant from the coarse blanket which, drawn round her
+shoulders, is secured at her bosom by a skewer.  Though tender of age, it
+looks wicked and sly, like a veritable imp of Roma.  Huge rings of false
+gold dangle from wide slits in the lobes of her ears; her nether garments
+are rags, and her feet are cased in hempen sandals.  Such is the
+wandering Gitána, such is the witch-wife of Multan, who has come to spae
+the fortune of the Sevillian countess and her daughters.
+
+‘O may the blessing of Egypt light upon your head, you high-born lady!
+(May an evil end overtake your body, daughter of a Busnee harlot!) and
+may the same blessing await the two fair roses of the Nile here flowering
+by your side!  (May evil Moors seize them and carry them across the
+water!)  O listen to the words of the poor woman who is come from a
+distant country; she is of a wise people, though it has pleased the God
+of the sky to punish them for their sins by sending them to wander
+through the world.  They denied shelter to the Majari, whom you call the
+queen of heaven, and to the Son of God, when they flew to the land of
+Egypt before the wrath of the wicked king; it is said that they even
+refused them a draught of the sweet waters of the great river when the
+blessed two were athirst.  O you will say that it was a heavy crime; and
+truly so it was, and heavily has the Lord punished the Egyptians.  He has
+sent us a-wandering, poor as you see, with scarcely a blanket to cover
+us.  O blessed lady, (Accursed be thy dead, as many as thou mayest have,)
+we have no money to buy us bread; we have only our wisdom with which to
+support ourselves and our poor hungry babes; when God took away their
+silks from the Egyptians, and their gold from the Egyptians, he left them
+their wisdom as a resource that they might not starve.  O who can read
+the stars like the Egyptians? and who can read the lines of the palm like
+the Egyptians?  The poor woman read in the stars that there was a rich
+ventura for all of this goodly house, so she followed the bidding of the
+stars and came to declare it.  O blessed lady, (I defile thy dead corse,)
+your husband is at Granada, fighting with king Ferdinand against the wild
+Corahai!  (May an evil ball smite him and split his head!)  Within three
+months he shall return with twenty captive Moors, round the neck of each
+a chain of gold.  (God grant that when he enter the house a beam may fall
+upon him and crush him!)  And within nine months after his return God
+shall bless you with a fair chabo, the pledge for which you have sighed
+so long.  (Accursed be the salt placed in its mouth in the church when it
+is baptized!)  Your palm, blessed lady, your palm, and the palms of all I
+see here, that I may tell you all the rich ventura which is hanging over
+this good house; (May evil lightning fall upon it and consume it!) but
+first let me sing you a song of Egypt, that the spirit of the Chowahanee
+may descend more plenteously upon the poor woman.’
+
+Her demeanour now instantly undergoes a change.  Hitherto she has been
+pouring forth a lying and wild harangue without much flurry or agitation
+of manner.  Her speech, it is true, has been rapid, but her voice has
+never been raised to a very high key; but she now stamps on the ground,
+and placing her hands on her hips, she moves quickly to the right and
+left, advancing and retreating in a sidelong direction.  Her glances
+become more fierce and fiery, and her coarse hair stands erect on her
+head, stiff as the prickles of the hedgehog; and now she commences
+clapping her hands, and uttering words of an unknown tongue, to a strange
+and uncouth tune.  The tawny bantling seems inspired with the same fiend,
+and, foaming at the mouth, utters wild sounds, in imitation of its dam.
+Still more rapid become the sidelong movements of the Gitána.  Movement!
+she springs, she bounds, and at every bound she is a yard above the
+ground.  She no longer bears the child in her bosom; she plucks it from
+thence, and fiercely brandishes it aloft, till at last, with a yell she
+tosses it high into the air, like a ball, and then, with neck and head
+thrown back, receives it, as it falls, on her hands and breast,
+extracting a cry from the terrified beholders.  Is it possible she can be
+singing?  Yes, in the wildest style of her people; and here is a snatch
+of the song, in the language of Roma, which she occasionally screams—
+
+    ‘En los sastos de yesque plai me diquélo,
+    Doscusañas de sonacai terélo,—
+    Corojai diquélo abillar,
+    Y ne asislo chapescar, chapescar.’
+
+    ‘On the top of a mountain I stand,
+    With a crown of red gold in my hand,—
+    Wild Moors came trooping o’er the lea,
+    O how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?
+    O how from their fury shall I flee?’
+
+Such was the Gitána in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, and much the
+same is she now in the days of Isabel and Christina.
+
+                        [Picture: A Song of Egypt]
+
+Of the Gitánas and their practices I shall have much to say on a future
+occasion, when speaking of those of the present time, with many of whom I
+have had no little intercourse.  All the ancient Spanish authors who
+mention these women speak of them in unmeasured terms of abhorrence,
+employing against them every abusive word contained in the language in
+which they wrote.  Amongst other vile names, they have been called
+harlots, though perhaps no females on earth are, and have ever been, more
+chaste in their own persons, though at all times willing to encourage
+licentiousness in others, from a hope of gain.  It is one thing to be a
+procuress, and another to be a harlot, though the former has assuredly no
+reason to complain if she be confounded with the latter.  ‘The Gitánas,’
+says Doctor Sancho de Moncada, in his discourse concerning the Gypsies,
+which I shall presently lay before the reader, ‘are public harlots,
+common, as it is said, to all the Gitános, and with dances, demeanour,
+and filthy songs, are the cause of infinite harm to the souls of the
+vassals of your Majesty (Philip III.), as it is notorious what infinite
+harm they have caused in many honourable houses.  The married women whom
+they have separated from their husbands, and the maidens whom they have
+perverted; and finally, in the best of these Gitánas, any one may
+recognise all the signs of a harlot given by the wise king: “they are
+gadders about, whisperers, always unquiet in the places and corners.”’
+{109a}
+
+The author of Alonso, {109b} he who of all the old Spanish writers has
+written most graphically concerning the Gitános, and I believe with most
+correctness, puts the following account of the Gitánas, and their
+fortune-telling practices, into the entertaining mouth of his hero:—
+
+    ‘O how many times did these Gitánas carry me along with them, for
+    being, after all, women, even they have their fears, and were glad of
+    me as a protector: and so they went through the neighbouring
+    villages, and entered the houses a-begging, giving to understand
+    thereby their poverty and necessity, and then they would call aside
+    the girls, in order to tell them the buena ventura, and the young
+    fellows the good luck which they were to enjoy, never failing in the
+    first place to ask for a cuarto or real, in order to make the sign of
+    the cross; and with these flattering words, they got as much as they
+    could, although, it is true, not much in money, as their harvest in
+    that article was generally slight; but enough in bacon to afford
+    subsistence to their husbands and bantlings.  I looked on and laughed
+    at the simplicity of those foolish people, who, especially such as
+    wished to be married, were as satisfied and content with what the
+    Gitána told them, as if an apostle had spoken it.’
+
+The above description of Gitánas telling fortunes amongst the villages of
+Navarre, and which was written by a Spanish author at the commencement of
+the seventeenth century, is, in every respect, applicable, as the reader
+will not fail to have observed, to the English Gypsy women of the present
+day, engaged in the same occupation in the rural districts of England,
+where the first demand of the sibyls is invariably a sixpence, in order
+that they may cross their hands with silver, and where the same promises
+are made, and as easily believed; all which, if it serves to confirm the
+opinion that in all times the practices and habits of the Egyptian race
+have been, in almost all respects, the same as at the present day, brings
+us also to the following mortifying conclusion,—that mental illumination,
+amongst the generality of mankind, has made no progress at all; as we
+observe in the nineteenth century the same gross credulity manifested as
+in the seventeenth, and the inhabitants of one of the countries most
+celebrated for the arts of civilisation, imposed upon by the same stale
+tricks which served to deceive two centuries before in Spain, a country
+whose name has long and justly been considered as synonymous with every
+species of ignorance and barbarism.
+
+The same author, whilst speaking of these female Thugs, relates an
+anecdote very characteristic of them; a device at which they are adepts,
+which they love to employ, and which is generally attended with success.
+It is the more deserving attention, as an instance of the same
+description, attended with very similar circumstances, occurred within
+the sphere of my own knowledge in my own country.  This species of deceit
+is styled, in the peculiar language of the Rommany, _hokkano baro_, or
+the ‘great trick’; it being considered by the women as their most
+fruitful source of plunder.  The story, as related by Alonso, runs as
+follows:—
+
+    ‘A band of Gitános being in the neighbourhood of a village, one of
+    the women went to a house where lived a lady alone.  This lady was a
+    young widow, rich, without children, and of very handsome person.
+    After having saluted her, the Gypsy repeated the harangue which she
+    had already studied, to the effect that there was neither bachelor,
+    widower, nor married man, nobleman, nor gallant, endowed with a
+    thousand graces, who was not dying for love of her; and then
+    continued: “Lady, I have contracted a great affection for you, and
+    since I know that you well merit the riches you possess,
+    notwithstanding you live heedless of your good fortune, I wish to
+    reveal to you a secret.  You must know, then, that in your cellar you
+    have a vast treasure; nevertheless you will experience great
+    difficulty in arriving at it, as it is enchanted, and to remove it is
+    impossible, save alone on the eve of Saint John.  We are now at the
+    eighteenth of June, and it wants five days to the twenty-third;
+    therefore, in the meanwhile, collect some jewels of gold and silver,
+    and likewise some money, whatever you please, provided it be not
+    copper, and provide six tapers, of white or yellow wax, for at the
+    time appointed I will come with a sister of mine, when we will
+    extract from the cellar such abundance of riches, that you will be
+    able to live in a style which will excite the envy of the whole
+    country.”  The ignorant widow, hearing these words, put implicit
+    confidence in the deceiver, and imagined that she already possessed
+    all the gold of Arabia and the silver of Potosi.
+
+    ‘The appointed day arrived, and not more punctual were the two
+    Gypsies, than anxiously expected by the lady.  Being asked whether
+    she had prepared all as she had been desired, she replied in the
+    affirmative, when the Gypsy thus addressed her: “You must know, good
+    lady, that gold calls forth gold, and silver calls forth silver; let
+    us light these tapers, and descend to the cellar before it grows
+    late, in order that we may have time for our conjurations.”
+    Thereupon the trio, the widow and the two Gypsies, went down, and
+    having lighted the tapers and placed them in candlesticks in the
+    shape of a circle, they deposited in the midst a silver tankard, with
+    some pieces of eight, and some corals tipped with gold, and other
+    jewels of small value.  They then told the lady, that it was
+    necessary for them all to return to the staircase by which they had
+    descended to the cellar, and there they uplifted their hands, and
+    remained for a short time as if engaged in prayer.
+
+    ‘The two Gypsies then bade the widow wait for them, and descended
+    again, when they commenced holding a conversation, speaking and
+    answering alternately, and altering their voices in such a manner
+    that five or six people appeared to be in the cellar.  “Blessed
+    little Saint John,” said one, “will it be possible to remove the
+    treasure which you keep hidden here?”  “O yes, and with a little more
+    trouble it will be yours,” replied the Gypsy sister, altering her
+    voice to a thin treble, as if it proceeded from a child four or five
+    years old.  In the meantime, the lady remained astonished, expecting
+    the promised riches, and the two Gitánas presently coming to her,
+    said, “Come up, lady, for our desire is upon the point of being
+    gratified.  Bring down the best petticoat, gown, and mantle which you
+    have in your chest, that I may dress myself, and appear in other
+    guise to what I do now.”  The simple woman, not perceiving the trick
+    they were playing upon her, ascended with them to the doorway, and
+    leaving them alone, went to fetch the things which they demanded.
+    Thereupon the two Gypsies, seeing themselves at liberty, and having
+    already pocketed the gold and silver which had been deposited for
+    their conjuration, opened the street door, and escaped with all the
+    speed they could.
+
+    ‘The beguiled widow returned laden with the clothes, and not finding
+    those whom she had left waiting, descended into the cellar, when,
+    perceiving the trick which they had played her, and the robbery which
+    they had committed in stealing her jewels, she began to cry and weep,
+    but all in vain.  All the neighbours hastened to her, and to them she
+    related her misfortune, which served more to raise laughter and jeers
+    at her expense than to excite pity; though the subtlety of the two
+    she-thieves was universally praised.  These latter, as soon as they
+    had got out of the door, knew well how to conceal themselves, for
+    having once reached the mountain it was not possible to find them.
+    So much for their divination, their foreseeing things to come, their
+    power over the secrets of nature, and their knowledge of the stars.’
+
+The Gitánas in the olden time appear to have not unfrequently been
+subjected to punishment as sorceresses, and with great justice, as the
+abominable trade which they drove in philtres and decoctions certainly
+entitled them to that appellation, and to the pains and penalties
+reserved for those who practised what was termed ‘witchcraft.’
+
+Amongst the crimes laid to their charge, connected with the exercise of
+occult powers, there is one, however, of which they were certainly not
+capable, as it is a purely imaginary one, though if they were punished
+for it, they had assuredly little right to complain, as the chastisement
+they met was fully merited by practices equally malefic as the crime
+imputed to them, provided that were possible.  _It was casting the evil
+eye_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+IN the Gitáno language, casting the evil eye is called _Querelar nasula_,
+which simply means making sick, and which, according to the common
+superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at people,
+especially children, who, from the tenderness of their constitution, are
+supposed to be more easily blighted than those of a more mature age.
+After receiving the evil glance, they fall sick, and die in a few hours.
+
+The Spaniards have very little to say respecting the evil eye, though the
+belief in it is very prevalent, especially in Andalusia amongst the lower
+orders.  A stag’s horn is considered a good safeguard, and on that
+account a small horn, tipped with silver, is frequently attached to the
+children’s necks by means of a cord braided from the hair of a black
+mare’s tail.  Should the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the
+horn receives it, and instantly snaps asunder.  Such horns may be
+purchased in some of the silversmiths’ shops at Seville.
+
+The Gitános have nothing more to say on this species of sorcery than the
+Spaniards, which can cause but little surprise, when we consider that
+they have no traditions, and can give no rational account of themselves,
+nor of the country from which they come.
+
+Some of the women, however, pretend to have the power of casting it,
+though if questioned how they accomplish it, they can return no answer.
+They will likewise sell remedies for the evil eye, which need not be
+particularised, as they consist of any drugs which they happen to possess
+or be acquainted with; the prescribers being perfectly reckless as to the
+effect produced on the patient, provided they receive their paltry
+reward.
+
+I have known these beings offer to cure the glanders in a horse (an
+incurable disorder) with the very same powders which they offer as a
+specific for the evil eye.
+
+Leaving, therefore, for a time, the Spaniards and Gitános, whose ideas on
+this subject are very scanty and indistinct, let us turn to other nations
+amongst whom this superstition exists, and endeavour to ascertain on what
+it is founded, and in what it consists.  The fear of the evil eye is
+common amongst all oriental people, whether Turks, Arabs, or Hindoos.  It
+is dangerous in some parts to survey a person with a fixed glance, as he
+instantly concludes that you are casting the evil eye upon him.
+Children, particularly, are afraid of the evil eye from the superstitious
+fear inculcated in their minds in the nursery.  Parents in the East feel
+no delight when strangers look at their children in admiration of their
+loveliness; they consider that you merely look at them in order to blight
+them.  The attendants on the children of the great are enjoined never to
+permit strangers to fix their glance upon them.  I was once in the shop
+of an Armenian at Constantinople, waiting to see a procession which was
+expected to pass by; there was a Janisary there, holding by the hand a
+little boy about six years of age, the son of some Bey; they also had
+come to see the procession.  I was struck with the remarkable loveliness
+of the child, and fixed my glance upon it: presently it became uneasy,
+and turning to the Janisary, said: ‘There are evil eyes upon me; drive
+them away.’  ‘Take your eyes off the child, Frank,’ said the Janisary,
+who had a long white beard, and wore a hanjar.  ‘What harm can they do to
+the child, efendijem?’ said I.  ‘Are they not the eyes of a Frank?’
+replied the Janisary; ‘but were they the eyes of Omar, they should not
+rest on the child.’  ‘Omar,’ said I, ‘and why not Ali?  Don’t you love
+Ali?’  ‘What matters it to you whom I love,’ said the Turk in a rage;
+‘look at the child again with your chesm fanar and I will smite you.’
+‘Bad as my eyes are,’ said I, ‘they can see that you do not love Ali.’
+‘Ya Ali, ya Mahoma, Alahhu!’ {117} said the Turk, drawing his hanjar.
+All Franks, by which are meant Christians, are considered as casters of
+the evil eye.  I was lately at Janina in Albania, where a friend of mine,
+a Greek gentleman, is established as physician.  ‘I have been visiting
+the child of a Jew that is sick,’ said he to me one day; ‘scarcely,
+however, had I left the house, when the father came running after me.
+“You have cast the evil eye on my child,” said he; “come back and spit in
+its face.”  And I assure you,’ continued my friend, ‘that notwithstanding
+all I could say, he compelled me to go back and spit in the face of his
+child.’
+
+Perhaps there is no nation in the world amongst whom this belief is so
+firmly rooted and from so ancient a period as the Jews; it being a
+subject treated of, and in the gravest manner, by the old Rabbinical
+writers themselves, which induces the conclusion that the superstition of
+the evil eye is of an antiquity almost as remote as the origin of the
+Hebrew race; (and can we go farther back?) as the oral traditions of the
+Jews, contained and commented upon in what is called the Talmud, are
+certainly not less ancient than the inspired writings of the Old
+Testament, and have unhappily been at all times regarded by them with
+equal if not greater reverence.
+
+The evil eye is mentioned in Scripture, but of course not in the false
+and superstitious sense; evil in the eye, which occurs in Prov. xxiii. v.
+6, merely denoting niggardness and illiberality.  The Hebrew words are
+_ain ra_, and stand in contradistinction to _ain toub_, or the benignant
+in eye, which denotes an inclination to bounty and liberality.
+
+It is imagined that this blight is most easily inflicted when a person is
+enjoying himself with little or no care for the future, when he is
+reclining in the sun before the door, or when he is full of health and
+spirits: it may be cast designedly or not; and the same effect may be
+produced by an inadvertent word.  It is deemed partially unlucky to say
+to any person, ‘How well you look’; as the probabilities are that such an
+individual will receive a sudden blight and pine away.  We have however
+no occasion to go to Hindoos, Turks, and Jews for this idea; we shall
+find it nearer home, or something akin to it.  Is there one of ourselves,
+however enlightened and free from prejudice, who would not shrink, even
+in the midst of his highest glee and enjoyment, from saying, ‘How happy I
+am!’ or if the words inadvertently escaped him, would he not consider
+them as ominous of approaching evil, and would he not endeavour to
+qualify them by saying, ‘God preserve me!’—Ay, God preserve you, brother!
+Who knows what the morrow will bring forth?
+
+The common remedy for the evil eye, in the East, is the spittle of the
+person who has cast it, provided it can be obtained.  ‘Spit in the face
+of my child,’ said the Jew of Janina to the Greek physician: recourse is
+had to the same means in Barbary, where the superstition is universal.
+In that country both Jews and Moors carry papers about with them scrawled
+with hieroglyphics, which are prepared by their respective priests, and
+sold.  These papers, placed in a little bag, and hung about the person,
+are deemed infallible preservatives from the ‘evil eye.’
+
+Let us now see what the _Talmud_ itself says about the evil eye.  The
+passage which we are about to quote is curious, not so much from the
+subject which it treats of, as in affording an example of the manner in
+which the Rabbins are wont to interpret the Scripture, and the strange
+and wonderful deductions which they draw from words and phrases
+apparently of the greatest simplicity.
+
+    ‘Whosoever when about to enter into a city is afraid of evil eyes,
+    let him grasp the thumb of his right hand with his left hand, and his
+    left-hand thumb with his right hand, and let him cry in this manner:
+    “I am such a one, son of such a one, sprung from the seed of Joseph”;
+    and the evil eyes shall not prevail against him.  _Joseph is a
+    fruitful bough_, _a fruitful bough by a well_, {120a} etc.  Now you
+    should not say _by a well_, but _over an eye_. {120b}  Rabbi Joseph
+    Bar Henina makes the following deduction: _and they shall become_
+    (the seed of Joseph) _like fishes in multitude in the midst of the
+    earth_. {120c}  Now the fishes of the sea are covered by the waters,
+    and the evil eye has no power over them; and so over those of the
+    seed of Joseph the evil eye has no power.’
+
+I have been thus diffuse upon the evil eye, because of late years it has
+been a common practice of writers to speak of it without apparently
+possessing any farther knowledge of the subject than what may be gathered
+from the words themselves.
+
+Like most other superstitions, it is, perhaps, founded on a physical
+reality.
+
+I have observed, that only in hot countries, where the sun and moon are
+particularly dazzling, the belief in the evil eye is prevalent.  If we
+turn to Scripture, the wonderful book which is capable of resolving every
+mystery, I believe that we shall presently come to the solution of the
+evil eye.  ‘The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.’
+Ps. cxxi. v. 6.
+
+Those who wish to avoid the evil eye, instead of trusting in charms,
+scrawls, and Rabbinical antidotes, let them never loiter in the sunshine
+before the king of day has nearly reached his bourn in the west; for the
+sun has an evil eye, and his glance produces brain fevers; and let them
+not sleep uncovered beneath the smile of the moon, for her glance is
+poisonous, and produces insupportable itching in the eye, and not
+unfrequently blindness.
+
+The northern nations have a superstition which bears some resemblance to
+the evil eye, when allowance is made for circumstances.  They have no
+brilliant sun and moon to addle the brain and poison the eye, but the
+grey north has its marshes, and fenny ground, and fetid mists, which
+produce agues, low fevers, and moping madness, and are as fatal to cattle
+as to man.  Such disorders are attributed to elves and fairies.  This
+superstition still lingers in some parts of England under the name of
+elf-shot, whilst, throughout the north, it is called elle-skiod, and
+elle-vild (fairy wild).  It is particularly prevalent amongst shepherds
+and cow-herds, the people who, from their manner of life, are most
+exposed to the effects of the elf-shot.  Those who wish to know more of
+this superstition are referred to Thiele’s—_Danske Folkesagn_, and to the
+notes of the _Koempe-viser_, or popular Danish Ballads.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+WHEN the six hundred thousand men, {122} and the mixed multitude of women
+and children, went forth from the land of Egypt, the God whom they
+worshipped, the only true God, went before them by day in a pillar of
+cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give
+them light; this God who rescued them from slavery, who guided them
+through the wilderness, who was their captain in battle, and who cast
+down before them the strong walls which encompassed the towns of their
+enemies, this God they still remember, after the lapse of more than three
+thousand years, and still worship with adoration the most unbounded.  If
+there be one event in the eventful history of the Hebrews which awakens
+in their minds deeper feelings of gratitude than another, it is the
+exodus; and that wonderful manifestation of olden mercy still serves them
+as an assurance that the Lord will yet one day redeem and gather together
+his scattered and oppressed people.  ‘Art thou not the God who brought us
+out of the land of bondage?’ they exclaim in the days of their heaviest
+trouble and affliction.  He who redeemed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh
+is yet capable of restoring the kingdom and sceptre to Israel.
+
+If the Rommany trusted in any God at the period of _their_ exodus, they
+must speedily have forgotten him.  Coming from Ind, as they most
+assuredly did, it was impossible for them to have known the true, and
+they must have been followers (if they followed any) either of Buddh, or
+Brahmah, those tremendous phantoms which have led, and are likely still
+to lead, the souls of hundreds of millions to destruction; yet they are
+now ignorant of such names, nor does it appear that such were ever
+current amongst them subsequent to their arrival in Europe, if indeed
+they ever were.  They brought with them no Indian idols, as far as we are
+able to judge at the present time, nor indeed Indian rites or
+observances, for no traces of such are to be discovered amongst them.
+
+All, therefore, which relates to their original religion is shrouded in
+mystery, and is likely so to remain.  They may have been idolaters, or
+atheists, or what they now are, totally neglectful of worship of any
+kind; and though not exactly prepared to deny the existence of a Supreme
+Being, as regardless of him as if he existed not, and never mentioning
+his name, save in oaths and blasphemy, or in moments of pain or sudden
+surprise, as they have heard other people do, but always without any
+fixed belief, trust, or hope.
+
+There are certainly some points of resemblance between the children of
+Roma and those of Israel.  Both have had an exodus, both are exiles and
+dispersed amongst the Gentiles, by whom they are hated and despised, and
+whom they hate and despise, under the names of Busnees and Goyim; both,
+though speaking the language of the Gentiles, possess a peculiar tongue,
+which the latter do not understand, and both possess a peculiar cast of
+countenance, by which they may, without difficulty, be distinguished from
+all other nations; but with these points the similarity terminates.  The
+Israelites have a peculiar religion, to which they are fanatically
+attached; the Romas have none, as they invariably adopt, though only in
+appearance, that of the people with whom they chance to sojourn; the
+Israelites possess the most authentic history of any people in the world,
+and are acquainted with and delight to recapitulate all that has befallen
+their race, from ages the most remote; the Romas have no history, they do
+not even know the name of their original country; and the only tradition
+which they possess, that of their Egyptian origin, is a false one,
+whether invented by themselves or others; the Israelites are of all
+people the most wealthy, the Romas the most poor—poor as a Gypsy being
+proverbial amongst some nations, though both are equally greedy of gain;
+and finally, though both are noted for peculiar craft and cunning, no
+people are more ignorant than the Romas, whilst the Jews have always been
+a learned people, being in possession of the oldest literature in the
+world, and certainly the most important and interesting.
+
+Sad and weary must have been the path of the mixed rabble of the Romas,
+when they left India’s sunny land and wended their way to the West, in
+comparison with the glorious exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, whose
+God went before them in cloud and in fire, working miracles and
+astonishing the hearts of their foes.
+
+Even supposing that they worshipped Buddh or Brahmah, neither of these
+false deities could have accomplished for them what God effected for his
+chosen people, although it is true that the idea that a Supreme Being was
+watching over them, in return for the reverence paid to his image, might
+have cheered them ‘midst storm and lightning, ‘midst mountains and
+wildernesses, ‘midst hunger and drought; for it is assuredly better to
+trust even in an idol, in a tree, or a stone, than to be entirely
+godless; and the most superstitious hind of the Himalayan hills, who
+trusts in the Grand Foutsa in the hour of peril and danger, is more wise
+than the most enlightened atheist, who cherishes no consoling delusion to
+relieve his mind, oppressed by the terrible ideas of reality.
+
+But it is evident that they arrived at the confines of Europe without any
+certain or rooted faith.  Knowing, as we do, with what tenacity they
+retain their primitive habits and customs, their sect being, in all
+points, the same as it was four hundred years ago, it appears impossible
+that they should have forgotten their peculiar god, if in any peculiar
+god they trusted.
+
+Though cloudy ideas of the Indian deities might be occasionally floating
+in their minds, these ideas, doubtless, quickly passed away when they
+ceased to behold the pagodas and temples of Indian worship, and were no
+longer in contact with the enthusiastic adorers of the idols of the East;
+they passed away even as the dim and cloudy ideas which they subsequently
+adopted of the Eternal and His Son, Mary and the saints, would pass away
+when they ceased to be nourished by the sight of churches and crosses;
+for should it please the Almighty to reconduct the Romas to Indian
+climes, who can doubt that within half a century they would entirely
+forget all connected with the religion of the West!  Any poor shreds of
+that faith which they bore with them they would drop by degrees as they
+would relinquish their European garments when they became old, and as
+they relinquished their Asiatic ones to adopt those of Europe; no
+particular dress makes a part of the things essential to the sect of
+Roma, so likewise no particular god and no particular religion.
+
+Where these people first assumed the name of Egyptians, or where that
+title was first bestowed upon them, it is difficult to determine;
+perhaps, however, in the eastern parts of Europe, where it should seem
+the grand body of this nation of wanderers made a halt for a considerable
+time, and where they are still to be found in greater numbers than in any
+other part.  One thing is certain, that when they first entered Germany,
+which they speedily overran, they appeared under the character of
+Egyptians, doing penance for the sin of having refused hospitality to the
+Virgin and her Son, and, of course, as believers in the Christian faith,
+notwithstanding that they subsisted by the perpetration of every kind of
+robbery and imposition; Aventinus (_Annales Boiorum_, 826) speaking of
+them says: ‘Adeo tamen vana superstitio hominum mentes, velut lethargus
+invasit, ut eos violari nefas putet, atque grassari, furari, imponere
+passim sinant.’
+
+This singular story of banishment from Egypt, and Wandering through the
+world for a period of seven years, for inhospitality displayed to the
+Virgin, and which I find much difficulty in attributing to the invention
+of people so ignorant as the Romas, tallies strangely with the fate
+foretold to the ancient Egyptians in certain chapters of Ezekiel, so much
+so, indeed, that it seems to be derived from that source.  The Lord is
+angry with Egypt because its inhabitants have been a staff of reed to the
+house of Israel, and thus he threatens them by the mouth of his prophet.
+
+    ‘I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries
+    that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid
+    waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians
+    among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.’
+    Ezek., chap. xxix. v. 12.  ‘Yet thus saith the Lord God; at the end
+    of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither
+    they were scattered.’ v. 13.
+
+    ‘Thus saith the Lord; I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by
+    the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.’  Chap. xxx. v. 10.
+
+    ‘And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse
+    them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord.’
+    Chap. xxx. v. 26.
+
+The reader will at once observe that the apocryphal tale which the Romas
+brought into Germany, concerning their origin and wanderings, agrees in
+every material point with the sacred prophecy.  The ancient Egyptians
+were to be driven from their country and dispersed amongst the nations,
+for a period of forty years, for having been the cause of Israel’s
+backsliding, and for not having known the Lord,—the modern
+pseudo-Egyptians are to be dispersed among the nations for seven years,
+for having denied hospitality to the Virgin and her child.  The prophecy
+seems only to have been remodelled for the purpose of suiting the taste
+of the time; as no legend possessed much interest in which the Virgin did
+not figure, she and her child are here introduced instead of the
+Israelites, and the Lord of Heaven offended with the Egyptians; and this
+legend appears to have been very well received in Germany, for a time at
+least, for, as Aventinus observes, it was esteemed a crime of the first
+magnitude to offer any violence to the Egyptian pilgrims, who were
+permitted to rob on the highway, to commit larceny, and to practise every
+species of imposition with impunity.
+
+The tale, however, of the Romas could hardly have been invented by
+themselves, as they were, and still are, utterly unacquainted with the
+Scripture; it probably originated amongst the priests and learned men of
+the east of Europe, who, startled by the sudden apparition of bands of
+people foreign in appearance and language, skilled in divination and the
+occult arts, endeavoured to find in Scripture a clue to such a
+phenomenon; the result of which was, that the Romas of Hindustan were
+suddenly transformed into Egyptian penitents, a title which they have
+ever since borne in various parts of Europe.  There are no means of
+ascertaining whether they themselves believed from the first in this
+story; they most probably took it on credit, more especially as they
+could give no account of themselves, there being every reason for
+supposing that from time immemorial they had existed in the East as a
+thievish wandering sect, as they at present do in Europe, without history
+or traditions, and unable to look back for a period of eighty years.  The
+tale moreover answered their purpose, as beneath the garb of penitence
+they could rob and cheat with impunity, for a time at least.  One thing
+is certain, that in whatever manner the tale of their Egyptian descent
+originated, many branches of the sect place implicit confidence in it at
+the present day, more especially those of England and Spain.
+
+Even at the present time there are writers who contend that the Romas are
+the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who were scattered amongst the
+nations by the Assyrians.  This belief they principally found upon
+particular parts of the prophecy from which we have already quoted, and
+there is no lack of plausibility in the arguments which they deduce
+therefrom.  The Egyptians, say they, were to fall upon the open fields,
+they were not to be brought together nor gathered; they were to be
+dispersed through the countries, their idols were to be destroyed, and
+their images were to cease out of Noph!  In what people in the world do
+these denunciations appear to be verified save the Gypsies?—a people who
+pass their lives in the open fields, who are not gathered together, who
+are dispersed through the countries, who have no idols, no images, nor
+any fixed or certain religion.
+
+In Spain, the want of religion amongst the Gitános was speedily observed,
+and became quite as notorious as their want of honesty; they have been
+styled atheists, heathen idolaters, and Moors.  In the little book of
+Quiñones’, we find the subject noticed in the following manner:—
+
+    ‘They do not understand what kind of thing the church is, and never
+    enter it but for the purpose of committing sacrilege.  They do not
+    know the prayers; for I examined them myself, males and females, and
+    they knew them not, or if any, very imperfectly.  They never partake
+    of the Holy Sacraments, and though they marry relations they procure
+    no dispensations. {130a}  No one knows whether they are baptized.
+    One of the five whom I caused to be hung a few days ago was baptized
+    in the prison, being at the time upwards of thirty years of age.  Don
+    Martin Fajardo says that two Gitános and a Gitána, whom he hanged in
+    the village of Torre Perojil, were baptized at the foot of the
+    gallows, and declared themselves Moors.
+
+    ‘They invariably look out, when they marry, if we can call theirs
+    marrying, for the woman most dexterous in pilfering and deceiving,
+    caring nothing whether she is akin to them or married already, {130b}
+    for it is only necessary to keep her company and to call her wife.
+    Sometimes they purchase them from their husbands, or receive them as
+    pledges: so says, at least, Doctor Salazar de Mendoza.
+
+    ‘Friar Melchior of Guelama states that he heard asserted of two
+    Gitános what was never yet heard of any barbarous nation, namely,
+    that they exchanged their wives, and that as one was more comely
+    looking than the other, he who took the handsome woman gave a certain
+    sum of money to him who took the ugly one.  The licentiate Alonzo
+    Duran has certified to me, that in the year 1623–4, one Simon
+    Ramirez, captain of a band of Gitános, repudiated Teresa because she
+    was old, and married one called Melchora, who was young and handsome,
+    and that on the day when the repudiation took place and the bridal
+    was celebrated he was journeying along the road, and perceived a
+    company feasting and revelling beneath some trees in a plain within
+    the jurisdiction of the village of Deleitosa, and that on demanding
+    the cause he was told that it was on account of Simon Ramirez
+    marrying one Gitána and casting off another; and that the repudiated
+    woman told him, with an agony of tears, that he abandoned her because
+    she was old, and married another because she was young.  Certainly
+    Gitános and Gitánas confessed before Don Martin Fajardo that they did
+    not really marry, but that in their banquets and festivals they
+    selected the woman whom they liked, and that it was lawful for them
+    to have as many as three mistresses, and on that account they begat
+    so many children.  They never keep fasts nor any ecclesiastical
+    command.  They always eat meat, Friday and Lent not excepted; the
+    morning when I seized those whom I afterwards executed, which was in
+    Lent, they had three lambs which they intended to eat for their
+    dinner that day.—Quiñones, page 13.
+
+Although what is stated in the above extracts, respecting the marriages
+of the Gitános and their licentious manner of living, is, for the most
+part, incorrect, there is no reason to conclude the same with respect to
+their want of religion in the olden time, and their slight regard for the
+forms and observances of the church, as their behaviour at the present
+day serves to confirm what is said on those points.  From the whole, we
+may form a tolerably correct idea of the opinions of the time respecting
+the Gitános in matters of morality and religion.  A very natural question
+now seems to present itself, namely, what steps did the government of
+Spain, civil and ecclesiastical, which has so often trumpeted its zeal in
+the cause of what it calls the Christian religion, which has so often
+been the scourge of the Jew, of the Mahometan, and of the professors of
+the reformed faith; what steps did it take towards converting, punishing,
+and rooting out from Spain, a sect of demi-atheists, who, besides being
+cheats and robbers, displayed the most marked indifference for the forms
+of the Catholic religion, and presumed to eat flesh every day, and to
+intermarry with their relations, without paying the vicegerent of Christ
+here on earth for permission so to do?
+
+The Gitános have at all times, since their first appearance in Spain,
+been notorious for their contempt of religious observances; yet there is
+no proof that they were subjected to persecution on that account.  The
+men have been punished as robbers and murderers, with the gallows and the
+galleys; the women, as thieves and sorceresses, with imprisonment,
+flagellation, and sometimes death; but as a rabble, living without fear
+of God, and, by so doing, affording an evil example to the nation at
+large, few people gave themselves much trouble about them, though they
+may have occasionally been designated as such in a royal edict, intended
+to check their robberies, or by some priest from the pulpit, from whose
+stable they had perhaps contrived to extract the mule which previously
+had the honour of ambling beneath his portly person.
+
+The Inquisition, which burnt so many Jews and Moors, and conscientious
+Christians, at Seville and Madrid, and in other parts of Spain, seems to
+have exhibited the greatest clemency and forbearance to the Gitános.
+Indeed, we cannot find one instance of its having interfered with them.
+The charge of restraining the excesses of the Gitános was abandoned
+entirely to the secular authorities, and more particularly to the Santa
+Hermandad, a kind of police instituted for the purpose of clearing the
+roads of robbers.  Whilst I resided at Cordova, I was acquainted with an
+aged ecclesiastic, who was priest of a village called Puente, at about
+two leagues’ distance from the city.  He was detained in Cordova on
+account of his political opinions, though he was otherwise at liberty.
+We lived together at the same house; and he frequently visited me in my
+apartment.
+
+This person, who was upwards of eighty years of age, had formerly been
+inquisitor at Cordova.  One night, whilst we were seated together, three
+Gitános entered to pay me a visit, and on observing the old ecclesiastic,
+exhibited every mark of dissatisfaction, and speaking in their own idiom,
+called him a _balichow_, and abused priests in general in most unmeasured
+terms.  On their departing, I inquired of the old man whether he, who
+having been an inquisitor, was doubtless versed in the annals of the holy
+office, could inform me whether the Inquisition had ever taken any active
+measures for the suppression and punishment of the sect of the Gitános:
+whereupon he replied, ‘that he was not aware of one case of a Gitáno
+having been tried or punished by the Inquisition’; adding these
+remarkable words: ‘The Inquisition always looked upon them with too much
+contempt to give itself the slightest trouble concerning them; for as no
+danger either to the state, or the church of Rome, could proceed from the
+Gitános, it was a matter of perfect indifference to the holy office
+whether they lived without religion or not.  The holy office has always
+reserved its anger for people very different; the Gitános having at all
+times been _Gente barata y despreciable_.
+
+Indeed, most of the persecutions which have arisen in Spain against Jews,
+Moors, and Protestants, sprang from motives with which fanaticism and
+bigotry, of which it is true the Spaniards have their full share, had
+very little connection.  Religion was assumed as a mask to conceal the
+vilest and most detestable motives which ever yet led to the commission
+of crying injustice; the Jews were doomed to persecution and destruction
+on two accounts,—their great riches, and their high superiority over the
+Spaniards in learning and intellect.  Avarice has always been the
+dominant passion in Spanish minds, their rage for money being only to be
+compared to the wild hunger of wolves for horse-flesh in the time of
+winter: next to avarice, envy of superior talent and accomplishment is
+the prevailing passion.  These two detestable feelings united, proved the
+ruin of the Jews in Spain, who were, for a long time, an eyesore, both to
+the clergy and laity, for their great riches and learning.  Much the same
+causes insured the expulsion of the Moriscos, who were abhorred for their
+superior industry, which the Spaniards would not imitate; whilst the
+reformation was kept down by the gaunt arm of the Inquisition, lest the
+property of the church should pass into other and more deserving hands.
+The faggot piles in the squares of Seville and Madrid, which consumed the
+bodies of the Hebrew, the Morisco, and the Protestant, were lighted by
+avarice and envy, and those same piles would likewise have consumed the
+mulatto carcass of the Gitáno, had he been learned and wealthy enough to
+become obnoxious to the two master passions of the Spaniards.
+
+Of all the Spanish writers who have written concerning the Gitános, the
+one who appears to have been most scandalised at the want of religion
+observable amongst them, and their contempt for things sacred, was a
+certain Doctor Sancho De Moncada.
+
+This worthy, whom we have already had occasion to mention, was Professor
+of Theology at the University of Toledo, and shortly after the expulsion
+of the Moriscos had been brought about by the intrigues of the monks and
+robbers who thronged the court of Philip the Third, he endeavoured to get
+up a cry against the Gitános similar to that with which for the last
+half-century Spain had resounded against the unfortunate and oppressed
+Africans, and to effect this he published a discourse, entitled ‘The
+Expulsion of the Gitános,’ addressed to Philip the Third, in which he
+conjures that monarch, for the sake of morality and everything sacred, to
+complete the good work he had commenced, and to send the Gitános packing
+after the Moriscos.
+
+Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author, we have no
+means of ascertaining.  One thing is certain, that it did no harm to the
+Gitános, who still continue in Spain.
+
+If he had other expectations, he must have understood very little of the
+genius of his countrymen, or of King Philip and his court.  It would have
+been easier to get up a crusade against the wild cats of the sierra, than
+against the Gitános, as the former have skins to reward those who slay
+them.  His discourse, however, is well worthy of perusal, as it exhibits
+some learning, and comprises many curious details respecting the Gitános,
+their habits, and their practices.  As it is not very lengthy, we here
+subjoin it, hoping that the reader will excuse its many absurdities, for
+the sake of its many valuable facts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+‘SIRE,
+
+‘The people of God were always afflicted by the Egyptians, but the
+Supreme King delivered them from their hands by means of many miracles,
+which are related in the Holy Scriptures; and now, without having
+recourse to so many, but only by means of the miraculous talent which
+your Majesty possesses for expelling such reprobates, he will, doubtless,
+free this kingdom from them, which is what is supplicated in this
+discourse, and it behoves us, in the first place, to consider
+
+
+‘WHO ARE THE GITÁNOS?
+
+
+‘Writers generally agree that the first time the Gitános were seen in
+Europe was the year 1417, which was in the time of Pope Martinus the
+Fifth and King Don John the Second; others say that Tamerlane had them in
+his camp in 1401, and that their captain was Cingo, from whence it is
+said that they call themselves Cingary.  But the opinions concerning
+their origin are infinite.
+
+‘The first is that they are foreigners, though authors differ much with
+respect to the country from whence they came.  The majority say that they
+are from Africa, and that they came with the Moors when Spain was lost;
+others that they are Tartars, Persians, Cilicians, Nubians, from Lower
+Egypt, from Syria, or from other parts of Asia and Africa, and others
+consider them to be descendants of Chus, son of Cain; others say that
+they are of European origin, Bohemians, Germans, or outcasts from other
+nations of this quarter of the world.
+
+‘The second and sure opinion is, that those who prowl about Spain are not
+Egyptians, but swarms of wasps and atheistical wretches, without any kind
+of law or religion, Spaniards, who have introduced this Gypsy life or
+sect, and who admit into it every day all the idle and broken people of
+Spain.  There are some foreigners who would make Spain the origin and
+fountain of all the Gypsies of Europe, as they say that they proceeded
+from a river in Spain called Cija, of which Lucan makes mention; an
+opinion, however, not much adopted amongst the learned.  In the opinion
+of respectable authors, they are called Cingary or Cinli, because they in
+every respect resemble the bird cinclo, which we call in Spanish
+Motacilla, or aguzanieve (wagtail), which is a vagrant bird and builds no
+nest, {138} but broods in those of other birds, a bird restless and poor
+of plumage, as Ælian writes.
+
+
+‘THE GITÁNOS ARE VERY HURTFUL TO SPAIN
+
+
+‘There is not a nation which does not consider them as a most pernicious
+rabble; even the Turks and Moors abominate them, amongst whom this sect
+is found under the names of Torlaquis, {139} Hugiemalars, and Dervislars,
+of whom some historians make mention, and all agree that they are most
+evil people, and highly detrimental to the country where they are found.
+
+‘In the first place, because in all parts they are considered as enemies
+of the states where they wander, and as spies and traitors to the crown;
+which was proven by the emperors Maximilian and Albert, who declared them
+to be such in public edicts; a fact easy to be believed, when we consider
+that they enter with ease into the enemies’ country, and know the
+languages of all nations.
+
+‘Secondly, because they are idle vagabond people, who are in no respect
+useful to the kingdom; without commerce, occupation, or trade of any
+description; and if they have any it is making picklocks and pothooks for
+appearance sake, being wasps, who only live by sucking and impoverishing
+the country, sustaining themselves by the sweat of the miserable
+labourers, as a German poet has said of them:—
+
+    “Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare molestum,
+    Fastidit patrium non nisi nosse solum.”
+
+They are much more useless than the Moriscos, as these last were of some
+service to the state and the royal revenues, but the Gitános are neither
+labourers, gardeners, mechanics, nor merchants, and only serve, like the
+wolves, to plunder and to flee.
+
+‘Thirdly, because the Gitánas are public harlots, common, as it is said,
+to all the Gitános, and with dances, demeanour, and filthy songs, are the
+cause of continual detriment to the souls of the vassals of your Majesty,
+it being notorious that they have done infinite harm in many honourable
+houses by separating the married women from their husbands, and
+perverting the maidens: and finally, in the best of these Gitánas any one
+may recognise all the signs of a harlot given by the wise king; they are
+gadders about, whisperers, always unquiet in places and corners.
+
+‘Fourthly, because in all parts they are accounted famous thieves, about
+which authors write wonderful things; we ourselves have continual
+experience of this fact in Spain, where there is scarcely a corner where
+they have not committed some heavy offence.
+
+‘Father Martin Del Rio says they were notorious when he was in Leon in
+the year 1584; as they even attempted to sack the town of Logroño in the
+time of the pest, as Don Francisco De Cordoba writes in his _Didascalia_.
+Enormous cases of their excesses we see in infinite processes in all the
+tribunals, and particularly in that of the Holy Brotherhood; their
+wickedness ascending to such a pitch, that they steal children, and carry
+them for sale to Barbary; the reason why the Moors call them in Arabic,
+_Raso cherany_, {140} which, as Andreas Tebetus writes, means _master
+thieves_.  Although they are addicted to every species of robbery, they
+mostly practise horse and cattle stealing, on which account they are
+called in law _Abigeos_, and in Spanish _Quatreros_, from which practice
+great evils result to the poor labourers.  When they cannot steal cattle,
+they endeavour to deceive by means of them, acting as _terceros_, in
+fairs and markets.
+
+‘Fifthly, because they are enchanters, diviners, magicians, chiromancers,
+who tell the future by the lines of the hand, which is what they call
+_Buena ventura_, and are in general addicted to all kind of superstition.
+
+‘This is the opinion entertained of them universally, and which is
+confirmed every day by experience; and some think that they are caller
+Cingary, from the great Magian Cineus, from whom it is said they learned
+their sorceries, and from which result in Spain (especially amongst the
+vulgar) great errors, and superstitious credulity, mighty witchcrafts,
+and heavy evils, both spiritual and corporeal.
+
+‘Sixthly, because very devout men consider them as heretics, and many as
+Gentile idolaters, or atheists, without any religion, although they
+exteriorly accommodate themselves to the religion of the country in which
+they wander, being Turks with the Turks, heretics with the heretics, and,
+amongst the Christians, baptizing now and then a child for form’s sake.
+Friar Jayme Bleda produces a hundred signs, from which he concludes that
+the Moriscos were not Christians, all which are visible in the Gitános;
+very few are known to baptize their children; they are not married, but
+it is believed that they keep the women in common; they do not use
+dispensations, nor receive the sacraments; they pay no respect to images,
+rosaries, bulls, neither do they hear mass, nor divine services; they
+never enter the churches, nor observe fasts, Lent, nor any ecclesiastical
+precept; which enormities have been attested by long experience, as every
+person says.
+
+‘Finally, they practise every kind of wickedness in safety, by
+discoursing amongst themselves in a language with which they understand
+each other without being understood, which in Spain is called Gerigonza,
+which, as some think, ought to be called Cingerionza, or language of
+Cingary.  The king our lord saw the evil of such a practice in the law
+which he enacted at Madrid, in the year 1566, in which he forbade the
+Arabic to the Moriscos, as the use of different languages amongst the
+natives of one kingdom opens a door to treason, and is a source of heavy
+inconvenience; and this is exemplified more in the case of the Gitános
+than of any other people.
+
+
+‘THE GITÁNOS OUGHT TO BE SEIZED WHEREVER FOUND
+
+
+‘The civil law ordains that vagrants be seized wherever they are found,
+without any favour being shown to them; in conformity with which, the
+Gitános in the Greek empire were given as slaves to those who should
+capture them; as respectable authors write.  Moreover, the emperor, our
+lord, has decreed by a law made in Toledo, in the year 1525, _that the
+third time they be found wandering they shall serve as slaves during
+their whole life to those who capture them_.  Which can be easily
+justified, inasmuch as there is no shepherd who does not place barriers
+against the wolves, and does not endeavour to save his flock, and I have
+already exposed to your Majesty the damage which the Gitános perpetrate
+in Spain.
+
+
+‘THE GITÁNOS OUGHT TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+
+
+‘The reasons are many.  The first, for being spies, and traitors to the
+crown; the second as idlers and vagabonds.
+
+‘It ought always to be considered, that no sooner did the race of man
+begin, after the creation of the world, than the important point of civil
+policy arose of condemning vagrants to death; for Cain was certain that
+he should meet his destruction in wandering as a vagabond for the murder
+of Abel.  _Ero vagus et profugus in terra: omnis igitur qui invenerit
+me_, _occidet me_.  Now, the _igitur_ stands here as the natural
+consequence of _vagus ero_; as it is evident, that whoever shall see me
+must kill me, because he sees me a wanderer.  And it must always be
+remembered, that at that time there were no people in the world but the
+parents and brothers of Cain, as St. Ambrose has remarked.  Moreover,
+God, by the mouth of Jeremias, menaced his people, that all should devour
+them whilst they went wandering amongst the mountains.  And it is a
+doctrine entertained by theologians, that the mere act of wandering,
+without anything else, carries with it a vehement suspicion of capital
+crime.  Nature herself demonstrates it in the curious political system of
+the bees, in whose well-governed republic the drones are killed in April,
+when they commence working.
+
+‘The third, because they are stealers of four-footed beasts, who are
+condemned to death by the laws of Spain, in the wise code of the famous
+King Don Alonso; which enactment became a part of the common law.
+
+‘The fourth, for wizards, diviners, and for practising arts which are
+prohibited under pain of death by the divine law itself.  And Saul is
+praised for having caused this law to be put in execution in the
+beginning of his reign; and the Holy Scripture attributes to the breach
+of it (namely, his consulting the witch) his disastrous death, and the
+transfer of the kingdom to David.  The Emperor Constantine the Great, and
+other emperors who founded the civil law, condemned to death those who
+should practise such facinorousness,—as the President of Tolosa has
+written.
+
+‘The last and most urgent cause is, that they are heretics, if what is
+said be truth; and it is the practice of the law in Spain to burn such.
+
+
+‘THE GITÁNOS ARE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNTRY BY THE LAWS OF SPAIN
+
+
+‘Firstly, they are comprehended as hale beggars in the law of the wise
+king, Don Alonso, by which he expelled all sturdy beggars, as being idle
+and useless.
+
+‘Secondly, the law expels public harlots from the city; and of this
+matter I have already said something in my second chapter.
+
+‘Thirdly, as people who cause scandal, and who, as is visible at the
+first glance, are prejudicial to morals and common decency.  Now, it is
+established by the statute law of these kingdoms, that such people be
+expelled therefrom; it is said so in the well-pondered words of the edict
+for the expulsion of the Moors: “And forasmuch as the sense of good and
+Christian government makes it a matter of conscience to expel from the
+kingdoms the things which cause scandal, injury to honest subjects,
+danger to the state, and above all, disloyalty to the Lord our God.”
+Therefore, considering the incorrigibility of the Gitános, the Spanish
+kings made many holy laws in order to deliver their subjects from such
+pernicious people.
+
+‘Fourthly, the Catholic princes, Ferdinand and Isabella, by a law which
+they made in Medina del Campo, in the year 1494, and which the emperor
+our lord renewed in Toledo in 1523, and in Madrid in 1528 and 1534, and
+the late king our lord, in 1560, banished them perpetually from Spain,
+and gave them as slaves to whomsoever should find them, after the
+expiration of the term specified in the edict—laws which are notorious
+even amongst strangers.  The words are:—“We declare to be vagabonds, and
+subject to the aforesaid penalty, the Egyptians and foreign tinkers, who
+by laws and statutes of these kingdoms are commanded to depart therefrom;
+and the poor sturdy beggars, who contrary to the order given in the new
+edict, beg for alms and wander about.”
+
+
+‘THE LAWS ARE VERY JUST WHICH EXPEL THE GITÁNOS FROM THE STATES
+
+
+All the doctors, who are of opinion that the Gitános may be condemned to
+death, would consider it as an act of mercy in your Majesty to banish
+them perpetually from Spain, and at the same time as exceedingly just.
+Many and learned men not only consider that it is just to expel them, but
+cannot sufficiently wonder that they are tolerated in Christian states,
+and even consider that such toleration is an insult to the kingdoms.
+
+‘Whilst engaged in writing this, I have seen a very learned memorial, in
+which Doctor Salazar de Mendoza makes the same supplication to your
+Majesty which is made in this discourse, holding it to be the imperious
+duty of every good government.
+
+‘It stands in reason that the prince is bound to watch for the welfare of
+his subjects, and the wrongs which those of your Majesty receive from the
+Gitános I have already exposed in my second chapter; it being a point
+worthy of great consideration that the wrongs caused by the Moriscos
+moved your royal and merciful bosom to drive them out, although they were
+many, and their departure would be felt as a loss to the population, the
+commerce, the royal revenues, and agriculture.  Now, with respect to the
+Gitános, as they are few, and perfectly useless for everything, it
+appears more necessary to drive them forth, the injuries which they cause
+being so numerous.
+
+‘Secondly, because the Gitános, as I have already said, are Spaniards;
+and as others profess the sacred orders of religion, even so do these
+fellows profess gypsying, which is robbery and all the other vices
+enumerated in chapter the second.  And whereas it is just to banish from
+the kingdom those who have committed any heavy delinquency, it is still
+more so to banish those who profess to be injurious to all.
+
+‘Thirdly, because all the kings and rulers have always endeavoured to
+eject from their kingdoms the idle and useless.  And it is very
+remarkable, that the law invariably commands them to be expelled, and the
+republics of Athens and Corinth were accustomed to do so—casting them
+forth like dung, even as Athenæus writes: _Nos genus hoc mortalium
+ejicimus ex hac urbe velut purgamina_.  Now the profession of the Gypsy
+is idleness.
+
+‘Fourthly, because the Gitános are diviners, enchanters, and mischievous
+wretches, and the law commands us to expel such from the state.
+
+‘In the fifth place, because your Majesty, in the Cortes at present
+assembled, has obliged your royal conscience to fulfil all the articles
+voted for the public service, and the forty-ninth says: “One of the
+things at present most necessary to be done in these kingdoms, is to
+afford a remedy for the robberies, plundering and murders committed by
+the Gitános, who go wandering about the country, stealing the cattle of
+the poor, and committing a thousand outrages, living without any fear of
+God, and being Christians only in name.  It is therefore deemed
+expedient, that your Majesty command them to quit these kingdoms within
+six months, to be reckoned from the day of the ratification of these
+presents, and that they do not return to the same under pain of death.”
+
+‘Against this, two things may possibly be urged:—
+
+‘The first, that the laws of Spain give unto the Gitános the alternative
+of residing in large towns, which, it appears, would be better than
+expelling them.  But experience, recognised by grave and respectable men,
+has shown that it is not well to harbour these people; for their houses
+are dens of thieves, from whence they prowl abroad to rob the land.
+
+‘The second, that it appears a pity to banish the women and children.
+But to this can be opposed that holy act of your Majesty which expelled
+the Moriscos, and the children of the Moriscos, for the reason given in
+the royal edict.  _Whenever any detestable crime is committed by any
+university_, _it is well to punish all_.  And the most detestable crimes
+of all are those which the Gitános commit, since it is notorious that
+they subsist on what they steal; and as to the children, there is no law
+which obliges us to bring up wolf-whelps, to cause here-after certain
+damage to the flock.
+
+
+‘IT HAS EVER BEEN THE PRACTICE OF PRINCES TO EXPEL THE GITÁNOS
+
+
+‘Every one who considers the manner of your Majesty’s government as the
+truly Christian pattern must entertain fervent hope that the advice
+proffered in this discourse will be attended to; more especially on
+reflecting that not only the good, but even the most barbarous kings have
+acted up to it in their respective dominions.
+
+‘Pharaoh was bad enough, nevertheless he judged that the children of
+Israel were dangerous to the state, because they appeared to him to be
+living without any certain occupation; and for this very reason the
+Chaldeans cast them out of Babylon.  Amasis, king of Egypt, drove all the
+vagrants from his kingdom, forbidding them to return under pain of death.
+The Soldan of Egypt expelled the Torlaquis.  The Moors did the same; and
+Bajazet cast them out of all the Ottoman empire, according to Leo
+Clavius.
+
+‘In the second place, the Christian princes have deemed it an important
+measure of state.
+
+‘The emperor our Lord, in the German Diets of the year 1548, expelled the
+Gitános from all his empire, and these were the words of the decree:
+“Zigeuner quos compertum est proditores esse, et exploratores hostium
+nusquam in imperio locum inveniunto.  In deprehensos vis et injuria sine
+fraude esto.  Fides publica Zigeuners ne dator, nec data servator.”
+
+‘The King of France, Francis, expelled them from thence; and the Duke of
+Terranova, when Governor of Milan for our lord the king, obliged them to
+depart from that territory under pain of death.
+
+‘Thirdly, there is one grand reason which ought to be conclusive in
+moving him who so much values himself in being a faithful son of the
+church,—I mean the example which Pope Pius the Fifth gave to all the
+princes; for he drove the Gitános from all his domains, and in the year
+1568, he expelled the Jews, assigning as reasons for their expulsion
+those which are more closely applicable to the Gitános;—namely, that they
+sucked the vitals of the state, without being of any utility whatever;
+that they were thieves themselves, and harbourers of others; that they
+were wizards, diviners, and wretches who induced people to believe that
+they knew the future, which is what the Gitános at present do by telling
+fortunes.
+
+‘Your Majesty has already freed us from greater and more dangerous
+enemies; finish, therefore, the enterprise begun, whence will result
+universal joy and security, and by which your Majesty will earn immortal
+honour.  Amen.
+
+‘O Regum summe, horum plura ne temnas (absit) ne fortè tempsisse Hispaniæ
+periculosum existat.’
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+PERHAPS there is no country in which more laws have been framed, having
+in view the extinction and suppression of the Gypsy name, race, and
+manner of life, than Spain.  Every monarch, during a period of three
+hundred years, appears at his accession to the throne to have considered
+that one of his first and most imperative duties consisted in suppressing
+or checking the robberies, frauds, and other enormities of the Gitános,
+with which the whole country seems to have resounded since the time of
+their first appearance.
+
+They have, by royal edicts, been repeatedly banished from Spain, under
+terrible penalties, unless they renounced their inveterate habits; and
+for the purpose of eventually confounding them with the residue of the
+population, they have been forbidden, even when stationary, to reside
+together, every family being enjoined to live apart, and neither to seek
+nor to hold communication with others of the race.
+
+We shall say nothing at present as to the wisdom which dictated these
+provisions, nor whether others might not have been devised, better
+calculated to produce the end desired.  Certain it is, that the laws were
+never, or very imperfectly, put in force, and for reasons with which
+their expediency or equity (which no one at the time impugned) had no
+connection whatever.
+
+It is true that, in a country like Spain, abounding in wildernesses and
+almost inaccessible mountains, the task of hunting down and exterminating
+or banishing the roving bands would have been found one of no slight
+difficulty, even if such had ever been attempted; but it must be
+remembered, that from an early period colonies of Gitános have existed in
+the principal towns of Spain, where the men have plied the trades of
+jockeys and blacksmiths, and the women subsisted by divination, and all
+kinds of fraud.  These colonies were, of course, always within the reach
+of the hand of justice, yet it does not appear that they were more
+interfered with than the roving and independent bands, and that any
+serious attempts were made to break them up, though notorious as
+nurseries and refuges of crime.
+
+It is a lamentable fact, that pure and uncorrupt justice has never
+existed in Spain, as far at least as record will allow us to judge; not
+that the principles of justice have been less understood there than in
+other countries, but because the entire system of justiciary
+administration has ever been shamelessly profligate and vile.
+
+Spanish justice has invariably been a mockery, a thing to be bought and
+sold, terrible only to the feeble and innocent, and an instrument of
+cruelty and avarice.
+
+The tremendous satires of Le Sage upon Spanish corregidors and alguazils
+are true, even at the present day, and the most notorious offenders can
+generally escape, if able to administer sufficient bribes to the
+ministers {153} of what is misnamed justice.
+
+The reader, whilst perusing the following extracts from the laws framed
+against the Gitános, will be filled with wonder that the Gypsy sect still
+exists in Spain, contrary to the declared will of the sovereign and the
+nation, so often repeated during a period of three hundred years; yet
+such is the fact, and it can only be accounted for on the ground of
+corruption.
+
+It was notorious that the Gitános had powerful friends and favourers in
+every district, who sanctioned and encouraged them in their Gypsy
+practices.  These their fautors were of all ranks and grades, from the
+corregidor of noble blood to the low and obscure escribano; and from the
+viceroy of the province to the archer of the Hermandad.
+
+To the high and noble, they were known as Chalanes, and to the plebeian
+functionaries, as people who, notwithstanding their general poverty,
+could pay for protection.
+
+A law was even enacted against these protectors of the Gitános, which of
+course failed, as the execution of the law was confided to the very
+delinquents against whom it was directed.  Thus, the Gitáno bought, sold,
+and exchanged animals openly, though he subjected himself to the penalty
+of death by so doing, or left his habitation when he thought fit, though
+such an act, by the law of the land, was punishable with the galleys.
+
+In one of their songs they have commemorated the impunity with which they
+wandered about.  The escribano, to whom the Gitános of the neighbourhood
+pay contribution, on a strange Gypsy being brought before him, instantly
+orders him to be liberated, assigning as a reason that he is no Gitáno,
+but a legitimate Spaniard:—
+
+    ‘I left my house, and walked about
+       They seized me fast, and bound:
+    It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+       The Spaniards here have found.
+
+    ‘From out the prison me they led,
+       Before the scribe they brought;
+    It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+       The Spaniards here have caught.’
+
+In a word, nothing was to be gained by interfering with the Gitános, by
+those in whose hands the power was vested; but, on the contrary,
+something was to be lost.  The chief sufferers were the labourers, and
+they had no power to right themselves, though their wrongs were
+universally admitted, and laws for their protection continually being
+made, which their enemies contrived to set at nought; as will presently
+be seen.
+
+The first law issued against the Gypsies appears to have been that of
+Ferdinand and Isabella, at Medina del Campo, in 1499.  In this edict they
+were commanded, under certain penalties, to become stationary in towns
+and villages, and to provide themselves with masters whom they might
+serve for their maintenance, or in default thereof, to quit the kingdom
+at the end of sixty days.  No mention is made of the country to which
+they were expected to betake themselves in the event of their quitting
+Spain.  Perhaps, as they are called Egyptians, it was concluded that they
+would forthwith return to Egypt; but the framers of the law never seem to
+have considered what means these Egyptians possessed of transporting
+their families and themselves across the sea to such a distance, or if
+they betook themselves to other countries, what reception a host of
+people, confessedly thieves and vagabonds, were likely to meet with, or
+whether it was fair in the _two Christian princes_ to get rid of such a
+nuisance at the expense of their neighbours.  Such matters were of course
+left for the Gypsies themselves to settle.
+
+In this edict, a class of individuals is mentioned in conjunction with
+the Gitános, or Gypsies, but distinguished from them by the name of
+foreign tinkers, or Caldéros estrangéros.  By these, we presume, were
+meant the Calabrians, who are still to be seen upon the roads of Spain,
+wandering about from town to town, in much the same way as the itinerant
+tinkers of England at the present day.  A man, half a savage, a haggard
+woman, who is generally a Spaniard, a wretched child, and still more
+miserable donkey, compose the group; the gains are of course exceedingly
+scanty, nevertheless this life, seemingly so wretched, has its charms for
+these outcasts, who live without care and anxiety, without a thought
+beyond the present hour, and who sleep as sound in ruined posadas and
+ventas, or in ravines amongst rocks and pines, as the proudest grandee in
+his palace at Seville or Madrid.
+
+Don Carlos and Donna Juanna, at Toledo, 1539, confirmed the edict of
+Medina del Campo against the Egyptians, with the addition, that if any
+Egyptian, after the expiration of the sixty days, should be found
+wandering about, he should be sent to the galleys for six years, if above
+the age of twenty and under that of fifty, and if under or above those
+years, punished as the preceding law provides.
+
+Philip the Second, at Madrid, 1586, after commanding that all the laws
+and edicts be observed, by which the Gypsies are forbidden to wander
+about, and commanded to establish themselves, ordains, with the view of
+restraining their thievish and cheating practices, that none of them be
+permitted to sell anything, either within or without fairs or markets, if
+not provided with a testimony signed by the notary public, to prove that
+they have a settled residence, and where it may be; which testimony must
+also specify and describe the horses, cattle, linen, and other things,
+which they carry forth for sale; otherwise they are to be punished as
+thieves, and what they attempt to sell considered as stolen property.
+
+Philip the Third, at Belem, in Portugal, 1619, commands all the Gypsies
+of the kingdom to quit the same within the term of six months, and never
+to return, under pain of death; those who should wish to remain are to
+establish themselves in cities, towns, and villages, of one thousand
+families and upwards, and are not to be allowed the use of the dress,
+name, and language of Gypsies, _in order that_, _forasmuch as they are
+not such by nation_, _this name and manner of life may be for evermore
+confounded and forgotten_.  They are moreover forbidden, under the same
+penalty, to have anything to do with the buying or selling of cattle,
+whether great or small.
+
+The most curious portion of the above law is the passage in which these
+people are declared not to be Gypsies by nation.  If they are not
+Gypsies, who are they then?  Spaniards?  If so, what right had the King
+of Spain to send the refuse of his subjects abroad, to corrupt other
+lands, over which he had no jurisdiction?
+
+The Moors were sent back to Africa, under some colour of justice, as they
+came originally from that part of the world; but what would have been
+said to such a measure, if the edict which banished them had declared
+that they were not Moors, but Spaniards?
+
+The law, moreover, in stating that they are not Gypsies by nation, seems
+to have forgotten that in that case it would be impossible to distinguish
+them from other Spaniards, so soon as they should have dropped the name,
+language, and dress of Gypsies.  How, provided they were like other
+Spaniards, and did not carry the mark of another nation on their
+countenances, could it be known whether or not they obeyed the law, which
+commanded them to live only in populous towns or villages, or how could
+they be detected in the buying or selling of cattle, which the law
+forbids them under pain of death?
+
+The attempt to abolish the Gypsy name and manner of life might have been
+made without the assertion of a palpable absurdity.
+
+Philip the Fourth, May 8, 1633, after reference to the evil lives and
+want of religion of the Gypsies, and the complaints made against them by
+prelates and others, declares ‘that the laws hitherto adopted since the
+year 1499, have been inefficient to restrain their excesses; that they
+are not Gypsies by origin or nature, but have adopted this form of life’;
+and then, after forbidding them, according to custom, the dress and
+language of Gypsies, under the usual severe penalties, he ordains:—
+
+‘1st.  That under the same penalties, the aforesaid people shall, within
+two months, leave the quarters (barrios) where they now live with the
+denomination of Gitános, and that they shall separate from each other,
+and mingle with the other inhabitants, and that they shall hold no more
+meetings, neither in public nor in secret; that the ministers of justice
+are to observe, with particular diligence, how they fulfil these
+commands, and whether they hold communication with each other, or marry
+amongst themselves; and how they fulfil the obligations of Christians by
+assisting at sacred worship in the churches; upon which latter point they
+are to procure information with all possible secrecy from the curates and
+clergy of the parishes where the Gitános reside.
+
+‘2ndly.  And in order to extirpate, in every way, the name of Gitános, we
+ordain that they be not called so, and that no one venture to call them
+so, and that such shall be esteemed a very heavy injury, and shall be
+punished as such, if proved, and that nought pertaining to the Gypsies,
+their name, dress, or actions, be represented, either in dances or in any
+other performance, under the penalty of two years’ banishment, and a
+mulct of fifty thousand maravedis to whomsoever shall offend for the
+first time, and double punishment for the second.’
+
+The above two articles seem to have in view the suppression and breaking
+up of the Gypsy colonies established in the large towns, more especially
+the suburbs; farther on, mention is made of the wandering bands.
+
+‘4thly.  And forasmuch as we have understood that numerous Gitános rove
+in bands through various parts of the kingdom, committing robberies in
+uninhabited places, and even invading some small villages, to the great
+terror and danger of the inhabitants, we give by this our law a general
+commission to all ministers of justice, whether appertaining to royal
+domains, lordships, or abbatial territories, that every one may, in his
+district, proceed to the imprisonment and chastisement of the
+delinquents, and may pass beyond his own jurisdiction in pursuit of them;
+and we also command all the ministers of justice aforesaid, that on
+receiving information that Gitános or highwaymen are prowling in their
+districts, they do assemble at an appointed day, and with the necessary
+preparation of men and arms they do hunt down, take, and deliver them
+under a good guard to the nearest officer holding the royal commission.’
+
+Carlos the Second followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, with
+respect to the Gitános.  By a law of the 20th of November 1692, he
+inhibits the Gitános from living in towns of less than one thousand heads
+of families (vecinos), and pursuing any trade or employment, save the
+cultivation of the ground; from going in the dress of Gypsies, or
+speaking the language or gibberish which they use; from living apart in
+any particular quarter of the town; from visiting fairs with cattle,
+great or small, or even selling or exchanging such at any time, unless
+with the testimonial of the public notary, that they were bred within
+their own houses.  By this law they are also forbidden to have firearms
+in their possession.
+
+So far from being abashed by this law, or the preceding one, the Gitános
+seem to have increased in excesses of every kind.  Only three years after
+(12th June 1695), the same monarch deemed it necessary to publish a new
+law for their persecution and chastisement.  This law, which is
+exceedingly severe, consists of twenty-nine articles.  By the fourth they
+are forbidden any other exercise or manner of life than that of the
+cultivation of the fields, in which their wives and children, if of
+competent age, are to assist them.
+
+Of every other office, employment, or commerce, they are declared
+incapable, and especially of being _blacksmiths_.
+
+By the fifth, they are forbidden to keep horses or mares, either within
+or without their houses, or to make use of them in any way whatever,
+under the penalty of two months’ imprisonment and the forfeiture of such
+animals; and any one lending them a horse or a mare is to forfeit the
+same, if it be found in their possession.  They are declared only capable
+of keeping a mule, or some lesser beast, to assist them in their labour,
+or for the use of their families.
+
+By the twelfth, they are to be punished with six years in the galleys, if
+they leave the towns or villages in which they are located, and pass to
+others, or wander in the fields or roads; and they are only to be
+permitted to go out, in order to exercise the pursuit of husbandry.  In
+this edict, particular mention is made of the favour and protection shown
+to the Gitános, by people of various descriptions, by means of which they
+had been enabled to follow their manner of life undisturbed, and to
+baffle the severity of the laws:—
+
+‘Article 16.—And because we understand that the continuance in these
+kingdoms of those who are called Gitános has depended on the favour,
+protection, and assistance which they have experienced from persons of
+different stations, we do ordain, that whosoever, against whom shall be
+proved the fact of having, since the day of the publication hereof,
+favoured, received, or assisted the said Gitános, in any manner whatever,
+whether within their houses or without, the said person, provided he is
+noble, shall be subjected to the fine of six thousand ducats, the half of
+which shall be applied to our treasury, and the other half to the
+expenses of the prosecution; and, if a plebeian, to a punishment of ten
+years in the galleys.  And we declare, that in order to proceed to the
+infliction of such fine and punishment, the evidence of two respectable
+witnesses, without stain or suspicion, shall be esteemed legitimate and
+conclusive, although they depose to separate acts, or three depositions
+of the Gitános themselves, _made upon the rack_, although they relate to
+separate and different acts of abetting and harbouring.’
+
+The following article is curious, as it bears evidence to Gypsy craft and
+cunning:—
+
+‘Article 18.—And whereas it is very difficult to prove against the
+Gitános the robberies and delinquencies which they commit, partly because
+they happen in uninhabited places, but more especially on account of the
+_malice_ and _cunning_ with which they execute them; we do ordain, in
+order that they may receive the merited chastisement, that to convict, in
+these cases, those who are called Gitános, the depositions of the persons
+whom they have robbed in uninhabited places shall be sufficient, provided
+there are at least two witnesses to one and the same fact, and these of
+good fame and reputation; and we also declare, that the _corpus delicti_
+may be proved in the same manner in these cases, in order that the
+culprits may be proceeded against, and condemned to the corresponding
+pains and punishments.’
+
+The council of Madrid published a schedule, 18th of August 1705, from
+which it appears that the villages and roads were so much infested by the
+Gitáno race, that there was neither peace nor safety for labourers and
+travellers; the corregidors and justices are therefore exhorted to use
+their utmost endeavour to apprehend these outlaws, and to execute upon
+them the punishments enjoined by the preceding law.  The ministers of
+justice are empowered to fire upon them as public enemies, wherever they
+meet them, in case of resistance or refusal to deliver up the arms they
+carry about them.
+
+Philip the Fifth, by schedule, October 1st, 1726, forbade any complaints
+which the Gitános might have to make against the inferior justices being
+heard in the higher tribunals, and, on that account, banished all the
+Gypsy women from Madrid, and, indeed, from all towns where royal
+audiences were held, it being the custom of the women to flock up to the
+capital from the small towns and villages, under pretence of claiming
+satisfaction for wrongs inflicted upon their husbands and relations, and
+when there to practise the art of divination, and to sing obscene songs
+through the streets; by this law, also, the justices are particularly
+commanded not to permit the Gitános to leave their places of domicile,
+except in cases of very urgent necessity.
+
+This law was attended with the same success as the others; the Gitános
+left their places of domicile whenever they thought proper, frequented
+the various fairs, and played off their jockey tricks as usual, or
+traversed the country in armed gangs, plundering the small villages, and
+assaulting travellers.
+
+The same monarch, in October, published another law against them, from
+St. Lorenzo, of the Escurial.  From the words of this edict, and the
+measures resolved upon, the reader may form some idea of the excesses of
+the Gitános at this period.  They are to be hunted down with fire and
+sword, and even the sanctity of the temples is to be invaded in their
+pursuit, and the Gitános dragged from the horns of the altar, should they
+flee thither for refuge.  It was impossible, in Spain, to carry the
+severity of persecution farther, as the very parricide was in perfect
+safety, could he escape to the church.  Here follows part of this law:—
+
+‘I have resolved that all the lord-lieutenants, intendants, and
+corregidors shall publish proclamations, and fix edicts, to the effect
+that all the Gitános who are domiciled in the cities and towns of their
+jurisdiction shall return within the space of fifteen days to their
+places of domicile, under penalty of being declared, at the expiration of
+that term, as public banditti, subject to be fired at in the event of
+being found with arms, or without them, beyond the limits of their places
+of domicile; and at the expiration of the term aforesaid, the
+lord-lieutenants, intendants, and corregidors are strictly commanded,
+that either they themselves, or suitable persons deputed by them, march
+out with armed soldiery, or if there be none at hand, with the militias,
+and their officers, accompanied by the horse rangers, destined for the
+protection of the revenue, for the purpose of scouring the whole district
+within their jurisdiction, making use of all possible diligence to
+apprehend such Gitános as are to be found on the public roads and other
+places beyond their domiciliary bounds, and to inflict upon them the
+penalty of death, for the mere act of being found.
+
+‘And in the event of their taking refuge in sacred places, they are
+empowered to drag them forth, and conduct them to the neighbouring
+prisons and fortresses, and provided the ecclesiastical judges proceed
+against the secular, in order that they be restored to the church, they
+are at liberty to avail themselves of the recourse to force, countenanced
+by laws declaring, even as I now declare, that all the Gitános who shall
+leave their allotted places of abode, are to be held as incorrigible
+rebels, and enemies of the public peace.’
+
+From this period, until the year 1780, various other laws and schedules
+were directed against the Gitános, which, as they contain nothing very
+new or remarkable, we may be well excused from particularising.  In 1783,
+a law was passed by the government, widely differing in character from
+any which had hitherto been enacted in connection with the Gitáno caste
+or religion in Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+CARLOS TERCERO, or Charles the Third, ascended the throne of Spain in the
+year 1759, and died in 1788.  No Spanish monarch has left behind a more
+favourable impression on the minds of the generality of his countrymen;
+indeed, he is the only one who is remembered at all by all ranks and
+conditions;—perhaps he took the surest means for preventing his name
+being forgotten, by erecting a durable monument in every large town,—we
+do not mean a pillar surmounted by a statue, or a colossal figure on
+horseback, but some useful and stately public edifice.  All the
+magnificent modern buildings which attract the eye of the traveller in
+Spain, sprang up during the reign of Carlos Tercero,—for example, the
+museum at Madrid, the gigantic tobacco fabric at Seville,—half fortress,
+half manufactory,—and the Farol, at Coruña.  We suspect that these
+erections, which speak to the eye, have gained him far greater credit
+amongst Spaniards than the support which he afforded to liberal opinions,
+which served to fan the flame of insurrection in the new world, and
+eventually lost for Spain her transatlantic empire.
+
+We have said that he left behind him a favourable impression amongst the
+generality of his countrymen; by which we mean the great body found in
+every nation, who neither think nor reason,—for there are amongst the
+Spaniards not a few who deny that any of his actions entitle him to the
+gratitude of the nation.  ‘All his thoughts,’ say they, ‘were directed to
+hunting—and hunting alone; and all the days of the year he employed
+himself either in hunting or in preparation for the sport.  In one
+expedition, in the parks of the Pardo, he spent several millions of
+reals.  The noble edifices which adorn Spain, though built by his orders,
+are less due to his reign than to the anterior one,—to the reign of
+Ferdinand the Sixth, who left immense treasures, a small portion of which
+Carlos Tercero devoted to these purposes, squandering away the remainder.
+It is said that Carlos Tercero was no friend to superstition; yet how
+little did Spain during his time gain in religious liberty!  The great
+part of the nation remained intolerant and theocratic as before, the
+other and smaller section turned philosophic, but after the insane manner
+of the French revolutionists, intolerant in its incredulity, and
+believing more in the _Encyclopédie_ than in the Gospel of the Nazarene.’
+{167}
+
+We should not have said thus much of Carlos Tercero, whose character has
+been extravagantly praised by the multitude, and severely criticised by
+the discerning few who look deeper than the surface of things, if a law
+passed during his reign did not connect him intimately with the history
+of the Gitános, whose condition to a certain extent it has already
+altered, and over whose future destinies there can be no doubt that it
+will exert considerable influence.  Whether Carlos Tercero had anything
+farther to do with its enactment than subscribing it with his own hand,
+is a point difficult to determine; the chances are that he had not; there
+is damning evidence to prove that in many respects he was a mere Nimrod,
+and it is not probable that such a character would occupy his thoughts
+much with plans for the welfare of his people, especially such a class as
+the Gitános, however willing to build public edifices, gratifying to his
+vanity, with the money which a provident predecessor had amassed.
+
+The law in question is dated 19th September 1783.  It is entitled, ‘Rules
+for repressing and chastising the vagrant mode of life, and other
+excesses, of those who are called Gitános.’  It is in many respects
+widely different from all the preceding laws, and on that account we have
+separated it from them, deeming it worthy of particular notice.  It is
+evidently the production of a comparatively enlightened spirit, for Spain
+had already begun to emerge from the dreary night of monachism and
+bigotry, though the light which beamed upon her was not that of the
+Gospel, but of modern philosophy.  The spirit, however, of the writers of
+the _Encyclopédie_ is to be preferred to that of _Torquemada and
+Moncada_, and however deeply we may lament the many grievous omissions in
+the law of Carlos Tercero (for no provision was made for the spiritual
+instruction of the Gitános), we prefer it in all points to that of Philip
+the Third, and to the law passed during the reign of that unhappy victim
+of monkish fraud, perfidy, and poison, Charles the Second.
+
+Whoever framed the law of Carlos Tercero with respect to the Gitános, had
+sense enough to see that it would be impossible to reclaim and bring them
+within the pale of civilised society by pursuing the course invariably
+adopted on former occasions—to see that all the menacing edicts for the
+last three hundred years, breathing a spirit of blood and persecution,
+had been unable to eradicate Gitanismo from Spain; but on the contrary,
+had rather served to extend it.  Whoever framed this law was, moreover,
+well acquainted with the manner of administering justice in Spain, and
+saw the folly of making statutes which were never put into effect.
+Instead, therefore, of relying on corregidors and alguazils for the
+extinction of the Gypsy sect, the statute addresses itself more
+particularly to the Gitános themselves, and endeavours to convince them
+that it would be for their interest to renounce their much cherished
+Gitanismo.  Those who framed the former laws had invariably done their
+best to brand this race with infamy, and had marked out for its members,
+in the event of abandoning their Gypsy habits, a life to which death
+itself must have been preferable in every respect.  They were not to
+speak to each other, nor to intermarry, though, as they were considered
+of an impure caste, it was scarcely to be expected that the other
+Spaniards would form with them relations of love or amity, and they were
+debarred the exercise of any trade or occupation but hard labour, for
+which neither by nature nor habit they were at all adapted.  The law of
+Carlos Tercero, on the contrary, flung open to them the whole career of
+arts and sciences, and declared them capable of following any trade or
+profession to which they might please to addict themselves.  Here follow
+extracts from the above-mentioned law:—
+
+‘Art. 1.  I declare that those who go by the name of Gitános are not so
+by origin or nature, nor do they proceed from any infected root.
+
+‘2.  I therefore command that neither they, nor any one of them shall use
+the language, dress, or vagrant kind of life which they have followed
+unto the present time, under the penalties here below contained.
+
+‘3.  I forbid all my vassals, of whatever state, class, and condition
+they may be, to call or name the above-mentioned people by the names of
+Gitános, or new Castilians, under the same penalties to which those are
+subject who injure others by word or writing.
+
+‘5.  It is my will that those who abandon the said mode of life, dress,
+language, or jargon, be admitted to whatever offices or employments to
+which they may apply themselves, and likewise to any guilds or
+communities, without any obstacle or contradiction being offered to them,
+or admitted under this pretext within or without courts of law.
+
+‘6.  Those who shall oppose and refuse the admission of this class of
+reclaimed people to their trades and guilds shall be mulcted ten ducats
+for the first time, twenty for the second, and a double quantity for the
+third; and during the time they continue in their opposition they shall
+be prohibited from exercising the same trade, for a certain period, to be
+determined by the judge, and proportioned to the opposition which they
+display.
+
+‘7.  I grant the term of ninety days, to be reckoned from the publication
+of this law in the principal town of every district, in order that all
+the vagabonds of this and any other class may retire to the towns and
+villages where they may choose to locate themselves, with the exception,
+for the present, of the capital and the royal residences, in order that,
+abandoning the dress, language, and behaviour of those who are called
+Gitános, they may devote themselves to some honest office, trade, or
+occupation, it being a matter of indifference whether the same be
+connected with labour or the arts.
+
+‘8.  It will not be sufficient for those who have been formerly known to
+follow this manner of life to devote themselves solely to the occupation
+of shearing and clipping animals, nor to the traffic of markets and
+fairs, nor still less to the occupation of keepers of inns and ventas in
+uninhabited places, although they may be innkeepers within towns, which
+employment shall be considered as sufficient, provided always there be no
+well-founded indications of their being delinquents themselves, or
+harbourers of such people.
+
+‘9.  At the expiration of ninety days, the justices shall proceed against
+the disobedient in the following manner:—Those who, having abandoned the
+dress, name, language or jargon, association, and manners of Gitános, and
+shall have moreover chosen and established a domicile, but shall not have
+devoted themselves to any office or employment, though it be only that of
+day-labourers, shall be considered as vagrants, and be apprehended and
+punished according to the laws in force against such people without any
+distinction being made between them and the other vassals.
+
+‘10.  Those who henceforth shall commit any crimes, having abandoned the
+language, dress, and manners of Gitános, chosen a domicile, and applied
+themselves to any office, shall be prosecuted and chastised like others
+guilty of the same crimes, without any difference being made between
+them.
+
+‘11.  But those who shall have abandoned the aforesaid dress, language
+and behaviour, and those who, pretending to speak and dress like the
+other vassals, and even to choose a domiciliary residence, shall continue
+to go forth, wandering about the roads and uninhabited places, although
+it be with the pretext of visiting markets and fairs, such people shall
+be pursued and taken by the justices, and a list of them formed, with
+their names and appellations, age, description, with the places where
+they say they reside and were born.
+
+‘16.   I, however, except from punishment the children and young people
+of both sexes who are not above sixteen years of age.
+
+‘17.  Such, although they may belong to a family, shall be separated from
+their parents who wander about and have no employment, and shall be
+destined to learn something, or shall be placed out in hospices or houses
+of instruction.
+
+‘20.  When the register of the Gitános who have proved disobedient shall
+have taken place, it shall be notified and made known to them, that in
+case of another relapse, the punishment of death shall be executed upon
+them without remission, on the examination of the register, and proof
+being adduced that they have returned to their former life.’
+
+What effect was produced by this law, and whether its results at all
+corresponded to the views of those who enacted it, will be gathered from
+the following chapters of this work, in which an attempt will be made to
+delineate briefly the present condition of the Gypsies in Spain.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI
+PART II
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+ABOUT twelve in the afternoon of the 6th of January 1836, I crossed the
+bridge of the Guadiana, a boundary river between Portugal and Spain, and
+entered Badajoz, a strong town in the latter kingdom, containing about
+eight thousand inhabitants, supposed to have been founded by the Romans.
+I instantly returned thanks to God for having preserved me in a journey
+of five days through the wilds of the Alemtejo, the province of Portugal
+the most infested by robbers and desperate characters, which I had
+traversed with no other human companion than a lad, almost an idiot, who
+was to convey back the mules which had brought me from Aldea Gallega.  I
+intended to make but a short stay, and as a diligence would set out for
+Madrid the day next but one to my arrival, I purposed departing therein
+for the capital of Spain.
+
+I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken up my temporary
+abode; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at hand; I was
+thinking on the state of the country I had just entered, which was
+involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and where the ministers of a
+religion falsely styled Catholic and Christian were blowing the trump of
+war, instead of preaching the love-engendering words of the blessed
+Gospel.
+
+Suddenly two men, wrapped in long cloaks, came down the narrow and almost
+deserted street; they were about to pass, and the face of the nearest was
+turned full towards me; I knew to whom the countenance which he displayed
+must belong, and I touched him on the arm.  The man stopped, and likewise
+his companion; I said a certain word, to which, after an exclamation of
+surprise, he responded in the manner I expected.  The men were Gitános or
+Gypsies, members of that singular family or race which has diffused
+itself over the face of the civilised globe, and which, in all lands, has
+preserved more or less its original customs and its own peculiar
+language.
+
+We instantly commenced discoursing in the Spanish dialect of this
+language, with which I was tolerably well acquainted.  I asked my two
+newly-made acquaintances whether there were many of their race in Badajoz
+and the vicinity: they informed me that there were eight or ten families
+in the town, and that there were others at Merida, a town about six
+leagues distant.  I inquired by what means they lived, and they replied
+that they and their brethren principally gained a livelihood by
+trafficking in mules and asses, but that all those in Badajoz were very
+poor, with the exception of one man, who was exceedingly _balbalo_, or
+rich, as he was in possession of many mules and other cattle.  They
+removed their cloaks for a moment, and I found that their under-garments
+were rags.
+
+They left me in haste, and went about the town informing the rest that a
+stranger had arrived who spoke Rommany as well as themselves, who had the
+face of a Gitáno, and seemed to be of the ‘erráte,’ or blood.  In less
+than half an hour the street before the inn was filled with the men,
+women, and children of Egypt.  I went out amongst them, and my heart sank
+within me as I surveyed them: so much vileness, dirt, and misery I had
+never seen amongst a similar number of human beings; but worst of all was
+the evil expression of their countenances, which spoke plainly that they
+were conversant with every species of crime, and it was not long before I
+found that their countenances did not belie them.  After they had asked
+me an infinity of questions, and felt my hands, face, and clothes, they
+retired to their own homes.
+
+That same night the two men of whom I have already particularly spoken
+came to see me.  They sat down by the brasero in the middle of the
+apartment, and began to smoke small paper cigars.  We continued for a
+considerable time in silence surveying each other.  Of the two Gitános
+one was an elderly man, tall and bony, with lean, skinny, and whimsical
+features, though perfectly those of a Gypsy; he spoke little, and his
+expressions were generally singular and grotesque.  His companion, who
+was the man whom I had first noticed in the street, differed from him in
+many respects; he could be scarcely thirty, and his figure, which was
+about the middle height, was of Herculean proportions; shaggy black hair,
+like that of a wild beast, covered the greatest part of his immense head;
+his face was frightfully seamed with the small-pox, and his eyes, which
+glared like those of ferrets, peered from beneath bushy eyebrows; he wore
+immense moustaches, and his wide mouth was garnished with teeth
+exceedingly large and white.  There was one peculiarity about him which
+must not be forgotten: his right arm was withered, and hung down from his
+shoulder a thin sapless stick, which contrasted strangely with the huge
+brawn of the left.  A figure so perfectly wild and uncouth I had scarcely
+ever before seen.  He had now flung aside his cloak, and sat before me
+gaunt in his rags and nakedness.  In spite of his appearance, however, he
+seemed to be much the most sensible of the two; and the conversation
+which ensued was carried on chiefly between him and myself.  This man,
+whom I shall call the first Gypsy, was the first to break silence; and he
+thus addressed me, speaking in Spanish, broken with words of the Gypsy
+tongue:—
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘Arromáli (in truth), I little thought when I saw the
+erraño standing by the door of the posada that I was about to meet a
+brother—one too who, though well dressed, was not ashamed to speak to a
+poor Gitáno; but tell me, I beg you, brother, from whence you come; I
+have heard that you have just arrived from Laloró, but I am sure you are
+no Portuguese; the Portuguese are very different from you; I know it, for
+I have been in Laloró; I rather take you to be one of the Corahai, for I
+have heard say that there is much of our blood there.  You are a
+Corahano, are you not?’
+
+_Myself_.—‘I am no Moor, though I have been in the country.  I was born
+in an island in the West Sea, called England, which I suppose you have
+heard spoken of.’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘Yes, yes, I have a right to know something of the
+English.  I was born in this foros, and remember the day when the English
+hundunares clambered over the walls, and took the town from the Gabiné:
+well do I remember that day, though I was but a child; the streets ran
+red with blood and wine!  Are there Gitános then amongst the English?’
+
+_Myself_.—‘There are numbers, and so there are amongst most nations of
+the world.’
+
+_Second Gypsy_.—‘Vaya!  And do the English Caloré gain their bread in the
+same way as those of Spain?  Do they shear and trim?  Do they buy and
+change beasts, and (lowering his voice) do they now and then chore a
+gras?’ {181}
+
+_Myself_.—‘They do most of these things: the men frequent fairs and
+markets with horses, many of which they steal; and the women tell
+fortunes and perform all kinds of tricks, by which they gain more money
+than their husbands.’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘They would not be callees if they did not: I have known a
+Gitána gain twenty ounces of gold, by means of the hokkano baro, in a few
+hours, whilst the silly Gypsy, her husband, would be toiling with his
+shears for a fortnight, trimming the horses of the Busné, and yet not be
+a dollar richer at the end of the time.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You seem wretchedly poor.  Are you married?’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘I am, and to the best-looking and cleverest callee in
+Badajoz; nevertheless we have never thriven since the day of our
+marriage, and a curse seems to rest upon us both.  Perhaps I have only to
+thank myself; I was once rich, and had never less than six borricos to
+sell or exchange, but the day before my marriage I sold all I possessed,
+in order to have a grand fiesta.  For three days we were merry enough; I
+entertained every one who chose to come in, and flung away my money by
+handfuls, so that when the affair was over I had not a cuarto in the
+world; and the very people who had feasted at my expense refused me a
+dollar to begin again, so we were soon reduced to the greatest misery.
+True it is, that I now and then shear a mule, and my wife tells the bahi
+(fortune) to the servant-girls, but these things stand us in little
+stead: the people are now very much on the alert, and my wife, with all
+her knowledge, has been unable to perform any grand trick which would set
+us up at once.  She wished to come to see you, brother, this night, but
+was ashamed, as she has no more clothes than myself.  Last summer our
+distress was so great that we crossed the frontier into Portugal: my wife
+sung, and I played the guitar, for though I have but one arm, and that a
+left one, I have never felt the want of the other.  At Estremoz I was
+cast into prison as a thief and vagabond, and there I might have remained
+till I starved with hunger.  My wife, however, soon got me out: she went
+to the lady of the corregidor, to whom she told a most wonderful bahi,
+promising treasures and titles, and I wot not what; so I was set at
+liberty, and returned to Spain as quick as I could.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Is it not the custom of the Gypsies of Spain to relieve each
+other in distress?—it is the rule in other countries.’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘El krallis ha nicobado la liri de los Calés—(The king has
+destroyed the law of the Gypsies); we are no longer the people we were
+once, when we lived amongst the sierras and deserts, and kept aloof from
+the Busné; we have lived amongst the Busné till we are become almost like
+them, and we are no longer united, ready to assist each other at all
+times and seasons, and very frequently the Gitáno is the worst enemy of
+his brother.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘The Gitános, then, no longer wander about, but have fixed
+residences in the towns and villages?’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘In the summer time a few of us assemble together, and
+live about amongst the plains and hills, and by doing so we frequently
+contrive to pick up a horse or a mule for nothing, and sometimes we knock
+down a Busné, and strip him, but it is seldom we venture so far.  We are
+much looked after by the Busné, who hold us in great dread, and abhor us.
+Sometimes, when wandering about, we are attacked by the labourers, and
+then we defend ourselves as well as we can.  There is no better weapon in
+the hands of a Gitáno than his “cachas,” or shears, with which he trims
+the mules.  I once snipped off the nose of a Busné, and opened the
+greater part of his cheek in an affray up the country near Trujillo.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Have you travelled much about Spain?’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘Very little; I have never been out of this province of
+Estremadura, except last year, as I told you, into Portugal.  When we
+wander we do not go far, and it is very rare that we are visited by our
+brethren of other parts.  I have never been in Andalusia, but I have
+heard say that the Gitános are many in Andalusia, and are more wealthy
+than those here, and that they follow better the Gypsy law.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘What do you mean by the Gypsy law?’
+
+_First Gypsy_.—‘Wherefore do you ask, brother?  You know what is meant by
+the law of the Calés better even than ourselves.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘I know what it is in England and in Hungary, but I can only
+give a guess as to what it is in Spain.’
+
+_Both Gypsies_.—‘What do you consider it to be in Spain?’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Cheating and choring the Busné on all occasions, and being
+true to the erráte in life and in death.’
+
+At these words both the Gitános sprang simultaneously from their seats,
+and exclaimed with a boisterous shout—‘Chachipé.’
+
+This meeting with the Gitános was the occasion of my remaining at Badajoz
+a much longer time than I originally intended.  I wished to become better
+acquainted with their condition and manners, and above all to speak to
+them of Christ and His Word; for I was convinced, that should I travel to
+the end of the universe, I should meet with no people more in need of a
+little Christian exhortation, and I accordingly continued at Badajoz for
+nearly three weeks.
+
+During this time I was almost constantly amongst them, and as I spoke
+their language, and was considered by them as one of themselves, I had
+better opportunity of arriving at a fair conclusion respecting their
+character than any other person could have had, whether Spanish or
+foreigner, without such an advantage.  I found that their ways and
+pursuits were in almost every respect similar to those of their brethren
+in other countries.  By cheating and swindling they gained their daily
+bread; the men principally by the arts of the jockey,—by buying, selling,
+and exchanging animals, at which they are wonderfully expert; and the
+women by telling fortunes, selling goods smuggled from Portugal, and
+dealing in love-draughts and diablerie.  The most innocent occupation
+which I observed amongst them was trimming and shearing horses and mules,
+which in their language is called ‘monrabar,’ and in Spanish ‘esquilar’;
+and even whilst exercising this art, they not unfrequently have recourse
+to foul play, doing the animal some covert injury, in hope that the
+proprietor will dispose of it to themselves at an inconsiderable price,
+in which event they soon restore it to health; for knowing how to inflict
+the harm, they know likewise how to remove it.
+
+Religion they have none; they never attend mass, nor did I ever hear them
+employ the names of God, Christ, and the Virgin, but in execration and
+blasphemy.  From what I could learn, it appeared that their fathers had
+entertained some belief in metempsychosis; but they themselves laughed at
+the idea, and were of opinion that the soul perished when the body ceased
+to breathe; and the argument which they used was rational enough, so far
+as it impugned metempsychosis: ‘We have been wicked and miserable enough
+in this life,’ they said; ‘why should we live again?’
+
+I translated certain portions of Scripture into their dialect, which I
+frequently read to them; especially the parable of Lazarus and the
+Prodigal Son, and told them that the latter had been as wicked as
+themselves, and both had suffered as much or more; but that the
+sufferings of the former, who always looked forward to a blessed
+resurrection, were recompensed by admission, in the life to come, to the
+society of Abraham and the Prophets, and that the latter, when he
+repented of his sins, was forgiven, and received into as much favour as
+the just son.
+
+They listened with admiration; but, alas! not of the truths, the eternal
+truths, I was telling them, but to find that their broken jargon could be
+written and read.  The only words denoting anything like assent to my
+doctrine which I ever obtained, were the following from the mouth of a
+woman: ‘Brother, you tell us strange things, though perhaps you do not
+lie; a month since I would sooner have believed these tales, than that
+this day I should see one who could write Rommany.’
+
+Two or three days after my arrival, I was again visited by the Gypsy of
+the withered arm, who I found was generally termed Paco, which is the
+diminutive of Francisco; he was accompanied by his wife, a rather
+good-looking young woman with sharp intelligent features, and who
+appeared in every respect to be what her husband had represented her on
+the former visit.  She was very poorly clad, and notwithstanding the
+extreme sharpness of the weather, carried no mantle to protect herself
+from its inclemency,—her raven black hair depended behind as far down as
+her hips.  Another Gypsy came with them, but not the old fellow whom I
+had before seen.  This was a man about forty-five, dressed in a zamarra
+of sheep-skin, with a high-crowned Andalusian hat; his complexion was
+dark as pepper, and his eyes were full of sullen fire.  In his appearance
+he exhibited a goodly compound of Gypsy and bandit.
+
+_Paco_.—‘Laches chibeses te diñele Undebel (May God grant you good days,
+brother).  This is my wife, and this is my wife’s father.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘I am glad to see them.  What are their names?’
+
+_Paco_.—‘Maria and Antonio; their other name is Lopez.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Have they no Gypsy names?’
+
+_Paco_.—‘They have no other names than these.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Then in this respect the Gitános of Spain are unlike those of
+my country.  Every family there has two names; one by which they are
+known to the Busné, and another which they use amongst themselves.’
+
+_Antonio_.—‘Give me your hand, brother!  I should have come to see you
+before, but I have been to Olivenzas in search of a horse.  What I have
+heard of you has filled me with much desire to know you, and I now see
+that you can tell me many things which I am ignorant of.  I am Zíncalo by
+the four sides—I love our blood, and I hate that of the Busné.  Had I my
+will I would wash my face every day in the blood of the Busné, for the
+Busné are made only to be robbed and to be slaughtered; but I love the
+Caloré, and I love to hear of things of the Caloré, especially from those
+of foreign lands; for the Caloré of foreign lands know more than we of
+Spain, and more resemble our fathers of old.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Have you ever met before with Caloré who were not Spaniards?’
+
+_Antonio_.—‘I will tell you, brother.  I served as a soldier in the war
+of the independence against the French.  War, it is true, is not the
+proper occupation of a Gitáno, but those were strange times, and all
+those who could bear arms were compelled to go forth to fight: so I went
+with the English armies, and we chased the Gabiné unto the frontier of
+France; and it happened once that we joined in desperate battle, and
+there was a confusion, and the two parties became intermingled and fought
+sword to sword and bayonet to bayonet, and a French soldier singled me
+out, and we fought for a long time, cutting, goring, and cursing each
+other, till at last we flung down our arms and grappled; long we
+wrestled, body to body, but I found that I was the weaker, and I fell.
+The French soldier’s knee was on my breast, and his grasp was on my
+throat, and he seized his bayonet, and he raised it to thrust me through
+the jaws; and his cap had fallen off, and I lifted up my eyes wildly to
+his face, and our eyes met, and I gave a loud shriek, and cried Zíncalo,
+Zíncalo! and I felt him shudder, and he relaxed his grasp and started up,
+and he smote his forehead and wept, and then he came to me and knelt down
+by my side, for I was almost dead, and he took my hand and called me
+Brother and Zíncalo, and he produced his flask and poured wine into my
+mouth, and I revived, and he raised me up, and led me from the concourse,
+and we sat down on a knoll, and the two parties were fighting all around,
+and he said, “Let the dogs fight, and tear each others’ throats till they
+are all destroyed, what matters it to the Zíncali? they are not of our
+blood, and shall that be shed for them?”  So we sat for hours on the
+knoll and discoursed on matters pertaining to our people; and I could
+have listened for years, for he told me secrets which made my ears
+tingle, and I soon found that I knew nothing, though I had before
+considered myself quite Zíncalo; but as for him, he knew the whole
+cuenta; the Bengui Lango {189} himself could have told him nothing but
+what he knew.  So we sat till the sun went down and the battle was over,
+and he proposed that we should both flee to his own country and live
+there with the Zíncali; but my heart failed me; so we embraced, and he
+departed to the Gabiné, whilst I returned to our own battalions.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Do you know from what country he came?’
+
+_Antonio_.—‘He told me that he was a Mayoro.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You mean a Magyar or Hungarian.’
+
+_Antonio_.—‘Just so; and I have repented ever since that I did not follow
+him.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Why so?’
+
+_Antonio_.—‘I will tell you: the king has destroyed the law of the Calés,
+and has put disunion amongst us.  There was a time when the house of
+every Zíncalo, however rich, was open to his brother, though he came to
+him naked; and it was then the custom to boast of the “erráte.”  It is no
+longer so now: those who are rich keep aloof from the rest, will not
+speak in Calo, and will have no dealings but with the Busné.  Is there
+not a false brother in this foros, the only rich man among us, the swine,
+the balichow? he is married to a Busnee and he would fain appear as a
+Busno!  Tell me one thing, has he been to see you?  The white blood, I
+know he has not; he was afraid to see you, for he knew that by Gypsy law
+he was bound to take you to his house and feast you, whilst you remained,
+like a prince, like a crallis of the Calés, as I believe you are, even
+though he sold the last gras from the stall.  Who have come to see you,
+brother?  Have they not been such as Paco and his wife, wretches without
+a house, or, at best, one filled with cold and poverty; so that you have
+had to stay at a mesuna, at a posada of the Busné; and, moreover, what
+have the Calés given you since you have been residing here?  Nothing, I
+trow, better than this rubbish, which is all I can offer you, this
+Meligrána de los Bengues.’
+
+Here he produced a pomegranate from the pocket of his zamarra, and flung
+it on the table with such force that the fruit burst, and the red grains
+were scattered on the floor.
+
+The Gitános of Estremadura call themselves in general Chai or Chabos, and
+say that their original country was Chal or Egypt.  I frequently asked
+them what reason they could assign for calling themselves Egyptians, and
+whether they could remember the names of any places in their supposed
+fatherland; but I soon found that, like their brethren in other parts of
+the world, they were unable to give any rational account of themselves,
+and preserved no recollection of the places where their forefathers had
+wandered; their language, however, to a considerable extent, solved the
+riddle, the bulk of which being Hindui, pointed out India as the
+birthplace of their race, whilst the number of Persian, Sclavonian, and
+modern Greek words with which it is checkered, spoke plainly as to the
+countries through which these singular people had wandered before they
+arrived in Spain.
+
+They said that they believed themselves to be Egyptians, because their
+fathers before them believed so, who must know much better than
+themselves.  They were fond of talking of Egypt and its former greatness,
+though it was evident that they knew nothing farther of the country and
+its history than what they derived from spurious biblical legends current
+amongst the Spaniards; only from such materials could they have composed
+the following account of the manner of their expulsion from their native
+land.
+
+‘There was a great king in Egypt, and his name was Pharaoh.  He had
+numerous armies, with which he made war on all countries, and conquered
+them all.  And when he had conquered the entire world, he became sad and
+sorrowful; for as he delighted in war, he no longer knew on what to
+employ himself.  At last he bethought him on making war on God; so he
+sent a defiance to God, daring him to descend from the sky with his
+angels, and contend with Pharaoh and his armies; but God said, I will not
+measure my strength with that of a man.  But God was incensed against
+Pharaoh, and resolved to punish him; and he opened a hole in the side of
+an enormous mountain, and he raised a raging wind, and drove before it
+Pharaoh and his armies to that hole, and the abyss received them, and the
+mountain closed upon them; but whosoever goes to that mountain on the
+night of St. John can hear Pharaoh and his armies singing and yelling
+therein.  And it came to pass, that when Pharaoh and his armies had
+disappeared, all the kings and the nations which had become subject to
+Egypt revolted against Egypt, which, having lost her king and her armies,
+was left utterly without defence; and they made war against her, and
+prevailed against her, and took her people and drove them forth,
+dispersing them over all the world.’
+
+So that now, say the Chai, ‘Our horses drink the water of the
+Guadiana’—(Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee).
+
+
+‘THE STEEDS OF THE EGYPTIANS DRINK THE WATERS OF THE GUADIANA
+
+
+    ‘The region of Chal was our dear native soil,
+    Where in fulness of pleasure we lived without toil;
+    Till dispersed through all lands, ’twas our fortune to be—
+    Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+    ‘Once kings came from far to kneel down at our gate,
+    And princes rejoic’d on our meanest to wait;
+    But now who so mean but would scorn our degree—
+    Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+    ‘For the Undebel saw, from his throne in the cloud,
+    That our deeds they were foolish, our hearts they were proud;
+    And in anger he bade us his presence to flee—
+    Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+    ‘Our horses should drink of no river but one;
+    It sparkles through Chal, ’neath the smile of the sun,
+    But they taste of all streams save that only, and see—
+    Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee.’
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+IN Madrid the Gitános chiefly reside in the neighbourhood of the
+‘mercado,’ or the place where horses and other animals are sold,—in two
+narrow and dirty lanes, called the Calle de la Comadre and the Callejon
+de Lavapies.  It is said that at the beginning of last century Madrid
+abounded with these people, who, by their lawless behaviour and dissolute
+lives, gave occasion to great scandal; if such were the case, their
+numbers must have considerably diminished since that period, as it would
+be difficult at any time to collect fifty throughout Madrid.  These
+Gitános seem, for the most part, to be either Valencians or of Valencian
+origin, as they in general either speak or understand the dialect of
+Valencia; and whilst speaking their own peculiar jargon, the Rommany, are
+in the habit of making use of many Valencian words and terms.
+
+                            [Picture: Seville]
+
+The manner of life of the Gitános of Madrid differs in no material
+respect from that of their brethren in other places.  The men, every
+market-day, are to be seen on the skirts of the mercado, generally with
+some miserable animal—for example, a foundered mule or galled borrico, by
+means of which they seldom fail to gain a dollar or two, either by sale
+or exchange.  It must not, however, be supposed that they content
+themselves with such paltry earnings.  Provided they have any valuable
+animal, which is not unfrequently the case, they invariably keep such at
+home snug in the stall, conducting thither the chapman, should they find
+any, and concluding the bargain with the greatest secrecy.  Their general
+reason for this conduct is an unwillingness to exhibit anything
+calculated to excite the jealousy of the chalans, or jockeys of Spanish
+blood, who on the slightest umbrage are in the habit of ejecting them
+from the fair by force of palos or cudgels, in which violence the chalans
+are to a certain extent countenanced by law; for though by the edict of
+Carlos the Third the Gitános were in other respects placed upon an
+equality with the rest of the Spaniards, they were still forbidden to
+obtain their livelihood by the traffic of markets and fairs.
+
+They have occasionally however another excellent reason for not exposing
+the animal in the public mercado—having obtained him by dishonest means.
+The stealing, concealing, and receiving animals when stolen, are
+inveterate Gypsy habits, and are perhaps the last from which the Gitáno
+will be reclaimed, or will only cease when the race has become extinct.
+In the prisons of Madrid, either in that of the Saladero or De la Corte,
+there are never less than a dozen Gitános immured for stolen horses or
+mules being found in their possession, which themselves or their
+connections have spirited away from the neighbouring villages, or
+sometimes from a considerable distance.  I say spirited away, for so well
+do the thieves take their measures, and watch their opportunity, that
+they are seldom or never taken in the fact.
+
+The Madrilenian Gypsy women are indefatigable in the pursuit of prey,
+prowling about the town and the suburbs from morning till night, entering
+houses of all descriptions, from the highest to the lowest; telling
+fortunes, or attempting to play off various kinds of Gypsy tricks, from
+which they derive much greater profit, and of which we shall presently
+have occasion to make particular mention.
+
+From Madrid let us proceed to Andalusia, casting a cursory glance on the
+Gitános of that country.  I found them very numerous at Granada, which in
+the Gitáno language is termed Meligrana.  Their general condition in this
+place is truly miserable, far exceeding in wretchedness the state of the
+tribes of Estremadura.  It is right to state that Granada itself is the
+poorest city in Spain; the greatest part of the population, which exceeds
+sixty thousand, living in beggary and nakedness, and the Gitános share in
+the general distress.
+
+                  [Picture: The Gypsy Smith of Granada]
+
+Many of them reside in caves scooped in the sides of the ravines which
+lead to the higher regions of the Alpujarras, on a skirt of which stands
+Granada.  A common occupation of the Gitános of Granada is working in
+iron, and it is not unfrequent to find these caves tenanted by Gypsy
+smiths and their families, who ply the hammer and forge in the bowels of
+the earth.  To one standing at the mouth of the cave, especially at
+night, they afford a picturesque spectacle.  Gathered round the forge,
+their bronzed and naked bodies, illuminated by the flame, appear like
+figures of demons; while the cave, with its flinty sides and uneven roof,
+blackened by the charcoal vapours which hover about it in festoons, seems
+to offer no inadequate representation of fabled purgatory.  Working in
+iron was an occupation strictly forbidden to the Gitános by the ancient
+laws, on what account does not exactly appear; though, perhaps, the trade
+of the smith was considered as too much akin to that of the chalan to be
+permitted to them.  The Gypsy smith of Granada is still a chalan, even as
+his brother in England is a jockey and tinker alternately.
+
+Whilst speaking of the Gitános of Granada, we cannot pass by in silence a
+tragedy which occurred in this town amongst them, some fifteen years ago,
+and the details of which are known to every Gitáno in Spain, from
+Catalonia to Estremadura.  We allude to the murder of Pindamonas by Pepe
+Conde.  Both these individuals were Gitános; the latter was a celebrated
+contrabandista, of whom many remarkable tales are told.  On one occasion,
+having committed some enormous crime, he fled over to Barbary and turned
+Moor, and was employed by the Moorish emperor in his wars, in company
+with the other renegade Spaniards, whose grand depôt or presidio is the
+town of Agurey in the kingdom of Fez.  After the lapse of some years,
+when his crime was nearly forgotten, he returned to Granada, where he
+followed his old occupations of contrabandista and chalan.  Pindamonas
+was a Gitáno of considerable wealth, and was considered as the most
+respectable of the race at Granada, amongst whom he possessed
+considerable influence.  Between this man and Pepe Conde there existed a
+jealousy, especially on the part of the latter, who, being a man of proud
+untamable spirit, could not well brook a superior amongst his own people.
+It chanced one day that Pindamonas and other Gitános, amongst whom was
+Pepe Conde, were in a coffee-house.  After they had all partaken of some
+refreshment, they called for the reckoning, the amount of which
+Pindamonas insisted on discharging.  It will be necessary here to
+observe, that on such occasions in Spain it is considered as a species of
+privilege to be allowed to pay, which is an honour generally claimed by
+the principal man of the party.  Pepe Conde did not fail to take umbrage
+at the attempt of Pindamonas, which he considered as an undue assumption
+of superiority, and put in his own claim; but Pindamonas insisted, and at
+last flung down the money on the table, whereupon Pepe Conde instantly
+unclasped one of those terrible Manchegan knives which are generally
+carried by the contrabandistas, and with a frightful gash opened the
+abdomen of Pindamonas, who presently expired.
+
+            [Picture: The Murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde]
+
+After this exploit, Pepe Conde fled, and was not seen for some time.  The
+cave, however, in which he had been in the habit of residing was watched,
+as a belief was entertained that sooner or later he would return to it,
+in the hope of being able to remove some of the property contained in it.
+This belief was well founded.  Early one morning he was observed to enter
+it, and a band of soldiers was instantly despatched to seize him.  This
+circumstance is alluded to in a Gypsy stanza:—
+
+    ‘Fly, Pepe Conde, seek the hill;
+       To flee’s thy only chance;
+    With bayonets fixed, thy blood to spill,
+       See soldiers four advance.’
+
+And before the soldiers could arrive at the cave, Pepe Conde had
+discovered their approach and fled, endeavouring to make his escape
+amongst the rocks and barrancos of the Alpujarras.  The soldiers
+instantly pursued, and the chase continued a considerable time.  The
+fugitive was repeatedly summoned to surrender himself, but refusing, the
+soldiers at last fired, and four balls entered the heart of the Gypsy
+contrabandista and murderer.
+
+Once at Madrid I received a letter from the sister’s son of Pindamonas,
+dated from the prison of the Saladero.  In this letter the writer, who it
+appears was in durance for stealing a pair of mules, craved my charitable
+assistance and advice; and possibly in the hope of securing my favour,
+forwarded some uncouth lines commemorative of the death of his relation,
+and commencing thus:—
+
+    ‘The death of Pindamonas fill’d all the world with pain;
+    At the coffee-house’s portal, by Pepe he was slain.’
+
+The faubourg of Triana, in Seville, has from time immemorial been noted
+as a favourite residence of the Gitános; and here, at the present day,
+they are to be found in greater number than in any other town in Spain.
+This faubourg is indeed chiefly inhabited by desperate characters, as,
+besides the Gitános, the principal part of the robber population of
+Seville is here congregated.  Perhaps there is no part even of Naples
+where crime so much abounds, and the law is so little respected, as at
+Triana, the character of whose inmates was so graphically delineated two
+centuries and a half back by Cervantes, in one of the most amusing of his
+tales. {199}
+
+In the vilest lanes of this suburb, amidst dilapidated walls and ruined
+convents, exists the grand colony of Spanish Gitános.  Here they may be
+seen wielding the hammer; here they may be seen trimming the fetlocks of
+horses, or shearing the backs of mules and borricos with their cachas;
+and from hence they emerge to ply the same trade in the town, or to
+officiate as terceros, or to buy, sell, or exchange animals in the
+mercado, and the women to tell the bahi through the streets, even as in
+other parts of Spain, generally attended by one or two tawny bantlings in
+their arms or by their sides; whilst others, with baskets and
+chafing-pans, proceed to the delightful banks of the Len Baro, {200} by
+the Golden Tower, where, squatting on the ground and kindling their
+charcoal, they roast the chestnuts which, when well prepared, are the
+favourite bonne bouche of the Sevillians; whilst not a few, in league
+with the contrabandistas, go from door to door offering for sale
+prohibited goods brought from the English at Gibraltar.  Such is Gitáno
+life at Seville; such it is in the capital of Andalusia.
+
+      [Picture: Roasting Chestnuts by the side of the Guadalquiver]
+
+It is the common belief of the Gitános of other provinces that in
+Andalusia the language, customs, habits, and practices peculiar to their
+race are best preserved.  This opinion, which probably originated from
+the fact of their being found in greater numbers in this province than in
+any other, may hold good in some instances, but certainly not in all.  In
+various parts of Spain I have found the Gitános retaining their primitive
+language and customs better than in Seville, where they most abound:
+indeed, it is not plain that their number has operated at all favourably
+in this respect.  At Cordova, a town at the distance of twenty leagues
+from Seville, which scarcely contains a dozen Gitáno families, I found
+them living in much more brotherly amity, and cherishing in a greater
+degree the observances of their forefathers.
+
+I shall long remember these Cordovese Gitános, by whom I was very well
+received, but always on the supposition that I was one of their own race.
+They said that they never admitted strangers to their houses save at
+their marriage festivals, when they flung their doors open to all, and
+save occasionally people of influence and distinction, who wished to hear
+their songs and converse with their women; but they assured me, at the
+same time, that these they invariably deceived, and merely made use of as
+instruments to serve their own purposes.  As for myself, I was admitted
+without scruple to their private meetings, and was made a participator of
+their most secret thoughts.  During our intercourse some remarkable
+scenes occurred.  One night more than twenty of us, men and women, were
+assembled in a long low room on the ground floor, in a dark alley or
+court in the old gloomy town of Cordova.  After the Gitános had discussed
+several jockey plans, and settled some private bargains amongst
+themselves, we all gathered round a huge brasero of flaming charcoal, and
+began conversing _sobre las cosas de Egypto_, when I proposed that, as we
+had no better means of amusing ourselves, we should endeavour to turn
+into the Calo language some pieces of devotion, that we might see whether
+this language, the gradual decay of which I had frequently heard them
+lament, was capable of expressing any other matters than those which
+related to horses, mules, and Gypsy traffic.  It was in this cautious
+manner that I first endeavoured to divert the attention of these singular
+people to matters of eternal importance.  My suggestion was received with
+acclamations, and we forthwith proceeded to the translation of the
+Apostles’ creed.  I first recited in Spanish, in the usual manner and
+without pausing, this noble confession, and then repeated it again,
+sentence by sentence, the Gitános translating as I proceeded.  They
+exhibited the greatest eagerness and interest in their unwonted
+occupation, and frequently broke into loud disputes as to the best
+rendering—many being offered at the same time.  In the meanwhile, I wrote
+down from their dictation; and at the conclusion I read aloud the
+translation, the result of the united wisdom of the assembly, whereupon
+they all raised a shout of exultation, and appeared not a little proud of
+the composition.
+
+The Cordovese Gitános are celebrated esquiladors.  Connected with them
+and the exercise of the _arte de esquilar_, in Gypsy monrabar, I have a
+curious anecdote to relate.  In the first place, however, it may not be
+amiss to say something about the art itself, of all relating to which it
+is possible that the reader may be quite ignorant.
+
+Nothing is more deserving of remark in Spanish grooming than the care
+exhibited in clipping and trimming various parts of the horse, where the
+growth of hair is considered as prejudicial to the perfect health and
+cleanliness of the animal, particular attention being always paid to the
+pastern, that part of the foot which lies between the fetlock and the
+hoof, to guard against the arestin—that cutaneous disorder which is the
+dread of the Spanish groom, on which account the services of a skilful
+esquilador are continually in requisition.
+
+The esquilador, when proceeding to the exercise of his vocation,
+generally carries under his arm a small box containing the instruments
+necessary, and which consist principally of various pairs of scissors,
+and the _aciál_, two short sticks tied together with whipcord at the end,
+by means of which the lower lip of the horse, should he prove restive, is
+twisted, and the animal reduced to speedy subjection.  In the girdle of
+the esquilador are stuck the large scissors called in Spanish _tijeras_,
+and in the Gypsy tongue _cachas_, with which he principally works.  He
+operates upon the backs, ears, and tails of mules and borricos, which are
+invariably sheared quite bare, that if the animals are galled, either by
+their harness or the loads which they carry, the wounds may be less
+liable to fester, and be more easy to cure.  Whilst engaged with horses,
+he confines himself to the feet and ears.  The esquiladores in the two
+Castiles, and in those provinces where the Gitános do not abound, are for
+the most part Aragonese; but in the others, and especially in Andalusia,
+they are of the Gypsy race.  The Gitános are in general very expert in
+the use of the cachas, which they handle in a manner practised nowhere
+but in Spain; and with this instrument the poorer class principally
+obtain their bread.
+
+In one of their couplets allusion is made to this occupation in the
+following manner:—
+
+    ‘I’ll rise to-morrow bread to earn,
+       For hunger’s worn me grim;
+    Of all I meet I’ll ask in turn,
+       If they’ve no beasts to trim.’
+
+Sometimes, whilst shearing the foot of a horse, exceedingly small
+scissors are necessary for the purpose of removing fine solitary hairs;
+for a Spanish groom will tell you that a horse’s foot behind ought to be
+kept as clean and smooth as the hand of a señora: such scissors can only
+be procured at Madrid.  My sending two pair of this kind to a Cordovese
+Gypsy, from whom I had experienced much attention whilst in that city,
+was the occasion of my receiving a singular epistle from another whom I
+scarcely knew, and which I shall insert as being an original Gypsy
+composition, and in some points not a little characteristic of the people
+of whom I am now writing.
+
+                                      ‘Cordova, 20th day of January, 1837.
+
+    ‘SEÑOR DON JORGE,
+
+    ‘After saluting you and hoping that you are well, I proceed to tell
+    you that the two pair of scissors arrived at this town of Cordova
+    with him whom you sent them by; but, unfortunately, they were given
+    to another Gypsy, whom you neither knew nor spoke to nor saw in your
+    life; for it chanced that he who brought them was a friend of mine,
+    and he told me that he had brought two pair of scissors which an
+    Englishman had given him for the Gypsies; whereupon I, understanding
+    it was yourself, instantly said to him, “Those scissors are for me”;
+    he told me, however, that he had already given them to another, and
+    he is a Gypsy who was not even in Cordova during the time you were.
+    Nevertheless, Don Jorge, I am very grateful for your thus remembering
+    me, although I did not receive your present, and in order that you
+    may know who I am, my name is Antonio Salazar, a man pitted with the
+    small-pox, and the very first who spoke to you in Cordova in the
+    posada where you were; and you told me to come and see you next day
+    at eleven, and I went, and we conversed together alone.  Therefore I
+    should wish you to do me the favour to send me scissors for trimming
+    beasts,—good scissors, mind you,—such would be a very great favour,
+    and I should be ever grateful, for here in Cordova there are none, or
+    if there be, they are good for nothing.  Señor Don Jorge, you
+    remember I told you that I was an esquilador by trade, and only by
+    that I got bread for my babes.  Señor Don Jorge, if you do send me
+    the scissors for trimming, pray write and direct to the alley De la
+    Londiga, No. 28, to Antonio Salazar, in Cordova.  This is what I have
+    to tell you, and do you ever command your trusty servant, who kisses
+    your hand and is eager to serve you.
+
+                                                        ‘ANTONIO SALAZAR.’
+
+                                FIRST COUPLET
+
+    ‘That I may clip and trim the beasts, a pair of cachas grant,
+    If not, I fear my luckless babes will perish all of want.’
+
+                                SECOND COUPLET
+
+    ‘If thou a pair of cachas grant, that I my babes may feed,
+    I’ll pray to the Almighty God, that thee he ever speed.’
+
+It is by no means my intention to describe the exact state and condition
+of the Gitános in every town and province where they are to be found;
+perhaps, indeed, it will be considered that I have already been more
+circumstantial and particular than the case required.  The other
+districts which they inhabit are principally those of Catalonia, Murcia,
+and Valencia; and they are likewise to be met with in the Basque
+provinces, where they are called Egipcioac, or Egyptians.  What I next
+purpose to occupy myself with are some general observations on the
+habits, and the physical and moral state of the Gitános throughout Spain,
+and of the position which they hold in society.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+ALREADY, from the two preceding chapters, it will have been perceived
+that the condition of the Gitános in Spain has been subjected of late to
+considerable modification.  The words of the Gypsy of Badajoz are indeed,
+in some respects, true; they are no longer the people that they were; the
+roads and ‘despoblados’ have ceased to be infested by them, and the
+traveller is no longer exposed to much danger on their account; they at
+present confine themselves, for the most part, to towns and villages, and
+if they occasionally wander abroad, it is no longer in armed bands,
+formidable for their numbers, and carrying terror and devastation in all
+directions, bivouacking near solitary villages, and devouring the
+substance of the unfortunate inhabitants, or occasionally threatening
+even large towns, as in the singular case of Logroño, mentioned by
+Francisco de Cordova.  As the reader will probably wish to know the cause
+of this change in the lives and habits of these people, we shall, as
+briefly as possible, afford as much information on the subject as the
+amount of our knowledge will permit.
+
+One fact has always struck us with particular force in the history of
+these people, namely, that Gitanismo—which means Gypsy villainy of every
+description—flourished and knew nothing of decay so long as the laws
+recommended and enjoined measures the most harsh and severe for the
+suppression of the Gypsy sect; the palmy days of Gitanismo were those in
+which the caste was proscribed, and its members, in the event of
+renouncing their Gypsy habits, had nothing farther to expect than the
+occupation of tilling the earth, a dull hopeless toil; then it was that
+the Gitános paid tribute to the inferior ministers of justice, and were
+engaged in illicit connection with those of higher station, and by such
+means baffled the law, whose vengeance rarely fell upon their heads; and
+then it was that they bid it open defiance, retiring to the deserts and
+mountains, and living in wild independence by rapine and shedding of
+blood; for as the law then stood they would lose all by resigning their
+Gitanismo, whereas by clinging to it they lived either in the
+independence so dear to them, or beneath the protection of their
+confederates.  It would appear that in proportion as the law was harsh
+and severe, so was the Gitáno bold and secure.  The fiercest of these
+laws was the one of Philip the Fifth, passed in the year 1745, which
+commands that the refractory Gitános be hunted down with fire and sword;
+that it was quite inefficient is satisfactorily proved by its being twice
+reiterated, once in the year ‘46, and again in ‘49, which would scarcely
+have been deemed necessary had it quelled the Gitános.  This law, with
+some unimportant modifications, continued in force till the year ‘83,
+when the famous edict of Carlos Tercero superseded it.  Will any feel
+disposed to doubt that the preceding laws had served to foster what they
+were intended to suppress, when we state the remarkable fact, that since
+the enactment of that law, as humane as the others were unjust, _we have
+heard nothing more of the Gitános from official quarters_; _they have
+ceased to play a distinct part in the history of Spain_; _and the law no
+longer speaks of them as a distinct people_?  The caste of the Gitáno
+still exists, but it is neither so extensive nor so formidable as a
+century ago, when the law in denouncing Gitanismo proposed to the Gitános
+the alternatives of death for persisting in their profession, or slavery
+for abandoning it.
+
+There are fierce and discontented spirits amongst them, who regret such
+times, and say that Gypsy law is now no more, that the Gypsy no longer
+assists his brother, and that union has ceased among them.  If this be
+true, can better proof be adduced of the beneficial working of the later
+law?  A blessing has been conferred on society, and in a manner highly
+creditable to the spirit of modern times; reform has been accomplished,
+not by persecution, not by the gibbet and the rack, but by justice and
+tolerance.  The traveller has flung aside his cloak, not compelled by the
+angry buffeting of the north wind, but because the mild, benignant
+weather makes such a defence no longer necessary.  The law no longer
+compels the Gitános to stand back to back, on the principal of mutual
+defence, and to cling to Gitanismo to escape from servitude and thraldom.
+
+Taking everything into consideration, and viewing the subject in all its
+bearings with an impartial glance, we are compelled to come to the
+conclusion that the law of Carlos Tercero, the provisions of which were
+distinguished by justice and clemency, has been the principal if not the
+only cause of the decline of Gitanismo in Spain.  Some importance ought
+to be attached to the opinion of the Gitános themselves on this point.
+‘El Crallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales,’ is a proverbial saying
+among them.  By Crallis, or King, they mean Carlos Tercero, so that the
+saying, the proverbial saying, may be thus translated: _The Law of Carlos
+Tercero has superseded Gypsy Law_.
+
+By the law the schools are open to them, and there is no art or science
+which they may not pursue, if they are willing.  Have they availed
+themselves of the rights which the law has conferred upon them?
+
+Up to the present period but little—they still continue jockeys and
+blacksmiths; but some of these Gypsy chalans, these bronzed smiths, these
+wild-looking esquiladors, can read or write in the proportion of one man
+in three or four; what more can be expected?  Would you have the Gypsy
+bantling, born in filth and misery, ‘midst mules and borricos, amidst the
+mud of a choza or the sand of a barranco, grasp with its swarthy hands
+the crayon and easel, the compass, or the microscope, or the tube which
+renders more distinct the heavenly orbs, and essay to become a Murillo,
+or a Feijoo, or a Lorenzo de Hervas, as soon as the legal disabilities
+are removed which doomed him to be a thievish jockey or a sullen
+husbandman?  Much will have been accomplished, if, after the lapse of a
+hundred years, one hundred human beings shall have been evolved from the
+Gypsy stock, who shall prove sober, honest, and useful members of
+society,—that stock so degraded, so inveterate in wickedness and evil
+customs, and so hardened by brutalising laws.  Should so many beings,
+should so many souls be rescued from temporal misery and eternal woe;
+should only the half of that number, should only the tenth, nay, should
+only one poor wretched sheep be saved, there will be joy in heaven, for
+much will have been accomplished on earth, and those lines will have been
+in part falsified which filled the stout heart of Mahmoud with dismay:—
+
+    ‘For the root that’s unclean, hope if you can;
+    No washing e’er whitens the black Zigan:
+    The tree that’s bitter by birth and race,
+    If in paradise garden to grow you place,
+    And water it free with nectar and wine,
+    From streams in paradise meads that shine,
+    At the end its nature it still declares,
+    For bitter is all the fruit it bears.
+    If the egg of the raven of noxious breed
+    You place ‘neath the paradise bird, and feed
+    The splendid fowl upon its nest,
+    With immortal figs, the food of the blest,
+    And give it to drink from Silisbél, {211}
+    Whilst life in the egg breathes Gabriél,
+    A raven, a raven, the egg shall bear,
+    And the fostering bird shall waste its care.’—
+
+                                                                 FERDOUSI.
+
+The principal evidence which the Gitános have hitherto given that a
+partial reformation has been effected in their habits, is the
+relinquishment, in a great degree, of that wandering life of which the
+ancient laws were continually complaining, and which was the cause of
+infinite evils, and tended not a little to make the roads insecure.
+
+Doubtless there are those who will find some difficulty in believing that
+the mild and conciliatory clauses of the law in question could have much
+effect in weaning the Gitános from this inveterate habit, and will be
+more disposed to think that this relinquishment was effected by energetic
+measures resorted to by the government, to compel them to remain in their
+places of location.  It does not appear, however, that such measures were
+ever resorted to.  Energy, indeed, in the removal of a nuisance, is
+scarcely to be expected from Spaniards under any circumstances.  All we
+can say on the subject, with certainty, is, that since the repeal of the
+tyrannical laws, wandering has considerably decreased among the Gitános.
+
+Since the law has ceased to brand them, they have come nearer to the
+common standard of humanity, and their general condition has been
+ameliorated.  At present, only the very poorest, the parias of the race,
+are to be found wandering about the heaths and mountains, and this only
+in the summer time, and their principal motive, according to their own
+confession, is to avoid the expense of house rent; the rest remain at
+home, following their avocations, unless some immediate prospect of gain,
+lawful or unlawful, calls them forth; and such is frequently the case.
+They attend most fairs, women and men, and on the way frequently bivouac
+in the fields, but this practice must not be confounded with systematic
+wandering.
+
+Gitanismo, therefore, has not been extinguished, only modified; but that
+modification has been effected within the memory of man, whilst
+previously near four centuries elapsed, during which no reform had been
+produced amongst them by the various measures devised, all of which were
+distinguished by an absence not only of true policy, but of common-sense;
+it is therefore to be hoped, that if the Gitános are abandoned to
+themselves, by which we mean no arbitrary laws are again enacted for
+their extinction, the sect will eventually cease to be, and its members
+become confounded with the residue of the population; for certainly no
+Christian nor merely philanthropic heart can desire the continuance of
+any sect or association of people whose fundamental principle seems to be
+to hate all the rest of mankind, and to live by deceiving them; and such
+is the practice of the Gitános.
+
+During the last five years, owing to the civil wars, the ties which unite
+society have been considerably relaxed; the law has been trampled under
+foot, and the greatest part of Spain overrun with robbers and miscreants,
+who, under pretence of carrying on partisan warfare, and not unfrequently
+under no pretence at all, have committed the most frightful excesses,
+plundering and murdering the defenceless.  Such a state of things would
+have afforded the Gitános a favourable opportunity to resume their former
+kind of life, and to levy contributions as formerly, wandering about in
+bands.  Certain it is, however, that they have not sought to repeat their
+ancient excesses, taking advantage of the troubles of the country; they
+have gone on, with a few exceptions, quietly pursuing that part of their
+system to which they still cling, their jockeyism, which, though based on
+fraud and robbery, is far preferable to wandering brigandage, which
+necessarily involves the frequent shedding of blood.  Can better proof be
+adduced, that Gitanismo owes its decline, in Spain, not to force, not to
+persecution, not to any want of opportunity of exercising it, but to some
+other cause?—and we repeat that we consider the principal if not the only
+cause of the decline of Gitanismo to be the conferring on the Gitános the
+rights and privileges of other subjects.
+
+We have said that the Gitános have not much availed themselves of the
+permission, which the law grants them, of embarking in various spheres of
+life.  They remain jockeys, but they have ceased to be wanderers; and the
+grand object of the law is accomplished.  The law forbids them to be
+jockeys, or to follow the trade of trimming and shearing animals, without
+some other visible mode of subsistence.  This provision, except in a few
+isolated instances, they evade; and the law seeks not, and perhaps
+wisely, to disturb them, content with having achieved so much.  The chief
+evils of Gitanismo which still remain consist in the systematic frauds of
+the Gypsy jockeys and the tricks of the women.  It is incurring
+considerable risk to purchase a horse or a mule, even from the most
+respectable Gitáno, without a previous knowledge of the animal and his
+former possessor, the chances being that it is either diseased or stolen
+from a distance.  Of the practices of the females, something will be said
+in particular in a future chapter.
+
+The Gitános in general are very poor, a pair of large cachas and various
+scissors of a smaller description constituting their whole capital;
+occasionally a good hit is made, as they call it, but the money does not
+last long, being quickly squandered in feasting and revelry.  He who has
+habitually in his house a couple of donkeys is considered a thriving
+Gitáno; there are some, however, who are wealthy in the strict sense of
+the word, and carry on a very extensive trade in horses and mules.
+These, occasionally, visit the most distant fairs, traversing the
+greatest part of Spain.  There is a celebrated cattle-fair held at Leon
+on St. John’s or Midsummer Day, and on one of these occasions, being
+present, I observed a small family of Gitános, consisting of a man of
+about fifty, a female of the same age, and a handsome young Gypsy, who
+was their son; they were richly dressed after the Gypsy fashion, the men
+wearing zamarras with massy clasps and knobs of silver, and the woman a
+species of riding-dress with much gold embroidery, and having immense
+gold rings attached to her ears.  They came from Murcia, a distance of
+one hundred leagues and upwards.  Some merchants, to whom I was
+recommended, informed me that they had credit on their house to the
+amount of twenty thousand dollars.
+
+They experienced rough treatment in the fair, and on a very singular
+account: immediately on their appearing on the ground, the horses in the
+fair, which, perhaps, amounted to three thousand, were seized with a
+sudden and universal panic; it was one of those strange incidents for
+which it is difficult to assign a rational cause; but a panic there was
+amongst the brutes, and a mighty one; the horses neighed, screamed, and
+plunged, endeavouring to escape in all directions; some appeared
+absolutely possessed, stamping and tearing, their manes and tails stiffly
+erect, like the bristles of the wild boar—many a rider lost his seat.
+When the panic had ceased, and it did cease almost as suddenly as it had
+arisen, the Gitános were forthwith accused as the authors of it; it was
+said that they intended to steal the best horses during the confusion,
+and the keepers of the ground, assisted by a rabble of chalans, who had
+their private reasons for hating the Gitános, drove them off the field
+with sticks and cudgels.  So much for having a bad name.
+
+These wealthy Gitános, when they are not ashamed of their blood or
+descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or ‘barbales,’ as they
+are called, possess great influence with the rest of their brethren,
+almost as much as the rabbins amongst the Jews; their bidding is
+considered law, and the other Gitános are at their devotion.  On the
+contrary, when they prefer the society of the Busné to that of their own
+race, and refuse to assist their less fortunate brethren in poverty or in
+prison, they are regarded with unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in
+the case of the rich Gypsy of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to
+destruction: such characters are mentioned in their couplets:—
+
+    ‘The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead,
+       Who never gave a straw,
+    He would destroy, for very greed,
+       The good Egyptian law.
+
+    ‘The false Juanito day and night
+       Had best with caution go;
+    The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+       Have sworn to lay him low.’
+
+However some of the Gitános may complain that there is no longer union to
+be found amongst them, there is still much of that fellow-feeling which
+springs from a consciousness of proceeding from one common origin, or, as
+they love to term it, ‘blood.’  At present their system exhibits less of
+a commonwealth than when they roamed in bands amongst the wilds, and
+principally subsisted by foraging, each individual contributing to the
+common stock, according to his success.  The interests of individuals are
+now more distinct, and that close connection is of course dissolved which
+existed when they wandered about, and their dangers, gains, and losses
+were felt in common; and it can never be too often repeated that they are
+no longer a proscribed race, with no rights nor safety save what they
+gained by a close and intimate union.  Nevertheless, the Gitáno, though
+he naturally prefers his own interest to that of his brother, and envies
+him his gain when he does not expect to share in it, is at all times
+ready to side with him against the Busno, because the latter is not a
+Gitáno, but of a different blood, and for no other reason.  When one
+Gitáno confides his plans to another, he is in no fear that they will be
+betrayed to the Busno, for whom there is no sympathy, and when a plan is
+to be executed which requires co-operation, they seek not the fellowship
+of the Busné, but of each other, and if successful, share the gain like
+brothers.
+
+As a proof of the fraternal feeling which is not unfrequently displayed
+amongst the Gitános, I shall relate a circumstance which occurred at
+Cordova a year or two before I first visited it.  One of the poorest of
+the Gitános murdered a Spaniard with the fatal Manchegan knife; for this
+crime he was seized, tried, and found guilty.  Blood-shedding in Spain is
+not looked upon with much abhorrence, and the life of the culprit is
+seldom taken, provided he can offer a bribe sufficient to induce the
+notary public to report favourably upon his case; but in this instance
+money was of no avail; the murdered individual left behind him powerful
+friends and connections, who were determined that justice should take its
+course.  It was in vain that the Gitános exerted all their influence with
+the authorities in behalf of their comrade, and such influence was not
+slight; it was in vain that they offered extravagant sums that the
+punishment of death might be commuted to perpetual slavery in the dreary
+presidio of Ceuta; I was credibly informed that one of the richest
+Gitános, by name Fruto, offered for his own share of the ransom the sum
+of five thousand crowns, whilst there was not an individual but
+contributed according to his means—nought availed, and the Gypsy was
+executed in the Plaza.  The day before the execution, the Gitános,
+perceiving that the fate of their brother was sealed, one and all quitted
+Cordova, shutting up their houses and carrying with them their horses,
+their mules, their borricos, their wives and families, and the greatest
+part of their household furniture.  No one knew whither they directed
+their course, nor were they seen in Cordova for some months, when they
+again suddenly made their appearance; a few, however, never returned.  So
+great was the horror of the Gitános at what had occurred, that they were
+in the habit of saying that the place was cursed for evermore; and when I
+knew them, there were many amongst them who, on no account, would enter
+the Plaza which had witnessed the disgraceful end of their unfortunate
+brother.
+
+The position which the Gitános hold in society in Spain is the lowest, as
+might be expected; they are considered at best as thievish chalans, and
+the women as half sorceresses, and in every respect thieves; there is not
+a wretch, however vile, the outcast of the prison and the presidio, who
+calls himself Spaniard, but would feel insulted by being termed Gitáno,
+and would thank God that he is not; and yet, strange to say, there are
+numbers, and those of the higher classes, who seek their company, and
+endeavour to imitate their manners and way of speaking.  The connections
+which they form with the Spaniards are not many; occasionally some
+wealthy Gitáno marries a Spanish female, but to find a Gitána united to a
+Spaniard is a thing of the rarest occurrence, if it ever takes place.  It
+is, of course, by intermarriage alone that the two races will ever
+commingle, and before that event is brought about, much modification must
+take place amongst the Gitános, in their manners, in their habits, in
+their affections, and their dislikes, and, perhaps, even in their
+physical peculiarities; much must be forgotten on both sides, and
+everything is forgotten in the course of time.
+
+The number of the Gitáno population of Spain at the present day may be
+estimated at about forty thousand.  At the commencement of the present
+century it was said to amount to sixty thousand.  There can be no doubt
+that the sect is by no means so numerous as it was at former periods;
+witness those barrios in various towns still denominated Gitánerias, but
+from whence the Gitános have disappeared even like the Moors from the
+Morerias.  Whether this diminution in number has been the result of a
+partial change of habits, of pestilence or sickness, of war or famine, or
+of all these causes combined, we have no means of determining, and shall
+abstain from offering conjectures on the subject.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+IN the autumn of the year 1839, I landed at Tarifa, from the coast of
+Barbary.  I arrived in a small felouk laden with hides for Cadiz, to
+which place I was myself going.  We stopped at Tarifa in order to perform
+quarantine, which, however, turned out a mere farce, as we were all
+permitted to come on shore; the master of the felouk having bribed the
+port captain with a few fowls.  We formed a motley group.  A rich Moor
+and his son, a child, with their Jewish servant Yusouf, and myself with
+my own man Hayim Ben Attar, a Jew.  After passing through the gate, the
+Moors and their domestics were conducted by the master to the house of
+one of his acquaintance, where he intended they should lodge; whilst a
+sailor was despatched with myself and Hayim to the only inn which the
+place afforded.  I stopped in the street to speak to a person whom I had
+known at Seville.  Before we had concluded our discourse, Hayim, who had
+walked forward, returned, saying that the quarters were good, and that we
+were in high luck, for that he knew the people of the inn were Jews.
+‘Jews,’ said I, ‘here in Tarifa, and keeping an inn, I should be glad to
+see them.’  So I left my acquaintance, and hastened to the house.  We
+first entered a stable, of which the ground floor of the building
+consisted, and ascending a flight of stairs entered a very large room,
+and from thence passed into a kitchen, in which were several people.  One
+of these was a stout, athletic, burly fellow of about fifty, dressed in a
+buff jerkin, and dark cloth pantaloons.  His hair was black as a coal and
+exceedingly bushy, his face much marked from some disorder, and his skin
+as dark as that of a toad.  A very tall woman stood by the dresser, much
+resembling him in feature, with the same hair and complexion, but with
+more intelligence in her eyes than the man, who looked heavy and dogged.
+A dark woman, whom I subsequently discovered to be lame, sat in a corner,
+and two or three swarthy girls, from fifteen to eighteen years of age,
+were flitting about the room.  I also observed a wicked-looking boy, who
+might have been called handsome, had not one of his eyes been injured.
+‘Jews,’ said I, in Moorish, to Hayim, as I glanced at these people and
+about the room; ‘these are not Jews, but children of the Dar-bushi-fal.’
+
+                        [Picture: A Gypsy Family]
+
+‘List to the Corahai,’ said the tall woman, in broken Gypsy slang, ‘hear
+how they jabber (hunelad como chamulian), truly we will make them pay for
+the noise they raise in the house.’  Then coming up to me, she demanded
+with a shout, fearing otherwise that I should not understand, whether I
+would not wish to see the room where I was to sleep.  I nodded: whereupon
+she led me out upon a back terrace, and opening the door of a small room,
+of which there were three, asked me if it would suit.  ‘Perfectly,’ said
+I, and returned with her to the kitchen.
+
+‘O, what a handsome face! what a royal person!’ exclaimed the whole
+family as I returned, in Spanish, but in the whining, canting tones
+peculiar to the Gypsies, when they are bent on victimising.  ‘A more ugly
+Busno it has never been our chance to see,’ said the same voices in the
+next breath, speaking in the jargon of the tribe.  ‘Won’t your Moorish
+Royalty please to eat something?’ said the tall hag.  ‘We have nothing in
+the house; but I will run out and buy a fowl, which I hope may prove a
+royal peacock to nourish and strengthen you.’  ‘I hope it may turn to
+drow in your entrails,’ she muttered to the rest in Gypsy.  She then ran
+down, and in a minute returned with an old hen, which, on my arrival, I
+had observed below in the stable.  ‘See this beautiful fowl,’ said she,
+‘I have been running over all Tarifa to procure it for your kingship;
+trouble enough I have had to obtain it, and dear enough it has cost me.
+I will now cut its throat.’  ‘Before you kill it,’ said I, ‘I should wish
+to know what you paid for it, that there may be no dispute about it in
+the account.’  ‘Two dollars I paid for it, most valorous and handsome
+sir; two dollars it cost me, out of my own quisobi—out of my own little
+purse.’  I saw it was high time to put an end to these zalamerias, and
+therefore exclaimed in Gitáno, ‘You mean two brujis (reals), O mother of
+all the witches, and that is twelve cuartos more than it is worth.’  ‘Ay
+Dios mio, whom have we here?’ exclaimed the females.  ‘One,’ I replied,
+‘who knows you well and all your ways.  Speak! am I to have the hen for
+two reals? if not, I shall leave the house this moment.’  ‘O yes, to be
+sure, brother, and for nothing if you wish it,’ said the tall woman, in
+natural and quite altered tones; ‘but why did you enter the house
+speaking in Corahai like a Bengui?  We thought you a Busno, but we now
+see that you are of our religion; pray sit down and tell us where you
+have been.’ . .
+
+_Myself_.—‘Now, my good people, since I have answered your questions, it
+is but right that you should answer some of mine; pray who are you? and
+how happens it that you are keeping this inn?’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘Verily, brother, we can scarcely tell you who we are.  All
+we know of ourselves is, that we keep this inn, to our trouble and
+sorrow, and that our parents kept it before us; we were all born in this
+house, where I suppose we shall die.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Who is the master of the house, and whose are these children?’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘The master of the house is the fool, my brother, who stands
+before you without saying a word; to him belong these children, and the
+cripple in the chair is his wife, and my cousin.  He has also two sons
+who are grown-up men; one is a chumajarri (shoemaker), and the other
+serves a tanner.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Is it not contrary to the law of the Cales to follow such
+trades?’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘We know of no law, and little of the Cales themselves.
+Ours is the only Calo family in Tarifa, and we never left it in our
+lives, except occasionally to go on the smuggling lay to Gibraltar.  True
+it is that the Cales, when they visit Tarifa, put up at our house,
+sometimes to our cost.  There was one Rafael, son of the rich Fruto of
+Cordova, here last summer, to buy up horses, and he departed a baria and
+a half in our debt; however, I do not grudge it him, for he is a handsome
+and clever Chabó—a fellow of many capacities.  There was more than one
+Busno had cause to rue his coming to Tarifa.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Do you live on good terms with the Busné of Tarifa?’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘Brother, we live on the best terms with the Busné of
+Tarifa; especially with the errays.  The first people in Tarifa come to
+this house, to have their baji told by the cripple in the chair and by
+myself.  I know not how it is, but we are more considered by the grandees
+than the poor, who hate and loathe us.  When my first and only infant
+died, for I have been married, the child of one of the principal people
+was put to me to nurse, but I hated it for its white blood, as you may
+well believe.  It never throve, for I did it a private mischief, and
+though it grew up and is now a youth, it is—mad.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘With whom will your brother’s children marry?  You say there
+are no Gypsies here.’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘Ay de mi, hermano!  It is that which grieves me.  I would
+rather see them sold to the Moors than married to the Busné.  When Rafael
+was here he wished to persuade the chumajarri to accompany him to
+Cordova, and promised to provide for him, and to find him a wife among
+the Callees of that town; but the faint heart would not, though I myself
+begged him to comply.  As for the curtidor (tanner), he goes every night
+to the house of a Busnee; and once, when I reproached him with it, he
+threatened to marry her.  I intend to take my knife, and to wait behind
+the door in the dark, and when she comes out to gash her over the eyes.
+I trow he will have little desire to wed with her then.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Do many Busné from the country put up at this house?’
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘Not so many as formerly, brother; the labourers from the
+Campo say that we are all thieves; and that it is impossible for any one
+but a Calo to enter this house without having the shirt stripped from his
+back.  They go to the houses of their acquaintance in the town, for they
+fear to enter these doors.  I scarcely know why, for my brother is the
+veriest fool in Tarifa.  Were it not for his face, I should say that he
+is no Chabó, for he cannot speak, and permits every chance to slip
+through his fingers.  Many a good mule and borrico have gone out of the
+stable below, which he might have secured, had he but tongue enough to
+have cozened the owners.  But he is a fool, as I said before; he cannot
+speak, and is no Chabó.’
+
+How far the person in question, who sat all the while smoking his pipe,
+with the most unperturbed tranquillity, deserved the character bestowed
+upon him by his sister, will presently appear.  It is not my intention to
+describe here all the strange things I both saw and heard in this Gypsy
+inn.  Several Gypsies arrived from the country during the six days that I
+spent within its walls; one of them, a man, from Moron, was received with
+particular cordiality, he having a son, whom he was thinking of
+betrothing to one of the Gypsy daughters.  Some females of quality
+likewise visited the house to gossip, like true Andalusians.  It was
+singular to observe the behaviour of the Gypsies to these people,
+especially that of the remarkable woman, some of whose conversation I
+have given above.  She whined, she canted, she blessed, she talked of
+beauty of colour, of eyes, of eyebrows, and pestañas (eyelids), and of
+hearts which were aching for such and such a lady.  Amongst others, came
+a very fine woman, the widow of a colonel lately slain in battle; she
+brought with her a beautiful innocent little girl, her daughter, between
+three and four years of age.  The Gypsy appeared to adore her; she
+sobbed, she shed tears, she kissed the child, she blessed it, she fondled
+it.  I had my eye upon her countenance, and it brought to my recollection
+that of a she-wolf, which I had once seen in Russia, playing with her
+whelp beneath a birch-tree.  ‘You seem to love that child very much, O my
+mother,’ said I to her, as the lady was departing.
+
+_Gypsy Hag_.—‘No lo camélo, hijo!  I do not love it, O my son, I do not
+love it; I love it so much, that I wish it may break its leg as it goes
+downstairs, and its mother also.’
+
+On the evening of the fourth day, I was seated on the stone bench at the
+stable door, taking the fresco; the Gypsy innkeeper sat beside me,
+smoking his pipe, and silent as usual; presently a man and woman with a
+borrico, or donkey, entered the portal.  I took little or no notice of a
+circumstance so slight, but I was presently aroused by hearing the
+Gypsy’s pipe drop upon the ground.  I looked at him, and scarcely
+recognised his face.  It was no longer dull, black, and heavy, but was
+lighted up with an expression so extremely villainous that I felt uneasy.
+His eyes were scanning the recent comers, especially the beast of burden,
+which was a beautiful female donkey.  He was almost instantly at their
+side, assisting to remove its housings, and the alforjas, or bags.  His
+tongue had become unloosed, as if by sorcery; and far from being unable
+to speak, he proved that, when it suited his purpose, he could discourse
+with wonderful volubility.  The donkey was soon tied to the manger, and a
+large measure of barley emptied before it, the greatest part of which the
+Gypsy boy presently removed, his father having purposely omitted to mix
+the barley with the straw, with which the Spanish mangers are always kept
+filled.  The guests were hurried upstairs as soon as possible.  I
+remained below, and subsequently strolled about the town and on the
+beach.  It was about nine o’clock when I returned to the inn to retire to
+rest; strange things had evidently been going on during my absence.  As I
+passed through the large room on my way to my apartment, lo, the table
+was set out with much wine, fruits, and viands.  There sat the man from
+the country, three parts intoxicated; the Gypsy, already provided with
+another pipe, sat on his knee, with his right arm most affectionately
+round his neck; on one side sat the chumajarri drinking and smoking, on
+the other the tanner.  Behold, poor humanity, thought I to myself, in the
+hands of devils; in this manner are human souls ensnared to destruction
+by the fiends of the pit.  The females had already taken possession of
+the woman at the other end of the table, embracing her, and displaying
+every mark of friendship and affection.  I passed on, but ere I reached
+my apartment I heard the words mule and donkey.  ‘Adios,’ said I, for I
+but too well knew what was on the carpet.
+
+In the back stable the Gypsy kept a mule, a most extraordinary animal,
+which was employed in bringing water to the house, a task which it
+effected with no slight difficulty; it was reported to be eighteen years
+of age; one of its eyes had been removed by some accident, it was
+foundered, and also lame, the result of a broken leg.  This animal was
+the laughing-stock of all Tarifa; the Gypsy grudged it the very straw on
+while alone he fed it, and had repeatedly offered it for sale at a
+dollar, which he could never obtain.  During the night there was much
+merriment going on, and I could frequently distinguish the voice of the
+Gypsy raised to a boisterous pitch.  In the morning the Gypsy hag entered
+my apartment, bearing the breakfast of myself and Hayim.  ‘What were you
+about last night?’ said I.
+
+‘We were bargaining with the Busno, evil overtake him, and he has
+exchanged us the ass, for the mule and the reckoning,’ said the hag, in
+whose countenance triumph was blended with anxiety.
+
+‘Was he drunk when he saw the mule?’ I demanded.
+
+‘He did not see her at all, O my son, but we told him we had a beautiful
+mule, worth any money, which we were anxious to dispose of, as a donkey
+suited our purpose better.  We are afraid that when he sees her he will
+repent his bargain, and if he calls off within four-and-twenty hours, the
+exchange is null, and the justicia will cause us to restore the ass; we
+have, however, already removed her to our huérta out of the town, where
+we have hid her below the ground.  Dios sabe (God knows) how it will turn
+out.’
+
+When the man and woman saw the lame, foundered, one-eyed creature, for
+which and the reckoning they had exchanged their own beautiful borrico,
+they stood confounded.  It was about ten in the morning, and they had not
+altogether recovered from the fumes of the wine of the preceding night;
+at last the man, with a frightful oath, exclaimed to the innkeeper,
+‘Restore my donkey, you Gypsy villain!’
+
+‘It cannot be, brother,’ replied the latter, ‘your donkey is by this time
+three leagues from here: I sold her this morning to a man I do not know,
+and I am afraid I shall have a hard bargain with her, for he only gave
+two dollars, as she was unsound.  O, you have taken me in, I am a poor
+fool as they call me here, and you understand much, very much, baribu.’
+{230}
+
+‘Her value was thirty-five dollars, thou demon,’ said the countryman,
+‘and the justicia will make you pay that.’
+
+‘Come, come, brother,’ said the Gypsy, ‘all this is mere conversation;
+you have a capital bargain, to-day the mercado is held, and you shall
+sell the mule; I will go with you myself.  O, you understand baribu;
+sister, bring the bottle of anise; the señor and the señora must drink a
+copíta.’  After much persuasion, and many oaths, the man and woman were
+weak enough to comply; when they had drunk several glasses, they departed
+for the market, the Gypsy leading the mule.  In about two hours they
+returned with the wretched beast, but not exactly as they went; a
+numerous crowd followed, laughing and hooting.  The man was now frantic,
+and the woman yet more so.  They forced their way upstairs to collect
+their baggage, which they soon effected, and were about to leave the
+house, vowing revenge.  Now ensued a truly terrific scene, there were no
+more blandishments; the Gypsy men and women were in arms, uttering the
+most frightful execrations; as the woman came downstairs, the females
+assailed her like lunatics; the cripple poked at her with a stick, the
+tall hag clawed at her hair, whilst the father Gypsy walked close beside
+the man, his hand on his clasp-knife, looking like nothing in this world:
+the man, however, on reaching the door, turned to him and said: ‘Gypsy
+demon, my borrico by three o’clock—or you know the rest, the justicia.’
+
+The Gypsies remained filled with rage and disappointment; the hag vented
+her spite on her brother.  ‘’Tis your fault,’ said she; ‘fool! you have
+no tongue; you a Chabó, you can’t speak’; whereas, within a few hours, he
+had perhaps talked more than an auctioneer during a three days’ sale: but
+he reserved his words for fitting occasions, and now sat as usual, sullen
+and silent, smoking his pipe.
+
+The man and woman made their appearance at three o’clock, but they
+came—intoxicated; the Gypsy’s eyes glistened—blandishment was again had
+recourse to.  ‘Come and sit down with the cavalier here,’ whined the
+family; ‘he is a friend of ours, and will soon arrange matters to your
+satisfaction.’  I arose, and went into the street; the hag followed me.
+‘Will you not assist us, brother, or are you no Chabó?’ she muttered.
+
+‘I will have nothing to do with your matters,’ said I.
+
+‘I know who will,’ said the hag, and hurried down the street.
+
+The man and woman, with much noise, demanded their donkey; the innkeeper
+made no answer, and proceeded to fill up several glasses with the
+_anisado_.  In about a quarter of an hour, the Gypsy hag returned with a
+young man, well dressed, and with a genteel air, but with something wild
+and singular in his eyes.  He seated himself by the table, smiled, took a
+glass of liquor, drank part of it, smiled again, and handed it to the
+countryman.  The latter seeing himself treated in this friendly manner by
+a caballero, was evidently much flattered, took off his hat to the
+newcomer, and drank, as did the woman also.  The glass was filled, and
+refilled, till they became yet more intoxicated.  I did not hear the
+young man say a word: he appeared a passive automaton.  The Gypsies,
+however, spoke for him, and were profuse of compliments.  It was now
+proposed that the caballero should settle the dispute; a long and noisy
+conversation ensued, the young man looking vacantly on: the strange
+people had no money, and had already run up another bill at a wine-house
+to which they had retired.  At last it was proposed, as if by the young
+man, that the Gypsy should purchase his own mule for two dollars, and
+forgive the strangers the reckoning of the preceding night.  To this they
+agreed, being apparently stultified with the liquor, and the money being
+paid to them in the presence of witnesses, they thanked the friendly
+mediator, and reeled away.
+
+Before they left the town that night, they had contrived to spend the
+entire two dollars, and the woman, who first recovered her senses, was
+bitterly lamenting that they had permitted themselves to be despoiled so
+cheaply of a _prenda tan preciosa_, as was the donkey.  Upon the whole,
+however, I did not much pity them.  The woman was certainly not the man’s
+wife.  The labourer had probably left his village with some strolling
+harlot, bringing with him the animal which had previously served to
+support himself and family.
+
+I believe that the Gypsy read, at the first glance, their history, and
+arranged matters accordingly.  The donkey was soon once more in the
+stable, and that night there was much rejoicing in the Gypsy inn.
+
+Who was the singular mediator?  He was neither more nor less than the
+foster child of the Gypsy hag, the unfortunate being whom she had
+privately injured in his infancy.  After having thus served them as an
+instrument in their villainy, he was told to go home. . . .
+
+
+THE GYPSY SOLDIER OF VALDEPEÑAS
+
+
+It was at Madrid one fine afternoon in the beginning of March 1838, that,
+as I was sitting behind my table in a cabinete, as it is called, of the
+third floor of No. 16, in the Calle de Santiágo, having just taken my
+meal, my hostess entered and informed me that a military officer wished
+to speak to me, adding, in an undertone, that he looked a _strange
+guest_.  I was acquainted with no military officer in the Spanish
+service; but as at that time I expected daily to be arrested for having
+distributed the Bible, I thought that very possibly this officer might
+have been sent to perform that piece of duty.  I instantly ordered him to
+be admitted, whereupon a thin active figure, somewhat above the middle
+height, dressed in a blue uniform, with a long sword hanging at his side,
+tripped into the room.  Depositing his regimental hat on the ground, he
+drew a chair to the table, and seating himself, placed his elbows on the
+board, and supporting his face with his hands, confronted me, gazing
+steadfastly upon me, without uttering a word.  I looked no less wistfully
+at him, and was of the same opinion as my hostess, as to the strangeness
+of my guest.  He was about fifty, with thin flaxen hair covering the
+sides of his head, which at the top was entirely bald.  His eyes were
+small, and, like ferrets’, red and fiery.  His complexion like a brick, a
+dull red, checkered with spots of purple.  ‘May I inquire your name and
+business, sir?’ I at length demanded.
+
+_Stranger_.—‘My name is Chaléco of Valdepeñas; in the time of the French
+I served as bragante, fighting for Ferdinand VII.  I am now a captain on
+half-pay in the service of Donna Isabel; as for my business here, it is
+to speak with you.  Do you know this book?’
+
+_Myself_.—‘This book is Saint Luke’s Gospel in the Gypsy language; how
+can this book concern you?’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘No one more.  It is in the language of my people.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You do not pretend to say that you are a Caló?’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘I do!  I am Zíncalo, by the mother’s side.  My father, it is
+true, was one of the Busné; but I glory in being a Caló, and care not to
+acknowledge other blood.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘How became you possessed of that book?’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘I was this morning in the Prado, where I met two women of
+our people, and amongst other things they told me that they had a
+gabicóte in our language.  I did not believe them at first, but they
+pulled it out, and I found their words true.  They then spoke to me of
+yourself, and told me where you live, so I took the book from them and am
+come to see you.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Are you able to understand this book?’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘Perfectly, though it is written in very crabbed language:
+{235} but I learnt to read Caló when very young.  My mother was a good
+Calli, and early taught me both to speak and read it.  She too had a
+gabicóte, but not printed like this, and it treated of a different
+matter.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘How came your mother, being a good Calli, to marry one of a
+different blood?’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘It was no fault of hers; there was no remedy.  In her
+infancy she lost her parents, who were executed; and she was abandoned by
+all, till my father, taking compassion on her, brought her up and
+educated her: at last he made her his wife, though three times her age.
+She, however, remembered her blood and hated my father, and taught me to
+hate him likewise, and avoid him.  When a boy, I used to stroll about the
+plains, that I might not see my father; and my father would follow me and
+beg me to look upon him, and would ask me what I wanted; and I would
+reply, Father, the only thing I want is to see you dead.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘That was strange language from a child to its parent.’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘It was—but you know the couplet, {236a} which says, “I do
+not wish to be a lord—I am by birth a Gypsy—I do not wish to be a
+gentleman—I am content with being a Caló!”’
+
+_Myself_.—‘I am anxious to hear more of your history—pray proceed.’
+
+_Stranger_.—‘When I was about twelve years old my father became
+distracted, and died.  I then continued with my mother for some years;
+she loved me much, and procured a teacher to instruct me in Latin.  At
+last she died, and then there was a pléyto (law-suit).  I took to the
+sierra and became a highwayman; but the wars broke out.  My cousin Jara,
+of Valdepeñas, raised a troop of brigantes. {236b}  I enlisted with him
+and distinguished myself very much; there is scarcely a man or woman in
+Spain but has heard of Jara and Chaléco.  I am now captain in the service
+of Donna Isabel—I am covered with wounds—I am—ugh! ugh! ugh—!’
+
+He had commenced coughing, and in a manner which perfectly astounded me.
+I had heard hooping coughs, consumptive coughs, coughs caused by colds,
+and other accidents, but a cough so horrible and unnatural as that of the
+Gypsy soldier, I had never witnessed in the course of my travels.  In a
+moment he was bent double, his frame writhed and laboured, the veins of
+his forehead were frightfully swollen, and his complexion became black as
+the blackest blood; he screamed, he snorted, he barked, and appeared to
+be on the point of suffocation—yet more explosive became the cough; and
+the people of the house, frightened, came running into the apartment.  I
+cries, ‘The man is perishing, run instantly for a surgeon!’  He heard me,
+and with a quick movement raised his left hand as if to countermand the
+order; another struggle, then one mighty throe, which seemed to search
+his deepest intestines; and he remained motionless, his head on his knee.
+The cough had left him, and within a minute or two he again looked up.
+
+‘That is a dreadful cough, friend,’ said I, when he was somewhat
+recovered.  ‘How did you get it?’
+
+_Gypsy Soldier_.—‘I am—shot through the lungs—brother!  Let me but take
+breath, and I will show you the hole—the agujéro.’
+
+He continued with me a considerable time, and showed not the slightest
+disposition to depart; the cough returned twice, but not so violently;—at
+length, having an engagement, I arose, and apologising, told him I must
+leave him.  The next day he came again at the same hour, but he found me
+not, as I was abroad dining with a friend.  On the third day, however, as
+I was sitting down to dinner, in he walked, unannounced.  I am rather
+hospitable than otherwise, so I cordially welcomed him, and requested him
+to partake of my meal.  ‘Con múcho gusto,’ he replied, and instantly took
+his place at the table.  I was again astonished, for if his cough was
+frightful, his appetite was yet more so.  He ate like a wolf of the
+sierra;—soup, puchero, fowl and bacon disappeared before him in a
+twinkling.  I ordered in cold meat, which he presently despatched; a
+large piece of cheese was then produced.  We had been drinking water.
+
+‘Where is the wine?’ said he.
+
+‘I never use it,’ I replied.
+
+He looked blank.  The hostess, however, who was present waiting, said,
+‘If the gentleman wish for wine, I have a bota nearly full, which I will
+instantly fetch.’
+
+The skin bottle, when full, might contain about four quarts.  She filled
+him a very large glass, and was removing the skin, but he prevented her,
+saying, ‘Leave it, my good woman; my brother here will settle with you
+for the little I shall use.’
+
+He now lighted his cigar, and it was evident that he had made good his
+quarters.  On the former occasion I thought his behaviour sufficiently
+strange, but I liked it still less on the present.  Every fifteen minutes
+he emptied his glass, which contained at least a pint; his conversation
+became horrible.  He related the atrocities which he had committed when a
+robber and bragante in La Mancha.  ‘It was our custom,’ said he, ‘to tie
+our prisoners to the olive-trees, and then, putting our horses to full
+speed, to tilt at them with our spears.’  As he continued to drink he
+became waspish and quarrelsome: he had hitherto talked Castilian, but he
+would now only converse in Gypsy and in Latin, the last of which
+languages he spoke with great fluency, though ungrammatically.  He told
+me that he had killed six men in duels; and, drawing his sword, fenced
+about the room.  I saw by the manner in which he handled it, that he was
+master of his weapon.  His cough did not return, and he said it seldom
+afflicted him when he dined well.  He gave me to understand that he had
+received no pay for two years.  ‘Therefore you visit me,’ thought I.  At
+the end of three hours, perceiving that he exhibited no signs of taking
+his departure, I arose, and said I must again leave him.  ‘As you please,
+brother,’ said he; ‘use no ceremony with me, I am fatigued, and will wait
+a little while.’  I did not return till eleven at night, when my hostess
+informed me that he had just departed, promising to return next day.  He
+had emptied the bota to the last drop, and the cheese produced being
+insufficient for him, he sent for an entire Dutch cheese on my account;
+part of which he had eaten and the rest carried away.  I now saw that I
+had formed a most troublesome acquaintance, of whom it was highly
+necessary to rid myself, if possible; I therefore dined out for the next
+nine days.
+
+For a week he came regularly at the usual hour, at the end of which time
+he desisted; the hostess was afraid of him, as she said that he was a
+brujo or wizard, and only spoke to him through the wicket.
+
+On the tenth day I was cast into prison, where I continued several weeks.
+Once, during my confinement, he called at the house, and being informed
+of my mishap, drew his sword, and vowed with horrible imprecations to
+murder the prime minister of Ofalia, for having dared to imprison his
+brother.  On my release, I did not revisit my lodgings for some days, but
+lived at an hotel.  I returned late one afternoon, with my servant
+Francisco, a Basque of Hernáni, who had served me with the utmost
+fidelity during my imprisonment, which he had voluntarily shared with me.
+The first person I saw on entering was the Gypsy soldier, seated by the
+table, whereon were several bottles of wine which he had ordered from the
+tavern, of course on my account.  He was smoking, and looked savage and
+sullen; perhaps he was not much pleased with the reception he had
+experienced.  He had forced himself in, and the woman of the house sat in
+a corner looking upon him with dread.  I addressed him, but he would
+scarcely return an answer.  At last he commenced discoursing with great
+volubility in Gypsy and Latin.  I did not understand much of what he
+said.  His words were wild and incoherent, but he repeatedly threatened
+some person.  The last bottle was now exhausted: he demanded more.  I
+told him in a gentle manner that he had drunk enough.  He looked on the
+ground for some time, then slowly, and somewhat hesitatingly, drew his
+sword and laid it on the table.  It was become dark.  I was not afraid of
+the fellow, but I wished to avoid anything unpleasant.  I called to
+Francisco to bring lights, and obeying a sign which I made him, he sat
+down at the table.  The Gypsy glared fiercely upon him—Francisco laughed,
+and began with great glee to talk in Basque, of which the Gypsy
+understood not a word.  The Basques, like all Tartars, {241a} and such
+they are, are paragons of fidelity and good nature; they are only
+dangerous when outraged, when they are terrible indeed.  Francisco, to
+the strength of a giant joined the disposition of a lamb.  He was beloved
+even in the patio of the prison, where he used to pitch the bar and
+wrestle with the murderers and felons, always coming off victor.  He
+continued speaking Basque.  The Gypsy was incensed; and, forgetting the
+languages in which, for the last hour, he had been speaking, complained
+to Francisco of his rudeness in speaking any tongue but Castilian.  The
+Basque replied by a loud carcajáda, and slightly touched the Gypsy on the
+knee.  The latter sprang up like a mine discharged, seized his sword,
+and, retreating a few steps, made a desperate lunge at Francisco.
+
+The Basques, next to the Pasiegos, {241b} are the best cudgel-players in
+Spain, and in the world.  Francisco held in his hand part of a
+broomstick, which he had broken in the stable, whence he had just
+ascended.  With the swiftness of lightning he foiled the stroke of
+Chaléco, and, in another moment, with a dexterous blow, struck the sword
+out of his hand, sending it ringing against the wall.
+
+The Gypsy resumed his seat and his cigar.  He occasionally looked at the
+Basque.  His glances were at first atrocious, but presently changed their
+expression, and appeared to me to become prying and eagerly curious.  He
+at last arose, picked up his sword, sheathed it, and walked slowly to the
+door; when there he stopped, turned round, advanced close to Francisco,
+and looked him steadfastly in the face.  ‘My good fellow,’ said he, ‘I am
+a Gypsy, and can read baji.  Do you know where you will be at this time
+to-morrow?’ {242}  Then, laughing like a hyena, he departed, and I never
+saw him again.
+
+At that time on the morrow, Francisco was on his death-bed.  He had
+caught the jail fever, which had long raged in the Carcel de la Corte,
+where I was imprisoned.  In a few days he was buried, a mass of
+corruption, in the Campo Santo of Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE Gitános, in their habits and manner of life, are much less cleanly
+than the Spaniards.  The hovels in which they reside exhibit none of the
+neatness which is observable in the habitations of even the poorest of
+the other race.  The floors are unswept, and abound with filth and mud,
+and in their persons they are scarcely less vile.  Inattention to
+cleanliness is a characteristic of the Gypsies, in all parts of the
+world.
+
+The Bishop of Forli, as far back as 1422, gives evidence upon this point,
+and insinuates that they carried the plague with them; as he observes
+that it raged with peculiar violence the year of their appearance at
+Forli. {243}
+
+At the present day they are almost equally disgusting, in this respect,
+in Hungary, England, and Spain.  Amongst the richer Gitános, habits of
+greater cleanliness of course exist than amongst the poorer.  An air of
+sluttishness, however, pervades their dwellings, which, to an experienced
+eye, would sufficiently attest that the inmates were Gitános, in the
+event of their absence.
+
+What can be said of the Gypsy dress, of which such frequent mention is
+made in the Spanish laws, and which is prohibited together with the Gypsy
+language and manner of life?  Of whatever it might consist in former
+days, it is so little to be distinguished from the dress of some classes
+amongst the Spaniards, that it is almost impossible to describe the
+difference.  They generally wear a high-peaked, narrow-brimmed hat, a
+zamarra of sheep-skin in winter, and, during summer, a jacket of brown
+cloth; and beneath this they are fond of exhibiting a red plush
+waistcoat, something after the fashion of the English jockeys, with
+numerous buttons and clasps.  A faja, or girdle of crimson silk,
+surrounds the waist, where, not unfrequently, are stuck the cachas which
+we have already described.  Pantaloons of coarse cloth or leather descend
+to the knee; the legs are protected by woollen stockings, and sometimes
+by a species of spatterdash, either of cloth or leather; stout high-lows
+complete the equipment.
+
+Such is the dress of the Gitános of most parts of Spain.  But it is
+necessary to remark that such also is the dress of the chalans, and of
+the muleteers, except that the latter are in the habit of wearing broad
+sombreros as preservatives from the sun.  This dress appears to be rather
+Andalusian than Gitáno; and yet it certainly beseems the Gitáno better
+than the chalan or muleteer.  He wears it with more easy negligence or
+jauntiness, by which he may be recognised at some distance, even from
+behind.
+
+It is still more difficult to say what is the peculiar dress of the
+Gitánas; they wear not the large red cloaks and immense bonnets of coarse
+beaver which distinguish their sisters of England; they have no other
+headgear than a handkerchief, which is occasionally resorted to as a
+defence against the severity of the weather; their hair is sometimes
+confined by a comb, but more frequently is permitted to stray dishevelled
+down their shoulders; they are fond of large ear-rings, whether of gold,
+silver, or metal, resembling in this respect the poissardes of France.
+There is little to distinguish them from the Spanish women save the
+absence of the mantilla, which they never carry.  Females of fashion not
+unfrequently take pleasure in dressing à la Gitána, as it is called; but
+this female Gypsy fashion, like that of the men, is more properly the
+fashion of Andalusia, the principal characteristic of which is the saya,
+which is exceedingly short, with many rows of flounces.
+
+True it is that the original dress of the Gitános, male and female,
+whatever it was, may have had some share in forming the Andalusian
+fashion, owing to the great number of these wanderers who found their way
+to that province at an early period.  The Andalusians are a mixed breed
+of various nations, Romans, Vandals, Moors; perhaps there is a slight
+sprinkling of Gypsy blood in their veins, and of Gypsy fashion in their
+garb.
+
+The Gitános are, for the most part, of the middle size, and the
+proportions of their frames convey a powerful idea of strength and
+activity united; a deformed or weakly object is rarely found amongst them
+in persons of either sex; such probably perish in their infancy, unable
+to support the hardships and privations to which the race is still
+subjected from its great poverty, and these same privations have given
+and still give a coarseness and harshness to their features, which are
+all strongly marked and expressive.  Their complexion is by no means
+uniform, save that it is invariably darker than the general olive hue of
+the Spaniards; not unfrequently countenances as dark as those of mulattos
+present themselves, and in some few instances of almost negro blackness.
+Like most people of savage ancestry, their teeth are white and strong;
+their mouths are not badly formed, but it is in the eye more than in any
+other feature that they differ from other human beings.
+
+There is something remarkable in the eye of the Gitáno: should his hair
+and complexion become fair as those of the Swede or the Finn, and his
+jockey gait as grave and ceremonious as that of the native of Old
+Castile, were he dressed like a king, a priest, or a warrior, still would
+the Gitáno be detected by his eye, should it continue unchanged.  The Jew
+is known by his eye, but then in the Jew that feature is peculiarly
+small; the Chinese has a remarkable eye, but then the eye of the Chinese
+is oblong, and even with the face, which is flat; but the eye of the
+Gitáno is neither large nor small, and exhibits no marked difference in
+its shape from the eyes of the common cast.  Its peculiarity consists
+chiefly in a strange staring expression, which to be understood must be
+seen, and in a thin glaze, which steals over it when in repose, and seems
+to emit phosphoric light.  That the Gypsy eye has sometimes a peculiar
+effect, we learn from the following stanza:—
+
+    ‘A Gypsy stripling’s glossy eye
+       Has pierced my bosom’s core,
+    A feat no eye beneath the sky
+       Could e’er effect before.’
+
+The following passages are extracted from a Spanish work, {247} and
+cannot be out of place here, as they relate to those matters to which we
+have devoted this chapter.
+
+‘The Gitános have an olive complexion and very marked physiognomy; their
+cheeks are prominent, their lips thick, their eyes vivid and black; their
+hair is long, black, and coarse, and their teeth very white.  The general
+expression of their physiognomy is a compound of pride, slavishness, and
+cunning.  They are, for the most part, of good stature, well formed, and
+support with facility fatigue and every kind of hardship.  When they
+discuss any matter, or speak among themselves, whether in Catalan, in
+Castilian, or in Germania, which is their own peculiar jargon, they
+always make use of much gesticulation, which contributes to give to their
+conversation and to the vivacity of their physiognomy a certain
+expression, still more penetrating and characteristic.
+
+‘When a Gitáno has occasion to speak of some business in which his
+interest is involved, he redoubles his gestures in proportion as he knows
+the necessity of convincing those who hear him, and fears their
+impassibility.  If any rancorous idea agitate him in the course of his
+narrative; if he endeavour to infuse into his auditors sentiments of
+jealousy, vengeance, or any violent passion, his features become
+exaggerated, and the vivacity of his glances, and the contraction of his
+lips, show clearly, and in an imposing manner, the foreign origin of the
+Gitános, and all the customs of barbarous people.  Even his very smile
+has an expression hard and disagreeable.  One might almost say that joy
+in him is a forced sentiment, and that, like unto the savage man, sadness
+is the dominant feature of his physiognomy.
+
+‘The Gitána is distinguished by the same complexion, and almost the same
+features.  In her frame she is as well formed, and as flexible as the
+Gitáno.  Condemned to suffer the same privations and wants, her
+countenance, when her interest does not oblige her to dissemble her
+feelings, presents the same aspect of melancholy, and shows besides, with
+more energy, the rancorous passions of which the female heart is
+susceptible.  Free in her actions, her carriage, and her pursuits, she
+speaks, vociferates, and makes more gestures than the Gitáno, and, in
+imitation of him, her arms are in continual motion, to give more
+expression to the imagery with which she accompanies her discourse; her
+whole body contributes to her gesture, and to increase its force;
+endeavouring by these means to sharpen the effect of language in itself
+insufficient; and her vivid and disordered imagination is displayed in
+her appearance and attitude.
+
+‘When she turns her hand to any species of labour, her hurried action,
+the disorder of her hair, which is scarcely subjected by a little comb,
+and her propensity to irritation, show how little she loves toil, and her
+disgust for any continued occupation.
+
+‘In her disputes, the air of menace and high passion, the flow of words,
+and the facility with which she provokes and despises danger, indicate
+manners half barbarous, and ignorance of other means of defence.
+Finally, both in males and females, their physical constitution, colour,
+agility, and flexibility, reveal to us a caste sprung from a burning
+clime, and devoted to all those exercises which contribute to evolve
+bodily vigour, and certain mental faculties.
+
+‘The dress of the Gitáno varies with the country which he inhabits.  Both
+in Rousillon and Catalonia his habiliments generally consist of jacket,
+waistcoat, pantaloons, and a red faja, which covers part of his
+waistcoat; on his feet he wears hempen sandals, with much ribbon tied
+round the leg as high as the calf; he has, moreover, either woollen or
+cotton stockings; round his neck he wears a handkerchief, carelessly
+tied; and in the winter he uses a blanket or mantle, with sleeves, cast
+over the shoulder; his head is covered with the indispensable red cap,
+which appears to be the favourite ornament of many nations in the
+vicinity of the Mediterranean and Caspian Sea.
+
+‘The neck and the elbows of the jacket are adorned with pieces of blue
+and yellow cloth embroidered with silk, as well as the seams of the
+pantaloons; he wears, moreover, on the jacket or the waistcoat, various
+rows of silver buttons, small and round, sustained by rings or chains of
+the same metal.  The old people, and those who by fortune, or some other
+cause, exercise, in appearance, a kind of authority over the rest, are
+almost always dressed in black or dark-blue velvet.  Some of those who
+affect elegance amongst them keep for holidays a complete dress of
+sky-blue velvet, with embroidery at the neck, pocket-holes, arm-pits, and
+in all the seams; in a word, with the exception of the turban, this was
+the fashion of dress of the ancient Moors of Granada, the only difference
+being occasioned by time and misery.
+
+‘The dress of the Gitánas is very varied: the young girls, or those who
+are in tolerably easy circumstances, generally wear a black bodice laced
+up with a string, and adjusted to their figures, and contrasting with the
+scarlet-coloured saya, which only covers a part of the leg; their shoes
+are cut very low, and are adorned with little buckles of silver; the
+breast, and the upper part of the bodice, are covered either with a white
+handkerchief, or one of some vivid colour; and on the head is worn
+another handkerchief, tied beneath the chin, one of the ends of which
+falls on the shoulder, in the manner of a hood.  When the cold or the
+heat permit, the Gitána removes the hood, without untying the knots, and
+exhibits her long and shining tresses restrained by a comb.  The old
+women, and the very poor, dress in the same manner, save that their
+habiliments are more coarse and the colours less in harmony.  Amongst
+them misery appears beneath the most revolting aspect; whilst the poorest
+Gitáno preserves a certain deportment which would make his aspect
+supportable, if his unquiet and ferocious glance did not inspire us with
+aversion.’
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+WHILST their husbands are engaged in their jockey vocation, or in
+wielding the cachas, the Callees, or Gypsy females, are seldom idle, but
+are endeavouring, by various means, to make all the gain they can.  The
+richest amongst them are generally contrabandistas, and in the large
+towns go from house to house with prohibited goods, especially silk and
+cotton, and occasionally with tobacco.  They likewise purchase cast-off
+female wearing-apparel, which, when vamped up and embellished, they
+sometimes contrive to sell as new, with no inconsiderable profit.
+
+Gitánas of this description are of the most respectable class; the rest,
+provided they do not sell roasted chestnuts, or esteras, which are a
+species of mat, seek a livelihood by different tricks and practices, more
+or less fraudulent; for example—
+
+_La Bahi_, or fortune-telling, which is called in Spanish, _buena
+ventura_.—This way of extracting money from the credulity of dupes is, of
+all those practised by the Gypsies, the readiest and most easy; promises
+are the only capital requisite, and the whole art of fortune-telling
+consists in properly adapting these promises to the age and condition of
+the parties who seek for information.  The Gitánas are clever enough in
+the accomplishment of this, and in most cases afford perfect
+satisfaction.  Their practice chiefly lies amongst females, the portion
+of the human race most given to curiosity and credulity.  To the young
+maidens they promise lovers, handsome invariably, and sometimes rich; to
+wives children, and perhaps another husband; for their eyes are so
+penetrating, that occasionally they will develop your most secret
+thoughts and wishes; to the old, riches—and nothing but riches; for they
+have sufficient knowledge of the human heart to be aware that avarice is
+the last passion that becomes extinct within it.  These riches are to
+proceed either from the discovery of hidden treasures or from across the
+water; from the Americas, to which the Spaniards still look with hope, as
+there is no individual in Spain, however poor, but has some connection in
+those realms of silver and gold, at whose death he considers it probable
+that he may succeed to a brilliant ‘heréncia.’  The Gitánas, in the
+exercise of this practice, find dupes almost as readily amongst the
+superior classes, as the veriest dregs of the population.  It is their
+boast, that the best houses are open to them; and perhaps in the space of
+one hour, they will spae the bahi to a duchess, or countess, in one of
+the hundred palaces of Madrid, and to half a dozen of the lavanderas
+engaged in purifying the linen of the capital, beneath the willows which
+droop on the banks of the murmuring Manzanares.  One great advantage
+which the Gypsies possess over all other people is an utter absence of
+_mauvaise honte_; their speech is as fluent, and their eyes as unabashed,
+in the presence of royalty, as before those from whom they have nothing
+to hope or fear; the result being, that most minds quail before them.
+There were two Gitánas at Madrid, one Pepita by name, and the other La
+Chicharona; the first was a spare, shrewd, witch-like female, about
+fifty, and was the mother-in-law of La Chicharona, who was remarkable for
+her stoutness.  These women subsisted entirely by fortune-telling and
+swindling.  It chanced that the son of Pepita, and husband of Chicharona,
+having spirited away a horse, was sent to the presidio of Malaga for ten
+years of hard labour.  This misfortune caused inexpressible affliction to
+his wife and mother, who determined to make every effort to procure his
+liberation.  The readiest way which occurred to them was to procure an
+interview with the Queen Regent Christina, who they doubted not would
+forthwith pardon the culprit, provided they had an opportunity of
+assailing her with their Gypsy discourse; for, to use their own words,
+‘they well knew what to say.’  I at that time lived close by the palace,
+in the street of Santiago, and daily, for the space of a month, saw them
+bending their steps in that direction.
+
+One day they came to me in a great hurry, with a strange expression on
+both their countenances.  ‘We have seen Christina, hijo’ (my son), said
+Pepita to me.
+
+‘Within the palace?’ I inquired.
+
+‘Within the palace, O child of my garlochin,’ answered the sibyl:
+‘Christina at last saw and sent for us, as I knew she would; I told her
+“bahi,” and Chicharona danced the Romalis (Gypsy dance) before her.’
+
+‘What did you tell her?’
+
+‘I told her many things,’ said the hag, ‘many things which I need not
+tell you: know, however, that amongst other things, I told her that the
+chabori (little queen) would die, and then she would be Queen of Spain.
+I told her, moreover, that within three years she would marry the son of
+the King of France, and it was her bahi to die Queen of France and Spain,
+and to be loved much, and hated much.’
+
+‘And did you not dread her anger, when you told her these things?’
+
+‘Dread her, the Busnee?’ screamed Pepita: ‘No, my child, she dreaded me
+far more; I looked at her so—and raised my finger so—and Chicharona
+clapped her hands, and the Busnee believed all I said, and was afraid of
+me; and then I asked for the pardon of my son, and she pledged her word
+to see into the matter, and when we came away, she gave me this baria of
+gold, and to Chicharona this other, so at all events we have hokkanoed
+the queen.  May an evil end overtake her body, the Busnee!’
+
+Though some of the Gitánas contrive to subsist by fortune-telling alone,
+the generality of them merely make use of it as an instrument towards the
+accomplishment of greater things.  The immediate gains are scanty; a few
+cuartos being the utmost which they receive from the majority of their
+customers.  But the bahi is an excellent passport into houses, and when
+they spy a convenient opportunity, they seldom fail to avail themselves
+of it.  It is necessary to watch them strictly, as articles frequently
+disappear in a mysterious manner whilst Gitánas are telling fortunes.
+The bahi, moreover, is occasionally the prelude to a device which we
+shall now attempt to describe, and which is called _Hokkano Baro_, or the
+great trick, of which we have already said something in the former part
+of this work.  It consists in persuading some credulous person to deposit
+whatever money and valuables the party can muster in a particular spot,
+under the promise that the deposit will increase many manifold.  Some of
+our readers will have difficulty in believing that any people can be
+found sufficiently credulous to allow themselves to be duped by a trick
+of this description, the grossness of the intended fraud seeming too
+palpable.  Experience, however, proves the contrary.  The deception is
+frequently practised at the present day, and not only in Spain but in
+England—enlightened England—and in France likewise; an instance being
+given in the memoirs of Vidocq, the late celebrated head of the secret
+police of Paris, though, in that instance, the perpetrator of the fraud
+was not a Gypsy.  The most subtle method of accomplishing the hokkano
+baro is the following:—
+
+When the dupe—a widow we will suppose, for in these cases the dupes are
+generally widows—has been induced to consent to make the experiment, the
+Gitána demands of her whether she has in the house some strong chest with
+a safe lock.  On receiving an affirmative answer, she will request to see
+all the gold and silver of any description which she may chance to have
+in her possession.  The treasure is shown her; and when the Gitána has
+carefully inspected and counted it, she produces a white handkerchief,
+saying, Lady, I give you this handkerchief, which is blessed.  Place in
+it your gold and silver, and tie it with three knots.  I am going for
+three days, during which period you must keep the bundle beneath your
+pillow, permitting no one to go near it, and observing the greatest
+secrecy, otherwise the money will take wings and fly away.  Every morning
+during the three days it will be well to open the bundle, for your own
+satisfaction, to see that no misfortune has befallen your treasure; be
+always careful, however, to fasten it again with the three knots.  On my
+return, we will place the bundle, after having inspected it, in the
+chest, which you shall yourself lock, retaining the key in your
+possession.  But, thenceforward, for three weeks, you must by no means
+unlock the chest, nor look at the treasure—if you do it will fly away.
+Only follow my directions, and you will gain much, very much, baribu.
+
+The Gitána departs, and, during the three days, prepares a bundle as
+similar as possible to the one which contains the money of her dupe, save
+that instead of gold ounces, dollars, and plate, its contents consist of
+copper money and pewter articles of little or no value.  With this bundle
+concealed beneath her cloak, she returns at the end of three days to her
+intended victim.  The bundle of real treasure is produced and inspected,
+and again tied up by the Gitána, who then requests the other to open the
+chest, which done, she formally places _a bundle_ in it; but, in the
+meanwhile, she has contrived to substitute the fictitious for the real
+one.  The chest is then locked, the lady retaining the key.  The Gitána
+promises to return at the end of three weeks, to open the chest, assuring
+the lady that if it be not unlocked until that period, it will be found
+filled with gold and silver; but threatening that in the event of her
+injunctions being disregarded, the money deposited will vanish.  She then
+walks off with great deliberation, bearing away the spoil.  It is
+needless to say that she never returns.
+
+There are other ways of accomplishing the hokkano baro.  The most simple,
+and indeed the one most generally used by the Gitánas, is to persuade
+some simple individual to hide a sum of money in the earth, which they
+afterwards carry away.  A case of this description occurred within my own
+knowledge, at Madrid, towards the latter part of the year 1837.  There
+was a notorious Gitána, of the name of Aurora; she was about forty years
+of age, a Valencian by birth, and immensely fat.  This amiable personage,
+by some means, formed the acquaintance of a wealthy widow lady; and was
+not slow in attempting to practise the hokkano baro upon her.  She
+succeeded but too well.  The widow, at the instigation of Aurora, buried
+one hundred ounces of gold beneath a ruined arch in a field, at a short
+distance from the wall of Madrid.  The inhumation was effected at night
+by the widow alone.  Aurora was, however, on the watch, and, in less than
+ten minutes after the widow had departed, possessed herself of the
+treasure; perhaps the largest one ever acquired by this kind of deceit.
+The next day the widow had certain misgivings, and, returning to the
+spot, found her money gone.  About six months after this event, I was
+imprisoned in the Carcel de la Corte, at Madrid, and there I found
+Aurora, who was in durance for defrauding the widow.  She said that it
+had been her intention to depart for Valencia with the ‘barias,’ as she
+styled her plunder, but the widow had discovered the trick too soon, and
+she had been arrested.  She added, however, that she had contrived to
+conceal the greatest part of the property, and that she expected her
+liberation in a few days, having been prodigal of bribes to the
+‘justicia.’  In effect, her liberation took place sooner than my own.
+Nevertheless, she had little cause to triumph, as before she left the
+prison she had been fleeced of the last cuarto of her ill-gotten gain, by
+alguazils and escribanos, who, she admitted, understood hokkano baro much
+better than herself.
+
+When I next saw Aurora, she informed me that she was once more on
+excellent terms with the widow, whom she had persuaded that the loss of
+the money was caused by her own imprudence, in looking for it before the
+appointed time; the spirit of the earth having removed it in anger.  She
+added that her dupe was quite disposed to make another venture, by which
+she hoped to retrieve her former loss.
+
+_Ustilar pastésas_.—Under this head may be placed various kinds of theft
+committed by the Gitános.  The meaning of the words is stealing with the
+hands; but they are more generally applied to the filching of money by
+dexterity of hand, when giving or receiving change.  For example: a
+Gitána will enter a shop, and purchase some insignificant article,
+tendering in payment a baria or golden ounce.  The change being put down
+before her on the counter, she counts the money, and complains that she
+has received a dollar and several pesetas less than her due.  It seems
+impossible that there can be any fraud on her part, as she has not even
+taken the pieces in her hand, but merely placed her fingers upon them;
+pushing them on one side.  She now asks the merchant what he means by
+attempting to deceive the poor woman.  The merchant, supposing that he
+has made a mistake, takes up the money, counts it, and finds in effect
+that the just sum is not there.  He again hands out the change, but there
+is now a greater deficiency than before, and the merchant is convinced
+that he is dealing with a witch.  The Gitána now pushes the money to him,
+uplifts her voice, and talks of the justicia.  Should the merchant become
+frightened, and, emptying a bag of dollars, tell her to pay herself, as
+has sometimes been the case, she will have a fine opportunity to exercise
+her powers, and whilst taking the change will contrive to convey secretly
+into her sleeves five or six dollars at least; after which she will
+depart with much vociferation, declaring that she will never again enter
+the shop of so cheating a picaro.
+
+Of all the Gitánas at Madrid, Aurora the fat was, by their own
+confession, the most dexterous at this species of robbery; she having
+been known in many instances, whilst receiving change for an ounce, to
+steal the whole value, which amounts to sixteen dollars.  It was not
+without reason that merchants in ancient times were, according to Martin
+Del Rio, advised to sell nothing out of their shops to Gitánas, as they
+possessed an infallible secret for attracting to their own purses from
+the coffers of the former the money with which they paid for the articles
+they purchased.  This secret consisted in stealing á pastésas, which they
+still practise.  Many accounts of witchcraft and sorcery, which are
+styled old women’s tales, are perhaps equally well founded.  Real actions
+have been attributed to wrong causes.
+
+Shoplifting, and other kinds of private larceny, are connected with
+stealing á pastésas, for in all dexterity of hand is required.  Many of
+the Gitánas of Madrid are provided with large pockets, or rather sacks,
+beneath their gowns, in which they stow away their plunder.  Some of
+these pockets are capacious enough to hold, at one time, a dozen yards of
+cloth, a Dutch cheese and a bottle of wine.  Nothing that she can eat,
+drink, or sell, comes amiss to a veritable Gitána; and sometimes the
+contents of her pocket would afford materials for an inventory far more
+lengthy and curious than the one enumerating the effects found on the
+person of the man-mountain at Lilliput.
+
+_Chiving Drao_.—In former times the Spanish Gypsies of both sexes were in
+the habit of casting a venomous preparation into the mangers of the
+cattle for the purpose of causing sickness.  At present this practice has
+ceased, or nearly so; the Gitános, however, talk of it as universal
+amongst their ancestors.  They were in the habit of visiting the stalls
+and stables secretly, and poisoning the provender of the animals, who
+almost immediately became sick.  After a few days the Gitános would go to
+the labourers and offer to cure the sick cattle for a certain sum, and if
+their proposal was accepted would in effect perform the cure.
+
+Connected with the cure was a curious piece of double dealing.  They
+privately administered an efficacious remedy, but pretended to cure the
+animals not by medicines but by charms, which consisted of small
+variegated beans, called in their language bobis, {262a} dropped into the
+mangers.  By this means they fostered the idea, already prevalent, that
+they were people possessed of supernatural gifts and powers, who could
+remove diseases without having recourse to medicine.  By means of drao,
+they likewise procured themselves food; poisoning swine, as their
+brethren in England still do, {262b} and then feasting on the flesh,
+which was abandoned as worthless: witness one of their own songs:—
+
+    ‘By Gypsy drow the Porker died,
+    I saw him stiff at evening tide,
+    But I saw him not when morning shone,
+    For the Gypsies ate him flesh and bone.’
+
+By drao also they could avenge themselves on their enemies by destroying
+their cattle, without incurring a shadow of suspicion.  Revenge for
+injuries, real or imaginary, is sweet to all unconverted minds; to no one
+more than the Gypsy, who, in all parts of the world, is, perhaps, the
+most revengeful of human beings.
+
+Vidocq in his memoirs states, that having formed a connection with an
+individual whom he subsequently discovered to be the captain of a band of
+Walachian Gypsies, the latter, whose name was Caroun, wished Vidocq to
+assist in scattering certain powders in the mangers of the peasants’
+cattle; Vidocq, from prudential motives, refused the employment.  There
+can be no doubt that these powders were, in substance, the drao of the
+Spanish Gitános.
+
+_La Bar Lachi_, _or the Loadstone_.—If the Gitános in general be addicted
+to any one superstition, it is certainly with respect to this stone, to
+which they attribute all kinds of miraculous powers.  There can be no
+doubt, that the singular property which it possesses of attracting steel,
+by filling their untutored minds with amazement, first gave rise to this
+veneration, which is carried beyond all reasonable bounds.
+
+They believe that he who is in possession of it has nothing to fear from
+steel or lead, from fire or water, and that death itself has no power
+over him.  The Gypsy contrabandistas are particularly anxious to procure
+this stone, which they carry upon their persons in their expeditions;
+they say, that in the event of being pursued by the jaracanallis, or
+revenue officers, whirlwinds of dust will arise, and conceal them from
+the view of their enemies; the horse-stealers say much the same thing,
+and assert that they are uniformly successful, when they bear about them
+the precious stone.  But it is said to be able to effect much more.
+Extraordinary things are related of its power in exciting the amorous
+passions, and, on this account, it is in great request amongst the Gypsy
+hags; all these women are procuresses, and find persons of both sexes
+weak and wicked enough to make use of their pretended knowledge in the
+composition of love-draughts and decoctions.
+
+In the case of the loadstone, however, there is no pretence, the Gitánas
+believing all they say respecting it, and still more; this is proved by
+the eagerness with which they seek to obtain the stone in its natural
+state, which is somewhat difficult to accomplish.
+
+In the museum of natural curiosities at Madrid there is a large piece of
+loadstone originally extracted from the American mines.  There is
+scarcely a Gitána in Madrid who is not acquainted with this circumstance,
+and who does not long to obtain the stone, or a part of it; its being
+placed in a royal museum serving to augment, in their opinion, its real
+value.  Several attempts have been made to steal it, all of which,
+however, have been unsuccessful.  The Gypsies seem not to be the only
+people who envy royalty the possession of this stone.  Pepita, the old
+Gitána of whose talent at telling fortunes such honourable mention has
+already been made, informed me that a priest, who was muy enamorado (in
+love), proposed to her to steal the loadstone, offering her all his
+sacerdotal garments in the event of success: whether the singular reward
+that was promised had but slight temptations for her, or whether she
+feared that her dexterity was not equal to the accomplishment of the
+task, we know not, but she appears to have declined attempting it.
+According to the Gypsy account, the person in love, if he wish to excite
+a corresponding passion in another quarter by means of the loadstone,
+must swallow, _in aguardiente_, a small portion of the stone pulverised,
+at the time of going to rest, repeating to himself the following magic
+rhyme:—
+
+    ‘To the Mountain of Olives one morning I hied,
+    Three little black goats before me I spied,
+    Those three little goats on three cars I laid,
+    Black cheeses three from their milk I made;
+    The one I bestow on the loadstone of power,
+    That save me it may from all ills that lower;
+    The second to Mary Padilla I give,
+    And to all the witch hags about her that live;
+    The third I reserve for Asmodeus lame,
+    That fetch me he may whatever I name.’
+
+_La raiz del buen Baron_, _or the root of the good Baron_.—On this
+subject we cannot be very explicit.  It is customary with the Gitánas to
+sell, under this title, various roots and herbs, to unfortunate females
+who are desirous of producing a certain result; these roots are boiled in
+white wine, and the abominable decoction is taken fasting.  I was once
+shown the root of the good baron, which, in this instance, appeared to be
+parsley root.  By the good baron is meant his Satanic majesty, on whom
+the root is very appropriately fathered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+IT is impossible to dismiss the subject of the Spanish Gypsies without
+offering some remarks on their marriage festivals.  There is nothing
+which they retain connected with their primitive rites and principles,
+more characteristic perhaps of the sect of the Rommany, of the sect of
+the _husbands and wives_, than what relates to the marriage ceremony,
+which gives the female a protector, and the man a helpmate, a sharer of
+his joys and sorrows.  The Gypsies are almost entirely ignorant of the
+grand points of morality; they have never had sufficient sense to
+perceive that to lie, to steal, and to shed human blood violently, are
+crimes which are sure, eventually, to yield bitter fruits to those who
+perpetrate them; but on one point, and that one of no little importance
+as far as temporal happiness is concerned, they are in general wiser than
+those who have had far better opportunities than such unfortunate
+outcasts, of regulating their steps, and distinguishing good from evil.
+They know that chastity is a jewel of high price, and that conjugal
+fidelity is capable of occasionally flinging a sunshine even over the
+dreary hours of a life passed in the contempt of almost all laws, whether
+human or divine.
+
+There is a word in the Gypsy language to which those who speak it attach
+ideas of peculiar reverence, far superior to that connected with the name
+of the Supreme Being, the creator of themselves and the universe.  This
+word is _Lácha_, which with them is the corporeal chastity of the
+females; we say corporeal chastity, for no other do they hold in the
+slightest esteem; it is lawful amongst them, nay praiseworthy, to be
+obscene in look, gesture, and discourse, to be accessories to vice, and
+to stand by and laugh at the worst abominations of the Busné, provided
+their _Lácha ye trupos_, or corporeal chastity, remains unblemished.  The
+Gypsy child, from her earliest years, is told by her strange mother, that
+a good Calli need only dread one thing in this world, and that is the
+loss of Lácha, in comparison with which that of life is of little
+consequence, as in such an event she will be provided for, but what
+provision is there for a Gypsy who has lost her Lácha?  ‘Bear this in
+mind, my child,’ she will say, ‘and now eat this bread, and go forth and
+see what you can steal.’
+
+A Gypsy girl is generally betrothed at the age of fourteen to the youth
+whom her parents deem a suitable match, and who is generally a few years
+older than herself.  Marriage is invariably preceded by betrothment; and
+the couple must then wait two years before their union can take place,
+according to the law of the Calés.  During this period it is expected
+that they treat each other as common acquaintance; they are permitted to
+converse, and even occasionally to exchange slight presents.  One thing,
+however, is strictly forbidden, and if in this instance they prove
+contumacious, the betrothment is instantly broken and the pair are never
+united, and thenceforward bear an evil reputation amongst their sect.
+This one thing is, going into the campo in each other’s company, or
+having any rendezvous beyond the gate of the city, town, or village, in
+which they dwell.  Upon this point we can perhaps do no better than quote
+one of their own stanzas:—
+
+    ‘Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+       Have vowed against us, love!
+    The first, first night that from the gate
+       We two together rove.’
+
+With all the other Gypsies, however, and with the Busné or Gentiles, the
+betrothed female is allowed the freest intercourse, going whither she
+will, and returning at all times and seasons.  With respect to the Busné,
+indeed, the parents are invariably less cautious than with their own
+race, as they conceive it next to an impossibility that their child
+should lose her Lácha by any intercourse with _the white blood_; and true
+it is that experience has proved that their confidence in this respect is
+not altogether idle.  The Gitánas have in general a decided aversion to
+the white men; some few instances, however, to the contrary are said to
+have occurred.
+
+A short time previous to the expiration of the term of the betrothment,
+preparations are made for the Gypsy bridal.  The wedding-day is certainly
+an eventful period in the life of every individual, as he takes a partner
+for better or for worse, whom he is bound to cherish through riches and
+poverty; but to the Gypsy particularly the wedding festival is an
+important affair.  If he is rich, he frequently becomes poor before it is
+terminated; and if he is poor, he loses the little which he possesses,
+and must borrow of his brethren; frequently involving himself throughout
+life, to procure the means of giving a festival; for without a festival,
+he could not become a Rom, that is, a husband, and would cease to belong
+to this sect of Rommany.
+
+There is a great deal of what is wild and barbarous attached to these
+festivals.  I shall never forget a particular one at which I was present.
+After much feasting, drinking, and yelling, in the Gypsy house, the
+bridal train sallied forth—a frantic spectacle.  First of all marched a
+villainous jockey-looking fellow, holding in his hands, uplifted, a long
+pole, at the top of which fluttered in the morning air a snow-white
+cambric handkerchief, emblem of the bride’s purity.  Then came the
+betrothed pair, followed by their nearest friends; then a rabble rout of
+Gypsies, screaming and shouting, and discharging guns and pistols, till
+all around rang with the din, and the village dogs barked.  On arriving
+at the church gate, the fellow who bore the pole stuck it into the ground
+with a loud huzza, and the train, forming two ranks, defiled into the
+church on either side of the pole and its strange ornaments.  On the
+conclusion of the ceremony, they returned in the same manner in which
+they had come.
+
+Throughout the day there was nothing going on but singing, drinking,
+feasting, and dancing; but the most singular part of the festival was
+reserved for the dark night.  Nearly a ton weight of sweetmeats had been
+prepared, at an enormous expense, not for the gratification of the
+palate, but for a purpose purely Gypsy.  These sweetmeats of all kinds,
+and of all forms, but principally yémas, or yolks of eggs prepared with a
+crust of sugar (a delicious bonne-bouche), were strewn on the floor of a
+large room, at least to the depth of three inches.  Into this room, at a
+given signal, tripped the bride and bridegroom _dancing romális_,
+followed amain by all the Gitános and Gitánas, _dancing romális_.  To
+convey a slight idea of the scene is almost beyond the power of words.
+In a few minutes the sweetmeats were reduced to a powder, or rather to a
+mud, the dancers were soiled to the knees with sugar, fruits, and yolks
+of eggs.  Still more terrific became the lunatic merriment.  The men
+sprang high into the air, neighed, brayed, and crowed; whilst the Gitánas
+snapped their fingers in their own fashion, louder than castanets,
+distorting their forms into all kinds of obscene attitudes, and uttering
+words to repeat which were an abomination.  In a corner of the apartment
+capered the while Sebastianillo, a convict Gypsy from Melilla, strumming
+the guitar most furiously, and producing demoniacal sounds which had some
+resemblance to Malbrun (Malbrouk), and, as he strummed, repeating at
+intervals the Gypsy modification of the song:—
+
+    ‘Chalá Malbrún chinguerár,
+    Birandón, birandón, birandéra—
+    Chalá Malbrún chinguerár,
+    No sé bus truterá—
+       No sé bus truterá.
+          No sé bus truterá.
+    La romí que le caméla,
+    Birandón, birandón,’ etc.
+
+The festival endures three days, at the end of which the greatest part of
+the property of the bridegroom, even if he were previously in easy
+circumstances, has been wasted in this strange kind of riot and
+dissipation.  Paco, the Gypsy of Badajoz, attributed his ruin to the
+extravagance of his marriage festival; and many other Gitános have
+confessed the same thing of themselves.  They said that throughout the
+three days they appeared to be under the influence of infatuation, having
+no other wish or thought but to make away with their substance; some have
+gone so far as to cast money by handfuls into the street.  Throughout the
+three days all the doors are kept open, and all corners, whether Gypsies
+or Busné, welcomed with a hospitality which knows no bounds.
+
+In nothing do the Jews and Gitános more resemble each other than in their
+marriages, and what is connected therewith.  In both sects there is a
+betrothment: amongst the Jews for seven, amongst the Gitános for a period
+of two years.  In both there is a wedding festival, which endures amongst
+the Jews for fifteen and amongst the Gitános for three days, during
+which, on both sides, much that is singular and barbarous occurs, which,
+however, has perhaps its origin in antiquity the most remote.  But the
+wedding ceremonies of the Jews are far more complex and allegorical than
+those of the Gypsies, a more simple people.  The Nazarene gazes on these
+ceremonies with mute astonishment; the washing of the bride—the painting
+of the face of herself and her companions with chalk and carmine—her
+ensconcing herself within the curtains of the bed with her female bevy,
+whilst the bridegroom hides himself within his apartment with the youths
+his companions—her envelopment in the white sheet, in which she appears
+like a corse, the bridegroom’s going to sup with her, when he places
+himself in the middle of the apartment with his eyes shut, and without
+tasting a morsel.  His going to the synagogue, and then repairing to
+breakfast with the bride, where he practises the same self-denial—the
+washing of the bridegroom’s plate and sending it after him, that he may
+break his fast—the binding his hands behind him—his ransom paid by the
+bride’s mother—the visit of the sages to the bridegroom—the mulct imposed
+in case he repent—the killing of the bullock at the house of the
+bridegroom—the present of meat and fowls, meal and spices, to the
+bride—the gold and silver—that most imposing part of the ceremony, the
+walking of the bride by torchlight to the house of her betrothed, her
+eyes fixed in vacancy, whilst the youths of her kindred sing their wild
+songs around her—the cup of milk and the spoon presented to her by the
+bridegroom’s mother—the arrival of the sages in the morn—the reading of
+the Ketuba—the night—the half-enjoyment—the old woman—the tantalising
+knock at the door—and then the festival of fishes which concludes all,
+and leaves the jaded and wearied couple to repose after a fortnight of
+persecution.
+
+The Jews, like the Gypsies, not unfrequently ruin themselves by the riot
+and waste of their marriage festivals.  Throughout the entire fortnight,
+the houses, both of bride and bridegroom, are flung open to all
+corners;—feasting and song occupy the day—feasting and song occupy the
+hours of the night, and this continued revel is only broken by the
+ceremonies of which we have endeavoured to convey a faint idea.  In these
+festivals the sages or _ulemma_ take a distinguished part, doing their
+utmost to ruin the contracted parties, by the wonderful despatch which
+they make of the fowls and viands, sweetmeats, _and strong waters_
+provided for the occasion.
+
+After marriage the Gypsy females generally continue faithful to their
+husbands through life; giving evidence that the exhortations of their
+mothers in early life have not been without effect.  Of course licentious
+females are to be found both amongst the matrons and the unmarried; but
+such instances are rare, and must be considered in the light of
+exceptions to a principle.  The Gypsy women (I am speaking of those of
+Spain), as far as corporeal chastity goes, are very paragons; but in
+other respects, alas!—little can be said in praise of their morality.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+WHILST in Spain I devoted as much time as I could spare from my grand
+object, which was to circulate the Gospel through that benighted country,
+to attempt to enlighten the minds of the Gitános on the subject of
+religion.  I cannot say that I experienced much success in my endeavours;
+indeed, I never expected much, being fully acquainted with the stony
+nature of the ground on which I was employed; perhaps some of the seed
+that I scattered may eventually spring up and yield excellent fruit.  Of
+one thing I am certain: if I did the Gitános no good, I did them no harm.
+
+It has been said that there is a secret monitor, or conscience, within
+every heart, which immediately upbraids the individual on the commission
+of a crime; this may be true, but certainly the monitor within the Gitáno
+breast is a very feeble one, for little attention is ever paid to its
+reproofs.  With regard to conscience, be it permitted to observe, that it
+varies much according to climate, country, and religion; perhaps nowhere
+is it so terrible and strong as in England; I need not say why.  Amongst
+the English, I have seen many individuals stricken low, and
+broken-hearted, by the force of conscience; but never amongst the
+Spaniards or Italians; and I never yet could observe that the crimes
+which the Gitános were daily and hourly committing occasioned them the
+slightest uneasiness.
+
+One important discovery I made among them: it was, that no individual,
+however wicked and hardened, is utterly _godless_.  Call it superstition,
+if you will, still a certain fear and reverence of something sacred and
+supreme would hang about them.  I have heard Gitános stiffly deny the
+existence of a Deity, and express the utmost contempt for everything
+holy; yet they subsequently never failed to contradict themselves, by
+permitting some expression to escape which belied their assertions, and
+of this I shall presently give a remarkable instance.
+
+I found the women much more disposed to listen to anything I had to say
+than the men, who were in general so taken up with their traffic that
+they could think and talk of nothing else; the women, too, had more
+curiosity and more intelligence; the conversational powers of some of
+them I found to be very great, and yet they were destitute of the
+slightest rudiments of education, and were thieves by profession.  At
+Madrid I had regular conversaziones, or, as they are called in Spanish,
+tertúlias, with these women, who generally visited me twice a week; they
+were perfectly unreserved towards me with respect to their actions and
+practices, though their behaviour, when present, was invariably strictly
+proper.  I have already had cause to mention Pépa the sibyl, and her
+daughter-in-law, Chicharona; the manners of the first were sometimes
+almost elegant, though, next to Aurora, she was the most notorious
+she-thug in Madrid; Chicharona was good-humoured, like most fat
+personages.  Pépa had likewise two daughters, one of whom, a very
+remarkable female, was called La Tuérta, from the circumstance of her
+having but one eye, and the other, who was a girl of about thirteen, La
+Casdamí, or the scorpion, from the malice which she occasionally
+displayed.
+
+Pépa and Chicharona were invariably my most constant visitors.  One day
+in winter they arrived as usual; the One-eyed and the Scorpion following
+behind.
+
+_Myself_.—‘I am glad to see you, Pépa: what have you been doing this
+morning?’
+
+_Pépa_.—‘I have been telling baji, and Chicharona has been stealing á
+pastésas; we have had but little success, and have come to warm ourselves
+at the braséro.  As for the One-eyed, she is a very sluggard (holgazána),
+she will neither tell fortunes nor steal.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Hold your peace, mother of the Bengues; I will steal,
+when I see occasion, but it shall not be á pastésas, and I will hokkawar
+(deceive), but it shall not be by telling fortunes.  If I deceive, it
+shall be by horses, by jockeying. {276}  If I steal, it shall be on the
+road—I’ll rob.  You know already what I am capable of, yet knowing that,
+you would have me tell fortunes like yourself, or steal like Chicharona.
+Me diñela cónche (it fills me with fury) to be asked to tell fortunes,
+and the next Busnee that talks to me of bajis, I will knock all her teeth
+out.’
+
+_The Scorpion_.—‘My sister is right; I, too, would sooner be a salteadóra
+(highwaywoman), or a chalána (she-jockey), than steal with the hands, or
+tell bájis.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You do not mean to say, O Tuérta, that you are a jockey, and
+that you rob on the highway.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘I am a chalána, brother, and many a time I have robbed
+upon the road, as all our people know.  I dress myself as a man, and go
+forth with some of them.  I have robbed alone, in the pass of the
+Guadarama, with my horse and escopéta.  I alone once robbed a cuadrilla
+of twenty Gallégos, who were returning to their own country, after
+cutting the harvests of Castile; I stripped them of their earnings, and
+could have stripped them of their very clothes had I wished, for they
+were down on their knees like cowards.  I love a brave man, be he Busné
+or Gypsy.  When I was not much older than the Scorpion, I went with
+several others to rob the cortíjo of an old man; it was more than twenty
+leagues from here.  We broke in at midnight, and bound the old man: we
+knew he had money; but he said no, and would not tell us where it was; so
+we tortured him, pricking him with our knives and burning his hands over
+the lamp; all, however, would not do.  At last I said, “Let us try the
+_pimientos_”; so we took the green pepper husks, pulled open his eyelids,
+and rubbed the pupils with the green pepper fruit.  That was the worst
+pinch of all.  Would you believe it? the old man bore it.  Then our
+people said, “Let us kill him,” but I said, no, it were a pity: so we
+spared him, though we got nothing.  I have loved that old man ever since
+for his firm heart, and should have wished him for a husband.’
+
+_The Scorpion_.—‘Ojalá, that I had been in that cortíjo, to see such
+sport!’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Do you fear God, O Tuérta?’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Brother, I fear nothing.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Do you believe in God, O Tuérta?’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Brother, I do not; I hate all connected with that name;
+the whole is folly; me diñela cónche.  If I go to church, it is but to
+spit at the images.  I spat at the búlto of María this morning; and I
+love the Corojai, and the Londoné, {278a} because they are not baptized.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You, of course, never say a prayer.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘No, no; there are three or four old words, taught me by
+some old people, which I sometimes say to myself; I believe they have
+both force and virtue.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘I would fain hear; pray tell me them.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Brother, they are words not to be repeated.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Why not?’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘They are holy words, brother.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Holy!  You say there is no God; if there be none, there can be
+nothing holy; pray tell me the words, O Tuérta.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Brother, I dare not.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘Then you do fear something.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘Not I—
+
+    ‘_Saboca Enrecar María Ereria_, {278b}
+
+and now I wish I had not said them.’
+
+_Myself_.—‘You are distracted, O Tuérta: the words say simply, ‘Dwell
+within us, blessed Maria.’  You have spitten on her búlto this morning in
+the church, and now you are afraid to repeat four words, amongst which is
+her name.’
+
+_The One-eyed_.—‘I did not understand them; but I wish I had not said
+them.’
+
+. . . . .
+
+I repeat that there is no individual, however hardened, who is utterly
+_godless_.
+
+The reader will have already gathered from the conversations reported in
+this volume, and especially from the last, that there is a wide
+difference between addressing Spanish Gitános and Gitánas and English
+peasantry: of a certainty what will do well for the latter is calculated
+to make no impression on these thievish half-wild people.  Try them with
+the Gospel, I hear some one cry, which speaks to all: I did try them with
+the Gospel, and in their own language.  I commenced with Pépa and
+Chicharona.  Determined that they should understand it, I proposed that
+they themselves should translate it.  They could neither read nor write,
+which, however, did not disqualify them from being translators.  I had
+myself previously translated the whole Testament into the Spanish
+Rommany, but I was desirous to circulate amongst the Gitános a version
+conceived in the exact language in which they express their ideas.  The
+women made no objection, they were fond of our tertúlias, and they
+likewise reckoned on one small glass of Malaga wine, with which I
+invariably presented them.  Upon the whole, they conducted themselves
+much better than could have been expected.  We commenced with Saint Luke:
+they rendering into Rommany the sentences which I delivered to them in
+Spanish.  They proceeded as far as the eighth chapter, in the middle of
+which they broke down.  Was that to be wondered at?  The only thing which
+astonished me was, that I had induced two such strange beings to advance
+so far in a task so unwonted, and so entirely at variance with their
+habits, as translation.
+
+These chapters I frequently read over to them, explaining the subject in
+the best manner I was able.  They said it was lachó, and jucál, and
+mistó, all of which words express approval of the quality of a thing.
+Were they improved, were their hearts softened by these Scripture
+lectures?  I know not.  Pépa committed a rather daring theft shortly
+afterwards, which compelled her to conceal herself for a fortnight; it is
+quite possible, however, that she may remember the contents of those
+chapters on her death-bed; if so, will the attempt have been a futile
+one?
+
+I completed the translation, supplying deficiencies from my own version
+begun at Badajoz in 1836.  This translation I printed at Madrid in 1838;
+it was the first book which ever appeared in Rommany, and was called
+‘Embéo e Majaro Lucas,’ or Gospel of Luke the Saint.  I likewise
+published, simultaneously, the same Gospel in Basque, which, however, I
+had no opportunity of circulating.
+
+The Gitános of Madrid purchased the Gypsy Luke freely: many of the men
+understood it, and prized it highly, induced of course more by the
+language than the doctrine; the women were particularly anxious to obtain
+copies, though unable to read; but each wished to have one in her pocket,
+especially when engaged in thieving expeditions, for they all looked upon
+it in the light of a charm, which would preserve them from all danger and
+mischance; some even went so far as to say, that in this respect it was
+equally efficacious as the Bar Lachí, or loadstone, which they are in
+general so desirous of possessing.  Of this Gospel {281} five hundred
+copies were printed, of which the greater number I contrived to circulate
+amongst the Gypsies in various parts; I cast the book upon the waters and
+left it to its destiny.
+
+I have counted seventeen Gitánas assembled at one time in my apartment in
+the Calle de Santiágo in Madrid; for the first quarter of an hour we
+generally discoursed upon indifferent matters, I then by degrees drew
+their attention to religion and the state of souls.  I finally became so
+bold that I ventured to speak against their inveterate practices,
+thieving and lying, telling fortunes, and stealing á pastésas; this was
+touching upon delicate ground, and I experienced much opposition and much
+feminine clamour.  I persevered, however, and they finally assented to
+all I said, not that I believe that my words made much impression upon
+their hearts.  In a few months matters were so far advanced that they
+would sing a hymn; I wrote one expressly for them in Rommany, in which
+their own wild couplets were, to a certain extent, imitated.
+
+The people of the street in which I lived, seeing such numbers of these
+strange females continually passing in and out, were struck with
+astonishment, and demanded the reason.  The answers which they obtained
+by no means satisfied them.  ‘Zeal for the conversion of souls,—the souls
+too of Gitánas,—disparáte! the fellow is a scoundrel.  Besides he is an
+Englishman, and is not baptized; what cares he for souls?  They visit him
+for other purposes.  He makes base ounces, which they carry away and
+circulate.  Madrid is already stocked with false money.’  Others were of
+opinion that we met for the purposes of sorcery and abomination.  The
+Spaniard has no conception that other springs of action exist than
+interest or villainy.
+
+My little congregation, if such I may call it, consisted entirely of
+women; the men seldom or never visited me, save they stood in need of
+something which they hoped to obtain from me.  This circumstance I little
+regretted, their manners and conversation being the reverse of
+interesting.  It must not, however, be supposed that, even with the
+women, matters went on invariably in a smooth and satisfactory manner.
+The following little anecdote will show what slight dependence can be
+placed upon them, and how disposed they are at all times to take part in
+what is grotesque and malicious.  One day they arrived, attended by a
+Gypsy jockey whom I had never previously seen.  We had scarcely been
+seated a minute, when this fellow, rising, took me to the window, and
+without any preamble or circumlocution, said—‘Don Jorge, you shall lend
+me two barias’ (ounces of gold).   ‘Not to your whole race, my excellent
+friend,’ said I; ‘are you frantic?  Sit down and be discreet.’  He obeyed
+me literally, sat down, and when the rest departed, followed with them.
+We did not invariably meet at my own house, but occasionally at one in a
+street inhabited by Gypsies.  On the appointed day I went to this house,
+where I found the women assembled; the jockey was also present.  On
+seeing me he advanced, again took me aside, and again said—‘Don Jorge,
+you shall lend me two barias.’  I made him no answer, but at once entered
+on the subject which brought me thither.  I spoke for some time in
+Spanish; I chose for the theme of my discourse the situation of the
+Hebrews in Egypt, and pointed out its similarity to that of the Gitános
+in Spain.  I spoke of the power of God, manifested in preserving both as
+separate and distinct people amongst the nations until the present day.
+I warmed with my subject.  I subsequently produced a manuscript book,
+from which I read a portion of Scripture, and the Lord’s Prayer and
+Apostles’ Creed, in Rommany.  When I had concluded I looked around me.
+
+The features of the assembly were twisted, and the eyes of all turned
+upon me with a frightful squint; not an individual present but
+squinted,—the genteel Pépa, the good-humoured Chicharona, the Casdamí,
+etc. etc.  The Gypsy fellow, the contriver of the jest, squinted worst of
+all.  Such are Gypsies.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI
+PART III
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THERE is no nation in the world, however exalted or however degraded, but
+is in possession of some peculiar poetry.  If the Chinese, the Hindoos,
+the Greeks, and the Persians, those splendid and renowned races, have
+their moral lays, their mythological epics, their tragedies, and their
+immortal love songs, so also have the wild and barbarous tribes of
+Soudan, and the wandering Esquimaux, their ditties, which, however
+insignificant in comparison with the compositions of the former nations,
+still are entitled in every essential point to the name of poetry; if
+poetry mean metrical compositions intended to soothe and recreate the
+mind fatigued by the cares, distresses, and anxieties to which mortality
+is subject.
+
+The Gypsies too have their poetry.  Of that of the Russian Zigani we have
+already said something.  It has always been our opinion, and we believe
+that in this we are by no means singular, that in nothing can the
+character of a people be read with greater certainty and exactness than
+in its songs.  How truly do the warlike ballads of the Northmen and the
+Danes, their _drapas_ and _kæmpe-viser_, depict the character of the
+Goth; and how equally do the songs of the Arabians, replete with homage
+to the one high, uncreated, and eternal God, ‘the fountain of blessing,’
+‘the only conqueror,’ lay bare to us the mind of the Moslem of the
+desert, whose grand characteristic is religious veneration, and
+uncompromising zeal for the glory of the Creator.
+
+And well and truly do the coplas and gachaplas of the Gitános depict the
+character of the race.  This poetry, for poetry we will call it, is in
+most respects such as might be expected to originate among people of
+their class; a set of Thugs, subsisting by cheating and villainy of every
+description; hating the rest of the human species, and bound to each
+other by the bonds of common origin, language, and pursuits.  The general
+themes of this poetry are the various incidents of Gitáno life and the
+feelings of the Gitános.  A Gypsy sees a pig running down a hill, and
+imagines that it cries ‘Ustilame Caloro!’ {288}—a Gypsy reclining sick on
+the prison floor beseeches his wife to intercede with the alcayde for the
+removal of the chain, the weight of which is bursting his body—the moon
+arises, and two Gypsies, who are about to steal a steed, perceive a
+Spaniard, and instantly flee—Juanito Ralli, whilst going home on his
+steed, is stabbed by a Gypsy who hates him—Facundo, a Gypsy, runs away at
+the sight of the burly priest of Villa Franca, who hates all Gypsies.
+Sometimes a burst of wild temper gives occasion to a strain—the swarthy
+lover threatens to slay his betrothed, even _at the feet of Jesus_,
+should she prove unfaithful.  It is a general opinion amongst the Gitános
+that Spanish women are very fond of Rommany chals and Rommany.  There is
+a stanza in which a Gitáno hopes to bear away a beauty of Spanish race by
+means of a word of Rommany whispered in her ear at the window.
+
+Amongst these effusions are even to be found tender and beautiful
+thoughts; for Thugs and Gitános have their moments of gentleness.  True
+it is that such are few and far between, as a flower or a shrub is here
+and there seen springing up from the interstices of the rugged and
+frightful rocks of which the Spanish sierras are composed: a wicked
+mother is afraid to pray to the Lord with her own lips, and calls on her
+innocent babe to beseech him to restore peace and comfort to her heart—an
+imprisoned youth appears to have no earthly friend on whom he can rely,
+save his sister, and wishes for a messenger to carry unto her the tale of
+his sufferings, confident that she would hasten at once to his
+assistance.  And what can be more touching than the speech of the
+relenting lover to the fair one whom he has outraged?
+
+    ‘Extend to me the hand so small,
+    Wherein I see thee weep,
+    For O thy balmy tear-drops all
+    I would collect and keep.’
+
+This Gypsy poetry consists of quartets, or rather couplets, but two
+rhymes being discernible, and those generally imperfect, the vowels alone
+agreeing in sound.  Occasionally, however, sixains, or stanzas of six
+lines, are to be found, but this is of rare occurrence.  The thought,
+anecdote or adventure described, is seldom carried beyond one stanza, in
+which everything is expressed which the poet wishes to impart.  This
+feature will appear singular to those who are unacquainted with the
+character of the popular poetry of the south, and are accustomed to the
+redundancy and frequently tedious repetition of a more polished muse.  It
+will be well to inform such that the greater part of the poetry sung in
+the south, and especially in Spain, is extemporary.  The musician
+composes it at the stretch of his voice, whilst his fingers are tugging
+at the guitar; which style of composition is by no means favourable to a
+long and connected series of thought.  Of course, the greater part of
+this species of poetry perishes as soon as born.  A stanza, however, is
+sometimes caught up by the bystanders, and committed to memory; and being
+frequently repeated, makes, in time, the circuit of the country.  For
+example, the stanza about Coruncho Lopez, which was originally made at
+the gate of a venta by a Miquelet, {290} who was conducting the said
+Lopez to the galleys for a robbery.  It is at present sung through the
+whole of the peninsula, however insignificant it may sound to foreign
+ears:—
+
+    ‘Coruncho Lopez, gallant lad,
+       A smuggling he would ride;
+    He stole his father’s ambling prad,
+    And therefore to the galleys sad
+       Coruncho now I guide.’
+
+The couplets of the Gitános are composed in the same off-hand manner, and
+exactly resemble in metre the popular ditties of the Spaniards.  In
+spirit, however, as well as language, they are in general widely
+different, as they mostly relate to the Gypsies and their affairs, and
+not unfrequently abound with abuse of the Busné or Spaniards.  Many of
+these creations have, like the stanza of Coruncho Lopez, been wafted over
+Spain amongst the Gypsy tribes, and are even frequently repeated by the
+Spaniards themselves; at least, by those who affect to imitate the
+phraseology of the Gitános.  Those which appear in the present collection
+consist partly of such couplets, and partly of such as we have ourselves
+taken down, as soon as they originated, not unfrequently in the midst of
+a circle of these singular people, dancing and singing to their wild
+music.  In no instance have they been subjected to modification; and the
+English translation is, in general, very faithful to the original, as
+will easily be perceived by referring to the lexicon.  To those who may
+feel disposed to find fault with or criticise these songs, we have to
+observe, that the present work has been written with no other view than
+to depict the Gitános such as they are, and to illustrate their
+character; and, on that account, we have endeavoured, as much as
+possible, to bring them before the reader, and to make them speak for
+themselves.  They are a half-civilised, unlettered people, proverbial for
+a species of knavish acuteness, which serves them in lieu of wisdom.  To
+place in the mouth of such beings the high-flown sentiments of modern
+poetry would not answer our purpose, though several authors have not
+shrunk from such an absurdity.
+
+These couplets have been collected in Estremadura and New Castile, in
+Valencia and Andalusia; the four provinces where the Gitáno race most
+abounds.  We wish, however, to remark, that they constitute scarcely a
+tenth part of our original gleanings, from which we have selected one
+hundred of the most remarkable and interesting.
+
+The language of the originals will convey an exact idea of the Rommany of
+Spain, as used at the present day amongst the Gitános in the fairs, when
+they are buying and selling animals, and wish to converse with each other
+in a way unintelligible to the Spaniards.  We are free to confess that it
+is a mere broken jargon, but it answers the purpose of those who use it;
+and it is but just to remark that many of its elements are of the most
+remote antiquity, and the most illustrious descent, as will be shown
+hereafter.  We have uniformly placed the original by the side of the
+translation; for though unwilling to make the Gitános speak in any other
+manner than they are accustomed, we are equally averse to have it
+supposed that many of the thoughts and expressions which occur in these
+songs, and which are highly objectionable, originated with ourselves.
+{292}
+
+
+RHYMES OF THE GITÁNOS
+
+
+   Unto a refuge me they led,
+      To save from dungeon drear;
+   Then sighing to my wife I said,
+      I leave my baby dear.
+
+   Back from the refuge soon I sped,
+      My child’s sweet face to see;
+   Then sternly to my wife I said,
+      You’ve seen the last of me.
+
+   O when I sit my courser bold,
+      My bantling in my rear,
+   And in my hand my musket hold,
+      O how they quake with fear.
+
+   Pray, little baby, pray the Lord,
+      Since guiltless still thou art,
+   That peace and comfort he afford
+      To this poor troubled heart.
+
+   The false Juanito, day and night,
+      Had best with caution go,
+   The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+      Have sworn to lay him low.
+
+   There runs a swine down yonder hill,
+      As fast as e’er he can,
+   And as he runs he crieth still,
+      Come, steal me, Gypsy man.
+
+   I wash’d not in the limpid flood
+      The shirt which binds my frame;
+   But in Juanito Ralli’s blood
+      I bravely wash’d the same.
+
+   I sallied forth upon my grey,
+      With him my hated foe,
+   And when we reach’d the narrow way
+      I dealt a dagger blow.
+
+   To blessed Jesus’ holy feet
+      I’d rush to kill and slay
+   My plighted lass so fair and sweet,
+      Should she the wanton play.
+
+   I for a cup of water cried,
+      But they refus’d my prayer,
+   Then straight into the road I hied,
+      And fell to robbing there.
+
+   I ask’d for fire to warm my frame,
+      But they’d have scorn’d my prayer,
+   If I, to pay them for the same,
+      Had stripp’d my body bare.
+
+   Then came adown the village street,
+      With little babes that cry,
+   Because they have no crust to eat,
+      A Gypsy company;
+   And as no charity they meet,
+      They curse the Lord on high.
+
+   I left my house and walk’d about,
+      They seized me fast and bound;
+   It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+      The Spaniards here have found.
+
+   From out the prison me they led,
+      Before the scribe they brought;
+   It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+      The Spaniards here have caught.
+
+   Throughout the night, the dusky night,
+      I prowl in silence round,
+   And with my eyes look left and right,
+      For him, the Spanish hound,
+   That with my knife I him may smite,
+      And to the vitals wound.
+
+   Will no one to the sister bear
+      News of her brother’s plight,
+   How in this cell of dark despair,
+      To cruel death he’s dight?
+
+   The Lord, as e’en the Gentiles state,
+      By Egypt’s race was bred,
+   And when he came to man’s estate,
+      His blood the Gentiles shed.
+
+   O never with the Gentiles wend,
+      Nor deem their speeches true;
+   Or else, be certain in the end
+      Thy blood will lose its hue.
+
+   From out the prison me they bore,
+      Upon an ass they placed,
+   And scourg’d me till I dripp’d with gore,
+      As down the road it paced.
+
+   They bore me from the prison nook,
+      They bade me rove at large;
+   When out I’d come a gun I took,
+      And scathed them with its charge.
+
+   My mule so bonny I bestrode,
+      To Portugal I’d flee,
+   And as I o’er the water rode
+      A man came suddenly;
+   And he his love and kindness show’d
+      By setting his dog on me.
+
+   Unless within a fortnight’s space
+      Thy face, O maid, I see;
+   Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+      My lady love shall be.
+
+   Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+      If thou wert only mine,
+   Within a bonny crystal case
+      For life I’d thee enshrine.
+
+   Sire nor mother me caress,
+      For I have none on earth;
+   One little brother I possess,
+      And he’s a fool by birth.
+
+   Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+      Have vow’d against me, love!
+   The first, first night that from the gate
+      We two together rove.
+
+   Come to the window, sweet love, do,
+      And I will whisper there,
+   In Rommany, a word or two,
+      And thee far off will bear.
+
+   A Gypsy stripling’s sparkling eye
+      Has pierced my bosom’s core,
+   A feat no eye beneath the sky
+      Could e’er effect before.
+
+   Dost bid me from the land begone,
+      And thou with child by me?
+   Each time I come, the little one,
+      I’ll greet in Rommany.
+
+   With such an ugly, loathly wife
+      The Lord has punish’d me;
+   I dare not take her for my life
+      Where’er the Spaniards be.
+
+   O, I am not of gentle clan,
+      I’m sprung from Gypsy tree;
+   And I will be no gentleman,
+      But an Egyptian free.
+
+   On high arose the moon so fair,
+      The Gypsy ’gan to sing:
+   I see a Spaniard coming there,
+      I must be on the wing.
+
+   This house of harlotry doth smell,
+      I flee as from the pest;
+   Your mother likes my sire too well;
+      To hie me home is best.
+
+   The girl I love more dear than life,
+      Should other gallant woo,
+   I’d straight unsheath my dudgeon knife
+      And cut his weasand through;
+   Or he, the conqueror in the strife,
+      The same to me should do.
+
+   Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,
+      And thus his ditty ran:
+   God send the Gypsy lassie here,
+      And not the Gypsy man.
+
+   At midnight, when the moon began
+      To show her silver flame,
+   There came to him no Gypsy man,
+      The Gypsy lassie came.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+THE Gitános, abject and vile as they have ever been, have nevertheless
+found admirers in Spain, individuals who have taken pleasure in their
+phraseology, pronunciation, and way of life; but above all, in the songs
+and dances of the females.  This desire for cultivating their
+acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia, where, indeed, they most
+abound; and more especially in the town of Seville, the capital of the
+province, where, in the barrio or Faubourg of Triana, a large Gitáno
+colon has long flourished, with the denizens of which it is at all times
+easy to have intercourse, especially to those who are free of their
+money, and are willing to purchase such a gratification at the expense of
+dollars and pesetas.
+
+When we consider the character of the Andalusians in general, we shall
+find little to surprise us in this predilection for the Gitános.  They
+are an indolent frivolous people, fond of dancing and song, and sensual
+amusements.  They live under the most glorious sun and benign heaven in
+Europe, and their country is by nature rich and fertile, yet in no
+province of Spain is there more beggary and misery; the greater part of
+the land being uncultivated, and producing nothing but thorns and
+brushwood, affording in itself a striking emblem of the moral state of
+its inhabitants.
+
+Though not destitute of talent, the Andalusians are not much addicted to
+intellectual pursuits, at least in the present day.  The person in most
+esteem among them is invariably the greatest _majo_, and to acquire that
+character it is necessary to appear in the dress of a Merry Andrew, to
+bully, swagger, and smoke continually, to dance passably, and to strum
+the guitar.  They are fond of obscenity and what they term _picardías_.
+Amongst them learning is at a terrible discount, Greek, Latin, or any of
+the languages generally termed learned, being considered in any light but
+accomplishments, but not so the possession of thieves’ slang or the
+dialect of the Gitános, the knowledge of a few words of which invariably
+creates a certain degree of respect, as indicating that the individual is
+somewhat versed in that kind of life or _trato_ for which alone the
+Andalusians have any kind of regard.
+
+In Andalusia the Gitáno has been studied by those who, for various
+reasons, have mingled with the Gitános.  It is tolerably well understood
+by the chalans, or jockeys, who have picked up many words in the fairs
+and market-places which the former frequent.  It has, however, been
+cultivated to a greater degree by other individuals, who have sought the
+society of the Gitános from a zest for their habits, their dances, and
+their songs; and such individuals have belonged to all classes, amongst
+them have been noblemen and members of the priestly order.
+
+Perhaps no people in Andalusia have been more addicted in general to the
+acquaintance of the Gitános than the friars, and pre-eminently amongst
+these the half-jockey half-religious personages of the Cartujan convent
+at Xeres.  This community, now suppressed, was, as is well known, in
+possession of a celebrated breed of horses, which fed in the pastures of
+the convent, and from which they derived no inconsiderable part of their
+revenue.  These reverend gentlemen seem to have been much better versed
+in the points of a horse than in points of theology, and to have
+understood thieves’ slang and Gitáno far better than the language of the
+Vulgate.  A chalan, who had some knowledge of the Gitáno, related to me
+the following singular anecdote in connection with this subject.
+
+He had occasion to go to the convent, having been long in treaty with the
+friars for a steed which he had been commissioned by a nobleman to buy at
+any reasonable price.  The friars, however, were exorbitant in their
+demands.  On arriving at the gate, he sang to the friar who opened it a
+couplet which he had composed in the Gypsy tongue, in which he stated the
+highest price which he was authorised to give for the animal in question;
+whereupon the friar instantly answered in the same tongue in an
+extemporary couplet full of abuse of him and his employer, and forthwith
+slammed the door in the face of the disconcerted jockey.
+
+An Augustine friar of Seville, called, we believe, Father Manso, who
+lived some twenty years ago, is still remembered for his passion for the
+Gitános; he seemed to be under the influence of fascination, and passed
+every moment that he could steal from his clerical occupations in their
+company.  His conduct at last became so notorious that he fell under the
+censure of the Inquisition, before which he was summoned; whereupon he
+alleged, in his defence, that his sole motive for following the Gitános
+was zeal for their spiritual conversion.  Whether this plea availed him
+we know not; but it is probable that the Holy Office dealt mildly with
+him; such offenders, indeed, have never had much to fear from it.  Had he
+been accused of liberalism, or searching into the Scriptures, instead of
+connection with the Gitános, we should, doubtless, have heard either of
+his execution or imprisonment for life in the cells of the cathedral of
+Seville.
+
+Such as are thus addicted to the Gitános and their language, are called,
+in Andalusia, Los del’ Aficion, or those of the predilection.  These
+people have, during the last fifty years, composed a spurious kind of
+Gypsy literature: we call it spurious because it did not originate with
+the Gitános, who are, moreover, utterly unacquainted with it, and to whom
+it would be for the most part unintelligible.  It is somewhat difficult
+to conceive the reason which induced these individuals to attempt such
+compositions; the only probable one seems to have been a desire to
+display to each other their skill in the language of their predilection.
+It is right, however, to observe, that most of these compositions, with
+respect to language, are highly absurd, the greatest liberties being
+taken with the words picked up amongst the Gitános, of the true meaning
+of which the writers, in many instances, seem to have been entirely
+ignorant.  From what we can learn, the composers of this literature
+flourished chiefly at the commencement of the present century: Father
+Manso is said to have been one of the last.  Many of their compositions,
+which are both in poetry and prose, exist in manuscript in a compilation
+made by one Luis Lobo.  It has never been our fortune to see this
+compilation, which, indeed, we scarcely regret, as a rather curious
+circumstance has afforded us a perfect knowledge of its contents.
+
+Whilst at Seville, chance made us acquainted with a highly extraordinary
+individual, a tall, bony, meagre figure, in a tattered Andalusian hat,
+ragged capote, and still more ragged pantaloons, and seemingly between
+forty and fifty years of age.  The only appellation to which he answered
+was Manuel.  His occupation, at the time we knew him, was selling tickets
+for the lottery, by which he obtained a miserable livelihood in Seville
+and the neighbouring villages.  His appearance was altogether wild and
+uncouth, and there was an insane expression in his eye.  Observing us one
+day in conversation with a Gitána, he addressed us, and we soon found
+that the sound of the Gitáno language had struck a chord which vibrated
+through the depths of his soul.  His history was remarkable; in his early
+youth a manuscript copy of the compilation of Luis Lobo had fallen into
+his hands.  This book had so taken hold of his imagination, that he
+studied it night and day until he had planted it in his memory from
+beginning to end; but in so doing, his brain, like that of the hero of
+Cervantes, had become dry and heated, so that he was unfitted for any
+serious or useful occupation.  After the death of his parents he wandered
+about the streets in great distress, until at last he fell into the hands
+of certain toreros, or bull-fighters, who kept him about them, in order
+that he might repeat to them the songs of the _Aficion_.  They
+subsequently carried him to Madrid, where, however, they soon deserted
+him after he had experienced much brutality from their hands.  He
+returned to Seville, and soon became the inmate of a madhouse, where he
+continued several years.  Having partially recovered from his malady, he
+was liberated, and wandered about as before.  During the cholera at
+Seville, when nearly twenty thousand human beings perished, he was
+appointed conductor of one of the death-carts, which went through the
+streets for the purpose of picking up the dead bodies.  His perfect
+inoffensiveness eventually procured him friends, and he obtained the
+situation of vendor of lottery tickets.  He frequently visited us, and
+would then recite long passages from the work of Lobo.  He was wont to
+say that he was the only one in Seville, at the present day, acquainted
+with the language of the Aficion; for though there were many pretenders,
+their knowledge was confined to a few words.
+
+From the recitation of this individual, we wrote down the Brijindope, or
+Deluge, and the poem on the plague which broke out in Seville in the year
+1800.  These and some songs of less consequence, constitute the poetical
+part of the compilation in question; the rest, which is in prose,
+consisting chiefly of translations from the Spanish, of proverbs and
+religious pieces.
+
+
+BRIJINDOPE.—THE DELUGE {304}
+A POEM: IN TWO PARTS
+
+
+                              PART THE FIRST
+
+   I with fear and terror quake,
+   Whilst the pen to write I take;
+   I will utter many a pray’r
+   To the heaven’s Regent fair,
+   That she deign to succour me,
+   And I’ll humbly bend my knee;
+   For but poorly do I know
+   With my subject on to go;
+   Therefore is my wisest plan
+   Not to trust in strength of man.
+   I my heavy sins bewail,
+   Whilst I view the wo and wail
+   Handed down so solemnly
+   In the book of times gone by.
+   Onward, onward, now I’ll move
+   In the name of Christ above,
+   And his Mother true and dear,
+   She who loves the wretch to cheer.
+   All I know, and all I’ve heard
+   I will state—how God appear’d
+   And to Noah thus did cry:
+   Weary with the world am I;
+   Let an ark by thee be built,
+   For the world is lost in guilt;
+   And when thou hast built it well,
+   Loud proclaim what now I tell:
+   Straight repent ye, for your Lord
+   In his hand doth hold a sword.
+   And good Noah thus did call:
+   Straight repent ye one and all,
+   For the world with grief I see
+   Lost in vileness utterly.
+   God’s own mandate I but do,
+   He hath sent me unto you.
+   Laugh’d the world to bitter scorn,
+   I his cruel sufferings mourn;
+   Brawny youths with furious air
+   Drag the Patriarch by the hair;
+   Lewdness governs every one:
+   Leaves her convent now the nun,
+   And the monk abroad I see
+   Practising iniquity.
+   Now I’ll tell how God, intent
+   To avenge, a vapour sent,
+   With full many a dreadful sign—
+   Mighty, mighty fear is mine:
+   As I hear the thunders roll,
+   Seems to die my very soul;
+   As I see the world o’erspread
+   All with darkness thick and dread;
+   I the pen can scarcely ply
+   For the tears which dim my eye,
+   And o’ercome with grievous wo,
+   Fear the task I must forego
+   I have purposed to perform.—
+   Hark, I hear upon the storm
+   Thousand, thousand devils fly,
+   Who with awful howlings cry:
+   Now’s the time and now’s the hour,
+   We have licence, we have power
+   To obtain a glorious prey.—
+   I with horror turn away;
+   Tumbles house and tumbles wall;
+   Thousands lose their lives and all,
+   Voiding curses, screams and groans,
+   For the beams, the bricks and stones
+   Bruise and bury all below—
+   Nor is that the worst, I trow,
+   For the clouds begin to pour
+   Floods of water more and more,
+   Down upon the world with might,
+   Never pausing day or night.
+   Now in terrible distress
+   All to God their cries address,
+   And his Mother dear adore,—
+   But the time of grace is o’er,
+   For the Almighty in the sky
+   Holds his hand upraised on high.
+   Now’s the time of madden’d rout,
+   Hideous cry, despairing shout;
+   Whither, whither shall they fly?
+   For the danger threat’ningly
+   Draweth near on every side,
+   And the earth, that’s opening wide,
+   Swallows thousands in its womb,
+   Who would ‘scape the dreadful doom.
+   Of dear hope exists no gleam,
+   Still the water down doth stream;
+   Ne’er so little a creeping thing
+   But from out its hold doth spring:
+   See the mouse, and see its mate
+   Scour along, nor stop, nor wait;
+   See the serpent and the snake
+   For the nearest highlands make;
+   The tarantula I view,
+   Emmet small and cricket too,
+   All unknowing where to fly,
+   In the stifling waters die.
+   See the goat and bleating sheep,
+   See the bull with bellowings deep.
+   And the rat with squealings shrill,
+   They have mounted on the hill:
+   See the stag, and see the doe,
+   How together fond they go;
+   Lion, tiger-beast, and pard,
+   To escape are striving hard:
+   Followed by her little ones,
+   See the hare how swift she runs:
+   Asses, he and she, a pair.
+   Mute and mule with bray and blare,
+   And the rabbit and the fox,
+   Hurry over stones and rocks,
+   With the grunting hog and horse,
+   Till at last they stop their course—
+   On the summit of the hill
+   All assembled stand they still;
+   In the second part I’ll tell
+   Unto them what there befell.
+
+                             PART THE SECOND
+
+   When I last did bid farewell,
+   I proposed the world to tell,
+   Higher as the Deluge flow’d,
+   How the frog and how the toad,
+   With the lizard and the eft,
+   All their holes and coverts left,
+   And assembled on the height;
+   Soon I ween appeared in sight
+   All that’s wings beneath the sky,
+   Bat and swallow, wasp and fly,
+   Gnat and sparrow, and behind
+   Comes the crow of carrion kind;
+   Dove and pigeon are descried,
+   And the raven fiery-eyed,
+   With the beetle and the crane
+   Flying on the hurricane:
+   See they find no resting-place,
+   For the world’s terrestrial space
+   Is with water cover’d o’er,
+   Soon they sink to rise no more:
+   ‘To our father let us flee!’
+   Straight the ark-ship openeth he,
+   And to everything that lives
+   Kindly he admission gives.
+   Of all kinds a single pair,
+   And the members safely there
+   Of his house he doth embark,
+   Then at once he shuts the ark;
+   Everything therein has pass’d,
+   There he keeps them safe and fast.
+   O’er the mountain’s topmost peak
+   Now the raging waters break.
+   Till full twenty days are o’er,
+   ‘Midst the elemental roar,
+   Up and down the ark forlorn,
+   Like some evil thing is borne:
+   O what grief it is to see
+   Swimming on the enormous sea
+   Human corses pale and white,
+   More, alas! than I can write:
+   O what grief, what grief profound,
+   But to think the world is drown’d:
+   True a scanty few are left,
+   All are not of life bereft,
+   So that, when the Lord ordain,
+   They may procreate again,
+   In a world entirely new,
+   Better people and more true,
+   To their Maker who shall bow;
+   And I humbly beg you now,
+   Ye in modern times who wend,
+   That your lives ye do amend;
+   For no wat’ry punishment,
+   But a heavier shall be sent;
+   For the blessed saints pretend
+   That the latter world shall end
+   To tremendous fire a prey,
+   And to ashes sink away.
+   To the Ark I now go back,
+   Which pursues its dreary track,
+   Lost and ‘wilder’d till the Lord
+   In his mercy rest accord.
+   Early of a morning tide
+   They unclosed a window wide,
+   Heaven’s beacon to descry,
+   And a gentle dove let fly,
+   Of the world to seek some trace,
+   And in two short hours’ space
+   It returns with eyes that glow,
+   In its beak an olive bough.
+   With a loud and mighty sound,
+   They exclaim: ‘The world we’ve found.’
+   To a mountain nigh they drew,
+   And when there themselves they view,
+   Bound they swiftly on the shore,
+   And their fervent thanks outpour,
+   Lowly kneeling to their God;
+   Then their way a couple trod,
+   Man and woman, hand in hand,
+   Bent to populate the land,
+   To the Moorish region fair—
+   And another two repair
+   To the country of the Gaul;
+   In this manner wend they all,
+   And the seeds of nations lay.
+   I beseech ye’ll credence pay,
+   For our father, high and sage,
+   Wrote the tale in sacred page,
+   As a record to the world,
+   Record sad of vengeance hurl’d.
+   I, a low and humble wight,
+   Beg permission now to write
+   Unto all that in our land
+   Tongue Egyptian understand.
+   May our Virgin Mother mild
+   Grant to me, her erring child,
+   Plenteous grace in every way,
+   And success.  Amen I say.
+
+                              THE PESTILENCE
+
+   I’m resolved now to tell
+   In the speech of Gypsy-land
+   All the horror that befell
+   In this city huge and grand.
+
+   In the eighteenth hundred year
+   In the midst of summertide,
+   God, with man dissatisfied,
+   His right hand on high did rear,
+   With a rigour most severe;
+   Whence we well might understand
+   He would strict account demand
+   Of our lives and actions here.
+   The dread event to render clear
+   Now the pen I take in hand.
+
+   At the dread event aghast,
+   Straight the world reform’d its course;
+   Yet is sin in greater force,
+   Now the punishment is past;
+   For the thought of God is cast
+   All and utterly aside,
+   As if death itself had died.
+   Therefore to the present race
+   These memorial lines I trace
+   In old Egypt’s tongue of pride.
+
+   As the streets you wander’d through
+   How you quail’d with fear and dread,
+   Heaps of dying and of dead
+   At the leeches’ door to view.
+   To the tavern O how few
+   To regale on wine repair;
+   All a sickly aspect wear.
+   Say what heart such sights could brook—
+   Wail and woe where’er you look—
+   Wail and woe and ghastly care.
+
+   Plying fast their rosaries,
+   See the people pace the street,
+   And for pardon God entreat
+   Long and loud with streaming eyes.
+   And the carts of various size,
+   Piled with corses, high in air,
+   To the plain their burden bear.
+   O what grief it is to me
+   Not a friar or priest to see
+   In this city huge and fair.
+
+
+ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE GITÁNOS
+
+
+    ‘I am not very willing that any language should be totally
+    extinguished; the similitude and derivation of languages afford the
+    most indubitable proof of the traduction of nations, and the
+    genealogy of mankind; they add often physical certainty to historical
+    evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions of ages which
+    left no written monuments behind them.’—JOHNSON.
+
+THE Gypsy dialect of Spain is at present very much shattered and broken,
+being rather the fragments of the language which the Gypsies brought with
+them from the remote regions of the East than the language itself: it
+enables, however, in its actual state, the Gitános to hold conversation
+amongst themselves, the import of which is quite dark and mysterious to
+those who are not of their race, or by some means have become acquainted
+with their vocabulary.  The relics of this tongue, singularly curious in
+themselves, must be ever particularly interesting to the philological
+antiquarian, inasmuch as they enable him to arrive at a satisfactory
+conclusion respecting the origin of the Gypsy race.  During the later
+part of the last century, the curiosity of some learned individuals,
+particularly Grellmann, Richardson, and Marsden, induced them to collect
+many words of the Romanian language, as spoken in Germany, Hungary, and
+England, which, upon analysing, they discovered to be in general either
+pure Sanscrit or Hindustani words, or modifications thereof; these
+investigations have been continued to the present time by men of equal
+curiosity and no less erudition, the result of which has been the
+establishment of the fact, that the Gypsies of those countries are the
+descendants of a tribe of Hindus who for some particular reason had
+abandoned their native country.  In England, of late, the Gypsies have
+excited particular attention; but a desire far more noble and laudable
+than mere antiquarian curiosity has given rise to it, namely, the desire
+of propagating the glory of Christ amongst those who know Him not, and of
+saving souls from the jaws of the infernal wolf.  It is, however, with
+the Gypsies of Spain, and not with those of England and other countries,
+that we are now occupied, and we shall merely mention the latter so far
+as they may serve to elucidate the case of the Gitános, their brethren by
+blood and language.  Spain for many centuries has been the country of
+error; she has mistaken stern and savage tyranny for rational government;
+base, low, and grovelling superstition for clear, bright, and
+soul-ennobling religion; sordid cheating she has considered as the path
+to riches; vexatious persecution as the path to power; and the
+consequence has been, that she is now poor and powerless, a pagan amongst
+the pagans, with a dozen kings, and with none.  Can we be surprised,
+therefore, that, mistaken in policy, religion, and moral conduct, she
+should have fallen into error on points so naturally dark and mysterious
+as the history and origin of those remarkable people whom for the last
+four hundred years she has supported under the name of Gitános?  The idea
+entertained at the present day in Spain respecting this race is, that
+they are the descendants of the Moriscos who remained in Spain, wandering
+about amongst the mountains and wildernesses, after the expulsion of the
+great body of the nation from the country in the time of Philip the
+Third, and that they form a distinct body, entirely unconnected with the
+wandering tribes known in other countries by the names of Bohemians,
+Gypsies, etc.  This, like all unfounded opinions, of course originated in
+ignorance, which is always ready to have recourse to conjecture and
+guesswork, in preference to travelling through the long, mountainous, and
+stony road of patient investigation; it is, however, an error far more
+absurd and more destitute of tenable grounds than the ancient belief that
+the Gitános were Egyptians, which they themselves have always professed
+to be, and which the original written documents which they brought with
+them on their first arrival in Western Europe, and which bore the
+signature of the king of Bohemia, expressly stated them to be.  The only
+clue to arrive at any certainty respecting their origin, is the language
+which they still speak amongst themselves; but before we can avail
+ourselves of the evidence of this language, it will be necessary to make
+a few remarks respecting the principal languages and dialects of that
+immense tract of country, peopled by at least eighty millions of human
+beings, generally known by the name of Hindustan, two Persian words
+tantamount to the land of Ind, or, the land watered by the river Indus.
+
+The most celebrated of these languages is the Sanskrida, or, as it is
+known in Europe, the Sanscrit, which is the language of religion of all
+those nations amongst whom the faith of Brahma has been adopted; but
+though the language of religion, by which we mean the tongue in which the
+religious books of the Brahmanic sect were originally written and are
+still preserved, it has long since ceased to be a spoken language;
+indeed, history is silent as to any period when it was a language in
+common use amongst any of the various tribes of the Hindus; its
+knowledge, as far as reading and writing it went, having been entirely
+confined to the priests of Brahma, or Brahmans, until within the last
+half-century, when the British, having subjugated the whole of Hindustan,
+caused it to be openly taught in the colleges which they established for
+the instruction of their youth in the languages of the country.  Though
+sufficiently difficult to acquire, principally on account of its
+prodigious richness in synonyms, it is no longer a sealed language,—its
+laws, structure, and vocabulary being sufficiently well known by means of
+numerous elementary works, adapted to facilitate its study.  It has been
+considered by famous philologists as the mother not only of all the
+languages of Asia, but of all others in the world.  So wild and
+preposterous an idea, however, only serves to prove that a devotion to
+philology, whose principal object should be the expansion of the mind by
+the various treasures of learning and wisdom which it can unlock,
+sometimes only tends to its bewilderment, by causing it to embrace
+shadows for reality.  The most that can be allowed, in reason, to the
+Sanscrit is that it is the mother of a certain class or family of
+languages, for example, those spoken in Hindustan, with which most of the
+European, whether of the Sclavonian, Gothic, or Celtic stock, have some
+connection.  True it is that in this case we know not how to dispose of
+the ancient Zend, the mother of the modern Persian, the language in which
+were written those writings generally attributed to Zerduscht, or
+Zoroaster, whose affinity to the said tongues is as easily established as
+that of the Sanscrit, and which, in respect to antiquity, may well
+dispute the palm with its Indian rival.  Avoiding, however, the
+discussion of this point, we shall content ourselves with observing, that
+closely connected with the Sanscrit, if not derived from it, are the
+Bengáli, the high Hindustáni, or grand popular language of Hindustan,
+generally used by the learned in their intercourse and writings, the
+languages of Multan, Guzerat, and other provinces, without mentioning the
+mixed dialect called Mongolian Hindustáni, a corrupt jargon of Persian,
+Turkish, Arabic, and Hindu words, first used by the Mongols, after the
+conquest, in their intercourse with the natives.  Many of the principal
+languages of Asia are totally unconnected with the Sanscrit, both in
+words and grammatical structure; these are mostly of the great Tartar
+family, at the head of which there is good reason for placing the Chinese
+and Tibetian.
+
+Bearing the same analogy to the Sanscrit tongue as the Indian dialects
+specified above, we find the Rommany, or speech of the Roma, or Zincali,
+as they style themselves, known in England and Spain as Gypsies and
+Gitános.  This speech, wherever it is spoken, is, in all principal
+points, one and the same, though more or less corrupted by foreign words,
+picked up in the various countries to which those who use it have
+penetrated.  One remarkable feature must not be passed over without
+notice, namely, the very considerable number of Sclavonic words, which
+are to be found embedded within it, whether it be spoken in Spain or
+Germany, in England or Italy; from which circumstance we are led to the
+conclusion, that these people, in their way from the East, travelled in
+one large compact body, and that their route lay through some region
+where the Sclavonian language, or a dialect thereof, was spoken.  This
+region I have no hesitation in asserting to have been Bulgaria, where
+they probably tarried for a considerable period, as nomad herdsmen, and
+where numbers of them are still to be found at the present day.  Besides
+the many Sclavonian words in the Gypsy tongue, another curious feature
+attracts the attention of the philologist—an equal or still greater
+quantity of terms from the modern Greek; indeed, we have full warranty
+for assuming that at one period the Spanish section, if not the rest of
+the Gypsy nation, understood the Greek language well, and that, besides
+their own Indian dialect, they occasionally used it for considerably
+upwards of a century subsequent to their arrival, as amongst the Gitános
+there were individuals to whom it was intelligible so late as the year
+1540.
+
+Where this knowledge was obtained it is difficult to say,—perhaps in
+Bulgaria, where two-thirds of the population profess the Greek religion,
+or rather in Romania, where the Romaic is generally understood; that they
+_did_ understand the Romaic in 1540, we gather from a very remarkable
+work, called _El Estudioso Cortesáno_, written by Lorenzo Palmiréno: this
+learned and highly extraordinary individual was by birth a Valencian, and
+died about 1580; he was professor at various universities—of rhetoric at
+Valencia, of Greek at Zaragossa, where he gave lectures, in which he
+explained the verses of Homer; he was a proficient in Greek, ancient and
+modern, and it should be observed that, in the passage which we are about
+to cite, he means himself by the learned individual who held conversation
+with the Gitános. {321}  _El Estudioso Cortesáno_ was reprinted at Alcala
+in 1587, from which edition we now copy.
+
+‘Who are the Gitános?  I answer; these vile people first began to show
+themselves in Germany, in the year 1417, where they call them Tartars or
+Gentiles; in Italy they are termed Ciani.  They pretend that they come
+from Lower Egypt, and that they wander about as a penance, and to prove
+this, they show letters from the king of Poland.  They lie, however, for
+they do not lead the life of penitents, but of dogs and thieves.  A
+learned person, in the year 1540, prevailed with them, by dint of much
+persuasion, to show him the king’s letter, and he gathered from it that
+the time of their penance was already expired; he spoke to them in the
+Egyptian tongue; they said, however, as it was a long time since their
+departure from Egypt, they did not understand it; he then spoke to them
+in the vulgar Greek, such as is used at present in the Morea and
+Archipelago; _some understood it_, others did not; so that as all did not
+understand it, we may conclude that the language which they use is a
+feigned one, {67} got up by thieves for the purpose of concealing their
+robberies, like the jargon of blind beggars.’
+
+Still more abundant, however, than the mixture of Greek, still more
+abundant than the mixture of Sclavonian, is the alloy in the Gypsy
+language, wherever spoken, of modern Persian words, which circumstance
+will compel us to offer a few remarks on the share which the Persian has
+had in the formation of the dialects of India, as at present spoken.
+
+The modern Persian, as has been already observed, is a daughter of the
+ancient Zend, and, as such, is entitled to claim affinity with the
+Sanscrit, and its dialects.  With this language none in the world would
+be able to vie in simplicity and beauty, had not the Persians, in
+adopting the religion of Mahomet, unfortunately introduces into their
+speech an infinity of words of the rude coarse language used by the
+barbaric Arab tribes, the immediate followers of the warlike Prophet.
+With the rise of Islam the modern Persian was doomed to be carried into
+India.  This country, from the time of Alexander, had enjoyed repose from
+external aggression, had been ruled by its native princes, and been
+permitted by Providence to exercise, without control or reproof, the
+degrading superstitions, and the unnatural and bloody rites of a religion
+at the formation of which the fiends of cruelty and lust seem to have
+presided; but reckoning was now about to be demanded of the accursed
+ministers of this system for the pain, torture, and misery which they had
+been instrumental in inflicting on their countrymen for the gratification
+of their avarice, filthy passions, and pride; the new Mahometans were at
+hand—Arab, Persian, and Afghan, with the glittering scimitar upraised,
+full of zeal for the glory and adoration of the one high God, and the
+relentless persecutors of the idol-worshippers.  Already, in the four
+hundred and twenty-sixth year of the Hegeira, we read of the destruction
+of the great Butkhan, or image-house of Sumnaut, by the armies of the
+far-conquering Mahmoud, when the dissevered heads of the Brahmans rolled
+down the steps of the gigantic and Babel-like temple of the great image—
+
+            [Picture: Text which cannot be reproduced—Arabic?]
+
+    (This image grim, whose name was Laut,
+       Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut.)
+
+It is not our intention to follow the conquests of the Mahometans from
+the days of Walid and Mahmoud to those of Timour and Nadir; sufficient to
+observe, that the greatest part of India was subdued, new monarchies
+established, and the old religion, though far too powerful and widely
+spread to be extirpated, was to a considerable extent abashed and humbled
+before the bright rising sun of Islam.  The Persian language, which the
+conquerors {324} of whatever denomination introduced with them to
+Hindustan, and which their descendants at the present day still retain,
+though not lords of the ascendant, speedily became widely extended in
+these regions, where it had previously been unknown.  As the language of
+the court, it was of course studied and acquired by all those natives
+whose wealth, rank, and influence necessarily brought them into
+connection with the ruling powers; and as the language of the camp, it
+was carried into every part of the country where the duties of the
+soldiery sooner or later conducted them; the result of which relations
+between the conquerors and conquered was the adoption into the popular
+dialects of India of an infinity of modern Persian words, not merely
+those of science, such as it exists in the East, and of luxury and
+refinement, but even those which serve to express many of the most common
+objects, necessities, and ideas, so that at the present day a knowledge
+of the Persian is essential for the thorough understanding of the
+principal dialects of Hindustan, on which account, as well as for the
+assistance which it affords in communication with the Mahometans, it is
+cultivated with peculiar care by the present possessors of the land.
+
+No surprise, therefore, can be entertained that the speech of the Gitános
+in general, who, in all probability, departed from Hindustan long
+subsequent to the first Mahometan invasions, abounds, like other Indian
+dialects, with words either purely Persian, or slightly modified to
+accommodate them to the genius of the language.  Whether the Rommany
+originally constituted part of the natives of Multan or Guzerat, and
+abandoned their native land to escape from the torch and sword of
+Tamerlane and his Mongols, as Grellmann and others have supposed, or
+whether, as is much more probable, they were a thievish caste, like some
+others still to be found in Hindustan, who fled westward, either from the
+vengeance of justice, or in pursuit of plunder, their speaking Persian is
+alike satisfactorily accounted for.  With the view of exhibiting how
+closely their language is connected with the Sanscrit and Persian, we
+subjoin the first ten numerals in the three tongues, those of the Gypsy
+according to the Hungarian dialect. {325a}
+
+        Gypsy.      Persian.      Sanscrit. {325b}
+     1  Jek         Ek            Ega
+     2  Dui         Du            Dvaya
+     3  Trin        Se            Treya
+     4  Schtar      Chehar        Tschatvar
+     5  Pansch      Pansch        Pantscha
+     6  Tschov      Schesche      Schasda
+     7  Efta        Heft          Sapta
+     8  Ochto       Hescht        Aschta
+     9  Enija       Nu            Nava
+    10  Dösch       De            Dascha
+
+It would be easy for us to adduce a thousand instances, as striking as
+the above, of the affinity of the Gypsy tongue to the Persian, Sanscrit,
+and the Indian dialects, but we have not space for further observation on
+a point which long since has been sufficiently discussed by others
+endowed with abler pens than our own; but having made these preliminary
+remarks, which we deemed necessary for the elucidation of the subject, we
+now hasten to speak of the Gitáno language as used in Spain, and to
+determine, by its evidence (and we again repeat, that the language is the
+only criterion by which the question can be determined), how far the
+Gitános of Spain are entitled to claim connection with the tribes who,
+under the names of Zingáni, etc., are to be found in various parts of
+Europe, following, in general, a life of wandering adventure, and
+practising the same kind of thievish arts which enable those in Spain to
+obtain a livelihood at the expense of the more honest and industrious of
+the community.
+
+The Gitános of Spain, as already stated, are generally believed to be the
+descendants of the Moriscos, and have been asserted to be such in printed
+books. {326}  Now they are known to speak a language or jargon amongst
+themselves which the other natives of Spain do not understand; of course,
+then, supposing them to be of Morisco origin, the words of this tongue or
+jargon, which are not Spanish, are the relics of the Arabic or Moorish
+tongue once spoken in Spain, which they have inherited from their Moorish
+ancestors.  Now it is well known, that the Moorish of Spain was the same
+tongue as that spoken at present by the Moors of Barbary, from which
+country Spain was invaded by the Arabs, and to which they again retired
+when unable to maintain their ground against the armies of the
+Christians.  We will, therefore, collate the numerals of the Spanish
+Gitáno with those of the Moorish tongue, preceding both with those of the
+Hungarian Gypsy, of which we have already made use, for the purpose of
+making clear the affinity of that language to the Sanscrit and Persian.
+By this collation we shall at once perceive whether the Gitáno of Spain
+bears most resemblance to the Arabic, or the Rommany of other lands.
+
+            Hungarian           Spanish            Moorish
+             Gypsy.             Gitáno.            Arabic.
+     1  Jek                Yeque               Wahud
+     2  Dui                Dui                 Snain
+     3  Trin               Trin                Slatza
+     4  Schtar             Estar               Arba
+     5  Pansch             Pansche             Khamsa
+     6  Tschov             Job. Zoi            Seta
+     7  Efta               Hefta               Sebéa
+     8  Ochto              Otor                Sminía
+     9  Enija              Esnia (Nu.          Tussa
+                           _Pers._)
+    10  Dösch              Deque               Aschra
+
+We believe the above specimens will go very far to change the opinion of
+those who have imbibed the idea that the Gitános of Spain are the
+descendants of Moors, and are of an origin different from that of the
+wandering tribes of Rommany in other parts of the world, the specimens of
+the two dialects of the Gypsy, as far as they go, being so strikingly
+similar, as to leave no doubt of their original identity, whilst, on the
+contrary, with the Moorish neither the one nor the other exhibits the
+slightest point of similarity or connection.  But with these specimens we
+shall not content ourselves, but proceed to give the names of the most
+common things and objects in the Hungarian and Spanish Gitáno,
+collaterally, with their equivalents in the Moorish Arabic; from which it
+will appear that whilst the former are one and the same language, they
+are in every respect at variance with the latter.  When we consider that
+the Persian has adopted so many words and phrases from the Arabic, we are
+at first disposed to wonder that a considerable portion of these words
+are not to be discovered in every dialect of the Gypsy tongue, since the
+Persian has lent it so much of its vocabulary.  Yet such is by no means
+the case, as it is very uncommon, in any one of these dialects, to
+discover words derived from the Arabic.  Perhaps, however, the following
+consideration will help to solve this point.  The Gitános, even before
+they left India, were probably much the same rude, thievish, and ignorant
+people as they are at the present day.  Now the words adopted by the
+Persian from the Arabic, and which it subsequently introduced into the
+dialects of India, are sounds representing objects and ideas with which
+such a people as the Gitános could necessarily be but scantily
+acquainted, a people whose circle of ideas only embraces physical
+objects, and who never commune with their own minds, nor exert them but
+in devising low and vulgar schemes of pillage and deceit.  Whatever is
+visible and common is seldom or never represented by the Persians, even
+in their books, by the help of Arabic words: the sun and stars, the sea
+and river, the earth, its trees, its fruits, its flowers, and all that it
+produces and supports, are seldom named by them by other terms than those
+which their own language is capable of affording; but in expressing the
+abstract thoughts of their minds, and they are a people who think much
+and well, they borrow largely from the language of their religion—the
+Arabic.  We therefore, perhaps, ought not to be surprised that in the
+scanty phraseology of the Gitános, amongst so much Persian, we find so
+little that is Arabic; had their pursuits been less vile, their desires
+less animal, and their thoughts less circumscribed, it would probably
+have been otherwise; but from time immemorial they have shown themselves
+a nation of petty thieves, horse-traffickers, and the like, without a
+thought of the morrow, being content to provide against the evil of the
+passing day.
+
+The following is a comparison of words in the three languages:—
+
+                     Hungarian          Spanish           Moorish
+                    Gypsy. {330}        Gitáno.           Arabic.
+Bone              Cokalos           Cocal             Adorn
+City              Forjus            Foros             Beled
+Day               Dives             Chibes            Youm
+Drink (to)        Piava             Piyar             Yeschrab
+Ear               Kan               Can               Oothin
+Eye               Jakh              Aquia             Ein
+Feather           Por               Porumia           Risch
+Fire              Vag               Yaque             Afia
+Fish              Maczo             Macho             Hutz
+Foot              Pir               Piro, pindro      Rjil
+Gold              Sonkai            Sonacai           Dahab
+Great             Baro              Baro              Quibír
+Hair              Bala              Bal               Schar
+He, pron.         Wow               O                 Hu
+Head              Tschero           Jero              Ras
+House             Ker               Quer              Dar
+Husband           Rom               Ron               Zooje
+Lightning         Molnija           Malunó            Brak
+Love (to)         Camaba            Camelar           Yehib
+Man               Manusch           Manu              Rajil
+Milk              Tud               Chuti             Helib
+Mountain          Bar               Bur               Djibil
+Mouth             Mui               Mui               Fum
+Name              Nao               Nao               Ism
+Night             Rat               Rachi             Lila
+Nose              Nakh              Naqui             Munghár
+Old               Puro              Puro              Shaive
+Red               Lal               Lalo              Hamr
+Salt              Lon               Lon               Mela
+Sing              Gjuwawa           Gilyabar          Iganni
+Sun               Cam               Can               Schems
+Thief             Tschor            Choro             Harám
+Thou              Tu                Tucue             Antsin
+Tongue            Tschib            Chipe             Lsán
+Tooth             Dant              Dani              Sinn
+Tree              Karscht           Caste             Schizara
+Water             Pani              Pani              Ma
+Wind              Barbar            Barban            Ruhk
+
+We shall offer no further observations respecting the affinity of the
+Spanish Gitáno to the other dialects, as we conceive we have already
+afforded sufficient proof of its original identity with them, and
+consequently shaken to the ground the absurd opinion that the Gitános of
+Spain are the descendants of the Arabs and Moriscos.  We shall now
+conclude with a few remarks on the present state of the Gitáno language
+in Spain, where, perhaps, within the course of a few years, it will have
+perished, without leaving a vestige of its having once existed; and
+where, perhaps, the singular people who speak it are likewise doomed to
+disappear, becoming sooner or later engulfed and absorbed in the great
+body of the nation, amongst whom they have so long existed a separate and
+peculiar class.
+
+Though the words or a part of the words of the original tongue still
+remain, preserved by memory amongst the Gitános, its grammatical
+peculiarities have disappeared, the entire language having been modified
+and subjected to the rules of Spanish grammar, with which it now
+coincides in syntax, in the conjugation of verbs, and in the declension
+of its nouns.  Were it possible or necessary to collect all the relics of
+this speech, they would probably amount to four or five thousand words;
+but to effect such an achievement, it would be necessary to hold close
+and long intercourse with almost every Gitáno in Spain, and to extract,
+by various means, the peculiar information which he might be capable of
+affording; for it is necessary to state here, that though such an amount
+of words may still exist amongst the Gitános in general, no single
+individual of their sect is in possession of one-third part thereof, nor
+indeed, we may add, those of any single city or province of Spain;
+nevertheless all are in possession, more or less, of the language, so
+that, though of different provinces, they are enabled to understand each
+other tolerably well, when discoursing in this their characteristic
+speech.  Those who travel most are of course best versed in it, as,
+independent of the words of their own village or town, they acquire
+others by intermingling with their race in various places.  Perhaps there
+is no part of Spain where it is spoken better than in Madrid, which is
+easily accounted for by the fact, that Madrid, as the capital, has always
+been the point of union of the Gitános, from all those provinces of Spain
+where they are to be found.  It is least of all preserved in Seville,
+notwithstanding that its Gitáno population is very considerable,
+consisting, however, almost entirely of natives of the place.  As may
+well be supposed, it is in all places best preserved amongst the old
+people, their children being comparatively ignorant of it, as perhaps
+they themselves are in comparison with their own parents.  We are
+persuaded that the Gitáno language of Spain is nearly at its last stage
+of existence, which persuasion has been our main instigator to the
+present attempt to collect its scanty remains, and by the assistance of
+the press, rescue it in some degree from destruction.  It will not be
+amiss to state here, that it is only by listening attentively to the
+speech of the Gitános, whilst discoursing amongst themselves, that an
+acquaintance with their dialect can be formed, and by seizing upon all
+unknown words as they fall in succession from their lips.  Nothing can be
+more useless and hopeless than the attempt to obtain possession of their
+vocabulary by inquiring of them how particular objects and ideas are
+styled; for with the exception of the names of the most common things,
+they are totally incapable, as a Spanish writer has observed, of yielding
+the required information, owing to their great ignorance, the shortness
+of their memories, or rather the state of bewilderment to which their
+minds are brought by any question which tends to bring their reasoning
+faculties into action, though not unfrequently the very words which have
+been in vain required of them will, a minute subsequently, proceed
+inadvertently from their mouths.
+
+We now take leave of their language.  When wishing to praise the
+proficiency of any individual in their tongue, they are in the habit of
+saying, ‘He understands the seven jargons.’  In the Gospel which we have
+printed in this language, and in the dictionary which we have compiled,
+we have endeavoured, to the utmost of our ability, to deserve that
+compliment; and at all times it will afford us sincere and heartfelt
+pleasure to be informed that any Gitáno, capable of appreciating the said
+little works, has observed, whilst reading them or hearing them read: It
+is clear that the writer of these books understood
+
+                            THE SEVEN JARGONS.
+
+
+ON ROBBER LANGUAGE; OR, AS IT IS CALLED IN SPAIN, GERMANIA
+
+
+    ‘So I went with them to a music booth, where they made me almost
+    drunk with gin, and began to talk their _Flash Language_, which I did
+    not understand.’—Narrative of the Exploits of Henry Simms, executed
+    at Tyburn, 1746.
+
+    ‘Hablaronse los dos en Germania, de lo qual resultó darme un abraço,
+    y ofrecerseme.’—QUEVEDO.  Vida dal gran Tacaño.
+
+HAVING in the preceding article endeavoured to afford all necessary
+information concerning the Rommany, or language used by the Gypsies
+amongst themselves, we now propose to turn our attention to a subject of
+no less interest, but which has hitherto never been treated in a manner
+calculated to lead to any satisfactory result or conclusion; on the
+contrary, though philosophic minds have been engaged in its
+consideration, and learned pens have not disdained to occupy themselves
+with its details, it still remains a singular proof of the errors into
+which the most acute and laborious writers are apt to fall, when they
+take upon themselves the task of writing on matters which cannot be
+studied in the closet, and on which no information can be received by
+mixing in the society of the wise, the lettered, and the respectable, but
+which must be investigated in the fields, and on the borders of the
+highways, in prisons, and amongst the dregs of society.  Had the latter
+system been pursued in the matter now before us, much clearer, more
+rational, and more just ideas would long since have been entertained
+respecting the Germania, or language of thieves.
+
+In most countries of Europe there exists, amongst those who obtain their
+existence by the breach of the law, and by preying upon the fruits of the
+labours of the quiet and orderly portion of society, a particular jargon
+or dialect, in which the former discuss their schemes and plans of
+plunder, without being in general understood by those to whom they are
+obnoxious.  The name of this jargon varies with the country in which it
+is spoken.  In Spain it is called ‘Germania’; in France, ‘Argot’; in
+Germany, ‘Rothwelsch,’ or Red Italian; in Italy, ‘Gergo’; whilst in
+England it is known by many names; for example, ‘cant, slang, thieves’
+Latin,’ etc.  The most remarkable circumstance connected with the history
+of this jargon is, that in all the countries in which it is spoken, it
+has invariably, by the authors who have treated of it, and who are
+numerous, been confounded with the Gypsy language, and asserted to be the
+speech of those wanderers who have so long infested Europe under the name
+of Gitános, etc.  How far this belief is founded in justice we shall now
+endeavour to show, with the premise that whatever we advance is derived,
+not from the assertions or opinions of others, but from our own
+observation; the point in question being one which no person is capable
+of solving, save him who has mixed with Gitános and thieves,—not with the
+former merely or the latter, but with both.
+
+We have already stated what is the Rommany or language of the Gypsies.
+We have proved that when properly spoken it is to all intents and
+purposes entitled to the appellation of a language, and that wherever it
+exists it is virtually the same; that its origin is illustrious, it being
+a daughter of the Sanscrit, and in consequence in close connection with
+some of the most celebrated languages of the East, although it at present
+is only used by the most unfortunate and degraded of beings, wanderers
+without home and almost without country, as wherever they are found they
+are considered in the light of foreigners and interlopers.  We shall now
+state what the language of thieves is, as it is generally spoken in
+Europe; after which we shall proceed to analyse it according to the
+various countries in which it is used.
+
+The dialect used for their own peculiar purposes amongst thieves is by no
+means entitled to the appellation of a language, but in every sense to
+that of a jargon or gibberish, it being for the most part composed of
+words of the native language of those who use it, according to the
+particular country, though invariably in a meaning differing more or less
+from the usual and received one, and for the most part in a metaphorical
+sense.  Metaphor and allegory, indeed, seem to form the nucleus of this
+speech, notwithstanding that other elements are to be distinguished; for
+it is certain that in every country where it is spoken, it contains many
+words differing from the language of that country, and which may either
+be traced to foreign tongues, or are of an origin at which, in many
+instances, it is impossible to arrive.  That which is most calculated to
+strike the philosophic mind when considering this dialect, is doubtless
+the fact of its being formed everywhere upon the same principle—that of
+metaphor, in which point all the branches agree, though in others they
+differ as much from each other as the languages on which they are
+founded; for example, as the English and German from the Spanish and
+Italian.  This circumstance naturally leads to the conclusion that the
+robber language has not arisen fortuitously in the various countries
+where it is at present spoken, but that its origin is one and the same,
+it being probably invented by the outlaws of one particular country; by
+individuals of which it was, in course of time, carried to others, where
+its principles, if not its words, were adopted; for upon no other
+supposition can we account for its general metaphorical character in
+regions various and distant.  It is, of course, impossible to state with
+certainty the country in which this jargon first arose, yet there is
+cogent reason for supposing that it may have been Italy.  The Germans
+call it Rothwelsch, which signifies ‘Red Italian,’ a name which appears
+to point out Italy as its birthplace; and which, though by no means of
+sufficient importance to determine the question, is strongly
+corroborative of the supposition, when coupled with the following fact.
+We have already intimated, that wherever it is spoken, this speech,
+though composed for the most part of words of the language of the
+particular country, applied in a metaphorical sense, exhibits a
+considerable sprinkling of foreign words; now of these words no slight
+number are Italian or bastard Latin, whether in Germany, whether in
+Spain, or in other countries more or less remote from Italy.  When we
+consider the ignorance of thieves in general, their total want of
+education, the slight knowledge which they possess even of their mother
+tongue, it is hardly reasonable to suppose that in any country they were
+ever capable of having recourse to foreign languages, for the purpose of
+enriching any peculiar vocabulary or phraseology which they might deem
+convenient to use among themselves; nevertheless, by associating with
+foreign thieves, who had either left their native country for their
+crimes, or from a hope of reaping a rich harvest of plunder in other
+lands, it would be easy for them to adopt a considerable number of words
+belonging to the languages of their foreign associates, from whom perhaps
+they derived an increase of knowledge in thievish arts of every
+description.  At the commencement of the fifteenth century no nation in
+Europe was at all calculated to vie with the Italian in arts of any kind,
+whether those whose tendency was the benefit or improvement of society,
+or those the practice of which serves to injure and undermine it.  The
+artists and artisans of Italy were to be found in all the countries of
+Europe, from Madrid to Moscow, and so were its charlatans, its jugglers,
+and multitudes of its children, who lived by fraud and cunning.
+Therefore, when a comprehensive view of the subject is taken, there
+appears to be little improbability in supposing, that not only were the
+Italians the originators of the metaphorical robber jargon, which has
+been termed ‘Red Italian,’ but that they were mainly instrumental in
+causing it to be adopted by the thievish race in various countries of
+Europe.
+
+It is here, however, necessary to state, that in the robber jargon of
+Europe, elements of another language are to be discovered, and perhaps in
+greater number than the Italian words.  The language which we allude to
+is the Rommany; this language has been, in general, confounded with the
+vocabulary used among thieves, which, however, is a gross error, so
+gross, indeed, that it is almost impossible to conceive the manner in
+which it originated: the speech of the Gypsies being a genuine language
+of Oriental origin, and the former little more than a phraseology of
+convenience, founded upon particular European tongues.  It will be
+sufficient here to remark, that the Gypsies do not understand the jargon
+of the thieves, whilst the latter, with perhaps a few exceptions, are
+ignorant of the language of the former.  Certain words, however, of the
+Rommany have found admission into the said jargon, which may be accounted
+for by the supposition that the Gypsies, being themselves by birth,
+education, and profession, thieves of the first water, have, on various
+occasions, formed alliances with the outlaws of the various countries in
+which they are at present to be found, which association may have
+produced the result above alluded to; but it will be as well here to
+state, that in no country of Europe have the Gypsies forsaken or
+forgotten their native tongue, and in its stead adopted the ‘Germania,’
+‘Red Italian,’ or robber jargon, although in some they preserve their
+native language in a state of less purity than in others.  We are induced
+to make this statement from an assertion of the celebrated Lorenzo
+Hervas, who, in the third volume of his _Catalogo de las Lenguas_, trat.
+3, cap. vi., p. 311, expresses himself to the following effect:—‘The
+proper language of the Gitános neither is nor can be found amongst those
+who scattered themselves through the western kingdoms of Europe, but only
+amongst those who remained in the eastern, where they are still to be
+found.  The former were notably divided and disunited, receiving into
+their body a great number of European outlaws, on which account the
+language in question was easily adulterated and soon perished.  In Spain,
+and also in Italy, the Gitános have totally forgotten and lost their
+native language; yet still wishing to converse with each other in a
+language unknown to the Spaniards and Italians, they have invented some
+words, and have transformed many others by changing the signification
+which properly belongs to them in Spanish and Italian.’  In proof of
+which assertion he then exhibits a small number of words of the ‘Red
+Italian,’ or allegorical tongue of the thieves of Italy.
+
+It is much to be lamented that a man like Hervas, so learned, of such
+knowledge, and upon the whole well-earned celebrity, should have helped
+to propagate three such flagrant errors as are contained in the passages
+above quoted: 1st.  That the Gypsy language, within a very short period
+after the arrival of those who spoke it in the western kingdoms of
+Europe, became corrupted, and perished by the admission of outlaws into
+the Gypsy fraternity.  2ndly.  That the Gypsies, in order to supply the
+loss of their native tongue, invented some words, and modified others,
+from the Spanish and Italian.  3rdly.  That the Gypsies of the present
+day in Spain and Italy speak the allegorical robber dialect.  Concerning
+the first assertion, namely, that the Gypsies of the west lost their
+language shortly after their arrival, by mixing with the outlaws of those
+parts, we believe that its erroneousness will be sufficiently established
+by the publication of the present volume, which contains a dictionary of
+the Spanish Gitáno, which we have proved to be the same language in most
+points as that spoken by the eastern tribes.  There can be no doubt that
+the Gypsies have at various times formed alliances with the robbers of
+particular countries, but that they ever received them in considerable
+numbers into their fraternity, as Hervas has stated, so as to become
+confounded with them, the evidence of our eyesight precludes the
+possibility of believing.  If such were the fact, why do the Italian and
+Spanish Gypsies of the present day still present themselves as a distinct
+race, differing from the other inhabitants of the west of Europe in
+feature, colour, and constitution?  Why are they, in whatever situation
+and under whatever circumstances, to be distinguished, like Jews, from
+the other children of the Creator?  But it is scarcely necessary to ask
+such a question, or indeed to state that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy
+have kept themselves as much apart as, or at least have as little mingled
+their blood with the Spaniards and Italians as their brethren in Hungaria
+and Transylvania with the inhabitants of those countries, on which
+account they still strikingly resemble them in manners, customs, and
+appearance.  The most extraordinary assertion of Hervas is perhaps his
+second, namely, that the Gypsies have invented particular words to supply
+the place of others which they had lost.  The absurdity of this
+supposition nearly induces us to believe that Hervas, who has written so
+much and so laboriously on language, was totally ignorant of the
+philosophy of his subject.  There can be no doubt, as we have before
+admitted, that in the robber jargon, whether spoken in Spain, Italy, or
+England, there are many words at whose etymology it is very difficult to
+arrive; yet such a fact is no excuse for the adoption of the opinion that
+these words are of pure invention.  A knowledge of the Rommany proves
+satisfactorily that many have been borrowed from that language, whilst
+many others may be traced to foreign tongues, especially the Latin and
+Italian.  Perhaps one of the strongest grounds for concluding that the
+origin of language was divine is the fact that no instance can be adduced
+of the invention, we will not say of a language, but even of a single
+word that is in use in society of any kind.  Although new dialects are
+continually being formed, it is only by a system of modification, by
+which roots almost coeval with time itself are continually being
+reproduced under a fresh appearance, and under new circumstances.  The
+third assertion of Hervas, as to the Gitános speaking the allegorical
+language of which he exhibits specimens, is entitled to about equal
+credence as the two former.  The truth is, that the entire store of
+erudition of the learned Jesuit, and he doubtless was learned to a
+remarkable degree, was derived from books, either printed or manuscript.
+He compared the Gypsy words in the publication of Grellmann with various
+vocabularies, which had long been in existence, of the robber jargons of
+Spain and Italy, which jargons by a strange fatuity had ever been
+considered as belonging to the Gypsies.  Finding that the Gypsy words of
+Grellmann did not at all correspond with the thieves’ slang, he concluded
+that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy had forgotten their own language, and
+to supply its place had invented the jargons aforesaid, but he never gave
+himself the trouble to try whether the Gypsies really understood the
+contents of his slang vocabularies; had he done so, he would have found
+that the slang was about as unintelligible to the Gypsies as he would
+have found the specimens of Grellmann unintelligible to the thieves had
+he quoted those specimens to them.  The Gypsies of Spain, it will be
+sufficient to observe, speak the language of which a vocabulary is given
+in the present work, and those of Italy who are generally to be found
+existing in a half-savage state in the various ruined castles, relics of
+the feudal times, with which Italy abounds, a dialect very similar, and
+about as much corrupted.  There are, however, to be continually found in
+Italy roving bands of Rommany, not natives of the country, who make
+excursions from Moldavia and Hungaria to France and Italy, for the
+purpose of plunder; and who, if they escape the hand of justice, return
+at the expiration of two or three years to their native regions, with the
+booty they have amassed by the practice of those thievish arts, perhaps
+at one period peculiar to their race, but at present, for the most part,
+known and practised by thieves in general.  These bands, however, speak
+the pure Gypsy language, with all its grammatical peculiarities.  It is
+evident, however, that amongst neither of these classes had Hervas pushed
+his researches, which had he done, it is probable that his investigations
+would have resulted in a work of a far different character from the
+confused, unsatisfactory, and incorrect details of which is formed his
+essay on the language of the Gypsies.
+
+Having said thus much concerning the robber language in general, we shall
+now proceed to offer some specimens of it, in order that our readers may
+be better able to understand its principles.  We shall commence with the
+Italian dialect, which there is reason for supposing to be the prototype
+of the rest.  To show what it is, we avail ourselves of some of the words
+adduced by Hervas, as specimens of the language of the Gitános of Italy.
+‘I place them,’ he observes, ‘with the signification which the greater
+number properly have in Italian.’
+
+            Robber jargon of Italy.             Proper signification
+                                                of the words.
+Arm         Ale / Barbacane                     Wings / Barbican
+Belly       Fagiana                             Pheasant
+Devil       Rabuino                             Perhaps _Rabbin_,
+                                                which, in Hebrew, is
+                                                Master
+Earth       Calcosa                             Street, road
+Eye         Balco                               Balcony
+Father      Grimo                               Old, wrinkled
+Fire        Presto                              Quick
+God         Anticrotto                          Probably Antichrist
+Hair        Prusa {346a}
+Head        Elmo / Borella {346b} / Chiurla     Helmet
+            {346c}
+Heart       Salsa                               Sauce
+Man         Osmo                                From the Italian
+                                                _uomo_, which is man
+Moon        Mocoloso di Sant’ Alto              Wick of the firmament
+Night       Brunamaterna                        Mother-brown
+Nose        Gambaro                             Crab
+Sun         Ruffo di Sant’ Alto                 Red one of the
+                                                firmament
+Tongue      Serpentina / Danosa                 Serpent-like /
+                                                Hurtful
+Water       Lenza / Vetta {346d}                Fishing-net / Top,
+                                                bud
+
+The Germania of Spain may be said to divide itself into two dialects, the
+ancient and modern.  Of the former there exists a vocabulary, published
+first by Juan Hidalgo, in the year 1609, at Barcelona, and reprinted in
+Madrid, 1773.  Before noticing this work, it will perhaps be advisable to
+endeavour to ascertain the true etymology of the word Germania, which
+signifies the slang vocabulary, or robber language of Spain.  We have no
+intention to embarrass our readers by offering various conjectures
+respecting its origin; its sound, coupled with its signification,
+affording sufficient evidence that it is but a corruption of Rommany,
+which properly denotes the speech of the Roma or Gitános.  The thieves
+who from time to time associated with this wandering people, and acquired
+more or less of their language, doubtless adopted this term amongst
+others, and, after modifying it, applied it to the peculiar phraseology
+which, in the course of time, became prevalent amongst them.  The
+dictionary of Hidalgo is appended to six ballads, or romances, by the
+same author, written in the Germanian dialect, in which he describes the
+robber life at Seville at the period in which he lived.  All of these
+romances possess their peculiar merit, and will doubtless always be
+considered valuable, and be read as faithful pictures of scenes and
+habits which now no longer exist.  In the prologue, the author states
+that his principal motive for publishing a work written in so strange a
+language was his observing the damage which resulted from an ignorance of
+the Germania, especially to the judges and ministers of justice, whose
+charge it is to cleanse the public from the pernicious gentry who use it.
+By far the greatest part of the vocabulary consists of Spanish words used
+allegorically, which are, however, intermingled with many others, most of
+which may be traced to the Latin and Italian, others to the Sanscrit or
+Gitáno, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and German languages. {348}  The
+circumstances of words belonging to some of the languages last enumerated
+being found in the Gitáno, which at first may strike the reader as
+singular, and almost incredible, will afford but slight surprise, when he
+takes into consideration the peculiar circumstances of Spain during the
+sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Spain was at that period the most
+powerful monarchy in Europe; her foot reposed upon the Low Countries,
+whilst her gigantic arms embraced a considerable portion of Italy.
+Maintaining always a standing army in Flanders and in Italy, it followed
+as a natural consequence, that her Miquelets and soldiers became
+tolerably conversant with the languages of those countries; and, in
+course of time, returning to their native land, not a few, especially of
+the former class, a brave and intrepid, but always a lawless and
+dissolute species of soldiery, either fell in or returned to evil
+society, and introduced words which they had learnt abroad into the
+robber phraseology; whilst returned galley-slaves from Algiers, Tunis,
+and Tetuan, added to its motley variety of words from the relics of the
+broken Arabic and Turkish, which they had acquired during their
+captivity.  The greater part of the Germania, however, remained strictly
+metaphorical, and we are aware of no better means of conveying an idea of
+the principle on which it is formed, than by quoting from the first
+romance of Hidalgo, where particular mention is made of this jargon:—
+
+    ‘A la cama llama Blanda
+    Donde Sornan en poblado
+    A la Fresada Vellosa,
+    Que mucho vello ha criado.
+    Dice á la sabana Alba
+    Porque es alba en sumo grado,
+    A la camisa Carona,
+    Al jubon llama apretado:
+    Dice al Sayo Tapador
+    Porque le lleva tapado.
+    Llama á los zapatos Duros,
+    Que las piedras van pisando.
+    A la capa llama nuve,
+    Dice al Sombrero Texado.
+    Respeto llama á la Espada,
+    Que por ella es respetado,’ etc. etc.
+
+                                                         HIDALGO, p. 22–3.
+
+After these few remarks on the ancient Germania of Spain, we now proceed
+to the modern, which differs considerably from the former.  The principal
+cause of this difference is to be attributed to the adoption by the
+Spanish outlaws, in latter years, of a considerable number of words
+belonging to, or modified from, the Rommany, or language of the Gitános.
+The Gitános of Spain, during the last half-century, having, in a great
+degree, abandoned the wandering habit of life which once constituted one
+of their most remarkable peculiarities, and residing, at present, more in
+the cities than in the fields, have come into closer contact with the
+great body of the Spanish nation than was in former days their practice.
+From their living thus in towns, their language has not only undergone
+much corruption, but has become, to a slight degree, known to the dregs
+of society, amongst whom they reside.  The thieves’ dialect of the
+present day exhibits, therefore, less of the allegorical language
+preserved in the pages of Hidalgo than of the Gypsy tongue.  It must be
+remarked, however, that it is very scanty, and that the whole robber
+phraseology at present used in Spain barely amounts to two hundred words,
+which are utterly insufficient to express the very limited ideas of the
+outcasts who avail themselves of it.
+
+Concerning the Germania of France, or ‘Argot,’ as it is called, it is
+unnecessary to make many observations, as what has been said of the
+language of Hidalgo and the Red Italian is almost in every respect
+applicable to it.  As early as the middle of the sixteenth century a
+vocabulary of this jargon was published under the title of _Langue des
+Escrocs_, at Paris.  Those who wish to study it as it at present exists
+can do no better than consult _Les Mémoires de Vidocq_, where a multitude
+of words in Argot are to be found, and also several songs, the subjects
+of which are thievish adventures.
+
+The first vocabulary of the ‘Cant Language,’ or English Germania,
+appeared in the year 1680, appended to the life of _The English Rogue_, a
+work which, in many respects, resembles the _History of Guzman
+d’Alfaráche_, though it is written with considerably more genius than the
+Spanish novel, every chapter abounding with remarkable adventures of the
+robber whose life it pretends to narrate, and which are described with a
+kind of ferocious energy, which, if it do not charm the attention of the
+reader, at least enslaves it, holding it captive with a chain of iron.
+Amongst his other adventures, the hero falls in with a Gypsy encampment,
+is enrolled amongst the fraternity, and is allotted a ‘mort,’ or
+concubine; a barbarous festival ensues, at the conclusion of which an
+epithalamium is sung in the Gypsy language, as it is called in the work
+in question.  Neither the epithalamium, however, nor the vocabulary, are
+written in the language of the English Gypsies, but in the ‘Cant,’ or
+allegorical robber dialect, which is sufficient proof that the writer,
+however well acquainted with thieves in general, their customs and
+manners of life, was in respect to the Gypsies profoundly ignorant.  His
+vocabulary, however, has been always accepted as the speech of the
+English Gypsies, whereas it is at most entitled to be considered as the
+peculiar speech of the thieves and vagabonds of his time.  The cant of
+the present day, which, though it differs in some respects from the
+vocabulary already mentioned, is radically the same, is used not only by
+the thieves in town and country, but by the jockeys of the racecourse and
+the pugilists of the ‘ring.’ As a specimen of the cant of England, we
+shall take the liberty of quoting the epithalamium to which we have above
+alluded:—
+
+    ‘Bing out, bien morts, and tour and tour
+    Bing out, bien morts and tour;
+    For all your duds are bing’d awast,
+    The bien cove hath the loure. {351}
+
+    ‘I met a dell, I viewed her well,
+    She was benship to my watch:
+    So she and I did stall and cloy
+    Whatever we could catch.
+
+    ‘This doxy dell can cut ben whids,
+    And wap well for a win,
+    And prig and cloy so benshiply,
+    All daisy-ville within.
+
+    ‘The hoyle was up, we had good luck,
+    In frost for and in snow;
+    Men they did seek, then we did creep
+    And plant the roughman’s low.’
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say anything more upon the Germania in
+general or in particular; we believe that we have achieved the task which
+we marked out for ourselves, and have conveyed to our readers a clear and
+distinct idea of what it is.  We have shown that it has been erroneously
+confounded with the Rommany, or Gitáno language, with which it has
+nevertheless some points of similarity.  The two languages are, at the
+present day, used for the same purpose, namely, to enable habitual
+breakers of the law to carry on their consultations with more secrecy and
+privacy than by the ordinary means.  Yet it must not be forgotten that
+the thieves’ jargon was invented for that purpose, whilst the Rommany,
+originally the proper and only speech of a particular nation, has been
+preserved from falling into entire disuse and oblivion, because adapted
+to answer the same end.  It was impossible to treat of the Rommany in a
+manner calculated to exhaust the subject, and to leave no ground for
+future cavilling, without devoting a considerable space to the
+consideration of the robber dialect, on which account we hope we shall be
+excused many of the dry details which we have introduced into the present
+essay.  There is a link of connection between the history of the Roma, or
+wanderers from Hindustan, who first made their appearance in Europe at
+the commencement of the fifteenth century, and that of modern roguery.
+Many of the arts which the Gypsies proudly call their own, and which were
+perhaps at one period peculiar to them, have become divulged, and are now
+practised by the thievish gentry who infest the various European states,
+a result which, we may assert with confidence, was brought about by the
+alliance of the Gypsies being eagerly sought on their first arrival by
+the thieves, who, at one period, were less skilful than the former in the
+ways of deceit and plunder; which kind of association continued and held
+good until the thieves had acquired all they wished to learn, when they
+left the Gypsies in the fields and plains, so dear to them from their
+vagabond and nomad habits, and returned to the towns and cities.  Yet
+from this temporary association were produced two results; European fraud
+became sharpened by coming into contact with Asiatic craft, whilst
+European tongues, by imperceptible degrees, became recruited with various
+words (some of them wonderfully expressive), many of which have long been
+stumbling-stocks to the philologist, who, whilst stigmatising them as
+words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown origin, has been far from
+dreaming that by a little more research he might have traced them to the
+Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, or perhaps to the mysterious object of his
+veneration, the Sanscrit, the sacred tongue of the palm-covered regions
+of Ind; words originally introduced into Europe by objects too miserable
+to occupy for a moment his lettered attention—the despised denizens of
+the tents of Roma.
+
+
+ON THE TERM ‘BUSNO’
+
+
+Those who have done me the honour to peruse this strange wandering book
+of mine, must frequently have noticed the word ‘Busno,’ a term bestowed
+by the Spanish Gypsy on his good friend the Spaniard.  As the present
+will probably be the last occasion which I shall have to speak of the
+Gitános or anything relating to them, it will perhaps be advisable to
+explain the meaning of this word.  In the vocabulary appended to former
+editions I have translated Busno by such words as Gentile, savage, person
+who is not a Gypsy, and have stated that it is probably connected with a
+certain Sanscrit noun signifying an impure person.  It is, however,
+derived immediately from a Hungarian term, exceedingly common amongst the
+lower orders of the Magyars, to their disgrace be it spoken.  The
+Hungarian Gypsies themselves not unfrequently style the Hungarians
+Busnoes, in ridicule of their unceasing use of the word in question.  The
+first Gypsies who entered Spain doubtless brought with them the term from
+Hungary, the language of which country they probably understood to a
+certain extent.  That it was not ill applied by them in Spain no one will
+be disposed to deny when told that it exactly corresponds with the
+Shibboleth of the Spaniards, ‘Carajo,’ an oath equally common in Spain as
+its equivalent in Hungary.  Busno, therefore, in Spanish means _El del
+carajo_, or he who has that term continually in his mouth.  The Hungarian
+words in Spanish Gypsy may amount to ten or twelve, a very inconsiderable
+number; but the Hungarian Gypsy tongue itself, as spoken at the present
+day, exhibits only a slight sprinkling of Hungarian words, whilst it
+contains many words borrowed from the Wallachian, some of which have
+found their way into Spain, and are in common use amongst the Gitános.
+
+
+SPECIMENS OF GYPSY DIALECTS
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+    ‘TACHIPEN if I jaw ’doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch: N’etist I
+    shan’t puch kekomi wafu gorgies.’
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at my
+poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus {359}, 1842: he stayed
+with me during the greater part of the morning, discoursing on the
+affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was becoming daily
+worse and worse.  ‘There is no living for the poor people, brother,’ said
+he, ‘the chokengres (police) pursue us from place to place, and the
+gorgios are become either so poor or miserly, that they grudge our cattle
+a bite of grass by the wayside, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a
+fire upon.  Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no
+probability, unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro
+(justice of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons
+will have to give up wandering altogether, and then what will become of
+them?’
+
+‘However, brother,’ he continued, in a more cheerful tone, ‘I am no
+hindity mush, {360a} as you well know.  I suppose you have not forgot
+how, fifteen years ago, when you made horseshoes in the little dingle by
+the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty cottors {360b} to
+purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green
+Newmarket coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred.
+
+‘Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred instead of the fifty, I
+could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I knew you would
+not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush, brother, no Irishman;
+I laid out the other day twenty pounds in buying ruponoe peamengries;
+{360c} and in the Chonggav, {360d} have a house of my own with a yard
+behind it.
+
+    ‘_And_, _forsooth_, _if I go thither_, _I can choose a place to light
+    afire upon_, _and shall have no necessity to ask leave of these here
+    Gentiles_.’
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy sentence
+which heads the chapter, and which is a very characteristic specimen of
+the general way of speaking of the English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in which
+few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy dialect
+holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken: yet the
+English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the Spanish, and
+still retains its original syntax to a certain extent, its peculiar
+manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and pronouns.
+
+                             ENGLISH DIALECT
+
+    Moro Dad, savo djives oteh drey o charos, te caumen Gorgio ta Romany
+    Chal tiro nav, te awel tiro tem, te kairen tiro lav aukko prey puv,
+    sar kairdios oteh drey o charos.  Dey men to-divvus moro divvuskoe
+    moro, ta for-dey men pazorrhus tukey sar men for-denna len pazorrhus
+    amande; ma muk te petrenna drey caik temptacionos; ley men abri sor
+    doschder.  Tiro se o tem, Mi-duvel, tiro o zoozlu vast, tiro sor
+    koskopen drey sor cheros.  Avali.  Ta-chipen.
+
+                             SPANISH DIALECT
+
+    Batu monro sos socabas oté enré ye char, que camele Gacho ta Romani
+    Cha tiro nao, qu’abillele tiro chim, querese tiro lao acoi opré ye
+    puve sarta se querela oté enré ye char.  Diñanos sejonia monro manro
+    de cata chibes, ta estormenanos monrias bisauras sasta mu
+    estormenamos a monrias bisabadores; na nos meques petrar enré cayque
+    pajandia, lillanos abri de saro chungalipen.  Persos tiro sinela o
+    chim, Undevel, tiro ye silna bast, tiro saro lachipen enré saro
+    chiros.  Unga.  Chachipé.
+
+                    _English Translation of the above_
+
+    Our Father who dwellest there in heaven, may Gentile and Gypsy love
+    thy name, thy kingdom come, may they do thy word here on earth as it
+    is done there in heaven.  Give us to-day our daily bread, {361a} and
+    forgive us indebted to thee as we forgive them indebted to us, {361b}
+    suffer not that we fall into _no_ temptation, take us out from all
+    evil. {361c}  Thine {361d} is the kingdom my God, thine the strong
+    hand, thine all goodness in all time.  Aye.  Truth.
+
+
+
+HUNGARIAN DIALECT
+
+
+The following short sentences in Hungarian Gypsy, in addition to the
+prayer to the Virgin given in the Introduction, will perhaps not prove
+unacceptable to the reader.  In no part of the world is the Gypsy tongue
+at the present day spoken with more purity than in Hungary, {362} where
+it is used by the Gypsies not only when they wish to be unintelligible to
+the Hungarians, but in their common conversation amongst themselves.
+
+From these sentences the reader, by the help of the translations which
+accompany them, may form a tolerable idea not only of what the Gypsy
+tongue is, but of the manner in which the Hungarian Gypsies think and
+express themselves.  They are specimens of genuine Gypsy talk—sentences
+which I have myself heard proceed from the mouths of the Czigany; they
+are not Busno thoughts done into gentle Rommany.  Some of them are given
+here as they were written down by me at the time, others as I have
+preserved them in my memory up to the present moment.  It is not
+improbable that at some future time I may return to the subject of the
+Hungarian Gypsies.
+
+Varé tava soskei me puchelas cai    Much I ponder why you ask me
+soskei avillara catári.             (questions), and why you should
+                                    come hither.
+Mango le gulo Devlas vas o erai,    I pray the sweet Goddess for the
+hodj o erai te pirel misto, te      gentleman, that the gentleman may
+n’avel pascotia l’eras, ta na       journey well, that misfortune
+avel o erai nasvalo.                come not to the gentleman, and
+                                    that the gentleman fall not sick.
+Cana cames aves pale.               When you please come back.
+Ki’som dhes keral avel o rai        How many days did the gentleman
+catari? {363a}                      take to come hither?
+Kit somu berschengro hal tu?        How many years old are you?
+{363b}
+Cadé abri mai lachi e mol sar       Here out better (is) the wine
+ando foro.                          than in the city.
+Sin o mas balichano, ta i gorkhe    The meat is of pig, and the
+garasheskri; {363c} sin o manro     gherkins cost a grosh—the bread
+parno, cai te felo do               is white, and the lard costs two
+garashangro.                        groshen.
+Yeck quartalli mol ando lende.      One quart of wine amongst us.
+Andé mol oté mestchibo.             In wine there (is) happiness.
+Khava piava—dui shel, tri shel      I will eat, I will drink—two
+predinava.                          hundred, three hundred I will
+                                    place before.
+Damen Devla saschipo ando mure      Give us Goddess health in our
+cocala.                             bones.
+Te rosarow labio tarraco le         I will seek a waistcoat, which I
+Mujeskey miro pralesco, ta vela     have, for Moses my brother, and I
+mi anao tukey le Mujeskey miro      will change names with Moses my
+pralesky.                           brother. {363d}
+Llundun baro foro, bishwar mai      London (is) a big city, twenty
+baro sar Cosvaro.                   times more big than Colosvar.
+Nani yag, mullas.                   There is no fire, it is dead.
+Nasiliom cai purdiom but; besh te   I have suffered and toiled much:
+pansch bersch mi homas slugadhis    twenty and five years I was
+pa Baron Splini regimentos.         serving in Baron Splini’s
+                                    regiment.
+Saro chiro cado Del; cavo o puro    Every time (cometh) from God;
+diñas o Del.                        that old (age) God gave.
+Me camov te jav ando                I wish to go unto Bukarest—from
+Buka-resti—cado Bukaresti lachico   Bukarest, the good country, (it
+tem dur drom jin keri.              is) a far way unto (my) house.
+Mi hom nasvallo.                    I am sick.
+Soskei nai jas ke baro ful-cheri?   Why do you not go to the great
+                                    physician
+Wei mangue ke nani man lové         Because I have no money I can’t
+nastis jav.                         go
+Belgra sho mille pu cado            Belgrade (is) six miles of land
+Cosvarri; hin oter miro chabo.      from Colosvar; there is my son.
+Te vas Del l’erangue ke meclan      May God help the gentlemen that
+man abri ando a pan-dibo.           they let me out (from) in the
+                                    prison.
+Opré rukh sarkhi ye chiriclo, ca    On the tree (is) the nest of the
+kerel anre e chiricli.              bird, where makes eggs the female
+                                    bird.
+Ca hin tiro ker?                    Where is your house?
+Ando calo berkho, oter bin miro     In the black mountain, there is
+ker, av prala mensar; jas mengue    my house; come brother with me;
+keri.                               let us go to my house.
+Ando bersch dui chiro, ye ven, ta   In the year (are) two seasons,
+nilei.                              the winter and summer.
+O felhegos del o breschino, te      The cloud gives the rain, and
+purdel o barbal.                    puffs (forth) the wind.
+Hir mi Devlis camo but cavo         By my God I love much that
+erai—lacho manus o, Anglus, tama    gentleman—a good man he, an
+rakarel Ungarica; avel catari       Englishman, but he speaks
+ando urdon le trin                  Hungarian; he came {364a} hither
+gras-tensas—beshel cate abri po     in a waggon with three horses, he
+buklo tan; le poivasis ando bas     sits here out in the wilderness;
+irinel ando lel.  Bo zedun stadji   {364b} with a pencil in his hand
+ta bari barba.                      he writes in a book.  He has a
+                                    green hat and a big beard.
+
+VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE
+
+
+This section of the book could not be transcribed in 1997 as it contained
+many non-european languages and Gutenberg didn’t support Unicode then.
+It will be transcribed at some future point.—DP, August 2019.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+MISCELLANIES IN THE GITÁNO LANGUAGE
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT
+
+
+IT is with the view of preserving as many as possible of the monuments of
+the Spanish Gypsy tongue that the author inserts the following pieces;
+they are for the most part, whether original or translated, the
+productions of the ‘Aficion’ of Seville, of whom something has been said
+in the Preface to the Spurious Gypsy Poetry of Andalusia; not the least
+remarkable, however, of these pieces is a genuine Gypsy composition, the
+translation of the Apostles’ Creed by the Gypsies of Cordova, made under
+the circumstances detailed in the second part of the first volume.  To
+all have been affixed translations, more or less literal, to assist those
+who may wish to form some acquaintance with the Gitáno language.
+
+
+COTORRES ON CHIPE CALLI / MISCELLANIES
+
+
+BATO Nonrro sos socabas on o tarpe, manjirificádo quejésa tute acnao;
+abillános or tute sichén, y querese tute orependola andial on la chen
+sata on o tarpe; or manrro nonrro de cata chibel diñanoslo sejoñía, y
+estormenanos nonrrias bisauras andial sata gabéres estormenamos á nonrros
+bisaraores; y nasti nes muques petrar on la bajanbó, bus listrabanos de
+chorre.—Anarania.
+
+FATHER Our, who dwellest in the heaven, sanctified become thy name;
+come-to-us the thy kingdom, and be-done thy will so in the earth as in
+the heaven; the bread our of every day give-us-it to-day, and pardon-us
+our debts so as we-others pardon (to) our debtors; and not let us fall in
+the temptation, but deliver-us from wickedness.—Amen.
+
+Panchabo on Ostebe Bato saro-asisiláble, Perbaraor de o tarpe y la chen,
+y on Gresoné desquero Beyio Chabal nonrrio Eraño, sos guilló
+sar-trujatapucherído per troecane y sardaña de or Chanispero Manjaro, y
+pureló de Manjari ostelinda debla; Bricholó ostelé de or asislar de Brono
+Alieñicato; guilló trejuficao, mule y cabañao; y sundiló á los casinobés,
+{416} y á or brodeló chibél repureló de enrre los mulés, y encalomó á los
+otarpes, y soscabela bestíque á la tabastorre de Ostebe Bato
+saro-asisilable, ende aotér á de abillar á sarplar á los Apucheris y
+mulés.  Panchabo on or Chanispero Manjaró, la Manjari Cangari Pebuldórica
+y Rebuldórica, la Erunon de los Manjarós, or Estormén de los crejétes, la
+repureló de la mansenquere y la chibibén verable.—Anarania, Tebléque.
+
+I believe in God, Father all-powerful, creator of the heaven and the
+earth, and in Christ his only Son our Lord, who went conceived by deed
+and favour of the Spirit Holy, and born of blessed goddess divine;
+suffered under (of) the might of Bronos Alienicatos; {417a} went
+crucified, dead and buried; and descended to the conflagrations, and on
+the third day revived {417b} from among the dead, and ascended to the
+heavens, and dwells seated at the right-hand of God, Father all-powerful,
+from there he-has to come to impeach (to) the living and dead.  I believe
+in the Spirit Holy, the Holy Church Catholic and Apostolic, the communion
+of the saints, the remission of the sins, the re-birth of the flesh, and
+the life everlasting.—Amen, Jesus.
+
+
+OCANAJIMIA A LA DEBLA / PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN
+
+
+O Débla quirindía, Day de sarós los Bordeles on coin panchabo: per los
+duquipénes sos naquelástes á or pindré de la trejúl de tute Chaborró
+majarolísimo te manguélo, Débla, me alcorabíses de tute chaborró or
+estormén de sares las dojis y crejétes sos menda udicáre aquerao on
+andoba surdéte.—Anarania, Tebléque.
+
+Ostebé te berarbe Ostelinda! perdoripe sirles de sardañá; or Erañó sin
+sartute; bresban tute sirles enrré sares las rumiles, y bresban sin or
+frujero de tute po.—Tebléque.
+
+Manjari Ostelinda, day de Ostebé, brichardila per gabéres crejetaóres
+aocaná y on la ocana de nonrra beribén!—Anarania, Tebléque.
+
+Chimuclani or Bato, or Chabal, or Chanispero manjaró; sata sia on or
+presimelo, aocana, y gajeres: on los sicles de los sicles.—Anarania.
+
+O most holy Virgin, Mother of all the Christians in whom I believe; for
+the agony which thou didst endure at the foot of the cross of thy most
+blessed Son, I entreat thee, Virgin, that thou wilt obtain for me, from
+thy Son, the remission of all the crimes and sins which I may have
+committed in this world.—Amen, Jesus.
+
+God save thee, Maria! full art thou of grace; the Lord is with thee;
+blessed art thou amongst all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
+womb.—Jesus.
+
+Holy Maria, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of
+our death!—Amen, Jesus.
+
+Glory (to) the Father, the Son, (and) the Holy Ghost; as was in the
+beginning, now, and for ever: in the ages of the ages.—Amen.
+
+
+OR CREDO / THE CREED
+SARTA LO CHIBELARON LOS CALES DE CORDOVATI / TRANSLATED BY THE GYSPIES OF
+CORDOVA
+
+
+Pachabélo en Un-debel batu tosaro-baro, que ha querdi el char y la
+chiqué; y en Un-debél chinoró su unico chaboró eraño de amangue, que
+chaló en el trupo de la Majarí por el Duquende Majoró, y abió del veo de
+la Majarí; guilló curádo debájo de la sila de Pontio Piláto el chínobaró;
+guilló mulo y garabado; se chalé á las jacháris; al trin chibé se ha
+sicobádo de los mulés al char; sinéla bejádo á las baste de Un-debél
+barreá; y de oté abiará á juzgar á los mulés y á los que no lo sinélan;
+pachabélo en el Majaró; la Cangrí Majarí bareá; el jalar de los Majaries;
+lo mecó de los grécos; la resureccion de la maas, y la ochi que no
+maréla.
+
+I believe in God the Father all-great, who has made the heaven and the
+earth; and in God the young, his only Son, the Lord of us, who went into
+the body of the blessed (maid) by (means of) the Holy Ghost, and came out
+of the womb of the blessed; he was tormented beneath the power of Pontius
+Pilate, the great Alguazil; was dead and buried; he went (down) to the
+fires; on the third day he raised himself from the dead unto the heaven;
+he is seated at the major hand of God; and from thence he shall come to
+judge the dead and those who are not (dead).  I believe in the blessed
+one; in the church holy and great; the banquet of the saints; the
+remission of sins; the resurrection of the flesh, and the life which does
+not die.
+
+
+REJELENDRES / PROVERBS
+
+
+Or soscabela juco y teráble garipé no le sin perfiné anelar relichi.
+
+Bus yes manupe cha machagarno le pendan chuchipon los brochabos.
+
+Sacais sos ne dicobélan calochin ne bridaquélan.
+
+Coin terelare trasardos e dinastes nasti le buchare berrandáñas á
+desquero contiqué.
+
+On sares las cachimanes de Sersen abillen rechés.
+
+Bus mola yes chirriclo on la ba sos grés balogando.
+
+A Ostebé brichardilando y sar or mochique diñelando.
+
+Bus mola quesar jero de gabuño sos manporí de bombardo.
+
+Dicár y panchabár, sata penda Manjaró Lillar.
+
+Or esorjié de or narsichislé sin chismar lachinguél.
+
+Las queles mistos grobelás: per macara chibel la pirí y de rachi la
+operisa.
+
+Aunsos me dicas vriardao de jorpoy ne sirlo braco.
+
+Chachipé con jujána—Calzones de buchí y medias de lana.
+
+Chuquel sos piréla cocal teréla.
+
+Len sos sonsi bela pani ó reblandani teréla.
+
+He who is lean and has scabs needs not carry a net. {419a}
+
+When a man goes drunk the boys say to him ‘suet.’ {419b}
+
+Eyes which see not break no heart.
+
+He who has a roof of glass let him not fling stones at his neighbour.
+
+Into all the taverns of Spain may reeds come.
+
+A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying.
+
+To God (be) praying and with the flail plying.
+
+It is worth more to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.
+
+To see and to believe, as Saint Thomas says.
+
+The extreme {421a} of a dwarf is to spit largely.
+
+Houses well managed:—at mid-day the stew-pan, {421b} and at night salad.
+
+Although thou seest me dressed in wool I am no sheep.
+
+Truth with falsehood-Breeches of silk and stockings of Wool. {421c}
+
+The dog who walks finds a bone.
+
+The river which makes a noise {421d} has either water or stones.
+
+
+ODORES YE TILICHE / THE LOVER’S JEALOUSY
+
+
+Dica Callí sos linastes terelas, plasarandote misto men calochin
+desquiñao de trinchas puñís y canrrias, sata anjella terelaba dicando on
+los chorres naquelos sos me tesumiaste, y andial reutilá á men Jelí,
+diñela gao á sos menda orobibele; men puñi sin trincha per la quimbíla
+nevel de yes manu barbaló; sos saro se muca per or jandorro.  Lo sos bus
+prejeno Callí de los Bengorros sin sos nu muqueis per yes manú barbalo. . . .
+On tute orchíri nu chismo, tramistó on coin te araquera, sos menda
+terela men nostus pa avel sos me caméla bus sos túte.
+
+Reflect, O Callee! {421e} what motives hast thou (now that my heart is
+doting on thee, having rested awhile from so many cares and griefs which
+formerly it endured, beholding the evil passages which thou preparedst
+for me;) to recede thus from my love, giving occasion to me to weep.  My
+agony is great on account of thy recent acquaintance with a rich man; for
+every thing is abandoned for money’s sake.  What I most feel, O Callee,
+of the devils is, that thou abandonest me for a rich man . . . I spit
+upon thy beauty, and also upon him who converses with thee, for I keep my
+money for another who loves me more than thou.
+
+
+OR PERSIBARARSE SIN CHORO / THE EVILS OF CONCUBINAGE
+
+
+Gajeres sin corbó rifian soscabar yes manu persibaraó, per sos saro se
+linbidían odoros y besllí, y per esegritón apuchelan on sardañá de saros
+los Benjes, techescándo grejos y olajais—de sustíri sos lo resaronomó
+niquilla murmo; y andial lo fendi sos terelamos de querar sin techescarle
+yes sulibári á or Jelí, y ne panchabar on caute manusardí, persos trutan
+á yesque lilí.
+
+It is always a strange danger for a man to live in concubinage, because
+all turns to jealousy and quarrelling, and at last they live in the
+favour of all the devils, voiding oaths and curses: so that what is cheap
+turns out dear.  So the best we can do, is to cast a bridle on love, and
+trust to no woman, for they {423a} make a man mad.
+
+
+LOS CHORES / THE ROBBERS
+
+
+On grejelo chiro begoreó yesque berbanilla de chores á la burda de yes
+mostipelo a oleba rachí—Andial sos la prejenáron los cambraís
+presimeláron a cobadrar; sar andoba linaste changanó or lanbró, se
+sustiñó de la charipé de lapa, utiló la pusca, y niquilló platanando per
+or platesqueró de or mostipelo á la burda sos socabelába pandí, y per or
+jobi de la clichí chibeló or jundró de la pusca, le diñó pesquibo á or
+languté, y le sumuqueló yes bruchasnó on la tesquéra á or Jojerián de los
+ostilaóres y lo techescó de or gráte á ostelé.  Andial sos los debus
+quimbilos dicobeláron á desquero Jojerian on chen sar las canrriáles de
+la Beriben, lo chibeláron espusifias á los grastes, y niquilláron
+chapescando, trutando la romuy apála, per bausalé de las machas ó
+almedálles de liripió.
+
+On a certain time arrived a band of thieves at the gate of a farm-house
+at midnight.  So soon as the dogs heard them they began to bark, which
+causing {423b} the labourer to awake, he raised himself from his bed with
+a start, took his musket, and went running to the court-yard of the
+farm-house to the gate, which was shut, placed the barrel of his musket
+to the keyhole, gave his finger its desire, {423c} and sent a bullet into
+the forehead of the captain of the robbers, casting him down from his
+horse.  Soon as the other fellows saw their captain on the ground in the
+agonies of death, they clapped spurs to their horses, and galloped off
+fleeing, turning their faces back on account of the flies {423d} or
+almonds of lead.
+
+
+COTOR YE GABICOTE MAJARO / SPECIMEN OF THE GOSPEL
+OR SOS SARO LO HA CHIBADO EN CHIPE CALLI OR RANDADOR DE OCONOS PAPIRIS
+AUNSOS NARDIAN LO HA DINADO AL SURDETE / FROM THE AUTHOR’S UNPUBLISHED
+TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
+
+
+Y soscabando dicando dicó los Barbalós sos techescában desqueros mansis
+on or Gazofilacio; y dicó tramisto yesque pispiricha chorrorita, sos
+techescába duis chinorris sarabállis, y peneló: en chachipé os peneló,
+sos caba chorrorri pispiricha á techescao bus sos sares los avéles:
+persos saros ondobas han techescao per los mansis de Ostebé, de lo sos
+les costuña; bus caba e desquero chorrorri á techescao saro or susalo sos
+terelaba.  Y pendó á cormuñís, sos pendában del cangaripé, soscabelaba
+uriardao de orchíris berrandáñas, y de dénes: Cabas buchis sos dicais,
+abillarán chibeles, bus ne muquelará berrandáña costuñé berrandáña, sos
+ne quesesa demarabeá.  Y le prucháron y pendáron: Docurdó, bus quesa
+ondoba?  Y sos simachi abicará bus ondoba presimáre?  Ondole pencló:
+Dicad, sos nasti queseis jonjabaos; persos butes abillarán on men acnao,
+pendando: man sirlo, y or chiro soscabéla pajes: Garabaos de guillelar
+apalà, de ondoláyos: y bus junureis bargañas y sustiñés, ne os espajuéis;
+persos sin perfiné sos ondoba chundée brotobó, bus nasti quesa escotriá
+or egresitón.  Oclinde les pendaba: se sustinará suéste sartra suéste, y
+sichén sartra sichén, y abicará bareles dajirós de chénes per los gaos, y
+retréques y bocátas, y abicará buchengerés espajuis, y bareles simachis
+de otárpe: bus anjella de saro ondoba os sinastrarán y preguillarán,
+enregandoós á la Socretería, y los ostardós, y os legerarán á los
+Ocláyes, y á los Baquedunis, per men acnao: y ondoba os chundeará on
+chachipé.  Terelad pus seraji on bros garlochínes de ne orobrár anjella
+sata abicáis de brudilar, persos man os diñaré rotuñí y chanár, la sos ne
+asislarán resistír ne sartra pendar satos bros enormes.  Y quesaréis
+enregaos de bros bátos, y oprános, y sastris, y monrrores, y querarán
+merar á cormuñí de avéres; y os cangelarán saros per men acnao; bus ne
+carjibará ies bal de bros jerós.  Sar bras opachirimá avelaréis bras
+orchis: pus bus dicaréis á Jerusalén relli, oclinde chanad sos, desqueró
+petra soscabela pajés; oclinde los soscabelan on la Chutéa, chapésguen á
+los tober-jélis; y los que on macara de ondolaya, niquillense; y lo sos
+on los oltariqués, nasti enrren on ondoláya; persos ondoba sen chibéles
+de Abilláza, pa sos chundéen sares las buchís soscabélan libanás; bus
+isna de las ararís, y de las sos diñan de oropielar on asirios chibéles;
+persos abicará bare quichartúra costuñe la chen, e guillará pa andoba
+Gao; y petrarán á surabi de janrró; y quesan legeraos sinastros á sarés
+las chénes, y Jerusalén quesá omaná de los suestíles, sasta sos quejesen
+los chirós de las sichenes; y abicara simachés on or orcán, y on la
+chimutiá, y on las uchurgañis; y on la chen chalabeó on la suéte per or
+dán sos bausalará la loria y des-querós gulas; muquelándo los romáres
+bifaos per dajiraló de las buchís sos costuñe abillarán á saro or
+surdéte; persos los soláres de los otarpes quesan sar-chalabeaos; y
+oclinde dicarán á or Chaboró e Manú abillar costuñe yesque minrriclá sar
+baro asislar y Chimusolano: bus presimelaren á chundear caba buchis,
+dicád, y sustiñád bros jerós, persos pajes soscabela bras redención.
+
+And whilst looking he saw the rich who cast their treasures into the
+treasury; and he saw also a poor widow, who cast two small coins, and he
+said: In truth I tell you, that this poor widow has cast more than all
+the others; because all those have cast, as offerings to God, from that
+which to them abounded; but she from her poverty has cast all the
+substance which she had.  And he said to some, who said of the temple,
+that it was adorned with fair stones, and with gifts: These things which
+ye see, days shall come, when stone shall not remain upon stone, which
+shall not be demolished.  And they asked him and said: Master, when shall
+this be? and what sign shall there be when this begins?  He said: See,
+that ye be not deceived, because many shall come in my name, saying: I am
+(he), and the time is near: beware ye of going after them: and when ye
+shall hear (of) wars and revolts do not fear, because it is needful that
+this happen first, for the end shall not be immediately.  Then he said to
+them: Nation shall rise against nation, and country against country, and
+there shall be great tremblings of earth among the towns, and pestilences
+and famines; and there shall be frightful things, and great signs in the
+heaven: but before all this they shall make ye captive, and shall
+persecute, delivering ye over to the synagogue, and prisons; and they
+shall carry ye to the kings, and the governors, on account of my name:
+and this shall happen to you for truth.  Keep then firm in your hearts,
+not to think before how ye have to answer, for I will give you mouth and
+wisdom, which all your enemies shall not be able to resist, or
+contradict.  And ye shall be delivered over by your fathers, and
+brothers, and relations, and friends, and they shall put to death some of
+you; and all shall hate you for my name; but not one hair of your heads
+shall perish.  With your patience ye shall possess your souls: but when
+ye shall see Jerusalem surrounded, then know that its fall is near; then
+those who are in Judea, let them escape to the mountains; and those who
+are in the midst of her, let them go out; and those who are in the
+fields, let them not enter into her; because those are days of vengeance,
+that all the things which are written may happen; but alas to the
+pregnant and those who give suck in those days, for there shall be great
+distress upon the earth, and it shall move onward against this people;
+and they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and they shall be carried
+captive to all the countries, and Jerusalem shall be trodden by the
+nations, until are accomplished the times of the nations; and there shall
+be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and in the earth
+trouble of nations from the fear which the sea and its billows shall
+cause; leaving men frozen with terror of the things which shall come upon
+all the world; because the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and
+then they shall see the Son of Man coming upon a cloud with great power
+and glory: when these things begin to happen, look ye, and raise your
+heads, for your redemption is near.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+    ‘TACHIPEN if I jaw ‘doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch: N’etist I
+    shan’t puch kekomi wafu gorgies.’
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at my
+poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus, {428a} 1842: he stayed
+with me during the greatest part of the morning, discoursing on the
+affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was becoming daily
+worse and worse.  ‘There is no living for the poor people, brother,’ said
+he, ‘the chok-engres (police) pursue us from place to place, and the
+gorgios are become either so poor or miserly, that they grudge our cattle
+a bite of grass by the way side, and ourselves a yard of ground to light
+a fire upon.  Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no
+probability, unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro
+(justice of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons
+will have to give up wandering altogether, and then what will become of
+them?
+
+‘However, brother,’ he continued, in a more cheerful tone, ‘I am no
+hindity mush, {428b} as you well know.  I suppose you have not forgot
+how, fifteen years ago, when you made horse-shoes in the little dingle by
+the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty cottors {428c} to
+purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green
+Newmarket coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred.
+
+‘Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred, instead of the fifty,
+I could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I knew you
+would not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush, brother, no
+Irishman; I laid out the other day twenty pounds in buying rupenoe
+peam-engries; {429a} and in the Chong-gav, {429b} have a house of my own
+with a yard behind it.
+
+‘_And_, _forsooth_, _if I go thither_, _I can choose a place to light a
+fire upon_, _and shall have no necessity to ask leave of these here
+Gentiles_.’
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy sentence
+which heads the chapter, and which is a very characteristic specimen of
+the general way of speaking of the English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in which
+few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy dialect
+holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken: yet the
+English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the Spanish, and
+still retains its original syntax to a certain extent, its peculiar
+manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and pronouns.  I must,
+however, qualify this last assertion, by observing that in the genuine
+Rommany there are no prepositions, but, on the contrary, post-positions;
+now, in the case of the English dialect, these post-positions have been
+lost, and their want, with the exception of the genitive, has been
+supplied with English prepositions, as may be seen by a short example:—
+
+Hungarian Gypsy. {429c}   English Gypsy.      English.
+Job                       Yow                 He
+Leste                     Leste               Of him
+Las                       Las                 To him
+Les                       Los                 Him
+Lester                    From leste          From him
+Leha                      With leste          With him
+                          PLURAL.
+Jole                      Yaun                They
+Lente                     Lente               Of them
+Len                       Len                 To them
+Len                       Len                 Them
+Lender                    From Lende          From them
+
+The following comparison of words selected at random from the English and
+Spanish dialects of the Rommany will, perhaps, not be uninteresting to
+the philologist or even to the general reader.  Could a doubt be at
+present entertained that the Gypsy language is virtually the same in all
+parts of the world where it is spoken, I conceive that such a vocabulary
+would at once remove it.
+
+             English Gypsy.      Spanish Gypsy.
+Ant          Cria                Crianse
+Bread        Morro               Manro
+City         Forus               Foros
+Dead         Mulo                Mulo
+Enough       Dosta               Dosta
+Fish         Matcho              Macho
+Great        Boro                Baro
+House        Ker                 Quer
+Iron         Saster              Sas
+King         Krallis             Crális
+Love(I)      Camova              Camelo
+Moon         Tchun               Chimutra
+Night        Rarde               Rati
+Onion        Purrum              Porumia
+Poison       Drav                Drao
+Quick        Sig                 Sigo
+Rain         Brishindo           Brejindal
+Sunday       Koorokey            Curque
+Teeth        Danor               Dani
+Village      Gav                 Gao
+White        Pauno               Parno
+Yes          Avalí               Ungalé
+
+As specimens of how the English dialect maybe written, the following
+translations of the Lord’s Prayer and Belief will perhaps suffice.
+
+
+THE LORD’S PRAYER
+
+
+Míry dad, odoi oprey adrey tíro tatcho tan; Medeveleskoe si tíro nav;
+awel tiro tem, be kairdo tiro lav acoi drey pov sá odoi adrey kosgo tan:
+dey mande ke-divvus miry diry morro, ta fordel man sor so mé pazzorrus
+tute, sá mé fordel sor so wavior mushor pazzorrus amande; ma riggur man
+adrey kek dosch, ley man abri sor wafodu; tiro se o tem, tíro or
+zoozli-wast, tiro or corauni, kanaw ta ever-komi.  Avali.  Tatchipen.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+My Father, yonder up within thy good place; god-like be thy name; come
+thy kingdom, be done thy word here in earth as yonder in good place.
+Give to me to-day my dear bread, and forgive me all that I am indebted to
+thee, as I forgive all that other men are indebted to me; not lead me
+into any ill; take me out (of) all evil; thine is the kingdom, thine the
+strong hand, thine the crown, now and evermore.  Yea.  Truth.
+
+
+THE BELIEF
+
+
+Mé apasavenna drey mi-dovvel, Dad soro-ruslo, savo kedas charvus ta pov:
+apasavenna drey olescro yeck chavo moro arauno Christos, lias
+medeveleskoe Baval-engro, beano of wendror of medeveleskoe gairy Mary:
+kurredo tuley me-cralliskoe geiro Pontius Pilaten wast; nasko pré rukh,
+moreno, chivios adrey o hev; jas yov tuley o kálo dron ke wafudo tan,
+bengeskoe stariben; jongorasa o trito divvus, atchasa opré to tatcho tan,
+Mí-dovvels kair; bestela kanaw odoi pré Mi-dovvels tacho wast Dad
+soro-boro; ava sig to lel shoonaben opré mestepen and merripen.
+Apasa-venna en develeskoe Baval-engro; Boro develeskoe congrí, develeskoe
+pios of sore tacho foky ketteney, soror wafudu-pénes fordias, soror mulor
+jongorella, kek merella apopli.  Avalí, palor.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+I believe in my God, Father all powerful, who made heaven and earth; I
+believe in his one Son our Lord Christ, conceived by Holy Ghost, {432}
+born of bowels of Holy Virgin Mary, beaten under the royal governor
+Pontius Pilate’s hand; hung on a tree, slain, put into the grave; went he
+down the black road to bad place, the devil’s prison; he awaked the third
+day, ascended up to good place, my God’s house; sits now there on my
+God’s right hand Father-all-powerful; shall come soon to hold judgment
+over life and death.  I believe in Holy Ghost; Great Holy Church, Holy
+festival of all good people together, all sins forgiveness, that all dead
+arise, no more die again.  Yea, brothers.
+
+
+SPECIMEN OF A SONG IN THE VULGAR OR BROKEN ROMMANY
+
+
+As I was a jawing to the gav yeck divvus,
+I met on the dron miro Rommany chi:
+I puch’d yoi whether she com sar mande;
+And she penn’d: tu si wafo Rommany,
+
+And I penn’d, I shall ker tu miro tacho Rommany,
+Fornigh tute but dui chavé:
+Methinks I’ll cam tute for miro merripen,
+If tu but pen, thou wilt commo sar mande.
+
+
+TRANSLATION
+
+
+One day as I was going to the village,
+I met on the road my Rommany lass:
+I ask’d her whether she would come with me,
+And she said thou hast another wife.
+
+I said, I will make thee my lawful wife,
+Because thou hast but two children;
+Methinks I will love thee until my death,
+If thou but say thou wilt come with me.
+
+Many other specimens of the English Gypsy muse might be here adduced; it
+is probable, however, that the above will have fully satisfied the
+curiosity of the reader.  It has been inserted here for the purpose of
+showing that the Gypsies have songs in their own language, a fact which
+has been denied.  In its metre it resembles the ancient Sclavonian
+ballads, with which it has another feature in common—the absence of
+rhyme.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+{0}  Although the present edition is only in one volume, Borrow’s
+original references to the two volumes in the above Dedication and the
+Preface have been retained.
+
+{1}  _Quarterly Review_, Dec. 1842
+
+{2}  _Edinburgh Review_, Feb. 1843.
+
+{3}  _Examiner_, Dec. 17, 1842.
+
+{4}  _Spectator_, Dec. 7, 1842.
+
+{5}  Thou speakest well, brother!
+
+{6}  This is quite a mistake: I know very little of what has been written
+concerning these people: even the work of Grellmann had not come beneath
+my perusal at the time of the publication of the first edition of _The
+Zincali_, which I certainly do not regret: for though I believe the
+learned German to be quite right in his theory with respect to the origin
+of the Gypsies, his acquaintance with their character, habits, and
+peculiarities, seems to have been extremely limited.
+
+{7}  Good day.
+
+{8}  Glandered horse.
+
+{9}  Two brothers.
+
+{10}  The edition here referred to has long since been out of print.
+
+{25}  It may not be amiss to give the etymology of the word engro, which
+so frequently occurs in compound words in the English Gypsy tongue:—the
+_en_ properly belongs to the preceding noun, being one of the forms of
+the genitive case; for example, Elik-_en_ boro congry, the great Church
+or Cathedral of Ely; the _gro_ or _geiro_ (Spanish _guero_), is the
+Sanscrit _kar_, a particle much used in that language in the formation of
+compounds; I need scarcely add that _monger_ in the English words
+Costermonger, Ironmonger, etc., is derived from the same root.
+
+{26}  For the knowledge of this fact I am indebted to the well-known and
+enterprising traveller, Mr. Vigne, whose highly interesting work on
+Cashmire and the Panjab requires no recommendation from me.
+
+{28}  Gorgio (Spanish _gacho_), a man who is not a Gypsy: the Spanish
+Gypsies term the Gentiles Busne, the meaning of which word will be
+explained farther on.
+
+{36}  An Eastern image tantamount to the taking away of life.
+
+{37}  Gentes non multum morigeratæ, sed quasi bruta animalia et furentes.
+See vol. xxii. of the Supplement to the works of Muratori, p. 890.
+
+{43}  As quoted by Hervas: _Catalogo de las Lenguas_, vol. iii. p. 306.
+
+{54}  We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and Spanish; it
+runs thus in the former language:—
+
+    ‘LAS MUCHIS.  (The Sparks.)
+
+    ‘Bus de gres chabalas orchiris man diqué á yes chiro purelar
+    sistilias sata rujias, y or sisli carjibal diñando trutas discandas.
+
+{69}  In the above little tale the writer confesses that there are many
+things purely imaginary; the most material point, however, the attempt to
+sack the town during the pestilence, which was defeated by the courage
+and activity of an individual, rests on historical evidence the most
+satisfactory.  It is thus mentioned in the work of Francisco de Cordova
+(he was surnamed Cordova from having been for many years canon in that
+city):—
+
+    ‘Annis præteritis Iuliobrigam urbem, vulgo Logroño, pestilenti
+    laborantem morbo, et hominibus vacuam invadere hi ac diripere
+    tentarunt, perfecissentque ni Dens O. M. cuiusdam _bibliopolæ_ opera,
+    in corum, capita, quam urbi moliebantur perniciem avertisset.’
+    _Didascalia_, Lugduni, 1615, I vol. 8VO. p. 405, cap. 50.
+
+{79}  Yet notwithstanding that we refuse credit to these particular
+narrations of Quiñones and Fajardo, acts of cannibalism may certainly
+have been perpetrated by the Gitános of Spain in ancient times, when they
+were for the most part semi-savages living amongst mountains and deserts,
+where food was hard to be procured: famine may have occasionally
+compelled them to prey on human flesh, as it has in modern times
+compelled people far more civilised than wandering Gypsies.
+
+{82a}  England.
+
+{82b}  Spain.
+
+{86}  _Mithridates_: erster Theil, s. 241.
+
+{98}  Torreblanca: _de Magia_, 1678.
+
+{100a}  Exodus, chap. xiii. v. 9.  ‘And it shall be for a sign unto thee
+upon thy hand.’ Eng.  Trans.
+
+{100b}  No chapter in the book of Job contains any such verse.
+
+{100c}  ‘And the children of Israel went out with an high hand.’  Exodus,
+chap. xiv. v. 8. Eng.  Trans.
+
+{100d}  No such verse is to be found in the book mentioned.
+
+{109a}  Prov., chap. vii. vers. 11, 12.  ‘She is loud and stubborn; her
+feet abide not in her house.  Now is she without, now in the streets, and
+lieth in wait at every corner.’  Eng. Trans.
+
+{109b}  _Historia de Alonso_, _mozo de muchos amos_: or, the story of
+Alonso, servant of many masters; an entertaining novel, written in the
+seventeenth century, by Geronimo of Alcalá, from which some extracts were
+given in the first edition of the present work.
+
+{117}  O Ali! O Mahomet!—God is God!—A Turkish war-cry.
+
+{120a}  Gen. xlix. 22.
+
+{120b}  In the original there is a play on words.—It is not necessary to
+enter into particulars farther than to observe that in the Hebrew
+language ‘ain’ means a well, and likewise an eye.
+
+{120c}  Gen. xlviii. 16.  In the English version the exact sense of the
+inspired original is not conveyed.  The descendants of Joseph are to
+increase like fish.
+
+{122}  Exodus, chap. xii. v. 37, 38.
+
+{130a}  Quiñones, p. 11.
+
+{130b}  The writer will by no means answer for the truth of these
+statements respecting Gypsy marriages.
+
+{138}  This statement is incorrect.
+
+{139}  The Torlaquis (idle vagabonds), Hadgies (saints), and Dervishes
+(mendicant friars) of the East, are Gypsies neither by origin nor habits,
+but are in general people who support themselves in idleness by
+practising upon the credulity and superstition of the Moslems.
+
+{140}  In the Moorish Arabic, [Picture: Arabic text] —or reus al haramin,
+the literal meaning being, ‘heads or captains of thieves.’
+
+{153}  A favourite saying amongst this class of people is the following:
+‘Es preciso que cada uno coma de su oficio’; _i.e._ every one must live
+by his trade.
+
+{167}  For the above well-drawn character of Charles the Third I am
+indebted to the pen of Louis de Usoz y Rio, my coadjutor in the editing
+of the New Testament in Spanish (Madrid, 1837).  For a further account of
+this gentleman, the reader is referred to _The Bible in Spain_, preface,
+p. xxii.
+
+{181}  Steal a horse.
+
+{189}  The lame devil: Asmodeus.
+
+{199}  Rinconete and Cortadillo.
+
+{200}  The great river, or Guadalquiver.
+
+{211}  A fountain in Paradise.
+
+{230}  A Gypsy word signifying ‘exceeding much.’
+
+{235}  ‘Lengua muy cerráda.’
+
+{236a}  ‘No camelo ser eray, es Caló mi nacimiénto;
+No camelo ser eray, eon ser Calé me conténto.’
+
+{236b}  Armed partisans, or guerillas on horseback: they waged a war of
+extermination against the French, but at the same time plundered their
+countrymen without scruple.
+
+{241a}  The Basques speak a Tartar dialect which strikingly resembles the
+Mongolian and the Mandchou.
+
+{241b}  A small nation or rather sect of contrabandistas, who inhabit the
+valley of Pas amidst the mountains of Santander; they carry long sticks,
+in the handling of which they are unequalled.  Armed with one of these
+sticks, a smuggler of Pas has been known to beat off two mounted
+dragoons.
+
+{242}  The hostess, Maria Diaz, and her son Joan José Lopez, were present
+when the outcast uttered these prophetic words.
+
+{243}  Eodem anno precipue fuit pestis seu mortalitas Forlivio.
+
+{247}  This work is styled _Historia de los Gitános_, by J. M—, published
+at Barcelona in the year 1832; it consists of ninety-three very small and
+scantily furnished pages.  Its chief, we might say its only merit, is the
+style, which is fluent and easy.  The writer is a theorist, and
+sacrifices truth and probability to the shrine of one idea, and that one
+of the most absurd that ever entered the head of an individual.  He
+endeavours to persuade his readers that the Gitános are the descendants
+of the Moors, and the greatest part of his work is a history of those
+Africans, from the time of their arrival in the Peninsula till their
+expatriation by Philip the Third.  The Gitános he supposes to be various
+tribes of wandering Moors, who baffled pursuit amidst the fastnesses of
+the hills; he denies that they are of the same origin as the Gypsies,
+Bohemians, etc., of other lands, though he does not back his denial by
+any proofs, and is confessedly ignorant of the Gitáno language, the grand
+criterion.
+
+To this work we shall revert on a future occasion.
+
+{262a}  A Russian word signifying beans.
+
+{262b}  The term for poisoning swine in English Gypsy is _Drabbing
+bawlor_.
+
+{276}  Por médio de chalanerías.
+
+{278a}  The English.
+
+{278b}  These words are very ancient, and were, perhaps, used by the
+earliest Spanish Gypsies; they differ much from the language of the
+present day, and are quite unintelligible to the modern Gitános.
+
+{281}  It was speedily prohibited, together with the Basque gospel; by a
+royal ordonnance, however, which appeared in the Gazette of Madrid, in
+August 1838, every public library in the kingdom was empowered to
+purchase two copies in both languages, as the works in question were
+allowed to possess some merit _in a literary point of view_.  For a
+particular account of the Basque translation, and also some remarks on
+the Euscarra language, the reader is referred to _The Bible in Spain_,
+vol. ii. p. 385–398.
+
+{288}  Steal me, Gypsy.
+
+{290}  A species of gendarme or armed policeman.  The Miquelets have
+existed in Spain for upwards of two hundred years.  They are called
+Miquelets, from the name of their original leader.  They are generally
+Aragonese by nation, and reclaimed robbers.
+
+{292}  Those who may be desirous of perusing the originals of the
+following rhymes should consult former editions of this work.
+
+{304}  For the original, see other editions.
+
+{321}  For this information concerning Palmiréno, and also for a sight of
+the somewhat rare volume written by him, the author was indebted to a
+kind friend, a native of Spain.
+
+{67}  A very unfair inference; that some of the Gypsies did not
+understand the author when he spoke Romaic, was no proof that their own
+private language was a feigned one, invented for thievish purposes.
+
+{324}  Of all these, the most terrible, and whose sway endured for the
+longest period, were the Mongols, as they were called: few, however, of
+his original Mongolian warriors followed Timour in the invasion of India.
+His armies latterly appear to have consisted chiefly of Turcomans and
+Persians.  It was to obtain popularity amongst these soldiery that he
+abandoned his old religion, a kind of fetish, or sorcery, and became a
+Mahometan.
+
+{325a}  As quoted by Adelung, _Mithridates_, vol. i.
+
+{325b}  Mithridates.
+
+{326}  For example, in the _Historia de los Gitános_, of which we have
+had occasion to speak in the first part of the present work: amongst
+other things the author says, p. 95, ‘If there exist any similitude of
+customs between the Gitános and the Gypsies, the Zigeuners, the Zingári,
+and the Bohemians, they (the Gitános) cannot, however, be confounded with
+these nomad castes, nor the same origin be attributed to them; . . . all
+that we shall find in common between these people will be, that the one
+(the Gypsies, etc.) arrived fugitives from the heart of Asia by the
+steppes of Tartary, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, while the
+Gitános, descended from the Arab or Morisco tribes, came from the coast
+of Africa as conquerors at the beginning of the eighth.’
+
+He gets rid of any evidence with respect to the origin of the Gitános
+which their language might be capable of affording in the following
+summary manner: ‘As to the particular jargon which they use, any
+investigation which people might pretend to make would be quite useless;
+in the first place, on account of the reserve which they exhibit on this
+point; and secondly, because, in the event of some being found
+sufficiently communicative, the information which they could impart would
+lead to no advantageous result, owing to their extreme ignorance.’
+
+It is scarcely worth while to offer a remark on reasoning which could
+only emanate from an understanding of the very lowest order,—so the
+Gitános are so extremely ignorant, that however frank they might wish to
+be, they would be unable to tell the curious inquirer the names for bread
+and water, meat and salt, in their own peculiar tongue—for, assuredly,
+had they sense enough to afford that slight quantum of information, it
+would lead to two very advantageous results, by proving, first, that they
+spoke the same language as the Gypsies, etc., and were consequently the
+same people—and secondly, that they came not from the coast of Northern
+Africa, where only Arabic and Shillah are spoken, but from the heart of
+Asia, three words of the four being pure Sanscrit.
+
+{330}  As given in the _Mithridates_ of Adelung.
+
+{346a}  Possibly from the Russian _boloss_, which has the same
+signification.
+
+{346b}  Basque, _burua_.
+
+{346c}  Sanscrit, _schirra_.
+
+{346d}  These two words, which Hervas supposes to be Italian used in an
+improper sense, are probably of quite another origin.  _Len_, in Gitáno,
+signifies ‘river,’ whilst _vadi_ in Russian is equivalent to water.
+
+{348}  It is not our intention to weary the reader with prolix specimens;
+nevertheless, in corroboration of what we have asserted, we shall take
+the liberty of offering a few.  Piar, to drink, (p. 188,) is Sanscrit,
+_piava_.  Basilea, gallows, (p. 158,) is Russian, _becilitz_.  Caramo,
+wine, and gurapo, galley, (pp. 162, 176,) Arabic, _haram_ (which
+literally signifies that which is forbidden) and _grab_.  Iza, (p. 179,)
+harlot, Turkish, _kize_.  Harton, bread, (p. 177,) Greek, _artos_.
+Guido, good, and hurgamandera, harlot, (pp. 177, 178,) German, _gut_ and
+_hure_.  Tiple, wine, (p. 197,) is the same as the English word tipple,
+Gypsy, _tapillar_.
+
+{351}  This word is pure Wallachian (λοναρε), and was brought by the
+Gypsies into England; it means ‘booty,’ or what is called in the present
+cant language, ‘swag.’  The Gypsies call booty ‘louripen.’
+
+{359}  Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+{360a}  Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+{360b}  Guineas.
+
+{360c}  Silver teapots.
+
+{360d}  The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+{361a}  In the Spanish Gypsy version, ‘our bread of each day.’
+
+{361b}  Span., ‘forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’
+
+{361c}  Eng., ‘all evil _from_’; Span., ‘from all ugliness.’
+
+{361d}  Span., ‘for thine.’
+
+{362}  By Hungary is here meant not only Hungary proper, but
+Transylvania.
+
+{363a}  How many days made come the gentleman hither.
+
+{363b}  How many-year fellow are you.
+
+{363c}  Of a grosh.
+
+{363d}  My name shall be to you for Moses my brother.
+
+{364a}  Comes.
+
+{364b}  Empty place.
+
+{416}  V. _Casinoben_ in Lexicon.
+
+{417a}  By these two words, Pontius Pilate is represented, but whence
+they are derived I know not.
+
+{417b}  Reborn.
+
+{419a}  Poverty is always avoided.
+
+{419b}  A drunkard reduces himself to the condition of a hog.
+
+{421a}  The most he can do.
+
+{421b}  The puchero, or pan of glazed earth, in which bacon, beef, and
+garbanzos are stewed.
+
+{421c}  Truth contrasts strangely with falsehood; this is a genuine Gypsy
+proverb, as are the two which follow; it is repeated throughout Spain
+_without being understood_.
+
+{421d}  In the original _wears a mouth_; the meaning is, ask nothing,
+gain nothing.
+
+{421e}  Female Gypsy,
+
+{423a}  Women _understood_.
+
+{423b}  With that motive awoke the labourer.  _Orig_.
+
+{423c}  Gave its pleasure to the finger, _i.e._ his finger was itching to
+draw the trigger, and he humoured it.
+
+{423d}  They feared the shot and slugs, which are compared, and not
+badly, to flies and almonds.
+
+{428a}  Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+{428b}  Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+{428c}  Guineas.
+
+{429a}  Silver tea-pots.
+
+{429b}  The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+{429c}  As given by Grellmann.
+
+{432}  The English Gypsies having, in their dialect, no other term for
+ghost than mulo, which simply means a dead person, I have been obliged to
+substitute a compound word.  Bavalengro signifies literally a wind thing,
+or _form of air_.
+
+
+
+
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" />
+<title>The Zincali, by George Borrow</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Zincali, by George Borrow
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Zincali
+       an account of the Gypsies of Spain
+
+
+Author: George Borrow
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 15, 2019  [eBook #565]
+[This file was first posted on April 15, 1996]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZINCALI***
+</pre>
+<p>Transcribed from the 1901 John Murray edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@pglaf.org</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/cover.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Book cover"
+title=
+"Book cover"
+ src="images/cover.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h1>THE ZINCALI</h1>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">AN ACCOUNT OF THE<br />
+<b>GYPSIES OF SPAIN</b><br />
+BY GEORGE BORROW</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">AUTHOR
+OF</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">&lsquo;THE BIBLE IN SPAIN&rsquo;</span><br
+/>
+<span class="GutSmall">&lsquo;LAVENGRO&rsquo;</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">ETC.</span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">&lsquo;<i>For that which
+is unclean by nature</i>,<br />
+<i>thou canst entertain no hope</i>; <i>no washing</i><br />
+<i>will turn the Gypsy white</i>.&rsquo;&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Ferdousi</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">NEW IMPRESSION</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br />
+JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET<br />
+1901</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pageiv"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. iv</span>Edinburgh: T. and A. <span
+class="smcap">Constable</span>, Printers to Her Majesty</p>
+<h2><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p. v</span><span
+class="GutSmall">TO</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">THE RIGHT HONOURABLE</span><br />
+THE EARL OF CLARENDON, G.C.B.</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">KEEPER OF
+HER MAJESTY&rsquo;S PRIVY SEAL</span></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">ETC., ETC.,
+ETC.</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,</p>
+<p><i>I feel it not only a gratification but an honour to be
+permitted to dedicate these volumes</i> <a
+name="citation0"></a><a href="#footnote0"
+class="citation">[0]</a> <i>to your Lordship</i>, <i>the more
+particularly as they are connected with Spain</i>, <i>a country
+in which it was so frequently my fortune to experience such
+prompt and salutary aid from your Lordship in the high capacity
+of representative of our Gracious British Sovereign</i>.</p>
+<p><i>The remembrance of the many obligations under which your
+Lordship has placed me</i>, <i>by your energetic and effectual
+interference in time of need</i>, <i>will ever in heartfelt
+gratitude cause me to remain</i>, <i>with unfeigned sentiments of
+respect</i>,</p>
+<p><i>My Lord</i>,</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>Your most devoted
+Servant</i>,</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">GEORGE BORROW.</p>
+<h2><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+vii</span>PREFACE</h2>
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is with some diffidence that the
+author ventures to offer the present work to the public.</p>
+<p>The greater part of it has been written under very peculiar
+circumstances, such as are not in general deemed at all
+favourable for literary composition: at considerable intervals,
+during a period of nearly five years passed in Spain&mdash;in
+moments snatched from more important pursuits&mdash;chiefly in
+ventas and pos&aacute;das, whilst wandering through the country
+in the arduous and unthankful task of distributing the Gospel
+among its children.</p>
+<p>Owing to the causes above stated, he is aware that his work
+must not unfrequently appear somewhat disjointed and unconnected,
+and the style rude and unpolished: he has, nevertheless,
+permitted the tree to remain where he felled it, having, indeed,
+subsequently enjoyed too little leisure to make much effectual
+alteration.</p>
+<p>At the same time he flatters himself that the work is not
+destitute of certain qualifications to entitle it to
+approbation.&nbsp; The author&rsquo;s acquaintance with the Gypsy
+race in general dates from a <a name="pageviii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. viii</span>very early period of his life,
+which considerably facilitated his intercourse with the
+Peninsular portion, to the elucidation of whose history and
+character the present volumes are more particularly
+devoted.&nbsp; Whatever he has asserted, is less the result of
+reading than of close observation, he having long since come to
+the conclusion that the Gypsies are not a people to be studied in
+books, or at least in such books as he believes have hitherto
+been written concerning them.</p>
+<p>Throughout he has dealt more in facts than in theories, of
+which he is in general no friend.&nbsp; True it is, that no race
+in the world affords, in many points, a more extensive field for
+theory and conjecture than the Gypsies, who are certainly a very
+mysterious people come from some distant land, no mortal knows
+why, and who made their first appearance in Europe at a dark
+period, when events were not so accurately recorded as at the
+present time.</p>
+<p>But if he has avoided as much as possible touching upon
+subjects which must always, to a certain extent, remain shrouded
+in obscurity; for example, the original state and condition of
+the Gypsies, and the causes which first brought them into Europe;
+he has stated what they are at the present day, what he knows
+them to be from a close scrutiny of their ways and habits, for
+which, perhaps, no one ever enjoyed better opportunities; and he
+has, moreover, given&mdash;not a few words culled expressly for
+the purpose of supporting a <a name="pageix"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. ix</span>theory, but one entire dialect of
+their language, collected with much trouble and difficulty; and
+to this he humbly calls the attention of the learned, who, by
+comparing it with certain languages, may decide as to the
+countries in which the Gypsies have lived or travelled.</p>
+<p>With respect to the Gypsy rhymes in the second volume, he
+wishes to make one observation which cannot be too frequently
+repeated, and which he entreats the reader to bear in mind: they
+are <i>Gypsy compositions</i>, and have little merit save so far
+as they throw light on the manner of thinking and speaking of the
+Gypsy people, or rather a portion of them, and as to what they
+are capable of effecting in the way of poetry.&nbsp; It will,
+doubtless, be said that the rhymes are <i>trash</i>;&mdash;even
+were it so, they are original, and on that account, in a
+philosophic point of view, are more valuable than the most
+brilliant compositions pretending to describe Gypsy life, but
+written by persons who are not of the Gypsy sect.&nbsp; Such
+compositions, however replete with fiery sentiments, and
+allusions to freedom and independence, are certain to be tainted
+with affectation.&nbsp; Now in the Gypsy rhymes there is no
+affectation, and on that very account they are different in every
+respect from the poetry of those interesting personages who
+figure, under the names of Gypsies, Git&aacute;nos, Bohemians,
+etc., in novels and on the boards of the theatre.</p>
+<p>It will, perhaps, be objected to the present work, <a
+name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>that it
+contains little that is edifying in a moral or Christian point of
+view: to such an objection the author would reply, that the
+Gypsies are not a Christian people, and that their morality is of
+a peculiar kind, not calculated to afford much edification to
+what is generally termed the respectable portion of
+society.&nbsp; Should it be urged that certain individuals have
+found them very different from what they are represented in these
+volumes, he would frankly say that he yields no credit to the
+presumed fact, and at the same time he would refer to the
+vocabulary contained in the second volume, whence it will appear
+that the words <i>hoax</i> and <i>hocus</i> have been immediately
+derived from the language of the Gypsies, who, there is good
+reason to believe, first introduced the system into Europe, to
+which those words belong.</p>
+<p>The author entertains no ill-will towards the Gypsies; why
+should he, were he a mere carnal reasoner?&nbsp; He has known
+them for upwards of twenty years, in various countries, and they
+never injured a hair of his head, or deprived him of a shred of
+his raiment; but he is not deceived as to the motive of their
+forbearance: they thought him a <i>Rom</i>, and on this
+supposition they hurt him not, their love of &lsquo;the
+blood&rsquo; being their most distinguishing
+characteristic.&nbsp; He derived considerable assistance from
+them in Spain, as in various instances they officiated as
+colporteurs in the distribution of the Gospel: but on that
+account he is <a name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xi</span>not prepared to say that they entertained any love for
+the Gospel or that they circulated it for the honour of
+Tebl&eacute;que the Saviour.&nbsp; Whatever they did for the
+Gospel in Spain, was done in the hope that he whom they conceived
+to be their brother had some purpose in view which was to
+contribute to the profit of the Cal&eacute;s, or Gypsies, and to
+terminate in the confusion and plunder of the Busn&eacute;, or
+Gentiles.&nbsp; Convinced of this, he is too little of an
+enthusiast to rear, on such a foundation, any fantastic edifice
+of hope which would soon tumble to the ground.</p>
+<p>The cause of truth can scarcely be forwarded by enthusiasm,
+which is almost invariably the child of ignorance and
+error.&nbsp; The author is anxious to direct the attention of the
+public towards the Gypsies; but he hopes to be able to do so
+without any romantic appeals in their behalf, by concealing the
+truth, or by warping the truth until it becomes falsehood.&nbsp;
+In the following pages he has depicted the Gypsies as he has
+found them, neither aggravating their crimes nor gilding them
+with imaginary virtues.&nbsp; He has not expatiated on
+&lsquo;their gratitude towards good people, who treat them kindly
+and take an interest in their welfare&rsquo;; for he believes
+that of all beings in the world they are the least susceptible of
+such a feeling.&nbsp; Nor has he ever done them injustice by
+attributing to them licentious habits, from which they are,
+perhaps, more free than any race in the creation.</p>
+<h2><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xii</span>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION</h2>
+<p>I <span class="smcap">cannot</span> permit the second edition
+of this work to go to press without premising it with a few
+words.</p>
+<p>When some two years ago I first gave <i>The Zincali</i> to the
+world, it was, as I stated at the time, with considerable
+hesitation and diffidence: the composition of it and the
+collecting of Gypsy words had served as a kind of relaxation to
+me whilst engaged in the circulation of the Gospel in
+Spain.&nbsp; After the completion of the work, I had not the
+slightest idea that it possessed any peculiar merit, or was
+calculated to make the slightest impression upon the reading
+world.&nbsp; Nevertheless, as every one who writes feels a kind
+of affection, greater or less, for the productions of his pen, I
+was averse, since the book was written, to suffer it to perish of
+damp in a lumber closet, or by friction in my travelling
+wallet.&nbsp; I committed it therefore to the press, with a
+friendly &lsquo;Farewell, little book; I have done for you all I
+can, and much more than you deserve.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>My expectations at this time were widely different from those
+of my namesake George in the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i> when he
+published his paradoxes.&nbsp; I <a name="pagexiii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xiii</span>took it as a matter of course that
+the world, whether learned or unlearned, would say to my book
+what they said to his paradoxes, as the event
+showed,&mdash;nothing at all.&nbsp; To my utter astonishment,
+however, I had no sooner returned to my humble retreat, where I
+hoped to find the repose of which I was very much in need, than I
+was followed by the voice not only of England but of the greater
+part of Europe, informing me that I had achieved a feat&mdash;a
+work in the nineteenth century with some pretensions to
+originality.&nbsp; The book was speedily reprinted in America,
+portions of it were translated into French and Russian, and a
+fresh edition demanded.</p>
+<p>In the midst of all this there sounded upon my ears a voice
+which I recognised as that of the M&aelig;cenas of British
+literature: &lsquo;Borromeo, don&rsquo;t believe all you hear,
+nor think that you have accomplished anything so very
+extraordinary: a great portion of your book is very sorry trash
+indeed&mdash;Gypsy poetry, dry laws, and compilations from dull
+Spanish authors: it has good points, however, which show that you
+are capable of something much better: try your hand
+again&mdash;avoid your besetting sins; and when you have
+accomplished something which will really do credit to &mdash;
+Street, it will be time enough to think of another delivery of
+these <i>Gypsies</i>.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Mistos amande: &lsquo;I am content,&rsquo; I replied; and
+sitting down I commenced the <i>Bible in Spain</i>.&nbsp; At <a
+name="pagexiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xiv</span>first I
+proceeded slowly&mdash;sickness was in the land, and the face of
+nature was overcast&mdash;heavy rain-clouds swam in the
+heavens,&mdash;the blast howled amid the pines which nearly
+surround my lonely dwelling, and the waters of the lake which
+lies before it, so quiet in general and tranquil, were fearfully
+agitated.&nbsp; &lsquo;Bring lights hither, O Hayim Ben Attar,
+son of the miracle!&rsquo;&nbsp; And the Jew of Fez brought in
+the lights, for though it was midday I could scarcely see in the
+little room where I was writing. . . .</p>
+<p>A dreary summer and autumn passed by, and were succeeded by as
+gloomy a winter.&nbsp; I still proceeded with the <i>Bible in
+Spain</i>.&nbsp; The winter passed, and spring came with cold dry
+winds and occasional sunshine, whereupon I arose, shouted, and
+mounting my horse, even Sidi Habismilk, I scoured all the
+surrounding district, and thought but little of the <i>Bible in
+Spain</i>.</p>
+<p>So I rode about the country, over the heaths, and through the
+green lanes of my native land, occasionally visiting friends at a
+distance, and sometimes, for variety&rsquo;s sake, I stayed at
+home and amused myself by catching huge pike, which lie perdue in
+certain deep ponds skirted with lofty reeds, upon my land, and to
+which there is a communication from the lagoon by a deep and
+narrow watercourse.&mdash;I had almost forgotten the <i>Bible in
+Spain</i>.</p>
+<p>Then came the summer with much heat and <a
+name="pagexv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xv</span>sunshine, and
+then I would lie for hours in the sun and recall the sunny days I
+had spent in Andalusia, and my thoughts were continually
+reverting to Spain, and at last I remembered that the <i>Bible in
+Spain</i> was still unfinished; whereupon I arose and said:
+&lsquo;This loitering profiteth nothing&rsquo;&mdash;and I
+hastened to my summer-house by the side of the lake, and there I
+thought and wrote, and every day I repaired to the same place,
+and thought and wrote until I had finished the <i>Bible in
+Spain</i>.</p>
+<p>And at the proper season the <i>Bible in Spain</i> was given
+to the world; and the world, both learned and unlearned, was
+delighted with the <i>Bible in Spain</i>, and the highest
+authority <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1"
+class="citation">[1]</a> said, &lsquo;This is a much better book
+than the <i>Gypsies</i>&rsquo;; and the next great authority <a
+name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2"
+class="citation">[2]</a> said, &lsquo;something betwixt Le Sage
+and Bunyan.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;A far more entertaining work than
+<i>Don Quixote</i>,&rsquo; exclaimed a literary lady.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Another <i>Gil Blas</i>,&rsquo; said the cleverest writer
+in Europe. <a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3"
+class="citation">[3]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; exclaimed the
+cool sensible <i>Spectator</i>, <a name="citation4"></a><a
+href="#footnote4" class="citation">[4]</a> &lsquo;a <i>Gil
+Blas</i> in water-colours.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>And when I heard the last sentence, I laughed, and shouted,
+&lsquo;<i>Kosko pennese pal</i>!&rsquo; <a
+name="citation5"></a><a href="#footnote5"
+class="citation">[5]</a>&nbsp; It pleased me better than all the
+rest.&nbsp; Is there not a text in a certain old book which says:
+Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!&nbsp; Those
+are awful words, brothers; woe is me!</p>
+<p><a name="pagexvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xvi</span>&lsquo;Revenons &agrave; nos
+Boh&eacute;miens!&rsquo;&nbsp; Now the <i>Bible in Spain</i> is
+off my hands, I return to &lsquo;these <i>Gypsies</i>&rsquo;; and
+here you have, most kind, lenient, and courteous public, a fresh
+delivery of them.&nbsp; In the present edition, I have attended
+as much as possible to the suggestions of certain individuals,
+for whose opinion I cannot but entertain the highest
+respect.&nbsp; I have omitted various passages from Spanish
+authors, which the world has objected to as being quite out of
+place, and serving for no other purpose than to swell out the
+work.&nbsp; In lieu thereof, I have introduced some original
+matter relative to the Gypsies, which is, perhaps, more
+calculated to fling light over their peculiar habits than
+anything which has yet appeared.&nbsp; To remodel the work,
+however, I have neither time nor inclination, and must therefore
+again commend it, with all the imperfections which still cling to
+it, to the generosity of the public.</p>
+<p>A few words in conclusion.&nbsp; Since the publication of the
+first edition, I have received more than one letter, in which the
+writers complain that I, who seem to know so much of what has
+been written concerning the Gypsies, <a name="citation6"></a><a
+href="#footnote6" class="citation">[6]</a> should have taken no
+notice of a theory entertained by many, namely, that they are of
+Jewish origin, and that they are neither more nor less than the
+descendants of the <a name="pagexvii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xvii</span>two lost tribes of Israel.&nbsp;
+Now I am not going to enter into a discussion upon this point,
+for I know by experience, that the public cares nothing for
+discussions, however learned and edifying, but will take the
+present opportunity to relate a little adventure of mine, which
+bears not a little upon this matter.</p>
+<p>So it came to pass, that one day I was scampering over a
+heath, at some distance from my present home: I was mounted upon
+the good horse Sidi Habismilk, and the Jew of Fez, swifter than
+the wind, ran by the side of the good horse Habismilk, when what
+should I see at a corner of the heath but the encampment of
+certain friends of mine; and the chief of that camp, even Mr.
+Petulengro, stood before the encampment, and his adopted
+daughter, Miss Pinfold, stood beside him.</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Kosko divvus <a
+name="citation7"></a><a href="#footnote7"
+class="citation">[7]</a>, Mr. Petulengro!&nbsp; I am glad to see
+you: how are you getting on?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Mr. Petulengro</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;How am I getting on? as
+well as I can.&nbsp; What will you have for that nokengro <a
+name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8"
+class="citation">[8]</a>?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Thereupon I dismounted, and delivering the reins of the good
+horse to Miss Pinfold, I took the Jew of Fez, even Hayim Ben
+Attar, by the hand, and went up to Mr. Petulengro, exclaiming,
+&lsquo;Sure ye are two brothers.&rsquo;&nbsp; Anon the Gypsy
+passed his <a name="pagexviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xviii</span>hand over the Jew&rsquo;s face, and stared him in the
+eyes: then turning to me he said, &lsquo;We are not dui palor <a
+name="citation9"></a><a href="#footnote9"
+class="citation">[9]</a>; this man is no Roman; I believe him to
+be a Jew; he has the face of one; besides, if he were a Rom, even
+from Jericho, he could rokra a few words in Rommany.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Now the Gypsy had been in the habit of seeing German and
+English Jews, who must have been separated from their African
+brethren for a term of at least 1700 years; yet he recognised the
+Jew of Fez for what he was&mdash;a Jew, and without hesitation
+declared that he was &lsquo;no Roman.&rsquo;&nbsp; The Jews,
+therefore, and the Gypsies have each their peculiar and
+distinctive countenance, which, to say nothing of the difference
+of language, precludes the possibility of their having ever been
+the same people.</p>
+<p><i>March</i> 1, 1843.</p>
+<h2>NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION</h2>
+<p><span class="smcap">This</span> edition has been carefully
+revised by the author, and some few insertions have been
+made.&nbsp; In order, however, to give to the work a more popular
+character, the elaborate vocabulary of the Gypsy tongue, and
+other parts relating to the Gypsy language and literature, have
+been omitted.&nbsp; Those who take an interest in these subjects
+are referred to the larger edition in two vols. <a
+name="citation10"></a><a href="#footnote10"
+class="citation">[10]</a></p>
+<h2><a name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xix</span>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align:
+center"><b>INTRODUCTION</b></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>On the Gypsies in general&mdash;Name and
+Language&mdash;The Russian Gypsies&mdash;Gypsies at
+Moscow&mdash;Hungarian Gypsies&mdash;Wallachia and
+Moldavia&mdash;English Gypsies, or Rommany&mdash;Gypsy
+Fortune-tellers&mdash;Gypsy Jockeys&mdash;Gypsy
+Will&mdash;Thurtell&mdash;Gypsy Clans&mdash;Names of
+Families&mdash;Gypsy Law&mdash;Pazorrhus&mdash;The
+Patteran&mdash;Baptismal Papers&mdash;Gypsies of the
+East&mdash;Artifice of Timour&mdash;Bishop of Forli</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page1">1</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><b>THE
+ZINCALI</b></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><b>PART I</b></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Of the Spanish Gypsies in
+general&mdash;Names&mdash;Arrival&mdash;Egyptian
+Penitents&mdash;Peculiarities of Spain&mdash;Provinces which the
+Gypsies principally frequented</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Manner of Life&mdash;Predatory Habits&mdash;The
+Traveller&mdash;Jews and Gypsies&mdash;The Forge&mdash;The
+Sparks&mdash;Gypsy Counts&mdash;Martin del Rio&mdash;Facility in
+speaking Languages&mdash;Proverbs</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page48">48</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pagexx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xx</span>CHAPTER
+III</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Excesses of the Git&aacute;nos&mdash;The Bookseller of
+Logro&ntilde;o</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page61">61</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IV</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Gypsy Colonies in various Towns of Spain</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page71">71</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER V</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Cannibalism&mdash;The Forest&mdash;Anecdotes&mdash;Food of
+the Gypsies&mdash;Child-stealing&mdash;Connection of the
+Git&aacute;nos with the Moors of Barbary</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page76">76</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Barbary and its Tribes&mdash;Beni Aros&mdash;Sidi Hamed au
+Muza&mdash;The Children of the Dar-Bushi-Fal, a Sect of Thieves
+and Sorcerers, probably of Gypsy Origin</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+
+<td><p>Chiromancy&mdash;Torreblanca&mdash;Git&aacute;nas&mdash;The
+Git&aacute;na of Seville&mdash;La Buena Ventura&mdash;The
+Dance&mdash;The Song&mdash;Tricks of the Git&aacute;nas&mdash;The
+Widow&mdash;Occult Powers</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page98">98</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VIII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Evil Eye&mdash;Credulity of Eastern Nations on this
+subject&mdash;Remedies for the Evil Eye&mdash;The
+Talmud&mdash;Superstitions of the North</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page115">115</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IX</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Exodus of the Jews: that of the Gypsies&mdash;Indifference
+of the Git&aacute;nos with respect to
+Religion&mdash;Ezekiel&mdash;Tale of Egyptian
+Descent&mdash;Qui&ntilde;ones&mdash;Melchior of <a
+name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxi</span>Guelama&mdash;Religious Tolerance&mdash;The Inquisitor
+of Cordova&mdash;Git&aacute;nos and Moriscos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page122">122</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER X</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Expulsion of the Git&aacute;nos; a Discourse addressed
+by Dr. Sancho de Moncada to Philip the Third</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page137">137</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Various Laws issued against the Spanish Gypsies, from the
+time of Ferdinand and Isabella to the latter part of the
+Eighteenth Century, embracing a period of nearly Three Hundred
+Years</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page151">151</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Carlos Tercero&mdash;His Law respecting the
+Git&aacute;nos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page166">166</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><b>PART II</b></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Badajoz&mdash;The Gypsies&mdash;The Withered
+Arm&mdash;Gypsy Law&mdash;Trimming and
+Shearing&mdash;Metempsychosis&mdash;Paco and
+Antonio&mdash;Antonio and the Magyar&mdash;The
+Chai&mdash;Pharaoh&mdash;The Steeds of the Egyptians</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page177">177</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Madrid&mdash;Gypsy Women&mdash;Granada&mdash;Gypsy
+Smiths&mdash;Pepe
+Conde&mdash;Seville&mdash;Triana&mdash;Cordova&mdash;Horses&mdash;The
+Esquilador&mdash;Characteristic Epistle&mdash;Catalonia, etc.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page194">194</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxii</span>CHAPTER
+III</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>General Remarks on the Present State of the
+Git&aacute;nos&mdash;Inefficiency of the Old Laws&mdash;Prospects
+of the Git&aacute;nos&mdash;Partial Reformation&mdash;Decline of
+the Gypsy Sect&mdash;Fair of Leon&mdash;Love of Race&mdash;Gypsy
+executed&mdash;Numerical Decrease</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page207">207</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IV</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Illustrations of Gypsy Character&mdash;The Gypsy Innkeeper
+of Tarifa&mdash;The Gypsy Soldier of Valdepe&ntilde;as</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page221">221</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER V</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Various Points connected with the
+Git&aacute;nos&mdash;Dress&mdash;Physical
+Characteristics&mdash;The Gypsy Glance&mdash;Extracts from a
+Spanish work</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page243">243</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Certain Tricks and Practices of the Gypsy
+Females&mdash;The Bahi&mdash;Hokkano Baro&mdash;Ustilar
+Past&eacute;sas&mdash;Shoplifting&mdash;Drao&mdash;The
+Loadstone&mdash;The Root of the Good Baron</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page252">252</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Marriage Festival&mdash;Eastern Jews&mdash;Their
+Weddings</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page266">266</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VIII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Attempts made to enlighten the Git&aacute;nos&mdash;The
+Inward Monitor&mdash;The One-eyed Git&aacute;na&mdash;P&eacute;pa
+and Chichar&oacute;na&mdash;The Gypsy Congregation</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page274">274</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pagexxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxiii</span><b>PART
+III</b></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Poetry of the Git&aacute;nos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page287">287</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Spurious Gypsy Poetry of Andalusia</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page298">298</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Brijindope.&mdash;The Deluge</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page304">304</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Pestilence</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page310">310</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>On the Language of the Git&aacute;nos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page313">313</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Robber Language</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page335">335</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Term &lsquo;Busno&rsquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page354">354</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Specimens of Gypsy Dialects</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page357">357</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Vocabulary of their Language</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page365">365</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">APPENDIX</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Miscellanies in the Git&aacute;no Language</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page415">415</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The English Dialect of the Rommany</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page428">428</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2><a name="pagexxiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxiv</span>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Gypsy&rsquo;s Marriage Dance (<i>photogravure</i>)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Frontispiece</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Rearguard of the Marching Gypsies</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>To face page</i> <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Travellers attacked by the Git&aacute;nos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page52">52</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>A Song of Egypt</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image108">108</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Gypsy Smith of Granada</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image196">196</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image198">198</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Roasting Chestnuts by the side of the Guadalquiver</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image200">200</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>A Gypsy Family</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a
+href="#image222">222</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>THE
+GYPSIES</h2>
+<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Throughout</span> my life the Gypsy race
+has always had a peculiar interest for me.&nbsp; Indeed I can
+remember no period when the mere mention of the name of Gypsy did
+not awaken within me feelings hard to be described.&nbsp; I
+cannot account for this&mdash;I merely state a fact.</p>
+<p>Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance,
+have accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at
+present animates my body has at some former period tenanted that
+of one of their people; for many among them are believers in
+metempsychosis, and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that
+their souls, by passing through an infinite number of bodies,
+attain at length sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of
+perfect rest and quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they
+can form.</p>
+<p>Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of
+intimacy with these people, I have come to the following
+conclusions respecting them: that wherever they are found, their
+manners and customs are virtually the same, though somewhat
+modified by circumstances, and that the language they speak
+amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly anxious to
+keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one and the same,
+but has been subjected more or less to modification; and lastly,
+that their countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but
+are darker or fairer according to the temperature of the climate,
+but invariably darker, at least in Europe, than those of the
+natives of the countries in which they dwell, for example,
+England and Russia, Germany and Spain.</p>
+<p>The names by which they are known differ with the country,
+though, with one or two exceptions, not materially for example,
+they are styled in Russia, Zig&aacute;ni; in Turkey and Persia,
+Zingarri; and in Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently
+spring from the same etymon, which there is no improbability in
+supposing to be &lsquo;Zincali,&rsquo; a term by which these
+people, especially those of Spain, sometimes designate
+themselves, and the meaning of which is believed to be, <i>The
+black men of Zend or Ind</i>.&nbsp; In England and Spain they are
+commonly known as Gypsies and Git&aacute;nos, from a general
+belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two
+words are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the
+circumstance that Bohemia was one of the first countries in
+civilised Europe where they made their appearance.</p>
+<p>But they generally style themselves and the language which
+they speak, Rommany.&nbsp; This word, of which I shall ultimately
+have more to say, is of Sanscrit origin, and signifies, The
+Husbands, or that which pertaineth unto them.&nbsp; From whatever
+motive this appellation may have originated, it is perhaps more
+applicable than any other to a sect or caste like them, who have
+no love and no affection beyond their own race; who are capable
+of making great sacrifices for each other, and who gladly prey
+upon all the rest of the human species, whom they detest, and by
+whom they are hated and despised.&nbsp; It will perhaps not be
+out of place to observe here, that there is no reason for
+supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is derived from the
+Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some people
+not much acquainted with the language of the race in question
+have imagined.</p>
+<p>I have no intention at present to say anything about their
+origin.&nbsp; Scholars have asserted that the language which they
+speak proves them to be of Indian stock, and undoubtedly a great
+number of their words are Sanscrit.&nbsp; My own opinion upon
+this subject will be found in a subsequent article.&nbsp; I shall
+here content myself with observing that from whatever country
+they come, whether from India or Egypt, there can be no doubt
+that they are human beings and have immortal souls; and it is in
+the humble hope of drawing the attention of the Christian
+philanthropist towards them, especially that degraded and unhappy
+portion of them, the Git&aacute;nos of Spain, that the present
+little work has been undertaken.&nbsp; But before proceeding to
+speak of the latter, it will perhaps not be amiss to afford some
+account of the Rommany as I have seen them in other countries;
+for there is scarcely a part of the habitable world where they
+are not to be found: their tents are alike pitched on the heaths
+of Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and their
+language is heard at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of London
+and Stamboul.</p>
+<h3>THE ZIG&Aacute;NI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES</h3>
+<p>They are found in all parts of Russia, with the exception of
+the government of St. Petersburg, from which they have been
+banished.&nbsp; In most of the provincial towns they are to be
+found in a state of half-civilisation, supporting themselves by
+trafficking in horses, or by curing the disorders incidental to
+those animals; but the vast majority reject this manner of life,
+and traverse the country in bands, like the ancient Hamaxobioi;
+the immense grassy plains of Russia affording pasturage for their
+herds of cattle, on which, and the produce of the chase, they
+chiefly depend for subsistence.&nbsp; They are, however, not
+destitute of money, which they obtain by various means, but
+principally by curing diseases amongst the cattle of the
+muj&iacute;ks or peasantry, and by telling fortunes, and not
+unfrequently by theft and brigandage.</p>
+<p>Their power of resisting cold is truly wonderful, as it is not
+uncommon to find them encamped in the midst of the snow, in
+slight canvas tents, when the temperature is twenty-five or
+thirty degrees below the freezing-point according to
+R&eacute;aumur; but in the winter they generally seek the shelter
+of the forests, which afford fuel for their fires, and abound in
+game.</p>
+<p>The race of the Rommany is by nature perhaps the most
+beautiful in the world; and amongst the children of the Russian
+Zig&aacute;ni are frequently to be found countenances to do
+justice to which would require the pencil of a second Murillo;
+but exposure to the rays of the burning sun, the biting of the
+frost, and the pelting of the pitiless sleet and snow, destroys
+their beauty at a very early age; and if in infancy their
+personal advantages are remarkable, their ugliness at an advanced
+age is no less so, for then it is loathsome, and even
+appalling.</p>
+<p>A hundred years, could I live so long, would not efface from
+my mind the appearance of an aged Ziganskie Attaman, or Captain
+of Zig&aacute;ni, and his grandson, who approached me on the
+meadow before Novo Gorod, where stood the encampment of a
+numerous horde.&nbsp; The boy was of a form and face which might
+have entitled him to represent Astyanax, and Hector of Troy might
+have pressed him to his bosom, and called him his pride; but the
+old man was, perhaps, such a shape as Milton has alluded to, but
+could only describe as execrable&mdash;he wanted but the dart and
+kingly crown to have represented the monster who opposed the
+progress of Lucifer, whilst careering in burning arms and
+infernal glory to the outlet of his hellish prison.</p>
+<p>But in speaking of the Russian Gypsies, those of Moscow must
+not be passed over in silence.&nbsp; The station to which they
+have attained in society in that most remarkable of cities is so
+far above the sphere in which the remainder of their race pass
+their lives, that it may be considered as a phenomenon in Gypsy
+history, and on that account is entitled to particular
+notice.</p>
+<p>Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gypsy as a
+wandering outcast, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a
+settled and civilised life, or&mdash;if abandoning vagabond
+propensities, and becoming stationary&mdash;as one who never
+ascends higher than the condition of a low trafficker, will be
+surprised to learn, that amongst the Gypsies of Moscow there are
+not a few who inhabit stately houses, go abroad in elegant
+equipages, and are behind the higher orders of the Russians
+neither in appearance nor mental acquirements.&nbsp; To the power
+of song alone this phenomenon is to be attributed.&nbsp; From
+time immemorial the female Gypsies of Moscow have been much
+addicted to the vocal art, and bands or quires of them have sung
+for pay in the halls of the nobility or upon the boards of the
+theatre.&nbsp; Some first-rate songsters have been produced among
+them, whose merits have been acknowledged, not only by the
+Russian public, but by the most fastidious foreign critics.&nbsp;
+Perhaps the highest compliment ever paid to a songster was paid
+by Catalani herself to one of these daughters of Roma.&nbsp; It
+is well known throughout Russia that the celebrated Italian was
+so enchanted with the voice of a Moscow Gypsy (who, after the
+former had displayed her noble talent before a splendid audience
+in the old Russian capital, stepped forward and poured forth one
+of her national strains), that she tore from her own shoulders a
+shawl of cashmire, which had been presented to her by the Pope,
+and, embracing the Gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the
+splendid gift, saying, that it had been intended for the
+matchless songster, which she now perceived she herself was
+not.</p>
+<p>The sums obtained by many of these females by the exercise of
+their art enable them to support their relatives in affluence and
+luxury: some are married to Russians, and no one who has visited
+Russia can but be aware that a lovely and accomplished countess,
+of the noble and numerous family of Tolstoy, is by birth a
+Zig&aacute;na, and was originally one of the principal
+attractions of a Rommany choir at Moscow.</p>
+<p>But it is not to be supposed that the whole of the Gypsy
+females at Moscow are of this high and talented description; the
+majority of them are of far lower quality, and obtain their
+livelihood by singing and dancing at taverns, whilst their
+husbands in general follow the occupation of horse-dealing.</p>
+<p>Their favourite place of resort in the summer time is Marina
+Rotze, a species of sylvan garden about two versts from Moscow,
+and thither, tempted by curiosity, I drove one fine
+evening.&nbsp; On my arrival the Zig&aacute;nas came flocking out
+from their little tents, and from the tractir or inn which has
+been erected for the accommodation of the public.&nbsp; Standing
+on the seat of the calash, I addressed them in a loud voice in
+the English dialect of the Rommany, of which I have some
+knowledge.&nbsp; A shrill scream of wonder was instantly raised,
+and welcomes and blessings were poured forth in floods of musical
+Rommany, above all of which predominated the cry of <i>Kak
+camenna tute prala</i>&mdash;or, How we love you,
+brother!&mdash;for at first they mistook me for one of their
+wandering brethren from the distant lands, come over the great
+panee or ocean to visit them.</p>
+<p>After some conversation they commenced singing, and favoured
+me with many songs, both in Russian and Rommany: the former were
+modern popular pieces, such as are accustomed to be sung on the
+boards of the theatre; but the latter were evidently of great
+antiquity, exhibiting the strongest marks of originality, the
+metaphors bold and sublime, and the metre differing from anything
+of the kind which it has been my fortune to observe in Oriental
+or European prosody.</p>
+<p>One of the most remarkable, and which commences thus:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Za mateia rosherroro odolata<br />
+Bravintata,&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>(or, Her head is aching with grief, as if she had tasted wine)
+describes the anguish of a maiden separated from her lover, and
+who calls for her steed:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Tedjav manga gurraoro&rsquo;&mdash;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>that she may depart in quest of the lord of her bosom, and
+share his joys and pleasures.</p>
+<p>A collection of these songs, with a translation and
+vocabulary, would be no slight accession to literature, and would
+probably throw more light on the history of this race than
+anything which has yet appeared; and, as there is no want of zeal
+and talent in Russia amongst the cultivators of every branch of
+literature, and especially philology, it is only surprising that
+such a collection still remains a desideratum.</p>
+<p>The religion which these singular females externally professed
+was the Greek, and they mostly wore crosses of copper or gold;
+but when I questioned them on this subject in their native
+language, they laughed, and said it was only to please the
+Russians.&nbsp; Their names for God and his adversary are Deval
+and Bengel, which differ little from the Spanish Un-debel and
+Bengi, which signify the same.&nbsp; I will now say something
+of</p>
+<h3>THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIG&Aacute;NY</h3>
+<p>Hungary, though a country not a tenth part so extensive as the
+huge colossus of the Russian empire, whose tzar reigns over a
+hundred lands, contains perhaps as many Gypsies, it not being
+uncommon to find whole villages inhabited by this race; they
+likewise abound in the suburbs of the towns.&nbsp; In Hungary the
+feudal system still exists in all its pristine barbarity; in no
+country does the hard hand of this oppression bear so heavy upon
+the lower classes&mdash;not even in Russia.&nbsp; The peasants of
+Russia are serfs, it is true, but their condition is enviable
+compared with that of the same class in the other country; they
+have certain rights and privileges, and are, upon the whole,
+happy and contented, whilst the Hungarians are ground to
+powder.&nbsp; Two classes are free in Hungary to do almost what
+they please&mdash;the nobility and&mdash;the Gypsies; the former
+are above the law&mdash;the latter below it: a toll is wrung from
+the hands of the hard-working labourers, that most meritorious
+class, in passing over a bridge, for example at Pesth, which is
+not demanded from a well-dressed person&mdash;nor from the
+Czig&aacute;ny, who have frequently no dress at all&mdash;and
+whose insouciance stands in striking contrast with the trembling
+submission of the peasants.&nbsp; The Gypsy, wherever you find
+him, is an incomprehensible being, but nowhere more than in
+Hungary, where, in the midst of slavery, he is free, though
+apparently one step lower than the lowest slave.&nbsp; The habits
+of the Hungarian Gypsies are abominable; their hovels appear
+sinks of the vilest poverty and filth, their dress is at best
+rags, their food frequently the vilest carrion, and occasionally,
+if report be true, still worse&mdash;on which point, when
+speaking of the Spanish Git&aacute;nos, we shall have
+subsequently more to say: thus they live in filth, in rags, in
+nakedness, and in merriness of heart, for nowhere is there more
+of song and dance than in an Hungarian Gypsy village.&nbsp; They
+are very fond of music, and some of them are heard to touch the
+violin in a manner wild, but of peculiar excellence.&nbsp;
+Parties of them have been known to exhibit even at Paris.</p>
+<p>In Hungary, as in all parts, they are addicted to
+horse-dealing; they are likewise tinkers, and smiths in a small
+way.&nbsp; The women are fortune-tellers, of course&mdash;both
+sexes thieves of the first water.&nbsp; They roam where they
+list&mdash;in a country where all other people are held under
+strict surveillance, no one seems to care about these
+Parias.&nbsp; The most remarkable feature, however, connected
+with the habits of the Czig&aacute;ny, consists in their foreign
+excursions, having plunder in view, which frequently endure for
+three or four years, when, if no mischance has befallen them,
+they return to their native land&mdash;rich; where they squander
+the proceeds of their dexterity in mad festivals.&nbsp; They
+wander in bands of twelve and fourteen through France, even to
+Rome.&nbsp; Once, during my own wanderings in Italy, I rested at
+nightfall by the side of a kiln, the air being piercingly cold;
+it was about four leagues from Genoa.&nbsp; Presently arrived
+three individuals to take advantage of the warmth&mdash;a man, a
+woman, and a lad.&nbsp; They soon began to discourse&mdash;and I
+found that they were Hungarian Gypsies; they spoke of what they
+had been doing, and what they had amassed&mdash;I think they
+mentioned nine hundred crowns.&nbsp; They had companions in the
+neighbourhood, some of whom they were expecting; they took no
+notice of me, and conversed in their own dialect; I did not
+approve of their propinquity, and rising, hastened away.</p>
+<p>When Napoleon invaded Spain there were not a few Hungarian
+Gypsies in his armies; some strange encounters occurred on the
+field of battle between these people and the Spanish
+Git&aacute;nos, one of which is related in the second part of the
+present work.&nbsp; When quartered in the Spanish towns, the
+Czig&aacute;ny invariably sought out their peninsular brethren,
+to whom they revealed themselves, kissing and embracing most
+affectionately; the Git&aacute;nos were astonished at the
+proficiency of the strangers in thievish arts, and looked upon
+them almost in the light of superior beings: &lsquo;They knew the
+whole reckoning,&rsquo; is still a common expression amongst
+them.&nbsp; There was a Czig&aacute;nian soldier for some time at
+Cordoba, of whom the Git&aacute;nos of the place still frequently
+discourse, whilst smoking their cigars during winter nights over
+their bras&eacute;ros.</p>
+<p>The Hungarian Gypsies have a peculiar accent when speaking the
+language of the country, by which they can be instantly
+distinguished; the same thing is applicable to the Git&aacute;nos
+of Spain when speaking Spanish.&nbsp; In no part of the world is
+the Gypsy language preserved better than in Hungary.</p>
+<p>The following short prayer to the Virgin, which I have
+frequently heard amongst the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania,
+will serve as a specimen of their language:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>Gula Devla, da me saschipo.&nbsp; Swuntuna Devla,
+da me bacht t&rsquo; aldaschis cari me jav; te ferin man, Devla,
+sila ta niapaschiata, chungal&eacute; manuschendar, ke me jav
+and&eacute; drom ca hin man traba; ferin man, Devia; ma mek man
+Devla, ke manga man tre Devies-key.</p>
+<p>Sweet Goddess, give me health.&nbsp; Holy Goddess, give me
+luck and grace wherever I go; and help me, Goddess, powerful and
+immaculate, from ugly men, that I may go in the road to the place
+I purpose: help me, Goddess; forsake me not, Goddess, for I pray
+for God&rsquo;s sake.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h3>WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA</h3>
+<p>In Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the eastern-most regions of
+Europe, are to be found seven millions of people calling
+themselves Roumouni, and speaking a dialect of the Latin tongue
+much corrupted by barbarous terms, so called.&nbsp; They are
+supposed to be in part descendants of Roman soldiers, Rome in the
+days of her grandeur having established immense military colonies
+in these parts.&nbsp; In the midst of these people exist vast
+numbers of Gypsies, amounting, I am disposed to think, to at
+least two hundred thousand.&nbsp; The land of the Roumouni,
+indeed, seems to have been the hive from which the West of Europe
+derived the Gypsy part of its population.&nbsp; Far be it from me
+to say that the Gypsies sprang originally from
+Roumouni-land.&nbsp; All I mean is, that it was their grand
+resting-place after crossing the Danube.&nbsp; They entered
+Roumouni-land from Bulgaria, crossing the great river, and from
+thence some went to the north-east, overrunning Russia, others to
+the west of Europe, as far as Spain and England.&nbsp; That the
+early Gypsies of the West, and also those of Russia, came from
+Roumouni-land, is easily proved, as in all the western Gypsy
+dialects, and also in the Russian, are to be found words
+belonging to the Roumouni speech; for example, primavera, spring;
+cheros, heaven; chorab, stocking; chismey,
+boots;&mdash;Roum&mdash;primivari, cherul, chorapul,
+chism&eacute;.&nbsp; One might almost be tempted to suppose that
+the term Rommany, by which the Gypsies of Russia and the West
+call themselves, was derived from Roumouni, were it not for one
+fact, which is, that Romanus in the Latin tongue merely means a
+native of Rome, whilst the specific meaning of Rome still remains
+in the dark; whereas in Gypsy Rom means a husband, Rommany the
+sect of the husbands; Romanesti if married.&nbsp; Whether both
+words were derived originally from the same source, as I believe
+some people have supposed, is a question which, with my present
+lights, I cannot pretend to determine.</p>
+<h3>THE ENGLISH GYPSIES</h3>
+<p>No country appears less adapted for that wandering life, which
+seems so natural to these people, than England.&nbsp; Those
+wildernesses and forests, which they are so attached to, are not
+to be found there; every inch of land is cultivated, and its
+produce watched with a jealous eye; and as the laws against
+trampers, without the visible means of supporting themselves, are
+exceedingly severe, the possibility of the Gypsies existing as a
+distinct race, and retaining their original free and independent
+habits, might naturally be called in question by those who had
+not satisfactorily verified the fact.&nbsp; Yet it is a truth
+that, amidst all these seeming disadvantages, they not only exist
+there, but in no part of the world is their life more in
+accordance with the general idea that the Gypsy is like Cain, a
+wanderer of the earth; for in England the covered cart and the
+little tent are the houses of the Gypsy, and he seldom remains
+more than three days in the same place.</p>
+<p>At present they are considered in some degree as a privileged
+people; for, though their way of life is unlawful, it is connived
+at; the law of England having discovered by experience, that its
+utmost fury is inefficient to reclaim them from their inveterate
+habits.</p>
+<p>Shortly after their first arrival in England, which is upwards
+of three centuries since, a dreadful persecution was raised
+against them, the aim of which was their utter extermination; the
+being a Gypsy was esteemed a crime worthy of death, and the
+gibbets of England groaned and creaked beneath the weight of
+Gypsy carcases, and the miserable survivors were literally
+obliged to creep into the earth in order to preserve their
+lives.&nbsp; But these days passed by; their persecutors became
+weary of pursuing them; they showed their heads from the holes
+and caves where they had hidden themselves, they ventured forth,
+increased in numbers, and, each tribe or family choosing a
+particular circuit, they fairly divided the land amongst
+them.</p>
+<p>In England, the male Gypsies are all dealers in horses, and
+sometimes employ their idle time in mending the tin and copper
+utensils of the peasantry; the females tell fortunes.&nbsp; They
+generally pitch their tents in the vicinity of a village or small
+town by the road side, under the shelter of the hedges and
+trees.&nbsp; The climate of England is well known to be
+favourable to beauty, and in no part of the world is the
+appearance of the Gypsies so prepossessing as in that country;
+their complexion is dark, but not disagreeably so; their faces
+are oval, their features regular, their foreheads rather low, and
+their hands and feet small.&nbsp; The men are taller than the
+English peasantry, and far more active.&nbsp; They all speak the
+English language with fluency, and in their gait and demeanour
+are easy and graceful; in both points standing in striking
+contrast with the peasantry, who in speech are slow and uncouth,
+and in manner dogged and brutal.</p>
+<p>The dialect of the Rommany, which they speak, though mixed
+with English words, may be considered as tolerably pure, from the
+fact that it is intelligible to the Gypsy race in the heart of
+Russia.&nbsp; Whatever crimes they may commit, their vices are
+few, for the men are not drunkards, nor are the women harlots;
+there are no two characters which they hold in so much
+abhorrence, nor do any words when applied by them convey so much
+execration as these two.</p>
+<p>The crimes of which these people were originally accused were
+various, but the principal were theft, sorcery, and causing
+disease among the cattle; and there is every reason for supposing
+that in none of these points they were altogether guiltless.</p>
+<p>With respect to sorcery, a thing in itself impossible, not
+only the English Gypsies, but the whole race, have ever professed
+it; therefore, whatever misery they may have suffered on that
+account, they may be considered as having called it down upon
+their own heads.</p>
+<p>Dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of the
+female Gypsy.&nbsp; She affects to tell the future, and to
+prepare philtres by means of which love can be awakened in any
+individual towards any particular object; and such is the
+credulity of the human race, even in the most enlightened
+countries, that the profits arising from these practices are
+great.&nbsp; The following is a case in point: two females,
+neighbours and friends, were tried some years since, in England,
+for the murder of their husbands.&nbsp; It appeared that they
+were in love with the same individual, and had conjointly, at
+various times, paid sums of money to a Gypsy woman to work charms
+to captivate his affections.&nbsp; Whatever little effect the
+charms might produce, they were successful in their principal
+object, for the person in question carried on for some time a
+criminal intercourse with both.&nbsp; The matter came to the
+knowledge of the husbands, who, taking means to break off this
+connection, were respectively poisoned by their wives.&nbsp; Till
+the moment of conviction these wretched females betrayed neither
+emotion nor fear, but then their consternation was indescribable;
+and they afterwards confessed that the Gypsy, who had visited
+them in prison, had promised to shield them from conviction by
+means of her art.&nbsp; It is therefore not surprising that in
+the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when a belief in sorcery
+was supported by the laws of all Europe, these people were
+regarded as practisers of sorcery, and punished as such, when,
+even in the nineteenth, they still find people weak enough to
+place confidence in their claims to supernatural power.</p>
+<p>The accusation of producing disease and death amongst the
+cattle was far from groundless.&nbsp; Indeed, however strange and
+incredible it may sound in the present day to those who are
+unacquainted with this caste, and the peculiar habits of the
+Rommanees, the practice is still occasionally pursued in England
+and many other countries where they are found.&nbsp; From this
+practice, when they are not detected, they derive considerable
+advantage.&nbsp; Poisoning cattle is exercised by them in two
+ways: by one, they merely cause disease in the animals, with the
+view of receiving money for curing them upon offering their
+services; the poison is generally administered by powders cast at
+night into the mangers of the animals: this way is only practised
+upon the larger cattle, such as horses and cows.&nbsp; By the
+other, which they practise chiefly on swine, speedy death is
+almost invariably produced, the drug administered being of a
+highly intoxicating nature, and affecting the brain.&nbsp; They
+then apply at the house or farm where the disaster has occurred
+for the carcase of the animal, which is generally given them
+without suspicion, and then they feast on the flesh, which is not
+injured by the poison, which only affects the head.</p>
+<p>The English Gypsies are constant attendants at the racecourse;
+what jockey is not?&nbsp; Perhaps jockeyism originated with them,
+and even racing, at least in England.&nbsp; Jockeyism properly
+implies <i>the management of a whip</i>, and the word jockey is
+neither more nor less than the term slightly modified, by which
+they designate the formidable whips which they usually carry, and
+which are at present in general use amongst horse-traffickers,
+under the title of jockey whips.&nbsp; They are likewise fond of
+resorting to the prize-ring, and have occasionally even attained
+some eminence, as principals, in those disgraceful and
+brutalising exhibitions called pugilistic combats.&nbsp; I
+believe a great deal has been written on the subject of the
+English Gypsies, but the writers have dwelt too much in
+generalities; they have been afraid to take the Gypsy by the
+hand, lead him forth from the crowd, and exhibit him in the area;
+he is well worth observing.&nbsp; When a boy of fourteen, I was
+present at a prize-fight; why should I hide the truth?&nbsp; It
+took place on a green meadow, beside a running stream, close by
+the old church of E-, and within a league of the ancient town of
+N-, the capital of one of the eastern counties.&nbsp; The
+terrible Thurtell was present, lord of the concourse; for
+wherever he moved he was master, and whenever he spoke, even when
+in chains, every other voice was silent.&nbsp; He stood on the
+mead, grim and pale as usual, with his bruisers around.&nbsp; He
+it was, indeed, who <i>got up</i> the fight, as he had previously
+done twenty others; it being his frequent boast that he had first
+introduced bruising and bloodshed amidst rural scenes, and
+transformed a quiet slumbering town into a den of Jews and
+metropolitan thieves.&nbsp; Some time before the commencement of
+the combat, three men, mounted on wild-looking horses, came
+dashing down the road in the direction of the meadow, in the
+midst of which they presently showed themselves, their horses
+clearing the deep ditches with wonderful alacrity.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;That&rsquo;s Gypsy Will and his gang,&rsquo; lisped a
+Hebrew pickpocket; &lsquo;we shall have another
+fight.&rsquo;&nbsp; The word Gypsy was always sufficient to
+excite my curiosity, and I looked attentively at the
+newcomers.</p>
+<p>I have seen Gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and
+Turkish; and I have also seen the legitimate children of most
+countries of the world; but I never saw, upon the whole, three
+more remarkable individuals, as far as personal appearance was
+concerned, than the three English Gypsies who now presented
+themselves to my eyes on that spot.&nbsp; Two of them had
+dismounted, and were holding their horses by the reins.&nbsp; The
+tallest, and, at the first glance, the most interesting of the
+two, was almost a giant, for his height could not have been less
+than six feet three.&nbsp; It is impossible for the imagination
+to conceive anything more perfectly beautiful than were the
+features of this man, and the most skilful sculptor of Greece
+might have taken them as his model for a hero and a god.&nbsp;
+The forehead was exceedingly lofty,&mdash;a rare thing in a
+Gypsy; the nose less Roman than Grecian,&mdash;fine yet delicate;
+the eyes large, overhung with long drooping lashes, giving them
+almost a melancholy expression; it was only when the lashes were
+elevated that the Gypsy glance was seen, if that can be called a
+glance which is a strange stare, like nothing else in this
+world.&nbsp; His complexion was a beautiful olive; and his teeth
+were of a brilliancy uncommon even amongst these people, who have
+all fine teeth.&nbsp; He was dressed in a coarse waggoner&rsquo;s
+slop, which, however, was unable to conceal altogether the
+proportions of his noble and Herculean figure.&nbsp; He might be
+about twenty-eight.&nbsp; His companion and his captain, Gypsy
+Will, was, I think, fifty when he was hanged, ten years
+subsequently (for I never afterwards lost sight of him), in the
+front of the jail of Bury St. Edmunds.&nbsp; I have still present
+before me his bushy black hair, his black face, and his big black
+eyes fixed and staring.&nbsp; His dress consisted of a loose blue
+jockey coat, jockey boots and breeches; in his hand was a huge
+jockey whip, and on his head (it struck me at the time for its
+singularity) a broad-brimmed, high-peaked Andalusian hat, or at
+least one very much resembling those generally worn in that
+province.&nbsp; In stature he was shorter than his more youthful
+companion, yet he must have measured six feet at least, and was
+stronger built, if possible.&nbsp; What brawn!&mdash;what
+bone!&mdash;what legs!&mdash;what thighs!&nbsp; The third Gypsy,
+who remained on horseback, looked more like a phantom than any
+thing human.&nbsp; His complexion was the colour of pale dust,
+and of that same colour was all that pertained to him, hat and
+clothes.&nbsp; His boots were dusty of course, for it was
+midsummer, and his very horse was of a dusty dun.&nbsp; His
+features were whimsically ugly, most of his teeth were gone, and
+as to his age, he might be thirty or sixty.&nbsp; He was somewhat
+lame and halt, but an unequalled rider when once upon his steed,
+which he was naturally not very solicitous to quit.&nbsp; I
+subsequently discovered that he was considered the wizard of the
+gang.</p>
+<p>I have been already prolix with respect to these Gypsies, but
+I will not leave them quite yet.&nbsp; The intended combatants at
+length arrived; it was necessary to clear the ring,&mdash;always
+a troublesome and difficult task.&nbsp; Thurtell went up to the
+two Gypsies, with whom he seemed to be acquainted, and with his
+surly smile, said two or three words, which I, who was standing
+by, did not understand.&nbsp; The Gypsies smiled in return, and
+giving the reins of their animals to their mounted companion,
+immediately set about the task which the king of the flash-men
+had, as I conjecture, imposed upon them; this they soon
+accomplished.&nbsp; Who could stand against such fellows and such
+whips?&nbsp; The fight was soon over&mdash;then there was a
+pause.&nbsp; Once more Thurtell came up to the Gypsies and said
+something&mdash;the Gypsies looked at each other and conversed;
+but their words then had no meaning for my ears.&nbsp; The tall
+Gypsy shook his head&mdash;&lsquo;Very well,&rsquo; said the
+other, in English.&nbsp; &lsquo;I will&mdash;that&rsquo;s
+all.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Then pushing the people aside, he strode to the ropes, over
+which he bounded into the ring, flinging his Spanish hat high
+into the air.</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Will</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;The best man in England for
+twenty pounds!&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Thurtell</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am backer!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Twenty pounds is a tempting sum, and there men that day upon
+the green meadow who would have shed the blood of their own
+fathers for the fifth of the price.&nbsp; But the Gypsy was not
+an unknown man, his prowess and strength were notorious, and no
+one cared to encounter him.&nbsp; Some of the Jews looked eager
+for a moment; but their sharp eyes quailed quickly before his
+savage glances, as he towered in the ring, his huge form
+dilating, and his black features convulsed with excitement.&nbsp;
+The Westminster bravoes eyed the Gypsy askance; but the
+comparison, if they made any, seemed by no means favourable to
+themselves.&nbsp; &lsquo;Gypsy! rum chap.&mdash;Ugly
+customer,&mdash;always in training.&rsquo;&nbsp; Such were the
+exclamations which I heard, some of which at that period of my
+life I did not understand.</p>
+<p>No man would fight the Gypsy.&mdash;Yes! a strong country
+fellow wished to win the stakes, and was about to fling up his
+hat in defiance, but he was prevented by his friends,
+with&mdash;&lsquo;Fool! he&rsquo;ll kill you!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>As the Gypsies were mounting their horses, I heard the dusty
+phantom exclaim&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Brother, you are an arrant ring-maker and a
+horse-breaker; you&rsquo;ll make a hempen ring to break your own
+neck of a horse one of these days.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>They pressed their horses&rsquo; flanks, again leaped over the
+ditches, and speedily vanished, amidst the whirlwinds of dust
+which they raised upon the road.</p>
+<p>The words of the phantom Gypsy were ominous.&nbsp; Gypsy Will
+was eventually executed for a murder committed in his early
+youth, in company with two English labourers, one of whom
+confessed the fact on his death-bed.&nbsp; He was the head of the
+clan Young, which, with the clan Smith, still haunts two of the
+eastern counties.</p>
+<h3>SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES</h3>
+<p>It is difficult to say at what period the Gypsies or Rommany
+made their first appearance in England.&nbsp; They had become,
+however, such a nuisance in the time of Henry the Eighth, Philip
+and Mary, and Elizabeth, that Gypsyism was denounced by various
+royal statutes, and, if persisted in, was to be punished as
+felony without benefit of clergy; it is probable, however, that
+they had overrun England long before the period of the earliest
+of these monarchs.&nbsp; The Gypsies penetrate into all
+countries, save poor ones, and it is hardly to be supposed that a
+few leagues of intervening salt water would have kept a race so
+enterprising any considerable length of time, after their arrival
+on the continent of Europe, from obtaining a footing in the
+fairest and richest country of the West.</p>
+<p>It is easy enough to conceive the manner in which the Gypsies
+lived in England for a long time subsequent to their arrival:
+doubtless in a half-savage state, wandering about from place to
+place, encamping on the uninhabited spots, of which there were
+then so many in England, feared and hated by the population, who
+looked upon them as thieves and foreign sorcerers, occasionally
+committing acts of brigandage, but depending chiefly for
+subsistence on the practice of the &lsquo;arts of Egypt,&rsquo;
+in which cunning and dexterity were far more necessary than
+courage or strength of hand.</p>
+<p>It would appear that they were always divided into clans or
+tribes, each bearing a particular name, and to which a particular
+district more especially belonged, though occasionally they would
+exchange districts for a period, and, incited by their
+characteristic love of wandering, would travel far and
+wide.&nbsp; Of these families each had a sher-engro, or head man,
+but that they were ever united under one Rommany Krallis, or
+Gypsy King, as some people have insisted, there is not the
+slightest ground for supposing.</p>
+<p>It is possible that many of the original Gypsy tribes are no
+longer in existence: disease or the law may have made sad havoc
+among them, and the few survivors have incorporated themselves
+with other families, whose name they have adopted.&nbsp; Two or
+three instances of this description have occurred within the
+sphere of my own knowledge: the heads of small families have been
+cut off, and the subordinate members, too young and inexperienced
+to continue Gypsying as independent wanderers, have been adopted
+by other tribes.</p>
+<p>The principal Gypsy tribes at present in existence are the
+Stanleys, whose grand haunt is the New Forest; the Lovells, who
+are fond of London and its vicinity; the Coopers, who call
+Windsor Castle their home; the Hernes, to whom the north country,
+more especially Yorkshire, belongeth; and lastly, my brethren,
+the Smiths,&mdash;to whom East Anglia appears to have been
+allotted from the beginning.</p>
+<p>All these families have Gypsy names, which seem, however, to
+be little more than attempts at translation of the English
+ones:&mdash;thus the Stanleys are called Bar-engres <a
+name="citation25"></a><a href="#footnote25"
+class="citation">[25]</a>, which means stony-fellows, or
+stony-hearts; the Coopers, Wardo-engres, or wheelwrights; the
+Lovells, Camo-mescres, or amorous fellows the Hernes (German
+Haaren) Balors, hairs, or hairy men; while the Smiths are called
+Petul-engres, signifying horseshoe fellows, or blacksmiths.</p>
+<p>It is not very easy to determine how the Gypsies became
+possessed of some of these names: the reader, however, will have
+observed that two of them, Stanley and Lovell, are the names of
+two highly aristocratic English families; the Gypsies who bear
+them perhaps adopted them from having, at their first arrival,
+established themselves on the estates of those great people; or
+it is possible that they translated their original Gypsy
+appellations by these names, which they deemed synonymous.&nbsp;
+Much the same may be said with respect to Herne, an ancient
+English name; they probably sometimes officiated as coopers or
+wheelwrights, whence the cognomination.&nbsp; Of the term
+Petul-engro, or Smith, however, I wish to say something in
+particular.</p>
+<p>There is every reason for believing that this last is a
+genuine Gypsy name, brought with them from the country from which
+they originally came; it is compounded of two words, signifying,
+as has been already observed, horseshoe fellows, or people whose
+trade is to manufacture horseshoes, a trade which the Gypsies ply
+in various parts of the world,&mdash;for example, in Russia and
+Hungary, and more particularly about Granada in Spain, as will
+subsequently be shown.&nbsp; True it is, that at present there
+are none amongst the English Gypsies who manufacture horseshoes;
+all the men, however, are tinkers more or less, and the word
+Petul-engro is applied to the tinker also, though the proper
+meaning of it is undoubtedly what I have already stated
+above.&nbsp; In other dialects of the Gypsy tongue, this cognomen
+exists, though not exactly with the same signification; for
+example, in the Hungarian dialect, <i>Pindoro</i>, which is
+evidently a modification of Petul-engro, is applied to a Gypsy in
+general, whilst in Spanish Pepindorio is the Gypsy word for
+Antonio.&nbsp; In some parts of Northern Asia, the Gypsies call
+themselves Wattul <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26"
+class="citation">[26]</a>, which seems to be one and the same as
+Petul.</p>
+<p>Besides the above-named Gypsy clans, there are other smaller
+ones, some of which do not comprise more than a dozen
+individuals, children included.&nbsp; For example, the Bosviles,
+the Browns, the Chilcotts, the Grays, Lees, Taylors, and Whites;
+of these the principal is the Bosvile tribe.</p>
+<p>After the days of the great persecution in England against the
+Gypsies, there can be little doubt that they lived a right merry
+and tranquil life, wandering about and pitching their tents
+wherever inclination led them: indeed, I can scarcely conceive
+any human condition more enviable than Gypsy life must have been
+in England during the latter part of the seventeenth, and the
+whole of the eighteenth century, which were likewise the happy
+days for Englishmen in general; there was peace and plenty in the
+land, a contented population, and everything went well.&nbsp;
+Yes, those were brave times for the Rommany chals, to which the
+old people often revert with a sigh: the poor Gypsies, say they,
+were then allowed to <i>sove abri</i> (sleep abroad) where they
+listed, to heat their kettles at the foot of the oaks, and no
+people grudged the poor persons one night&rsquo;s use of a meadow
+to feed their cattle in.&nbsp; <i>Tugnis amande</i>, our heart is
+heavy, brother,&mdash;there is no longer Gypsy law in the
+land,&mdash;our people have become negligent,&mdash;they are but
+half Rommany,&mdash;they are divided and care for
+nothing,&mdash;they do not even fear Pazorrhus, brother.</p>
+<p>Much the same complaints are at present made by the Spanish
+Gypsies.&nbsp; Gypsyism is certainly on the decline in both
+countries.&nbsp; In England, a superabundant population, and, of
+late, a very vigilant police, have done much to modify Gypsy
+life; whilst in Spain, causes widely different have produced a
+still greater change, as will be seen further on.</p>
+<p>Gypsy law does not flourish at present in England, and still
+less in Spain, nor does Gypsyism.&nbsp; I need not explain here
+what Gypsyism is, but the reader may be excused for asking what
+is Gypsy law.&nbsp; Gypsy law divides itself into the three
+following heads or precepts:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>Separate not from <i>the husbands</i>.</p>
+<p>Be faithful to <i>the husbands</i>.</p>
+<p>Pay your debts to <i>the husbands</i>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>By the first section the Rom or Gypsy is enjoined to live with
+his brethren, the husbands, and not with the gorgios <a
+name="citation28"></a><a href="#footnote28"
+class="citation">[28]</a> or gentiles; he is to live in a tent,
+as is befitting a Rom and a wanderer, and not in a house, which
+ties him to one spot; in a word, he is in every respect to
+conform to the ways of his own people, and to eschew those of
+gorgios, with whom he is not to mix, save to tell them
+<i>hoquepenes</i> (lies), and to chore them.</p>
+<p>The second section, in which fidelity is enjoined, was more
+particularly intended for the women: be faithful to the
+<i>Roms</i>, ye <i>juwas</i>, and take not up with the gorgios,
+whether they be <i>raior</i> or <i>bauor</i> (gentlemen or
+fellows).&nbsp; This was a very important injunction, so much so,
+indeed, that upon the observance of it depended the very
+existence of the Rommany sect,&mdash;for if the female Gypsy
+admitted the gorgio to the privilege of the Rom, the race of the
+Rommany would quickly disappear.&nbsp; How well this injunction
+has been observed needs scarcely be said; for the Rommany have
+been roving about England for three centuries at least, and are
+still to be distinguished from the gorgios in feature and
+complexion, which assuredly would not have been the case if the
+juwas had not been faithful to the Roms.&nbsp; The gorgio says
+that the juwa is at his disposal in all things, because she tells
+him fortunes and endures his free discourse; but the Rom, when he
+hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and whispers to
+himself, <i>Let him try</i>.</p>
+<p>The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is
+highly curious.&nbsp; In the Gypsy language, the state of being
+in debt is called <i>Pazorrhus</i>, and the Rom who did not seek
+to extricate himself from that state was deemed infamous, and
+eventually turned out of the society.&nbsp; It has been asserted,
+I believe, by various gorgio writers, that the Roms have
+everything in common, and that there is a common stock out of
+which every one takes what he needs; this is quite a mistake,
+however: a Gypsy tribe is an epitome of the world; every one
+keeps his own purse and maintains himself and children to the
+best of his ability, and every tent is independent of the
+other.&nbsp; True it is that one Gypsy will lend to another in
+the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the
+borrower is pazorrhus, or indebted.&nbsp; Even at the present
+time, a Gypsy will make the greatest sacrifices rather than
+remain pazorrhus to one of his brethren, even though he be of
+another clan; though perhaps the feeling is not so strong as of
+old, for time modifies everything; even Jews and Gypsies are
+affected by it.&nbsp; In the old time, indeed, the Gypsy law was
+so strong against the debtor, that provided he could not repay
+his brother husband, he was delivered over to him as his slave
+for a year and a day, and compelled to serve him as a hewer of
+wood, a drawer of water, or a beast of burden; but those times
+are past, the Gypsies are no longer the independent people they
+were of yore,&mdash;dark, mysterious, and dreaded wanderers,
+living apart in the deserts and heaths with which England at one
+time abounded.&nbsp; Gypsy law has given place to common law; but
+the principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and
+base indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus
+because Gypsy law has become too weak to force him to liquidate a
+debt by money or by service.</p>
+<p>Such was Gypsy law in England, and there is every probability
+that it is much the same in all parts of the world where the
+Gypsy race is to be found.&nbsp; About the peculiar practices of
+the Gypsies I need not say much here; the reader will find in the
+account of the Spanish Gypsies much that will afford him an idea
+of Gypsy arts in England.&nbsp; I have already alluded to
+<i>chiving drav</i>, or poisoning, which is still much practised
+by the English Gypsies, though it has almost entirely ceased in
+Spain; then there is <i>chiving luvvu adrey puvo</i>, or putting
+money within the earth, a trick by which the females deceive the
+gorgios, and which will be more particularly described in the
+affairs of Spain: the men are adepts at cheating the gorgios by
+means of <i>nok-engroes</i> and <i>poggado-bavengroes</i>
+(glandered and broken-winded horses).&nbsp; But, leaving the
+subject of their tricks and Rommany arts, by no means an
+agreeable one, I will take the present opportunity of saying a
+few words about a practice of theirs, highly characteristic of a
+wandering people, and which is only extant amongst those of the
+race who still continue to wander much; for example, the Russian
+Gypsies and those of the Hungarian family, who stroll through
+Italy on plundering expeditions: I allude to the <i>patteran</i>
+or <i>trail</i>.</p>
+<p>It is very possible that the reader during his country walks
+or rides has observed, on coming to four cross-roads, two or
+three handfuls of grass lying at a small distance from each other
+down one of these roads; perhaps he may have supposed that this
+grass was recently plucked from the roadside by frolicsome
+children, and flung upon the ground in sport, and this may
+possibly have been the case; it is ten chances to one, however,
+that no children&rsquo;s hands plucked them, but that they were
+strewed in this manner by Gypsies, for the purpose of informing
+any of their companions, who might be straggling behind, the
+route which they had taken; this is one form of the patteran or
+trail.&nbsp; It is likely, too, that the gorgio reader may have
+seen a cross drawn at the entrance of a road, the long part or
+stem of it pointing down that particular road, and he may have
+thought nothing of it, or have supposed that some sauntering
+individual like himself had made the mark with his stick: not so,
+courteous gorgio; ley tiro solloholomus opr&eacute; lesti, <i>you
+may take your oath upon it</i> that it was drawn by a Gypsy
+finger, for that mark is another of the Rommany trails; there is
+no mistake in this.&nbsp; Once in the south of France, when I was
+weary, hungry, and penniless, I observed one of these last
+patterans, and following the direction pointed out, arrived at
+the resting-place of &lsquo;certain Bohemians,&rsquo; by whom I
+was received with kindness and hospitality, on the faith of no
+other word of recommendation than patteran.&nbsp; There is also
+another kind of patteran, which is more particularly adapted for
+the night; it is a cleft stick stuck at the side of the road,
+close by the hedge, with a little arm in the cleft pointing down
+the road which the band have taken, in the manner of a signpost;
+any stragglers who may arrive at night where cross-roads occur
+search for this patteran on the left-hand side, and speedily
+rejoin their companions.</p>
+<p>By following these patterans, or trails, the first Gypsies on
+their way to Europe never lost each other, though wandering
+amidst horrid wildernesses and dreary defiles.&nbsp; Rommany
+matters have always had a peculiar interest for me; nothing,
+however, connected with Gypsy life ever more captivated my
+imagination than this patteran system: many thanks to the Gypsies
+for it; it has more than once been of service to me.</p>
+<p>The English Gypsies at the present day are far from being a
+numerous race; I consider their aggregate number, from the
+opportunities which I have had of judging, to be considerably
+under ten thousand: it is probable that, ere the conclusion of
+the present century, they will have entirely disappeared.&nbsp;
+They are in general quite strangers to the commonest rudiments of
+education; few even of the most wealthy can either read or
+write.&nbsp; With respect to religion, they call themselves
+members of the Established Church, and are generally anxious to
+have their children baptized, and to obtain a copy of the
+register.&nbsp; Some of their baptismal papers, which they carry
+about with them, are highly curious, going back for a period of
+upwards of two hundred years.&nbsp; With respect to the essential
+points of religion, they are quite careless and ignorant; if they
+believe in a future state they dread it not, and if they manifest
+when dying any anxiety, it is not for the soul, but the body: a
+handsome coffin, and a grave in a quiet country churchyard, are
+invariably the objects of their last thoughts; and it is probable
+that, in their observance of the rite of baptism, they are
+principally influenced by a desire to enjoy the privilege of
+burial in consecrated ground.&nbsp; A Gypsy family never speak of
+their dead save with regret and affection, and any request of the
+dying individual is attended to, especially with regard to
+interment; so much so, that I have known a corpse conveyed a
+distance of nearly one hundred miles, because the deceased
+expressed a wish to be buried in a particular spot.</p>
+<p>Of the language of the English Gypsies, some specimens will be
+given in the sequel; it is much more pure and copious than the
+Spanish dialect.&nbsp; It has been asserted that the English
+Gypsies are not possessed of any poetry in their own tongue; but
+this is a gross error; they possess a great many songs and
+ballads upon ordinary subjects, without any particular merit,
+however, and seemingly of a very modern date.</p>
+<h3>THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI</h3>
+<p>What has been said of the Gypsies of Europe is, to a
+considerable extent, applicable to their brethren in the East,
+or, as they are called, Zingarri; they are either found wandering
+amongst the deserts or mountains, or settled in towns, supporting
+themselves by horse-dealing or jugglery, by music and song.&nbsp;
+In no part of the East are they more numerous than in Turkey,
+especially in Constantinople, where the females frequently enter
+the harems of the great, pretending to cure children of
+&lsquo;the evil eye,&rsquo; and to interpret the dreams of the
+women.&nbsp; They are not unfrequently seen in the coffee-houses,
+exhibiting their figures in lascivious dances to the tune of
+various instruments; yet these females are by no means unchaste,
+however their manners and appearance may denote the contrary, and
+either Turk or Christian who, stimulated by their songs and
+voluptuous movements, should address them with proposals of a
+dishonourable nature, would, in all probability, meet with a
+decided repulse.</p>
+<p>Among the Zingarri are not a few who deal in precious stones,
+and some who vend poisons; and the most remarkable individual
+whom it has been my fortune to encounter amongst the Gypsies,
+whether of the Eastern or Western world, was a person who dealt
+in both these articles.&nbsp; He was a native of Constantinople,
+and in the pursuit of his trade had visited the most remote and
+remarkable portions of the world.&nbsp; He had traversed alone
+and on foot the greatest part of India; he spoke several dialects
+of the Malay, and understood the original language of Java, that
+isle more fertile in poisons than even &lsquo;far Iolchos and
+Spain.&rsquo; From what I could learn from him, it appeared that
+his jewels were in less request than his drugs, though he assured
+me that there was scarcely a Bey or Satrap in Persia or Turkey
+whom he had not supplied with both.&nbsp; I have seen this
+individual in more countries than one, for he flits over the
+world like the shadow of a cloud; the last time at Granada in
+Spain, whither he had come after paying a visit to his
+Git&aacute;no brethren in the presidio of Ceuta.</p>
+<p>Few Eastern authors have spoken of the Zingarri,
+notwithstanding they have been known in the East for many
+centuries; amongst the few, none has made more curious mention of
+them than Arabschah, in a chapter of his life of Timour or
+Tamerlane, which is deservedly considered as one of the three
+classic works of Arabian literature.&nbsp; This passage, which,
+while it serves to illustrate the craft, if not the valour of the
+conqueror of half the world, offers some curious particulars as
+to Gypsy life in the East at a remote period, will scarcely be
+considered out of place if reproduced here, and the following is
+as close a translation of it as the metaphorical style of the
+original will allow.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;There were in Samarcand numerous families
+of Zingarri of various descriptions: some were wrestlers, others
+gladiators, others pugilists.&nbsp; These people were much at
+variance, so that hostilities and battling were continually
+arising amongst them.&nbsp; Each band had its chief and
+subordinate officers; and it came to pass that Timour and the
+power which he possessed filled them with dread, for they knew
+that he was aware of their crimes and disorderly way of
+life.&nbsp; Now it was the custom of Timour, on departing upon
+his expeditions, to leave a viceroy in Samarcand; but no sooner
+had he left the city, than forth marched these bands, and giving
+battle to the viceroy, deposed him and took possession of the
+government, so that on the return of Timour he found order
+broken, confusion reigning, and his throne overturned, and then
+he had much to do in restoring things to their former state, and
+in punishing or pardoning the guilty; but no sooner did he depart
+again to his wars, and to his various other concerns, than they
+broke out into the same excesses, and this they repeated no less
+than three times, and he at length laid a plan for their utter
+extermination, and it was the following:&mdash;He commenced
+building a wall, and he summoned unto him the people small and
+great, and he allotted to every man his place, and to every
+workman his duty, and he stationed the Zingarri and their
+chieftains apart; and in one particular spot he placed a band of
+soldiers, and he commanded them to kill whomsoever he should send
+to them; and having done so, he called to him the heads of the
+people, and he filled the cup for them and clothed them in
+splendid vests; and when the turn came to the Zingarri, he
+likewise pledged one of them, and bestowed a vest upon him, and
+sent him with a message to the soldiers, who, as soon as he
+arrived, tore from him his vest, and stabbed him, pouring forth
+the gold of his heart into the pan of destruction, <a
+name="citation36"></a><a href="#footnote36"
+class="citation">[36]</a> and in this way they continued until
+the last of them was destroyed; and by that blow he exterminated
+their race, and their traces, and from that time forward there
+were no more rebellions in Samarcand.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It has of late years been one of the favourite theories of the
+learned, that Timour&rsquo;s invasion of Hindostan, and the
+cruelties committed by his savage hordes in that part of the
+world, caused a vast number of Hindoos to abandon their native
+land, and that the Gypsies of the present day are the descendants
+of those exiles who wended their weary way to the West.&nbsp;
+Now, provided the above passage in the work of Arabschah be
+entitled to credence, the opinion that Timour was the cause of
+the expatriation and subsequent wandering life of these people,
+must be abandoned as untenable.&nbsp; At the time he is stated by
+the Arabian writer to have annihilated the Gypsy hordes of
+Samarcand, he had but just commenced his career of conquest and
+devastation, and had not even directed his thoughts to the
+invasion of India; yet at this early period of the history of his
+life, we find families of Zingarri established at Samarcand,
+living much in the same manner as others of the race have
+subsequently done in various towns of Europe and the East; but
+supposing the event here narrated to be a fable, or at best a
+floating legend, it appears singular that, if they left their
+native land to escape from Timour, they should never have
+mentioned in the Western world the name of that scourge of the
+human race, nor detailed the history of their flight and
+sufferings, which assuredly would have procured them sympathy;
+the ravages of Timour being already but too well known in
+Europe.&nbsp; That they came from India is much easier to prove
+than that they fled before the fierce Mongol.</p>
+<p>Such people as the Gypsies, whom the Bishop of Forli in the
+year 1422, only sixteen years subsequent to the invasion of
+India, describes as a &lsquo;raging rabble, of brutal and animal
+propensities,&rsquo; <a name="citation37"></a><a
+href="#footnote37" class="citation">[37]</a> are not such as
+generally abandon their country on foreign invasion.</p>
+<h2><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>THE
+ZINCALI<br />
+PART I</h2>
+<h3>CHAPTER I</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Git&aacute;nos</span>, or Egyptians, is
+the name by which the Gypsies have been most generally known in
+Spain, in the ancient as well as in the modern period, but
+various other names have been and still are applied to them; for
+example, New Castilians, Germans, and Flemings; the first of
+which titles probably originated after the name of Git&aacute;no
+had begun to be considered a term of reproach and infamy.&nbsp;
+They may have thus designated themselves from an unwillingness to
+utter, when speaking of themselves, the detested expression
+&lsquo;Git&aacute;no,&rsquo; a word which seldom escapes their
+mouths; or it may have been applied to them first by the
+Spaniards, in their mutual dealings and communication, as a term
+less calculated to wound their feelings and to beget a spirit of
+animosity than the other; but, however it might have originated,
+New Castilian, in course of time, became a term of little less
+infamy than Git&aacute;no; for, by the law of Philip the Fourth,
+both terms are forbidden to be applied to them under severe
+penalties.</p>
+<p>That they were called Germans, may be accounted for, either by
+the supposition that their generic name of Rommany was
+misunderstood and mispronounced by the Spaniards amongst whom
+they came, or from the fact of their having passed through
+Germany in their way to the south, and bearing passports and
+letters of safety from the various German states.&nbsp; The title
+of Flemings, by which at the present day they are known in
+various parts of Spain, would probably never have been bestowed
+upon them but from the circumstance of their having been
+designated or believed to be Germans,&mdash;as German and Fleming
+are considered by the ignorant as synonymous terms.</p>
+<p>Amongst themselves they have three words to distinguish them
+and their race in general: Z&iacute;ncalo, Roman&oacute;, and
+Chai; of the first two of which something has been already
+said.</p>
+<p>They likewise call themselves &lsquo;Cales,&rsquo; by which
+appellation indeed they are tolerably well known by the
+Spaniards, and which is merely the plural termination of the
+compound word Z&iacute;ncalo, and signifies, The black men.&nbsp;
+Chai is a modification of the word Chal, which, by the
+Git&aacute;nos of Estremadura, is applied to Egypt, and in many
+parts of Spain is equivalent to &lsquo;Heaven,&rsquo; and which
+is perhaps a modification of &lsquo;Cheros,&rsquo; the word for
+heaven in other dialects of the Gypsy language.&nbsp; Thus Chai
+may denote, The men of Egypt, or, The sons of Heaven.&nbsp; It
+is, however, right to observe, that amongst the Git&aacute;nos,
+the word Chai has frequently no other signification than the
+simple one of &lsquo;children.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>It is impossible to state for certainty the exact year of
+their first appearance in Spain; but it is reasonable to presume
+that it was early in the fifteenth century; as in the year 1417
+numerous bands entered France from the north-east of Europe, and
+speedily spread themselves over the greatest part of that
+country.&nbsp; Of these wanderers a French author has left the
+following graphic description: <a name="citation43"></a><a
+href="#footnote43" class="citation">[43]</a></p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;On the 17th of April 1427, appeared in
+Paris twelve penitents of Egypt, driven from thence by the
+Saracens; they brought in their company one hundred and twenty
+persons; they took up their quarters in La Chapelle, whither the
+people flocked in crowds to visit them.&nbsp; They had their ears
+pierced, from which depended a ring of silver; their hair was
+black and crispy, and their women were filthy to a degree, and
+were sorceresses who told fortunes.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Such were the people who, after traversing France and scaling
+the sides of the Pyrenees, poured down in various bands upon the
+sunburnt plains of Spain.&nbsp; Wherever they had appeared they
+had been looked upon as a curse and a pestilence, and with much
+reason.&nbsp; Either unwilling or unable to devote themselves to
+any laborious or useful occupation, they came like flights of
+wasps to prey upon the fruits which their more industrious
+fellow-beings amassed by the toil of their hands and the sweat of
+their foreheads; the natural result being, that wherever they
+arrived, their fellow-creatures banded themselves against
+them.&nbsp; Terrible laws were enacted soon after their
+appearance in France, calculated to put a stop to their frauds
+and dishonest propensities; wherever their hordes were found,
+they were attacked by the incensed rustics or by the armed hand
+of justice, and those who were not massacred on the spot, or
+could not escape by flight, were, without a shadow of a trial,
+either hanged on the next tree, or sent to serve for life in the
+galleys; or if females or children, either scourged or
+mutilated.</p>
+<p>The consequence of this severity, which, considering the
+manners and spirit of the time, is scarcely to be wondered at,
+was the speedy disappearance of the Gypsies from the soil of
+France.</p>
+<p>Many returned by the way they came, to Germany, Hungary, and
+the woods and forests of Bohemia; but there is little doubt that
+by far the greater portion found a refuge in the Peninsula, a
+country which, though by no means so rich and fertile as the one
+they had quitted, nor offering so wide and ready a field for the
+exercise of those fraudulent arts for which their race had become
+so infamously notorious, was, nevertheless, in many respects,
+suitable and congenial to them.&nbsp; If there were less gold and
+silver in the purses of the citizens to reward the dexterous
+handler of the knife and scissors amidst the crowd in the
+market-place; if fewer sides of fatted swine graced the ample
+chimney of the labourer in Spain than in the neighbouring
+country; if fewer beeves bellowed in the plains, and fewer sheep
+bleated upon the hills, there were far better opportunities
+afforded of indulging in wild independence.&nbsp; Should the
+halberded bands of the city be ordered out to quell, seize, or
+exterminate them; should the alcalde of the village cause the
+tocsin to be rung, gathering together the villanos for a similar
+purpose, the wild sierra was generally at hand, which, with its
+winding paths, its caves, its frowning precipices, and ragged
+thickets, would offer to them a secure refuge where they might
+laugh to scorn the rage of their baffled pursuers, and from which
+they might emerge either to fresh districts or to those which
+they had left, to repeat their ravages when opportunity
+served.</p>
+<p>After crossing the Pyrenees, a very short time elapsed before
+the Gypsy hordes had bivouacked in the principal provinces of
+Spain.&nbsp; There can indeed be little doubt, that shortly after
+their arrival they made themselves perfectly acquainted with all
+the secrets of the land, and that there was scarcely a nook or
+retired corner within Spain, from which the smoke of their fires
+had not arisen, or where their cattle had not grazed.&nbsp;
+People, however, so acute as they have always proverbially been,
+would scarcely be slow in distinguishing the provinces most
+adapted to their manner of life, and most calculated to afford
+them opportunities of practising those arts to which they were
+mainly indebted for their subsistence; the savage hills of
+Biscay, of Galicia, and the Asturias, whose inhabitants were
+almost as poor as themselves, which possessed no superior breed
+of horses or mules from amongst which they might pick and purloin
+many a gallant beast, and having transformed by their dexterous
+scissors, impose him again upon his rightful master for a high
+price,&mdash;such provinces, where, moreover, provisions were
+hard to be obtained, even by pilfering hands, could scarcely be
+supposed to offer strong temptations to these roving visitors to
+settle down in, or to vex and harass by a long sojourn.</p>
+<p>Valencia and Murcia found far more favour in their eyes; a far
+more fertile soil, and wealthier inhabitants, were better
+calculated to entice them; there was a prospect of plunder, and
+likewise a prospect of safety and refuge, should the dogs of
+justice be roused against them.&nbsp; If there were the populous
+town and village in those lands, there was likewise the lone
+waste, and uncultivated spot, to which they could retire when
+danger threatened them.&nbsp; Still more suitable to them must
+have been La Mancha, a land of tillage, of horses, and of mules,
+skirted by its brown sierra, ever eager to afford its shelter to
+their dusky race.&nbsp; Equally suitable, Estremadura and New
+Castile; but far, far more, Andalusia, with its three kingdoms,
+Jaen, Granada, and Seville, one of which was still possessed by
+the swarthy Moor,&mdash;Andalusia, the land of the proud steed
+and the stubborn mule, the land of the savage sierra and the
+fruitful and cultivated plain: to Andalusia they hied, in bands
+of thirties and sixties; the hoofs of their asses might be heard
+clattering in the passes of the stony hills; the girls might be
+seen bounding in lascivious dance in the streets of many a town,
+and the beldames standing beneath the eaves telling the
+&lsquo;buena ventura&rsquo; to many a credulous female dupe; the
+men the while chaffered in the fair and market-place with the
+labourers and chalanes, casting significant glances on each
+other, or exchanging a word or two in Rommany, whilst they placed
+some uncouth animal in a particular posture which served to
+conceal its ugliness from the eyes of the chapman.&nbsp; Yes, of
+all provinces of Spain, Andalusia was the most frequented by the
+Git&aacute;no race, and in Andalusia they most abound at the
+present day, though no longer as restless independent wanderers
+of the fields and hills, but as residents in villages and towns,
+especially in Seville.</p>
+<h3><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+48</span>CHAPTER II</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> already stated to the reader
+at what period and by what means these wanderers introduced
+themselves into Spain, we shall now say something concerning
+their manner of life.</p>
+<p>It would appear that, for many years after their arrival in
+the Peninsula, their manners and habits underwent no change; they
+were wanderers, in the strictest sense of the word, and lived
+much in the same way as their brethren exist in the present day
+in England, Russia, and Bessarabia, with the exception perhaps of
+being more reckless, mischievous, and having less respect for the
+laws; it is true that their superiority in wickedness in these
+points may have been more the effect of the moral state of the
+country in which they were, than of any other operating
+cause.</p>
+<p>Arriving in Spain with a predisposition to every species of
+crime and villainy, they were not likely to be improved or
+reclaimed by the example of the people with whom they were about
+to mix; nor was it probable that they would entertain much
+respect for laws which, from time immemorial, have principally
+served, not to protect the honest and useful members of society,
+but to enrich those entrusted with the administration of
+them.&nbsp; Thus, if they came thieves, it is not probable that
+they would become ashamed of the title of thief in Spain, where
+the officers of justice were ever willing to shield an offender
+on receiving the largest portion of the booty obtained.&nbsp; If
+on their arrival they held the lives of others in very low
+estimation, could it be expected that they would become gentle as
+lambs in a land where blood had its price, and the shedder was
+seldom executed unless he was poor and friendless, and unable to
+cram with ounces of yellow gold the greedy hands of the pursuers
+of blood,&mdash;the alguazil and escribano? therefore, if the
+Spanish Gypsies have been more bloody and more wolfishly eager in
+the pursuit of booty than those of their race in most other
+regions, the cause must be attributed to their residence in a
+country unsound in every branch of its civil polity, where right
+has ever been in less esteem, and wrong in less disrepute, than
+in any other part of the world.</p>
+<p>However, if the moral state of Spain was not calculated to
+have a favourable effect on the habits and pursuits of the
+Gypsies, their manners were as little calculated to operate
+beneficially, in any point of view, on the country where they had
+lately arrived.&nbsp; Divided into numerous bodies, frequently
+formidable in point of number, their presence was an evil and a
+curse in whatever quarter they directed their steps.&nbsp; As
+might be expected, the labourers, who in all countries are the
+most honest, most useful, and meritorious class, were the
+principal sufferers; their mules and horses were stolen, carried
+away to distant fairs, and there disposed of, perhaps, to
+individuals destined to be deprived <a name="page50"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 50</span>of them in a similar manner; whilst
+their flocks of sheep and goats were laid under requisition to
+assuage the hungry cravings of these thievish cormorants.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p50b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Rearguard of the Marching Gypsies"
+title=
+"The Rearguard of the Marching Gypsies"
+ src="images/p50s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>It was not uncommon for a large band or tribe to encamp in the
+vicinity of a remote village scantily peopled, and to remain
+there until, like a flight of locusts, they had consumed
+everything which the inhabitants possessed for their support; or
+until they were scared away by the approach of justice, or by an
+army of rustics assembled from the surrounding country.&nbsp;
+Then would ensue the hurried march; the women and children,
+mounted on lean but spirited asses, would scour along the plains
+fleeter than the wind; ragged and savage-looking men, wielding
+the scourge and goad, would scamper by their side or close
+behind, whilst perhaps a small party on strong horses, armed with
+rusty matchlocks or sabres, would bring up the rear, threatening
+the distant foe, and now and then saluting them with a hoarse
+blast from the Gypsy horn:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;O, when I sit my courser bold,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My bantling in my rear,<br />
+And in my hand my musket hold&mdash;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; O how they quake with fear!&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Let us for a moment suppose some unfortunate traveller,
+mounted on a handsome mule or beast of some value, meeting,
+unarmed and alone, such a rabble rout at the close of eve, in the
+wildest part, for example, of La Mancha; we will suppose that he
+is journeying from Seville to Madrid, and that he has left at a
+considerable distance behind him the gloomy and horrible passes
+of the Sierra Morena; his bosom, which for some time past has
+been contracted with dreadful forebodings, is beginning to
+expand; his blood, which has been congealed in his veins, is
+beginning to circulate warmly and freely; he is fondly
+anticipating the still distant posada and savoury omelet.&nbsp;
+The sun is sinking rapidly behind the savage and uncouth hills in
+his rear; he has reached the bottom of a small valley, where runs
+a rivulet at which he allows his tired animal to drink; he is
+about to ascend the side of the hill; his eyes are turned
+upwards; suddenly he beholds strange and uncouth forms at the top
+of the ascent&mdash;the sun descending slants its rays upon red
+cloaks, with here and there a turbaned head, or long streaming
+hair.&nbsp; The traveller hesitates, but reflecting that he is no
+longer in the mountains, and that in the open road there is no
+danger of banditti, he advances.&nbsp; In a moment he is in the
+midst of the Gypsy group, in a moment there is a general halt;
+fiery eyes are turned upon him replete with an expression which
+only the eyes of the Roma possess, then ensues a jabber in a
+language or jargon which is strange to the ears of the traveller;
+at last an ugly urchin springs from the crupper of a halting
+mule, and in a lisping accent entreats charity in the name of the
+Virgin and the Majoro.&nbsp; The traveller, with a faltering
+hand, produces his purse, and is proceeding to loosen its
+strings, but he accomplishes not his purpose, for, struck
+violently by a huge knotted club in an unseen hand, he tumbles
+headlong from his mule.&nbsp; Next morning a naked corse,
+besmeared with brains and <a name="page52"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 52</span>blood, is found by an arri&eacute;ro;
+and within a week a simple cross records the event, according to
+the custom of Spain.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Below there in the dusky pass<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Was wrought a murder dread;<br />
+The murdered fell upon the grass,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Away the murderer fled.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>To many, such a scene, as above described, will appear purely
+imaginary, or at least a mass of exaggeration, but many such
+anecdotes are related by old Spanish writers of these people;
+they traversed the country in gangs; they were what the Spanish
+law has styled Abigeos and Salteadores de Camino, cattle-stealers
+and highwaymen; though, in the latter character, they never rose
+to any considerable eminence.&nbsp; True it is that they would
+not hesitate to attack or even murder the unarmed and defenceless
+traveller, when they felt assured of obtaining booty with little
+or no risk to themselves; but they were not by constitution
+adapted to rival those bold and daring banditti of whom so many
+terrible anecdotes are related in Spain and Italy, and who have
+acquired their renown by the dauntless daring which they have
+invariably displayed in the pursuit of plunder.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p52b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Travellers attacked by the Git&aacute;nos"
+title=
+"Travellers attacked by the Git&aacute;nos"
+ src="images/p52s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Besides trafficking in horses and mules, and now and then
+attacking and plundering travellers upon the highway, the Gypsies
+of Spain appear, from a very early period, to have plied
+occasionally the trade of the blacksmith, and to have worked in
+iron, forming rude implements of domestic and agricultural use,
+which they disposed of, either for provisions or money, in the
+neighbourhood of those places where they had taken up their
+temporary residence.&nbsp; As their bands were composed of
+numerous individuals, there is no improbability in assuming that
+to every member was allotted that branch of labour in which he
+was most calculated to excel.&nbsp; The most important, and that
+which required the greatest share of cunning and address, was
+undoubtedly that of the chalan or jockey, who frequented the
+fairs with the beasts which he had obtained by various means, but
+generally by theft.&nbsp; Highway robbery, though occasionally
+committed by all jointly or severally, was probably the peculiar
+department of the boldest spirits of the gang; whilst wielding
+the hammer and tongs was abandoned to those who, though possessed
+of athletic forms, were perhaps, like Vulcan, lame, or from some
+particular cause, moral or physical, unsuited for the other two
+very respectable avocations.&nbsp; The forge was generally placed
+in the heart of some mountain abounding in wood; the gaunt smiths
+felled a tree, perhaps with the very axes which their own sturdy
+hands had hammered at a former period; with the wood thus
+procured they prepared the charcoal which their labour
+demanded.&nbsp; Everything is in readiness; the bellows puff
+until the coal is excited to a furious glow; the metal, hot,
+pliant, and ductile, is laid on the anvil, round which stands the
+Cyclop group, their hammers upraised; down they descend
+successively, one, two, three, the sparks are scattered on every
+side.&nbsp; The sparks&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;More than a hundred lovely daughters I see
+produced at one time, fiery as roses: in one moment they expire
+gracefully circumvolving.&rsquo; <a name="citation54"></a><a
+href="#footnote54" class="citation">[54]</a></p>
+<p>The anvil rings beneath the thundering stroke, hour succeeds
+hour, and still endures the hard sullen toil.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>One of the most remarkable features in the history of Gypsies
+is the striking similarity of their pursuits in every region of
+the globe to which they have penetrated; they are not merely
+alike in limb and in feature, in the cast and expression of the
+eye, in the colour of the hair, in their walk and gait, but
+everywhere they seem to exhibit the same tendencies, and to hunt
+for their bread by the same means, as if they were not of the
+human but rather of the animal species, and in lieu of reason
+were endowed with a kind of instinct which assists them to a very
+limited extent and no farther.</p>
+<p>In no part of the world are they found engaged in the
+cultivation of the earth, or in the service of a regular master;
+but in all lands they are jockeys, or thieves, or cheats; and if
+ever they devote themselves to any toil or trade, it is assuredly
+in every material point one and the same.&nbsp; We have found
+them above, in the heart of a wild mountain, hammering iron, and
+manufacturing from it instruments either for their own use or
+that of the neighbouring towns and villages.&nbsp; They may be
+seen employed in a similar manner in the plains of Russia, or in
+the bosom of its eternal forests; and whoever inspects the site
+where a horde of Gypsies has encamped, in the grassy lanes
+beneath the hazel bushes of merry England, is generally sure to
+find relics of tin and other metal, avouching that they have
+there been exercising the arts of the tinker or smith.&nbsp;
+Perhaps nothing speaks more forcibly for the antiquity of this
+sect or caste than the tenacity with which they have uniformly
+preserved their peculiar customs since the period of their
+becoming generally known; for, unless their habits had become a
+part of their nature, which could only have been effected by a
+strict devotion to them through a long succession of generations,
+it is not to be supposed that after their arrival in civilised
+Europe they would have retained and cherished them precisely in
+the same manner in the various countries where they found an
+asylum.</p>
+<p>Each band or family of the Spanish Gypsies had its Captain,
+or, as he was generally designated, its Count.&nbsp; Don Juan de
+Qui&ntilde;ones, who, in a small volume published in 1632, has
+written some details respecting their way of life, says:
+&lsquo;They roam about, divided into families and troops, each of
+which has its head or Count; and to fill this office they choose
+the most valiant and courageous individual amongst them, and the
+one endowed with the greatest strength.&nbsp; He must at the same
+time be crafty and sagacious, and adapted in every respect to
+govern them.&nbsp; It is he who settles their differences and
+disputes, even when they are residing in a place where there is a
+regular justice.&nbsp; He heads them at night when they go out to
+plunder the flocks, or to rob travellers on the highway; and
+whatever they steal or plunder they divide amongst them, always
+allowing the captain a third part of the whole.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>These Counts, being elected for such qualities as promised to
+be useful to their troop or family, were consequently liable to
+be deposed if at any time their conduct was not calculated to
+afford satisfaction to their subjects.&nbsp; The office was not
+hereditary, and though it carried along with it partial
+privileges, was both toilsome and dangerous.&nbsp; Should the
+plans for plunder, which it was the duty of the Count to form,
+miscarry in the attempt to execute them; should individuals of
+the gang fall into the hand of justice, and the Count be unable
+to devise a method to save their lives or obtain their liberty,
+the blame was cast at the Count&rsquo;s door, and he was in
+considerable danger of being deprived of his insignia of
+authority, which consisted not so much in ornaments or in dress,
+as in hawks and hounds with which the Se&ntilde;or Count took the
+diversion of hunting when he thought proper.&nbsp; As the ground
+which he hunted over was not his own, he incurred some danger of
+coming in contact with the lord of the soil, attended, perhaps,
+by his armed followers.&nbsp; There is a tradition (rather
+apocryphal, it is true), that a Git&aacute;no chief, once
+pursuing this amusement, was encountered by a real Count, who is
+styled Count Pepe.&nbsp; An engagement ensued between the two
+parties, which ended in the Gypsies being worsted, and their
+chief left dying on the field.&nbsp; The slain chief leaves a
+son, who, at the instigation of his mother, steals the infant
+heir of his father&rsquo;s enemy, who, reared up amongst the
+Gypsies, becomes a chief, and, in process of time, hunting over
+the same ground, slays Count Pepe in the very spot where the
+blood of the Gypsy had been poured out.&nbsp; This tradition is
+alluded to in the following stanza:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;I have a gallant mare in stall;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My mother gave that mare<br />
+That I might seek Count Pepe&rsquo;s hall<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And steal his son and heir.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Martin Del Rio, in his <i>Tractatus de Magia</i>, speaks of
+the Gypsies and their Counts to the following effect:
+&lsquo;When, in the year 1584, I was marching in Spain with the
+regiment, a multitude of these wretches were infesting the
+fields.&nbsp; It happened that the feast of Corpus Domini was
+being celebrated, and they requested to be admitted into the
+town, that they might dance in honour of the sacrifice, as was
+customary; they did so, but about midday a great tumult arose
+owing to the many thefts which the women committed, whereupon
+they fled out of the suburbs, and assembled about St.
+Mark&rsquo;s, the magnificent mansion and hospital of the knights
+of St. James, where the ministers of justice attempting to seize
+them were repulsed by force of arms; nevertheless, all of a
+sudden, and I know not how, everything was hushed up.&nbsp; At
+this time they had a Count, a fellow who spoke the Castilian
+idiom with as much purity as if he had been a native of Toledo;
+he was acquainted with all the ports of Spain, and all the
+difficult and broken ground of the provinces.&nbsp; He knew the
+exact strength of every city, and who were the principal people
+in each, and the exact amount of their property; there was
+nothing relating to the state, however secret, that he was not
+acquainted with; nor did he make a mystery of his knowledge, but
+publicly boasted of it.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>From the passage quoted above, we learn that the
+Git&aacute;nos in the ancient times were considered as foreigners
+who prowled about the country; indeed, in many of the laws which
+at various times have been promulgated against them, they are
+spoken of as Egyptians, and as such commanded to leave Spain, and
+return to their native country; at one time they undoubtedly were
+foreigners in Spain, foreigners by birth, foreigners by language
+but at the time they are mentioned by the worthy Del Rio, they
+were certainly not entitled to the appellation.&nbsp; True it is
+that they spoke a language amongst themselves, unintelligible to
+the rest of the Spaniards, from whom they differed considerably
+in feature and complexion, as they still do; but if being born in
+a country, and being bred there, constitute a right to be
+considered a native of that country, they had as much claim to
+the appellation of Spaniards as the worthy author himself.&nbsp;
+Del Rio mentions, as a remarkable circumstance, the fact of the
+Gypsy Count speaking Castilian with as much purity as a native of
+Toledo, whereas it is by no means improbable that the individual
+in question was a native of that town; but the truth is, at the
+time we are speaking of, they were generally believed to be not
+only foreigners, but by means of sorcery to have acquired the
+power of speaking all languages with equal facility; and Del Rio,
+who was a believer in magic, and wrote one of the most curious
+and erudite treatises on the subject ever penned, had perhaps
+adopted that idea, which possibly originated from their speaking
+most of the languages and dialects of the Peninsula, which they
+picked up in their wanderings.&nbsp; That the Gypsy chief was so
+well acquainted with every town of Spain, and the broken and
+difficult ground, can cause but little surprise, when we reflect
+that the life which the Gypsies led was one above all others
+calculated to afford them that knowledge.&nbsp; They were
+continually at variance with justice; they were frequently
+obliged to seek shelter in the inmost recesses of the hills; and
+when their thievish pursuits led them to the cities, they
+naturally made themselves acquainted with the names of the
+principal individuals, in hopes of plundering them.&nbsp;
+Doubtless the chief possessed all this species of knowledge in a
+superior degree, as it was his courage, acuteness, and experience
+alone which placed him at the head of his tribe, though Del Rio
+from this circumstance wishes to infer that the Git&aacute;nos
+were spies sent by foreign foes, and with some simplicity
+inquires, &lsquo;Quo ant cui rei h&aelig;c curiosa exploratio?
+nonne compescenda vagamundorum h&aelig;c curiositas, etiam si
+solum peregrini et inculpat&aelig; vit&aelig;.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>With the Counts rested the management and direction of these
+remarkable societies; it was they who determined their marches,
+counter-marches, advances, and retreats; what was to be attempted
+or avoided; what individuals were to be admitted into the
+fellowship and privileges of the Git&aacute;nos, or who were to
+be excluded from their society; they settled disputes and sat in
+judgment over offences.&nbsp; The greatest crimes, according to
+the Gypsy code, were a quarrelsome disposition, and revealing the
+secrets of the brotherhood.&nbsp; By this code the members were
+forbidden to eat, drink, or sleep in the house of a Busno, which
+signifies any person who is not of the sect of the Gypsies, or to
+marry out of that sect; they were likewise not to teach the
+language of Roma to any but those who, by birth or inauguration,
+belonged to that sect; they were enjoined to relieve their
+brethren in distress at any expense or peril; they were to use a
+peculiar dress, which is frequently alluded to in the Spanish
+laws, but the particulars of which are not stated; and they were
+to cultivate the gift of speech to the utmost possible extent,
+and never to lose anything which might be obtained by a loose and
+deceiving tongue, to encourage which they had many excellent
+proverbs, for example&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;The poor fool who closes his mouth never
+winneth a dollar.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The river which runneth with sound bears along with it
+stones and water.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h3><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+61</span>CHAPTER III</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Git&aacute;nos not unfrequently
+made their appearance in considerable numbers, so as to be able
+to bid defiance to any force which could be assembled against
+them on a sudden; whole districts thus became a prey to them, and
+were plundered and devastated.</p>
+<p>It is said that, in the year 1618, more than eight hundred of
+these wretches scoured the country between Castile and Aragon,
+committing the most enormous crimes.&nbsp; The royal council
+despatched regular troops against them, who experienced some
+difficulty in dispersing them.</p>
+<p>But we now proceed to touch upon an event which forms an era
+in the history of the Git&aacute;nos of Spain, and which for
+wildness and singularity throws all other events connected with
+them and their race, wherever found, entirely into the shade.</p>
+<h4>THE BOOKSELLER OF LOGRO&Ntilde;O</h4>
+<p>About the middle of the sixteenth century, there resided one
+Francisco Alvarez in the city of Logro&ntilde;o, the chief town
+of Rioja, a province which borders on Aragon.&nbsp; He was a man
+above the middle age, sober, reserved, and in general absorbed in
+thought; he lived near the great church, and obtained a
+livelihood by selling printed books and manuscripts in a small
+shop.&nbsp; He was a very learned man, and was continually
+reading in the books which he was in the habit of selling, and
+some of these books were in foreign tongues and characters, so
+foreign, indeed, that none but himself and some of his friends,
+the canons, could understand them; he was much visited by the
+clergy, who were his principal customers, and took much pleasure
+in listening to his discourse.</p>
+<p>He had been a considerable traveller in his youth, and had
+wandered through all Spain, visiting the various provinces and
+the most remarkable cities.&nbsp; It was likewise said that he
+had visited Italy and Barbary.&nbsp; He was, however, invariably
+silent with respect to his travels, and whenever the subject was
+mentioned to him, the gloom and melancholy increased which
+usually clouded his features.</p>
+<p>One day, in the commencement of autumn, he was visited by a
+priest with whom he had long been intimate, and for whom he had
+always displayed a greater respect and liking than for any other
+acquaintance.&nbsp; The ecclesiastic found him even more sad than
+usual, and there was a haggard paleness upon his countenance
+which alarmed his visitor.&nbsp; The good priest made
+affectionate inquiries respecting the health of his friend, and
+whether anything had of late occurred to give him uneasiness;
+adding at the same time, that he had long suspected that some
+secret lay heavy upon his mind, which he now conjured him to
+reveal, as life was uncertain, and it was very possible that he
+might be quickly summoned from earth into the presence of his
+Maker.</p>
+<p>The bookseller continued for some time in gloomy meditation,
+till at last he broke silence in these words:&mdash;&lsquo;It is
+true I have a secret which weighs heavy upon my mind, and which I
+am still loth to reveal; but I have a presentiment that my end is
+approaching, and that a heavy misfortune is about to fall upon
+this city: I will therefore unburden myself, for it were now a
+sin to remain silent.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I am, as you are aware, a native of this town, which I
+first left when I went to acquire an education at Salamanca; I
+continued there until I became a licentiate, when I quitted the
+university and strolled through Spain, supporting myself in
+general by touching the guitar, according to the practice of
+penniless students; my adventures were numerous, and I frequently
+experienced great poverty.&nbsp; Once, whilst making my way from
+Toledo to Andalusia through the wild mountains, I fell in with
+and was made captive by a band of the people called
+Git&aacute;nos, or wandering Egyptians; they in general lived
+amongst these wilds, and plundered or murdered every person whom
+they met.&nbsp; I should probably have been assassinated by them,
+but my skill in music perhaps saved my life.&nbsp; I continued
+with them a considerable time, till at last they persuaded me to
+become one of them, whereupon I was inaugurated into their
+society with many strange and horrid ceremonies, and having thus
+become a Git&aacute;no, I went with them to plunder and
+assassinate upon the roads.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The Count or head man of these Git&aacute;nos had an
+only daughter, about my own age; she was very beautiful, but, at
+the same time, exceedingly strong and robust; this Git&aacute;na
+was given to me as a wife or cadjee, and I lived with her several
+years, and she bore me children.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;My wife was an arrant Git&aacute;na, and in her all the
+wickedness of her race seemed to be concentrated.&nbsp; At last
+her father was killed in an affray with the troopers of the
+Hermandad, whereupon my wife and myself succeeded to the
+authority which he had formerly exercised in the tribe.&nbsp; We
+had at first loved each other, but at last the Git&aacute;no
+life, with its accompanying wickedness, becoming hateful to my
+eyes, my wife, who was not slow in perceiving my altered
+disposition, conceived for me the most deadly hatred;
+apprehending that I meditated withdrawing myself from the
+society, and perhaps betraying the secrets of the band, she
+formed a conspiracy against me, and, at one time, being opposite
+the Moorish coast, I was seized and bound by the other
+Git&aacute;nos, conveyed across the sea, and delivered as a slave
+into the hands of the Moors.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I continued for a long time in slavery in various parts
+of Morocco and Fez, until I was at length redeemed from my state
+of bondage by a missionary friar who paid my ransom.&nbsp; With
+him I shortly after departed for Italy, of which he was a
+native.&nbsp; In that country I remained some years, until a
+longing to revisit my native land seized me, when I returned to
+Spain and established myself here, where I have since lived by
+vending books, many of which I brought from the strange lands
+which I visited.&nbsp; I kept my history, however, a profound
+secret, being afraid of exposing myself to the laws in force
+against the Git&aacute;nos, to which I should instantly become
+amenable, were it once known that I had at any time been a member
+of this detestable sect.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;My present wretchedness, of which you have demanded the
+cause, dates from yesterday; I had been on a short journey to the
+Augustine convent, which stands on the plain in the direction of
+Saragossa, carrying with me an Arabian book, which a learned monk
+was desirous of seeing.&nbsp; Night overtook me ere I could
+return.&nbsp; I speedily lost my way, and wandered about until I
+came near a dilapidated edifice with which I was acquainted; I
+was about to proceed in the direction of the town, when I heard
+voices within the ruined walls; I listened, and recognised the
+language of the abhorred Git&aacute;nos; I was about to fly, when
+a word arrested me.&nbsp; It was Drao, which in their tongue
+signifies the horrid poison with which this race are in the habit
+of destroying the cattle; they now said that the men of
+Logro&ntilde;o should rue the Drao which they had been
+casting.&nbsp; I heard no more, but fled.&nbsp; What increased my
+fear was, that in the words spoken, I thought I recognised the
+peculiar jargon of my own tribe; I repeat, that I believe some
+horrible misfortune is overhanging this city, and that my own
+days are numbered.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The priest, having conversed with him for some time upon
+particular points of the history that he had related, took his
+leave, advising him to compose his spirits, as he saw no reason
+why he should indulge in such gloomy forebodings.</p>
+<p>The very next day a sickness broke out in the town of
+Logro&ntilde;o.&nbsp; It was one of a peculiar kind; unlike most
+others, it did not arise by slow and gradual degrees, but at once
+appeared in full violence, in the shape of a terrific
+epidemic.&nbsp; Dizziness in the head was the first symptom: then
+convulsive retchings, followed by a dreadful struggle between
+life and death, which generally terminated in favour of the grim
+destroyer.&nbsp; The bodies, after the spirit which animated them
+had taken flight, were frightfully swollen, and exhibited a dark
+blue colour, checkered with crimson spots.&nbsp; Nothing was
+heard within the houses or the streets, but groans of agony; no
+remedy was at hand, and the powers of medicine were exhausted in
+vain upon this terrible pest; so that within a few days the
+greatest part of the inhabitants of Logro&ntilde;o had
+perished.&nbsp; The bookseller had not been seen since the
+commencement of this frightful visitation.</p>
+<p>Once, at the dead of night, a knock was heard at the door of
+the priest, of whom we have already spoken; the priest himself
+staggered to the door, and opened it,&mdash;he was the only one
+who remained alive in the house, and was himself slowly
+recovering from the malady which had destroyed all the other
+inmates; a wild spectral-looking figure presented itself to his
+eye&mdash;it was his friend Alvarez.&nbsp; Both went into the
+house, when the bookseller, glancing gloomily on the wasted
+features of the priest, exclaimed, &lsquo;You too, I see, amongst
+others, have cause to rue the Drao which the Git&aacute;nos have
+cast.&nbsp; Know,&rsquo; he continued, &lsquo;that in order to
+accomplish a detestable plan, the fountains of Logro&ntilde;o
+have been poisoned by emissaries of the roving bands, who are now
+assembled in the neighbourhood.&nbsp; On the first appearance of
+the disorder, from which I happily escaped by tasting the water
+of a private fountain, which I possess in my own house, I
+instantly recognised the effects of the poison of the
+Git&aacute;nos, brought by their ancestors from the isles of the
+Indian sea; and suspecting their intentions, I disguised myself
+as a Git&aacute;no, and went forth in the hope of being able to
+act as a spy upon their actions.&nbsp; I have been successful,
+and am at present thoroughly acquainted with their designs.&nbsp;
+They intended, from the first, to sack the town, as soon as it
+should have been emptied of its defenders.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Midday, to-morrow, is the hour in which they have
+determined to make the attempt.&nbsp; There is no time to be
+lost; let us, therefore, warn those of our townsmen who still
+survive, in order that they may make preparations for their
+defence.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Whereupon the two friends proceeded to the chief magistrate,
+who had been but slightly affected by the disorder; he heard the
+tale of the bookseller with horror and astonishment, and
+instantly took the best measures possible for frustrating the
+designs of the Git&aacute;nos; all the men capable of bearing
+arms in Logro&ntilde;o were assembled, and weapons of every
+description put in their hands.&nbsp; By the advice of the
+bookseller all the gates of the town were shut, with the
+exception of the principal one; and the little band of defenders,
+which barely amounted to sixty men, was stationed in the great
+square, to which, he said, it was the intention of the
+Git&aacute;nos to penetrate in the first instance, and then,
+dividing themselves into various parties, to sack the
+place.&nbsp; The bookseller was, by general desire, constituted
+leader of the guardians of the town.</p>
+<p>It was considerably past noon; the sky was overcast, and
+tempest clouds, fraught with lightning and thunder, were hanging
+black and horrid over the town of Logro&ntilde;o.&nbsp; The
+little troop, resting on their arms, stood awaiting the arrival
+of their unnatural enemies; rage fired their minds as they
+thought of the deaths of their fathers, their sons, and their
+dearest relatives, who had perished, not by the hand of God, but,
+like infected cattle, by the hellish arts of Egyptian
+sorcerers.&nbsp; They longed for their appearance, determined to
+wreak upon them a bloody revenge; not a word was uttered, and
+profound silence reigned around, only interrupted by the
+occasional muttering of the thunder-clouds.&nbsp; Suddenly,
+Alvarez, who had been intently listening, raised his hand with a
+significant gesture; presently, a sound was heard&mdash;a
+rustling like the waving of trees, or the rushing of distant
+water; it gradually increased, and seemed to proceed from the
+narrow street which led from the principal gate into the
+square.&nbsp; All eyes were turned in that direction. . . .</p>
+<p>That night there was repique or ringing of bells in the towers
+of Logro&ntilde;o, and the few priests who had escaped from the
+pestilence sang litanies to God and the Virgin for the salvation
+of the town from the hands of the heathen.&nbsp; The attempt of
+the Git&aacute;nos had been most signally defeated, and the great
+square and the street were strewn with their corpses.&nbsp; Oh!
+what frightful objects: there lay grim men more black than
+mulattos, with fury and rage in their stiffened features; wild
+women in extraordinary dresses, their hair, black and long as the
+tail of the horse, spread all dishevelled upon the ground; and
+gaunt and naked children grasping knives and daggers in their
+tiny hands.&nbsp; Of the patriotic troop not one appeared to have
+fallen; and when, after their enemies had retreated with howlings
+of fiendish despair, they told their numbers, only one man was
+missing, who was never seen again, and that man was Alvarez.</p>
+<p>In the midst of the combat, the tempest, which had for a long
+time been gathering, burst over Logro&ntilde;o, in lightning,
+thunder, darkness, and vehement hail.</p>
+<p>A man of the town asserted that the last time he had seen
+Alvarez, the latter was far in advance of his companions,
+defending himself desperately against three powerful young
+heathen, who seemed to be acting under the direction of a tall
+woman who stood nigh, covered with barbaric ornaments, and
+wearing on her head a rude silver crown. <a
+name="citation69"></a><a href="#footnote69"
+class="citation">[69]</a></p>
+<p>Such is the tale of the Bookseller of Logro&ntilde;o, and such
+is the narrative of the attempt of the Git&aacute;nos to sack the
+town in the time of pestilence, which is alluded to by many
+Spanish authors, but more particularly by the learned Francisco
+de Cordova, in his <i>Didascalia</i>, one of the most curious and
+instructive books within the circle of universal literature.</p>
+<h3><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+71</span>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Moors, after their subjugation,
+and previous to their expulsion from Spain, generally resided
+apart, principally in the suburbs of the towns, where they kept
+each other in countenance, being hated and despised by the
+Spaniards, and persecuted on all occasions.&nbsp; By this means
+they preserved, to a certain extent, the Arabic language, though
+the use of it was strictly forbidden, and encouraged each other
+in the secret exercise of the rites of the Mohammedan religion,
+so that, until the moment of their final expulsion, they
+continued Moors in almost every sense of the word.&nbsp; Such
+places were called Morerias, or quarters of the Moors.</p>
+<p>In like manner there were Gitanerias, or quarters of the
+Git&aacute;nos, in many of the towns of Spain; and in more than
+one instance particular barrios or districts are still known by
+this name, though the Git&aacute;nos themselves have long since
+disappeared.&nbsp; Even in the town of Oviedo, in the heart of
+the Asturias, a province never famous for Git&aacute;nos, there
+is a place called the Gitaneria, though no Git&aacute;no has been
+known to reside in the town within the memory of man, nor indeed
+been seen, save, perhaps, as a chance visitor at a fair.</p>
+<p>The exact period when the Git&aacute;nos first formed these
+colonies within the towns is not known; the laws, however, which
+commanded them to abandon their wandering life under penalty of
+banishment and death, and to become stationary in towns, may have
+induced them first to take such a step.&nbsp; By the first of
+these laws, which was made by Ferdinand and Isabella as far back
+as the year 1499, they are commanded to seek out for themselves
+masters.&nbsp; This injunction they utterly disregarded.&nbsp;
+Some of them for fear of the law, or from the hope of bettering
+their condition, may have settled down in the towns, cities, and
+villages for a time, but to expect that a people, in whose bosoms
+was so deeply rooted the love of lawless independence, would
+subject themselves to the yoke of servitude, from any motive
+whatever, was going too far; as well might it have been expected,
+according to the words of the great poet of Persia, <i>that they
+would have washed their skins white</i>.</p>
+<p>In these Gitanerias, therefore, many Gypsy families resided,
+but ever in the Gypsy fashion, in filth and in misery, with
+little of the fear of man, and nothing of the fear of God before
+their eyes.&nbsp; Here the swarthy children basked naked in the
+sun before the doors; here the women prepared love draughts, or
+told the buena ventura; and here the men plied the trade of the
+blacksmith, a forbidden occupation, or prepared for sale, by
+disguising them, animals stolen by themselves or their
+accomplices.&nbsp; In these places were harboured the strange
+Git&aacute;nos on their arrival, and here were discussed in the
+Rommany language, which, like the Arabic, was forbidden under
+severe penalties, plans of fraud and plunder, which were perhaps
+intended to be carried into effect in a distant province and a
+distant city.</p>
+<p>The great body, however, of the Gypsy race in Spain continued
+independent wanderers of the plains and the mountains, and indeed
+the denizens of the Gitanerias were continually sallying forth,
+either for the purpose of reuniting themselves with the wandering
+tribes, or of strolling about from town to town, and from fair to
+fair.&nbsp; Hence the continual complaints in the Spanish laws
+against the Git&aacute;nos who have left their places of
+domicile, from doing which they were interdicted, even as they
+were interdicted from speaking their language and following the
+occupations of the blacksmith and horse-dealer, in which they
+still persist even at the present day.</p>
+<p>The Gitanerias at evening fall were frequently resorted to by
+individuals widely differing in station from the inmates of these
+places&mdash;we allude to the young and dissolute nobility and
+hidalgos of Spain.&nbsp; This was generally the time of mirth and
+festival, and the Git&aacute;nos, male and female, danced and
+sang in the Gypsy fashion beneath the smile of the moon.&nbsp;
+The Gypsy women and girls were the principal attractions to these
+visitors; wild and singular as these females are in their
+appearance, there can be no doubt, for the fact has been
+frequently proved, that they are capable of exciting passion of
+the most ardent description, particularly in the bosoms of those
+who are not of their race, which passion of course becomes the
+more violent when the almost utter impossibility of gratifying it
+is known.&nbsp; No females in the world can be more licentious in
+word and gesture, in dance and in song, than the Git&aacute;nas;
+but there they stop: and so of old, if their titled visitors
+presumed to seek for more, an unsheathed dagger or gleaming knife
+speedily repulsed those who expected that the gem most dear
+amongst the sect of the Roma was within the reach of a Busno.</p>
+<p>Such visitors, however, were always encouraged to a certain
+point, and by this and various other means the Git&aacute;nos
+acquired connections which frequently stood them in good stead in
+the hour of need.&nbsp; What availed it to the honest labourers
+of the neighbourhood, or the citizens of the town, to make
+complaints to the corregidor concerning the thefts and frauds
+committed by the Git&aacute;nos, when perhaps the sons of that
+very corregidor frequented the nightly dances at the Gitaneria,
+and were deeply enamoured with some of the dark-eyed
+singing-girls?&nbsp; What availed making complaints, when perhaps
+a Gypsy sibyl, the mother of those very girls, had free admission
+to the house of the corregidor at all times and seasons, and
+spaed the good fortune to his daughters, promising them counts
+and dukes, and Andalusian knights in marriage, or prepared
+philtres for his lady by which she was always to reign supreme in
+the affections of her husband?&nbsp; And, above all, what availed
+it to the plundered party to complain that his mule or horse had
+been stolen, when the Git&aacute;no robber, perhaps the husband
+of the sibyl and the father of the black-eyed Gitanillas, was at
+that moment actually in treaty with my lord the corregidor
+himself for supplying him with some splendid thick-maned,
+long-tailed steed at a small price, to be obtained, as the reader
+may well suppose, by an infraction of the laws?&nbsp; The favour
+and protection which the Git&aacute;nos experienced from people
+of high rank is alluded to in the Spanish laws, and can only be
+accounted for by the motives above detailed.</p>
+<p>The Gitanerias were soon considered as public nuisances, on
+which account the Git&aacute;nos were forbidden to live together
+in particular parts of the town, to hold meetings, and even to
+intermarry with each other; yet it does not appear that the
+Gitanerias were ever suppressed by the arm of the law, as many
+still exist where these singular beings &lsquo;marry and are
+given in marriage,&rsquo; and meet together to discuss their
+affairs, which, in their opinion, never flourish unless those of
+their fellow-creatures suffer.&nbsp; So much for the Gitanerias,
+or Gypsy colonies in the towns of Spain.</p>
+<h3><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+76</span>CHAPTER V</h3>
+<p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Los</span> Git&aacute;nos son muy
+malos!&mdash;the Gypsies are very bad people,&rsquo; said the
+Spaniards of old times.&nbsp; They are cheats; they are
+highwaymen; they practise sorcery; and, lest the catalogue of
+their offences should be incomplete, a formal charge of
+cannibalism was brought against them.&nbsp; Cheats they have
+always been, and highwaymen, and if not sorcerers, they have
+always done their best to merit that appellation, by arrogating
+to themselves supernatural powers; but that they were addicted to
+cannibalism is a matter not so easily proved.</p>
+<p>Their principal accuser was Don Juan de Qui&ntilde;ones, who,
+in the work from which we have already had occasion to quote,
+gives several anecdotes illustrative of their cannibal
+propensities.&nbsp; Most of these anecdotes, however, are so
+highly absurd, that none but the very credulous could ever have
+vouchsafed them the slightest credit.&nbsp; This author is
+particularly fond of speaking of a certain juez, or judge, called
+Don Martin Fajardo, who seems to have been an arrant
+Gypsy-hunter, and was probably a member of the ancient family of
+the Fajardos, which still flourishes in Estremadura, and with
+individuals of which we are acquainted.&nbsp; So it came to pass
+that this personage was, in the year 1629, at Jaraicejo, in
+Estremadura, or, as it is written in the little book in question,
+Zaraizejo, in the capacity of judge; a zealous one he undoubtedly
+was.</p>
+<p>A very strange place is this same Jaraicejo, a small ruinous
+town or village, situated on a rising ground, with a very wild
+country all about it.&nbsp; The road from Badajoz to Madrid
+passes through it; and about two leagues distant, in the
+direction of Madrid, is the famous mountain pass of
+Mirab&eacute;te, from the top of which you enjoy a most
+picturesque view across the Tagus, which flows below, as far as
+the huge mountains of Plasencia, the tops of which are generally
+covered with snow.</p>
+<p>So this Don Martin Fajardo, judge, being at Jaraicejo, laid
+his claw upon four Git&aacute;nos, and having nothing, as it
+appears, to accuse them of, except being Git&aacute;nos, put them
+to the torture, and made them accuse themselves, which they did;
+for, on the first appeal which was made to the rack, they
+confessed that they had murdered a female Gypsy in the forest of
+Las Gamas, and had there eaten her. . . .</p>
+<p>I am myself well acquainted with this same forest of Las
+Gamas, which lies between Jaraicejo and Trujillo; it abounds with
+chestnut and cork trees, and is a place very well suited either
+for the purpose of murder or cannibalism.&nbsp; It will be as
+well to observe that I visited it in company with a band of
+Git&aacute;nos, who bivouacked there, and cooked their supper,
+which however did not consist of human flesh, but of a
+puch&eacute;ra, the ingredients of which were beef, bacon,
+garbanzos, and berdolaga, or field-pease and
+purslain,&mdash;therefore I myself can bear testimony that there
+is such a forest as Las Gamas, and that it is frequented
+occasionally by Gypsies, by which two points are established by
+far the most important to the history in question, or so at least
+it would be thought in Spain, for being sure of the forest and
+the Gypsies, few would be incredulous enough to doubt the facts
+of the murder and cannibalism. . . .</p>
+<p>On being put to the rack a second time, the Git&aacute;nos
+confessed that they had likewise murdered and eaten a female
+pilgrim in the forest aforesaid; and on being tortured yet again,
+that they had served in the same manner, and in the same forest,
+a friar of the order of San Francisco, whereupon they were
+released from the rack and executed.&nbsp; This is one of the
+anecdotes of Qui&ntilde;ones.</p>
+<p>And it came to pass, moreover, that the said Fajardo, being in
+the town of Montijo, was told by the alcalde, that a certain
+inhabitant of that place had some time previous lost a mare; and
+wandering about the plains in quest of her, he arrived at a place
+called Arroyo el Puerco, where stood a ruined house, on entering
+which he found various Git&aacute;nos employed in preparing their
+dinner, which consisted of a quarter of a human body, which was
+being roasted before a huge fire: the result, however, we are not
+told; whether the Gypsies were angry at being disturbed in their
+cookery, or whether the man of the mare departed unobserved.</p>
+<p>Qui&ntilde;ones, in continuation, states in his book that he
+learned (he does not say from whom, but probably from Fajardo)
+that there was a shepherd of the city of Gaudix, who once lost
+his way in the wild sierra of Gadol: night came on, and the wind
+blew cold: he wandered about until he descried a light in the
+distance, towards which he bent his way, supposing it to be a
+fire kindled by shepherds: on arriving at the spot, however, he
+found a whole tribe of Gypsies, who were roasting the half of a
+man, the other half being hung on a cork-tree: the Gypsies
+welcomed him very heartily, and requested him to be seated at the
+fire and to sup with them; but he presently heard them whisper to
+each other, &lsquo;this is a fine fat fellow,&rsquo; from which
+he suspected that they were meditating a design upon his body:
+whereupon, feeling himself sleepy, he made as if he were seeking
+a spot where to lie, and suddenly darted headlong down the
+mountain-side, and escaped from their hands without breaking his
+neck.</p>
+<p>These anecdotes scarcely deserve comment; first we have the
+statement of Fajardo, the fool or knave who tortures wretches,
+and then puts them to death for the crimes with which they have
+taxed themselves whilst undergoing the agony of the rack,
+probably with the hope of obtaining a moment&rsquo;s respite;
+last comes the tale of the shepherd, who is invited by Gypsies on
+a mountain at night to partake of a supper of human flesh, and
+who runs away from them on hearing them talk of the fatness of
+his own body, as if cannibal robbers detected in their orgies by
+a single interloper would have afforded him a chance of
+escaping.&nbsp; Such tales cannot be true. <a
+name="citation79"></a><a href="#footnote79"
+class="citation">[79]</a></p>
+<p>Cases of cannibalism are said to have occurred in Hungary
+amongst the Gypsies; indeed, the whole race, in that country, has
+been accused of cannibalism, to which we have alluded whilst
+speaking of the Chingany: it is very probable, however, that they
+were quite innocent of this odious practice, and that the
+accusation had its origin in popular prejudice, or in the fact of
+their foul feeding, and their seldom rejecting carrion or offal
+of any description.</p>
+<p>The Gazette of Frankfort for the year 1782, Nos. 157 and 207,
+states that one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged
+with this practice; and that the Empress Teresa sent
+commissioners to inquire into the facts of the accusation, who
+discovered that they were true; whereupon the empress published a
+law to oblige all the Gypsies in her dominions to become
+stationary, which, however, had no effect.</p>
+<p>Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own
+knowledge.</p>
+<p>After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to
+devote a few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet.&nbsp; I
+believe that it has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of
+the world, are perfectly indifferent as to what they eat,
+provided only that they can appease their hunger; and that they
+have no objection to partake of the carcasses of animals which
+have died a natural death, and have been left to putrefy by the
+roadside; moreover, that they use for food all kinds of reptiles
+and vermin which they can lay their hands upon.</p>
+<p>In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same
+time it must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of
+the Gypsies in regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to
+favour the supposition.&nbsp; This observation chiefly holds good
+with respect to those of the Gypsy race who still continue in a
+wandering state, and who, doubtless, retain more of the ways and
+customs of their forefathers than those who have adopted a
+stationary life.&nbsp; There can be no doubt that the wanderers
+amongst the Gypsy race are occasionally seen to feast upon
+carcasses of cattle which have been abandoned to the birds of the
+air, yet it would be wrong, from this fact, to conclude that the
+Gypsies were habitual devourers of carrion.&nbsp; Carrion it is
+true they may occasionally devour, from want of better food, but
+many of these carcasses are not in reality the carrion which they
+appear, but are the bodies of animals which the Gypsies have
+themselves killed by casting drao, in hope that the flesh may
+eventually be abandoned to them.&nbsp; It is utterly useless to
+write about the habits of the Gypsies, especially of the
+wandering tribes, unless you have lived long and intimately with
+them; and unhappily, up to the present time, all the books which
+have been published concerning them have been written by those
+who have introduced themselves into their society for a few
+hours, and from what they have seen or heard consider themselves
+competent to give the world an idea of the manners and customs of
+the mysterious Rommany: thus, because they have been known to beg
+the carcass of a hog which they themselves have poisoned, it has
+been asserted that they prefer carrion which has perished of
+sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because they have been
+seen to make a ragout of boror (<i>snails</i>), and to roast a
+hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that reptiles of
+every description form a part of their cuisine.&nbsp; It is high
+time to undeceive the Gentiles on these points.&nbsp; Know, then,
+O Gentile, whether thou be from the land of the Gorgios <a
+name="citation82a"></a><a href="#footnote82a"
+class="citation">[82a]</a> or the Busn&eacute; <a
+name="citation82b"></a><a href="#footnote82b"
+class="citation">[82b]</a>, that the very Gypsies who consider a
+ragout of snails a delicious dish will not touch an eel, because
+it bears resemblance to a <i>snake</i>; and that those who will
+feast on a roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste
+a squirrel, a delicious and wholesome species of game, living on
+the purest and most nutritious food which the fields and forests
+can supply.&nbsp; I myself, while living among the Roms of
+England, have been regarded almost in the light of a cannibal for
+cooking the latter animal and preferring it to hotchiwitchu
+barbecued, or ragout of boror.&nbsp; &lsquo;You are but half
+Rommany, brother,&rsquo; they would say, &lsquo;and you feed
+gorgiko-nes (<i>like a Gentile</i>), even as you talk.&nbsp;
+Tchachipen (<i>in truth</i>), if we did not know you to be of the
+Mecralliskoe rat (<i>royal blood</i>) of Pharaoh, we should be
+justified in driving you forth as a juggel-mush (<i>dog man</i>),
+one more fitted to keep company with wild beasts and Gorgios than
+gentle Rommanys.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>No person can read the present volume without perceiving, at a
+glance, that the Romas are in most points an anomalous people; in
+their morality there is much of anomaly, and certainly not less
+in their cuisine.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Los Git&aacute;nos son muy malos; llevan ni&ntilde;os
+hurtados a Berberia.&nbsp; The Gypsies are very bad people; they
+steal children and carry them to Barbary, where they sell them to
+the Moors&rsquo;&mdash;so said the Spaniards in old times.&nbsp;
+There can be little doubt that even before the fall of the
+kingdom of Granada, which occurred in the year 1492, the
+Git&aacute;nos had intercourse with the Moors of Spain.&nbsp;
+Andalusia, which has ever been the province where the
+Git&aacute;no race has most abounded since its arrival, was,
+until the edict of Philip the Third, which banished more than a
+million of Moriscos from Spain, principally peopled by Moors, who
+differed from the Spaniards both in language and religion.&nbsp;
+By living even as wanderers amongst these people, the
+Git&aacute;nos naturally became acquainted with their tongue, and
+with many of their customs, which of course much facilitated any
+connection which they might subsequently form with the
+Barbaresques.&nbsp; Between the Moors of Barbary and the
+Spaniards a deadly and continued war raged for centuries, both
+before and after the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain.&nbsp;
+The Git&aacute;nos, who cared probably as little for one nation
+as the other, and who have no sympathy and affection beyond the
+pale of their own sect, doubtless sided with either as their
+interest dictated, officiating as spies for both parties and
+betraying both.</p>
+<p>It is likely enough that they frequently passed over to
+Barbary with stolen children of both sexes, whom they sold to the
+Moors, who traffic in slaves, whether white or black, even at the
+present day; and perhaps this kidnapping trade gave occasion to
+other relations.&nbsp; As they were perfectly acquainted, from
+their wandering life, with the shores of the Spanish
+Mediterranean, they must have been of considerable assistance to
+the Barbary pirates in their marauding trips to the Spanish
+coasts, both as guides and advisers; and as it was a far easier
+matter, and afforded a better prospect of gain, to plunder the
+Spaniards than the Moors, a people almost as wild as themselves,
+they were, on that account, and that only, more Moors than
+Christians, and ever willing to assist the former in their forays
+on the latter.</p>
+<p>Qui&ntilde;ones observes: &lsquo;The Moors, with whom they
+hold correspondence, let them go and come without any let or
+obstacle: an instance of this was seen in the year 1627, when two
+galleys from Spain were carrying assistance to Marmora, which was
+then besieged by the Moors.&nbsp; These galleys struck on a
+shoal, when the Moors seized all the people on board, making
+captives of the Christians and setting at liberty all the Moors,
+who were chained to the oar; as for the Gypsy galley-slaves whom
+they found amongst these last, they did not make them slaves, but
+received them as people friendly to them, and at their devotion;
+which matter was public and notorious.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Of the Moors and the Git&aacute;nos we shall have occasion to
+say something in the following chapter.</p>
+<h3><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+85</span>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is no portion of the world so
+little known as Africa in general; and perhaps of all Africa
+there is no corner with which Europeans are so little acquainted
+as Barbary, which nevertheless is only separated from the
+continent of Europe by a narrow strait of four leagues
+across.</p>
+<p>China itself has, for upwards of a century, ceased to be a
+land of mystery to the civilised portion of the world; the
+enterprising children of Loyola having wandered about it in every
+direction making converts to their doctrine and discipline,
+whilst the Russians possess better maps of its vast regions than
+of their own country, and lately, owing to the persevering labour
+and searching eye of my friend Hyacinth, Archimandrite of Saint
+John Nefsky, are acquainted with the number of its military force
+to a man, and also with the names and places of residence of its
+civil servants.&nbsp; Yet who possesses a map of Fez and Morocco,
+or would venture to form a conjecture as to how many fiery
+horsemen Abderrahman, the mulatto emperor, could lead to the
+field, were his sandy dominions threatened by the Nazarene?&nbsp;
+Yet Fez is scarcely two hundred leagues distant from Madrid,
+whilst Maraks, the other great city of the Moors, and which also
+has given its name to an empire, is scarcely farther removed from
+Paris, the capital of civilisation: in a word, we scarcely know
+anything of Barbary, the scanty information which we possess
+being confined to a few towns on the sea-coast; the zeal of the
+Jesuit himself being insufficient to induce him to confront the
+perils of the interior, in the hopeless endeavour of making one
+single proselyte from amongst the wildest fanatics of the creed
+of the Prophet Camel-driver.</p>
+<p>Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary?&nbsp;
+This is a question which I have frequently asked myself.&nbsp;
+Several respectable authors have, I believe, asserted the fact,
+amongst whom Adelung, who, speaking of the Gypsies, says:
+&lsquo;Four hundred years have passed away since they departed
+from their native land.&nbsp; During this time, they have spread
+themselves through the whole of Western Asia, Europe, and
+Northern Africa.&rsquo; <a name="citation86"></a><a
+href="#footnote86" class="citation">[86]</a>&nbsp; But it is one
+thing to make an assertion, and another to produce the grounds
+for making it.&nbsp; I believe it would require a far greater
+stock of information than has hitherto been possessed by any one
+who has written on the subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in
+asserting positively that after traversing the west of Europe,
+they spread themselves over Northern Africa, though true it is
+that to those who take a superficial view of the matter, nothing
+appears easier and more natural than to come to such a
+conclusion.</p>
+<p>Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is
+opposite to Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running
+between, less wide than many rivers.&nbsp; Bands, therefore, of
+these wanderers, of course, on reaching Tarifa, passed over into
+Africa, even as thousands crossed the channel from France to
+England.&nbsp; They have at all times shown themselves
+extravagantly fond of a roving life.&nbsp; What land is better
+adapted for such a life than Africa and its wilds?&nbsp; What
+land, therefore, more likely to entice them?</p>
+<p>All this is very plausible.&nbsp; It was easy enough for the
+Git&aacute;nos to pass over to Tangier and Tetuan from the
+Spanish towns of Tarifa and Algeziras.&nbsp; In the last chapter
+I have stated my belief of the fact, and that moreover they
+formed certain connections with the Moors of the coast, to whom
+it is likely that they occasionally sold children stolen in
+Spain; yet such connection would by no means have opened them a
+passage into the interior of Barbary, which is inhabited by wild
+and fierce people, in comparison with whom the Moors of the
+coast, bad as they always have been, are gentle and
+civilised.</p>
+<p>To penetrate into Africa, the Git&aacute;nos would have been
+compelled to pass through the tribes who speak the Shilha
+language, and who are the descendants of the ancient
+Numidians.&nbsp; These tribes are the most untamable and warlike
+of mankind, and at the same time the most suspicious, and those
+who entertain the greatest aversion to foreigners.&nbsp; They are
+dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have always remained, to a
+certain degree, independent of the emperors of Morocco.&nbsp;
+They are the most terrible of robbers and murderers, and
+entertain far more reluctance to spill water than the blood of
+their fellow-creatures: the Bedouins, also, of the Arabian race,
+are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would not have failed
+instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever they
+found them, and in all probability would have exterminated
+them.&nbsp; Now the Git&aacute;nos, such as they arrived in
+Barbary, could not have defended themselves against such enemies,
+had they even arrived in large divisions, instead of bands of
+twenties and thirties, as is their custom to travel.&nbsp; They
+are not by nature nor by habit a warlike race, and would have
+quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most other people,
+engage in wars from what appears to be an innate love of the
+cruel and bloody scenes attendant on war.</p>
+<p>It may be said, that if the Git&aacute;nos were able to make
+their way from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the
+province which the learned consider to be the original
+dwelling-place of the race, to such an immense distance as the
+western part of Spain, passing necessarily through many wild
+lands and tribes, why might they not have penetrated into the
+heart of Barbary, and wherefore may not their descendants be
+still there, following the same kind of life as the European
+Gypsies, that is, wandering about from place to place, and
+maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?</p>
+<p>But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition
+of Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and
+dangerous for a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to
+Multan, than from the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an
+insignificant distance.&nbsp; True it is, that, from their
+intercourse with the Moors of Spain, the Gypsies might have
+become acquainted with the Arabic language, and might even have
+adopted the Moorish dress, ere entering Barbary; and, moreover,
+might have professed belief in the religion of Mahomet; still
+they would have been known as foreigners, and, on that account,
+would have been assuredly attacked by the people of the interior,
+had they gone amongst them, who, according to the usual practice,
+would either have massacred them or made them slaves; and as
+slaves, they would have been separated.&nbsp; The mulatto hue of
+their countenances would probably have insured them the latter
+fate, as all blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the Moor are
+properly slaves, and can be bought and sold, unless by some means
+or other they become free, in which event their colour is no
+obstacle to their elevation to the highest employments and
+dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and provinces, or
+even to their ascending the throne.&nbsp; Several emperors of
+Morocco have been mulattos.</p>
+<p>Above I have pointed out all the difficulties and dangers
+which must have attended the path of the Git&aacute;nos, had they
+passed from Spain into Barbary, and attempted to spread
+themselves over that region, as over Europe and many parts of
+Asia.&nbsp; To these observations I have been led by the
+assertion that they accomplished this, and no proof of the fact
+having, as I am aware, ever been adduced; for who amongst those
+who have made such a statement has seen or conversed with the
+Egyptians of Barbary, or had sufficient intercourse with them to
+justify him in the assertion that they are one and the same
+people as those of Europe, from whom they differ about as much as
+the various tribes which inhabit various European countries
+differ from each other?&nbsp; At the same time, I wish it to be
+distinctly understood that I am far from denying the existence of
+Gypsies in various parts of the interior of Barbary.&nbsp;
+Indeed, I almost believe the fact, though the information which I
+possess is by no means of a description which would justify me in
+speaking with full certainty; I having myself never come in
+contact with any sect or caste of people amongst the Moors, who
+not only tallied in their pursuits with the Rommany, but who
+likewise spoke amongst themselves a dialect of the language of
+Roma; nor am I aware that any individual worthy of credit has
+ever presumed to say that he has been more fortunate in these
+respects.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, I repeat that I am inclined to believe that
+Gypsies virtually exist in Barbary, and my reasons I shall
+presently adduce; but I will here observe, that if these strange
+outcasts did indeed contrive to penetrate into the heart of that
+savage and inhospitable region, they could only have succeeded
+after having become well acquainted with the Moorish language,
+and when, after a considerable sojourn on the coast, they had
+raised for themselves a name, and were regarded with
+superstitious fear; in a word, if they walked this land of peril
+untouched and unscathed, it was not that they were considered as
+harmless and inoffensive people, which, indeed, would not have
+protected them, and which assuredly they were not; it was not
+that they were mistaken for wandering Moors and Bedouins, from
+whom they differed in feature and complexion, but because,
+wherever they went, they were dreaded as the possessors of
+supernatural powers, and as mighty sorcerers.</p>
+<p>There is in Barbary more than one sect of wanderers, which, to
+the cursory observer, might easily appear, and perhaps have
+appeared, in the right of legitimate Gypsies.&nbsp; For example,
+there are the Beni Aros.&nbsp; The proper home of these people is
+in certain high mountains in the neighbourhood of Tetuan, but
+they are to be found roving about the whole kingdom of Fez.&nbsp;
+Perhaps it would be impossible to find, in the whole of Northern
+Africa, a more detestable caste.&nbsp; They are beggars by
+profession, but are exceedingly addicted to robbery and murder;
+they are notorious drunkards, and are infamous, even in Barbary,
+for their unnatural lusts.&nbsp; They are, for the most part,
+well made and of comely features.&nbsp; I have occasionally
+spoken with them; they are Moors, and speak no language but the
+Arabic.</p>
+<p>Then there is the sect of Sidi Hamed au Muza, a very roving
+people, companies of whom are generally to be found in all the
+principal towns of Barbary.&nbsp; The men are expert vaulters and
+tumblers, and perform wonderful feats of address with swords and
+daggers, to the sound of wild music, which the women, seated on
+the ground, produce from uncouth instruments; by these means they
+obtain a livelihood.&nbsp; Their dress is picturesque, scarlet
+vest and white drawers.&nbsp; In many respects they not a little
+resemble the Gypsies; but they are not an evil people, and are
+looked upon with much respect by the Moors, who call them
+Santons.&nbsp; Their patron saint is Hamed au Muza, and from him
+they derive their name.&nbsp; Their country is on the confines of
+the Sahara, or great desert, and their language is the Shilhah,
+or a dialect thereof.&nbsp; They speak but little Arabic.&nbsp;
+When I saw them for the first time, I believed them to be of the
+Gypsy caste, but was soon undeceived.&nbsp; A more wandering race
+does not exist than the children of Sidi Hamed au Muza.&nbsp;
+They have even visited France, and exhibited their dexterity and
+agility at Paris and Marseilles.</p>
+<p>I will now say a few words concerning another sect which
+exists in Barbary, and will here premise, that if those who
+compose it are not Gypsies, such people are not to be found in
+North Africa, and the assertion, hitherto believed, that they
+abound there, is devoid of foundation.&nbsp; I allude to certain
+men and women, generally termed by the Moors &lsquo;Those of the
+Dar-bushi-fal,&rsquo; which word is equivalent to prophesying or
+fortune-telling.&nbsp; They are great wanderers, but have also
+their fixed dwellings or villages, and such a place is called
+&lsquo;Char Seharra,&rsquo; or witch-hamlet.&nbsp; Their manner
+of life, in every respect, resembles that of the Gypsies of other
+countries; they are wanderers during the greatest part of the
+year, and subsist principally by pilfering and
+fortune-telling.&nbsp; They deal much in mules and donkeys, and
+it is believed, in Barbary, that they can change the colour of
+any animal by means of sorcery, and so disguise him as to sell
+him to his very proprietor, without fear of his being
+recognised.&nbsp; This latter trait is quite characteristic of
+the Gypsy race, by whom the same thing is practised in most parts
+of the world.&nbsp; But the Moors assert, that the children of
+the Dar-bushi-fal can not only change the colour of a horse or a
+mule, but likewise of a human being, in one night, transforming a
+white into a black, after which they sell him for a slave; on
+which account the superstitious Moors regard them with the utmost
+dread, and in general prefer passing the night in the open fields
+to sleeping in their hamlets.&nbsp; They are said to possess a
+particular language, which is neither Shilhah nor Arabic, and
+which none but themselves understand; from all which
+circumstances I am led to believe, that the children of the
+Dar-bushi-fal are legitimate Gypsies, descendants of those who
+passed over to Barbary from Spain.&nbsp; Nevertheless, as it has
+never been my fortune to meet or to converse with any of this
+caste, though they are tolerably numerous in Barbary, I am far
+from asserting that they are of Gypsy race.&nbsp; More
+enterprising individuals than myself may, perhaps, establish the
+fact.&nbsp; Any particular language or jargon which they speak
+amongst themselves will be the best criterion.&nbsp; The word
+which they employ for &lsquo;water&rsquo; would decide the point;
+for the Dar-bushi-fal are not Gypsies, if, in their peculiar
+speech, they designate that blessed element and article most
+necessary to human existence by aught else than the Sanscrit term
+&lsquo;Pani,&rsquo; a word brought by the race from sunny Ind,
+and esteemed so holy that they have never even presumed to modify
+it.</p>
+<p>The following is an account of the Dar-bushi-fal, given me by
+a Jew of Fez, who had travelled much in Barbary, and which I
+insert almost literally as I heard it from his mouth.&nbsp;
+Various other individuals, Moors, have spoken of them in much the
+same manner.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;In one of my journeys I passed the night in a place
+called Mulai-Jacub Munsur.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Not far from this place is a Char Seharra, or
+witch-hamlet, where dwell those of the Dar-bushi-fal.&nbsp; These
+are very evil people, and powerful enchanters; for it is well
+known that if any traveller stop to sleep in their Char, they
+will with their sorceries, if he be a white man, turn him as
+black as a coal, and will afterwards sell him as a negro.&nbsp;
+Horses and mules they serve in the same manner, for if they are
+black, they will turn them red, or any other colour which best
+may please them; and although the owners demand justice of the
+authorities, the sorcerers always come off best.&nbsp; They have
+a language which they use among themselves, very different from
+all other languages, so much so that it is impossible to
+understand them.&nbsp; They are very swarthy, quite as much so as
+mulattos, and their faces are exceedingly lean.&nbsp; As for
+their legs, they are like reeds; and when they run, the devil
+himself cannot overtake them.&nbsp; They tell Dar-bushi-fal with
+flour; they fill a plate, and then they are able to tell you
+anything you ask them.&nbsp; They likewise tell it with a shoe;
+they put it in their mouth, and then they will recall to your
+memory every action of your life.&nbsp; They likewise tell
+Dar-bushi-fal with oil; and indeed are, in every respect, most
+powerful sorcerers.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Two women, once on a time, came to Fez, bringing with
+them an exceedingly white donkey, which they placed in the middle
+of the square called Faz el Bali; they then killed it, and cut it
+into upwards of thirty pieces.&nbsp; Upon the ground there was
+much of the donkey&rsquo;s filth and dung; some of this they took
+in their hands, when it straight assumed the appearance of fresh
+dates.&nbsp; There were some people who were greedy enough to put
+these dates into their mouths, and then they found that it was
+dung.&nbsp; These women deceived me amongst the rest with a date;
+when I put it into my mouth, lo and behold it was the
+donkey&rsquo;s dung.&nbsp; After they had collected much money
+from the spectators, one of them took a needle, and ran it into
+the tail of the donkey, crying &ldquo;Arrhe li dar&rdquo; (Get
+home), whereupon the donkey instantly rose up, and set off
+running, kicking every now and then most furiously; and it was
+remarked, that not one single trace of blood remained upon the
+ground, just as if they had done nothing to it.&nbsp; Both these
+women were of the very same Char Seharra which I have already
+mentioned.&nbsp; They likewise took paper, and cut it into the
+shape of a peseta, and a dollar, and a half-dollar, until they
+had made many pesetas and dollars, and then they put them into an
+earthen pan over a fire, and when they took them out, they
+appeared just fresh from the stamp, and with such money these
+people buy all they want.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;There was a friend of my grandfather, who came
+frequently to our house, who was in the habit of making this
+money.&nbsp; One day he took me with him to buy white silk; and
+when they had shown him some, he took the silk in his hand, and
+pressed it to his mouth, and then I saw that the silk, which was
+before white, had become green, even as grass.&nbsp; The master
+of the shop said, &ldquo;Pay me for my silk.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Of what colour was your silk?&rdquo; he demanded.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;White,&rdquo; said the man; whereupon, turning round, he
+cried, &ldquo;Good people, behold, the white silk is
+green&rdquo;; and so he got a pound of silk for nothing; and he
+also was of the Char Seharra.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;They are very evil people indeed, and the emperor
+himself is afraid of them.&nbsp; The poor wretch who falls into
+their hands has cause to rue; they always go badly dressed, and
+exhibit every appearance of misery, though they are far from
+being miserable.&nbsp; Such is the life they lead.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of
+the Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there
+is a foundation of truth in all the facts stated.&nbsp; The
+belief that they are enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into
+a black man had its origin in the great skill which they possess
+in altering the appearance of a horse or a mule, and giving it
+another colour.&nbsp; Their changing white into green silk is a
+very simple trick, and is accomplished by dexterously
+substituting one thing for another.&nbsp; Had the man of the
+Dar-bushi-fal been searched, the white silk would have been found
+upon him.&nbsp; The Gypsies, wherever they are found, are fond of
+this species of fraud.&nbsp; In Germany, for example, they go to
+the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly similar, one in their
+hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks filled with water;
+when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they pretend to be
+dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but contrive
+to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the
+wine-seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the
+contents back, as he thinks, into the butt&mdash;but it is not
+wine but water which he pours.&nbsp; With respect to the donkey,
+which <i>appeared</i> to be cut in pieces, but which afterwards,
+being pricked in the tail, got up and ran home, I have little to
+say, but that I have myself seen almost as strange things without
+believing in sorcery.</p>
+<p>As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere
+feats of legerdemain.</p>
+<p>I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary,
+they are the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.</p>
+<h3><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+98</span>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Chiromancy</span>, or the divination of
+the hand, is, according to the orthodox theory, the determining
+from certain lines upon the hand the quality of the physical and
+intellectual powers of the possessor.</p>
+<p>The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in
+the hand, and the triangle which they form in the palm.&nbsp;
+These lines, which have all their particular and appropriate
+names, and the principal of which is called &lsquo;the line of
+life,&rsquo; are, if we may believe those who have written on the
+subject, connected with the heart, with the genitals, with the
+brain, with the liver or stomach, and the head.&nbsp;
+Torreblanca, <a name="citation98"></a><a href="#footnote98"
+class="citation">[98]</a> in his curious and learned book on
+magic, observes: &lsquo;In judging these lines you must pay
+attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together
+with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the
+line be well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour,
+without being intermitted or <i>puncturis infecta</i>, it denotes
+the good complexion and virtue of its member, according to
+Aristotle.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;So that if the line of the heart be found
+sufficiently long and reasonably deep, and not crossed by other
+accidental lines, it is an infallible sign of the health of the
+heart and the great virtue of the heart, and the abundance of
+spirits and good blood in the heart, and accordingly denotes
+boldness and liberal genius for every work.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>In like manner, by means of the hepatal line, it is easy to
+form an accurate judgment as to the state of a person&rsquo;s
+liver, and of his powers of digestion, and so on with respect to
+all the other organs of the body.</p>
+<p>After having laid down all the rules of chiromancy with the
+utmost possible clearness, the sage Torreblanca exclaims:
+&lsquo;And with these terminate the canons of true and catholic
+chiromancy; for as for the other species by which people pretend
+to divine concerning the affairs of life, either past or to come,
+dignities, fortunes, children, events, chances, dangers, etc.,
+such chiromancy is not only reprobated by theologians, but by men
+of law and physic, as a foolish, false, vain, scandalous, futile,
+superstitious practice, smelling much of divinery and a pact with
+the devil.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Then, after mentioning a number of erudite and enlightened men
+of the three learned professions, who have written against such
+absurd superstitions, amongst whom he cites Martin Del Rio, he
+falls foul of the Gypsy wives in this manner: &lsquo;A practice
+turned to profit by the wives of that rabble of abandoned
+miscreants whom the Italians call Cingari, the Latins Egyptians,
+and we Git&aacute;nos, who, notwithstanding that they are sent by
+the Turks into Spain for the purpose of acting as spies upon the
+Christian religion, pretend that they are wandering over the
+world in fulfilment of a penance enjoined upon them, part of
+which penance seems to be the living by fraud and
+imposition.&rsquo;&nbsp; And shortly afterwards he remarks:
+&lsquo;Nor do they derive any authority for such a practice from
+those words in Exodus, <a name="citation100a"></a><a
+href="#footnote100a" class="citation">[100a]</a> &ldquo;et quasi
+signum in manu tua,&rdquo; as that passage does not treat of
+chiromancy, but of the festival of unleavened bread; the
+observance of which, in order that it might be memorable to the
+Hebrews, the sacred historian said should be as a sign upon the
+hand; a metaphor derived from those who, when they wish to
+remember anything, tie a thread round their finger, or put a ring
+upon it; and still less I ween does that chapter of Job <a
+name="citation100b"></a><a href="#footnote100b"
+class="citation">[100b]</a> speak in their favour, where is
+written, &ldquo;Qui in manu hominis signat, ut norint omnes opera
+sua,&rdquo; because the divine power is meant thereby which is
+preached to those here below: for the hand is intended for power
+and magnitude, Exod. chap. xiv., <a name="citation100c"></a><a
+href="#footnote100c" class="citation">[100c]</a> or stands for
+free will, which is placed in a man&rsquo;s hand, that is, in his
+power.&nbsp; Wisdom, chap. xxxvi. &ldquo;In manibus abscondit
+lucem,&rdquo; <a name="citation100d"></a><a href="#footnote100d"
+class="citation">[100d]</a> etc. etc. etc.</p>
+<p>No, no, good Torreblanca, we know perfectly well that the
+witch-wives of Multan, who for the last four hundred years have
+been running about Spain and other countries, telling fortunes by
+the hand, and deriving good profit from the same, are not
+countenanced in such a practice by the sacred volume; we yield as
+little credit to their chiromancy as we do to that which you call
+the true and catholic, and believe that the lines of the hand
+have as little connection with the events of life as with the
+liver and stomach, notwithstanding Aristotle, who you forget was
+a heathen, and knew as little and cared as little for the
+Scriptures as the Git&aacute;nos, whether male or female, who
+little reck what sanction any of their practices may receive from
+authority, whether divine or human, if the pursuit enable them to
+provide sufficient for the existence, however poor and miserable,
+of their families and themselves.</p>
+<p>A very singular kind of women are the Git&aacute;nas, far more
+remarkable in most points than their husbands, in whose pursuits
+of low cheating and petty robbery there is little capable of
+exciting much interest; but if there be one being in the world
+who, more than another, deserves the title of sorceress (and
+where do you find a word of greater romance and more thrilling
+interest?), it is the Gypsy female in the prime and vigour of her
+age and ripeness of her understanding&mdash;the Gypsy wife, the
+mother of two or three children.&nbsp; Mention to me a point of
+devilry with which that woman is not acquainted.&nbsp; She can at
+any time, when it suits her, show herself as expert a jockey as
+her husband, and he appears to advantage in no other character,
+and is only eloquent when descanting on the merits of some
+particular animal; but she can do much more: she is a prophetess,
+though she believes not in prophecy; she is a physician, though
+she will not taste her own philtres; she is a procuress, though
+she is not to be procured; she is a singer of obscene songs,
+though she will suffer no obscene hand to touch her; and though
+no one is more tenacious of the little she possesses, she is a
+cutpurse and a shop-lifter whenever opportunity shall offer.</p>
+<p>In all times, since we have known anything of these women,
+they have been addicted to and famous for fortune-telling;
+indeed, it is their only ostensible means of livelihood, though
+they have various others which they pursue more secretly.&nbsp;
+Where and how they first learned the practice we know not; they
+may have brought it with them from the East, or they may have
+adopted it, which is less likely, after their arrival in
+Europe.&nbsp; Chiromancy, from the most remote periods, has been
+practised in all countries.&nbsp; Neither do we know, whether in
+this practice they were ever guided by fixed and certain rules;
+the probability, however, is, that they were not, and that they
+never followed it but as a means of fraud and robbery; certainly,
+amongst all the professors of this art that ever existed, no
+people are more adapted by nature to turn it to account than
+these females, call them by whatever name you will,
+Git&aacute;nas, Zig&aacute;nas, Gypsies, or Bohemians; their
+forms, their features, the expression of their countenances are
+ever wild and Sibylline, frequently beautiful, but never
+vulgar.&nbsp; Observe, for example, the Git&aacute;na, even her
+of Seville.&nbsp; She is standing before the portal of a large
+house in one of the narrow Moorish streets of the capital of
+Andalusia; through the grated iron door, she looks in upon the
+court; it is paved with small marble slabs of almost snowy
+whiteness; in the middle is a fountain distilling limpid water,
+and all around there is a profusion of macetas, in which
+flowering plants and aromatic shrubs are growing, and at each
+corner there is an orange tree, and the perfume of the
+azah&aacute;r may be distinguished; you hear the melody of birds
+from a small aviary beneath the piazza which surrounds the court,
+which is surmounted by a toldo or linen awning, for it is the
+commencement of May, and the glorious sun of Andalusia is burning
+with a splendour too intense for his rays to be borne with
+impunity.&nbsp; It is a fairy scene such as nowhere meets the eye
+but at Seville, or perhaps at Fez and Shiraz, in the palaces of
+the Sultan and the Shah.&nbsp; The Gypsy looks through the
+iron-grated door, and beholds, seated near the fountain, a richly
+dressed dame and two lovely delicate maidens; they are busied at
+their morning&rsquo;s occupation, intertwining with their sharp
+needles the gold and silk on the tambour; several female
+attendants are seated behind.&nbsp; The Gypsy pulls the bell,
+when is heard the soft cry of &lsquo;Quien es&rsquo;; the door,
+unlocked by means of a string, recedes upon its hinges, when in
+walks the Git&aacute;na, the witch-wife of Multan, with a look
+such as the tiger-cat casts when she stealeth from her jungle
+into the plain.</p>
+<p>Yes, well may you exclaim &lsquo;Ave Maria purissima,&rsquo;
+ye dames and maidens of Seville, as she advances towards you; she
+is not of yourselves, she is not of your blood, she or her
+fathers have walked to your climate from a distance of three
+thousand leagues.&nbsp; She has come from the far East, like the
+three enchanted kings, to Cologne; but, unlike them, she and her
+race have come with hate and not with love.&nbsp; She comes to
+flatter, and to deceive, and to rob, for she is a lying
+prophetess, and a she-Thug; she will greet you with blessings
+which will make your hearts rejoice, but your hearts&rsquo; blood
+would freeze, could you hear the curses which to herself she
+murmurs against you; for she says, that in her children&rsquo;s
+veins flows the dark blood of the &lsquo;husbands,&rsquo; whilst
+in those of yours flows the pale tide of the
+&lsquo;savages,&rsquo; and therefore she would gladly set her
+foot on all your corses first poisoned by her hands.&nbsp; For
+all her love&mdash;and she can love&mdash;is for the Romas; and
+all her hate&mdash;and who can hate like her?&mdash;is for the
+Busnees; for she says that the world would be a fair world if
+there were no Busnees, and if the Romamiks could heat their
+kettles undisturbed at the foot of the olive-trees; and therefore
+she would kill them all if she could and if she dared.&nbsp; She
+never seeks the houses of the Busnees but for the purpose of
+prey; for the wild animals of the sierra do not more abhor the
+sight of man than she abhors the countenances of the
+Busnees.&nbsp; She now comes to prey upon you and to scoff at
+you.&nbsp; Will you believe her words?&nbsp; Fools! do you think
+that the being before ye has any sympathy for the like of
+you?</p>
+<p>She is of the middle stature, neither strongly nor slightly
+built, and yet her every movement denotes agility and
+vigour.&nbsp; As she stands erect before you, she appears like a
+falcon about to soar, and you are almost tempted to believe that
+the power of volition is hers; and were you to stretch forth your
+hand to seize her, she would spring above the house-tops like a
+bird.&nbsp; Her face is oval, and her features are regular but
+somewhat hard and coarse, for she was born amongst rocks in a
+thicket, and she has been wind-beaten and sun-scorched for many a
+year, even like her parents before her; there is many a speck
+upon her cheek, and perhaps a scar, but no dimples of love; and
+her brow is wrinkled over, though she is yet young.&nbsp; Her
+complexion is more than dark, for it is almost that of a mulatto;
+and her hair, which hangs in long locks on either side of her
+face, is black as coal, and coarse as the tail of a horse, from
+which it seems to have been gathered.</p>
+<p>There is no female eye in Seville can support the glance of
+hers,&mdash;so fierce and penetrating, and yet so artful and sly,
+is the expression of their dark orbs; her mouth is fine and
+almost delicate, and there is not a queen on the proudest throne
+between Madrid and Moscow who might not and would not envy the
+white and even rows of teeth which adorn it, which seem not of
+pearl but of the purest elephant&rsquo;s bone of Multan.&nbsp;
+She comes not alone; a swarthy two-year-old bantling clasps her
+neck with one arm, its naked body half extant from the coarse
+blanket which, drawn round her shoulders, is secured at her bosom
+by a skewer.&nbsp; Though tender of age, it looks wicked and sly,
+like a veritable imp of Roma.&nbsp; Huge rings of false gold
+dangle from wide slits in the lobes of her ears; her nether
+garments are rags, and her feet are cased in hempen
+sandals.&nbsp; Such is the wandering Git&aacute;na, such is the
+witch-wife of Multan, who has come to spae the fortune of the
+Sevillian countess and her daughters.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;O may the blessing of Egypt light upon your head, you
+high-born lady!&nbsp; (May an evil end overtake your body,
+daughter of a Busnee harlot!) and may the same blessing await the
+two fair roses of the Nile here flowering by your side!&nbsp;
+(May evil Moors seize them and carry them across the
+water!)&nbsp; O listen to the words of the poor woman who is come
+from a distant country; she is of a wise people, though it has
+pleased the God of the sky to punish them for their sins by
+sending them to wander through the world.&nbsp; They denied
+shelter to the Majari, whom you call the queen of heaven, and to
+the Son of God, when they flew to the land of Egypt before the
+wrath of the wicked king; it is said that they even refused them
+a draught of the sweet waters of the great river when the blessed
+two were athirst.&nbsp; O you will say that it was a heavy crime;
+and truly so it was, and heavily has the Lord punished the
+Egyptians.&nbsp; He has sent us a-wandering, poor as you see,
+with scarcely a blanket to cover us.&nbsp; O blessed lady,
+(Accursed be thy dead, as many as thou mayest have,) we have no
+money to buy us bread; we have only our wisdom with which to
+support ourselves and our poor hungry babes; when God took away
+their silks from the Egyptians, and their gold from the
+Egyptians, he left them their wisdom as a resource that they
+might not starve.&nbsp; O who can read the stars like the
+Egyptians? and who can read the lines of the palm like the
+Egyptians?&nbsp; The poor woman read in the stars that there was
+a rich ventura for all of this goodly house, so she followed the
+bidding of the stars and came to declare it.&nbsp; O blessed
+lady, (I defile thy dead corse,) your husband is at Granada,
+fighting with king Ferdinand against the wild Corahai!&nbsp; (May
+an evil ball smite him and split his head!)&nbsp; Within three
+months he shall return with twenty captive Moors, round the neck
+of each a chain of gold.&nbsp; (God grant that when he enter the
+house a beam may fall upon him and crush him!)&nbsp; And within
+nine months after his return God shall bless you with a fair
+chabo, the pledge for which you have sighed so long.&nbsp;
+(Accursed be the salt placed in its mouth in the church when it
+is baptized!)&nbsp; Your palm, blessed lady, your palm, and the
+palms of all I see here, that I may tell you all the rich ventura
+which is hanging over this good house; (May evil lightning fall
+upon it and consume it!) but first let me sing you a song of
+Egypt, that the spirit of the Chowahanee may descend more
+plenteously upon the poor woman.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Her demeanour now instantly undergoes a change.&nbsp; Hitherto
+she has been pouring forth a lying and wild harangue without much
+flurry or agitation of manner.&nbsp; Her speech, it is true, has
+been rapid, but her voice has never been raised to a very high
+key; but she now stamps on the ground, and placing her hands on
+her hips, she moves quickly to the right and left, advancing and
+retreating in a sidelong direction.&nbsp; Her glances become more
+fierce and fiery, and her coarse hair stands erect on her head,
+stiff as the prickles of the hedgehog; and now she commences
+clapping her hands, and uttering words of an unknown tongue, to a
+strange and uncouth tune.&nbsp; The tawny bantling seems inspired
+with the same fiend, and, foaming at the mouth, utters wild
+sounds, in imitation of its dam.&nbsp; Still more rapid become
+the sidelong movements of the Git&aacute;na.&nbsp; Movement! she
+springs, she bounds, and at every bound she is a yard above the
+ground.&nbsp; She no longer bears the child in her bosom; she
+plucks it from thence, and fiercely brandishes it aloft, till at
+last, with a yell she tosses it high into the air, like a ball,
+and then, with neck and head thrown back, receives it, as it
+falls, on her hands and breast, extracting a cry from the
+terrified beholders.&nbsp; Is it possible she can be
+singing?&nbsp; Yes, in the wildest style of her people; and here
+is a snatch of the song, in the language of Roma, which she
+occasionally screams&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;En los sastos de yesque plai me
+diqu&eacute;lo,<br />
+Doscusa&ntilde;as de sonacai ter&eacute;lo,&mdash;<br />
+Corojai diqu&eacute;lo abillar,<br />
+Y ne asislo chapescar, chapescar.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;On the top of a mountain I stand,<br />
+With a crown of red gold in my hand,&mdash;<br />
+Wild Moors came trooping o&rsquo;er the lea,<br />
+O how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?<br />
+O how from their fury shall I flee?&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Such was the Git&aacute;na in the days of Ferdinand and
+Isabella, and much the same is she now in the days of Isabel and
+Christina.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image108" href="images/p108b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"A Song of Egypt"
+title=
+"A Song of Egypt"
+ src="images/p108s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Of the Git&aacute;nas and their practices I shall have much to
+say on a future occasion, when speaking of those of the present
+time, with many of whom I have had no little intercourse.&nbsp;
+All the ancient Spanish authors who mention these women speak of
+them in unmeasured terms of abhorrence, employing against them
+every abusive word contained in the language in which they
+wrote.&nbsp; Amongst other vile names, they have been called
+harlots, though perhaps no females on earth are, and have ever
+been, more chaste in their own persons, though at all times
+willing to encourage licentiousness in others, from a hope of
+gain.&nbsp; It is one thing to be a procuress, and another to be
+a harlot, though the former has assuredly no reason to complain
+if she be confounded with the latter.&nbsp; &lsquo;The
+Git&aacute;nas,&rsquo; says Doctor Sancho de Moncada, in his
+discourse concerning the Gypsies, which I shall presently lay
+before the reader, &lsquo;are public harlots, common, as it is
+said, to all the Git&aacute;nos, and with dances, demeanour, and
+filthy songs, are the cause of infinite harm to the souls of the
+vassals of your Majesty (Philip III.), as it is notorious what
+infinite harm they have caused in many honourable houses.&nbsp;
+The married women whom they have separated from their husbands,
+and the maidens whom they have perverted; and finally, in the
+best of these Git&aacute;nas, any one may recognise all the signs
+of a harlot given by the wise king: &ldquo;they are gadders
+about, whisperers, always unquiet in the places and
+corners.&rdquo;&rsquo; <a name="citation109a"></a><a
+href="#footnote109a" class="citation">[109a]</a></p>
+<p>The author of Alonso, <a name="citation109b"></a><a
+href="#footnote109b" class="citation">[109b]</a> he who of all
+the old Spanish writers has written most graphically concerning
+the Git&aacute;nos, and I believe with most correctness, puts the
+following account of the Git&aacute;nas, and their
+fortune-telling practices, into the entertaining mouth of his
+hero:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;O how many times did these Git&aacute;nas
+carry me along with them, for being, after all, women, even they
+have their fears, and were glad of me as a protector: and so they
+went through the neighbouring villages, and entered the houses
+a-begging, giving to understand thereby their poverty and
+necessity, and then they would call aside the girls, in order to
+tell them the buena ventura, and the young fellows the good luck
+which they were to enjoy, never failing in the first place to ask
+for a cuarto or real, in order to make the sign of the cross; and
+with these flattering words, they got as much as they could,
+although, it is true, not much in money, as their harvest in that
+article was generally slight; but enough in bacon to afford
+subsistence to their husbands and bantlings.&nbsp; I looked on
+and laughed at the simplicity of those foolish people, who,
+especially such as wished to be married, were as satisfied and
+content with what the Git&aacute;na told them, as if an apostle
+had spoken it.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The above description of Git&aacute;nas telling fortunes
+amongst the villages of Navarre, and which was written by a
+Spanish author at the commencement of the seventeenth century,
+is, in every respect, applicable, as the reader will not fail to
+have observed, to the English Gypsy women of the present day,
+engaged in the same occupation in the rural districts of England,
+where the first demand of the sibyls is invariably a sixpence, in
+order that they may cross their hands with silver, and where the
+same promises are made, and as easily believed; all which, if it
+serves to confirm the opinion that in all times the practices and
+habits of the Egyptian race have been, in almost all respects,
+the same as at the present day, brings us also to the following
+mortifying conclusion,&mdash;that mental illumination, amongst
+the generality of mankind, has made no progress at all; as we
+observe in the nineteenth century the same gross credulity
+manifested as in the seventeenth, and the inhabitants of one of
+the countries most celebrated for the arts of civilisation,
+imposed upon by the same stale tricks which served to deceive two
+centuries before in Spain, a country whose name has long and
+justly been considered as synonymous with every species of
+ignorance and barbarism.</p>
+<p>The same author, whilst speaking of these female Thugs,
+relates an anecdote very characteristic of them; a device at
+which they are adepts, which they love to employ, and which is
+generally attended with success.&nbsp; It is the more deserving
+attention, as an instance of the same description, attended with
+very similar circumstances, occurred within the sphere of my own
+knowledge in my own country.&nbsp; This species of deceit is
+styled, in the peculiar language of the Rommany, <i>hokkano
+baro</i>, or the &lsquo;great trick&rsquo;; it being considered
+by the women as their most fruitful source of plunder.&nbsp; The
+story, as related by Alonso, runs as follows:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;A band of Git&aacute;nos being in the
+neighbourhood of a village, one of the women went to a house
+where lived a lady alone.&nbsp; This lady was a young widow,
+rich, without children, and of very handsome person.&nbsp; After
+having saluted her, the Gypsy repeated the harangue which she had
+already studied, to the effect that there was neither bachelor,
+widower, nor married man, nobleman, nor gallant, endowed with a
+thousand graces, who was not dying for love of her; and then
+continued: &ldquo;Lady, I have contracted a great affection for
+you, and since I know that you well merit the riches you possess,
+notwithstanding you live heedless of your good fortune, I wish to
+reveal to you a secret.&nbsp; You must know, then, that in your
+cellar you have a vast treasure; nevertheless you will experience
+great difficulty in arriving at it, as it is enchanted, and to
+remove it is impossible, save alone on the eve of Saint
+John.&nbsp; We are now at the eighteenth of June, and it wants
+five days to the twenty-third; therefore, in the meanwhile,
+collect some jewels of gold and silver, and likewise some money,
+whatever you please, provided it be not copper, and provide six
+tapers, of white or yellow wax, for at the time appointed I will
+come with a sister of mine, when we will extract from the cellar
+such abundance of riches, that you will be able to live in a
+style which will excite the envy of the whole
+country.&rdquo;&nbsp; The ignorant widow, hearing these words,
+put implicit confidence in the deceiver, and imagined that she
+already possessed all the gold of Arabia and the silver of
+Potosi.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The appointed day arrived, and not more punctual were
+the two Gypsies, than anxiously expected by the lady.&nbsp; Being
+asked whether she had prepared all as she had been desired, she
+replied in the affirmative, when the Gypsy thus addressed her:
+&ldquo;You must know, good lady, that gold calls forth gold, and
+silver calls forth silver; let us light these tapers, and descend
+to the cellar before it grows late, in order that we may have
+time for our conjurations.&rdquo;&nbsp; Thereupon the trio, the
+widow and the two Gypsies, went down, and having lighted the
+tapers and placed them in candlesticks in the shape of a circle,
+they deposited in the midst a silver tankard, with some pieces of
+eight, and some corals tipped with gold, and other jewels of
+small value.&nbsp; They then told the lady, that it was necessary
+for them all to return to the staircase by which they had
+descended to the cellar, and there they uplifted their hands, and
+remained for a short time as if engaged in prayer.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The two Gypsies then bade the widow wait for them, and
+descended again, when they commenced holding a conversation,
+speaking and answering alternately, and altering their voices in
+such a manner that five or six people appeared to be in the
+cellar.&nbsp; &ldquo;Blessed little Saint John,&rdquo; said one,
+&ldquo;will it be possible to remove the treasure which you keep
+hidden here?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;O yes, and with a little more
+trouble it will be yours,&rdquo; replied the Gypsy sister,
+altering her voice to a thin treble, as if it proceeded from a
+child four or five years old.&nbsp; In the meantime, the lady
+remained astonished, expecting the promised riches, and the two
+Git&aacute;nas presently coming to her, said, &ldquo;Come up,
+lady, for our desire is upon the point of being gratified.&nbsp;
+Bring down the best petticoat, gown, and mantle which you have in
+your chest, that I may dress myself, and appear in other guise to
+what I do now.&rdquo;&nbsp; The simple woman, not perceiving the
+trick they were playing upon her, ascended with them to the
+doorway, and leaving them alone, went to fetch the things which
+they demanded.&nbsp; Thereupon the two Gypsies, seeing themselves
+at liberty, and having already pocketed the gold and silver which
+had been deposited for their conjuration, opened the street door,
+and escaped with all the speed they could.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The beguiled widow returned laden with the clothes, and
+not finding those whom she had left waiting, descended into the
+cellar, when, perceiving the trick which they had played her, and
+the robbery which they had committed in stealing her jewels, she
+began to cry and weep, but all in vain.&nbsp; All the neighbours
+hastened to her, and to them she related her misfortune, which
+served more to raise laughter and jeers at her expense than to
+excite pity; though the subtlety of the two she-thieves was
+universally praised.&nbsp; These latter, as soon as they had got
+out of the door, knew well how to conceal themselves, for having
+once reached the mountain it was not possible to find them.&nbsp;
+So much for their divination, their foreseeing things to come,
+their power over the secrets of nature, and their knowledge of
+the stars.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nas in the olden time appear to have not
+unfrequently been subjected to punishment as sorceresses, and
+with great justice, as the abominable trade which they drove in
+philtres and decoctions certainly entitled them to that
+appellation, and to the pains and penalties reserved for those
+who practised what was termed &lsquo;witchcraft.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Amongst the crimes laid to their charge, connected with the
+exercise of occult powers, there is one, however, of which they
+were certainly not capable, as it is a purely imaginary one,
+though if they were punished for it, they had assuredly little
+right to complain, as the chastisement they met was fully merited
+by practices equally malefic as the crime imputed to them,
+provided that were possible.&nbsp; <i>It was casting the evil
+eye</i>.</p>
+<h3><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+115</span>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the Git&aacute;no language,
+casting the evil eye is called <i>Querelar nasula</i>, which
+simply means making sick, and which, according to the common
+superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at people,
+especially children, who, from the tenderness of their
+constitution, are supposed to be more easily blighted than those
+of a more mature age.&nbsp; After receiving the evil glance, they
+fall sick, and die in a few hours.</p>
+<p>The Spaniards have very little to say respecting the evil eye,
+though the belief in it is very prevalent, especially in
+Andalusia amongst the lower orders.&nbsp; A stag&rsquo;s horn is
+considered a good safeguard, and on that account a small horn,
+tipped with silver, is frequently attached to the
+children&rsquo;s necks by means of a cord braided from the hair
+of a black mare&rsquo;s tail.&nbsp; Should the evil glance be
+cast, it is imagined that the horn receives it, and instantly
+snaps asunder.&nbsp; Such horns may be purchased in some of the
+silversmiths&rsquo; shops at Seville.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos have nothing more to say on this species of
+sorcery than the Spaniards, which can cause but little surprise,
+when we consider that they have no traditions, and can give no
+rational account of themselves, nor of the country from which
+they come.</p>
+<p>Some of the women, however, pretend to have the power of
+casting it, though if questioned how they accomplish it, they can
+return no answer.&nbsp; They will likewise sell remedies for the
+evil eye, which need not be particularised, as they consist of
+any drugs which they happen to possess or be acquainted with; the
+prescribers being perfectly reckless as to the effect produced on
+the patient, provided they receive their paltry reward.</p>
+<p>I have known these beings offer to cure the glanders in a
+horse (an incurable disorder) with the very same powders which
+they offer as a specific for the evil eye.</p>
+<p>Leaving, therefore, for a time, the Spaniards and
+Git&aacute;nos, whose ideas on this subject are very scanty and
+indistinct, let us turn to other nations amongst whom this
+superstition exists, and endeavour to ascertain on what it is
+founded, and in what it consists.&nbsp; The fear of the evil eye
+is common amongst all oriental people, whether Turks, Arabs, or
+Hindoos.&nbsp; It is dangerous in some parts to survey a person
+with a fixed glance, as he instantly concludes that you are
+casting the evil eye upon him.&nbsp; Children, particularly, are
+afraid of the evil eye from the superstitious fear inculcated in
+their minds in the nursery.&nbsp; Parents in the East feel no
+delight when strangers look at their children in admiration of
+their loveliness; they consider that you merely look at them in
+order to blight them.&nbsp; The attendants on the children of the
+great are enjoined never to permit strangers to fix their glance
+upon them.&nbsp; I was once in the shop of an Armenian at
+Constantinople, waiting to see a procession which was expected to
+pass by; there was a Janisary there, holding by the hand a little
+boy about six years of age, the son of some Bey; they also had
+come to see the procession.&nbsp; I was struck with the
+remarkable loveliness of the child, and fixed my glance upon it:
+presently it became uneasy, and turning to the Janisary, said:
+&lsquo;There are evil eyes upon me; drive them away.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Take your eyes off the child, Frank,&rsquo; said the
+Janisary, who had a long white beard, and wore a hanjar.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;What harm can they do to the child, efendijem?&rsquo; said
+I.&nbsp; &lsquo;Are they not the eyes of a Frank?&rsquo; replied
+the Janisary; &lsquo;but were they the eyes of Omar, they should
+not rest on the child.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Omar,&rsquo; said I,
+&lsquo;and why not Ali?&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t you love
+Ali?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;What matters it to you whom I
+love,&rsquo; said the Turk in a rage; &lsquo;look at the child
+again with your chesm fanar and I will smite you.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Bad as my eyes are,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;they can see
+that you do not love Ali.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Ya Ali, ya Mahoma,
+Alahhu!&rsquo; <a name="citation117"></a><a href="#footnote117"
+class="citation">[117]</a> said the Turk, drawing his
+hanjar.&nbsp; All Franks, by which are meant Christians, are
+considered as casters of the evil eye.&nbsp; I was lately at
+Janina in Albania, where a friend of mine, a Greek gentleman, is
+established as physician.&nbsp; &lsquo;I have been visiting the
+child of a Jew that is sick,&rsquo; said he to me one day;
+&lsquo;scarcely, however, had I left the house, when the father
+came running after me.&nbsp; &ldquo;You have cast the evil eye on
+my child,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;come back and spit in its
+face.&rdquo;&nbsp; And I assure you,&rsquo; continued my friend,
+&lsquo;that notwithstanding all I could say, he compelled me to
+go back and spit in the face of his child.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Perhaps there is no nation in the world amongst whom this
+belief is so firmly rooted and from so ancient a period as the
+Jews; it being a subject treated of, and in the gravest manner,
+by the old Rabbinical writers themselves, which induces the
+conclusion that the superstition of the evil eye is of an
+antiquity almost as remote as the origin of the Hebrew race; (and
+can we go farther back?) as the oral traditions of the Jews,
+contained and commented upon in what is called the Talmud, are
+certainly not less ancient than the inspired writings of the Old
+Testament, and have unhappily been at all times regarded by them
+with equal if not greater reverence.</p>
+<p>The evil eye is mentioned in Scripture, but of course not in
+the false and superstitious sense; evil in the eye, which occurs
+in Prov. xxiii. v. 6, merely denoting niggardness and
+illiberality.&nbsp; The Hebrew words are <i>ain ra</i>, and stand
+in contradistinction to <i>ain toub</i>, or the benignant in eye,
+which denotes an inclination to bounty and liberality.</p>
+<p>It is imagined that this blight is most easily inflicted when
+a person is enjoying himself with little or no care for the
+future, when he is reclining in the sun before the door, or when
+he is full of health and spirits: it may be cast designedly or
+not; and the same effect may be produced by an inadvertent
+word.&nbsp; It is deemed partially unlucky to say to any person,
+&lsquo;How well you look&rsquo;; as the probabilities are that
+such an individual will receive a sudden blight and pine
+away.&nbsp; We have however no occasion to go to Hindoos, Turks,
+and Jews for this idea; we shall find it nearer home, or
+something akin to it.&nbsp; Is there one of ourselves, however
+enlightened and free from prejudice, who would not shrink, even
+in the midst of his highest glee and enjoyment, from saying,
+&lsquo;How happy I am!&rsquo; or if the words inadvertently
+escaped him, would he not consider them as ominous of approaching
+evil, and would he not endeavour to qualify them by saying,
+&lsquo;God preserve me!&rsquo;&mdash;Ay, God preserve you,
+brother!&nbsp; Who knows what the morrow will bring forth?</p>
+<p>The common remedy for the evil eye, in the East, is the
+spittle of the person who has cast it, provided it can be
+obtained.&nbsp; &lsquo;Spit in the face of my child,&rsquo; said
+the Jew of Janina to the Greek physician: recourse is had to the
+same means in Barbary, where the superstition is universal.&nbsp;
+In that country both Jews and Moors carry papers about with them
+scrawled with hieroglyphics, which are prepared by their
+respective priests, and sold.&nbsp; These papers, placed in a
+little bag, and hung about the person, are deemed infallible
+preservatives from the &lsquo;evil eye.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Let us now see what the <i>Talmud</i> itself says about the
+evil eye.&nbsp; The passage which we are about to quote is
+curious, not so much from the subject which it treats of, as in
+affording an example of the manner in which the Rabbins are wont
+to interpret the Scripture, and the strange and wonderful
+deductions which they draw from words and phrases apparently of
+the greatest simplicity.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Whosoever when about to enter into a city
+is afraid of evil eyes, let him grasp the thumb of his right hand
+with his left hand, and his left-hand thumb with his right hand,
+and let him cry in this manner: &ldquo;I am such a one, son of
+such a one, sprung from the seed of Joseph&rdquo;; and the evil
+eyes shall not prevail against him.&nbsp; <i>Joseph is a fruitful
+bough</i>, <i>a fruitful bough by a well</i>, <a
+name="citation120a"></a><a href="#footnote120a"
+class="citation">[120a]</a> etc.&nbsp; Now you should not say
+<i>by a well</i>, but <i>over an eye</i>. <a
+name="citation120b"></a><a href="#footnote120b"
+class="citation">[120b]</a>&nbsp; Rabbi Joseph Bar Henina makes
+the following deduction: <i>and they shall become</i> (the seed
+of Joseph) <i>like fishes in multitude in the midst of the
+earth</i>. <a name="citation120c"></a><a href="#footnote120c"
+class="citation">[120c]</a>&nbsp; Now the fishes of the sea are
+covered by the waters, and the evil eye has no power over them;
+and so over those of the seed of Joseph the evil eye has no
+power.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>I have been thus diffuse upon the evil eye, because of late
+years it has been a common practice of writers to speak of it
+without apparently possessing any farther knowledge of the
+subject than what may be gathered from the words themselves.</p>
+<p>Like most other superstitions, it is, perhaps, founded on a
+physical reality.</p>
+<p>I have observed, that only in hot countries, where the sun and
+moon are particularly dazzling, the belief in the evil eye is
+prevalent.&nbsp; If we turn to Scripture, the wonderful book
+which is capable of resolving every mystery, I believe that we
+shall presently come to the solution of the evil eye.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
+night.&rsquo; Ps. cxxi. v. 6.</p>
+<p>Those who wish to avoid the evil eye, instead of trusting in
+charms, scrawls, and Rabbinical antidotes, let them never loiter
+in the sunshine before the king of day has nearly reached his
+bourn in the west; for the sun has an evil eye, and his glance
+produces brain fevers; and let them not sleep uncovered beneath
+the smile of the moon, for her glance is poisonous, and produces
+insupportable itching in the eye, and not unfrequently
+blindness.</p>
+<p>The northern nations have a superstition which bears some
+resemblance to the evil eye, when allowance is made for
+circumstances.&nbsp; They have no brilliant sun and moon to addle
+the brain and poison the eye, but the grey north has its marshes,
+and fenny ground, and fetid mists, which produce agues, low
+fevers, and moping madness, and are as fatal to cattle as to
+man.&nbsp; Such disorders are attributed to elves and
+fairies.&nbsp; This superstition still lingers in some parts of
+England under the name of elf-shot, whilst, throughout the north,
+it is called elle-skiod, and elle-vild (fairy wild).&nbsp; It is
+particularly prevalent amongst shepherds and cow-herds, the
+people who, from their manner of life, are most exposed to the
+effects of the elf-shot.&nbsp; Those who wish to know more of
+this superstition are referred to Thiele&rsquo;s&mdash;<i>Danske
+Folkesagn</i>, and to the notes of the <i>Koempe-viser</i>, or
+popular Danish Ballads.</p>
+<h3><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+122</span>CHAPTER IX</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the six hundred thousand men,
+<a name="citation122"></a><a href="#footnote122"
+class="citation">[122]</a> and the mixed multitude of women and
+children, went forth from the land of Egypt, the God whom they
+worshipped, the only true God, went before them by day in a
+pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar
+of fire to give them light; this God who rescued them from
+slavery, who guided them through the wilderness, who was their
+captain in battle, and who cast down before them the strong walls
+which encompassed the towns of their enemies, this God they still
+remember, after the lapse of more than three thousand years, and
+still worship with adoration the most unbounded.&nbsp; If there
+be one event in the eventful history of the Hebrews which awakens
+in their minds deeper feelings of gratitude than another, it is
+the exodus; and that wonderful manifestation of olden mercy still
+serves them as an assurance that the Lord will yet one day redeem
+and gather together his scattered and oppressed people.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Art thou not the God who brought us out of the land of
+bondage?&rsquo; they exclaim in the days of their heaviest
+trouble and affliction.&nbsp; He who redeemed Israel from the
+hand of Pharaoh is yet capable of restoring the kingdom and
+sceptre to Israel.</p>
+<p>If the Rommany trusted in any God at the period of
+<i>their</i> exodus, they must speedily have forgotten him.&nbsp;
+Coming from Ind, as they most assuredly did, it was impossible
+for them to have known the true, and they must have been
+followers (if they followed any) either of Buddh, or Brahmah,
+those tremendous phantoms which have led, and are likely still to
+lead, the souls of hundreds of millions to destruction; yet they
+are now ignorant of such names, nor does it appear that such were
+ever current amongst them subsequent to their arrival in Europe,
+if indeed they ever were.&nbsp; They brought with them no Indian
+idols, as far as we are able to judge at the present time, nor
+indeed Indian rites or observances, for no traces of such are to
+be discovered amongst them.</p>
+<p>All, therefore, which relates to their original religion is
+shrouded in mystery, and is likely so to remain.&nbsp; They may
+have been idolaters, or atheists, or what they now are, totally
+neglectful of worship of any kind; and though not exactly
+prepared to deny the existence of a Supreme Being, as regardless
+of him as if he existed not, and never mentioning his name, save
+in oaths and blasphemy, or in moments of pain or sudden surprise,
+as they have heard other people do, but always without any fixed
+belief, trust, or hope.</p>
+<p>There are certainly some points of resemblance between the
+children of Roma and those of Israel.&nbsp; Both have had an
+exodus, both are exiles and dispersed amongst the Gentiles, by
+whom they are hated and despised, and whom they hate and despise,
+under the names of Busnees and Goyim; both, though speaking the
+language of the Gentiles, possess a peculiar tongue, which the
+latter do not understand, and both possess a peculiar cast of
+countenance, by which they may, without difficulty, be
+distinguished from all other nations; but with these points the
+similarity terminates.&nbsp; The Israelites have a peculiar
+religion, to which they are fanatically attached; the Romas have
+none, as they invariably adopt, though only in appearance, that
+of the people with whom they chance to sojourn; the Israelites
+possess the most authentic history of any people in the world,
+and are acquainted with and delight to recapitulate all that has
+befallen their race, from ages the most remote; the Romas have no
+history, they do not even know the name of their original
+country; and the only tradition which they possess, that of their
+Egyptian origin, is a false one, whether invented by themselves
+or others; the Israelites are of all people the most wealthy, the
+Romas the most poor&mdash;poor as a Gypsy being proverbial
+amongst some nations, though both are equally greedy of gain; and
+finally, though both are noted for peculiar craft and cunning, no
+people are more ignorant than the Romas, whilst the Jews have
+always been a learned people, being in possession of the oldest
+literature in the world, and certainly the most important and
+interesting.</p>
+<p>Sad and weary must have been the path of the mixed rabble of
+the Romas, when they left India&rsquo;s sunny land and wended
+their way to the West, in comparison with the glorious exodus of
+the Israelites from Egypt, whose God went before them in cloud
+and in fire, working miracles and astonishing the hearts of their
+foes.</p>
+<p>Even supposing that they worshipped Buddh or Brahmah, neither
+of these false deities could have accomplished for them what God
+effected for his chosen people, although it is true that the idea
+that a Supreme Being was watching over them, in return for the
+reverence paid to his image, might have cheered them &lsquo;midst
+storm and lightning, &lsquo;midst mountains and wildernesses,
+&lsquo;midst hunger and drought; for it is assuredly better to
+trust even in an idol, in a tree, or a stone, than to be entirely
+godless; and the most superstitious hind of the Himalayan hills,
+who trusts in the Grand Foutsa in the hour of peril and danger,
+is more wise than the most enlightened atheist, who cherishes no
+consoling delusion to relieve his mind, oppressed by the terrible
+ideas of reality.</p>
+<p>But it is evident that they arrived at the confines of Europe
+without any certain or rooted faith.&nbsp; Knowing, as we do,
+with what tenacity they retain their primitive habits and
+customs, their sect being, in all points, the same as it was four
+hundred years ago, it appears impossible that they should have
+forgotten their peculiar god, if in any peculiar god they
+trusted.</p>
+<p>Though cloudy ideas of the Indian deities might be
+occasionally floating in their minds, these ideas, doubtless,
+quickly passed away when they ceased to behold the pagodas and
+temples of Indian worship, and were no longer in contact with the
+enthusiastic adorers of the idols of the East; they passed away
+even as the dim and cloudy ideas which they subsequently adopted
+of the Eternal and His Son, Mary and the saints, would pass away
+when they ceased to be nourished by the sight of churches and
+crosses; for should it please the Almighty to reconduct the Romas
+to Indian climes, who can doubt that within half a century they
+would entirely forget all connected with the religion of the
+West!&nbsp; Any poor shreds of that faith which they bore with
+them they would drop by degrees as they would relinquish their
+European garments when they became old, and as they relinquished
+their Asiatic ones to adopt those of Europe; no particular dress
+makes a part of the things essential to the sect of Roma, so
+likewise no particular god and no particular religion.</p>
+<p>Where these people first assumed the name of Egyptians, or
+where that title was first bestowed upon them, it is difficult to
+determine; perhaps, however, in the eastern parts of Europe,
+where it should seem the grand body of this nation of wanderers
+made a halt for a considerable time, and where they are still to
+be found in greater numbers than in any other part.&nbsp; One
+thing is certain, that when they first entered Germany, which
+they speedily overran, they appeared under the character of
+Egyptians, doing penance for the sin of having refused
+hospitality to the Virgin and her Son, and, of course, as
+believers in the Christian faith, notwithstanding that they
+subsisted by the perpetration of every kind of robbery and
+imposition; Aventinus (<i>Annales Boiorum</i>, 826) speaking of
+them says: &lsquo;Adeo tamen vana superstitio hominum mentes,
+velut lethargus invasit, ut eos violari nefas putet, atque
+grassari, furari, imponere passim sinant.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>This singular story of banishment from Egypt, and Wandering
+through the world for a period of seven years, for inhospitality
+displayed to the Virgin, and which I find much difficulty in
+attributing to the invention of people so ignorant as the Romas,
+tallies strangely with the fate foretold to the ancient Egyptians
+in certain chapters of Ezekiel, so much so, indeed, that it seems
+to be derived from that source.&nbsp; The Lord is angry with
+Egypt because its inhabitants have been a staff of reed to the
+house of Israel, and thus he threatens them by the mouth of his
+prophet.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;I will make the land of Egypt desolate in
+the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities
+among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty
+years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and
+will disperse them through the countries.&rsquo;&nbsp; Ezek.,
+chap. xxix. v. 12.&nbsp; &lsquo;Yet thus saith the Lord God; at
+the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the
+people whither they were scattered.&rsquo; v. 13.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Thus saith the Lord; I will make the multitude of Egypt
+to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
+Babylon.&rsquo;&nbsp; Chap. xxx. v. 10.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and
+disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am
+the Lord.&rsquo;&nbsp; Chap. xxx. v. 26.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The reader will at once observe that the apocryphal tale which
+the Romas brought into Germany, concerning their origin and
+wanderings, agrees in every material point with the sacred
+prophecy.&nbsp; The ancient Egyptians were to be driven from
+their country and dispersed amongst the nations, for a period of
+forty years, for having been the cause of Israel&rsquo;s
+backsliding, and for not having known the Lord,&mdash;the modern
+pseudo-Egyptians are to be dispersed among the nations for seven
+years, for having denied hospitality to the Virgin and her
+child.&nbsp; The prophecy seems only to have been remodelled for
+the purpose of suiting the taste of the time; as no legend
+possessed much interest in which the Virgin did not figure, she
+and her child are here introduced instead of the Israelites, and
+the Lord of Heaven offended with the Egyptians; and this legend
+appears to have been very well received in Germany, for a time at
+least, for, as Aventinus observes, it was esteemed a crime of the
+first magnitude to offer any violence to the Egyptian pilgrims,
+who were permitted to rob on the highway, to commit larceny, and
+to practise every species of imposition with impunity.</p>
+<p>The tale, however, of the Romas could hardly have been
+invented by themselves, as they were, and still are, utterly
+unacquainted with the Scripture; it probably originated amongst
+the priests and learned men of the east of Europe, who, startled
+by the sudden apparition of bands of people foreign in appearance
+and language, skilled in divination and the occult arts,
+endeavoured to find in Scripture a clue to such a phenomenon; the
+result of which was, that the Romas of Hindustan were suddenly
+transformed into Egyptian penitents, a title which they have ever
+since borne in various parts of Europe.&nbsp; There are no means
+of ascertaining whether they themselves believed from the first
+in this story; they most probably took it on credit, more
+especially as they could give no account of themselves, there
+being every reason for supposing that from time immemorial they
+had existed in the East as a thievish wandering sect, as they at
+present do in Europe, without history or traditions, and unable
+to look back for a period of eighty years.&nbsp; The tale
+moreover answered their purpose, as beneath the garb of penitence
+they could rob and cheat with impunity, for a time at
+least.&nbsp; One thing is certain, that in whatever manner the
+tale of their Egyptian descent originated, many branches of the
+sect place implicit confidence in it at the present day, more
+especially those of England and Spain.</p>
+<p>Even at the present time there are writers who contend that
+the Romas are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who were
+scattered amongst the nations by the Assyrians.&nbsp; This belief
+they principally found upon particular parts of the prophecy from
+which we have already quoted, and there is no lack of
+plausibility in the arguments which they deduce therefrom.&nbsp;
+The Egyptians, say they, were to fall upon the open fields, they
+were not to be brought together nor gathered; they were to be
+dispersed through the countries, their idols were to be
+destroyed, and their images were to cease out of Noph!&nbsp; In
+what people in the world do these denunciations appear to be
+verified save the Gypsies?&mdash;a people who pass their lives in
+the open fields, who are not gathered together, who are dispersed
+through the countries, who have no idols, no images, nor any
+fixed or certain religion.</p>
+<p>In Spain, the want of religion amongst the Git&aacute;nos was
+speedily observed, and became quite as notorious as their want of
+honesty; they have been styled atheists, heathen idolaters, and
+Moors.&nbsp; In the little book of Qui&ntilde;ones&rsquo;, we
+find the subject noticed in the following manner:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;They do not understand what kind of thing
+the church is, and never enter it but for the purpose of
+committing sacrilege.&nbsp; They do not know the prayers; for I
+examined them myself, males and females, and they knew them not,
+or if any, very imperfectly.&nbsp; They never partake of the Holy
+Sacraments, and though they marry relations they procure no
+dispensations. <a name="citation130a"></a><a href="#footnote130a"
+class="citation">[130a]</a>&nbsp; No one knows whether they are
+baptized.&nbsp; One of the five whom I caused to be hung a few
+days ago was baptized in the prison, being at the time upwards of
+thirty years of age.&nbsp; Don Martin Fajardo says that two
+Git&aacute;nos and a Git&aacute;na, whom he hanged in the village
+of Torre Perojil, were baptized at the foot of the gallows, and
+declared themselves Moors.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;They invariably look out, when they marry, if we can
+call theirs marrying, for the woman most dexterous in pilfering
+and deceiving, caring nothing whether she is akin to them or
+married already, <a name="citation130b"></a><a
+href="#footnote130b" class="citation">[130b]</a> for it is only
+necessary to keep her company and to call her wife.&nbsp;
+Sometimes they purchase them from their husbands, or receive them
+as pledges: so says, at least, Doctor Salazar de Mendoza.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Friar Melchior of Guelama states that he heard asserted
+of two Git&aacute;nos what was never yet heard of any barbarous
+nation, namely, that they exchanged their wives, and that as one
+was more comely looking than the other, he who took the handsome
+woman gave a certain sum of money to him who took the ugly
+one.&nbsp; The licentiate Alonzo Duran has certified to me, that
+in the year 1623&ndash;4, one Simon Ramirez, captain of a band of
+Git&aacute;nos, repudiated Teresa because she was old, and
+married one called Melchora, who was young and handsome, and that
+on the day when the repudiation took place and the bridal was
+celebrated he was journeying along the road, and perceived a
+company feasting and revelling beneath some trees in a plain
+within the jurisdiction of the village of Deleitosa, and that on
+demanding the cause he was told that it was on account of Simon
+Ramirez marrying one Git&aacute;na and casting off another; and
+that the repudiated woman told him, with an agony of tears, that
+he abandoned her because she was old, and married another because
+she was young.&nbsp; Certainly Git&aacute;nos and Git&aacute;nas
+confessed before Don Martin Fajardo that they did not really
+marry, but that in their banquets and festivals they selected the
+woman whom they liked, and that it was lawful for them to have as
+many as three mistresses, and on that account they begat so many
+children.&nbsp; They never keep fasts nor any ecclesiastical
+command.&nbsp; They always eat meat, Friday and Lent not
+excepted; the morning when I seized those whom I afterwards
+executed, which was in Lent, they had three lambs which they
+intended to eat for their dinner that day.&mdash;Qui&ntilde;ones,
+page 13.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Although what is stated in the above extracts, respecting the
+marriages of the Git&aacute;nos and their licentious manner of
+living, is, for the most part, incorrect, there is no reason to
+conclude the same with respect to their want of religion in the
+olden time, and their slight regard for the forms and observances
+of the church, as their behaviour at the present day serves to
+confirm what is said on those points.&nbsp; From the whole, we
+may form a tolerably correct idea of the opinions of the time
+respecting the Git&aacute;nos in matters of morality and
+religion.&nbsp; A very natural question now seems to present
+itself, namely, what steps did the government of Spain, civil and
+ecclesiastical, which has so often trumpeted its zeal in the
+cause of what it calls the Christian religion, which has so often
+been the scourge of the Jew, of the Mahometan, and of the
+professors of the reformed faith; what steps did it take towards
+converting, punishing, and rooting out from Spain, a sect of
+demi-atheists, who, besides being cheats and robbers, displayed
+the most marked indifference for the forms of the Catholic
+religion, and presumed to eat flesh every day, and to intermarry
+with their relations, without paying the vicegerent of Christ
+here on earth for permission so to do?</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos have at all times, since their first
+appearance in Spain, been notorious for their contempt of
+religious observances; yet there is no proof that they were
+subjected to persecution on that account.&nbsp; The men have been
+punished as robbers and murderers, with the gallows and the
+galleys; the women, as thieves and sorceresses, with
+imprisonment, flagellation, and sometimes death; but as a rabble,
+living without fear of God, and, by so doing, affording an evil
+example to the nation at large, few people gave themselves much
+trouble about them, though they may have occasionally been
+designated as such in a royal edict, intended to check their
+robberies, or by some priest from the pulpit, from whose stable
+they had perhaps contrived to extract the mule which previously
+had the honour of ambling beneath his portly person.</p>
+<p>The Inquisition, which burnt so many Jews and Moors, and
+conscientious Christians, at Seville and Madrid, and in other
+parts of Spain, seems to have exhibited the greatest clemency and
+forbearance to the Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; Indeed, we cannot find
+one instance of its having interfered with them.&nbsp; The charge
+of restraining the excesses of the Git&aacute;nos was abandoned
+entirely to the secular authorities, and more particularly to the
+Santa Hermandad, a kind of police instituted for the purpose of
+clearing the roads of robbers.&nbsp; Whilst I resided at Cordova,
+I was acquainted with an aged ecclesiastic, who was priest of a
+village called Puente, at about two leagues&rsquo; distance from
+the city.&nbsp; He was detained in Cordova on account of his
+political opinions, though he was otherwise at liberty.&nbsp; We
+lived together at the same house; and he frequently visited me in
+my apartment.</p>
+<p>This person, who was upwards of eighty years of age, had
+formerly been inquisitor at Cordova.&nbsp; One night, whilst we
+were seated together, three Git&aacute;nos entered to pay me a
+visit, and on observing the old ecclesiastic, exhibited every
+mark of dissatisfaction, and speaking in their own idiom, called
+him a <i>balichow</i>, and abused priests in general in most
+unmeasured terms.&nbsp; On their departing, I inquired of the old
+man whether he, who having been an inquisitor, was doubtless
+versed in the annals of the holy office, could inform me whether
+the Inquisition had ever taken any active measures for the
+suppression and punishment of the sect of the Git&aacute;nos:
+whereupon he replied, &lsquo;that he was not aware of one case of
+a Git&aacute;no having been tried or punished by the
+Inquisition&rsquo;; adding these remarkable words: &lsquo;The
+Inquisition always looked upon them with too much contempt to
+give itself the slightest trouble concerning them; for as no
+danger either to the state, or the church of Rome, could proceed
+from the Git&aacute;nos, it was a matter of perfect indifference
+to the holy office whether they lived without religion or
+not.&nbsp; The holy office has always reserved its anger for
+people very different; the Git&aacute;nos having at all times
+been <i>Gente barata y despreciable</i>.</p>
+<p>Indeed, most of the persecutions which have arisen in Spain
+against Jews, Moors, and Protestants, sprang from motives with
+which fanaticism and bigotry, of which it is true the Spaniards
+have their full share, had very little connection.&nbsp; Religion
+was assumed as a mask to conceal the vilest and most detestable
+motives which ever yet led to the commission of crying injustice;
+the Jews were doomed to persecution and destruction on two
+accounts,&mdash;their great riches, and their high superiority
+over the Spaniards in learning and intellect.&nbsp; Avarice has
+always been the dominant passion in Spanish minds, their rage for
+money being only to be compared to the wild hunger of wolves for
+horse-flesh in the time of winter: next to avarice, envy of
+superior talent and accomplishment is the prevailing
+passion.&nbsp; These two detestable feelings united, proved the
+ruin of the Jews in Spain, who were, for a long time, an eyesore,
+both to the clergy and laity, for their great riches and
+learning.&nbsp; Much the same causes insured the expulsion of the
+Moriscos, who were abhorred for their superior industry, which
+the Spaniards would not imitate; whilst the reformation was kept
+down by the gaunt arm of the Inquisition, lest the property of
+the church should pass into other and more deserving hands.&nbsp;
+The faggot piles in the squares of Seville and Madrid, which
+consumed the bodies of the Hebrew, the Morisco, and the
+Protestant, were lighted by avarice and envy, and those same
+piles would likewise have consumed the mulatto carcass of the
+Git&aacute;no, had he been learned and wealthy enough to become
+obnoxious to the two master passions of the Spaniards.</p>
+<p>Of all the Spanish writers who have written concerning the
+Git&aacute;nos, the one who appears to have been most scandalised
+at the want of religion observable amongst them, and their
+contempt for things sacred, was a certain Doctor Sancho De
+Moncada.</p>
+<p>This worthy, whom we have already had occasion to mention, was
+Professor of Theology at the University of Toledo, and shortly
+after the expulsion of the Moriscos had been brought about by the
+intrigues of the monks and robbers who thronged the court of
+Philip the Third, he endeavoured to get up a cry against the
+Git&aacute;nos similar to that with which for the last
+half-century Spain had resounded against the unfortunate and
+oppressed Africans, and to effect this he published a discourse,
+entitled &lsquo;The Expulsion of the Git&aacute;nos,&rsquo;
+addressed to Philip the Third, in which he conjures that monarch,
+for the sake of morality and everything sacred, to complete the
+good work he had commenced, and to send the Git&aacute;nos
+packing after the Moriscos.</p>
+<p>Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author, we
+have no means of ascertaining.&nbsp; One thing is certain, that
+it did no harm to the Git&aacute;nos, who still continue in
+Spain.</p>
+<p>If he had other expectations, he must have understood very
+little of the genius of his countrymen, or of King Philip and his
+court.&nbsp; It would have been easier to get up a crusade
+against the wild cats of the sierra, than against the
+Git&aacute;nos, as the former have skins to reward those who slay
+them.&nbsp; His discourse, however, is well worthy of perusal, as
+it exhibits some learning, and comprises many curious details
+respecting the Git&aacute;nos, their habits, and their
+practices.&nbsp; As it is not very lengthy, we here subjoin it,
+hoping that the reader will excuse its many absurdities, for the
+sake of its many valuable facts.</p>
+<h3><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+137</span>CHAPTER X</h3>
+<p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Sire</span>,</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The people of God were always afflicted by the
+Egyptians, but the Supreme King delivered them from their hands
+by means of many miracles, which are related in the Holy
+Scriptures; and now, without having recourse to so many, but only
+by means of the miraculous talent which your Majesty possesses
+for expelling such reprobates, he will, doubtless, free this
+kingdom from them, which is what is supplicated in this
+discourse, and it behoves us, in the first place, to consider</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;WHO ARE THE GIT&Aacute;NOS?</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;Writers generally agree that the first time the
+Git&aacute;nos were seen in Europe was the year 1417, which was
+in the time of Pope Martinus the Fifth and King Don John the
+Second; others say that Tamerlane had them in his camp in 1401,
+and that their captain was Cingo, from whence it is said that
+they call themselves Cingary.&nbsp; But the opinions concerning
+their origin are infinite.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The first is that they are foreigners, though authors
+differ much with respect to the country from whence they
+came.&nbsp; The majority say that they are from Africa, and that
+they came with the Moors when Spain was lost; others that they
+are Tartars, Persians, Cilicians, Nubians, from Lower Egypt, from
+Syria, or from other parts of Asia and Africa, and others
+consider them to be descendants of Chus, son of Cain; others say
+that they are of European origin, Bohemians, Germans, or outcasts
+from other nations of this quarter of the world.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The second and sure opinion is, that those who prowl
+about Spain are not Egyptians, but swarms of wasps and
+atheistical wretches, without any kind of law or religion,
+Spaniards, who have introduced this Gypsy life or sect, and who
+admit into it every day all the idle and broken people of
+Spain.&nbsp; There are some foreigners who would make Spain the
+origin and fountain of all the Gypsies of Europe, as they say
+that they proceeded from a river in Spain called Cija, of which
+Lucan makes mention; an opinion, however, not much adopted
+amongst the learned.&nbsp; In the opinion of respectable authors,
+they are called Cingary or Cinli, because they in every respect
+resemble the bird cinclo, which we call in Spanish Motacilla, or
+aguzanieve (wagtail), which is a vagrant bird and builds no nest,
+<a name="citation138"></a><a href="#footnote138"
+class="citation">[138]</a> but broods in those of other birds, a
+bird restless and poor of plumage, as &AElig;lian writes.</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE GIT&Aacute;NOS ARE VERY HURTFUL TO SPAIN</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;There is not a nation which does not consider them as a
+most pernicious rabble; even the Turks and Moors abominate them,
+amongst whom this sect is found under the names of Torlaquis, <a
+name="citation139"></a><a href="#footnote139"
+class="citation">[139]</a> Hugiemalars, and Dervislars, of whom
+some historians make mention, and all agree that they are most
+evil people, and highly detrimental to the country where they are
+found.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;In the first place, because in all parts they are
+considered as enemies of the states where they wander, and as
+spies and traitors to the crown; which was proven by the emperors
+Maximilian and Albert, who declared them to be such in public
+edicts; a fact easy to be believed, when we consider that they
+enter with ease into the enemies&rsquo; country, and know the
+languages of all nations.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Secondly, because they are idle vagabond people, who
+are in no respect useful to the kingdom; without commerce,
+occupation, or trade of any description; and if they have any it
+is making picklocks and pothooks for appearance sake, being
+wasps, who only live by sucking and impoverishing the country,
+sustaining themselves by the sweat of the miserable labourers, as
+a German poet has said of them:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare
+molestum,<br />
+Fastidit patrium non nisi nosse solum.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>They are much more useless than the Moriscos, as these last
+were of some service to the state and the royal revenues, but the
+Git&aacute;nos are neither labourers, gardeners, mechanics, nor
+merchants, and only serve, like the wolves, to plunder and to
+flee.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Thirdly, because the Git&aacute;nas are public harlots,
+common, as it is said, to all the Git&aacute;nos, and with
+dances, demeanour, and filthy songs, are the cause of continual
+detriment to the souls of the vassals of your Majesty, it being
+notorious that they have done infinite harm in many honourable
+houses by separating the married women from their husbands, and
+perverting the maidens: and finally, in the best of these
+Git&aacute;nas any one may recognise all the signs of a harlot
+given by the wise king; they are gadders about, whisperers,
+always unquiet in places and corners.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Fourthly, because in all parts they are accounted
+famous thieves, about which authors write wonderful things; we
+ourselves have continual experience of this fact in Spain, where
+there is scarcely a corner where they have not committed some
+heavy offence.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Father Martin Del Rio says they were notorious when he
+was in Leon in the year 1584; as they even attempted to sack the
+town of Logro&ntilde;o in the time of the pest, as Don Francisco
+De Cordoba writes in his <i>Didascalia</i>.&nbsp; Enormous cases
+of their excesses we see in infinite processes in all the
+tribunals, and particularly in that of the Holy Brotherhood;
+their wickedness ascending to such a pitch, that they steal
+children, and carry them for sale to Barbary; the reason why the
+Moors call them in Arabic, <i>Raso cherany</i>, <a
+name="citation140"></a><a href="#footnote140"
+class="citation">[140]</a> which, as Andreas Tebetus writes,
+means <i>master thieves</i>.&nbsp; Although they are addicted to
+every species of robbery, they mostly practise horse and cattle
+stealing, on which account they are called in law <i>Abigeos</i>,
+and in Spanish <i>Quatreros</i>, from which practice great evils
+result to the poor labourers.&nbsp; When they cannot steal
+cattle, they endeavour to deceive by means of them, acting as
+<i>terceros</i>, in fairs and markets.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Fifthly, because they are enchanters, diviners,
+magicians, chiromancers, who tell the future by the lines of the
+hand, which is what they call <i>Buena ventura</i>, and are in
+general addicted to all kind of superstition.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;This is the opinion entertained of them universally,
+and which is confirmed every day by experience; and some think
+that they are caller Cingary, from the great Magian Cineus, from
+whom it is said they learned their sorceries, and from which
+result in Spain (especially amongst the vulgar) great errors, and
+superstitious credulity, mighty witchcrafts, and heavy evils,
+both spiritual and corporeal.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Sixthly, because very devout men consider them as
+heretics, and many as Gentile idolaters, or atheists, without any
+religion, although they exteriorly accommodate themselves to the
+religion of the country in which they wander, being Turks with
+the Turks, heretics with the heretics, and, amongst the
+Christians, baptizing now and then a child for form&rsquo;s
+sake.&nbsp; Friar Jayme Bleda produces a hundred signs, from
+which he concludes that the Moriscos were not Christians, all
+which are visible in the Git&aacute;nos; very few are known to
+baptize their children; they are not married, but it is believed
+that they keep the women in common; they do not use
+dispensations, nor receive the sacraments; they pay no respect to
+images, rosaries, bulls, neither do they hear mass, nor divine
+services; they never enter the churches, nor observe fasts, Lent,
+nor any ecclesiastical precept; which enormities have been
+attested by long experience, as every person says.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Finally, they practise every kind of wickedness in
+safety, by discoursing amongst themselves in a language with
+which they understand each other without being understood, which
+in Spain is called Gerigonza, which, as some think, ought to be
+called Cingerionza, or language of Cingary.&nbsp; The king our
+lord saw the evil of such a practice in the law which he enacted
+at Madrid, in the year 1566, in which he forbade the Arabic to
+the Moriscos, as the use of different languages amongst the
+natives of one kingdom opens a door to treason, and is a source
+of heavy inconvenience; and this is exemplified more in the case
+of the Git&aacute;nos than of any other people.</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE GIT&Aacute;NOS OUGHT TO BE SEIZED WHEREVER
+FOUND</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;The civil law ordains that vagrants be seized wherever
+they are found, without any favour being shown to them; in
+conformity with which, the Git&aacute;nos in the Greek empire
+were given as slaves to those who should capture them; as
+respectable authors write.&nbsp; Moreover, the emperor, our lord,
+has decreed by a law made in Toledo, in the year 1525, <i>that
+the third time they be found wandering they shall serve as slaves
+during their whole life to those who capture them</i>.&nbsp;
+Which can be easily justified, inasmuch as there is no shepherd
+who does not place barriers against the wolves, and does not
+endeavour to save his flock, and I have already exposed to your
+Majesty the damage which the Git&aacute;nos perpetrate in
+Spain.</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE GIT&Aacute;NOS OUGHT TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;The reasons are many.&nbsp; The first, for being spies,
+and traitors to the crown; the second as idlers and
+vagabonds.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;It ought always to be considered, that no sooner did
+the race of man begin, after the creation of the world, than the
+important point of civil policy arose of condemning vagrants to
+death; for Cain was certain that he should meet his destruction
+in wandering as a vagabond for the murder of Abel.&nbsp; <i>Ero
+vagus et profugus in terra: omnis igitur qui invenerit me</i>,
+<i>occidet me</i>.&nbsp; Now, the <i>igitur</i> stands here as
+the natural consequence of <i>vagus ero</i>; as it is evident,
+that whoever shall see me must kill me, because he sees me a
+wanderer.&nbsp; And it must always be remembered, that at that
+time there were no people in the world but the parents and
+brothers of Cain, as St. Ambrose has remarked.&nbsp; Moreover,
+God, by the mouth of Jeremias, menaced his people, that all
+should devour them whilst they went wandering amongst the
+mountains.&nbsp; And it is a doctrine entertained by theologians,
+that the mere act of wandering, without anything else, carries
+with it a vehement suspicion of capital crime.&nbsp; Nature
+herself demonstrates it in the curious political system of the
+bees, in whose well-governed republic the drones are killed in
+April, when they commence working.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The third, because they are stealers of four-footed
+beasts, who are condemned to death by the laws of Spain, in the
+wise code of the famous King Don Alonso; which enactment became a
+part of the common law.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The fourth, for wizards, diviners, and for practising
+arts which are prohibited under pain of death by the divine law
+itself.&nbsp; And Saul is praised for having caused this law to
+be put in execution in the beginning of his reign; and the Holy
+Scripture attributes to the breach of it (namely, his consulting
+the witch) his disastrous death, and the transfer of the kingdom
+to David.&nbsp; The Emperor Constantine the Great, and other
+emperors who founded the civil law, condemned to death those who
+should practise such facinorousness,&mdash;as the President of
+Tolosa has written.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The last and most urgent cause is, that they are
+heretics, if what is said be truth; and it is the practice of the
+law in Spain to burn such.</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE GIT&Aacute;NOS ARE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNTRY BY
+THE LAWS OF SPAIN</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;Firstly, they are comprehended as hale beggars in the
+law of the wise king, Don Alonso, by which he expelled all sturdy
+beggars, as being idle and useless.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Secondly, the law expels public harlots from the city;
+and of this matter I have already said something in my second
+chapter.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Thirdly, as people who cause scandal, and who, as is
+visible at the first glance, are prejudicial to morals and common
+decency.&nbsp; Now, it is established by the statute law of these
+kingdoms, that such people be expelled therefrom; it is said so
+in the well-pondered words of the edict for the expulsion of the
+Moors: &ldquo;And forasmuch as the sense of good and Christian
+government makes it a matter of conscience to expel from the
+kingdoms the things which cause scandal, injury to honest
+subjects, danger to the state, and above all, disloyalty to the
+Lord our God.&rdquo;&nbsp; Therefore, considering the
+incorrigibility of the Git&aacute;nos, the Spanish kings made
+many holy laws in order to deliver their subjects from such
+pernicious people.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Fourthly, the Catholic princes, Ferdinand and Isabella,
+by a law which they made in Medina del Campo, in the year 1494,
+and which the emperor our lord renewed in Toledo in 1523, and in
+Madrid in 1528 and 1534, and the late king our lord, in 1560,
+banished them perpetually from Spain, and gave them as slaves to
+whomsoever should find them, after the expiration of the term
+specified in the edict&mdash;laws which are notorious even
+amongst strangers.&nbsp; The words are:&mdash;&ldquo;We declare
+to be vagabonds, and subject to the aforesaid penalty, the
+Egyptians and foreign tinkers, who by laws and statutes of these
+kingdoms are commanded to depart therefrom; and the poor sturdy
+beggars, who contrary to the order given in the new edict, beg
+for alms and wander about.&rdquo;</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE LAWS ARE VERY JUST WHICH EXPEL THE GIT&Aacute;NOS
+FROM THE STATES</h4>
+<p>All the doctors, who are of opinion that the Git&aacute;nos
+may be condemned to death, would consider it as an act of mercy
+in your Majesty to banish them perpetually from Spain, and at the
+same time as exceedingly just.&nbsp; Many and learned men not
+only consider that it is just to expel them, but cannot
+sufficiently wonder that they are tolerated in Christian states,
+and even consider that such toleration is an insult to the
+kingdoms.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Whilst engaged in writing this, I have seen a very
+learned memorial, in which Doctor Salazar de Mendoza makes the
+same supplication to your Majesty which is made in this
+discourse, holding it to be the imperious duty of every good
+government.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;It stands in reason that the prince is bound to watch
+for the welfare of his subjects, and the wrongs which those of
+your Majesty receive from the Git&aacute;nos I have already
+exposed in my second chapter; it being a point worthy of great
+consideration that the wrongs caused by the Moriscos moved your
+royal and merciful bosom to drive them out, although they were
+many, and their departure would be felt as a loss to the
+population, the commerce, the royal revenues, and
+agriculture.&nbsp; Now, with respect to the Git&aacute;nos, as
+they are few, and perfectly useless for everything, it appears
+more necessary to drive them forth, the injuries which they cause
+being so numerous.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Secondly, because the Git&aacute;nos, as I have already
+said, are Spaniards; and as others profess the sacred orders of
+religion, even so do these fellows profess gypsying, which is
+robbery and all the other vices enumerated in chapter the
+second.&nbsp; And whereas it is just to banish from the kingdom
+those who have committed any heavy delinquency, it is still more
+so to banish those who profess to be injurious to all.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Thirdly, because all the kings and rulers have always
+endeavoured to eject from their kingdoms the idle and
+useless.&nbsp; And it is very remarkable, that the law invariably
+commands them to be expelled, and the republics of Athens and
+Corinth were accustomed to do so&mdash;casting them forth like
+dung, even as Athen&aelig;us writes: <i>Nos genus hoc mortalium
+ejicimus ex hac urbe velut purgamina</i>.&nbsp; Now the
+profession of the Gypsy is idleness.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Fourthly, because the Git&aacute;nos are diviners,
+enchanters, and mischievous wretches, and the law commands us to
+expel such from the state.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;In the fifth place, because your Majesty, in the Cortes
+at present assembled, has obliged your royal conscience to fulfil
+all the articles voted for the public service, and the
+forty-ninth says: &ldquo;One of the things at present most
+necessary to be done in these kingdoms, is to afford a remedy for
+the robberies, plundering and murders committed by the
+Git&aacute;nos, who go wandering about the country, stealing the
+cattle of the poor, and committing a thousand outrages, living
+without any fear of God, and being Christians only in name.&nbsp;
+It is therefore deemed expedient, that your Majesty command them
+to quit these kingdoms within six months, to be reckoned from the
+day of the ratification of these presents, and that they do not
+return to the same under pain of death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Against this, two things may possibly be
+urged:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The first, that the laws of Spain give unto the
+Git&aacute;nos the alternative of residing in large towns, which,
+it appears, would be better than expelling them.&nbsp; But
+experience, recognised by grave and respectable men, has shown
+that it is not well to harbour these people; for their houses are
+dens of thieves, from whence they prowl abroad to rob the
+land.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The second, that it appears a pity to banish the women
+and children.&nbsp; But to this can be opposed that holy act of
+your Majesty which expelled the Moriscos, and the children of the
+Moriscos, for the reason given in the royal edict.&nbsp;
+<i>Whenever any detestable crime is committed by any
+university</i>, <i>it is well to punish all</i>.&nbsp; And the
+most detestable crimes of all are those which the Git&aacute;nos
+commit, since it is notorious that they subsist on what they
+steal; and as to the children, there is no law which obliges us
+to bring up wolf-whelps, to cause here-after certain damage to
+the flock.</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;IT HAS EVER BEEN THE PRACTICE OF PRINCES TO EXPEL THE
+GIT&Aacute;NOS</h4>
+<p>&lsquo;Every one who considers the manner of your
+Majesty&rsquo;s government as the truly Christian pattern must
+entertain fervent hope that the advice proffered in this
+discourse will be attended to; more especially on reflecting that
+not only the good, but even the most barbarous kings have acted
+up to it in their respective dominions.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Pharaoh was bad enough, nevertheless he judged that the
+children of Israel were dangerous to the state, because they
+appeared to him to be living without any certain occupation; and
+for this very reason the Chaldeans cast them out of
+Babylon.&nbsp; Amasis, king of Egypt, drove all the vagrants from
+his kingdom, forbidding them to return under pain of death.&nbsp;
+The Soldan of Egypt expelled the Torlaquis.&nbsp; The Moors did
+the same; and Bajazet cast them out of all the Ottoman empire,
+according to Leo Clavius.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;In the second place, the Christian princes have deemed
+it an important measure of state.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The emperor our Lord, in the German Diets of the year
+1548, expelled the Git&aacute;nos from all his empire, and these
+were the words of the decree: &ldquo;Zigeuner quos compertum est
+proditores esse, et exploratores hostium nusquam in imperio locum
+inveniunto.&nbsp; In deprehensos vis et injuria sine fraude
+esto.&nbsp; Fides publica Zigeuners ne dator, nec data
+servator.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The King of France, Francis, expelled them from thence;
+and the Duke of Terranova, when Governor of Milan for our lord
+the king, obliged them to depart from that territory under pain
+of death.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Thirdly, there is one grand reason which ought to be
+conclusive in moving him who so much values himself in being a
+faithful son of the church,&mdash;I mean the example which Pope
+Pius the Fifth gave to all the princes; for he drove the
+Git&aacute;nos from all his domains, and in the year 1568, he
+expelled the Jews, assigning as reasons for their expulsion those
+which are more closely applicable to the
+Git&aacute;nos;&mdash;namely, that they sucked the vitals of the
+state, without being of any utility whatever; that they were
+thieves themselves, and harbourers of others; that they were
+wizards, diviners, and wretches who induced people to believe
+that they knew the future, which is what the Git&aacute;nos at
+present do by telling fortunes.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Your Majesty has already freed us from greater and more
+dangerous enemies; finish, therefore, the enterprise begun,
+whence will result universal joy and security, and by which your
+Majesty will earn immortal honour.&nbsp; Amen.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;O Regum summe, horum plura ne temnas (absit) ne
+fort&egrave; tempsisse Hispani&aelig; periculosum
+existat.&rsquo;</p>
+<h3><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+151</span>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Perhaps</span> there is no country in
+which more laws have been framed, having in view the extinction
+and suppression of the Gypsy name, race, and manner of life, than
+Spain.&nbsp; Every monarch, during a period of three hundred
+years, appears at his accession to the throne to have considered
+that one of his first and most imperative duties consisted in
+suppressing or checking the robberies, frauds, and other
+enormities of the Git&aacute;nos, with which the whole country
+seems to have resounded since the time of their first
+appearance.</p>
+<p>They have, by royal edicts, been repeatedly banished from
+Spain, under terrible penalties, unless they renounced their
+inveterate habits; and for the purpose of eventually confounding
+them with the residue of the population, they have been
+forbidden, even when stationary, to reside together, every family
+being enjoined to live apart, and neither to seek nor to hold
+communication with others of the race.</p>
+<p>We shall say nothing at present as to the wisdom which
+dictated these provisions, nor whether others might not have been
+devised, better calculated to produce the end desired.&nbsp;
+Certain it is, that the laws were never, or very imperfectly, put
+in force, and for reasons with which their expediency or equity
+(which no one at the time impugned) had no connection
+whatever.</p>
+<p>It is true that, in a country like Spain, abounding in
+wildernesses and almost inaccessible mountains, the task of
+hunting down and exterminating or banishing the roving bands
+would have been found one of no slight difficulty, even if such
+had ever been attempted; but it must be remembered, that from an
+early period colonies of Git&aacute;nos have existed in the
+principal towns of Spain, where the men have plied the trades of
+jockeys and blacksmiths, and the women subsisted by divination,
+and all kinds of fraud.&nbsp; These colonies were, of course,
+always within the reach of the hand of justice, yet it does not
+appear that they were more interfered with than the roving and
+independent bands, and that any serious attempts were made to
+break them up, though notorious as nurseries and refuges of
+crime.</p>
+<p>It is a lamentable fact, that pure and uncorrupt justice has
+never existed in Spain, as far at least as record will allow us
+to judge; not that the principles of justice have been less
+understood there than in other countries, but because the entire
+system of justiciary administration has ever been shamelessly
+profligate and vile.</p>
+<p>Spanish justice has invariably been a mockery, a thing to be
+bought and sold, terrible only to the feeble and innocent, and an
+instrument of cruelty and avarice.</p>
+<p>The tremendous satires of Le Sage upon Spanish corregidors and
+alguazils are true, even at the present day, and the most
+notorious offenders can generally escape, if able to administer
+sufficient bribes to the ministers <a name="citation153"></a><a
+href="#footnote153" class="citation">[153]</a> of what is
+misnamed justice.</p>
+<p>The reader, whilst perusing the following extracts from the
+laws framed against the Git&aacute;nos, will be filled with
+wonder that the Gypsy sect still exists in Spain, contrary to the
+declared will of the sovereign and the nation, so often repeated
+during a period of three hundred years; yet such is the fact, and
+it can only be accounted for on the ground of corruption.</p>
+<p>It was notorious that the Git&aacute;nos had powerful friends
+and favourers in every district, who sanctioned and encouraged
+them in their Gypsy practices.&nbsp; These their fautors were of
+all ranks and grades, from the corregidor of noble blood to the
+low and obscure escribano; and from the viceroy of the province
+to the archer of the Hermandad.</p>
+<p>To the high and noble, they were known as Chalanes, and to the
+plebeian functionaries, as people who, notwithstanding their
+general poverty, could pay for protection.</p>
+<p>A law was even enacted against these protectors of the
+Git&aacute;nos, which of course failed, as the execution of the
+law was confided to the very delinquents against whom it was
+directed.&nbsp; Thus, the Git&aacute;no bought, sold, and
+exchanged animals openly, though he subjected himself to the
+penalty of death by so doing, or left his habitation when he
+thought fit, though such an act, by the law of the land, was
+punishable with the galleys.</p>
+<p>In one of their songs they have commemorated the impunity with
+which they wandered about.&nbsp; The escribano, to whom the
+Git&aacute;nos of the neighbourhood pay contribution, on a
+strange Gypsy being brought before him, instantly orders him to
+be liberated, assigning as a reason that he is no Git&aacute;no,
+but a legitimate Spaniard:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;I left my house, and walked about<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; They seized me fast, and bound:<br />
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Spaniards here have found.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;From out the prison me they led,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Before the scribe they brought;<br />
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Spaniards here have caught.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>In a word, nothing was to be gained by interfering with the
+Git&aacute;nos, by those in whose hands the power was vested;
+but, on the contrary, something was to be lost.&nbsp; The chief
+sufferers were the labourers, and they had no power to right
+themselves, though their wrongs were universally admitted, and
+laws for their protection continually being made, which their
+enemies contrived to set at nought; as will presently be
+seen.</p>
+<p>The first law issued against the Gypsies appears to have been
+that of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Medina del Campo, in
+1499.&nbsp; In this edict they were commanded, under certain
+penalties, to become stationary in towns and villages, and to
+provide themselves with masters whom they might serve for their
+maintenance, or in default thereof, to quit the kingdom at the
+end of sixty days.&nbsp; No mention is made of the country to
+which they were expected to betake themselves in the event of
+their quitting Spain.&nbsp; Perhaps, as they are called
+Egyptians, it was concluded that they would forthwith return to
+Egypt; but the framers of the law never seem to have considered
+what means these Egyptians possessed of transporting their
+families and themselves across the sea to such a distance, or if
+they betook themselves to other countries, what reception a host
+of people, confessedly thieves and vagabonds, were likely to meet
+with, or whether it was fair in the <i>two Christian princes</i>
+to get rid of such a nuisance at the expense of their
+neighbours.&nbsp; Such matters were of course left for the
+Gypsies themselves to settle.</p>
+<p>In this edict, a class of individuals is mentioned in
+conjunction with the Git&aacute;nos, or Gypsies, but
+distinguished from them by the name of foreign tinkers, or
+Cald&eacute;ros estrang&eacute;ros.&nbsp; By these, we presume,
+were meant the Calabrians, who are still to be seen upon the
+roads of Spain, wandering about from town to town, in much the
+same way as the itinerant tinkers of England at the present
+day.&nbsp; A man, half a savage, a haggard woman, who is
+generally a Spaniard, a wretched child, and still more miserable
+donkey, compose the group; the gains are of course exceedingly
+scanty, nevertheless this life, seemingly so wretched, has its
+charms for these outcasts, who live without care and anxiety,
+without a thought beyond the present hour, and who sleep as sound
+in ruined posadas and ventas, or in ravines amongst rocks and
+pines, as the proudest grandee in his palace at Seville or
+Madrid.</p>
+<p>Don Carlos and Donna Juanna, at Toledo, 1539, confirmed the
+edict of Medina del Campo against the Egyptians, with the
+addition, that if any Egyptian, after the expiration of the sixty
+days, should be found wandering about, he should be sent to the
+galleys for six years, if above the age of twenty and under that
+of fifty, and if under or above those years, punished as the
+preceding law provides.</p>
+<p>Philip the Second, at Madrid, 1586, after commanding that all
+the laws and edicts be observed, by which the Gypsies are
+forbidden to wander about, and commanded to establish themselves,
+ordains, with the view of restraining their thievish and cheating
+practices, that none of them be permitted to sell anything,
+either within or without fairs or markets, if not provided with a
+testimony signed by the notary public, to prove that they have a
+settled residence, and where it may be; which testimony must also
+specify and describe the horses, cattle, linen, and other things,
+which they carry forth for sale; otherwise they are to be
+punished as thieves, and what they attempt to sell considered as
+stolen property.</p>
+<p>Philip the Third, at Belem, in Portugal, 1619, commands all
+the Gypsies of the kingdom to quit the same within the term of
+six months, and never to return, under pain of death; those who
+should wish to remain are to establish themselves in cities,
+towns, and villages, of one thousand families and upwards, and
+are not to be allowed the use of the dress, name, and language of
+Gypsies, <i>in order that</i>, <i>forasmuch as they are not such
+by nation</i>, <i>this name and manner of life may be for
+evermore confounded and forgotten</i>.&nbsp; They are moreover
+forbidden, under the same penalty, to have anything to do with
+the buying or selling of cattle, whether great or small.</p>
+<p>The most curious portion of the above law is the passage in
+which these people are declared not to be Gypsies by
+nation.&nbsp; If they are not Gypsies, who are they then?&nbsp;
+Spaniards?&nbsp; If so, what right had the King of Spain to send
+the refuse of his subjects abroad, to corrupt other lands, over
+which he had no jurisdiction?</p>
+<p>The Moors were sent back to Africa, under some colour of
+justice, as they came originally from that part of the world; but
+what would have been said to such a measure, if the edict which
+banished them had declared that they were not Moors, but
+Spaniards?</p>
+<p>The law, moreover, in stating that they are not Gypsies by
+nation, seems to have forgotten that in that case it would be
+impossible to distinguish them from other Spaniards, so soon as
+they should have dropped the name, language, and dress of
+Gypsies.&nbsp; How, provided they were like other Spaniards, and
+did not carry the mark of another nation on their countenances,
+could it be known whether or not they obeyed the law, which
+commanded them to live only in populous towns or villages, or how
+could they be detected in the buying or selling of cattle, which
+the law forbids them under pain of death?</p>
+<p>The attempt to abolish the Gypsy name and manner of life might
+have been made without the assertion of a palpable absurdity.</p>
+<p>Philip the Fourth, May 8, 1633, after reference to the evil
+lives and want of religion of the Gypsies, and the complaints
+made against them by prelates and others, declares &lsquo;that
+the laws hitherto adopted since the year 1499, have been
+inefficient to restrain their excesses; that they are not Gypsies
+by origin or nature, but have adopted this form of life&rsquo;;
+and then, after forbidding them, according to custom, the dress
+and language of Gypsies, under the usual severe penalties, he
+ordains:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;1st.&nbsp; That under the same penalties, the aforesaid
+people shall, within two months, leave the quarters (barrios)
+where they now live with the denomination of Git&aacute;nos, and
+that they shall separate from each other, and mingle with the
+other inhabitants, and that they shall hold no more meetings,
+neither in public nor in secret; that the ministers of justice
+are to observe, with particular diligence, how they fulfil these
+commands, and whether they hold communication with each other, or
+marry amongst themselves; and how they fulfil the obligations of
+Christians by assisting at sacred worship in the churches; upon
+which latter point they are to procure information with all
+possible secrecy from the curates and clergy of the parishes
+where the Git&aacute;nos reside.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;2ndly.&nbsp; And in order to extirpate, in every way,
+the name of Git&aacute;nos, we ordain that they be not called so,
+and that no one venture to call them so, and that such shall be
+esteemed a very heavy injury, and shall be punished as such, if
+proved, and that nought pertaining to the Gypsies, their name,
+dress, or actions, be represented, either in dances or in any
+other performance, under the penalty of two years&rsquo;
+banishment, and a mulct of fifty thousand maravedis to whomsoever
+shall offend for the first time, and double punishment for the
+second.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The above two articles seem to have in view the suppression
+and breaking up of the Gypsy colonies established in the large
+towns, more especially the suburbs; farther on, mention is made
+of the wandering bands.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;4thly.&nbsp; And forasmuch as we have understood that
+numerous Git&aacute;nos rove in bands through various parts of
+the kingdom, committing robberies in uninhabited places, and even
+invading some small villages, to the great terror and danger of
+the inhabitants, we give by this our law a general commission to
+all ministers of justice, whether appertaining to royal domains,
+lordships, or abbatial territories, that every one may, in his
+district, proceed to the imprisonment and chastisement of the
+delinquents, and may pass beyond his own jurisdiction in pursuit
+of them; and we also command all the ministers of justice
+aforesaid, that on receiving information that Git&aacute;nos or
+highwaymen are prowling in their districts, they do assemble at
+an appointed day, and with the necessary preparation of men and
+arms they do hunt down, take, and deliver them under a good guard
+to the nearest officer holding the royal commission.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Carlos the Second followed in the footsteps of his
+predecessors, with respect to the Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; By a law
+of the 20th of November 1692, he inhibits the Git&aacute;nos from
+living in towns of less than one thousand heads of families
+(vecinos), and pursuing any trade or employment, save the
+cultivation of the ground; from going in the dress of Gypsies, or
+speaking the language or gibberish which they use; from living
+apart in any particular quarter of the town; from visiting fairs
+with cattle, great or small, or even selling or exchanging such
+at any time, unless with the testimonial of the public notary,
+that they were bred within their own houses.&nbsp; By this law
+they are also forbidden to have firearms in their possession.</p>
+<p>So far from being abashed by this law, or the preceding one,
+the Git&aacute;nos seem to have increased in excesses of every
+kind.&nbsp; Only three years after (12th June 1695), the same
+monarch deemed it necessary to publish a new law for their
+persecution and chastisement.&nbsp; This law, which is
+exceedingly severe, consists of twenty-nine articles.&nbsp; By
+the fourth they are forbidden any other exercise or manner of
+life than that of the cultivation of the fields, in which their
+wives and children, if of competent age, are to assist them.</p>
+<p>Of every other office, employment, or commerce, they are
+declared incapable, and especially of being
+<i>blacksmiths</i>.</p>
+<p>By the fifth, they are forbidden to keep horses or mares,
+either within or without their houses, or to make use of them in
+any way whatever, under the penalty of two months&rsquo;
+imprisonment and the forfeiture of such animals; and any one
+lending them a horse or a mare is to forfeit the same, if it be
+found in their possession.&nbsp; They are declared only capable
+of keeping a mule, or some lesser beast, to assist them in their
+labour, or for the use of their families.</p>
+<p>By the twelfth, they are to be punished with six years in the
+galleys, if they leave the towns or villages in which they are
+located, and pass to others, or wander in the fields or roads;
+and they are only to be permitted to go out, in order to exercise
+the pursuit of husbandry.&nbsp; In this edict, particular mention
+is made of the favour and protection shown to the Git&aacute;nos,
+by people of various descriptions, by means of which they had
+been enabled to follow their manner of life undisturbed, and to
+baffle the severity of the laws:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Article 16.&mdash;And because we understand that the
+continuance in these kingdoms of those who are called
+Git&aacute;nos has depended on the favour, protection, and
+assistance which they have experienced from persons of different
+stations, we do ordain, that whosoever, against whom shall be
+proved the fact of having, since the day of the publication
+hereof, favoured, received, or assisted the said Git&aacute;nos,
+in any manner whatever, whether within their houses or without,
+the said person, provided he is noble, shall be subjected to the
+fine of six thousand ducats, the half of which shall be applied
+to our treasury, and the other half to the expenses of the
+prosecution; and, if a plebeian, to a punishment of ten years in
+the galleys.&nbsp; And we declare, that in order to proceed to
+the infliction of such fine and punishment, the evidence of two
+respectable witnesses, without stain or suspicion, shall be
+esteemed legitimate and conclusive, although they depose to
+separate acts, or three depositions of the Git&aacute;nos
+themselves, <i>made upon the rack</i>, although they relate to
+separate and different acts of abetting and
+harbouring.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The following article is curious, as it bears evidence to
+Gypsy craft and cunning:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Article 18.&mdash;And whereas it is very difficult to
+prove against the Git&aacute;nos the robberies and delinquencies
+which they commit, partly because they happen in uninhabited
+places, but more especially on account of the <i>malice</i> and
+<i>cunning</i> with which they execute them; we do ordain, in
+order that they may receive the merited chastisement, that to
+convict, in these cases, those who are called Git&aacute;nos, the
+depositions of the persons whom they have robbed in uninhabited
+places shall be sufficient, provided there are at least two
+witnesses to one and the same fact, and these of good fame and
+reputation; and we also declare, that the <i>corpus delicti</i>
+may be proved in the same manner in these cases, in order that
+the culprits may be proceeded against, and condemned to the
+corresponding pains and punishments.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The council of Madrid published a schedule, 18th of August
+1705, from which it appears that the villages and roads were so
+much infested by the Git&aacute;no race, that there was neither
+peace nor safety for labourers and travellers; the corregidors
+and justices are therefore exhorted to use their utmost endeavour
+to apprehend these outlaws, and to execute upon them the
+punishments enjoined by the preceding law.&nbsp; The ministers of
+justice are empowered to fire upon them as public enemies,
+wherever they meet them, in case of resistance or refusal to
+deliver up the arms they carry about them.</p>
+<p>Philip the Fifth, by schedule, October 1st, 1726, forbade any
+complaints which the Git&aacute;nos might have to make against
+the inferior justices being heard in the higher tribunals, and,
+on that account, banished all the Gypsy women from Madrid, and,
+indeed, from all towns where royal audiences were held, it being
+the custom of the women to flock up to the capital from the small
+towns and villages, under pretence of claiming satisfaction for
+wrongs inflicted upon their husbands and relations, and when
+there to practise the art of divination, and to sing obscene
+songs through the streets; by this law, also, the justices are
+particularly commanded not to permit the Git&aacute;nos to leave
+their places of domicile, except in cases of very urgent
+necessity.</p>
+<p>This law was attended with the same success as the others; the
+Git&aacute;nos left their places of domicile whenever they
+thought proper, frequented the various fairs, and played off
+their jockey tricks as usual, or traversed the country in armed
+gangs, plundering the small villages, and assaulting
+travellers.</p>
+<p>The same monarch, in October, published another law against
+them, from St. Lorenzo, of the Escurial.&nbsp; From the words of
+this edict, and the measures resolved upon, the reader may form
+some idea of the excesses of the Git&aacute;nos at this
+period.&nbsp; They are to be hunted down with fire and sword, and
+even the sanctity of the temples is to be invaded in their
+pursuit, and the Git&aacute;nos dragged from the horns of the
+altar, should they flee thither for refuge.&nbsp; It was
+impossible, in Spain, to carry the severity of persecution
+farther, as the very parricide was in perfect safety, could he
+escape to the church.&nbsp; Here follows part of this
+law:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I have resolved that all the lord-lieutenants,
+intendants, and corregidors shall publish proclamations, and fix
+edicts, to the effect that all the Git&aacute;nos who are
+domiciled in the cities and towns of their jurisdiction shall
+return within the space of fifteen days to their places of
+domicile, under penalty of being declared, at the expiration of
+that term, as public banditti, subject to be fired at in the
+event of being found with arms, or without them, beyond the
+limits of their places of domicile; and at the expiration of the
+term aforesaid, the lord-lieutenants, intendants, and corregidors
+are strictly commanded, that either they themselves, or suitable
+persons deputed by them, march out with armed soldiery, or if
+there be none at hand, with the militias, and their officers,
+accompanied by the horse rangers, destined for the protection of
+the revenue, for the purpose of scouring the whole district
+within their jurisdiction, making use of all possible diligence
+to apprehend such Git&aacute;nos as are to be found on the public
+roads and other places beyond their domiciliary bounds, and to
+inflict upon them the penalty of death, for the mere act of being
+found.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;And in the event of their taking refuge in sacred
+places, they are empowered to drag them forth, and conduct them
+to the neighbouring prisons and fortresses, and provided the
+ecclesiastical judges proceed against the secular, in order that
+they be restored to the church, they are at liberty to avail
+themselves of the recourse to force, countenanced by laws
+declaring, even as I now declare, that all the Git&aacute;nos who
+shall leave their allotted places of abode, are to be held as
+incorrigible rebels, and enemies of the public peace.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>From this period, until the year 1780, various other laws and
+schedules were directed against the Git&aacute;nos, which, as
+they contain nothing very new or remarkable, we may be well
+excused from particularising.&nbsp; In 1783, a law was passed by
+the government, widely differing in character from any which had
+hitherto been enacted in connection with the Git&aacute;no caste
+or religion in Spain.</p>
+<h3><a name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+166</span>CHAPTER XII</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Carlos Tercero</span>, or Charles the
+Third, ascended the throne of Spain in the year 1759, and died in
+1788.&nbsp; No Spanish monarch has left behind a more favourable
+impression on the minds of the generality of his countrymen;
+indeed, he is the only one who is remembered at all by all ranks
+and conditions;&mdash;perhaps he took the surest means for
+preventing his name being forgotten, by erecting a durable
+monument in every large town,&mdash;we do not mean a pillar
+surmounted by a statue, or a colossal figure on horseback, but
+some useful and stately public edifice.&nbsp; All the magnificent
+modern buildings which attract the eye of the traveller in Spain,
+sprang up during the reign of Carlos Tercero,&mdash;for example,
+the museum at Madrid, the gigantic tobacco fabric at
+Seville,&mdash;half fortress, half manufactory,&mdash;and the
+Farol, at Coru&ntilde;a.&nbsp; We suspect that these erections,
+which speak to the eye, have gained him far greater credit
+amongst Spaniards than the support which he afforded to liberal
+opinions, which served to fan the flame of insurrection in the
+new world, and eventually lost for Spain her transatlantic
+empire.</p>
+<p>We have said that he left behind him a favourable impression
+amongst the generality of his countrymen; by which we mean the
+great body found in every nation, who neither think nor
+reason,&mdash;for there are amongst the Spaniards not a few who
+deny that any of his actions entitle him to the gratitude of the
+nation.&nbsp; &lsquo;All his thoughts,&rsquo; say they,
+&lsquo;were directed to hunting&mdash;and hunting alone; and all
+the days of the year he employed himself either in hunting or in
+preparation for the sport.&nbsp; In one expedition, in the parks
+of the Pardo, he spent several millions of reals.&nbsp; The noble
+edifices which adorn Spain, though built by his orders, are less
+due to his reign than to the anterior one,&mdash;to the reign of
+Ferdinand the Sixth, who left immense treasures, a small portion
+of which Carlos Tercero devoted to these purposes, squandering
+away the remainder.&nbsp; It is said that Carlos Tercero was no
+friend to superstition; yet how little did Spain during his time
+gain in religious liberty!&nbsp; The great part of the nation
+remained intolerant and theocratic as before, the other and
+smaller section turned philosophic, but after the insane manner
+of the French revolutionists, intolerant in its incredulity, and
+believing more in the <i>Encyclop&eacute;die</i> than in the
+Gospel of the Nazarene.&rsquo; <a name="citation167"></a><a
+href="#footnote167" class="citation">[167]</a></p>
+<p>We should not have said thus much of Carlos Tercero, whose
+character has been extravagantly praised by the multitude, and
+severely criticised by the discerning few who look deeper than
+the surface of things, if a law passed during his reign did not
+connect him intimately with the history of the Git&aacute;nos,
+whose condition to a certain extent it has already altered, and
+over whose future destinies there can be no doubt that it will
+exert considerable influence.&nbsp; Whether Carlos Tercero had
+anything farther to do with its enactment than subscribing it
+with his own hand, is a point difficult to determine; the chances
+are that he had not; there is damning evidence to prove that in
+many respects he was a mere Nimrod, and it is not probable that
+such a character would occupy his thoughts much with plans for
+the welfare of his people, especially such a class as the
+Git&aacute;nos, however willing to build public edifices,
+gratifying to his vanity, with the money which a provident
+predecessor had amassed.</p>
+<p>The law in question is dated 19th September 1783.&nbsp; It is
+entitled, &lsquo;Rules for repressing and chastising the vagrant
+mode of life, and other excesses, of those who are called
+Git&aacute;nos.&rsquo;&nbsp; It is in many respects widely
+different from all the preceding laws, and on that account we
+have separated it from them, deeming it worthy of particular
+notice.&nbsp; It is evidently the production of a comparatively
+enlightened spirit, for Spain had already begun to emerge from
+the dreary night of monachism and bigotry, though the light which
+beamed upon her was not that of the Gospel, but of modern
+philosophy.&nbsp; The spirit, however, of the writers of the
+<i>Encyclop&eacute;die</i> is to be preferred to that of
+<i>Torquemada and Moncada</i>, and however deeply we may lament
+the many grievous omissions in the law of Carlos Tercero (for no
+provision was made for the spiritual instruction of the
+Git&aacute;nos), we prefer it in all points to that of Philip the
+Third, and to the law passed during the reign of that unhappy
+victim of monkish fraud, perfidy, and poison, Charles the
+Second.</p>
+<p>Whoever framed the law of Carlos Tercero with respect to the
+Git&aacute;nos, had sense enough to see that it would be
+impossible to reclaim and bring them within the pale of civilised
+society by pursuing the course invariably adopted on former
+occasions&mdash;to see that all the menacing edicts for the last
+three hundred years, breathing a spirit of blood and persecution,
+had been unable to eradicate Gitanismo from Spain; but on the
+contrary, had rather served to extend it.&nbsp; Whoever framed
+this law was, moreover, well acquainted with the manner of
+administering justice in Spain, and saw the folly of making
+statutes which were never put into effect.&nbsp; Instead,
+therefore, of relying on corregidors and alguazils for the
+extinction of the Gypsy sect, the statute addresses itself more
+particularly to the Git&aacute;nos themselves, and endeavours to
+convince them that it would be for their interest to renounce
+their much cherished Gitanismo.&nbsp; Those who framed the former
+laws had invariably done their best to brand this race with
+infamy, and had marked out for its members, in the event of
+abandoning their Gypsy habits, a life to which death itself must
+have been preferable in every respect.&nbsp; They were not to
+speak to each other, nor to intermarry, though, as they were
+considered of an impure caste, it was scarcely to be expected
+that the other Spaniards would form with them relations of love
+or amity, and they were debarred the exercise of any trade or
+occupation but hard labour, for which neither by nature nor habit
+they were at all adapted.&nbsp; The law of Carlos Tercero, on the
+contrary, flung open to them the whole career of arts and
+sciences, and declared them capable of following any trade or
+profession to which they might please to addict themselves.&nbsp;
+Here follow extracts from the above-mentioned law:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Art. 1.&nbsp; I declare that those who go by the name
+of Git&aacute;nos are not so by origin or nature, nor do they
+proceed from any infected root.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;2.&nbsp; I therefore command that neither they, nor any
+one of them shall use the language, dress, or vagrant kind of
+life which they have followed unto the present time, under the
+penalties here below contained.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;3.&nbsp; I forbid all my vassals, of whatever state,
+class, and condition they may be, to call or name the
+above-mentioned people by the names of Git&aacute;nos, or new
+Castilians, under the same penalties to which those are subject
+who injure others by word or writing.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;5.&nbsp; It is my will that those who abandon the said
+mode of life, dress, language, or jargon, be admitted to whatever
+offices or employments to which they may apply themselves, and
+likewise to any guilds or communities, without any obstacle or
+contradiction being offered to them, or admitted under this
+pretext within or without courts of law.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;6.&nbsp; Those who shall oppose and refuse the
+admission of this class of reclaimed people to their trades and
+guilds shall be mulcted ten ducats for the first time, twenty for
+the second, and a double quantity for the third; and during the
+time they continue in their opposition they shall be prohibited
+from exercising the same trade, for a certain period, to be
+determined by the judge, and proportioned to the opposition which
+they display.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;7.&nbsp; I grant the term of ninety days, to be
+reckoned from the publication of this law in the principal town
+of every district, in order that all the vagabonds of this and
+any other class may retire to the towns and villages where they
+may choose to locate themselves, with the exception, for the
+present, of the capital and the royal residences, in order that,
+abandoning the dress, language, and behaviour of those who are
+called Git&aacute;nos, they may devote themselves to some honest
+office, trade, or occupation, it being a matter of indifference
+whether the same be connected with labour or the arts.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;8.&nbsp; It will not be sufficient for those who have
+been formerly known to follow this manner of life to devote
+themselves solely to the occupation of shearing and clipping
+animals, nor to the traffic of markets and fairs, nor still less
+to the occupation of keepers of inns and ventas in uninhabited
+places, although they may be innkeepers within towns, which
+employment shall be considered as sufficient, provided always
+there be no well-founded indications of their being delinquents
+themselves, or harbourers of such people.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;9.&nbsp; At the expiration of ninety days, the justices
+shall proceed against the disobedient in the following
+manner:&mdash;Those who, having abandoned the dress, name,
+language or jargon, association, and manners of Git&aacute;nos,
+and shall have moreover chosen and established a domicile, but
+shall not have devoted themselves to any office or employment,
+though it be only that of day-labourers, shall be considered as
+vagrants, and be apprehended and punished according to the laws
+in force against such people without any distinction being made
+between them and the other vassals.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;10.&nbsp; Those who henceforth shall commit any crimes,
+having abandoned the language, dress, and manners of
+Git&aacute;nos, chosen a domicile, and applied themselves to any
+office, shall be prosecuted and chastised like others guilty of
+the same crimes, without any difference being made between
+them.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;11.&nbsp; But those who shall have abandoned the
+aforesaid dress, language and behaviour, and those who,
+pretending to speak and dress like the other vassals, and even to
+choose a domiciliary residence, shall continue to go forth,
+wandering about the roads and uninhabited places, although it be
+with the pretext of visiting markets and fairs, such people shall
+be pursued and taken by the justices, and a list of them formed,
+with their names and appellations, age, description, with the
+places where they say they reside and were born.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;16.&nbsp;&nbsp; I, however, except from punishment the
+children and young people of both sexes who are not above sixteen
+years of age.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;17.&nbsp; Such, although they may belong to a family,
+shall be separated from their parents who wander about and have
+no employment, and shall be destined to learn something, or shall
+be placed out in hospices or houses of instruction.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;20.&nbsp; When the register of the Git&aacute;nos who
+have proved disobedient shall have taken place, it shall be
+notified and made known to them, that in case of another relapse,
+the punishment of death shall be executed upon them without
+remission, on the examination of the register, and proof being
+adduced that they have returned to their former life.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>What effect was produced by this law, and whether its results
+at all corresponded to the views of those who enacted it, will be
+gathered from the following chapters of this work, in which an
+attempt will be made to delineate briefly the present condition
+of the Gypsies in Spain.</p>
+<h2><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>THE
+ZINCALI<br />
+PART II</h2>
+<h3>CHAPTER I</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">About</span> twelve in the afternoon of
+the 6th of January 1836, I crossed the bridge of the Guadiana, a
+boundary river between Portugal and Spain, and entered Badajoz, a
+strong town in the latter kingdom, containing about eight
+thousand inhabitants, supposed to have been founded by the
+Romans.&nbsp; I instantly returned thanks to God for having
+preserved me in a journey of five days through the wilds of the
+Alemtejo, the province of Portugal the most infested by robbers
+and desperate characters, which I had traversed with no other
+human companion than a lad, almost an idiot, who was to convey
+back the mules which had brought me from Aldea Gallega.&nbsp; I
+intended to make but a short stay, and as a diligence would set
+out for Madrid the day next but one to my arrival, I purposed
+departing therein for the capital of Spain.</p>
+<p>I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken up my
+temporary abode; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at
+hand; I was thinking on the state of the country I had just
+entered, which was involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and
+where the ministers of a religion falsely styled Catholic and
+Christian were blowing the trump of war, instead of preaching the
+love-engendering words of the blessed Gospel.</p>
+<p>Suddenly two men, wrapped in long cloaks, came down the narrow
+and almost deserted street; they were about to pass, and the face
+of the nearest was turned full towards me; I knew to whom the
+countenance which he displayed must belong, and I touched him on
+the arm.&nbsp; The man stopped, and likewise his companion; I
+said a certain word, to which, after an exclamation of surprise,
+he responded in the manner I expected.&nbsp; The men were
+Git&aacute;nos or Gypsies, members of that singular family or
+race which has diffused itself over the face of the civilised
+globe, and which, in all lands, has preserved more or less its
+original customs and its own peculiar language.</p>
+<p>We instantly commenced discoursing in the Spanish dialect of
+this language, with which I was tolerably well acquainted.&nbsp;
+I asked my two newly-made acquaintances whether there were many
+of their race in Badajoz and the vicinity: they informed me that
+there were eight or ten families in the town, and that there were
+others at Merida, a town about six leagues distant.&nbsp; I
+inquired by what means they lived, and they replied that they and
+their brethren principally gained a livelihood by trafficking in
+mules and asses, but that all those in Badajoz were very poor,
+with the exception of one man, who was exceedingly
+<i>balbalo</i>, or rich, as he was in possession of many mules
+and other cattle.&nbsp; They removed their cloaks for a moment,
+and I found that their under-garments were rags.</p>
+<p>They left me in haste, and went about the town informing the
+rest that a stranger had arrived who spoke Rommany as well as
+themselves, who had the face of a Git&aacute;no, and seemed to be
+of the &lsquo;err&aacute;te,&rsquo; or blood.&nbsp; In less than
+half an hour the street before the inn was filled with the men,
+women, and children of Egypt.&nbsp; I went out amongst them, and
+my heart sank within me as I surveyed them: so much vileness,
+dirt, and misery I had never seen amongst a similar number of
+human beings; but worst of all was the evil expression of their
+countenances, which spoke plainly that they were conversant with
+every species of crime, and it was not long before I found that
+their countenances did not belie them.&nbsp; After they had asked
+me an infinity of questions, and felt my hands, face, and
+clothes, they retired to their own homes.</p>
+<p>That same night the two men of whom I have already
+particularly spoken came to see me.&nbsp; They sat down by the
+brasero in the middle of the apartment, and began to smoke small
+paper cigars.&nbsp; We continued for a considerable time in
+silence surveying each other.&nbsp; Of the two Git&aacute;nos one
+was an elderly man, tall and bony, with lean, skinny, and
+whimsical features, though perfectly those of a Gypsy; he spoke
+little, and his expressions were generally singular and
+grotesque.&nbsp; His companion, who was the man whom I had first
+noticed in the street, differed from him in many respects; he
+could be scarcely thirty, and his figure, which was about the
+middle height, was of Herculean proportions; shaggy black hair,
+like that of a wild beast, covered the greatest part of his
+immense head; his face was frightfully seamed with the small-pox,
+and his eyes, which glared like those of ferrets, peered from
+beneath bushy eyebrows; he wore immense moustaches, and his wide
+mouth was garnished with teeth exceedingly large and white.&nbsp;
+There was one peculiarity about him which must not be forgotten:
+his right arm was withered, and hung down from his shoulder a
+thin sapless stick, which contrasted strangely with the huge
+brawn of the left.&nbsp; A figure so perfectly wild and uncouth I
+had scarcely ever before seen.&nbsp; He had now flung aside his
+cloak, and sat before me gaunt in his rags and nakedness.&nbsp;
+In spite of his appearance, however, he seemed to be much the
+most sensible of the two; and the conversation which ensued was
+carried on chiefly between him and myself.&nbsp; This man, whom I
+shall call the first Gypsy, was the first to break silence; and
+he thus addressed me, speaking in Spanish, broken with words of
+the Gypsy tongue:&mdash;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Arrom&aacute;li (in truth), I
+little thought when I saw the erra&ntilde;o standing by the door
+of the posada that I was about to meet a brother&mdash;one too
+who, though well dressed, was not ashamed to speak to a poor
+Git&aacute;no; but tell me, I beg you, brother, from whence you
+come; I have heard that you have just arrived from Lalor&oacute;,
+but I am sure you are no Portuguese; the Portuguese are very
+different from you; I know it, for I have been in Lalor&oacute;;
+I rather take you to be one of the Corahai, for I have heard say
+that there is much of our blood there.&nbsp; You are a Corahano,
+are you not?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am no Moor, though I have been
+in the country.&nbsp; I was born in an island in the West Sea,
+called England, which I suppose you have heard spoken
+of.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Yes, yes, I have a right to
+know something of the English.&nbsp; I was born in this foros,
+and remember the day when the English hundunares clambered over
+the walls, and took the town from the Gabin&eacute;: well do I
+remember that day, though I was but a child; the streets ran red
+with blood and wine!&nbsp; Are there Git&aacute;nos then amongst
+the English?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;There are numbers, and so there
+are amongst most nations of the world.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Second Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Vaya!&nbsp; And do the
+English Calor&eacute; gain their bread in the same way as those
+of Spain?&nbsp; Do they shear and trim?&nbsp; Do they buy and
+change beasts, and (lowering his voice) do they now and then
+chore a gras?&rsquo; <a name="citation181"></a><a
+href="#footnote181" class="citation">[181]</a></p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;They do most of these things: the
+men frequent fairs and markets with horses, many of which they
+steal; and the women tell fortunes and perform all kinds of
+tricks, by which they gain more money than their
+husbands.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;They would not be callees if
+they did not: I have known a Git&aacute;na gain twenty ounces of
+gold, by means of the hokkano baro, in a few hours, whilst the
+silly Gypsy, her husband, would be toiling with his shears for a
+fortnight, trimming the horses of the Busn&eacute;, and yet not
+be a dollar richer at the end of the time.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You seem wretchedly poor.&nbsp;
+Are you married?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am, and to the best-looking
+and cleverest callee in Badajoz; nevertheless we have never
+thriven since the day of our marriage, and a curse seems to rest
+upon us both.&nbsp; Perhaps I have only to thank myself; I was
+once rich, and had never less than six borricos to sell or
+exchange, but the day before my marriage I sold all I possessed,
+in order to have a grand fiesta.&nbsp; For three days we were
+merry enough; I entertained every one who chose to come in, and
+flung away my money by handfuls, so that when the affair was over
+I had not a cuarto in the world; and the very people who had
+feasted at my expense refused me a dollar to begin again, so we
+were soon reduced to the greatest misery.&nbsp; True it is, that
+I now and then shear a mule, and my wife tells the bahi (fortune)
+to the servant-girls, but these things stand us in little stead:
+the people are now very much on the alert, and my wife, with all
+her knowledge, has been unable to perform any grand trick which
+would set us up at once.&nbsp; She wished to come to see you,
+brother, this night, but was ashamed, as she has no more clothes
+than myself.&nbsp; Last summer our distress was so great that we
+crossed the frontier into Portugal: my wife sung, and I played
+the guitar, for though I have but one arm, and that a left one, I
+have never felt the want of the other.&nbsp; At Estremoz I was
+cast into prison as a thief and vagabond, and there I might have
+remained till I starved with hunger.&nbsp; My wife, however, soon
+got me out: she went to the lady of the corregidor, to whom she
+told a most wonderful bahi, promising treasures and titles, and I
+wot not what; so I was set at liberty, and returned to Spain as
+quick as I could.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Is it not the custom of the
+Gypsies of Spain to relieve each other in distress?&mdash;it is
+the rule in other countries.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;El krallis ha nicobado la
+liri de los Cal&eacute;s&mdash;(The king has destroyed the law of
+the Gypsies); we are no longer the people we were once, when we
+lived amongst the sierras and deserts, and kept aloof from the
+Busn&eacute;; we have lived amongst the Busn&eacute; till we are
+become almost like them, and we are no longer united, ready to
+assist each other at all times and seasons, and very frequently
+the Git&aacute;no is the worst enemy of his brother.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;The Git&aacute;nos, then, no
+longer wander about, but have fixed residences in the towns and
+villages?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;In the summer time a few of
+us assemble together, and live about amongst the plains and
+hills, and by doing so we frequently contrive to pick up a horse
+or a mule for nothing, and sometimes we knock down a
+Busn&eacute;, and strip him, but it is seldom we venture so
+far.&nbsp; We are much looked after by the Busn&eacute;, who hold
+us in great dread, and abhor us.&nbsp; Sometimes, when wandering
+about, we are attacked by the labourers, and then we defend
+ourselves as well as we can.&nbsp; There is no better weapon in
+the hands of a Git&aacute;no than his &ldquo;cachas,&rdquo; or
+shears, with which he trims the mules.&nbsp; I once snipped off
+the nose of a Busn&eacute;, and opened the greater part of his
+cheek in an affray up the country near Trujillo.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Have you travelled much about
+Spain?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Very little; I have never
+been out of this province of Estremadura, except last year, as I
+told you, into Portugal.&nbsp; When we wander we do not go far,
+and it is very rare that we are visited by our brethren of other
+parts.&nbsp; I have never been in Andalusia, but I have heard say
+that the Git&aacute;nos are many in Andalusia, and are more
+wealthy than those here, and that they follow better the Gypsy
+law.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;What do you mean by the Gypsy
+law?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>First Gypsy</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Wherefore do you ask,
+brother?&nbsp; You know what is meant by the law of the
+Cal&eacute;s better even than ourselves.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I know what it is in England and
+in Hungary, but I can only give a guess as to what it is in
+Spain.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Both Gypsies</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;What do you consider it to
+be in Spain?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Cheating and choring the
+Busn&eacute; on all occasions, and being true to the
+err&aacute;te in life and in death.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>At these words both the Git&aacute;nos sprang simultaneously
+from their seats, and exclaimed with a boisterous
+shout&mdash;&lsquo;Chachip&eacute;.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>This meeting with the Git&aacute;nos was the occasion of my
+remaining at Badajoz a much longer time than I originally
+intended.&nbsp; I wished to become better acquainted with their
+condition and manners, and above all to speak to them of Christ
+and His Word; for I was convinced, that should I travel to the
+end of the universe, I should meet with no people more in need of
+a little Christian exhortation, and I accordingly continued at
+Badajoz for nearly three weeks.</p>
+<p>During this time I was almost constantly amongst them, and as
+I spoke their language, and was considered by them as one of
+themselves, I had better opportunity of arriving at a fair
+conclusion respecting their character than any other person could
+have had, whether Spanish or foreigner, without such an
+advantage.&nbsp; I found that their ways and pursuits were in
+almost every respect similar to those of their brethren in other
+countries.&nbsp; By cheating and swindling they gained their
+daily bread; the men principally by the arts of the
+jockey,&mdash;by buying, selling, and exchanging animals, at
+which they are wonderfully expert; and the women by telling
+fortunes, selling goods smuggled from Portugal, and dealing in
+love-draughts and diablerie.&nbsp; The most innocent occupation
+which I observed amongst them was trimming and shearing horses
+and mules, which in their language is called
+&lsquo;monrabar,&rsquo; and in Spanish &lsquo;esquilar&rsquo;;
+and even whilst exercising this art, they not unfrequently have
+recourse to foul play, doing the animal some covert injury, in
+hope that the proprietor will dispose of it to themselves at an
+inconsiderable price, in which event they soon restore it to
+health; for knowing how to inflict the harm, they know likewise
+how to remove it.</p>
+<p>Religion they have none; they never attend mass, nor did I
+ever hear them employ the names of God, Christ, and the Virgin,
+but in execration and blasphemy.&nbsp; From what I could learn,
+it appeared that their fathers had entertained some belief in
+metempsychosis; but they themselves laughed at the idea, and were
+of opinion that the soul perished when the body ceased to
+breathe; and the argument which they used was rational enough, so
+far as it impugned metempsychosis: &lsquo;We have been wicked and
+miserable enough in this life,&rsquo; they said; &lsquo;why
+should we live again?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>I translated certain portions of Scripture into their dialect,
+which I frequently read to them; especially the parable of
+Lazarus and the Prodigal Son, and told them that the latter had
+been as wicked as themselves, and both had suffered as much or
+more; but that the sufferings of the former, who always looked
+forward to a blessed resurrection, were recompensed by admission,
+in the life to come, to the society of Abraham and the Prophets,
+and that the latter, when he repented of his sins, was forgiven,
+and received into as much favour as the just son.</p>
+<p>They listened with admiration; but, alas! not of the truths,
+the eternal truths, I was telling them, but to find that their
+broken jargon could be written and read.&nbsp; The only words
+denoting anything like assent to my doctrine which I ever
+obtained, were the following from the mouth of a woman:
+&lsquo;Brother, you tell us strange things, though perhaps you do
+not lie; a month since I would sooner have believed these tales,
+than that this day I should see one who could write
+Rommany.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Two or three days after my arrival, I was again visited by the
+Gypsy of the withered arm, who I found was generally termed Paco,
+which is the diminutive of Francisco; he was accompanied by his
+wife, a rather good-looking young woman with sharp intelligent
+features, and who appeared in every respect to be what her
+husband had represented her on the former visit.&nbsp; She was
+very poorly clad, and notwithstanding the extreme sharpness of
+the weather, carried no mantle to protect herself from its
+inclemency,&mdash;her raven black hair depended behind as far
+down as her hips.&nbsp; Another Gypsy came with them, but not the
+old fellow whom I had before seen.&nbsp; This was a man about
+forty-five, dressed in a zamarra of sheep-skin, with a
+high-crowned Andalusian hat; his complexion was dark as pepper,
+and his eyes were full of sullen fire.&nbsp; In his appearance he
+exhibited a goodly compound of Gypsy and bandit.</p>
+<p><i>Paco</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Laches chibeses te di&ntilde;ele
+Undebel (May God grant you good days, brother).&nbsp; This is my
+wife, and this is my wife&rsquo;s father.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am glad to see them.&nbsp; What
+are their names?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Paco</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Maria and Antonio; their other name
+is Lopez.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Have they no Gypsy
+names?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Paco</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;They have no other names than
+these.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Then in this respect the
+Git&aacute;nos of Spain are unlike those of my country.&nbsp;
+Every family there has two names; one by which they are known to
+the Busn&eacute;, and another which they use amongst
+themselves.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Antonio</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Give me your hand, brother!&nbsp;
+I should have come to see you before, but I have been to
+Olivenzas in search of a horse.&nbsp; What I have heard of you
+has filled me with much desire to know you, and I now see that
+you can tell me many things which I am ignorant of.&nbsp; I am
+Z&iacute;ncalo by the four sides&mdash;I love our blood, and I
+hate that of the Busn&eacute;.&nbsp; Had I my will I would wash
+my face every day in the blood of the Busn&eacute;, for the
+Busn&eacute; are made only to be robbed and to be slaughtered;
+but I love the Calor&eacute;, and I love to hear of things of the
+Calor&eacute;, especially from those of foreign lands; for the
+Calor&eacute; of foreign lands know more than we of Spain, and
+more resemble our fathers of old.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Have you ever met before with
+Calor&eacute; who were not Spaniards?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Antonio</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I will tell you, brother.&nbsp; I
+served as a soldier in the war of the independence against the
+French.&nbsp; War, it is true, is not the proper occupation of a
+Git&aacute;no, but those were strange times, and all those who
+could bear arms were compelled to go forth to fight: so I went
+with the English armies, and we chased the Gabin&eacute; unto the
+frontier of France; and it happened once that we joined in
+desperate battle, and there was a confusion, and the two parties
+became intermingled and fought sword to sword and bayonet to
+bayonet, and a French soldier singled me out, and we fought for a
+long time, cutting, goring, and cursing each other, till at last
+we flung down our arms and grappled; long we wrestled, body to
+body, but I found that I was the weaker, and I fell.&nbsp; The
+French soldier&rsquo;s knee was on my breast, and his grasp was
+on my throat, and he seized his bayonet, and he raised it to
+thrust me through the jaws; and his cap had fallen off, and I
+lifted up my eyes wildly to his face, and our eyes met, and I
+gave a loud shriek, and cried Z&iacute;ncalo, Z&iacute;ncalo! and
+I felt him shudder, and he relaxed his grasp and started up, and
+he smote his forehead and wept, and then he came to me and knelt
+down by my side, for I was almost dead, and he took my hand and
+called me Brother and Z&iacute;ncalo, and he produced his flask
+and poured wine into my mouth, and I revived, and he raised me
+up, and led me from the concourse, and we sat down on a knoll,
+and the two parties were fighting all around, and he said,
+&ldquo;Let the dogs fight, and tear each others&rsquo; throats
+till they are all destroyed, what matters it to the
+Z&iacute;ncali? they are not of our blood, and shall that be shed
+for them?&rdquo;&nbsp; So we sat for hours on the knoll and
+discoursed on matters pertaining to our people; and I could have
+listened for years, for he told me secrets which made my ears
+tingle, and I soon found that I knew nothing, though I had before
+considered myself quite Z&iacute;ncalo; but as for him, he knew
+the whole cuenta; the Bengui Lango <a name="citation189"></a><a
+href="#footnote189" class="citation">[189]</a> himself could have
+told him nothing but what he knew.&nbsp; So we sat till the sun
+went down and the battle was over, and he proposed that we should
+both flee to his own country and live there with the
+Z&iacute;ncali; but my heart failed me; so we embraced, and he
+departed to the Gabin&eacute;, whilst I returned to our own
+battalions.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Do you know from what country he
+came?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Antonio</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;He told me that he was a
+Mayoro.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You mean a Magyar or
+Hungarian.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Antonio</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Just so; and I have repented ever
+since that I did not follow him.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Why so?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Antonio</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I will tell you: the king has
+destroyed the law of the Cal&eacute;s, and has put disunion
+amongst us.&nbsp; There was a time when the house of every
+Z&iacute;ncalo, however rich, was open to his brother, though he
+came to him naked; and it was then the custom to boast of the
+&ldquo;err&aacute;te.&rdquo;&nbsp; It is no longer so now: those
+who are rich keep aloof from the rest, will not speak in Calo,
+and will have no dealings but with the Busn&eacute;.&nbsp; Is
+there not a false brother in this foros, the only rich man among
+us, the swine, the balichow? he is married to a Busnee and he
+would fain appear as a Busno!&nbsp; Tell me one thing, has he
+been to see you?&nbsp; The white blood, I know he has not; he was
+afraid to see you, for he knew that by Gypsy law he was bound to
+take you to his house and feast you, whilst you remained, like a
+prince, like a crallis of the Cal&eacute;s, as I believe you are,
+even though he sold the last gras from the stall.&nbsp; Who have
+come to see you, brother?&nbsp; Have they not been such as Paco
+and his wife, wretches without a house, or, at best, one filled
+with cold and poverty; so that you have had to stay at a mesuna,
+at a posada of the Busn&eacute;; and, moreover, what have the
+Cal&eacute;s given you since you have been residing here?&nbsp;
+Nothing, I trow, better than this rubbish, which is all I can
+offer you, this Meligr&aacute;na de los Bengues.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Here he produced a pomegranate from the pocket of his zamarra,
+and flung it on the table with such force that the fruit burst,
+and the red grains were scattered on the floor.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos of Estremadura call themselves in general
+Chai or Chabos, and say that their original country was Chal or
+Egypt.&nbsp; I frequently asked them what reason they could
+assign for calling themselves Egyptians, and whether they could
+remember the names of any places in their supposed fatherland;
+but I soon found that, like their brethren in other parts of the
+world, they were unable to give any rational account of
+themselves, and preserved no recollection of the places where
+their forefathers had wandered; their language, however, to a
+considerable extent, solved the riddle, the bulk of which being
+Hindui, pointed out India as the birthplace of their race, whilst
+the number of Persian, Sclavonian, and modern Greek words with
+which it is checkered, spoke plainly as to the countries through
+which these singular people had wandered before they arrived in
+Spain.</p>
+<p>They said that they believed themselves to be Egyptians,
+because their fathers before them believed so, who must know much
+better than themselves.&nbsp; They were fond of talking of Egypt
+and its former greatness, though it was evident that they knew
+nothing farther of the country and its history than what they
+derived from spurious biblical legends current amongst the
+Spaniards; only from such materials could they have composed the
+following account of the manner of their expulsion from their
+native land.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;There was a great king in Egypt, and his name was
+Pharaoh.&nbsp; He had numerous armies, with which he made war on
+all countries, and conquered them all.&nbsp; And when he had
+conquered the entire world, he became sad and sorrowful; for as
+he delighted in war, he no longer knew on what to employ
+himself.&nbsp; At last he bethought him on making war on God; so
+he sent a defiance to God, daring him to descend from the sky
+with his angels, and contend with Pharaoh and his armies; but God
+said, I will not measure my strength with that of a man.&nbsp;
+But God was incensed against Pharaoh, and resolved to punish him;
+and he opened a hole in the side of an enormous mountain, and he
+raised a raging wind, and drove before it Pharaoh and his armies
+to that hole, and the abyss received them, and the mountain
+closed upon them; but whosoever goes to that mountain on the
+night of St. John can hear Pharaoh and his armies singing and
+yelling therein.&nbsp; And it came to pass, that when Pharaoh and
+his armies had disappeared, all the kings and the nations which
+had become subject to Egypt revolted against Egypt, which, having
+lost her king and her armies, was left utterly without defence;
+and they made war against her, and prevailed against her, and
+took her people and drove them forth, dispersing them over all
+the world.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>So that now, say the Chai, &lsquo;Our horses drink the water
+of the Guadiana&rsquo;&mdash;(Apilyela gras Chai la panee
+Lucalee).</p>
+<h4>&lsquo;THE STEEDS OF THE EGYPTIANS DRINK THE WATERS OF THE
+GUADIANA</h4>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;The region of Chal was our dear native
+soil,<br />
+Where in fulness of pleasure we lived without toil;<br />
+Till dispersed through all lands, &rsquo;twas our fortune to
+be&mdash;<br />
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Once kings came from far to kneel down at our gate,<br
+/>
+And princes rejoic&rsquo;d on our meanest to wait;<br />
+But now who so mean but would scorn our degree&mdash;<br />
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;For the Undebel saw, from his throne in the cloud,<br
+/>
+That our deeds they were foolish, our hearts they were proud;<br
+/>
+And in anger he bade us his presence to flee&mdash;<br />
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Our horses should drink of no river but one;<br />
+It sparkles through Chal, &rsquo;neath the smile of the sun,<br
+/>
+But they taste of all streams save that only, and see&mdash;<br
+/>
+Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h3><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+194</span>CHAPTER II</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> Madrid the Git&aacute;nos
+chiefly reside in the neighbourhood of the &lsquo;mercado,&rsquo;
+or the place where horses and other animals are sold,&mdash;in
+two narrow and dirty lanes, called the Calle de la Comadre and
+the Callejon de Lavapies.&nbsp; It is said that at the beginning
+of last century Madrid abounded with these people, who, by their
+lawless behaviour and dissolute lives, gave occasion to great
+scandal; if such were the case, their numbers must have
+considerably diminished since that period, as it would be
+difficult at any time to collect fifty throughout Madrid.&nbsp;
+These Git&aacute;nos seem, for the most part, to be either
+Valencians or of Valencian origin, as they in general either
+speak or understand the dialect of Valencia; and whilst speaking
+their own peculiar jargon, the Rommany, are in the habit of
+making use of many Valencian words and terms.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p194b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Seville"
+title=
+"Seville"
+ src="images/p194s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The manner of life of the Git&aacute;nos of Madrid differs in
+no material respect from that of their brethren in other
+places.&nbsp; The men, every market-day, are to be seen on the
+skirts of the mercado, generally with some miserable
+animal&mdash;for example, a foundered mule or galled borrico, by
+means of which they seldom fail to gain a dollar or two, either
+by sale or exchange.&nbsp; It must not, however, be supposed that
+they content themselves with such paltry earnings.&nbsp; Provided
+they have any valuable animal, which is not unfrequently the
+case, they invariably keep such at home snug in the stall,
+conducting thither the chapman, should they find any, and
+concluding the bargain with the greatest secrecy.&nbsp; Their
+general reason for this conduct is an unwillingness to exhibit
+anything calculated to excite the jealousy of the chalans, or
+jockeys of Spanish blood, who on the slightest umbrage are in the
+habit of ejecting them from the fair by force of palos or
+cudgels, in which violence the chalans are to a certain extent
+countenanced by law; for though by the edict of Carlos the Third
+the Git&aacute;nos were in other respects placed upon an equality
+with the rest of the Spaniards, they were still forbidden to
+obtain their livelihood by the traffic of markets and fairs.</p>
+<p>They have occasionally however another excellent reason for
+not exposing the animal in the public mercado&mdash;having
+obtained him by dishonest means.&nbsp; The stealing, concealing,
+and receiving animals when stolen, are inveterate Gypsy habits,
+and are perhaps the last from which the Git&aacute;no will be
+reclaimed, or will only cease when the race has become
+extinct.&nbsp; In the prisons of Madrid, either in that of the
+Saladero or De la Corte, there are never less than a dozen
+Git&aacute;nos immured for stolen horses or mules being found in
+their possession, which themselves or their connections have
+spirited away from the neighbouring villages, or sometimes from a
+considerable distance.&nbsp; I say spirited away, for so well do
+the thieves take their measures, and watch their opportunity,
+that they are seldom or never taken in the fact.</p>
+<p>The Madrilenian Gypsy women are indefatigable in the pursuit
+of prey, prowling about the town and the suburbs from morning
+till night, entering houses of all descriptions, from the highest
+to the lowest; telling fortunes, or attempting to play off
+various kinds of Gypsy tricks, from which they derive much
+greater profit, and of which we shall presently have occasion to
+make particular mention.</p>
+<p>From Madrid let us proceed to Andalusia, casting a cursory
+glance on the Git&aacute;nos of that country.&nbsp; I found them
+very numerous at Granada, which in the Git&aacute;no language is
+termed Meligrana.&nbsp; Their general condition in this place is
+truly miserable, far exceeding in wretchedness the state of the
+tribes of Estremadura.&nbsp; It is right to state that Granada
+itself is the poorest city in Spain; the greatest part of the
+population, which exceeds sixty thousand, living in beggary and
+nakedness, and the Git&aacute;nos share in the general
+distress.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image196" href="images/p196b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Gypsy Smith of Granada"
+title=
+"The Gypsy Smith of Granada"
+ src="images/p196s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Many of them reside in caves scooped in the sides of the
+ravines which lead to the higher regions of the Alpujarras, on a
+skirt of which stands Granada.&nbsp; A common occupation of the
+Git&aacute;nos of Granada is working in iron, and it is not
+unfrequent to find these caves tenanted by Gypsy smiths and their
+families, who ply the hammer and forge in the bowels of the
+earth.&nbsp; To one standing at the mouth of the cave, especially
+at night, they afford a picturesque spectacle.&nbsp; Gathered
+round the forge, their bronzed and naked bodies, illuminated by
+the flame, appear like figures of demons; while the cave, with
+its flinty sides and uneven roof, blackened by the charcoal
+vapours which hover about it in festoons, seems to offer no
+inadequate representation of fabled purgatory.&nbsp; Working in
+iron was an occupation strictly forbidden to the Git&aacute;nos
+by the ancient laws, on what account does not exactly appear;
+though, perhaps, the trade of the smith was considered as too
+much akin to that of the chalan to be permitted to them.&nbsp;
+The Gypsy smith of Granada is still a chalan, even as his brother
+in England is a jockey and tinker alternately.</p>
+<p>Whilst speaking of the Git&aacute;nos of Granada, we cannot
+pass by in silence a tragedy which occurred in this town amongst
+them, some fifteen years ago, and the details of which are known
+to every Git&aacute;no in Spain, from Catalonia to
+Estremadura.&nbsp; We allude to the murder of Pindamonas by Pepe
+Conde.&nbsp; Both these individuals were Git&aacute;nos; the
+latter was a celebrated contrabandista, of whom many remarkable
+tales are told.&nbsp; On one occasion, having committed some
+enormous crime, he fled over to Barbary and turned Moor, and was
+employed by the Moorish emperor in his wars, in company with the
+other renegade Spaniards, whose grand dep&ocirc;t or presidio is
+the town of Agurey in the kingdom of Fez.&nbsp; After the lapse
+of some years, when his crime was nearly forgotten, he returned
+to Granada, where he followed his old occupations of
+contrabandista and chalan.&nbsp; Pindamonas was a Git&aacute;no
+of considerable wealth, and was considered as the most
+respectable of the race at Granada, amongst whom he possessed
+considerable influence.&nbsp; Between this man and Pepe Conde
+there existed a jealousy, especially on the part of the latter,
+who, being a man of proud untamable spirit, could not well brook
+a superior amongst his own people.&nbsp; It chanced one day that
+Pindamonas and other Git&aacute;nos, amongst whom was Pepe Conde,
+were in a coffee-house.&nbsp; After they had all partaken of some
+refreshment, they called for the reckoning, the amount of which
+Pindamonas insisted on discharging.&nbsp; It will be necessary
+here to observe, that on such occasions in Spain it is considered
+as a species of privilege to be allowed to pay, which is an
+honour generally claimed by the principal man of the party.&nbsp;
+Pepe Conde did not fail to take umbrage at the attempt of
+Pindamonas, which he considered as an undue assumption of
+superiority, and put in his own claim; but Pindamonas insisted,
+and at last flung down the money on the table, whereupon Pepe
+Conde instantly unclasped one of those terrible Manchegan knives
+which are generally carried by the contrabandistas, and with a
+frightful gash opened the abdomen of Pindamonas, who presently
+expired.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image198" href="images/p198b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde"
+title=
+"The Murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde"
+ src="images/p198s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>After this exploit, Pepe Conde fled, and was not seen for some
+time.&nbsp; The cave, however, in which he had been in the habit
+of residing was watched, as a belief was entertained that sooner
+or later he would return to it, in the hope of being able to
+remove some of the property contained in it.&nbsp; This belief
+was well founded.&nbsp; Early one morning he was observed to
+enter it, and a band of soldiers was instantly despatched to
+seize him.&nbsp; This circumstance is alluded to in a Gypsy
+stanza:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Fly, Pepe Conde, seek the hill;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To flee&rsquo;s thy only chance;<br />
+With bayonets fixed, thy blood to spill,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; See soldiers four advance.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And before the soldiers could arrive at the cave, Pepe Conde
+had discovered their approach and fled, endeavouring to make his
+escape amongst the rocks and barrancos of the Alpujarras.&nbsp;
+The soldiers instantly pursued, and the chase continued a
+considerable time.&nbsp; The fugitive was repeatedly summoned to
+surrender himself, but refusing, the soldiers at last fired, and
+four balls entered the heart of the Gypsy contrabandista and
+murderer.</p>
+<p>Once at Madrid I received a letter from the sister&rsquo;s son
+of Pindamonas, dated from the prison of the Saladero.&nbsp; In
+this letter the writer, who it appears was in durance for
+stealing a pair of mules, craved my charitable assistance and
+advice; and possibly in the hope of securing my favour, forwarded
+some uncouth lines commemorative of the death of his relation,
+and commencing thus:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;The death of Pindamonas fill&rsquo;d all
+the world with pain;<br />
+At the coffee-house&rsquo;s portal, by Pepe he was
+slain.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The faubourg of Triana, in Seville, has from time immemorial
+been noted as a favourite residence of the Git&aacute;nos; and
+here, at the present day, they are to be found in greater number
+than in any other town in Spain.&nbsp; This faubourg is indeed
+chiefly inhabited by desperate characters, as, besides the
+Git&aacute;nos, the principal part of the robber population of
+Seville is here congregated.&nbsp; Perhaps there is no part even
+of Naples where crime so much abounds, and the law is so little
+respected, as at Triana, the character of whose inmates was so
+graphically delineated two centuries and a half back by
+Cervantes, in one of the most amusing of his tales. <a
+name="citation199"></a><a href="#footnote199"
+class="citation">[199]</a></p>
+<p>In the vilest lanes of this suburb, amidst dilapidated walls
+and ruined convents, exists the grand colony of Spanish
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; Here they may be seen wielding the hammer;
+here they may be seen trimming the fetlocks of horses, or
+shearing the backs of mules and borricos with their cachas; and
+from hence they emerge to ply the same trade in the town, or to
+officiate as terceros, or to buy, sell, or exchange animals in
+the mercado, and the women to tell the bahi through the streets,
+even as in other parts of Spain, generally attended by one or two
+tawny bantlings in their arms or by their sides; whilst others,
+with baskets and chafing-pans, proceed to the delightful banks of
+the Len Baro, <a name="citation200"></a><a href="#footnote200"
+class="citation">[200]</a> by the Golden Tower, where, squatting
+on the ground and kindling their charcoal, they roast the
+chestnuts which, when well prepared, are the favourite bonne
+bouche of the Sevillians; whilst not a few, in league with the
+contrabandistas, go from door to door offering for sale
+prohibited goods brought from the English at Gibraltar.&nbsp;
+Such is Git&aacute;no life at Seville; such it is in the capital
+of Andalusia.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image200" href="images/p200b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Roasting Chestnuts by the side of the Guadalquiver"
+title=
+"Roasting Chestnuts by the side of the Guadalquiver"
+ src="images/p200s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>It is the common belief of the Git&aacute;nos of other
+provinces that in Andalusia the language, customs, habits, and
+practices peculiar to their race are best preserved.&nbsp; This
+opinion, which probably originated from the fact of their being
+found in greater numbers in this province than in any other, may
+hold good in some instances, but certainly not in all.&nbsp; In
+various parts of Spain I have found the Git&aacute;nos retaining
+their primitive language and customs better than in Seville,
+where they most abound: indeed, it is not plain that their number
+has operated at all favourably in this respect.&nbsp; At Cordova,
+a town at the distance of twenty leagues from Seville, which
+scarcely contains a dozen Git&aacute;no families, I found them
+living in much more brotherly amity, and cherishing in a greater
+degree the observances of their forefathers.</p>
+<p>I shall long remember these Cordovese Git&aacute;nos, by whom
+I was very well received, but always on the supposition that I
+was one of their own race.&nbsp; They said that they never
+admitted strangers to their houses save at their marriage
+festivals, when they flung their doors open to all, and save
+occasionally people of influence and distinction, who wished to
+hear their songs and converse with their women; but they assured
+me, at the same time, that these they invariably deceived, and
+merely made use of as instruments to serve their own
+purposes.&nbsp; As for myself, I was admitted without scruple to
+their private meetings, and was made a participator of their most
+secret thoughts.&nbsp; During our intercourse some remarkable
+scenes occurred.&nbsp; One night more than twenty of us, men and
+women, were assembled in a long low room on the ground floor, in
+a dark alley or court in the old gloomy town of Cordova.&nbsp;
+After the Git&aacute;nos had discussed several jockey plans, and
+settled some private bargains amongst themselves, we all gathered
+round a huge brasero of flaming charcoal, and began conversing
+<i>sobre las cosas de Egypto</i>, when I proposed that, as we had
+no better means of amusing ourselves, we should endeavour to turn
+into the Calo language some pieces of devotion, that we might see
+whether this language, the gradual decay of which I had
+frequently heard them lament, was capable of expressing any other
+matters than those which related to horses, mules, and Gypsy
+traffic.&nbsp; It was in this cautious manner that I first
+endeavoured to divert the attention of these singular people to
+matters of eternal importance.&nbsp; My suggestion was received
+with acclamations, and we forthwith proceeded to the translation
+of the Apostles&rsquo; creed.&nbsp; I first recited in Spanish,
+in the usual manner and without pausing, this noble confession,
+and then repeated it again, sentence by sentence, the
+Git&aacute;nos translating as I proceeded.&nbsp; They exhibited
+the greatest eagerness and interest in their unwonted occupation,
+and frequently broke into loud disputes as to the best
+rendering&mdash;many being offered at the same time.&nbsp; In the
+meanwhile, I wrote down from their dictation; and at the
+conclusion I read aloud the translation, the result of the united
+wisdom of the assembly, whereupon they all raised a shout of
+exultation, and appeared not a little proud of the
+composition.</p>
+<p>The Cordovese Git&aacute;nos are celebrated esquiladors.&nbsp;
+Connected with them and the exercise of the <i>arte de
+esquilar</i>, in Gypsy monrabar, I have a curious anecdote to
+relate.&nbsp; In the first place, however, it may not be amiss to
+say something about the art itself, of all relating to which it
+is possible that the reader may be quite ignorant.</p>
+<p>Nothing is more deserving of remark in Spanish grooming than
+the care exhibited in clipping and trimming various parts of the
+horse, where the growth of hair is considered as prejudicial to
+the perfect health and cleanliness of the animal, particular
+attention being always paid to the pastern, that part of the foot
+which lies between the fetlock and the hoof, to guard against the
+arestin&mdash;that cutaneous disorder which is the dread of the
+Spanish groom, on which account the services of a skilful
+esquilador are continually in requisition.</p>
+<p>The esquilador, when proceeding to the exercise of his
+vocation, generally carries under his arm a small box containing
+the instruments necessary, and which consist principally of
+various pairs of scissors, and the <i>aci&aacute;l</i>, two short
+sticks tied together with whipcord at the end, by means of which
+the lower lip of the horse, should he prove restive, is twisted,
+and the animal reduced to speedy subjection.&nbsp; In the girdle
+of the esquilador are stuck the large scissors called in Spanish
+<i>tijeras</i>, and in the Gypsy tongue <i>cachas</i>, with which
+he principally works.&nbsp; He operates upon the backs, ears, and
+tails of mules and borricos, which are invariably sheared quite
+bare, that if the animals are galled, either by their harness or
+the loads which they carry, the wounds may be less liable to
+fester, and be more easy to cure.&nbsp; Whilst engaged with
+horses, he confines himself to the feet and ears.&nbsp; The
+esquiladores in the two Castiles, and in those provinces where
+the Git&aacute;nos do not abound, are for the most part
+Aragonese; but in the others, and especially in Andalusia, they
+are of the Gypsy race.&nbsp; The Git&aacute;nos are in general
+very expert in the use of the cachas, which they handle in a
+manner practised nowhere but in Spain; and with this instrument
+the poorer class principally obtain their bread.</p>
+<p>In one of their couplets allusion is made to this occupation
+in the following manner:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;I&rsquo;ll rise to-morrow bread to earn,<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; For hunger&rsquo;s worn me grim;<br />
+Of all I meet I&rsquo;ll ask in turn,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; If they&rsquo;ve no beasts to trim.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Sometimes, whilst shearing the foot of a horse, exceedingly
+small scissors are necessary for the purpose of removing fine
+solitary hairs; for a Spanish groom will tell you that a
+horse&rsquo;s foot behind ought to be kept as clean and smooth as
+the hand of a se&ntilde;ora: such scissors can only be procured
+at Madrid.&nbsp; My sending two pair of this kind to a Cordovese
+Gypsy, from whom I had experienced much attention whilst in that
+city, was the occasion of my receiving a singular epistle from
+another whom I scarcely knew, and which I shall insert as being
+an original Gypsy composition, and in some points not a little
+characteristic of the people of whom I am now writing.</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">&lsquo;Cordova, 20th day
+of January, 1837.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;<span class="GutSmall">SE&Ntilde;OR DON
+JORGE</span>,</p>
+<p>&lsquo;After saluting you and hoping that you are well, I
+proceed to tell you that the two pair of scissors arrived at this
+town of Cordova with him whom you sent them by; but,
+unfortunately, they were given to another Gypsy, whom you neither
+knew nor spoke to nor saw in your life; for it chanced that he
+who brought them was a friend of mine, and he told me that he had
+brought two pair of scissors which an Englishman had given him
+for the Gypsies; whereupon I, understanding it was yourself,
+instantly said to him, &ldquo;Those scissors are for me&rdquo;;
+he told me, however, that he had already given them to another,
+and he is a Gypsy who was not even in Cordova during the time you
+were.&nbsp; Nevertheless, Don Jorge, I am very grateful for your
+thus remembering me, although I did not receive your present, and
+in order that you may know who I am, my name is Antonio Salazar,
+a man pitted with the small-pox, and the very first who spoke to
+you in Cordova in the posada where you were; and you told me to
+come and see you next day at eleven, and I went, and we conversed
+together alone.&nbsp; Therefore I should wish you to do me the
+favour to send me scissors for trimming beasts,&mdash;good
+scissors, mind you,&mdash;such would be a very great favour, and
+I should be ever grateful, for here in Cordova there are none, or
+if there be, they are good for nothing.&nbsp; Se&ntilde;or Don
+Jorge, you remember I told you that I was an esquilador by trade,
+and only by that I got bread for my babes.&nbsp; Se&ntilde;or Don
+Jorge, if you do send me the scissors for trimming, pray write
+and direct to the alley De la Londiga, No. 28, to Antonio
+Salazar, in Cordova.&nbsp; This is what I have to tell you, and
+do you ever command your trusty servant, who kisses your hand and
+is eager to serve you.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Antonio
+Salazar</span>.&rsquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">FIRST COUPLET</p>
+<p>&lsquo;That I may clip and trim the beasts, a pair of cachas
+grant,<br />
+If not, I fear my luckless babes will perish all of
+want.&rsquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">SECOND COUPLET</p>
+<p>&lsquo;If thou a pair of cachas grant, that I my babes may
+feed,<br />
+I&rsquo;ll pray to the Almighty God, that thee he ever
+speed.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It is by no means my intention to describe the exact state and
+condition of the Git&aacute;nos in every town and province where
+they are to be found; perhaps, indeed, it will be considered that
+I have already been more circumstantial and particular than the
+case required.&nbsp; The other districts which they inhabit are
+principally those of Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia; and they
+are likewise to be met with in the Basque provinces, where they
+are called Egipcioac, or Egyptians.&nbsp; What I next purpose to
+occupy myself with are some general observations on the habits,
+and the physical and moral state of the Git&aacute;nos throughout
+Spain, and of the position which they hold in society.</p>
+<h3><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+207</span>CHAPTER III</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Already</span>, from the two preceding
+chapters, it will have been perceived that the condition of the
+Git&aacute;nos in Spain has been subjected of late to
+considerable modification.&nbsp; The words of the Gypsy of
+Badajoz are indeed, in some respects, true; they are no longer
+the people that they were; the roads and
+&lsquo;despoblados&rsquo; have ceased to be infested by them, and
+the traveller is no longer exposed to much danger on their
+account; they at present confine themselves, for the most part,
+to towns and villages, and if they occasionally wander abroad, it
+is no longer in armed bands, formidable for their numbers, and
+carrying terror and devastation in all directions, bivouacking
+near solitary villages, and devouring the substance of the
+unfortunate inhabitants, or occasionally threatening even large
+towns, as in the singular case of Logro&ntilde;o, mentioned by
+Francisco de Cordova.&nbsp; As the reader will probably wish to
+know the cause of this change in the lives and habits of these
+people, we shall, as briefly as possible, afford as much
+information on the subject as the amount of our knowledge will
+permit.</p>
+<p>One fact has always struck us with particular force in the
+history of these people, namely, that Gitanismo&mdash;which means
+Gypsy villainy of every description&mdash;flourished and knew
+nothing of decay so long as the laws recommended and enjoined
+measures the most harsh and severe for the suppression of the
+Gypsy sect; the palmy days of Gitanismo were those in which the
+caste was proscribed, and its members, in the event of renouncing
+their Gypsy habits, had nothing farther to expect than the
+occupation of tilling the earth, a dull hopeless toil; then it
+was that the Git&aacute;nos paid tribute to the inferior
+ministers of justice, and were engaged in illicit connection with
+those of higher station, and by such means baffled the law, whose
+vengeance rarely fell upon their heads; and then it was that they
+bid it open defiance, retiring to the deserts and mountains, and
+living in wild independence by rapine and shedding of blood; for
+as the law then stood they would lose all by resigning their
+Gitanismo, whereas by clinging to it they lived either in the
+independence so dear to them, or beneath the protection of their
+confederates.&nbsp; It would appear that in proportion as the law
+was harsh and severe, so was the Git&aacute;no bold and
+secure.&nbsp; The fiercest of these laws was the one of Philip
+the Fifth, passed in the year 1745, which commands that the
+refractory Git&aacute;nos be hunted down with fire and sword;
+that it was quite inefficient is satisfactorily proved by its
+being twice reiterated, once in the year &lsquo;46, and again in
+&lsquo;49, which would scarcely have been deemed necessary had it
+quelled the Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; This law, with some unimportant
+modifications, continued in force till the year &lsquo;83, when
+the famous edict of Carlos Tercero superseded it.&nbsp; Will any
+feel disposed to doubt that the preceding laws had served to
+foster what they were intended to suppress, when we state the
+remarkable fact, that since the enactment of that law, as humane
+as the others were unjust, <i>we have heard nothing more of the
+Git&aacute;nos from official quarters</i>; <i>they have ceased to
+play a distinct part in the history of Spain</i>; <i>and the law
+no longer speaks of them as a distinct people</i>?&nbsp; The
+caste of the Git&aacute;no still exists, but it is neither so
+extensive nor so formidable as a century ago, when the law in
+denouncing Gitanismo proposed to the Git&aacute;nos the
+alternatives of death for persisting in their profession, or
+slavery for abandoning it.</p>
+<p>There are fierce and discontented spirits amongst them, who
+regret such times, and say that Gypsy law is now no more, that
+the Gypsy no longer assists his brother, and that union has
+ceased among them.&nbsp; If this be true, can better proof be
+adduced of the beneficial working of the later law?&nbsp; A
+blessing has been conferred on society, and in a manner highly
+creditable to the spirit of modern times; reform has been
+accomplished, not by persecution, not by the gibbet and the rack,
+but by justice and tolerance.&nbsp; The traveller has flung aside
+his cloak, not compelled by the angry buffeting of the north
+wind, but because the mild, benignant weather makes such a
+defence no longer necessary.&nbsp; The law no longer compels the
+Git&aacute;nos to stand back to back, on the principal of mutual
+defence, and to cling to Gitanismo to escape from servitude and
+thraldom.</p>
+<p>Taking everything into consideration, and viewing the subject
+in all its bearings with an impartial glance, we are compelled to
+come to the conclusion that the law of Carlos Tercero, the
+provisions of which were distinguished by justice and clemency,
+has been the principal if not the only cause of the decline of
+Gitanismo in Spain.&nbsp; Some importance ought to be attached to
+the opinion of the Git&aacute;nos themselves on this point.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;El Crallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales,&rsquo; is a
+proverbial saying among them.&nbsp; By Crallis, or King, they
+mean Carlos Tercero, so that the saying, the proverbial saying,
+may be thus translated: <i>The Law of Carlos Tercero has
+superseded Gypsy Law</i>.</p>
+<p>By the law the schools are open to them, and there is no art
+or science which they may not pursue, if they are willing.&nbsp;
+Have they availed themselves of the rights which the law has
+conferred upon them?</p>
+<p>Up to the present period but little&mdash;they still continue
+jockeys and blacksmiths; but some of these Gypsy chalans, these
+bronzed smiths, these wild-looking esquiladors, can read or write
+in the proportion of one man in three or four; what more can be
+expected?&nbsp; Would you have the Gypsy bantling, born in filth
+and misery, &lsquo;midst mules and borricos, amidst the mud of a
+choza or the sand of a barranco, grasp with its swarthy hands the
+crayon and easel, the compass, or the microscope, or the tube
+which renders more distinct the heavenly orbs, and essay to
+become a Murillo, or a Feijoo, or a Lorenzo de Hervas, as soon as
+the legal disabilities are removed which doomed him to be a
+thievish jockey or a sullen husbandman?&nbsp; Much will have been
+accomplished, if, after the lapse of a hundred years, one hundred
+human beings shall have been evolved from the Gypsy stock, who
+shall prove sober, honest, and useful members of
+society,&mdash;that stock so degraded, so inveterate in
+wickedness and evil customs, and so hardened by brutalising
+laws.&nbsp; Should so many beings, should so many souls be
+rescued from temporal misery and eternal woe; should only the
+half of that number, should only the tenth, nay, should only one
+poor wretched sheep be saved, there will be joy in heaven, for
+much will have been accomplished on earth, and those lines will
+have been in part falsified which filled the stout heart of
+Mahmoud with dismay:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;For the root that&rsquo;s unclean, hope if
+you can;<br />
+No washing e&rsquo;er whitens the black Zigan:<br />
+The tree that&rsquo;s bitter by birth and race,<br />
+If in paradise garden to grow you place,<br />
+And water it free with nectar and wine,<br />
+From streams in paradise meads that shine,<br />
+At the end its nature it still declares,<br />
+For bitter is all the fruit it bears.<br />
+If the egg of the raven of noxious breed<br />
+You place &lsquo;neath the paradise bird, and feed<br />
+The splendid fowl upon its nest,<br />
+With immortal figs, the food of the blest,<br />
+And give it to drink from Silisb&eacute;l, <a
+name="citation211"></a><a href="#footnote211"
+class="citation">[211]</a><br />
+Whilst life in the egg breathes Gabri&eacute;l,<br />
+A raven, a raven, the egg shall bear,<br />
+And the fostering bird shall waste its care.&rsquo;&mdash;</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="smcap">Ferdousi</span>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The principal evidence which the Git&aacute;nos have hitherto
+given that a partial reformation has been effected in their
+habits, is the relinquishment, in a great degree, of that
+wandering life of which the ancient laws were continually
+complaining, and which was the cause of infinite evils, and
+tended not a little to make the roads insecure.</p>
+<p>Doubtless there are those who will find some difficulty in
+believing that the mild and conciliatory clauses of the law in
+question could have much effect in weaning the Git&aacute;nos
+from this inveterate habit, and will be more disposed to think
+that this relinquishment was effected by energetic measures
+resorted to by the government, to compel them to remain in their
+places of location.&nbsp; It does not appear, however, that such
+measures were ever resorted to.&nbsp; Energy, indeed, in the
+removal of a nuisance, is scarcely to be expected from Spaniards
+under any circumstances.&nbsp; All we can say on the subject,
+with certainty, is, that since the repeal of the tyrannical laws,
+wandering has considerably decreased among the
+Git&aacute;nos.</p>
+<p>Since the law has ceased to brand them, they have come nearer
+to the common standard of humanity, and their general condition
+has been ameliorated.&nbsp; At present, only the very poorest,
+the parias of the race, are to be found wandering about the
+heaths and mountains, and this only in the summer time, and their
+principal motive, according to their own confession, is to avoid
+the expense of house rent; the rest remain at home, following
+their avocations, unless some immediate prospect of gain, lawful
+or unlawful, calls them forth; and such is frequently the
+case.&nbsp; They attend most fairs, women and men, and on the way
+frequently bivouac in the fields, but this practice must not be
+confounded with systematic wandering.</p>
+<p>Gitanismo, therefore, has not been extinguished, only
+modified; but that modification has been effected within the
+memory of man, whilst previously near four centuries elapsed,
+during which no reform had been produced amongst them by the
+various measures devised, all of which were distinguished by an
+absence not only of true policy, but of common-sense; it is
+therefore to be hoped, that if the Git&aacute;nos are abandoned
+to themselves, by which we mean no arbitrary laws are again
+enacted for their extinction, the sect will eventually cease to
+be, and its members become confounded with the residue of the
+population; for certainly no Christian nor merely philanthropic
+heart can desire the continuance of any sect or association of
+people whose fundamental principle seems to be to hate all the
+rest of mankind, and to live by deceiving them; and such is the
+practice of the Git&aacute;nos.</p>
+<p>During the last five years, owing to the civil wars, the ties
+which unite society have been considerably relaxed; the law has
+been trampled under foot, and the greatest part of Spain overrun
+with robbers and miscreants, who, under pretence of carrying on
+partisan warfare, and not unfrequently under no pretence at all,
+have committed the most frightful excesses, plundering and
+murdering the defenceless.&nbsp; Such a state of things would
+have afforded the Git&aacute;nos a favourable opportunity to
+resume their former kind of life, and to levy contributions as
+formerly, wandering about in bands.&nbsp; Certain it is, however,
+that they have not sought to repeat their ancient excesses,
+taking advantage of the troubles of the country; they have gone
+on, with a few exceptions, quietly pursuing that part of their
+system to which they still cling, their jockeyism, which, though
+based on fraud and robbery, is far preferable to wandering
+brigandage, which necessarily involves the frequent shedding of
+blood.&nbsp; Can better proof be adduced, that Gitanismo owes its
+decline, in Spain, not to force, not to persecution, not to any
+want of opportunity of exercising it, but to some other
+cause?&mdash;and we repeat that we consider the principal if not
+the only cause of the decline of Gitanismo to be the conferring
+on the Git&aacute;nos the rights and privileges of other
+subjects.</p>
+<p>We have said that the Git&aacute;nos have not much availed
+themselves of the permission, which the law grants them, of
+embarking in various spheres of life.&nbsp; They remain jockeys,
+but they have ceased to be wanderers; and the grand object of the
+law is accomplished.&nbsp; The law forbids them to be jockeys, or
+to follow the trade of trimming and shearing animals, without
+some other visible mode of subsistence.&nbsp; This provision,
+except in a few isolated instances, they evade; and the law seeks
+not, and perhaps wisely, to disturb them, content with having
+achieved so much.&nbsp; The chief evils of Gitanismo which still
+remain consist in the systematic frauds of the Gypsy jockeys and
+the tricks of the women.&nbsp; It is incurring considerable risk
+to purchase a horse or a mule, even from the most respectable
+Git&aacute;no, without a previous knowledge of the animal and his
+former possessor, the chances being that it is either diseased or
+stolen from a distance.&nbsp; Of the practices of the females,
+something will be said in particular in a future chapter.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos in general are very poor, a pair of large
+cachas and various scissors of a smaller description constituting
+their whole capital; occasionally a good hit is made, as they
+call it, but the money does not last long, being quickly
+squandered in feasting and revelry.&nbsp; He who has habitually
+in his house a couple of donkeys is considered a thriving
+Git&aacute;no; there are some, however, who are wealthy in the
+strict sense of the word, and carry on a very extensive trade in
+horses and mules.&nbsp; These, occasionally, visit the most
+distant fairs, traversing the greatest part of Spain.&nbsp; There
+is a celebrated cattle-fair held at Leon on St. John&rsquo;s or
+Midsummer Day, and on one of these occasions, being present, I
+observed a small family of Git&aacute;nos, consisting of a man of
+about fifty, a female of the same age, and a handsome young
+Gypsy, who was their son; they were richly dressed after the
+Gypsy fashion, the men wearing zamarras with massy clasps and
+knobs of silver, and the woman a species of riding-dress with
+much gold embroidery, and having immense gold rings attached to
+her ears.&nbsp; They came from Murcia, a distance of one hundred
+leagues and upwards.&nbsp; Some merchants, to whom I was
+recommended, informed me that they had credit on their house to
+the amount of twenty thousand dollars.</p>
+<p>They experienced rough treatment in the fair, and on a very
+singular account: immediately on their appearing on the ground,
+the horses in the fair, which, perhaps, amounted to three
+thousand, were seized with a sudden and universal panic; it was
+one of those strange incidents for which it is difficult to
+assign a rational cause; but a panic there was amongst the
+brutes, and a mighty one; the horses neighed, screamed, and
+plunged, endeavouring to escape in all directions; some appeared
+absolutely possessed, stamping and tearing, their manes and tails
+stiffly erect, like the bristles of the wild boar&mdash;many a
+rider lost his seat.&nbsp; When the panic had ceased, and it did
+cease almost as suddenly as it had arisen, the Git&aacute;nos
+were forthwith accused as the authors of it; it was said that
+they intended to steal the best horses during the confusion, and
+the keepers of the ground, assisted by a rabble of chalans, who
+had their private reasons for hating the Git&aacute;nos, drove
+them off the field with sticks and cudgels.&nbsp; So much for
+having a bad name.</p>
+<p>These wealthy Git&aacute;nos, when they are not ashamed of
+their blood or descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or
+&lsquo;barbales,&rsquo; as they are called, possess great
+influence with the rest of their brethren, almost as much as the
+rabbins amongst the Jews; their bidding is considered law, and
+the other Git&aacute;nos are at their devotion.&nbsp; On the
+contrary, when they prefer the society of the Busn&eacute; to
+that of their own race, and refuse to assist their less fortunate
+brethren in poverty or in prison, they are regarded with
+unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the rich
+Gypsy of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to destruction:
+such characters are mentioned in their couplets:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Who never gave a straw,<br />
+He would destroy, for very greed,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The good Egyptian law.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The false Juanito day and night<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Had best with caution go;<br />
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Have sworn to lay him low.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>However some of the Git&aacute;nos may complain that there is
+no longer union to be found amongst them, there is still much of
+that fellow-feeling which springs from a consciousness of
+proceeding from one common origin, or, as they love to term it,
+&lsquo;blood.&rsquo;&nbsp; At present their system exhibits less
+of a commonwealth than when they roamed in bands amongst the
+wilds, and principally subsisted by foraging, each individual
+contributing to the common stock, according to his success.&nbsp;
+The interests of individuals are now more distinct, and that
+close connection is of course dissolved which existed when they
+wandered about, and their dangers, gains, and losses were felt in
+common; and it can never be too often repeated that they are no
+longer a proscribed race, with no rights nor safety save what
+they gained by a close and intimate union.&nbsp; Nevertheless,
+the Git&aacute;no, though he naturally prefers his own interest
+to that of his brother, and envies him his gain when he does not
+expect to share in it, is at all times ready to side with him
+against the Busno, because the latter is not a Git&aacute;no, but
+of a different blood, and for no other reason.&nbsp; When one
+Git&aacute;no confides his plans to another, he is in no fear
+that they will be betrayed to the Busno, for whom there is no
+sympathy, and when a plan is to be executed which requires
+co-operation, they seek not the fellowship of the Busn&eacute;,
+but of each other, and if successful, share the gain like
+brothers.</p>
+<p>As a proof of the fraternal feeling which is not unfrequently
+displayed amongst the Git&aacute;nos, I shall relate a
+circumstance which occurred at Cordova a year or two before I
+first visited it.&nbsp; One of the poorest of the Git&aacute;nos
+murdered a Spaniard with the fatal Manchegan knife; for this
+crime he was seized, tried, and found guilty.&nbsp;
+Blood-shedding in Spain is not looked upon with much abhorrence,
+and the life of the culprit is seldom taken, provided he can
+offer a bribe sufficient to induce the notary public to report
+favourably upon his case; but in this instance money was of no
+avail; the murdered individual left behind him powerful friends
+and connections, who were determined that justice should take its
+course.&nbsp; It was in vain that the Git&aacute;nos exerted all
+their influence with the authorities in behalf of their comrade,
+and such influence was not slight; it was in vain that they
+offered extravagant sums that the punishment of death might be
+commuted to perpetual slavery in the dreary presidio of Ceuta; I
+was credibly informed that one of the richest Git&aacute;nos, by
+name Fruto, offered for his own share of the ransom the sum of
+five thousand crowns, whilst there was not an individual but
+contributed according to his means&mdash;nought availed, and the
+Gypsy was executed in the Plaza.&nbsp; The day before the
+execution, the Git&aacute;nos, perceiving that the fate of their
+brother was sealed, one and all quitted Cordova, shutting up
+their houses and carrying with them their horses, their mules,
+their borricos, their wives and families, and the greatest part
+of their household furniture.&nbsp; No one knew whither they
+directed their course, nor were they seen in Cordova for some
+months, when they again suddenly made their appearance; a few,
+however, never returned.&nbsp; So great was the horror of the
+Git&aacute;nos at what had occurred, that they were in the habit
+of saying that the place was cursed for evermore; and when I knew
+them, there were many amongst them who, on no account, would
+enter the Plaza which had witnessed the disgraceful end of their
+unfortunate brother.</p>
+<p>The position which the Git&aacute;nos hold in society in Spain
+is the lowest, as might be expected; they are considered at best
+as thievish chalans, and the women as half sorceresses, and in
+every respect thieves; there is not a wretch, however vile, the
+outcast of the prison and the presidio, who calls himself
+Spaniard, but would feel insulted by being termed Git&aacute;no,
+and would thank God that he is not; and yet, strange to say,
+there are numbers, and those of the higher classes, who seek
+their company, and endeavour to imitate their manners and way of
+speaking.&nbsp; The connections which they form with the
+Spaniards are not many; occasionally some wealthy Git&aacute;no
+marries a Spanish female, but to find a Git&aacute;na united to a
+Spaniard is a thing of the rarest occurrence, if it ever takes
+place.&nbsp; It is, of course, by intermarriage alone that the
+two races will ever commingle, and before that event is brought
+about, much modification must take place amongst the
+Git&aacute;nos, in their manners, in their habits, in their
+affections, and their dislikes, and, perhaps, even in their
+physical peculiarities; much must be forgotten on both sides, and
+everything is forgotten in the course of time.</p>
+<p>The number of the Git&aacute;no population of Spain at the
+present day may be estimated at about forty thousand.&nbsp; At
+the commencement of the present century it was said to amount to
+sixty thousand.&nbsp; There can be no doubt that the sect is by
+no means so numerous as it was at former periods; witness those
+barrios in various towns still denominated Git&aacute;nerias, but
+from whence the Git&aacute;nos have disappeared even like the
+Moors from the Morerias.&nbsp; Whether this diminution in number
+has been the result of a partial change of habits, of pestilence
+or sickness, of war or famine, or of all these causes combined,
+we have no means of determining, and shall abstain from offering
+conjectures on the subject.</p>
+<h3><a name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+221</span>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the autumn of the year 1839, I
+landed at Tarifa, from the coast of Barbary.&nbsp; I arrived in a
+small felouk laden with hides for Cadiz, to which place I was
+myself going.&nbsp; We stopped at Tarifa in order to perform
+quarantine, which, however, turned out a mere farce, as we were
+all permitted to come on shore; the master of the felouk having
+bribed the port captain with a few fowls.&nbsp; We formed a
+motley group.&nbsp; A rich Moor and his son, a child, with their
+Jewish servant Yusouf, and myself with my own man Hayim Ben
+Attar, a Jew.&nbsp; After passing through the gate, the Moors and
+their domestics were conducted by the master to the house of one
+of his acquaintance, where he intended they should lodge; whilst
+a sailor was despatched with myself and Hayim to the only inn
+which the place afforded.&nbsp; I stopped in the street to speak
+to a person whom I had known at Seville.&nbsp; Before we had
+concluded our discourse, Hayim, who had walked forward, returned,
+saying that the quarters were good, and that we were in high
+luck, for that he knew the people of the inn were Jews.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Jews,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;here in Tarifa, and keeping an
+inn, I should be glad to see them.&rsquo;&nbsp; So I left my
+acquaintance, and hastened to the house.&nbsp; We first entered a
+stable, of which the ground floor of the building consisted, and
+ascending a flight of stairs entered a very large room, and from
+thence passed into a kitchen, in which were several people.&nbsp;
+One of these was a stout, athletic, burly fellow of about fifty,
+dressed in a buff jerkin, and dark cloth pantaloons.&nbsp; His
+hair was black as a coal and exceedingly bushy, his face much
+marked from some disorder, and his skin as dark as that of a
+toad.&nbsp; A very tall woman stood by the dresser, much
+resembling him in feature, with the same hair and complexion, but
+with more intelligence in her eyes than the man, who looked heavy
+and dogged.&nbsp; A dark woman, whom I subsequently discovered to
+be lame, sat in a corner, and two or three swarthy girls, from
+fifteen to eighteen years of age, were flitting about the
+room.&nbsp; I also observed a wicked-looking boy, who might have
+been called handsome, had not one of his eyes been injured.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Jews,&rsquo; said I, in Moorish, to Hayim, as I glanced at
+these people and about the room; &lsquo;these are not Jews, but
+children of the Dar-bushi-fal.&rsquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="image222" href="images/p222b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"A Gypsy Family"
+title=
+"A Gypsy Family"
+ src="images/p222s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>&lsquo;List to the Corahai,&rsquo; said the tall woman, in
+broken Gypsy slang, &lsquo;hear how they jabber (hunelad como
+chamulian), truly we will make them pay for the noise they raise
+in the house.&rsquo;&nbsp; Then coming up to me, she demanded
+with a shout, fearing otherwise that I should not understand,
+whether I would not wish to see the room where I was to
+sleep.&nbsp; I nodded: whereupon she led me out upon a back
+terrace, and opening the door of a small room, of which there
+were three, asked me if it would suit.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Perfectly,&rsquo; said I, and returned with her to the
+kitchen.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;O, what a handsome face! what a royal person!&rsquo;
+exclaimed the whole family as I returned, in Spanish, but in the
+whining, canting tones peculiar to the Gypsies, when they are
+bent on victimising.&nbsp; &lsquo;A more ugly Busno it has never
+been our chance to see,&rsquo; said the same voices in the next
+breath, speaking in the jargon of the tribe.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Won&rsquo;t your Moorish Royalty please to eat
+something?&rsquo; said the tall hag.&nbsp; &lsquo;We have nothing
+in the house; but I will run out and buy a fowl, which I hope may
+prove a royal peacock to nourish and strengthen you.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;I hope it may turn to drow in your entrails,&rsquo; she
+muttered to the rest in Gypsy.&nbsp; She then ran down, and in a
+minute returned with an old hen, which, on my arrival, I had
+observed below in the stable.&nbsp; &lsquo;See this beautiful
+fowl,&rsquo; said she, &lsquo;I have been running over all Tarifa
+to procure it for your kingship; trouble enough I have had to
+obtain it, and dear enough it has cost me.&nbsp; I will now cut
+its throat.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Before you kill it,&rsquo; said
+I, &lsquo;I should wish to know what you paid for it, that there
+may be no dispute about it in the account.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Two dollars I paid for it, most valorous and handsome sir;
+two dollars it cost me, out of my own quisobi&mdash;out of my own
+little purse.&rsquo;&nbsp; I saw it was high time to put an end
+to these zalamerias, and therefore exclaimed in Git&aacute;no,
+&lsquo;You mean two brujis (reals), O mother of all the witches,
+and that is twelve cuartos more than it is worth.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Ay Dios mio, whom have we here?&rsquo; exclaimed the
+females.&nbsp; &lsquo;One,&rsquo; I replied, &lsquo;who knows you
+well and all your ways.&nbsp; Speak! am I to have the hen for two
+reals? if not, I shall leave the house this moment.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;O yes, to be sure, brother, and for nothing if you wish
+it,&rsquo; said the tall woman, in natural and quite altered
+tones; &lsquo;but why did you enter the house speaking in Corahai
+like a Bengui?&nbsp; We thought you a Busno, but we now see that
+you are of our religion; pray sit down and tell us where you have
+been.&rsquo; . .</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Now, my good people, since I have
+answered your questions, it is but right that you should answer
+some of mine; pray who are you? and how happens it that you are
+keeping this inn?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Verily, brother, we can
+scarcely tell you who we are.&nbsp; All we know of ourselves is,
+that we keep this inn, to our trouble and sorrow, and that our
+parents kept it before us; we were all born in this house, where
+I suppose we shall die.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Who is the master of the house,
+and whose are these children?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;The master of the house is the
+fool, my brother, who stands before you without saying a word; to
+him belong these children, and the cripple in the chair is his
+wife, and my cousin.&nbsp; He has also two sons who are grown-up
+men; one is a chumajarri (shoemaker), and the other serves a
+tanner.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Is it not contrary to the law of
+the Cales to follow such trades?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;We know of no law, and little
+of the Cales themselves.&nbsp; Ours is the only Calo family in
+Tarifa, and we never left it in our lives, except occasionally to
+go on the smuggling lay to Gibraltar.&nbsp; True it is that the
+Cales, when they visit Tarifa, put up at our house, sometimes to
+our cost.&nbsp; There was one Rafael, son of the rich Fruto of
+Cordova, here last summer, to buy up horses, and he departed a
+baria and a half in our debt; however, I do not grudge it him,
+for he is a handsome and clever Chab&oacute;&mdash;a fellow of
+many capacities.&nbsp; There was more than one Busno had cause to
+rue his coming to Tarifa.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Do you live on good terms with the
+Busn&eacute; of Tarifa?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Brother, we live on the best
+terms with the Busn&eacute; of Tarifa; especially with the
+errays.&nbsp; The first people in Tarifa come to this house, to
+have their baji told by the cripple in the chair and by
+myself.&nbsp; I know not how it is, but we are more considered by
+the grandees than the poor, who hate and loathe us.&nbsp; When my
+first and only infant died, for I have been married, the child of
+one of the principal people was put to me to nurse, but I hated
+it for its white blood, as you may well believe.&nbsp; It never
+throve, for I did it a private mischief, and though it grew up
+and is now a youth, it is&mdash;mad.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;With whom will your
+brother&rsquo;s children marry?&nbsp; You say there are no
+Gypsies here.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Ay de mi, hermano!&nbsp; It is
+that which grieves me.&nbsp; I would rather see them sold to the
+Moors than married to the Busn&eacute;.&nbsp; When Rafael was
+here he wished to persuade the chumajarri to accompany him to
+Cordova, and promised to provide for him, and to find him a wife
+among the Callees of that town; but the faint heart would not,
+though I myself begged him to comply.&nbsp; As for the curtidor
+(tanner), he goes every night to the house of a Busnee; and once,
+when I reproached him with it, he threatened to marry her.&nbsp;
+I intend to take my knife, and to wait behind the door in the
+dark, and when she comes out to gash her over the eyes.&nbsp; I
+trow he will have little desire to wed with her then.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Do many Busn&eacute; from the
+country put up at this house?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Not so many as formerly,
+brother; the labourers from the Campo say that we are all
+thieves; and that it is impossible for any one but a Calo to
+enter this house without having the shirt stripped from his
+back.&nbsp; They go to the houses of their acquaintance in the
+town, for they fear to enter these doors.&nbsp; I scarcely know
+why, for my brother is the veriest fool in Tarifa.&nbsp; Were it
+not for his face, I should say that he is no Chab&oacute;, for he
+cannot speak, and permits every chance to slip through his
+fingers.&nbsp; Many a good mule and borrico have gone out of the
+stable below, which he might have secured, had he but tongue
+enough to have cozened the owners.&nbsp; But he is a fool, as I
+said before; he cannot speak, and is no Chab&oacute;.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>How far the person in question, who sat all the while smoking
+his pipe, with the most unperturbed tranquillity, deserved the
+character bestowed upon him by his sister, will presently
+appear.&nbsp; It is not my intention to describe here all the
+strange things I both saw and heard in this Gypsy inn.&nbsp;
+Several Gypsies arrived from the country during the six days that
+I spent within its walls; one of them, a man, from Moron, was
+received with particular cordiality, he having a son, whom he was
+thinking of betrothing to one of the Gypsy daughters.&nbsp; Some
+females of quality likewise visited the house to gossip, like
+true Andalusians.&nbsp; It was singular to observe the behaviour
+of the Gypsies to these people, especially that of the remarkable
+woman, some of whose conversation I have given above.&nbsp; She
+whined, she canted, she blessed, she talked of beauty of colour,
+of eyes, of eyebrows, and pesta&ntilde;as (eyelids), and of
+hearts which were aching for such and such a lady.&nbsp; Amongst
+others, came a very fine woman, the widow of a colonel lately
+slain in battle; she brought with her a beautiful innocent little
+girl, her daughter, between three and four years of age.&nbsp;
+The Gypsy appeared to adore her; she sobbed, she shed tears, she
+kissed the child, she blessed it, she fondled it.&nbsp; I had my
+eye upon her countenance, and it brought to my recollection that
+of a she-wolf, which I had once seen in Russia, playing with her
+whelp beneath a birch-tree.&nbsp; &lsquo;You seem to love that
+child very much, O my mother,&rsquo; said I to her, as the lady
+was departing.</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Hag</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;No lo cam&eacute;lo,
+hijo!&nbsp; I do not love it, O my son, I do not love it; I love
+it so much, that I wish it may break its leg as it goes
+downstairs, and its mother also.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>On the evening of the fourth day, I was seated on the stone
+bench at the stable door, taking the fresco; the Gypsy innkeeper
+sat beside me, smoking his pipe, and silent as usual; presently a
+man and woman with a borrico, or donkey, entered the
+portal.&nbsp; I took little or no notice of a circumstance so
+slight, but I was presently aroused by hearing the Gypsy&rsquo;s
+pipe drop upon the ground.&nbsp; I looked at him, and scarcely
+recognised his face.&nbsp; It was no longer dull, black, and
+heavy, but was lighted up with an expression so extremely
+villainous that I felt uneasy.&nbsp; His eyes were scanning the
+recent comers, especially the beast of burden, which was a
+beautiful female donkey.&nbsp; He was almost instantly at their
+side, assisting to remove its housings, and the alforjas, or
+bags.&nbsp; His tongue had become unloosed, as if by sorcery; and
+far from being unable to speak, he proved that, when it suited
+his purpose, he could discourse with wonderful volubility.&nbsp;
+The donkey was soon tied to the manger, and a large measure of
+barley emptied before it, the greatest part of which the Gypsy
+boy presently removed, his father having purposely omitted to mix
+the barley with the straw, with which the Spanish mangers are
+always kept filled.&nbsp; The guests were hurried upstairs as
+soon as possible.&nbsp; I remained below, and subsequently
+strolled about the town and on the beach.&nbsp; It was about nine
+o&rsquo;clock when I returned to the inn to retire to rest;
+strange things had evidently been going on during my
+absence.&nbsp; As I passed through the large room on my way to my
+apartment, lo, the table was set out with much wine, fruits, and
+viands.&nbsp; There sat the man from the country, three parts
+intoxicated; the Gypsy, already provided with another pipe, sat
+on his knee, with his right arm most affectionately round his
+neck; on one side sat the chumajarri drinking and smoking, on the
+other the tanner.&nbsp; Behold, poor humanity, thought I to
+myself, in the hands of devils; in this manner are human souls
+ensnared to destruction by the fiends of the pit.&nbsp; The
+females had already taken possession of the woman at the other
+end of the table, embracing her, and displaying every mark of
+friendship and affection.&nbsp; I passed on, but ere I reached my
+apartment I heard the words mule and donkey.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Adios,&rsquo; said I, for I but too well knew what was on
+the carpet.</p>
+<p>In the back stable the Gypsy kept a mule, a most extraordinary
+animal, which was employed in bringing water to the house, a task
+which it effected with no slight difficulty; it was reported to
+be eighteen years of age; one of its eyes had been removed by
+some accident, it was foundered, and also lame, the result of a
+broken leg.&nbsp; This animal was the laughing-stock of all
+Tarifa; the Gypsy grudged it the very straw on while alone he fed
+it, and had repeatedly offered it for sale at a dollar, which he
+could never obtain.&nbsp; During the night there was much
+merriment going on, and I could frequently distinguish the voice
+of the Gypsy raised to a boisterous pitch.&nbsp; In the morning
+the Gypsy hag entered my apartment, bearing the breakfast of
+myself and Hayim.&nbsp; &lsquo;What were you about last
+night?&rsquo; said I.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;We were bargaining with the Busno, evil overtake him,
+and he has exchanged us the ass, for the mule and the
+reckoning,&rsquo; said the hag, in whose countenance triumph was
+blended with anxiety.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Was he drunk when he saw the mule?&rsquo; I
+demanded.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;He did not see her at all, O my son, but we told him we
+had a beautiful mule, worth any money, which we were anxious to
+dispose of, as a donkey suited our purpose better.&nbsp; We are
+afraid that when he sees her he will repent his bargain, and if
+he calls off within four-and-twenty hours, the exchange is null,
+and the justicia will cause us to restore the ass; we have,
+however, already removed her to our hu&eacute;rta out of the
+town, where we have hid her below the ground.&nbsp; Dios sabe
+(God knows) how it will turn out.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>When the man and woman saw the lame, foundered, one-eyed
+creature, for which and the reckoning they had exchanged their
+own beautiful borrico, they stood confounded.&nbsp; It was about
+ten in the morning, and they had not altogether recovered from
+the fumes of the wine of the preceding night; at last the man,
+with a frightful oath, exclaimed to the innkeeper, &lsquo;Restore
+my donkey, you Gypsy villain!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;It cannot be, brother,&rsquo; replied the latter,
+&lsquo;your donkey is by this time three leagues from here: I
+sold her this morning to a man I do not know, and I am afraid I
+shall have a hard bargain with her, for he only gave two dollars,
+as she was unsound.&nbsp; O, you have taken me in, I am a poor
+fool as they call me here, and you understand much, very much,
+baribu.&rsquo; <a name="citation230"></a><a href="#footnote230"
+class="citation">[230]</a></p>
+<p>&lsquo;Her value was thirty-five dollars, thou demon,&rsquo;
+said the countryman, &lsquo;and the justicia will make you pay
+that.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Come, come, brother,&rsquo; said the Gypsy, &lsquo;all
+this is mere conversation; you have a capital bargain, to-day the
+mercado is held, and you shall sell the mule; I will go with you
+myself.&nbsp; O, you understand baribu; sister, bring the bottle
+of anise; the se&ntilde;or and the se&ntilde;ora must drink a
+cop&iacute;ta.&rsquo;&nbsp; After much persuasion, and many
+oaths, the man and woman were weak enough to comply; when they
+had drunk several glasses, they departed for the market, the
+Gypsy leading the mule.&nbsp; In about two hours they returned
+with the wretched beast, but not exactly as they went; a numerous
+crowd followed, laughing and hooting.&nbsp; The man was now
+frantic, and the woman yet more so.&nbsp; They forced their way
+upstairs to collect their baggage, which they soon effected, and
+were about to leave the house, vowing revenge.&nbsp; Now ensued a
+truly terrific scene, there were no more blandishments; the Gypsy
+men and women were in arms, uttering the most frightful
+execrations; as the woman came downstairs, the females assailed
+her like lunatics; the cripple poked at her with a stick, the
+tall hag clawed at her hair, whilst the father Gypsy walked close
+beside the man, his hand on his clasp-knife, looking like nothing
+in this world: the man, however, on reaching the door, turned to
+him and said: &lsquo;Gypsy demon, my borrico by three
+o&rsquo;clock&mdash;or you know the rest, the
+justicia.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The Gypsies remained filled with rage and disappointment; the
+hag vented her spite on her brother.&nbsp; &lsquo;&rsquo;Tis your
+fault,&rsquo; said she; &lsquo;fool! you have no tongue; you a
+Chab&oacute;, you can&rsquo;t speak&rsquo;; whereas, within a few
+hours, he had perhaps talked more than an auctioneer during a
+three days&rsquo; sale: but he reserved his words for fitting
+occasions, and now sat as usual, sullen and silent, smoking his
+pipe.</p>
+<p>The man and woman made their appearance at three
+o&rsquo;clock, but they came&mdash;intoxicated; the Gypsy&rsquo;s
+eyes glistened&mdash;blandishment was again had recourse
+to.&nbsp; &lsquo;Come and sit down with the cavalier here,&rsquo;
+whined the family; &lsquo;he is a friend of ours, and will soon
+arrange matters to your satisfaction.&rsquo;&nbsp; I arose, and
+went into the street; the hag followed me.&nbsp; &lsquo;Will you
+not assist us, brother, or are you no Chab&oacute;?&rsquo; she
+muttered.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I will have nothing to do with your matters,&rsquo;
+said I.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I know who will,&rsquo; said the hag, and hurried down
+the street.</p>
+<p>The man and woman, with much noise, demanded their donkey; the
+innkeeper made no answer, and proceeded to fill up several
+glasses with the <i>anisado</i>.&nbsp; In about a quarter of an
+hour, the Gypsy hag returned with a young man, well dressed, and
+with a genteel air, but with something wild and singular in his
+eyes.&nbsp; He seated himself by the table, smiled, took a glass
+of liquor, drank part of it, smiled again, and handed it to the
+countryman.&nbsp; The latter seeing himself treated in this
+friendly manner by a caballero, was evidently much flattered,
+took off his hat to the newcomer, and drank, as did the woman
+also.&nbsp; The glass was filled, and refilled, till they became
+yet more intoxicated.&nbsp; I did not hear the young man say a
+word: he appeared a passive automaton.&nbsp; The Gypsies,
+however, spoke for him, and were profuse of compliments.&nbsp; It
+was now proposed that the caballero should settle the dispute; a
+long and noisy conversation ensued, the young man looking
+vacantly on: the strange people had no money, and had already run
+up another bill at a wine-house to which they had retired.&nbsp;
+At last it was proposed, as if by the young man, that the Gypsy
+should purchase his own mule for two dollars, and forgive the
+strangers the reckoning of the preceding night.&nbsp; To this
+they agreed, being apparently stultified with the liquor, and the
+money being paid to them in the presence of witnesses, they
+thanked the friendly mediator, and reeled away.</p>
+<p>Before they left the town that night, they had contrived to
+spend the entire two dollars, and the woman, who first recovered
+her senses, was bitterly lamenting that they had permitted
+themselves to be despoiled so cheaply of a <i>prenda tan
+preciosa</i>, as was the donkey.&nbsp; Upon the whole, however, I
+did not much pity them.&nbsp; The woman was certainly not the
+man&rsquo;s wife.&nbsp; The labourer had probably left his
+village with some strolling harlot, bringing with him the animal
+which had previously served to support himself and family.</p>
+<p>I believe that the Gypsy read, at the first glance, their
+history, and arranged matters accordingly.&nbsp; The donkey was
+soon once more in the stable, and that night there was much
+rejoicing in the Gypsy inn.</p>
+<p>Who was the singular mediator?&nbsp; He was neither more nor
+less than the foster child of the Gypsy hag, the unfortunate
+being whom she had privately injured in his infancy.&nbsp; After
+having thus served them as an instrument in their villainy, he
+was told to go home. . . .</p>
+<h4>THE GYPSY SOLDIER OF VALDEPE&Ntilde;AS</h4>
+<p>It was at Madrid one fine afternoon in the beginning of March
+1838, that, as I was sitting behind my table in a cabinete, as it
+is called, of the third floor of No. 16, in the Calle de
+Santi&aacute;go, having just taken my meal, my hostess entered
+and informed me that a military officer wished to speak to me,
+adding, in an undertone, that he looked a <i>strange
+guest</i>.&nbsp; I was acquainted with no military officer in the
+Spanish service; but as at that time I expected daily to be
+arrested for having distributed the Bible, I thought that very
+possibly this officer might have been sent to perform that piece
+of duty.&nbsp; I instantly ordered him to be admitted, whereupon
+a thin active figure, somewhat above the middle height, dressed
+in a blue uniform, with a long sword hanging at his side, tripped
+into the room.&nbsp; Depositing his regimental hat on the ground,
+he drew a chair to the table, and seating himself, placed his
+elbows on the board, and supporting his face with his hands,
+confronted me, gazing steadfastly upon me, without uttering a
+word.&nbsp; I looked no less wistfully at him, and was of the
+same opinion as my hostess, as to the strangeness of my
+guest.&nbsp; He was about fifty, with thin flaxen hair covering
+the sides of his head, which at the top was entirely bald.&nbsp;
+His eyes were small, and, like ferrets&rsquo;, red and
+fiery.&nbsp; His complexion like a brick, a dull red, checkered
+with spots of purple.&nbsp; &lsquo;May I inquire your name and
+business, sir?&rsquo; I at length demanded.</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;My name is Chal&eacute;co of
+Valdepe&ntilde;as; in the time of the French I served as
+bragante, fighting for Ferdinand VII.&nbsp; I am now a captain on
+half-pay in the service of Donna Isabel; as for my business here,
+it is to speak with you.&nbsp; Do you know this book?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;This book is Saint Luke&rsquo;s
+Gospel in the Gypsy language; how can this book concern
+you?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;No one more.&nbsp; It is in the
+language of my people.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You do not pretend to say that you
+are a Cal&oacute;?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I do!&nbsp; I am Z&iacute;ncalo,
+by the mother&rsquo;s side.&nbsp; My father, it is true, was one
+of the Busn&eacute;; but I glory in being a Cal&oacute;, and care
+not to acknowledge other blood.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;How became you possessed of that
+book?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I was this morning in the Prado,
+where I met two women of our people, and amongst other things
+they told me that they had a gabic&oacute;te in our
+language.&nbsp; I did not believe them at first, but they pulled
+it out, and I found their words true.&nbsp; They then spoke to me
+of yourself, and told me where you live, so I took the book from
+them and am come to see you.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Are you able to understand this
+book?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Perfectly, though it is written
+in very crabbed language: <a name="citation235"></a><a
+href="#footnote235" class="citation">[235]</a> but I learnt to
+read Cal&oacute; when very young.&nbsp; My mother was a good
+Calli, and early taught me both to speak and read it.&nbsp; She
+too had a gabic&oacute;te, but not printed like this, and it
+treated of a different matter.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;How came your mother, being a good
+Calli, to marry one of a different blood?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;It was no fault of hers; there
+was no remedy.&nbsp; In her infancy she lost her parents, who
+were executed; and she was abandoned by all, till my father,
+taking compassion on her, brought her up and educated her: at
+last he made her his wife, though three times her age.&nbsp; She,
+however, remembered her blood and hated my father, and taught me
+to hate him likewise, and avoid him.&nbsp; When a boy, I used to
+stroll about the plains, that I might not see my father; and my
+father would follow me and beg me to look upon him, and would ask
+me what I wanted; and I would reply, Father, the only thing I
+want is to see you dead.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;That was strange language from a
+child to its parent.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;It was&mdash;but you know the
+couplet, <a name="citation236a"></a><a href="#footnote236a"
+class="citation">[236a]</a> which says, &ldquo;I do not wish to
+be a lord&mdash;I am by birth a Gypsy&mdash;I do not wish to be a
+gentleman&mdash;I am content with being a
+Cal&oacute;!&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am anxious to hear more of your
+history&mdash;pray proceed.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Stranger</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;When I was about twelve years
+old my father became distracted, and died.&nbsp; I then continued
+with my mother for some years; she loved me much, and procured a
+teacher to instruct me in Latin.&nbsp; At last she died, and then
+there was a pl&eacute;yto (law-suit).&nbsp; I took to the sierra
+and became a highwayman; but the wars broke out.&nbsp; My cousin
+Jara, of Valdepe&ntilde;as, raised a troop of brigantes. <a
+name="citation236b"></a><a href="#footnote236b"
+class="citation">[236b]</a>&nbsp; I enlisted with him and
+distinguished myself very much; there is scarcely a man or woman
+in Spain but has heard of Jara and Chal&eacute;co.&nbsp; I am now
+captain in the service of Donna Isabel&mdash;I am covered with
+wounds&mdash;I am&mdash;ugh! ugh! ugh&mdash;!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>He had commenced coughing, and in a manner which perfectly
+astounded me.&nbsp; I had heard hooping coughs, consumptive
+coughs, coughs caused by colds, and other accidents, but a cough
+so horrible and unnatural as that of the Gypsy soldier, I had
+never witnessed in the course of my travels.&nbsp; In a moment he
+was bent double, his frame writhed and laboured, the veins of his
+forehead were frightfully swollen, and his complexion became
+black as the blackest blood; he screamed, he snorted, he barked,
+and appeared to be on the point of suffocation&mdash;yet more
+explosive became the cough; and the people of the house,
+frightened, came running into the apartment.&nbsp; I cries,
+&lsquo;The man is perishing, run instantly for a
+surgeon!&rsquo;&nbsp; He heard me, and with a quick movement
+raised his left hand as if to countermand the order; another
+struggle, then one mighty throe, which seemed to search his
+deepest intestines; and he remained motionless, his head on his
+knee.&nbsp; The cough had left him, and within a minute or two he
+again looked up.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;That is a dreadful cough, friend,&rsquo; said I, when
+he was somewhat recovered.&nbsp; &lsquo;How did you get
+it?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Gypsy Soldier</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am&mdash;shot through the
+lungs&mdash;brother!&nbsp; Let me but take breath, and I will
+show you the hole&mdash;the aguj&eacute;ro.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>He continued with me a considerable time, and showed not the
+slightest disposition to depart; the cough returned twice, but
+not so violently;&mdash;at length, having an engagement, I arose,
+and apologising, told him I must leave him.&nbsp; The next day he
+came again at the same hour, but he found me not, as I was abroad
+dining with a friend.&nbsp; On the third day, however, as I was
+sitting down to dinner, in he walked, unannounced.&nbsp; I am
+rather hospitable than otherwise, so I cordially welcomed him,
+and requested him to partake of my meal.&nbsp; &lsquo;Con
+m&uacute;cho gusto,&rsquo; he replied, and instantly took his
+place at the table.&nbsp; I was again astonished, for if his
+cough was frightful, his appetite was yet more so.&nbsp; He ate
+like a wolf of the sierra;&mdash;soup, puchero, fowl and bacon
+disappeared before him in a twinkling.&nbsp; I ordered in cold
+meat, which he presently despatched; a large piece of cheese was
+then produced.&nbsp; We had been drinking water.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Where is the wine?&rsquo; said he.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I never use it,&rsquo; I replied.</p>
+<p>He looked blank.&nbsp; The hostess, however, who was present
+waiting, said, &lsquo;If the gentleman wish for wine, I have a
+bota nearly full, which I will instantly fetch.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>The skin bottle, when full, might contain about four
+quarts.&nbsp; She filled him a very large glass, and was removing
+the skin, but he prevented her, saying, &lsquo;Leave it, my good
+woman; my brother here will settle with you for the little I
+shall use.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>He now lighted his cigar, and it was evident that he had made
+good his quarters.&nbsp; On the former occasion I thought his
+behaviour sufficiently strange, but I liked it still less on the
+present.&nbsp; Every fifteen minutes he emptied his glass, which
+contained at least a pint; his conversation became
+horrible.&nbsp; He related the atrocities which he had committed
+when a robber and bragante in La Mancha.&nbsp; &lsquo;It was our
+custom,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;to tie our prisoners to the
+olive-trees, and then, putting our horses to full speed, to tilt
+at them with our spears.&rsquo;&nbsp; As he continued to drink he
+became waspish and quarrelsome: he had hitherto talked Castilian,
+but he would now only converse in Gypsy and in Latin, the last of
+which languages he spoke with great fluency, though
+ungrammatically.&nbsp; He told me that he had killed six men in
+duels; and, drawing his sword, fenced about the room.&nbsp; I saw
+by the manner in which he handled it, that he was master of his
+weapon.&nbsp; His cough did not return, and he said it seldom
+afflicted him when he dined well.&nbsp; He gave me to understand
+that he had received no pay for two years.&nbsp; &lsquo;Therefore
+you visit me,&rsquo; thought I.&nbsp; At the end of three hours,
+perceiving that he exhibited no signs of taking his departure, I
+arose, and said I must again leave him.&nbsp; &lsquo;As you
+please, brother,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;use no ceremony with me,
+I am fatigued, and will wait a little while.&rsquo;&nbsp; I did
+not return till eleven at night, when my hostess informed me that
+he had just departed, promising to return next day.&nbsp; He had
+emptied the bota to the last drop, and the cheese produced being
+insufficient for him, he sent for an entire Dutch cheese on my
+account; part of which he had eaten and the rest carried
+away.&nbsp; I now saw that I had formed a most troublesome
+acquaintance, of whom it was highly necessary to rid myself, if
+possible; I therefore dined out for the next nine days.</p>
+<p>For a week he came regularly at the usual hour, at the end of
+which time he desisted; the hostess was afraid of him, as she
+said that he was a brujo or wizard, and only spoke to him through
+the wicket.</p>
+<p>On the tenth day I was cast into prison, where I continued
+several weeks.&nbsp; Once, during my confinement, he called at
+the house, and being informed of my mishap, drew his sword, and
+vowed with horrible imprecations to murder the prime minister of
+Ofalia, for having dared to imprison his brother.&nbsp; On my
+release, I did not revisit my lodgings for some days, but lived
+at an hotel.&nbsp; I returned late one afternoon, with my servant
+Francisco, a Basque of Hern&aacute;ni, who had served me with the
+utmost fidelity during my imprisonment, which he had voluntarily
+shared with me.&nbsp; The first person I saw on entering was the
+Gypsy soldier, seated by the table, whereon were several bottles
+of wine which he had ordered from the tavern, of course on my
+account.&nbsp; He was smoking, and looked savage and sullen;
+perhaps he was not much pleased with the reception he had
+experienced.&nbsp; He had forced himself in, and the woman of the
+house sat in a corner looking upon him with dread.&nbsp; I
+addressed him, but he would scarcely return an answer.&nbsp; At
+last he commenced discoursing with great volubility in Gypsy and
+Latin.&nbsp; I did not understand much of what he said.&nbsp; His
+words were wild and incoherent, but he repeatedly threatened some
+person.&nbsp; The last bottle was now exhausted: he demanded
+more.&nbsp; I told him in a gentle manner that he had drunk
+enough.&nbsp; He looked on the ground for some time, then slowly,
+and somewhat hesitatingly, drew his sword and laid it on the
+table.&nbsp; It was become dark.&nbsp; I was not afraid of the
+fellow, but I wished to avoid anything unpleasant.&nbsp; I called
+to Francisco to bring lights, and obeying a sign which I made
+him, he sat down at the table.&nbsp; The Gypsy glared fiercely
+upon him&mdash;Francisco laughed, and began with great glee to
+talk in Basque, of which the Gypsy understood not a word.&nbsp;
+The Basques, like all Tartars, <a name="citation241a"></a><a
+href="#footnote241a" class="citation">[241a]</a> and such they
+are, are paragons of fidelity and good nature; they are only
+dangerous when outraged, when they are terrible indeed.&nbsp;
+Francisco, to the strength of a giant joined the disposition of a
+lamb.&nbsp; He was beloved even in the patio of the prison, where
+he used to pitch the bar and wrestle with the murderers and
+felons, always coming off victor.&nbsp; He continued speaking
+Basque.&nbsp; The Gypsy was incensed; and, forgetting the
+languages in which, for the last hour, he had been speaking,
+complained to Francisco of his rudeness in speaking any tongue
+but Castilian.&nbsp; The Basque replied by a loud
+carcaj&aacute;da, and slightly touched the Gypsy on the
+knee.&nbsp; The latter sprang up like a mine discharged, seized
+his sword, and, retreating a few steps, made a desperate lunge at
+Francisco.</p>
+<p>The Basques, next to the Pasiegos, <a
+name="citation241b"></a><a href="#footnote241b"
+class="citation">[241b]</a> are the best cudgel-players in Spain,
+and in the world.&nbsp; Francisco held in his hand part of a
+broomstick, which he had broken in the stable, whence he had just
+ascended.&nbsp; With the swiftness of lightning he foiled the
+stroke of Chal&eacute;co, and, in another moment, with a
+dexterous blow, struck the sword out of his hand, sending it
+ringing against the wall.</p>
+<p>The Gypsy resumed his seat and his cigar.&nbsp; He
+occasionally looked at the Basque.&nbsp; His glances were at
+first atrocious, but presently changed their expression, and
+appeared to me to become prying and eagerly curious.&nbsp; He at
+last arose, picked up his sword, sheathed it, and walked slowly
+to the door; when there he stopped, turned round, advanced close
+to Francisco, and looked him steadfastly in the face.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;My good fellow,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;I am a Gypsy, and
+can read baji.&nbsp; Do you know where you will be at this time
+to-morrow?&rsquo; <a name="citation242"></a><a
+href="#footnote242" class="citation">[242]</a>&nbsp; Then,
+laughing like a hyena, he departed, and I never saw him
+again.</p>
+<p>At that time on the morrow, Francisco was on his
+death-bed.&nbsp; He had caught the jail fever, which had long
+raged in the Carcel de la Corte, where I was imprisoned.&nbsp; In
+a few days he was buried, a mass of corruption, in the Campo
+Santo of Madrid.</p>
+<h3><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+243</span>CHAPTER V</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Git&aacute;nos, in their habits
+and manner of life, are much less cleanly than the
+Spaniards.&nbsp; The hovels in which they reside exhibit none of
+the neatness which is observable in the habitations of even the
+poorest of the other race.&nbsp; The floors are unswept, and
+abound with filth and mud, and in their persons they are scarcely
+less vile.&nbsp; Inattention to cleanliness is a characteristic
+of the Gypsies, in all parts of the world.</p>
+<p>The Bishop of Forli, as far back as 1422, gives evidence upon
+this point, and insinuates that they carried the plague with
+them; as he observes that it raged with peculiar violence the
+year of their appearance at Forli. <a name="citation243"></a><a
+href="#footnote243" class="citation">[243]</a></p>
+<p>At the present day they are almost equally disgusting, in this
+respect, in Hungary, England, and Spain.&nbsp; Amongst the richer
+Git&aacute;nos, habits of greater cleanliness of course exist
+than amongst the poorer.&nbsp; An air of sluttishness, however,
+pervades their dwellings, which, to an experienced eye, would
+sufficiently attest that the inmates were Git&aacute;nos, in the
+event of their absence.</p>
+<p>What can be said of the Gypsy dress, of which such frequent
+mention is made in the Spanish laws, and which is prohibited
+together with the Gypsy language and manner of life?&nbsp; Of
+whatever it might consist in former days, it is so little to be
+distinguished from the dress of some classes amongst the
+Spaniards, that it is almost impossible to describe the
+difference.&nbsp; They generally wear a high-peaked,
+narrow-brimmed hat, a zamarra of sheep-skin in winter, and,
+during summer, a jacket of brown cloth; and beneath this they are
+fond of exhibiting a red plush waistcoat, something after the
+fashion of the English jockeys, with numerous buttons and
+clasps.&nbsp; A faja, or girdle of crimson silk, surrounds the
+waist, where, not unfrequently, are stuck the cachas which we
+have already described.&nbsp; Pantaloons of coarse cloth or
+leather descend to the knee; the legs are protected by woollen
+stockings, and sometimes by a species of spatterdash, either of
+cloth or leather; stout high-lows complete the equipment.</p>
+<p>Such is the dress of the Git&aacute;nos of most parts of
+Spain.&nbsp; But it is necessary to remark that such also is the
+dress of the chalans, and of the muleteers, except that the
+latter are in the habit of wearing broad sombreros as
+preservatives from the sun.&nbsp; This dress appears to be rather
+Andalusian than Git&aacute;no; and yet it certainly beseems the
+Git&aacute;no better than the chalan or muleteer.&nbsp; He wears
+it with more easy negligence or jauntiness, by which he may be
+recognised at some distance, even from behind.</p>
+<p>It is still more difficult to say what is the peculiar dress
+of the Git&aacute;nas; they wear not the large red cloaks and
+immense bonnets of coarse beaver which distinguish their sisters
+of England; they have no other headgear than a handkerchief,
+which is occasionally resorted to as a defence against the
+severity of the weather; their hair is sometimes confined by a
+comb, but more frequently is permitted to stray dishevelled down
+their shoulders; they are fond of large ear-rings, whether of
+gold, silver, or metal, resembling in this respect the poissardes
+of France.&nbsp; There is little to distinguish them from the
+Spanish women save the absence of the mantilla, which they never
+carry.&nbsp; Females of fashion not unfrequently take pleasure in
+dressing &agrave; la Git&aacute;na, as it is called; but this
+female Gypsy fashion, like that of the men, is more properly the
+fashion of Andalusia, the principal characteristic of which is
+the saya, which is exceedingly short, with many rows of
+flounces.</p>
+<p>True it is that the original dress of the Git&aacute;nos, male
+and female, whatever it was, may have had some share in forming
+the Andalusian fashion, owing to the great number of these
+wanderers who found their way to that province at an early
+period.&nbsp; The Andalusians are a mixed breed of various
+nations, Romans, Vandals, Moors; perhaps there is a slight
+sprinkling of Gypsy blood in their veins, and of Gypsy fashion in
+their garb.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos are, for the most part, of the middle size,
+and the proportions of their frames convey a powerful idea of
+strength and activity united; a deformed or weakly object is
+rarely found amongst them in persons of either sex; such probably
+perish in their infancy, unable to support the hardships and
+privations to which the race is still subjected from its great
+poverty, and these same privations have given and still give a
+coarseness and harshness to their features, which are all
+strongly marked and expressive.&nbsp; Their complexion is by no
+means uniform, save that it is invariably darker than the general
+olive hue of the Spaniards; not unfrequently countenances as dark
+as those of mulattos present themselves, and in some few
+instances of almost negro blackness.&nbsp; Like most people of
+savage ancestry, their teeth are white and strong; their mouths
+are not badly formed, but it is in the eye more than in any other
+feature that they differ from other human beings.</p>
+<p>There is something remarkable in the eye of the Git&aacute;no:
+should his hair and complexion become fair as those of the Swede
+or the Finn, and his jockey gait as grave and ceremonious as that
+of the native of Old Castile, were he dressed like a king, a
+priest, or a warrior, still would the Git&aacute;no be detected
+by his eye, should it continue unchanged.&nbsp; The Jew is known
+by his eye, but then in the Jew that feature is peculiarly small;
+the Chinese has a remarkable eye, but then the eye of the Chinese
+is oblong, and even with the face, which is flat; but the eye of
+the Git&aacute;no is neither large nor small, and exhibits no
+marked difference in its shape from the eyes of the common
+cast.&nbsp; Its peculiarity consists chiefly in a strange staring
+expression, which to be understood must be seen, and in a thin
+glaze, which steals over it when in repose, and seems to emit
+phosphoric light.&nbsp; That the Gypsy eye has sometimes a
+peculiar effect, we learn from the following stanza:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;A Gypsy stripling&rsquo;s glossy eye<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Has pierced my bosom&rsquo;s core,<br />
+A feat no eye beneath the sky<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Could e&rsquo;er effect before.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The following passages are extracted from a Spanish work, <a
+name="citation247"></a><a href="#footnote247"
+class="citation">[247]</a> and cannot be out of place here, as
+they relate to those matters to which we have devoted this
+chapter.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The Git&aacute;nos have an olive complexion and very
+marked physiognomy; their cheeks are prominent, their lips thick,
+their eyes vivid and black; their hair is long, black, and
+coarse, and their teeth very white.&nbsp; The general expression
+of their physiognomy is a compound of pride, slavishness, and
+cunning.&nbsp; They are, for the most part, of good stature, well
+formed, and support with facility fatigue and every kind of
+hardship.&nbsp; When they discuss any matter, or speak among
+themselves, whether in Catalan, in Castilian, or in Germania,
+which is their own peculiar jargon, they always make use of much
+gesticulation, which contributes to give to their conversation
+and to the vivacity of their physiognomy a certain expression,
+still more penetrating and characteristic.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;When a Git&aacute;no has occasion to speak of some
+business in which his interest is involved, he redoubles his
+gestures in proportion as he knows the necessity of convincing
+those who hear him, and fears their impassibility.&nbsp; If any
+rancorous idea agitate him in the course of his narrative; if he
+endeavour to infuse into his auditors sentiments of jealousy,
+vengeance, or any violent passion, his features become
+exaggerated, and the vivacity of his glances, and the contraction
+of his lips, show clearly, and in an imposing manner, the foreign
+origin of the Git&aacute;nos, and all the customs of barbarous
+people.&nbsp; Even his very smile has an expression hard and
+disagreeable.&nbsp; One might almost say that joy in him is a
+forced sentiment, and that, like unto the savage man, sadness is
+the dominant feature of his physiognomy.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The Git&aacute;na is distinguished by the same
+complexion, and almost the same features.&nbsp; In her frame she
+is as well formed, and as flexible as the Git&aacute;no.&nbsp;
+Condemned to suffer the same privations and wants, her
+countenance, when her interest does not oblige her to dissemble
+her feelings, presents the same aspect of melancholy, and shows
+besides, with more energy, the rancorous passions of which the
+female heart is susceptible.&nbsp; Free in her actions, her
+carriage, and her pursuits, she speaks, vociferates, and makes
+more gestures than the Git&aacute;no, and, in imitation of him,
+her arms are in continual motion, to give more expression to the
+imagery with which she accompanies her discourse; her whole body
+contributes to her gesture, and to increase its force;
+endeavouring by these means to sharpen the effect of language in
+itself insufficient; and her vivid and disordered imagination is
+displayed in her appearance and attitude.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;When she turns her hand to any species of labour, her
+hurried action, the disorder of her hair, which is scarcely
+subjected by a little comb, and her propensity to irritation,
+show how little she loves toil, and her disgust for any continued
+occupation.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;In her disputes, the air of menace and high passion,
+the flow of words, and the facility with which she provokes and
+despises danger, indicate manners half barbarous, and ignorance
+of other means of defence.&nbsp; Finally, both in males and
+females, their physical constitution, colour, agility, and
+flexibility, reveal to us a caste sprung from a burning clime,
+and devoted to all those exercises which contribute to evolve
+bodily vigour, and certain mental faculties.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The dress of the Git&aacute;no varies with the country
+which he inhabits.&nbsp; Both in Rousillon and Catalonia his
+habiliments generally consist of jacket, waistcoat, pantaloons,
+and a red faja, which covers part of his waistcoat; on his feet
+he wears hempen sandals, with much ribbon tied round the leg as
+high as the calf; he has, moreover, either woollen or cotton
+stockings; round his neck he wears a handkerchief, carelessly
+tied; and in the winter he uses a blanket or mantle, with
+sleeves, cast over the shoulder; his head is covered with the
+indispensable red cap, which appears to be the favourite ornament
+of many nations in the vicinity of the Mediterranean and Caspian
+Sea.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The neck and the elbows of the jacket are adorned with
+pieces of blue and yellow cloth embroidered with silk, as well as
+the seams of the pantaloons; he wears, moreover, on the jacket or
+the waistcoat, various rows of silver buttons, small and round,
+sustained by rings or chains of the same metal.&nbsp; The old
+people, and those who by fortune, or some other cause, exercise,
+in appearance, a kind of authority over the rest, are almost
+always dressed in black or dark-blue velvet.&nbsp; Some of those
+who affect elegance amongst them keep for holidays a complete
+dress of sky-blue velvet, with embroidery at the neck,
+pocket-holes, arm-pits, and in all the seams; in a word, with the
+exception of the turban, this was the fashion of dress of the
+ancient Moors of Granada, the only difference being occasioned by
+time and misery.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The dress of the Git&aacute;nas is very varied: the
+young girls, or those who are in tolerably easy circumstances,
+generally wear a black bodice laced up with a string, and
+adjusted to their figures, and contrasting with the
+scarlet-coloured saya, which only covers a part of the leg; their
+shoes are cut very low, and are adorned with little buckles of
+silver; the breast, and the upper part of the bodice, are covered
+either with a white handkerchief, or one of some vivid colour;
+and on the head is worn another handkerchief, tied beneath the
+chin, one of the ends of which falls on the shoulder, in the
+manner of a hood.&nbsp; When the cold or the heat permit, the
+Git&aacute;na removes the hood, without untying the knots, and
+exhibits her long and shining tresses restrained by a comb.&nbsp;
+The old women, and the very poor, dress in the same manner, save
+that their habiliments are more coarse and the colours less in
+harmony.&nbsp; Amongst them misery appears beneath the most
+revolting aspect; whilst the poorest Git&aacute;no preserves a
+certain deportment which would make his aspect supportable, if
+his unquiet and ferocious glance did not inspire us with
+aversion.&rsquo;</p>
+<h3><a name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+252</span>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Whilst</span> their husbands are engaged
+in their jockey vocation, or in wielding the cachas, the Callees,
+or Gypsy females, are seldom idle, but are endeavouring, by
+various means, to make all the gain they can.&nbsp; The richest
+amongst them are generally contrabandistas, and in the large
+towns go from house to house with prohibited goods, especially
+silk and cotton, and occasionally with tobacco.&nbsp; They
+likewise purchase cast-off female wearing-apparel, which, when
+vamped up and embellished, they sometimes contrive to sell as
+new, with no inconsiderable profit.</p>
+<p>Git&aacute;nas of this description are of the most respectable
+class; the rest, provided they do not sell roasted chestnuts, or
+esteras, which are a species of mat, seek a livelihood by
+different tricks and practices, more or less fraudulent; for
+example&mdash;</p>
+<p><i>La Bahi</i>, or fortune-telling, which is called in
+Spanish, <i>buena ventura</i>.&mdash;This way of extracting money
+from the credulity of dupes is, of all those practised by the
+Gypsies, the readiest and most easy; promises are the only
+capital requisite, and the whole art of fortune-telling consists
+in properly adapting these promises to the age and condition of
+the parties who seek for information.&nbsp; The Git&aacute;nas
+are clever enough in the accomplishment of this, and in most
+cases afford perfect satisfaction.&nbsp; Their practice chiefly
+lies amongst females, the portion of the human race most given to
+curiosity and credulity.&nbsp; To the young maidens they promise
+lovers, handsome invariably, and sometimes rich; to wives
+children, and perhaps another husband; for their eyes are so
+penetrating, that occasionally they will develop your most secret
+thoughts and wishes; to the old, riches&mdash;and nothing but
+riches; for they have sufficient knowledge of the human heart to
+be aware that avarice is the last passion that becomes extinct
+within it.&nbsp; These riches are to proceed either from the
+discovery of hidden treasures or from across the water; from the
+Americas, to which the Spaniards still look with hope, as there
+is no individual in Spain, however poor, but has some connection
+in those realms of silver and gold, at whose death he considers
+it probable that he may succeed to a brilliant
+&lsquo;her&eacute;ncia.&rsquo;&nbsp; The Git&aacute;nas, in the
+exercise of this practice, find dupes almost as readily amongst
+the superior classes, as the veriest dregs of the
+population.&nbsp; It is their boast, that the best houses are
+open to them; and perhaps in the space of one hour, they will
+spae the bahi to a duchess, or countess, in one of the hundred
+palaces of Madrid, and to half a dozen of the lavanderas engaged
+in purifying the linen of the capital, beneath the willows which
+droop on the banks of the murmuring Manzanares.&nbsp; One great
+advantage which the Gypsies possess over all other people is an
+utter absence of <i>mauvaise honte</i>; their speech is as
+fluent, and their eyes as unabashed, in the presence of royalty,
+as before those from whom they have nothing to hope or fear; the
+result being, that most minds quail before them.&nbsp; There were
+two Git&aacute;nas at Madrid, one Pepita by name, and the other
+La Chicharona; the first was a spare, shrewd, witch-like female,
+about fifty, and was the mother-in-law of La Chicharona, who was
+remarkable for her stoutness.&nbsp; These women subsisted
+entirely by fortune-telling and swindling.&nbsp; It chanced that
+the son of Pepita, and husband of Chicharona, having spirited
+away a horse, was sent to the presidio of Malaga for ten years of
+hard labour.&nbsp; This misfortune caused inexpressible
+affliction to his wife and mother, who determined to make every
+effort to procure his liberation.&nbsp; The readiest way which
+occurred to them was to procure an interview with the Queen
+Regent Christina, who they doubted not would forthwith pardon the
+culprit, provided they had an opportunity of assailing her with
+their Gypsy discourse; for, to use their own words, &lsquo;they
+well knew what to say.&rsquo;&nbsp; I at that time lived close by
+the palace, in the street of Santiago, and daily, for the space
+of a month, saw them bending their steps in that direction.</p>
+<p>One day they came to me in a great hurry, with a strange
+expression on both their countenances.&nbsp; &lsquo;We have seen
+Christina, hijo&rsquo; (my son), said Pepita to me.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Within the palace?&rsquo; I inquired.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Within the palace, O child of my garlochin,&rsquo;
+answered the sibyl: &lsquo;Christina at last saw and sent for us,
+as I knew she would; I told her &ldquo;bahi,&rdquo; and
+Chicharona danced the Romalis (Gypsy dance) before
+her.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;What did you tell her?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;I told her many things,&rsquo; said the hag,
+&lsquo;many things which I need not tell you: know, however, that
+amongst other things, I told her that the chabori (little queen)
+would die, and then she would be Queen of Spain.&nbsp; I told
+her, moreover, that within three years she would marry the son of
+the King of France, and it was her bahi to die Queen of France
+and Spain, and to be loved much, and hated much.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;And did you not dread her anger, when you told her
+these things?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Dread her, the Busnee?&rsquo; screamed Pepita:
+&lsquo;No, my child, she dreaded me far more; I looked at her
+so&mdash;and raised my finger so&mdash;and Chicharona clapped her
+hands, and the Busnee believed all I said, and was afraid of me;
+and then I asked for the pardon of my son, and she pledged her
+word to see into the matter, and when we came away, she gave me
+this baria of gold, and to Chicharona this other, so at all
+events we have hokkanoed the queen.&nbsp; May an evil end
+overtake her body, the Busnee!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Though some of the Git&aacute;nas contrive to subsist by
+fortune-telling alone, the generality of them merely make use of
+it as an instrument towards the accomplishment of greater
+things.&nbsp; The immediate gains are scanty; a few cuartos being
+the utmost which they receive from the majority of their
+customers.&nbsp; But the bahi is an excellent passport into
+houses, and when they spy a convenient opportunity, they seldom
+fail to avail themselves of it.&nbsp; It is necessary to watch
+them strictly, as articles frequently disappear in a mysterious
+manner whilst Git&aacute;nas are telling fortunes.&nbsp; The
+bahi, moreover, is occasionally the prelude to a device which we
+shall now attempt to describe, and which is called <i>Hokkano
+Baro</i>, or the great trick, of which we have already said
+something in the former part of this work.&nbsp; It consists in
+persuading some credulous person to deposit whatever money and
+valuables the party can muster in a particular spot, under the
+promise that the deposit will increase many manifold.&nbsp; Some
+of our readers will have difficulty in believing that any people
+can be found sufficiently credulous to allow themselves to be
+duped by a trick of this description, the grossness of the
+intended fraud seeming too palpable.&nbsp; Experience, however,
+proves the contrary.&nbsp; The deception is frequently practised
+at the present day, and not only in Spain but in
+England&mdash;enlightened England&mdash;and in France likewise;
+an instance being given in the memoirs of Vidocq, the late
+celebrated head of the secret police of Paris, though, in that
+instance, the perpetrator of the fraud was not a Gypsy.&nbsp; The
+most subtle method of accomplishing the hokkano baro is the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+<p>When the dupe&mdash;a widow we will suppose, for in these
+cases the dupes are generally widows&mdash;has been induced to
+consent to make the experiment, the Git&aacute;na demands of her
+whether she has in the house some strong chest with a safe
+lock.&nbsp; On receiving an affirmative answer, she will request
+to see all the gold and silver of any description which she may
+chance to have in her possession.&nbsp; The treasure is shown
+her; and when the Git&aacute;na has carefully inspected and
+counted it, she produces a white handkerchief, saying, Lady, I
+give you this handkerchief, which is blessed.&nbsp; Place in it
+your gold and silver, and tie it with three knots.&nbsp; I am
+going for three days, during which period you must keep the
+bundle beneath your pillow, permitting no one to go near it, and
+observing the greatest secrecy, otherwise the money will take
+wings and fly away.&nbsp; Every morning during the three days it
+will be well to open the bundle, for your own satisfaction, to
+see that no misfortune has befallen your treasure; be always
+careful, however, to fasten it again with the three knots.&nbsp;
+On my return, we will place the bundle, after having inspected
+it, in the chest, which you shall yourself lock, retaining the
+key in your possession.&nbsp; But, thenceforward, for three
+weeks, you must by no means unlock the chest, nor look at the
+treasure&mdash;if you do it will fly away.&nbsp; Only follow my
+directions, and you will gain much, very much, baribu.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;na departs, and, during the three days,
+prepares a bundle as similar as possible to the one which
+contains the money of her dupe, save that instead of gold ounces,
+dollars, and plate, its contents consist of copper money and
+pewter articles of little or no value.&nbsp; With this bundle
+concealed beneath her cloak, she returns at the end of three days
+to her intended victim.&nbsp; The bundle of real treasure is
+produced and inspected, and again tied up by the Git&aacute;na,
+who then requests the other to open the chest, which done, she
+formally places <i>a bundle</i> in it; but, in the meanwhile, she
+has contrived to substitute the fictitious for the real
+one.&nbsp; The chest is then locked, the lady retaining the
+key.&nbsp; The Git&aacute;na promises to return at the end of
+three weeks, to open the chest, assuring the lady that if it be
+not unlocked until that period, it will be found filled with gold
+and silver; but threatening that in the event of her injunctions
+being disregarded, the money deposited will vanish.&nbsp; She
+then walks off with great deliberation, bearing away the
+spoil.&nbsp; It is needless to say that she never returns.</p>
+<p>There are other ways of accomplishing the hokkano baro.&nbsp;
+The most simple, and indeed the one most generally used by the
+Git&aacute;nas, is to persuade some simple individual to hide a
+sum of money in the earth, which they afterwards carry
+away.&nbsp; A case of this description occurred within my own
+knowledge, at Madrid, towards the latter part of the year
+1837.&nbsp; There was a notorious Git&aacute;na, of the name of
+Aurora; she was about forty years of age, a Valencian by birth,
+and immensely fat.&nbsp; This amiable personage, by some means,
+formed the acquaintance of a wealthy widow lady; and was not slow
+in attempting to practise the hokkano baro upon her.&nbsp; She
+succeeded but too well.&nbsp; The widow, at the instigation of
+Aurora, buried one hundred ounces of gold beneath a ruined arch
+in a field, at a short distance from the wall of Madrid.&nbsp;
+The inhumation was effected at night by the widow alone.&nbsp;
+Aurora was, however, on the watch, and, in less than ten minutes
+after the widow had departed, possessed herself of the treasure;
+perhaps the largest one ever acquired by this kind of
+deceit.&nbsp; The next day the widow had certain misgivings, and,
+returning to the spot, found her money gone.&nbsp; About six
+months after this event, I was imprisoned in the Carcel de la
+Corte, at Madrid, and there I found Aurora, who was in durance
+for defrauding the widow.&nbsp; She said that it had been her
+intention to depart for Valencia with the &lsquo;barias,&rsquo;
+as she styled her plunder, but the widow had discovered the trick
+too soon, and she had been arrested.&nbsp; She added, however,
+that she had contrived to conceal the greatest part of the
+property, and that she expected her liberation in a few days,
+having been prodigal of bribes to the
+&lsquo;justicia.&rsquo;&nbsp; In effect, her liberation took
+place sooner than my own.&nbsp; Nevertheless, she had little
+cause to triumph, as before she left the prison she had been
+fleeced of the last cuarto of her ill-gotten gain, by alguazils
+and escribanos, who, she admitted, understood hokkano baro much
+better than herself.</p>
+<p>When I next saw Aurora, she informed me that she was once more
+on excellent terms with the widow, whom she had persuaded that
+the loss of the money was caused by her own imprudence, in
+looking for it before the appointed time; the spirit of the earth
+having removed it in anger.&nbsp; She added that her dupe was
+quite disposed to make another venture, by which she hoped to
+retrieve her former loss.</p>
+<p><i>Ustilar past&eacute;sas</i>.&mdash;Under this head may be
+placed various kinds of theft committed by the
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; The meaning of the words is stealing with
+the hands; but they are more generally applied to the filching of
+money by dexterity of hand, when giving or receiving
+change.&nbsp; For example: a Git&aacute;na will enter a shop, and
+purchase some insignificant article, tendering in payment a baria
+or golden ounce.&nbsp; The change being put down before her on
+the counter, she counts the money, and complains that she has
+received a dollar and several pesetas less than her due.&nbsp; It
+seems impossible that there can be any fraud on her part, as she
+has not even taken the pieces in her hand, but merely placed her
+fingers upon them; pushing them on one side.&nbsp; She now asks
+the merchant what he means by attempting to deceive the poor
+woman.&nbsp; The merchant, supposing that he has made a mistake,
+takes up the money, counts it, and finds in effect that the just
+sum is not there.&nbsp; He again hands out the change, but there
+is now a greater deficiency than before, and the merchant is
+convinced that he is dealing with a witch.&nbsp; The
+Git&aacute;na now pushes the money to him, uplifts her voice, and
+talks of the justicia.&nbsp; Should the merchant become
+frightened, and, emptying a bag of dollars, tell her to pay
+herself, as has sometimes been the case, she will have a fine
+opportunity to exercise her powers, and whilst taking the change
+will contrive to convey secretly into her sleeves five or six
+dollars at least; after which she will depart with much
+vociferation, declaring that she will never again enter the shop
+of so cheating a picaro.</p>
+<p>Of all the Git&aacute;nas at Madrid, Aurora the fat was, by
+their own confession, the most dexterous at this species of
+robbery; she having been known in many instances, whilst
+receiving change for an ounce, to steal the whole value, which
+amounts to sixteen dollars.&nbsp; It was not without reason that
+merchants in ancient times were, according to Martin Del Rio,
+advised to sell nothing out of their shops to Git&aacute;nas, as
+they possessed an infallible secret for attracting to their own
+purses from the coffers of the former the money with which they
+paid for the articles they purchased.&nbsp; This secret consisted
+in stealing &aacute; past&eacute;sas, which they still
+practise.&nbsp; Many accounts of witchcraft and sorcery, which
+are styled old women&rsquo;s tales, are perhaps equally well
+founded.&nbsp; Real actions have been attributed to wrong
+causes.</p>
+<p>Shoplifting, and other kinds of private larceny, are connected
+with stealing &aacute; past&eacute;sas, for in all dexterity of
+hand is required.&nbsp; Many of the Git&aacute;nas of Madrid are
+provided with large pockets, or rather sacks, beneath their
+gowns, in which they stow away their plunder.&nbsp; Some of these
+pockets are capacious enough to hold, at one time, a dozen yards
+of cloth, a Dutch cheese and a bottle of wine.&nbsp; Nothing that
+she can eat, drink, or sell, comes amiss to a veritable
+Git&aacute;na; and sometimes the contents of her pocket would
+afford materials for an inventory far more lengthy and curious
+than the one enumerating the effects found on the person of the
+man-mountain at Lilliput.</p>
+<p><i>Chiving Drao</i>.&mdash;In former times the Spanish Gypsies
+of both sexes were in the habit of casting a venomous preparation
+into the mangers of the cattle for the purpose of causing
+sickness.&nbsp; At present this practice has ceased, or nearly
+so; the Git&aacute;nos, however, talk of it as universal amongst
+their ancestors.&nbsp; They were in the habit of visiting the
+stalls and stables secretly, and poisoning the provender of the
+animals, who almost immediately became sick.&nbsp; After a few
+days the Git&aacute;nos would go to the labourers and offer to
+cure the sick cattle for a certain sum, and if their proposal was
+accepted would in effect perform the cure.</p>
+<p>Connected with the cure was a curious piece of double
+dealing.&nbsp; They privately administered an efficacious remedy,
+but pretended to cure the animals not by medicines but by charms,
+which consisted of small variegated beans, called in their
+language bobis, <a name="citation262a"></a><a
+href="#footnote262a" class="citation">[262a]</a> dropped into the
+mangers.&nbsp; By this means they fostered the idea, already
+prevalent, that they were people possessed of supernatural gifts
+and powers, who could remove diseases without having recourse to
+medicine.&nbsp; By means of drao, they likewise procured
+themselves food; poisoning swine, as their brethren in England
+still do, <a name="citation262b"></a><a href="#footnote262b"
+class="citation">[262b]</a> and then feasting on the flesh, which
+was abandoned as worthless: witness one of their own
+songs:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;By Gypsy drow the Porker died,<br />
+I saw him stiff at evening tide,<br />
+But I saw him not when morning shone,<br />
+For the Gypsies ate him flesh and bone.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>By drao also they could avenge themselves on their enemies by
+destroying their cattle, without incurring a shadow of
+suspicion.&nbsp; Revenge for injuries, real or imaginary, is
+sweet to all unconverted minds; to no one more than the Gypsy,
+who, in all parts of the world, is, perhaps, the most revengeful
+of human beings.</p>
+<p>Vidocq in his memoirs states, that having formed a connection
+with an individual whom he subsequently discovered to be the
+captain of a band of Walachian Gypsies, the latter, whose name
+was Caroun, wished Vidocq to assist in scattering certain powders
+in the mangers of the peasants&rsquo; cattle; Vidocq, from
+prudential motives, refused the employment.&nbsp; There can be no
+doubt that these powders were, in substance, the drao of the
+Spanish Git&aacute;nos.</p>
+<p><i>La Bar Lachi</i>, <i>or the Loadstone</i>.&mdash;If the
+Git&aacute;nos in general be addicted to any one superstition, it
+is certainly with respect to this stone, to which they attribute
+all kinds of miraculous powers.&nbsp; There can be no doubt, that
+the singular property which it possesses of attracting steel, by
+filling their untutored minds with amazement, first gave rise to
+this veneration, which is carried beyond all reasonable
+bounds.</p>
+<p>They believe that he who is in possession of it has nothing to
+fear from steel or lead, from fire or water, and that death
+itself has no power over him.&nbsp; The Gypsy contrabandistas are
+particularly anxious to procure this stone, which they carry upon
+their persons in their expeditions; they say, that in the event
+of being pursued by the jaracanallis, or revenue officers,
+whirlwinds of dust will arise, and conceal them from the view of
+their enemies; the horse-stealers say much the same thing, and
+assert that they are uniformly successful, when they bear about
+them the precious stone.&nbsp; But it is said to be able to
+effect much more.&nbsp; Extraordinary things are related of its
+power in exciting the amorous passions, and, on this account, it
+is in great request amongst the Gypsy hags; all these women are
+procuresses, and find persons of both sexes weak and wicked
+enough to make use of their pretended knowledge in the
+composition of love-draughts and decoctions.</p>
+<p>In the case of the loadstone, however, there is no pretence,
+the Git&aacute;nas believing all they say respecting it, and
+still more; this is proved by the eagerness with which they seek
+to obtain the stone in its natural state, which is somewhat
+difficult to accomplish.</p>
+<p>In the museum of natural curiosities at Madrid there is a
+large piece of loadstone originally extracted from the American
+mines.&nbsp; There is scarcely a Git&aacute;na in Madrid who is
+not acquainted with this circumstance, and who does not long to
+obtain the stone, or a part of it; its being placed in a royal
+museum serving to augment, in their opinion, its real
+value.&nbsp; Several attempts have been made to steal it, all of
+which, however, have been unsuccessful.&nbsp; The Gypsies seem
+not to be the only people who envy royalty the possession of this
+stone.&nbsp; Pepita, the old Git&aacute;na of whose talent at
+telling fortunes such honourable mention has already been made,
+informed me that a priest, who was muy enamorado (in love),
+proposed to her to steal the loadstone, offering her all his
+sacerdotal garments in the event of success: whether the singular
+reward that was promised had but slight temptations for her, or
+whether she feared that her dexterity was not equal to the
+accomplishment of the task, we know not, but she appears to have
+declined attempting it.&nbsp; According to the Gypsy account, the
+person in love, if he wish to excite a corresponding passion in
+another quarter by means of the loadstone, must swallow, <i>in
+aguardiente</i>, a small portion of the stone pulverised, at the
+time of going to rest, repeating to himself the following magic
+rhyme:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;To the Mountain of Olives one morning I
+hied,<br />
+Three little black goats before me I spied,<br />
+Those three little goats on three cars I laid,<br />
+Black cheeses three from their milk I made;<br />
+The one I bestow on the loadstone of power,<br />
+That save me it may from all ills that lower;<br />
+The second to Mary Padilla I give,<br />
+And to all the witch hags about her that live;<br />
+The third I reserve for Asmodeus lame,<br />
+That fetch me he may whatever I name.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><i>La raiz del buen Baron</i>, <i>or the root of the good
+Baron</i>.&mdash;On this subject we cannot be very
+explicit.&nbsp; It is customary with the Git&aacute;nas to sell,
+under this title, various roots and herbs, to unfortunate females
+who are desirous of producing a certain result; these roots are
+boiled in white wine, and the abominable decoction is taken
+fasting.&nbsp; I was once shown the root of the good baron,
+which, in this instance, appeared to be parsley root.&nbsp; By
+the good baron is meant his Satanic majesty, on whom the root is
+very appropriately fathered.</p>
+<h3><a name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+266</span>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is impossible to dismiss the
+subject of the Spanish Gypsies without offering some remarks on
+their marriage festivals.&nbsp; There is nothing which they
+retain connected with their primitive rites and principles, more
+characteristic perhaps of the sect of the Rommany, of the sect of
+the <i>husbands and wives</i>, than what relates to the marriage
+ceremony, which gives the female a protector, and the man a
+helpmate, a sharer of his joys and sorrows.&nbsp; The Gypsies are
+almost entirely ignorant of the grand points of morality; they
+have never had sufficient sense to perceive that to lie, to
+steal, and to shed human blood violently, are crimes which are
+sure, eventually, to yield bitter fruits to those who perpetrate
+them; but on one point, and that one of no little importance as
+far as temporal happiness is concerned, they are in general wiser
+than those who have had far better opportunities than such
+unfortunate outcasts, of regulating their steps, and
+distinguishing good from evil.&nbsp; They know that chastity is a
+jewel of high price, and that conjugal fidelity is capable of
+occasionally flinging a sunshine even over the dreary hours of a
+life passed in the contempt of almost all laws, whether human or
+divine.</p>
+<p>There is a word in the Gypsy language to which those who speak
+it attach ideas of peculiar reverence, far superior to that
+connected with the name of the Supreme Being, the creator of
+themselves and the universe.&nbsp; This word is
+<i>L&aacute;cha</i>, which with them is the corporeal chastity of
+the females; we say corporeal chastity, for no other do they hold
+in the slightest esteem; it is lawful amongst them, nay
+praiseworthy, to be obscene in look, gesture, and discourse, to
+be accessories to vice, and to stand by and laugh at the worst
+abominations of the Busn&eacute;, provided their <i>L&aacute;cha
+ye trupos</i>, or corporeal chastity, remains unblemished.&nbsp;
+The Gypsy child, from her earliest years, is told by her strange
+mother, that a good Calli need only dread one thing in this
+world, and that is the loss of L&aacute;cha, in comparison with
+which that of life is of little consequence, as in such an event
+she will be provided for, but what provision is there for a Gypsy
+who has lost her L&aacute;cha?&nbsp; &lsquo;Bear this in mind, my
+child,&rsquo; she will say, &lsquo;and now eat this bread, and go
+forth and see what you can steal.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>A Gypsy girl is generally betrothed at the age of fourteen to
+the youth whom her parents deem a suitable match, and who is
+generally a few years older than herself.&nbsp; Marriage is
+invariably preceded by betrothment; and the couple must then wait
+two years before their union can take place, according to the law
+of the Cal&eacute;s.&nbsp; During this period it is expected that
+they treat each other as common acquaintance; they are permitted
+to converse, and even occasionally to exchange slight
+presents.&nbsp; One thing, however, is strictly forbidden, and if
+in this instance they prove contumacious, the betrothment is
+instantly broken and the pair are never united, and thenceforward
+bear an evil reputation amongst their sect.&nbsp; This one thing
+is, going into the campo in each other&rsquo;s company, or having
+any rendezvous beyond the gate of the city, town, or village, in
+which they dwell.&nbsp; Upon this point we can perhaps do no
+better than quote one of their own stanzas:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Thy sire and mother wrath and hate<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Have vowed against us, love!<br />
+The first, first night that from the gate<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; We two together rove.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>With all the other Gypsies, however, and with the Busn&eacute;
+or Gentiles, the betrothed female is allowed the freest
+intercourse, going whither she will, and returning at all times
+and seasons.&nbsp; With respect to the Busn&eacute;, indeed, the
+parents are invariably less cautious than with their own race, as
+they conceive it next to an impossibility that their child should
+lose her L&aacute;cha by any intercourse with <i>the white
+blood</i>; and true it is that experience has proved that their
+confidence in this respect is not altogether idle.&nbsp; The
+Git&aacute;nas have in general a decided aversion to the white
+men; some few instances, however, to the contrary are said to
+have occurred.</p>
+<p>A short time previous to the expiration of the term of the
+betrothment, preparations are made for the Gypsy bridal.&nbsp;
+The wedding-day is certainly an eventful period in the life of
+every individual, as he takes a partner for better or for worse,
+whom he is bound to cherish through riches and poverty; but to
+the Gypsy particularly the wedding festival is an important
+affair.&nbsp; If he is rich, he frequently becomes poor before it
+is terminated; and if he is poor, he loses the little which he
+possesses, and must borrow of his brethren; frequently involving
+himself throughout life, to procure the means of giving a
+festival; for without a festival, he could not become a Rom, that
+is, a husband, and would cease to belong to this sect of
+Rommany.</p>
+<p>There is a great deal of what is wild and barbarous attached
+to these festivals.&nbsp; I shall never forget a particular one
+at which I was present.&nbsp; After much feasting, drinking, and
+yelling, in the Gypsy house, the bridal train sallied
+forth&mdash;a frantic spectacle.&nbsp; First of all marched a
+villainous jockey-looking fellow, holding in his hands, uplifted,
+a long pole, at the top of which fluttered in the morning air a
+snow-white cambric handkerchief, emblem of the bride&rsquo;s
+purity.&nbsp; Then came the betrothed pair, followed by their
+nearest friends; then a rabble rout of Gypsies, screaming and
+shouting, and discharging guns and pistols, till all around rang
+with the din, and the village dogs barked.&nbsp; On arriving at
+the church gate, the fellow who bore the pole stuck it into the
+ground with a loud huzza, and the train, forming two ranks,
+defiled into the church on either side of the pole and its
+strange ornaments.&nbsp; On the conclusion of the ceremony, they
+returned in the same manner in which they had come.</p>
+<p>Throughout the day there was nothing going on but singing,
+drinking, feasting, and dancing; but the most singular part of
+the festival was reserved for the dark night.&nbsp; Nearly a ton
+weight of sweetmeats had been prepared, at an enormous expense,
+not for the gratification of the palate, but for a purpose purely
+Gypsy.&nbsp; These sweetmeats of all kinds, and of all forms, but
+principally y&eacute;mas, or yolks of eggs prepared with a crust
+of sugar (a delicious bonne-bouche), were strewn on the floor of
+a large room, at least to the depth of three inches.&nbsp; Into
+this room, at a given signal, tripped the bride and bridegroom
+<i>dancing rom&aacute;lis</i>, followed amain by all the
+Git&aacute;nos and Git&aacute;nas, <i>dancing
+rom&aacute;lis</i>.&nbsp; To convey a slight idea of the scene is
+almost beyond the power of words.&nbsp; In a few minutes the
+sweetmeats were reduced to a powder, or rather to a mud, the
+dancers were soiled to the knees with sugar, fruits, and yolks of
+eggs.&nbsp; Still more terrific became the lunatic
+merriment.&nbsp; The men sprang high into the air, neighed,
+brayed, and crowed; whilst the Git&aacute;nas snapped their
+fingers in their own fashion, louder than castanets, distorting
+their forms into all kinds of obscene attitudes, and uttering
+words to repeat which were an abomination.&nbsp; In a corner of
+the apartment capered the while Sebastianillo, a convict Gypsy
+from Melilla, strumming the guitar most furiously, and producing
+demoniacal sounds which had some resemblance to Malbrun
+(Malbrouk), and, as he strummed, repeating at intervals the Gypsy
+modification of the song:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Chal&aacute; Malbr&uacute;n
+chinguer&aacute;r,<br />
+Birand&oacute;n, birand&oacute;n, birand&eacute;ra&mdash;<br />
+Chal&aacute; Malbr&uacute;n chinguer&aacute;r,<br />
+No s&eacute; bus truter&aacute;&mdash;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; No s&eacute; bus truter&aacute;.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; No s&eacute; bus
+truter&aacute;.<br />
+La rom&iacute; que le cam&eacute;la,<br />
+Birand&oacute;n, birand&oacute;n,&rsquo; etc.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The festival endures three days, at the end of which the
+greatest part of the property of the bridegroom, even if he were
+previously in easy circumstances, has been wasted in this strange
+kind of riot and dissipation.&nbsp; Paco, the Gypsy of Badajoz,
+attributed his ruin to the extravagance of his marriage festival;
+and many other Git&aacute;nos have confessed the same thing of
+themselves.&nbsp; They said that throughout the three days they
+appeared to be under the influence of infatuation, having no
+other wish or thought but to make away with their substance; some
+have gone so far as to cast money by handfuls into the
+street.&nbsp; Throughout the three days all the doors are kept
+open, and all corners, whether Gypsies or Busn&eacute;, welcomed
+with a hospitality which knows no bounds.</p>
+<p>In nothing do the Jews and Git&aacute;nos more resemble each
+other than in their marriages, and what is connected
+therewith.&nbsp; In both sects there is a betrothment: amongst
+the Jews for seven, amongst the Git&aacute;nos for a period of
+two years.&nbsp; In both there is a wedding festival, which
+endures amongst the Jews for fifteen and amongst the
+Git&aacute;nos for three days, during which, on both sides, much
+that is singular and barbarous occurs, which, however, has
+perhaps its origin in antiquity the most remote.&nbsp; But the
+wedding ceremonies of the Jews are far more complex and
+allegorical than those of the Gypsies, a more simple
+people.&nbsp; The Nazarene gazes on these ceremonies with mute
+astonishment; the washing of the bride&mdash;the painting of the
+face of herself and her companions with chalk and
+carmine&mdash;her ensconcing herself within the curtains of the
+bed with her female bevy, whilst the bridegroom hides himself
+within his apartment with the youths his companions&mdash;her
+envelopment in the white sheet, in which she appears like a
+corse, the bridegroom&rsquo;s going to sup with her, when he
+places himself in the middle of the apartment with his eyes shut,
+and without tasting a morsel.&nbsp; His going to the synagogue,
+and then repairing to breakfast with the bride, where he
+practises the same self-denial&mdash;the washing of the
+bridegroom&rsquo;s plate and sending it after him, that he may
+break his fast&mdash;the binding his hands behind him&mdash;his
+ransom paid by the bride&rsquo;s mother&mdash;the visit of the
+sages to the bridegroom&mdash;the mulct imposed in case he
+repent&mdash;the killing of the bullock at the house of the
+bridegroom&mdash;the present of meat and fowls, meal and spices,
+to the bride&mdash;the gold and silver&mdash;that most imposing
+part of the ceremony, the walking of the bride by torchlight to
+the house of her betrothed, her eyes fixed in vacancy, whilst the
+youths of her kindred sing their wild songs around her&mdash;the
+cup of milk and the spoon presented to her by the
+bridegroom&rsquo;s mother&mdash;the arrival of the sages in the
+morn&mdash;the reading of the Ketuba&mdash;the night&mdash;the
+half-enjoyment&mdash;the old woman&mdash;the tantalising knock at
+the door&mdash;and then the festival of fishes which concludes
+all, and leaves the jaded and wearied couple to repose after a
+fortnight of persecution.</p>
+<p>The Jews, like the Gypsies, not unfrequently ruin themselves
+by the riot and waste of their marriage festivals.&nbsp;
+Throughout the entire fortnight, the houses, both of bride and
+bridegroom, are flung open to all corners;&mdash;feasting and
+song occupy the day&mdash;feasting and song occupy the hours of
+the night, and this continued revel is only broken by the
+ceremonies of which we have endeavoured to convey a faint
+idea.&nbsp; In these festivals the sages or <i>ulemma</i> take a
+distinguished part, doing their utmost to ruin the contracted
+parties, by the wonderful despatch which they make of the fowls
+and viands, sweetmeats, <i>and strong waters</i> provided for the
+occasion.</p>
+<p>After marriage the Gypsy females generally continue faithful
+to their husbands through life; giving evidence that the
+exhortations of their mothers in early life have not been without
+effect.&nbsp; Of course licentious females are to be found both
+amongst the matrons and the unmarried; but such instances are
+rare, and must be considered in the light of exceptions to a
+principle.&nbsp; The Gypsy women (I am speaking of those of
+Spain), as far as corporeal chastity goes, are very paragons; but
+in other respects, alas!&mdash;little can be said in praise of
+their morality.</p>
+<h3><a name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+274</span>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">Whilst</span> in Spain I devoted as much
+time as I could spare from my grand object, which was to
+circulate the Gospel through that benighted country, to attempt
+to enlighten the minds of the Git&aacute;nos on the subject of
+religion.&nbsp; I cannot say that I experienced much success in
+my endeavours; indeed, I never expected much, being fully
+acquainted with the stony nature of the ground on which I was
+employed; perhaps some of the seed that I scattered may
+eventually spring up and yield excellent fruit.&nbsp; Of one
+thing I am certain: if I did the Git&aacute;nos no good, I did
+them no harm.</p>
+<p>It has been said that there is a secret monitor, or
+conscience, within every heart, which immediately upbraids the
+individual on the commission of a crime; this may be true, but
+certainly the monitor within the Git&aacute;no breast is a very
+feeble one, for little attention is ever paid to its
+reproofs.&nbsp; With regard to conscience, be it permitted to
+observe, that it varies much according to climate, country, and
+religion; perhaps nowhere is it so terrible and strong as in
+England; I need not say why.&nbsp; Amongst the English, I have
+seen many individuals stricken low, and broken-hearted, by the
+force of conscience; but never amongst the Spaniards or Italians;
+and I never yet could observe that the crimes which the
+Git&aacute;nos were daily and hourly committing occasioned them
+the slightest uneasiness.</p>
+<p>One important discovery I made among them: it was, that no
+individual, however wicked and hardened, is utterly
+<i>godless</i>.&nbsp; Call it superstition, if you will, still a
+certain fear and reverence of something sacred and supreme would
+hang about them.&nbsp; I have heard Git&aacute;nos stiffly deny
+the existence of a Deity, and express the utmost contempt for
+everything holy; yet they subsequently never failed to contradict
+themselves, by permitting some expression to escape which belied
+their assertions, and of this I shall presently give a remarkable
+instance.</p>
+<p>I found the women much more disposed to listen to anything I
+had to say than the men, who were in general so taken up with
+their traffic that they could think and talk of nothing else; the
+women, too, had more curiosity and more intelligence; the
+conversational powers of some of them I found to be very great,
+and yet they were destitute of the slightest rudiments of
+education, and were thieves by profession.&nbsp; At Madrid I had
+regular conversaziones, or, as they are called in Spanish,
+tert&uacute;lias, with these women, who generally visited me
+twice a week; they were perfectly unreserved towards me with
+respect to their actions and practices, though their behaviour,
+when present, was invariably strictly proper.&nbsp; I have
+already had cause to mention P&eacute;pa the sibyl, and her
+daughter-in-law, Chicharona; the manners of the first were
+sometimes almost elegant, though, next to Aurora, she was the
+most notorious she-thug in Madrid; Chicharona was good-humoured,
+like most fat personages.&nbsp; P&eacute;pa had likewise two
+daughters, one of whom, a very remarkable female, was called La
+Tu&eacute;rta, from the circumstance of her having but one eye,
+and the other, who was a girl of about thirteen, La
+Casdam&iacute;, or the scorpion, from the malice which she
+occasionally displayed.</p>
+<p>P&eacute;pa and Chicharona were invariably my most constant
+visitors.&nbsp; One day in winter they arrived as usual; the
+One-eyed and the Scorpion following behind.</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am glad to see you, P&eacute;pa:
+what have you been doing this morning?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>P&eacute;pa</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I have been telling baji, and
+Chicharona has been stealing &aacute; past&eacute;sas; we have
+had but little success, and have come to warm ourselves at the
+bras&eacute;ro.&nbsp; As for the One-eyed, she is a very sluggard
+(holgaz&aacute;na), she will neither tell fortunes nor
+steal.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Hold your peace, mother of
+the Bengues; I will steal, when I see occasion, but it shall not
+be &aacute; past&eacute;sas, and I will hokkawar (deceive), but
+it shall not be by telling fortunes.&nbsp; If I deceive, it shall
+be by horses, by jockeying. <a name="citation276"></a><a
+href="#footnote276" class="citation">[276]</a>&nbsp; If I steal,
+it shall be on the road&mdash;I&rsquo;ll rob.&nbsp; You know
+already what I am capable of, yet knowing that, you would have me
+tell fortunes like yourself, or steal like Chicharona.&nbsp; Me
+di&ntilde;ela c&oacute;nche (it fills me with fury) to be asked
+to tell fortunes, and the next Busnee that talks to me of bajis,
+I will knock all her teeth out.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The Scorpion</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;My sister is right; I, too,
+would sooner be a saltead&oacute;ra (highwaywoman), or a
+chal&aacute;na (she-jockey), than steal with the hands, or tell
+b&aacute;jis.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You do not mean to say, O
+Tu&eacute;rta, that you are a jockey, and that you rob on the
+highway.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I am a chal&aacute;na,
+brother, and many a time I have robbed upon the road, as all our
+people know.&nbsp; I dress myself as a man, and go forth with
+some of them.&nbsp; I have robbed alone, in the pass of the
+Guadarama, with my horse and escop&eacute;ta.&nbsp; I alone once
+robbed a cuadrilla of twenty Gall&eacute;gos, who were returning
+to their own country, after cutting the harvests of Castile; I
+stripped them of their earnings, and could have stripped them of
+their very clothes had I wished, for they were down on their
+knees like cowards.&nbsp; I love a brave man, be he Busn&eacute;
+or Gypsy.&nbsp; When I was not much older than the Scorpion, I
+went with several others to rob the cort&iacute;jo of an old man;
+it was more than twenty leagues from here.&nbsp; We broke in at
+midnight, and bound the old man: we knew he had money; but he
+said no, and would not tell us where it was; so we tortured him,
+pricking him with our knives and burning his hands over the lamp;
+all, however, would not do.&nbsp; At last I said, &ldquo;Let us
+try the <i>pimientos</i>&rdquo;; so we took the green pepper
+husks, pulled open his eyelids, and rubbed the pupils with the
+green pepper fruit.&nbsp; That was the worst pinch of all.&nbsp;
+Would you believe it? the old man bore it.&nbsp; Then our people
+said, &ldquo;Let us kill him,&rdquo; but I said, no, it were a
+pity: so we spared him, though we got nothing.&nbsp; I have loved
+that old man ever since for his firm heart, and should have
+wished him for a husband.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The Scorpion</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Ojal&aacute;, that I had
+been in that cort&iacute;jo, to see such sport!&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Do you fear God, O
+Tu&eacute;rta?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Brother, I fear
+nothing.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Do you believe in God, O
+Tu&eacute;rta?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Brother, I do not; I hate
+all connected with that name; the whole is folly; me
+di&ntilde;ela c&oacute;nche.&nbsp; If I go to church, it is but
+to spit at the images.&nbsp; I spat at the b&uacute;lto of
+Mar&iacute;a this morning; and I love the Corojai, and the
+London&eacute;, <a name="citation278a"></a><a
+href="#footnote278a" class="citation">[278a]</a> because they are
+not baptized.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You, of course, never say a
+prayer.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;No, no; there are three or
+four old words, taught me by some old people, which I sometimes
+say to myself; I believe they have both force and
+virtue.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I would fain hear; pray tell me
+them.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Brother, they are words not
+to be repeated.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Why not?&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;They are holy words,
+brother.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Holy!&nbsp; You say there is no
+God; if there be none, there can be nothing holy; pray tell me
+the words, O Tu&eacute;rta.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Brother, I dare
+not.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Then you do fear
+something.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;Not I&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;<i>Saboca Enrecar Mar&iacute;a Ereria</i>,
+<a name="citation278b"></a><a href="#footnote278b"
+class="citation">[278b]</a></p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>and now I wish I had not said them.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;You are distracted, O
+Tu&eacute;rta: the words say simply, &lsquo;Dwell within us,
+blessed Maria.&rsquo;&nbsp; You have spitten on her b&uacute;lto
+this morning in the church, and now you are afraid to repeat four
+words, amongst which is her name.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><i>The One-eyed</i>.&mdash;&lsquo;I did not understand them;
+but I wish I had not said them.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>. . . . .</p>
+<p>I repeat that there is no individual, however hardened, who is
+utterly <i>godless</i>.</p>
+<p>The reader will have already gathered from the conversations
+reported in this volume, and especially from the last, that there
+is a wide difference between addressing Spanish Git&aacute;nos
+and Git&aacute;nas and English peasantry: of a certainty what
+will do well for the latter is calculated to make no impression
+on these thievish half-wild people.&nbsp; Try them with the
+Gospel, I hear some one cry, which speaks to all: I did try them
+with the Gospel, and in their own language.&nbsp; I commenced
+with P&eacute;pa and Chicharona.&nbsp; Determined that they
+should understand it, I proposed that they themselves should
+translate it.&nbsp; They could neither read nor write, which,
+however, did not disqualify them from being translators.&nbsp; I
+had myself previously translated the whole Testament into the
+Spanish Rommany, but I was desirous to circulate amongst the
+Git&aacute;nos a version conceived in the exact language in which
+they express their ideas.&nbsp; The women made no objection, they
+were fond of our tert&uacute;lias, and they likewise reckoned on
+one small glass of Malaga wine, with which I invariably presented
+them.&nbsp; Upon the whole, they conducted themselves much better
+than could have been expected.&nbsp; We commenced with Saint
+Luke: they rendering into Rommany the sentences which I delivered
+to them in Spanish.&nbsp; They proceeded as far as the eighth
+chapter, in the middle of which they broke down.&nbsp; Was that
+to be wondered at?&nbsp; The only thing which astonished me was,
+that I had induced two such strange beings to advance so far in a
+task so unwonted, and so entirely at variance with their habits,
+as translation.</p>
+<p>These chapters I frequently read over to them, explaining the
+subject in the best manner I was able.&nbsp; They said it was
+lach&oacute;, and juc&aacute;l, and mist&oacute;, all of which
+words express approval of the quality of a thing.&nbsp; Were they
+improved, were their hearts softened by these Scripture
+lectures?&nbsp; I know not.&nbsp; P&eacute;pa committed a rather
+daring theft shortly afterwards, which compelled her to conceal
+herself for a fortnight; it is quite possible, however, that she
+may remember the contents of those chapters on her death-bed; if
+so, will the attempt have been a futile one?</p>
+<p>I completed the translation, supplying deficiencies from my
+own version begun at Badajoz in 1836.&nbsp; This translation I
+printed at Madrid in 1838; it was the first book which ever
+appeared in Rommany, and was called &lsquo;Emb&eacute;o e Majaro
+Lucas,&rsquo; or Gospel of Luke the Saint.&nbsp; I likewise
+published, simultaneously, the same Gospel in Basque, which,
+however, I had no opportunity of circulating.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos of Madrid purchased the Gypsy Luke freely:
+many of the men understood it, and prized it highly, induced of
+course more by the language than the doctrine; the women were
+particularly anxious to obtain copies, though unable to read; but
+each wished to have one in her pocket, especially when engaged in
+thieving expeditions, for they all looked upon it in the light of
+a charm, which would preserve them from all danger and mischance;
+some even went so far as to say, that in this respect it was
+equally efficacious as the Bar Lach&iacute;, or loadstone, which
+they are in general so desirous of possessing.&nbsp; Of this
+Gospel <a name="citation281"></a><a href="#footnote281"
+class="citation">[281]</a> five hundred copies were printed, of
+which the greater number I contrived to circulate amongst the
+Gypsies in various parts; I cast the book upon the waters and
+left it to its destiny.</p>
+<p>I have counted seventeen Git&aacute;nas assembled at one time
+in my apartment in the Calle de Santi&aacute;go in Madrid; for
+the first quarter of an hour we generally discoursed upon
+indifferent matters, I then by degrees drew their attention to
+religion and the state of souls.&nbsp; I finally became so bold
+that I ventured to speak against their inveterate practices,
+thieving and lying, telling fortunes, and stealing &aacute;
+past&eacute;sas; this was touching upon delicate ground, and I
+experienced much opposition and much feminine clamour.&nbsp; I
+persevered, however, and they finally assented to all I said, not
+that I believe that my words made much impression upon their
+hearts.&nbsp; In a few months matters were so far advanced that
+they would sing a hymn; I wrote one expressly for them in
+Rommany, in which their own wild couplets were, to a certain
+extent, imitated.</p>
+<p>The people of the street in which I lived, seeing such numbers
+of these strange females continually passing in and out, were
+struck with astonishment, and demanded the reason.&nbsp; The
+answers which they obtained by no means satisfied them.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Zeal for the conversion of souls,&mdash;the souls too of
+Git&aacute;nas,&mdash;dispar&aacute;te! the fellow is a
+scoundrel.&nbsp; Besides he is an Englishman, and is not
+baptized; what cares he for souls?&nbsp; They visit him for other
+purposes.&nbsp; He makes base ounces, which they carry away and
+circulate.&nbsp; Madrid is already stocked with false
+money.&rsquo;&nbsp; Others were of opinion that we met for the
+purposes of sorcery and abomination.&nbsp; The Spaniard has no
+conception that other springs of action exist than interest or
+villainy.</p>
+<p>My little congregation, if such I may call it, consisted
+entirely of women; the men seldom or never visited me, save they
+stood in need of something which they hoped to obtain from
+me.&nbsp; This circumstance I little regretted, their manners and
+conversation being the reverse of interesting.&nbsp; It must not,
+however, be supposed that, even with the women, matters went on
+invariably in a smooth and satisfactory manner.&nbsp; The
+following little anecdote will show what slight dependence can be
+placed upon them, and how disposed they are at all times to take
+part in what is grotesque and malicious.&nbsp; One day they
+arrived, attended by a Gypsy jockey whom I had never previously
+seen.&nbsp; We had scarcely been seated a minute, when this
+fellow, rising, took me to the window, and without any preamble
+or circumlocution, said&mdash;&lsquo;Don Jorge, you shall lend me
+two barias&rsquo; (ounces of gold).&nbsp;&nbsp; &lsquo;Not to
+your whole race, my excellent friend,&rsquo; said I; &lsquo;are
+you frantic?&nbsp; Sit down and be discreet.&rsquo;&nbsp; He
+obeyed me literally, sat down, and when the rest departed,
+followed with them.&nbsp; We did not invariably meet at my own
+house, but occasionally at one in a street inhabited by
+Gypsies.&nbsp; On the appointed day I went to this house, where I
+found the women assembled; the jockey was also present.&nbsp; On
+seeing me he advanced, again took me aside, and again
+said&mdash;&lsquo;Don Jorge, you shall lend me two
+barias.&rsquo;&nbsp; I made him no answer, but at once entered on
+the subject which brought me thither.&nbsp; I spoke for some time
+in Spanish; I chose for the theme of my discourse the situation
+of the Hebrews in Egypt, and pointed out its similarity to that
+of the Git&aacute;nos in Spain.&nbsp; I spoke of the power of
+God, manifested in preserving both as separate and distinct
+people amongst the nations until the present day.&nbsp; I warmed
+with my subject.&nbsp; I subsequently produced a manuscript book,
+from which I read a portion of Scripture, and the Lord&rsquo;s
+Prayer and Apostles&rsquo; Creed, in Rommany.&nbsp; When I had
+concluded I looked around me.</p>
+<p>The features of the assembly were twisted, and the eyes of all
+turned upon me with a frightful squint; not an individual present
+but squinted,&mdash;the genteel P&eacute;pa, the good-humoured
+Chicharona, the Casdam&iacute;, etc. etc.&nbsp; The Gypsy fellow,
+the contriver of the jest, squinted worst of all.&nbsp; Such are
+Gypsies.</p>
+<h2><a name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span>THE
+ZINCALI<br />
+PART III</h2>
+<h3>CHAPTER I</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is no nation in the world,
+however exalted or however degraded, but is in possession of some
+peculiar poetry.&nbsp; If the Chinese, the Hindoos, the Greeks,
+and the Persians, those splendid and renowned races, have their
+moral lays, their mythological epics, their tragedies, and their
+immortal love songs, so also have the wild and barbarous tribes
+of Soudan, and the wandering Esquimaux, their ditties, which,
+however insignificant in comparison with the compositions of the
+former nations, still are entitled in every essential point to
+the name of poetry; if poetry mean metrical compositions intended
+to soothe and recreate the mind fatigued by the cares,
+distresses, and anxieties to which mortality is subject.</p>
+<p>The Gypsies too have their poetry.&nbsp; Of that of the
+Russian Zigani we have already said something.&nbsp; It has
+always been our opinion, and we believe that in this we are by no
+means singular, that in nothing can the character of a people be
+read with greater certainty and exactness than in its
+songs.&nbsp; How truly do the warlike ballads of the Northmen and
+the Danes, their <i>drapas</i> and <i>k&aelig;mpe-viser</i>,
+depict the character of the Goth; and how equally do the songs of
+the Arabians, replete with homage to the one high, uncreated, and
+eternal God, &lsquo;the fountain of blessing,&rsquo; &lsquo;the
+only conqueror,&rsquo; lay bare to us the mind of the Moslem of
+the desert, whose grand characteristic is religious veneration,
+and uncompromising zeal for the glory of the Creator.</p>
+<p>And well and truly do the coplas and gachaplas of the
+Git&aacute;nos depict the character of the race.&nbsp; This
+poetry, for poetry we will call it, is in most respects such as
+might be expected to originate among people of their class; a set
+of Thugs, subsisting by cheating and villainy of every
+description; hating the rest of the human species, and bound to
+each other by the bonds of common origin, language, and
+pursuits.&nbsp; The general themes of this poetry are the various
+incidents of Git&aacute;no life and the feelings of the
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; A Gypsy sees a pig running down a hill, and
+imagines that it cries &lsquo;Ustilame Caloro!&rsquo; <a
+name="citation288"></a><a href="#footnote288"
+class="citation">[288]</a>&mdash;a Gypsy reclining sick on the
+prison floor beseeches his wife to intercede with the alcayde for
+the removal of the chain, the weight of which is bursting his
+body&mdash;the moon arises, and two Gypsies, who are about to
+steal a steed, perceive a Spaniard, and instantly
+flee&mdash;Juanito Ralli, whilst going home on his steed, is
+stabbed by a Gypsy who hates him&mdash;Facundo, a Gypsy, runs
+away at the sight of the burly priest of Villa Franca, who hates
+all Gypsies.&nbsp; Sometimes a burst of wild temper gives
+occasion to a strain&mdash;the swarthy lover threatens to slay
+his betrothed, even <i>at the feet of Jesus</i>, should she prove
+unfaithful.&nbsp; It is a general opinion amongst the
+Git&aacute;nos that Spanish women are very fond of Rommany chals
+and Rommany.&nbsp; There is a stanza in which a Git&aacute;no
+hopes to bear away a beauty of Spanish race by means of a word of
+Rommany whispered in her ear at the window.</p>
+<p>Amongst these effusions are even to be found tender and
+beautiful thoughts; for Thugs and Git&aacute;nos have their
+moments of gentleness.&nbsp; True it is that such are few and far
+between, as a flower or a shrub is here and there seen springing
+up from the interstices of the rugged and frightful rocks of
+which the Spanish sierras are composed: a wicked mother is afraid
+to pray to the Lord with her own lips, and calls on her innocent
+babe to beseech him to restore peace and comfort to her
+heart&mdash;an imprisoned youth appears to have no earthly friend
+on whom he can rely, save his sister, and wishes for a messenger
+to carry unto her the tale of his sufferings, confident that she
+would hasten at once to his assistance.&nbsp; And what can be
+more touching than the speech of the relenting lover to the fair
+one whom he has outraged?</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Extend to me the hand so small,<br />
+Wherein I see thee weep,<br />
+For O thy balmy tear-drops all<br />
+I would collect and keep.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This Gypsy poetry consists of quartets, or rather couplets,
+but two rhymes being discernible, and those generally imperfect,
+the vowels alone agreeing in sound.&nbsp; Occasionally, however,
+sixains, or stanzas of six lines, are to be found, but this is of
+rare occurrence.&nbsp; The thought, anecdote or adventure
+described, is seldom carried beyond one stanza, in which
+everything is expressed which the poet wishes to impart.&nbsp;
+This feature will appear singular to those who are unacquainted
+with the character of the popular poetry of the south, and are
+accustomed to the redundancy and frequently tedious repetition of
+a more polished muse.&nbsp; It will be well to inform such that
+the greater part of the poetry sung in the south, and especially
+in Spain, is extemporary.&nbsp; The musician composes it at the
+stretch of his voice, whilst his fingers are tugging at the
+guitar; which style of composition is by no means favourable to a
+long and connected series of thought.&nbsp; Of course, the
+greater part of this species of poetry perishes as soon as
+born.&nbsp; A stanza, however, is sometimes caught up by the
+bystanders, and committed to memory; and being frequently
+repeated, makes, in time, the circuit of the country.&nbsp; For
+example, the stanza about Coruncho Lopez, which was originally
+made at the gate of a venta by a Miquelet, <a
+name="citation290"></a><a href="#footnote290"
+class="citation">[290]</a> who was conducting the said Lopez to
+the galleys for a robbery.&nbsp; It is at present sung through
+the whole of the peninsula, however insignificant it may sound to
+foreign ears:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Coruncho Lopez, gallant lad,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; A smuggling he would ride;<br />
+He stole his father&rsquo;s ambling prad,<br />
+And therefore to the galleys sad<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Coruncho now I guide.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The couplets of the Git&aacute;nos are composed in the same
+off-hand manner, and exactly resemble in metre the popular
+ditties of the Spaniards.&nbsp; In spirit, however, as well as
+language, they are in general widely different, as they mostly
+relate to the Gypsies and their affairs, and not unfrequently
+abound with abuse of the Busn&eacute; or Spaniards.&nbsp; Many of
+these creations have, like the stanza of Coruncho Lopez, been
+wafted over Spain amongst the Gypsy tribes, and are even
+frequently repeated by the Spaniards themselves; at least, by
+those who affect to imitate the phraseology of the
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; Those which appear in the present
+collection consist partly of such couplets, and partly of such as
+we have ourselves taken down, as soon as they originated, not
+unfrequently in the midst of a circle of these singular people,
+dancing and singing to their wild music.&nbsp; In no instance
+have they been subjected to modification; and the English
+translation is, in general, very faithful to the original, as
+will easily be perceived by referring to the lexicon.&nbsp; To
+those who may feel disposed to find fault with or criticise these
+songs, we have to observe, that the present work has been written
+with no other view than to depict the Git&aacute;nos such as they
+are, and to illustrate their character; and, on that account, we
+have endeavoured, as much as possible, to bring them before the
+reader, and to make them speak for themselves.&nbsp; They are a
+half-civilised, unlettered people, proverbial for a species of
+knavish acuteness, which serves them in lieu of wisdom.&nbsp; To
+place in the mouth of such beings the high-flown sentiments of
+modern poetry would not answer our purpose, though several
+authors have not shrunk from such an absurdity.</p>
+<p>These couplets have been collected in Estremadura and New
+Castile, in Valencia and Andalusia; the four provinces where the
+Git&aacute;no race most abounds.&nbsp; We wish, however, to
+remark, that they constitute scarcely a tenth part of our
+original gleanings, from which we have selected one hundred of
+the most remarkable and interesting.</p>
+<p>The language of the originals will convey an exact idea of the
+Rommany of Spain, as used at the present day amongst the
+Git&aacute;nos in the fairs, when they are buying and selling
+animals, and wish to converse with each other in a way
+unintelligible to the Spaniards.&nbsp; We are free to confess
+that it is a mere broken jargon, but it answers the purpose of
+those who use it; and it is but just to remark that many of its
+elements are of the most remote antiquity, and the most
+illustrious descent, as will be shown hereafter.&nbsp; We have
+uniformly placed the original by the side of the translation; for
+though unwilling to make the Git&aacute;nos speak in any other
+manner than they are accustomed, we are equally averse to have it
+supposed that many of the thoughts and expressions which occur in
+these songs, and which are highly objectionable, originated with
+ourselves. <a name="citation292"></a><a href="#footnote292"
+class="citation">[292]</a></p>
+<h4>RHYMES OF THE GIT&Aacute;NOS</h4>
+<p class="poetry">Unto a refuge me they led,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To save from dungeon drear;<br />
+Then sighing to my wife I said,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I leave my baby dear.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Back from the refuge soon I sped,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My child&rsquo;s sweet face to see;<br />
+Then sternly to my wife I said,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; You&rsquo;ve seen the last of me.</p>
+<p class="poetry">O when I sit my courser bold,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My bantling in my rear,<br />
+And in my hand my musket hold,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; O how they quake with fear.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Pray, little baby, pray the Lord,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Since guiltless still thou art,<br />
+That peace and comfort he afford<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To this poor troubled heart.</p>
+<p class="poetry">The false Juanito, day and night,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Had best with caution go,<br />
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Have sworn to lay him low.</p>
+<p class="poetry">There runs a swine down yonder hill,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; As fast as e&rsquo;er he can,<br />
+And as he runs he crieth still,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Come, steal me, Gypsy man.</p>
+<p class="poetry">I wash&rsquo;d not in the limpid flood<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The shirt which binds my frame;<br />
+But in Juanito Ralli&rsquo;s blood<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I bravely wash&rsquo;d the same.</p>
+<p class="poetry">I sallied forth upon my grey,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; With him my hated foe,<br />
+And when we reach&rsquo;d the narrow way<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I dealt a dagger blow.</p>
+<p class="poetry">To blessed Jesus&rsquo; holy feet<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I&rsquo;d rush to kill and slay<br />
+My plighted lass so fair and sweet,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Should she the wanton play.</p>
+<p class="poetry">I for a cup of water cried,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; But they refus&rsquo;d my prayer,<br />
+Then straight into the road I hied,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And fell to robbing there.</p>
+<p class="poetry">I ask&rsquo;d for fire to warm my frame,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; But they&rsquo;d have scorn&rsquo;d my prayer,<br />
+If I, to pay them for the same,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Had stripp&rsquo;d my body bare.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Then came adown the village street,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; With little babes that cry,<br />
+Because they have no crust to eat,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; A Gypsy company;<br />
+And as no charity they meet,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; They curse the Lord on high.</p>
+<p class="poetry">I left my house and walk&rsquo;d about,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; They seized me fast and bound;<br />
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Spaniards here have found.</p>
+<p class="poetry">From out the prison me they led,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Before the scribe they brought;<br />
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Spaniards here have caught.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Throughout the night, the dusky night,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I prowl in silence round,<br />
+And with my eyes look left and right,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; For him, the Spanish hound,<br />
+That with my knife I him may smite,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And to the vitals wound.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Will no one to the sister bear<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; News of her brother&rsquo;s plight,<br />
+How in this cell of dark despair,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To cruel death he&rsquo;s dight?</p>
+<p class="poetry">The Lord, as e&rsquo;en the Gentiles state,<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; By Egypt&rsquo;s race was bred,<br />
+And when he came to man&rsquo;s estate,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; His blood the Gentiles shed.</p>
+<p class="poetry">O never with the Gentiles wend,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Nor deem their speeches true;<br />
+Or else, be certain in the end<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Thy blood will lose its hue.</p>
+<p class="poetry">From out the prison me they bore,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Upon an ass they placed,<br />
+And scourg&rsquo;d me till I dripp&rsquo;d with gore,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; As down the road it paced.</p>
+<p class="poetry">They bore me from the prison nook,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; They bade me rove at large;<br />
+When out I&rsquo;d come a gun I took,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And scathed them with its charge.</p>
+<p class="poetry">My mule so bonny I bestrode,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To Portugal I&rsquo;d flee,<br />
+And as I o&rsquo;er the water rode<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; A man came suddenly;<br />
+And he his love and kindness show&rsquo;d<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; By setting his dog on me.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Unless within a fortnight&rsquo;s space<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Thy face, O maid, I see;<br />
+Flamenca, of Egyptian race,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My lady love shall be.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Flamenca, of Egyptian race,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; If thou wert only mine,<br />
+Within a bonny crystal case<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; For life I&rsquo;d thee enshrine.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Sire nor mother me caress,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; For I have none on earth;<br />
+One little brother I possess,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And he&rsquo;s a fool by birth.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Thy sire and mother wrath and hate<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Have vow&rsquo;d against me, love!<br />
+The first, first night that from the gate<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; We two together rove.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Come to the window, sweet love, do,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And I will whisper there,<br />
+In Rommany, a word or two,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And thee far off will bear.</p>
+<p class="poetry">A Gypsy stripling&rsquo;s sparkling eye<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Has pierced my bosom&rsquo;s core,<br />
+A feat no eye beneath the sky<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Could e&rsquo;er effect before.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Dost bid me from the land begone,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And thou with child by me?<br />
+Each time I come, the little one,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll greet in Rommany.</p>
+<p class="poetry">With such an ugly, loathly wife<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Lord has punish&rsquo;d me;<br />
+I dare not take her for my life<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Where&rsquo;er the Spaniards be.</p>
+<p class="poetry">O, I am not of gentle clan,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I&rsquo;m sprung from Gypsy tree;<br />
+And I will be no gentleman,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; But an Egyptian free.</p>
+<p class="poetry">On high arose the moon so fair,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Gypsy &rsquo;gan to sing:<br />
+I see a Spaniard coming there,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I must be on the wing.</p>
+<p class="poetry">This house of harlotry doth smell,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I flee as from the pest;<br />
+Your mother likes my sire too well;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To hie me home is best.</p>
+<p class="poetry">The girl I love more dear than life,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Should other gallant woo,<br />
+I&rsquo;d straight unsheath my dudgeon knife<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And cut his weasand through;<br />
+Or he, the conqueror in the strife,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The same to me should do.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And thus his ditty ran:<br />
+God send the Gypsy lassie here,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And not the Gypsy man.</p>
+<p class="poetry">At midnight, when the moon began<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To show her silver flame,<br />
+There came to him no Gypsy man,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; The Gypsy lassie came.</p>
+<h3><a name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+298</span>CHAPTER II</h3>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Git&aacute;nos, abject and vile
+as they have ever been, have nevertheless found admirers in
+Spain, individuals who have taken pleasure in their phraseology,
+pronunciation, and way of life; but above all, in the songs and
+dances of the females.&nbsp; This desire for cultivating their
+acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia, where, indeed,
+they most abound; and more especially in the town of Seville, the
+capital of the province, where, in the barrio or Faubourg of
+Triana, a large Git&aacute;no colon has long flourished, with the
+denizens of which it is at all times easy to have intercourse,
+especially to those who are free of their money, and are willing
+to purchase such a gratification at the expense of dollars and
+pesetas.</p>
+<p>When we consider the character of the Andalusians in general,
+we shall find little to surprise us in this predilection for the
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; They are an indolent frivolous people, fond
+of dancing and song, and sensual amusements.&nbsp; They live
+under the most glorious sun and benign heaven in Europe, and
+their country is by nature rich and fertile, yet in no province
+of Spain is there more beggary and misery; the greater part of
+the land being uncultivated, and producing nothing but thorns and
+brushwood, affording in itself a striking emblem of the moral
+state of its inhabitants.</p>
+<p>Though not destitute of talent, the Andalusians are not much
+addicted to intellectual pursuits, at least in the present
+day.&nbsp; The person in most esteem among them is invariably the
+greatest <i>majo</i>, and to acquire that character it is
+necessary to appear in the dress of a Merry Andrew, to bully,
+swagger, and smoke continually, to dance passably, and to strum
+the guitar.&nbsp; They are fond of obscenity and what they term
+<i>picard&iacute;as</i>.&nbsp; Amongst them learning is at a
+terrible discount, Greek, Latin, or any of the languages
+generally termed learned, being considered in any light but
+accomplishments, but not so the possession of thieves&rsquo;
+slang or the dialect of the Git&aacute;nos, the knowledge of a
+few words of which invariably creates a certain degree of
+respect, as indicating that the individual is somewhat versed in
+that kind of life or <i>trato</i> for which alone the Andalusians
+have any kind of regard.</p>
+<p>In Andalusia the Git&aacute;no has been studied by those who,
+for various reasons, have mingled with the Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp;
+It is tolerably well understood by the chalans, or jockeys, who
+have picked up many words in the fairs and market-places which
+the former frequent.&nbsp; It has, however, been cultivated to a
+greater degree by other individuals, who have sought the society
+of the Git&aacute;nos from a zest for their habits, their dances,
+and their songs; and such individuals have belonged to all
+classes, amongst them have been noblemen and members of the
+priestly order.</p>
+<p>Perhaps no people in Andalusia have been more addicted in
+general to the acquaintance of the Git&aacute;nos than the
+friars, and pre-eminently amongst these the half-jockey
+half-religious personages of the Cartujan convent at Xeres.&nbsp;
+This community, now suppressed, was, as is well known, in
+possession of a celebrated breed of horses, which fed in the
+pastures of the convent, and from which they derived no
+inconsiderable part of their revenue.&nbsp; These reverend
+gentlemen seem to have been much better versed in the points of a
+horse than in points of theology, and to have understood
+thieves&rsquo; slang and Git&aacute;no far better than the
+language of the Vulgate.&nbsp; A chalan, who had some knowledge
+of the Git&aacute;no, related to me the following singular
+anecdote in connection with this subject.</p>
+<p>He had occasion to go to the convent, having been long in
+treaty with the friars for a steed which he had been commissioned
+by a nobleman to buy at any reasonable price.&nbsp; The friars,
+however, were exorbitant in their demands.&nbsp; On arriving at
+the gate, he sang to the friar who opened it a couplet which he
+had composed in the Gypsy tongue, in which he stated the highest
+price which he was authorised to give for the animal in question;
+whereupon the friar instantly answered in the same tongue in an
+extemporary couplet full of abuse of him and his employer, and
+forthwith slammed the door in the face of the disconcerted
+jockey.</p>
+<p>An Augustine friar of Seville, called, we believe, Father
+Manso, who lived some twenty years ago, is still remembered for
+his passion for the Git&aacute;nos; he seemed to be under the
+influence of fascination, and passed every moment that he could
+steal from his clerical occupations in their company.&nbsp; His
+conduct at last became so notorious that he fell under the
+censure of the Inquisition, before which he was summoned;
+whereupon he alleged, in his defence, that his sole motive for
+following the Git&aacute;nos was zeal for their spiritual
+conversion.&nbsp; Whether this plea availed him we know not; but
+it is probable that the Holy Office dealt mildly with him; such
+offenders, indeed, have never had much to fear from it.&nbsp; Had
+he been accused of liberalism, or searching into the Scriptures,
+instead of connection with the Git&aacute;nos, we should,
+doubtless, have heard either of his execution or imprisonment for
+life in the cells of the cathedral of Seville.</p>
+<p>Such as are thus addicted to the Git&aacute;nos and their
+language, are called, in Andalusia, Los del&rsquo; Aficion, or
+those of the predilection.&nbsp; These people have, during the
+last fifty years, composed a spurious kind of Gypsy literature:
+we call it spurious because it did not originate with the
+Git&aacute;nos, who are, moreover, utterly unacquainted with it,
+and to whom it would be for the most part unintelligible.&nbsp;
+It is somewhat difficult to conceive the reason which induced
+these individuals to attempt such compositions; the only probable
+one seems to have been a desire to display to each other their
+skill in the language of their predilection.&nbsp; It is right,
+however, to observe, that most of these compositions, with
+respect to language, are highly absurd, the greatest liberties
+being taken with the words picked up amongst the Git&aacute;nos,
+of the true meaning of which the writers, in many instances, seem
+to have been entirely ignorant.&nbsp; From what we can learn, the
+composers of this literature flourished chiefly at the
+commencement of the present century: Father Manso is said to have
+been one of the last.&nbsp; Many of their compositions, which are
+both in poetry and prose, exist in manuscript in a compilation
+made by one Luis Lobo.&nbsp; It has never been our fortune to see
+this compilation, which, indeed, we scarcely regret, as a rather
+curious circumstance has afforded us a perfect knowledge of its
+contents.</p>
+<p>Whilst at Seville, chance made us acquainted with a highly
+extraordinary individual, a tall, bony, meagre figure, in a
+tattered Andalusian hat, ragged capote, and still more ragged
+pantaloons, and seemingly between forty and fifty years of
+age.&nbsp; The only appellation to which he answered was
+Manuel.&nbsp; His occupation, at the time we knew him, was
+selling tickets for the lottery, by which he obtained a miserable
+livelihood in Seville and the neighbouring villages.&nbsp; His
+appearance was altogether wild and uncouth, and there was an
+insane expression in his eye.&nbsp; Observing us one day in
+conversation with a Git&aacute;na, he addressed us, and we soon
+found that the sound of the Git&aacute;no language had struck a
+chord which vibrated through the depths of his soul.&nbsp; His
+history was remarkable; in his early youth a manuscript copy of
+the compilation of Luis Lobo had fallen into his hands.&nbsp;
+This book had so taken hold of his imagination, that he studied
+it night and day until he had planted it in his memory from
+beginning to end; but in so doing, his brain, like that of the
+hero of Cervantes, had become dry and heated, so that he was
+unfitted for any serious or useful occupation.&nbsp; After the
+death of his parents he wandered about the streets in great
+distress, until at last he fell into the hands of certain
+toreros, or bull-fighters, who kept him about them, in order that
+he might repeat to them the songs of the <i>Aficion</i>.&nbsp;
+They subsequently carried him to Madrid, where, however, they
+soon deserted him after he had experienced much brutality from
+their hands.&nbsp; He returned to Seville, and soon became the
+inmate of a madhouse, where he continued several years.&nbsp;
+Having partially recovered from his malady, he was liberated, and
+wandered about as before.&nbsp; During the cholera at Seville,
+when nearly twenty thousand human beings perished, he was
+appointed conductor of one of the death-carts, which went through
+the streets for the purpose of picking up the dead bodies.&nbsp;
+His perfect inoffensiveness eventually procured him friends, and
+he obtained the situation of vendor of lottery tickets.&nbsp; He
+frequently visited us, and would then recite long passages from
+the work of Lobo.&nbsp; He was wont to say that he was the only
+one in Seville, at the present day, acquainted with the language
+of the Aficion; for though there were many pretenders, their
+knowledge was confined to a few words.</p>
+<p>From the recitation of this individual, we wrote down the
+Brijindope, or Deluge, and the poem on the plague which broke out
+in Seville in the year 1800.&nbsp; These and some songs of less
+consequence, constitute the poetical part of the compilation in
+question; the rest, which is in prose, consisting chiefly of
+translations from the Spanish, of proverbs and religious
+pieces.</p>
+<h4><a name="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+304</span>BRIJINDOPE.&mdash;THE DELUGE <a
+name="citation304"></a><a href="#footnote304"
+class="citation">[304]</a><br />
+A POEM: IN TWO PARTS</h4>
+<p style="text-align: center">PART THE FIRST</p>
+<p class="poetry">I with fear and terror quake,<br />
+Whilst the pen to write I take;<br />
+I will utter many a pray&rsquo;r<br />
+To the heaven&rsquo;s Regent fair,<br />
+That she deign to succour me,<br />
+And I&rsquo;ll humbly bend my knee;<br />
+For but poorly do I know<br />
+With my subject on to go;<br />
+Therefore is my wisest plan<br />
+Not to trust in strength of man.<br />
+I my heavy sins bewail,<br />
+Whilst I view the wo and wail<br />
+Handed down so solemnly<br />
+In the book of times gone by.<br />
+Onward, onward, now I&rsquo;ll move<br />
+In the name of Christ above,<br />
+And his Mother true and dear,<br />
+She who loves the wretch to cheer.<br />
+All I know, and all I&rsquo;ve heard<br />
+I will state&mdash;how God appear&rsquo;d<br />
+And to Noah thus did cry:<br />
+Weary with the world am I;<br />
+Let an ark by thee be built,<br />
+For the world is lost in guilt;<br />
+And when thou hast built it well,<br />
+Loud proclaim what now I tell:<br />
+Straight repent ye, for your Lord<br />
+In his hand doth hold a sword.<br />
+And good Noah thus did call:<br />
+Straight repent ye one and all,<br />
+For the world with grief I see<br />
+Lost in vileness utterly.<br />
+God&rsquo;s own mandate I but do,<br />
+He hath sent me unto you.<br />
+Laugh&rsquo;d the world to bitter scorn,<br />
+I his cruel sufferings mourn;<br />
+Brawny youths with furious air<br />
+Drag the Patriarch by the hair;<br />
+Lewdness governs every one:<br />
+Leaves her convent now the nun,<br />
+And the monk abroad I see<br />
+Practising iniquity.<br />
+Now I&rsquo;ll tell how God, intent<br />
+To avenge, a vapour sent,<br />
+With full many a dreadful sign&mdash;<br />
+Mighty, mighty fear is mine:<br />
+As I hear the thunders roll,<br />
+Seems to die my very soul;<br />
+As I see the world o&rsquo;erspread<br />
+All with darkness thick and dread;<br />
+I the pen can scarcely ply<br />
+For the tears which dim my eye,<br />
+And o&rsquo;ercome with grievous wo,<br />
+Fear the task I must forego<br />
+I have purposed to perform.&mdash;<br />
+Hark, I hear upon the storm<br />
+Thousand, thousand devils fly,<br />
+Who with awful howlings cry:<br />
+Now&rsquo;s the time and now&rsquo;s the hour,<br />
+We have licence, we have power<br />
+To obtain a glorious prey.&mdash;<br />
+I with horror turn away;<br />
+Tumbles house and tumbles wall;<br />
+Thousands lose their lives and all,<br />
+Voiding curses, screams and groans,<br />
+For the beams, the bricks and stones<br />
+Bruise and bury all below&mdash;<br />
+Nor is that the worst, I trow,<br />
+For the clouds begin to pour<br />
+Floods of water more and more,<br />
+Down upon the world with might,<br />
+Never pausing day or night.<br />
+Now in terrible distress<br />
+All to God their cries address,<br />
+And his Mother dear adore,&mdash;<br />
+But the time of grace is o&rsquo;er,<br />
+For the Almighty in the sky<br />
+Holds his hand upraised on high.<br />
+Now&rsquo;s the time of madden&rsquo;d rout,<br />
+Hideous cry, despairing shout;<br />
+Whither, whither shall they fly?<br />
+For the danger threat&rsquo;ningly<br />
+Draweth near on every side,<br />
+And the earth, that&rsquo;s opening wide,<br />
+Swallows thousands in its womb,<br />
+Who would &lsquo;scape the dreadful doom.<br />
+Of dear hope exists no gleam,<br />
+Still the water down doth stream;<br />
+Ne&rsquo;er so little a creeping thing<br />
+But from out its hold doth spring:<br />
+See the mouse, and see its mate<br />
+Scour along, nor stop, nor wait;<br />
+See the serpent and the snake<br />
+For the nearest highlands make;<br />
+The tarantula I view,<br />
+Emmet small and cricket too,<br />
+All unknowing where to fly,<br />
+In the stifling waters die.<br />
+See the goat and bleating sheep,<br />
+See the bull with bellowings deep.<br />
+And the rat with squealings shrill,<br />
+They have mounted on the hill:<br />
+See the stag, and see the doe,<br />
+How together fond they go;<br />
+Lion, tiger-beast, and pard,<br />
+To escape are striving hard:<br />
+Followed by her little ones,<br />
+See the hare how swift she runs:<br />
+Asses, he and she, a pair.<br />
+Mute and mule with bray and blare,<br />
+And the rabbit and the fox,<br />
+Hurry over stones and rocks,<br />
+With the grunting hog and horse,<br />
+Till at last they stop their course&mdash;<br />
+On the summit of the hill<br />
+All assembled stand they still;<br />
+In the second part I&rsquo;ll tell<br />
+Unto them what there befell.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">PART THE SECOND</p>
+<p class="poetry">When I last did bid farewell,<br />
+I proposed the world to tell,<br />
+Higher as the Deluge flow&rsquo;d,<br />
+How the frog and how the toad,<br />
+With the lizard and the eft,<br />
+All their holes and coverts left,<br />
+And assembled on the height;<br />
+Soon I ween appeared in sight<br />
+All that&rsquo;s wings beneath the sky,<br />
+Bat and swallow, wasp and fly,<br />
+Gnat and sparrow, and behind<br />
+Comes the crow of carrion kind;<br />
+Dove and pigeon are descried,<br />
+And the raven fiery-eyed,<br />
+With the beetle and the crane<br />
+Flying on the hurricane:<br />
+See they find no resting-place,<br />
+For the world&rsquo;s terrestrial space<br />
+Is with water cover&rsquo;d o&rsquo;er,<br />
+Soon they sink to rise no more:<br />
+&lsquo;To our father let us flee!&rsquo;<br />
+Straight the ark-ship openeth he,<br />
+And to everything that lives<br />
+Kindly he admission gives.<br />
+Of all kinds a single pair,<br />
+And the members safely there<br />
+Of his house he doth embark,<br />
+Then at once he shuts the ark;<br />
+Everything therein has pass&rsquo;d,<br />
+There he keeps them safe and fast.<br />
+O&rsquo;er the mountain&rsquo;s topmost peak<br />
+Now the raging waters break.<br />
+Till full twenty days are o&rsquo;er,<br />
+&lsquo;Midst the elemental roar,<br />
+Up and down the ark forlorn,<br />
+Like some evil thing is borne:<br />
+O what grief it is to see<br />
+Swimming on the enormous sea<br />
+Human corses pale and white,<br />
+More, alas! than I can write:<br />
+O what grief, what grief profound,<br />
+But to think the world is drown&rsquo;d:<br />
+True a scanty few are left,<br />
+All are not of life bereft,<br />
+So that, when the Lord ordain,<br />
+They may procreate again,<br />
+In a world entirely new,<br />
+Better people and more true,<br />
+To their Maker who shall bow;<br />
+And I humbly beg you now,<br />
+Ye in modern times who wend,<br />
+That your lives ye do amend;<br />
+For no wat&rsquo;ry punishment,<br />
+But a heavier shall be sent;<br />
+For the blessed saints pretend<br />
+That the latter world shall end<br />
+To tremendous fire a prey,<br />
+And to ashes sink away.<br />
+To the Ark I now go back,<br />
+Which pursues its dreary track,<br />
+Lost and &lsquo;wilder&rsquo;d till the Lord<br />
+In his mercy rest accord.<br />
+Early of a morning tide<br />
+They unclosed a window wide,<br />
+Heaven&rsquo;s beacon to descry,<br />
+And a gentle dove let fly,<br />
+Of the world to seek some trace,<br />
+And in two short hours&rsquo; space<br />
+It returns with eyes that glow,<br />
+In its beak an olive bough.<br />
+With a loud and mighty sound,<br />
+They exclaim: &lsquo;The world we&rsquo;ve found.&rsquo;<br />
+To a mountain nigh they drew,<br />
+And when there themselves they view,<br />
+<a name="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 310</span>Bound
+they swiftly on the shore,<br />
+And their fervent thanks outpour,<br />
+Lowly kneeling to their God;<br />
+Then their way a couple trod,<br />
+Man and woman, hand in hand,<br />
+Bent to populate the land,<br />
+To the Moorish region fair&mdash;<br />
+And another two repair<br />
+To the country of the Gaul;<br />
+In this manner wend they all,<br />
+And the seeds of nations lay.<br />
+I beseech ye&rsquo;ll credence pay,<br />
+For our father, high and sage,<br />
+Wrote the tale in sacred page,<br />
+As a record to the world,<br />
+Record sad of vengeance hurl&rsquo;d.<br />
+I, a low and humble wight,<br />
+Beg permission now to write<br />
+Unto all that in our land<br />
+Tongue Egyptian understand.<br />
+May our Virgin Mother mild<br />
+Grant to me, her erring child,<br />
+Plenteous grace in every way,<br />
+And success.&nbsp; Amen I say.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">THE PESTILENCE</p>
+<p class="poetry">I&rsquo;m resolved now to tell<br />
+In the speech of Gypsy-land<br />
+All the horror that befell<br />
+In this city huge and grand.</p>
+<p class="poetry">In the eighteenth hundred year<br />
+In the midst of summertide,<br />
+God, with man dissatisfied,<br />
+His right hand on high did rear,<br />
+With a rigour most severe;<br />
+Whence we well might understand<br />
+He would strict account demand<br />
+Of our lives and actions here.<br />
+The dread event to render clear<br />
+Now the pen I take in hand.</p>
+<p class="poetry">At the dread event aghast,<br />
+Straight the world reform&rsquo;d its course;<br />
+Yet is sin in greater force,<br />
+Now the punishment is past;<br />
+For the thought of God is cast<br />
+All and utterly aside,<br />
+As if death itself had died.<br />
+Therefore to the present race<br />
+These memorial lines I trace<br />
+In old Egypt&rsquo;s tongue of pride.</p>
+<p class="poetry">As the streets you wander&rsquo;d through<br />
+How you quail&rsquo;d with fear and dread,<br />
+Heaps of dying and of dead<br />
+At the leeches&rsquo; door to view.<br />
+To the tavern O how few<br />
+To regale on wine repair;<br />
+All a sickly aspect wear.<br />
+Say what heart such sights could brook&mdash;<br />
+Wail and woe where&rsquo;er you look&mdash;<br />
+Wail and woe and ghastly care.</p>
+<p class="poetry">Plying fast their rosaries,<br />
+See the people pace the street,<br />
+And for pardon God entreat<br />
+Long and loud with streaming eyes.<br />
+And the carts of various size,<br />
+Piled with corses, high in air,<br />
+To the plain their burden bear.<br />
+O what grief it is to me<br />
+Not a friar or priest to see<br />
+In this city huge and fair.</p>
+<h4><a name="page313"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 313</span>ON
+THE LANGUAGE OF THE GIT&Aacute;NOS</h4>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;I am not very willing that any language
+should be totally extinguished; the similitude and derivation of
+languages afford the most indubitable proof of the traduction of
+nations, and the genealogy of mankind; they add often physical
+certainty to historical evidence of ancient migrations, and of
+the revolutions of ages which left no written monuments behind
+them.&rsquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Johnson</span>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Gypsy dialect of Spain is at
+present very much shattered and broken, being rather the
+fragments of the language which the Gypsies brought with them
+from the remote regions of the East than the language itself: it
+enables, however, in its actual state, the Git&aacute;nos to hold
+conversation amongst themselves, the import of which is quite
+dark and mysterious to those who are not of their race, or by
+some means have become acquainted with their vocabulary.&nbsp;
+The relics of this tongue, singularly curious in themselves, must
+be ever particularly interesting to the philological antiquarian,
+inasmuch as they enable him to arrive at a satisfactory
+conclusion respecting the origin of the Gypsy race.&nbsp; During
+the later part of the last century, the curiosity of some learned
+individuals, particularly Grellmann, Richardson, and Marsden,
+induced them to collect many words of the Romanian language, as
+spoken in Germany, Hungary, and England, which, upon analysing,
+they discovered to be in general either pure Sanscrit or
+Hindustani words, or modifications thereof; these investigations
+have been continued to the present time by men of equal curiosity
+and no less erudition, the result of which has been the
+establishment of the fact, that the Gypsies of those countries
+are the descendants of a tribe of Hindus who for some particular
+reason had abandoned their native country.&nbsp; In England, of
+late, the Gypsies have excited particular attention; but a desire
+far more noble and laudable than mere antiquarian curiosity has
+given rise to it, namely, the desire of propagating the glory of
+Christ amongst those who know Him not, and of saving souls from
+the jaws of the infernal wolf.&nbsp; It is, however, with the
+Gypsies of Spain, and not with those of England and other
+countries, that we are now occupied, and we shall merely mention
+the latter so far as they may serve to elucidate the case of the
+Git&aacute;nos, their brethren by blood and language.&nbsp; Spain
+for many centuries has been the country of error; she has
+mistaken stern and savage tyranny for rational government; base,
+low, and grovelling superstition for clear, bright, and
+soul-ennobling religion; sordid cheating she has considered as
+the path to riches; vexatious persecution as the path to power;
+and the consequence has been, that she is now poor and powerless,
+a pagan amongst the pagans, with a dozen kings, and with
+none.&nbsp; Can we be surprised, therefore, that, mistaken in
+policy, religion, and moral conduct, she should have fallen into
+error on points so naturally dark and mysterious as the history
+and origin of those remarkable people whom for the last four
+hundred years she has supported under the name of
+Git&aacute;nos?&nbsp; The idea entertained at the present day in
+Spain respecting this race is, that they are the descendants of
+the Moriscos who remained in Spain, wandering about amongst the
+mountains and wildernesses, after the expulsion of the great body
+of the nation from the country in the time of Philip the Third,
+and that they form a distinct body, entirely unconnected with the
+wandering tribes known in other countries by the names of
+Bohemians, Gypsies, etc.&nbsp; This, like all unfounded opinions,
+of course originated in ignorance, which is always ready to have
+recourse to conjecture and guesswork, in preference to travelling
+through the long, mountainous, and stony road of patient
+investigation; it is, however, an error far more absurd and more
+destitute of tenable grounds than the ancient belief that the
+Git&aacute;nos were Egyptians, which they themselves have always
+professed to be, and which the original written documents which
+they brought with them on their first arrival in Western Europe,
+and which bore the signature of the king of Bohemia, expressly
+stated them to be.&nbsp; The only clue to arrive at any certainty
+respecting their origin, is the language which they still speak
+amongst themselves; but before we can avail ourselves of the
+evidence of this language, it will be necessary to make a few
+remarks respecting the principal languages and dialects of that
+immense tract of country, peopled by at least eighty millions of
+human beings, generally known by the name of Hindustan, two
+Persian words tantamount to the land of Ind, or, the land watered
+by the river Indus.</p>
+<p>The most celebrated of these languages is the Sanskrida, or,
+as it is known in Europe, the Sanscrit, which is the language of
+religion of all those nations amongst whom the faith of Brahma
+has been adopted; but though the language of religion, by which
+we mean the tongue in which the religious books of the Brahmanic
+sect were originally written and are still preserved, it has long
+since ceased to be a spoken language; indeed, history is silent
+as to any period when it was a language in common use amongst any
+of the various tribes of the Hindus; its knowledge, as far as
+reading and writing it went, having been entirely confined to the
+priests of Brahma, or Brahmans, until within the last
+half-century, when the British, having subjugated the whole of
+Hindustan, caused it to be openly taught in the colleges which
+they established for the instruction of their youth in the
+languages of the country.&nbsp; Though sufficiently difficult to
+acquire, principally on account of its prodigious richness in
+synonyms, it is no longer a sealed language,&mdash;its laws,
+structure, and vocabulary being sufficiently well known by means
+of numerous elementary works, adapted to facilitate its
+study.&nbsp; It has been considered by famous philologists as the
+mother not only of all the languages of Asia, but of all others
+in the world.&nbsp; So wild and preposterous an idea, however,
+only serves to prove that a devotion to philology, whose
+principal object should be the expansion of the mind by the
+various treasures of learning and wisdom which it can unlock,
+sometimes only tends to its bewilderment, by causing it to
+embrace shadows for reality.&nbsp; The most that can be allowed,
+in reason, to the Sanscrit is that it is the mother of a certain
+class or family of languages, for example, those spoken in
+Hindustan, with which most of the European, whether of the
+Sclavonian, Gothic, or Celtic stock, have some connection.&nbsp;
+True it is that in this case we know not how to dispose of the
+ancient Zend, the mother of the modern Persian, the language in
+which were written those writings generally attributed to
+Zerduscht, or Zoroaster, whose affinity to the said tongues is as
+easily established as that of the Sanscrit, and which, in respect
+to antiquity, may well dispute the palm with its Indian
+rival.&nbsp; Avoiding, however, the discussion of this point, we
+shall content ourselves with observing, that closely connected
+with the Sanscrit, if not derived from it, are the
+Beng&aacute;li, the high Hindust&aacute;ni, or grand popular
+language of Hindustan, generally used by the learned in their
+intercourse and writings, the languages of Multan, Guzerat, and
+other provinces, without mentioning the mixed dialect called
+Mongolian Hindust&aacute;ni, a corrupt jargon of Persian,
+Turkish, Arabic, and Hindu words, first used by the Mongols,
+after the conquest, in their intercourse with the natives.&nbsp;
+Many of the principal languages of Asia are totally unconnected
+with the Sanscrit, both in words and grammatical structure; these
+are mostly of the great Tartar family, at the head of which there
+is good reason for placing the Chinese and Tibetian.</p>
+<p>Bearing the same analogy to the Sanscrit tongue as the Indian
+dialects specified above, we find the Rommany, or speech of the
+Roma, or Zincali, as they style themselves, known in England and
+Spain as Gypsies and Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; This speech, wherever
+it is spoken, is, in all principal points, one and the same,
+though more or less corrupted by foreign words, picked up in the
+various countries to which those who use it have
+penetrated.&nbsp; One remarkable feature must not be passed over
+without notice, namely, the very considerable number of Sclavonic
+words, which are to be found embedded within it, whether it be
+spoken in Spain or Germany, in England or Italy; from which
+circumstance we are led to the conclusion, that these people, in
+their way from the East, travelled in one large compact body, and
+that their route lay through some region where the Sclavonian
+language, or a dialect thereof, was spoken.&nbsp; This region I
+have no hesitation in asserting to have been Bulgaria, where they
+probably tarried for a considerable period, as nomad herdsmen,
+and where numbers of them are still to be found at the present
+day.&nbsp; Besides the many Sclavonian words in the Gypsy tongue,
+another curious feature attracts the attention of the
+philologist&mdash;an equal or still greater quantity of terms
+from the modern Greek; indeed, we have full warranty for assuming
+that at one period the Spanish section, if not the rest of the
+Gypsy nation, understood the Greek language well, and that,
+besides their own Indian dialect, they occasionally used it for
+considerably upwards of a century subsequent to their arrival, as
+amongst the Git&aacute;nos there were individuals to whom it was
+intelligible so late as the year 1540.</p>
+<p>Where this knowledge was obtained it is difficult to
+say,&mdash;perhaps in Bulgaria, where two-thirds of the
+population profess the Greek religion, or rather in Romania,
+where the Romaic is generally understood; that they <i>did</i>
+understand the Romaic in 1540, we gather from a very remarkable
+work, called <i>El Estudioso Cortes&aacute;no</i>, written by
+Lorenzo Palmir&eacute;no: this learned and highly extraordinary
+individual was by birth a Valencian, and died about 1580; he was
+professor at various universities&mdash;of rhetoric at Valencia,
+of Greek at Zaragossa, where he gave lectures, in which he
+explained the verses of Homer; he was a proficient in Greek,
+ancient and modern, and it should be observed that, in the
+passage which we are about to cite, he means himself by the
+learned individual who held conversation with the Git&aacute;nos.
+<a name="citation321"></a><a href="#footnote321"
+class="citation">[321]</a>&nbsp; <i>El Estudioso
+Cortes&aacute;no</i> was reprinted at Alcala in 1587, from which
+edition we now copy.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Who are the Git&aacute;nos?&nbsp; I answer; these vile
+people first began to show themselves in Germany, in the year
+1417, where they call them Tartars or Gentiles; in Italy they are
+termed Ciani.&nbsp; They pretend that they come from Lower Egypt,
+and that they wander about as a penance, and to prove this, they
+show letters from the king of Poland.&nbsp; They lie, however,
+for they do not lead the life of penitents, but of dogs and
+thieves.&nbsp; A learned person, in the year 1540, prevailed with
+them, by dint of much persuasion, to show him the king&rsquo;s
+letter, and he gathered from it that the time of their penance
+was already expired; he spoke to them in the Egyptian tongue;
+they said, however, as it was a long time since their departure
+from Egypt, they did not understand it; he then spoke to them in
+the vulgar Greek, such as is used at present in the Morea and
+Archipelago; <i>some understood it</i>, others did not; so that
+as all did not understand it, we may conclude that the language
+which they use is a feigned one, <a name="citation67"></a><a
+href="#footnote67" class="citation">[67]</a> got up by thieves
+for the purpose of concealing their robberies, like the jargon of
+blind beggars.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Still more abundant, however, than the mixture of Greek, still
+more abundant than the mixture of Sclavonian, is the alloy in the
+Gypsy language, wherever spoken, of modern Persian words, which
+circumstance will compel us to offer a few remarks on the share
+which the Persian has had in the formation of the dialects of
+India, as at present spoken.</p>
+<p>The modern Persian, as has been already observed, is a
+daughter of the ancient Zend, and, as such, is entitled to claim
+affinity with the Sanscrit, and its dialects.&nbsp; With this
+language none in the world would be able to vie in simplicity and
+beauty, had not the Persians, in adopting the religion of
+Mahomet, unfortunately introduces into their speech an infinity
+of words of the rude coarse language used by the barbaric Arab
+tribes, the immediate followers of the warlike Prophet.&nbsp;
+With the rise of Islam the modern Persian was doomed to be
+carried into India.&nbsp; This country, from the time of
+Alexander, had enjoyed repose from external aggression, had been
+ruled by its native princes, and been permitted by Providence to
+exercise, without control or reproof, the degrading
+superstitions, and the unnatural and bloody rites of a religion
+at the formation of which the fiends of cruelty and lust seem to
+have presided; but reckoning was now about to be demanded of the
+accursed ministers of this system for the pain, torture, and
+misery which they had been instrumental in inflicting on their
+countrymen for the gratification of their avarice, filthy
+passions, and pride; the new Mahometans were at hand&mdash;Arab,
+Persian, and Afghan, with the glittering scimitar upraised, full
+of zeal for the glory and adoration of the one high God, and the
+relentless persecutors of the idol-worshippers.&nbsp; Already, in
+the four hundred and twenty-sixth year of the Hegeira, we read of
+the destruction of the great Butkhan, or image-house of Sumnaut,
+by the armies of the far-conquering Mahmoud, when the dissevered
+heads of the Brahmans rolled down the steps of the gigantic and
+Babel-like temple of the great image&mdash;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p323b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Text which cannot be reproduced&mdash;Arabic?"
+title=
+"Text which cannot be reproduced&mdash;Arabic?"
+ src="images/p323s.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<blockquote><p>(This image grim, whose name was Laut,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It is not our intention to follow the conquests of the
+Mahometans from the days of Walid and Mahmoud to those of Timour
+and Nadir; sufficient to observe, that the greatest part of India
+was subdued, new monarchies established, and the old religion,
+though far too powerful and widely spread to be extirpated, was
+to a considerable extent abashed and humbled before the bright
+rising sun of Islam.&nbsp; The Persian language, which the
+conquerors <a name="citation324"></a><a href="#footnote324"
+class="citation">[324]</a> of whatever denomination introduced
+with them to Hindustan, and which their descendants at the
+present day still retain, though not lords of the ascendant,
+speedily became widely extended in these regions, where it had
+previously been unknown.&nbsp; As the language of the court, it
+was of course studied and acquired by all those natives whose
+wealth, rank, and influence necessarily brought them into
+connection with the ruling powers; and as the language of the
+camp, it was carried into every part of the country where the
+duties of the soldiery sooner or later conducted them; the result
+of which relations between the conquerors and conquered was the
+adoption into the popular dialects of India of an infinity of
+modern Persian words, not merely those of science, such as it
+exists in the East, and of luxury and refinement, but even those
+which serve to express many of the most common objects,
+necessities, and ideas, so that at the present day a knowledge of
+the Persian is essential for the thorough understanding of the
+principal dialects of Hindustan, on which account, as well as for
+the assistance which it affords in communication with the
+Mahometans, it is cultivated with peculiar care by the present
+possessors of the land.</p>
+<p>No surprise, therefore, can be entertained that the speech of
+the Git&aacute;nos in general, who, in all probability, departed
+from Hindustan long subsequent to the first Mahometan invasions,
+abounds, like other Indian dialects, with words either purely
+Persian, or slightly modified to accommodate them to the genius
+of the language.&nbsp; Whether the Rommany originally constituted
+part of the natives of Multan or Guzerat, and abandoned their
+native land to escape from the torch and sword of Tamerlane and
+his Mongols, as Grellmann and others have supposed, or whether,
+as is much more probable, they were a thievish caste, like some
+others still to be found in Hindustan, who fled westward, either
+from the vengeance of justice, or in pursuit of plunder, their
+speaking Persian is alike satisfactorily accounted for.&nbsp;
+With the view of exhibiting how closely their language is
+connected with the Sanscrit and Persian, we subjoin the first ten
+numerals in the three tongues, those of the Gypsy according to
+the Hungarian dialect. <a name="citation325a"></a><a
+href="#footnote325a" class="citation">[325a]</a></p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gypsy.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Persian.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sanscrit. <a name="citation325b"></a><a
+href="#footnote325b" class="citation">[325b]</a></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Jek</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ek</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ega</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Du</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dvaya</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Trin</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Se</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Treya</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schtar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Chehar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschatvar</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">5</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pansch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pansch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pantscha</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschov</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schesche</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schasda</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Efta</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Heft</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sapta</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ochto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Hescht</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Aschta</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Enija</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Nu</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Nava</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>D&ouml;sch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>De</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dascha</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>It would be easy for us to adduce a thousand instances, as
+striking as the above, of the affinity of the Gypsy tongue to the
+Persian, Sanscrit, and the Indian dialects, but we have not space
+for further observation on a point which long since has been
+sufficiently discussed by others endowed with abler pens than our
+own; but having made these preliminary remarks, which we deemed
+necessary for the elucidation of the subject, we now hasten to
+speak of the Git&aacute;no language as used in Spain, and to
+determine, by its evidence (and we again repeat, that the
+language is the only criterion by which the question can be
+determined), how far the Git&aacute;nos of Spain are entitled to
+claim connection with the tribes who, under the names of
+Zing&aacute;ni, etc., are to be found in various parts of Europe,
+following, in general, a life of wandering adventure, and
+practising the same kind of thievish arts which enable those in
+Spain to obtain a livelihood at the expense of the more honest
+and industrious of the community.</p>
+<p>The Git&aacute;nos of Spain, as already stated, are generally
+believed to be the descendants of the Moriscos, and have been
+asserted to be such in printed books. <a
+name="citation326"></a><a href="#footnote326"
+class="citation">[326]</a>&nbsp; Now they are known to speak a
+language or jargon amongst themselves which the other natives of
+Spain do not understand; of course, then, supposing them to be of
+Morisco origin, the words of this tongue or jargon, which are not
+Spanish, are the relics of the Arabic or Moorish tongue once
+spoken in Spain, which they have inherited from their Moorish
+ancestors.&nbsp; Now it is well known, that the Moorish of Spain
+was the same tongue as that spoken at present by the Moors of
+Barbary, from which country Spain was invaded by the Arabs, and
+to which they again retired when unable to maintain their ground
+against the armies of the Christians.&nbsp; We will, therefore,
+collate the numerals of the Spanish Git&aacute;no with those of
+the Moorish tongue, preceding both with those of the Hungarian
+Gypsy, of which we have already made use, for the purpose of
+making clear the affinity of that language to the Sanscrit and
+Persian.&nbsp; By this collation we shall at once perceive
+whether the Git&aacute;no of Spain bears most resemblance to the
+Arabic, or the Rommany of other lands.</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Hungarian<br />
+Gypsy.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Spanish<br />
+Git&aacute;no.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Moorish<br />
+Arabic.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Jek</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yeque</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Wahud</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Snain</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">3</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Trin</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Trin</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Slatza</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schtar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Estar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Arba</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">5</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pansch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pansche</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Khamsa</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschov</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Job. Zoi</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Seta</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">7</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Efta</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Hefta</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Seb&eacute;a</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">8</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ochto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Otor</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Smin&iacute;a</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">9</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Enija</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Esnia (Nu. <i>Pers.</i>)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tussa</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>D&ouml;sch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Deque</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Aschra</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>We believe the above specimens will go very far to change the
+opinion of those who have imbibed the idea that the
+Git&aacute;nos of Spain are the descendants of Moors, and are of
+an origin different from that of the wandering tribes of Rommany
+in other parts of the world, the specimens of the two dialects of
+the Gypsy, as far as they go, being so strikingly similar, as to
+leave no doubt of their original identity, whilst, on the
+contrary, with the Moorish neither the one nor the other exhibits
+the slightest point of similarity or connection.&nbsp; But with
+these specimens we shall not content ourselves, but proceed to
+give the names of the most common things and objects in the
+Hungarian and Spanish Git&aacute;no, collaterally, with their
+equivalents in the Moorish Arabic; from which it will appear that
+whilst the former are one and the same language, they are in
+every respect at variance with the latter.&nbsp; When we consider
+that the Persian has adopted so many words and phrases from the
+Arabic, we are at first disposed to wonder that a considerable
+portion of these words are not to be discovered in every dialect
+of the Gypsy tongue, since the Persian has lent it so much of its
+vocabulary.&nbsp; Yet such is by no means the case, as it is very
+uncommon, in any one of these dialects, to discover words derived
+from the Arabic.&nbsp; Perhaps, however, the following
+consideration will help to solve this point.&nbsp; The
+Git&aacute;nos, even before they left India, were probably much
+the same rude, thievish, and ignorant people as they are at the
+present day.&nbsp; Now the words adopted by the Persian from the
+Arabic, and which it subsequently introduced into the dialects of
+India, are sounds representing objects and ideas with which such
+a people as the Git&aacute;nos could necessarily be but scantily
+acquainted, a people whose circle of ideas only embraces physical
+objects, and who never commune with their own minds, nor exert
+them but in devising low and vulgar schemes of pillage and
+deceit.&nbsp; Whatever is visible and common is seldom or never
+represented by the Persians, even in their books, by the help of
+Arabic words: the sun and stars, the sea and river, the earth,
+its trees, its fruits, its flowers, and all that it produces and
+supports, are seldom named by them by other terms than those
+which their own language is capable of affording; but in
+expressing the abstract thoughts of their minds, and they are a
+people who think much and well, they borrow largely from the
+language of their religion&mdash;the Arabic.&nbsp; We therefore,
+perhaps, ought not to be surprised that in the scanty phraseology
+of the Git&aacute;nos, amongst so much Persian, we find so little
+that is Arabic; had their pursuits been less vile, their desires
+less animal, and their thoughts less circumscribed, it would
+probably have been otherwise; but from time immemorial they have
+shown themselves a nation of petty thieves, horse-traffickers,
+and the like, without a thought of the morrow, being content to
+provide against the evil of the passing day.</p>
+<p>The following is a comparison of words in the three
+languages:&mdash;</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Hungarian<br />
+Gypsy. <a name="citation330"></a><a href="#footnote330"
+class="citation">[330]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Spanish<br />
+Git&aacute;no.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">Moorish<br />
+Arabic.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Bone</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Cokalos</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Cocal</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Adorn</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>City</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Forjus</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Foros</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Beled</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Day</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dives</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Chibes</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Youm</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Drink (to)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Piava</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Piyar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yeschrab</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ear</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Kan</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Can</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Oothin</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Eye</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Jakh</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Aquia</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ein</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Feather</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Por</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Porumia</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Risch</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Fire</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Vag</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yaque</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Afia</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Fish</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Maczo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Macho</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Hutz</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Foot</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pir</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Piro, pindro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rjil</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Gold</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sonkai</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sonacai</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dahab</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Great</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Baro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Baro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Quib&iacute;r</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Hair</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Bala</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Bal</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schar</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>He, pron.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Wow</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>O</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Hu</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Head</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschero</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Jero</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ras</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>House</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ker</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Quer</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dar</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Husband</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rom</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ron</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Zooje</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lightning</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Molnija</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Malun&oacute;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Brak</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Love (to)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Camaba</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Camelar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yehib</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Man</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Manusch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Manu</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rajil</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Milk</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tud</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Chuti</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Helib</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mountain</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Bar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Bur</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Djibil</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mouth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Fum</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Name</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Nao</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Nao</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ism</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Night</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rat</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rachi</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lila</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Nose</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Nakh</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Naqui</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mungh&aacute;r</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Old</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Puro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Puro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Shaive</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Red</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lal</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lalo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Hamr</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Salt</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lon</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lon</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mela</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sing</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gjuwawa</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gilyabar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Iganni</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sun</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Cam</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Can</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schems</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Thief</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschor</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Choro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Har&aacute;m</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Thou</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tu</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tucue</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Antsin</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tongue</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tschib</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Chipe</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ls&aacute;n</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tooth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dant</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dani</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sinn</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tree</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Karscht</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Caste</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Schizara</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Water</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pani</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pani</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ma</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Wind</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Barbar</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Barban</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ruhk</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>We shall offer no further observations respecting the affinity
+of the Spanish Git&aacute;no to the other dialects, as we
+conceive we have already afforded sufficient proof of its
+original identity with them, and consequently shaken to the
+ground the absurd opinion that the Git&aacute;nos of Spain are
+the descendants of the Arabs and Moriscos.&nbsp; We shall now
+conclude with a few remarks on the present state of the
+Git&aacute;no language in Spain, where, perhaps, within the
+course of a few years, it will have perished, without leaving a
+vestige of its having once existed; and where, perhaps, the
+singular people who speak it are likewise doomed to disappear,
+becoming sooner or later engulfed and absorbed in the great body
+of the nation, amongst whom they have so long existed a separate
+and peculiar class.</p>
+<p>Though the words or a part of the words of the original tongue
+still remain, preserved by memory amongst the Git&aacute;nos, its
+grammatical peculiarities have disappeared, the entire language
+having been modified and subjected to the rules of Spanish
+grammar, with which it now coincides in syntax, in the
+conjugation of verbs, and in the declension of its nouns.&nbsp;
+Were it possible or necessary to collect all the relics of this
+speech, they would probably amount to four or five thousand
+words; but to effect such an achievement, it would be necessary
+to hold close and long intercourse with almost every
+Git&aacute;no in Spain, and to extract, by various means, the
+peculiar information which he might be capable of affording; for
+it is necessary to state here, that though such an amount of
+words may still exist amongst the Git&aacute;nos in general, no
+single individual of their sect is in possession of one-third
+part thereof, nor indeed, we may add, those of any single city or
+province of Spain; nevertheless all are in possession, more or
+less, of the language, so that, though of different provinces,
+they are enabled to understand each other tolerably well, when
+discoursing in this their characteristic speech.&nbsp; Those who
+travel most are of course best versed in it, as, independent of
+the words of their own village or town, they acquire others by
+intermingling with their race in various places.&nbsp; Perhaps
+there is no part of Spain where it is spoken better than in
+Madrid, which is easily accounted for by the fact, that Madrid,
+as the capital, has always been the point of union of the
+Git&aacute;nos, from all those provinces of Spain where they are
+to be found.&nbsp; It is least of all preserved in Seville,
+notwithstanding that its Git&aacute;no population is very
+considerable, consisting, however, almost entirely of natives of
+the place.&nbsp; As may well be supposed, it is in all places
+best preserved amongst the old people, their children being
+comparatively ignorant of it, as perhaps they themselves are in
+comparison with their own parents.&nbsp; We are persuaded that
+the Git&aacute;no language of Spain is nearly at its last stage
+of existence, which persuasion has been our main instigator to
+the present attempt to collect its scanty remains, and by the
+assistance of the press, rescue it in some degree from
+destruction.&nbsp; It will not be amiss to state here, that it is
+only by listening attentively to the speech of the
+Git&aacute;nos, whilst discoursing amongst themselves, that an
+acquaintance with their dialect can be formed, and by seizing
+upon all unknown words as they fall in succession from their
+lips.&nbsp; Nothing can be more useless and hopeless than the
+attempt to obtain possession of their vocabulary by inquiring of
+them how particular objects and ideas are styled; for with the
+exception of the names of the most common things, they are
+totally incapable, as a Spanish writer has observed, of yielding
+the required information, owing to their great ignorance, the
+shortness of their memories, or rather the state of bewilderment
+to which their minds are brought by any question which tends to
+bring their reasoning faculties into action, though not
+unfrequently the very words which have been in vain required of
+them will, a minute subsequently, proceed inadvertently from
+their mouths.</p>
+<p>We now take leave of their language.&nbsp; When wishing to
+praise the proficiency of any individual in their tongue, they
+are in the habit of saying, &lsquo;He understands the seven
+jargons.&rsquo;&nbsp; In the Gospel which we have printed in this
+language, and in the dictionary which we have compiled, we have
+endeavoured, to the utmost of our ability, to deserve that
+compliment; and at all times it will afford us sincere and
+heartfelt pleasure to be informed that any Git&aacute;no, capable
+of appreciating the said little works, has observed, whilst
+reading them or hearing them read: It is clear that the writer of
+these books understood</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">The Seven
+Jargons</span>.</p>
+<h4><a name="page335"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 335</span>ON
+ROBBER LANGUAGE; OR, AS IT IS CALLED IN SPAIN, GERMANIA</h4>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;So I went with them to a music booth, where
+they made me almost drunk with gin, and began to talk their
+<i>Flash Language</i>, which I did not
+understand.&rsquo;&mdash;Narrative of the Exploits of Henry
+Simms, executed at Tyburn, 1746.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Hablaronse los dos en Germania, de lo qual
+result&oacute; darme un abra&ccedil;o, y
+ofrecerseme.&rsquo;&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Quevedo</span>.&nbsp; Vida dal gran
+Taca&ntilde;o.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> in the preceding article
+endeavoured to afford all necessary information concerning the
+Rommany, or language used by the Gypsies amongst themselves, we
+now propose to turn our attention to a subject of no less
+interest, but which has hitherto never been treated in a manner
+calculated to lead to any satisfactory result or conclusion; on
+the contrary, though philosophic minds have been engaged in its
+consideration, and learned pens have not disdained to occupy
+themselves with its details, it still remains a singular proof of
+the errors into which the most acute and laborious writers are
+apt to fall, when they take upon themselves the task of writing
+on matters which cannot be studied in the closet, and on which no
+information can be received by mixing in the society of the wise,
+the lettered, and the respectable, but which must be investigated
+in the fields, and on the borders of the highways, in prisons,
+and amongst the dregs of society.&nbsp; Had the latter system
+been pursued in the matter now before us, much clearer, more
+rational, and more just ideas would long since have been
+entertained respecting the Germania, or language of thieves.</p>
+<p>In most countries of Europe there exists, amongst those who
+obtain their existence by the breach of the law, and by preying
+upon the fruits of the labours of the quiet and orderly portion
+of society, a particular jargon or dialect, in which the former
+discuss their schemes and plans of plunder, without being in
+general understood by those to whom they are obnoxious.&nbsp; The
+name of this jargon varies with the country in which it is
+spoken.&nbsp; In Spain it is called &lsquo;Germania&rsquo;; in
+France, &lsquo;Argot&rsquo;; in Germany,
+&lsquo;Rothwelsch,&rsquo; or Red Italian; in Italy,
+&lsquo;Gergo&rsquo;; whilst in England it is known by many names;
+for example, &lsquo;cant, slang, thieves&rsquo; Latin,&rsquo;
+etc.&nbsp; The most remarkable circumstance connected with the
+history of this jargon is, that in all the countries in which it
+is spoken, it has invariably, by the authors who have treated of
+it, and who are numerous, been confounded with the Gypsy
+language, and asserted to be the speech of those wanderers who
+have so long infested Europe under the name of Git&aacute;nos,
+etc.&nbsp; How far this belief is founded in justice we shall now
+endeavour to show, with the premise that whatever we advance is
+derived, not from the assertions or opinions of others, but from
+our own observation; the point in question being one which no
+person is capable of solving, save him who has mixed with
+Git&aacute;nos and thieves,&mdash;not with the former merely or
+the latter, but with both.</p>
+<p>We have already stated what is the Rommany or language of the
+Gypsies.&nbsp; We have proved that when properly spoken it is to
+all intents and purposes entitled to the appellation of a
+language, and that wherever it exists it is virtually the same;
+that its origin is illustrious, it being a daughter of the
+Sanscrit, and in consequence in close connection with some of the
+most celebrated languages of the East, although it at present is
+only used by the most unfortunate and degraded of beings,
+wanderers without home and almost without country, as wherever
+they are found they are considered in the light of foreigners and
+interlopers.&nbsp; We shall now state what the language of
+thieves is, as it is generally spoken in Europe; after which we
+shall proceed to analyse it according to the various countries in
+which it is used.</p>
+<p>The dialect used for their own peculiar purposes amongst
+thieves is by no means entitled to the appellation of a language,
+but in every sense to that of a jargon or gibberish, it being for
+the most part composed of words of the native language of those
+who use it, according to the particular country, though
+invariably in a meaning differing more or less from the usual and
+received one, and for the most part in a metaphorical
+sense.&nbsp; Metaphor and allegory, indeed, seem to form the
+nucleus of this speech, notwithstanding that other elements are
+to be distinguished; for it is certain that in every country
+where it is spoken, it contains many words differing from the
+language of that country, and which may either be traced to
+foreign tongues, or are of an origin at which, in many instances,
+it is impossible to arrive.&nbsp; That which is most calculated
+to strike the philosophic mind when considering this dialect, is
+doubtless the fact of its being formed everywhere upon the same
+principle&mdash;that of metaphor, in which point all the branches
+agree, though in others they differ as much from each other as
+the languages on which they are founded; for example, as the
+English and German from the Spanish and Italian.&nbsp; This
+circumstance naturally leads to the conclusion that the robber
+language has not arisen fortuitously in the various countries
+where it is at present spoken, but that its origin is one and the
+same, it being probably invented by the outlaws of one particular
+country; by individuals of which it was, in course of time,
+carried to others, where its principles, if not its words, were
+adopted; for upon no other supposition can we account for its
+general metaphorical character in regions various and
+distant.&nbsp; It is, of course, impossible to state with
+certainty the country in which this jargon first arose, yet there
+is cogent reason for supposing that it may have been Italy.&nbsp;
+The Germans call it Rothwelsch, which signifies &lsquo;Red
+Italian,&rsquo; a name which appears to point out Italy as its
+birthplace; and which, though by no means of sufficient
+importance to determine the question, is strongly corroborative
+of the supposition, when coupled with the following fact.&nbsp;
+We have already intimated, that wherever it is spoken, this
+speech, though composed for the most part of words of the
+language of the particular country, applied in a metaphorical
+sense, exhibits a considerable sprinkling of foreign words; now
+of these words no slight number are Italian or bastard Latin,
+whether in Germany, whether in Spain, or in other countries more
+or less remote from Italy.&nbsp; When we consider the ignorance
+of thieves in general, their total want of education, the slight
+knowledge which they possess even of their mother tongue, it is
+hardly reasonable to suppose that in any country they were ever
+capable of having recourse to foreign languages, for the purpose
+of enriching any peculiar vocabulary or phraseology which they
+might deem convenient to use among themselves; nevertheless, by
+associating with foreign thieves, who had either left their
+native country for their crimes, or from a hope of reaping a rich
+harvest of plunder in other lands, it would be easy for them to
+adopt a considerable number of words belonging to the languages
+of their foreign associates, from whom perhaps they derived an
+increase of knowledge in thievish arts of every
+description.&nbsp; At the commencement of the fifteenth century
+no nation in Europe was at all calculated to vie with the Italian
+in arts of any kind, whether those whose tendency was the benefit
+or improvement of society, or those the practice of which serves
+to injure and undermine it.&nbsp; The artists and artisans of
+Italy were to be found in all the countries of Europe, from
+Madrid to Moscow, and so were its charlatans, its jugglers, and
+multitudes of its children, who lived by fraud and cunning.&nbsp;
+Therefore, when a comprehensive view of the subject is taken,
+there appears to be little improbability in supposing, that not
+only were the Italians the originators of the metaphorical robber
+jargon, which has been termed &lsquo;Red Italian,&rsquo; but that
+they were mainly instrumental in causing it to be adopted by the
+thievish race in various countries of Europe.</p>
+<p>It is here, however, necessary to state, that in the robber
+jargon of Europe, elements of another language are to be
+discovered, and perhaps in greater number than the Italian
+words.&nbsp; The language which we allude to is the Rommany; this
+language has been, in general, confounded with the vocabulary
+used among thieves, which, however, is a gross error, so gross,
+indeed, that it is almost impossible to conceive the manner in
+which it originated: the speech of the Gypsies being a genuine
+language of Oriental origin, and the former little more than a
+phraseology of convenience, founded upon particular European
+tongues.&nbsp; It will be sufficient here to remark, that the
+Gypsies do not understand the jargon of the thieves, whilst the
+latter, with perhaps a few exceptions, are ignorant of the
+language of the former.&nbsp; Certain words, however, of the
+Rommany have found admission into the said jargon, which may be
+accounted for by the supposition that the Gypsies, being
+themselves by birth, education, and profession, thieves of the
+first water, have, on various occasions, formed alliances with
+the outlaws of the various countries in which they are at present
+to be found, which association may have produced the result above
+alluded to; but it will be as well here to state, that in no
+country of Europe have the Gypsies forsaken or forgotten their
+native tongue, and in its stead adopted the
+&lsquo;Germania,&rsquo; &lsquo;Red Italian,&rsquo; or robber
+jargon, although in some they preserve their native language in a
+state of less purity than in others.&nbsp; We are induced to make
+this statement from an assertion of the celebrated Lorenzo
+Hervas, who, in the third volume of his <i>Catalogo de las
+Lenguas</i>, trat. 3, cap. vi., p. 311, expresses himself to the
+following effect:&mdash;&lsquo;The proper language of the
+Git&aacute;nos neither is nor can be found amongst those who
+scattered themselves through the western kingdoms of Europe, but
+only amongst those who remained in the eastern, where they are
+still to be found.&nbsp; The former were notably divided and
+disunited, receiving into their body a great number of European
+outlaws, on which account the language in question was easily
+adulterated and soon perished.&nbsp; In Spain, and also in Italy,
+the Git&aacute;nos have totally forgotten and lost their native
+language; yet still wishing to converse with each other in a
+language unknown to the Spaniards and Italians, they have
+invented some words, and have transformed many others by changing
+the signification which properly belongs to them in Spanish and
+Italian.&rsquo;&nbsp; In proof of which assertion he then
+exhibits a small number of words of the &lsquo;Red
+Italian,&rsquo; or allegorical tongue of the thieves of
+Italy.</p>
+<p>It is much to be lamented that a man like Hervas, so learned,
+of such knowledge, and upon the whole well-earned celebrity,
+should have helped to propagate three such flagrant errors as are
+contained in the passages above quoted: 1st.&nbsp; That the Gypsy
+language, within a very short period after the arrival of those
+who spoke it in the western kingdoms of Europe, became corrupted,
+and perished by the admission of outlaws into the Gypsy
+fraternity.&nbsp; 2ndly.&nbsp; That the Gypsies, in order to
+supply the loss of their native tongue, invented some words, and
+modified others, from the Spanish and Italian.&nbsp; 3rdly.&nbsp;
+That the Gypsies of the present day in Spain and Italy speak the
+allegorical robber dialect.&nbsp; Concerning the first assertion,
+namely, that the Gypsies of the west lost their language shortly
+after their arrival, by mixing with the outlaws of those parts,
+we believe that its erroneousness will be sufficiently
+established by the publication of the present volume, which
+contains a dictionary of the Spanish Git&aacute;no, which we have
+proved to be the same language in most points as that spoken by
+the eastern tribes.&nbsp; There can be no doubt that the Gypsies
+have at various times formed alliances with the robbers of
+particular countries, but that they ever received them in
+considerable numbers into their fraternity, as Hervas has stated,
+so as to become confounded with them, the evidence of our
+eyesight precludes the possibility of believing.&nbsp; If such
+were the fact, why do the Italian and Spanish Gypsies of the
+present day still present themselves as a distinct race,
+differing from the other inhabitants of the west of Europe in
+feature, colour, and constitution?&nbsp; Why are they, in
+whatever situation and under whatever circumstances, to be
+distinguished, like Jews, from the other children of the
+Creator?&nbsp; But it is scarcely necessary to ask such a
+question, or indeed to state that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy
+have kept themselves as much apart as, or at least have as little
+mingled their blood with the Spaniards and Italians as their
+brethren in Hungaria and Transylvania with the inhabitants of
+those countries, on which account they still strikingly resemble
+them in manners, customs, and appearance.&nbsp; The most
+extraordinary assertion of Hervas is perhaps his second, namely,
+that the Gypsies have invented particular words to supply the
+place of others which they had lost.&nbsp; The absurdity of this
+supposition nearly induces us to believe that Hervas, who has
+written so much and so laboriously on language, was totally
+ignorant of the philosophy of his subject.&nbsp; There can be no
+doubt, as we have before admitted, that in the robber jargon,
+whether spoken in Spain, Italy, or England, there are many words
+at whose etymology it is very difficult to arrive; yet such a
+fact is no excuse for the adoption of the opinion that these
+words are of pure invention.&nbsp; A knowledge of the Rommany
+proves satisfactorily that many have been borrowed from that
+language, whilst many others may be traced to foreign tongues,
+especially the Latin and Italian.&nbsp; Perhaps one of the
+strongest grounds for concluding that the origin of language was
+divine is the fact that no instance can be adduced of the
+invention, we will not say of a language, but even of a single
+word that is in use in society of any kind.&nbsp; Although new
+dialects are continually being formed, it is only by a system of
+modification, by which roots almost coeval with time itself are
+continually being reproduced under a fresh appearance, and under
+new circumstances.&nbsp; The third assertion of Hervas, as to the
+Git&aacute;nos speaking the allegorical language of which he
+exhibits specimens, is entitled to about equal credence as the
+two former.&nbsp; The truth is, that the entire store of
+erudition of the learned Jesuit, and he doubtless was learned to
+a remarkable degree, was derived from books, either printed or
+manuscript.&nbsp; He compared the Gypsy words in the publication
+of Grellmann with various vocabularies, which had long been in
+existence, of the robber jargons of Spain and Italy, which
+jargons by a strange fatuity had ever been considered as
+belonging to the Gypsies.&nbsp; Finding that the Gypsy words of
+Grellmann did not at all correspond with the thieves&rsquo;
+slang, he concluded that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy had
+forgotten their own language, and to supply its place had
+invented the jargons aforesaid, but he never gave himself the
+trouble to try whether the Gypsies really understood the contents
+of his slang vocabularies; had he done so, he would have found
+that the slang was about as unintelligible to the Gypsies as he
+would have found the specimens of Grellmann unintelligible to the
+thieves had he quoted those specimens to them.&nbsp; The Gypsies
+of Spain, it will be sufficient to observe, speak the language of
+which a vocabulary is given in the present work, and those of
+Italy who are generally to be found existing in a half-savage
+state in the various ruined castles, relics of the feudal times,
+with which Italy abounds, a dialect very similar, and about as
+much corrupted.&nbsp; There are, however, to be continually found
+in Italy roving bands of Rommany, not natives of the country, who
+make excursions from Moldavia and Hungaria to France and Italy,
+for the purpose of plunder; and who, if they escape the hand of
+justice, return at the expiration of two or three years to their
+native regions, with the booty they have amassed by the practice
+of those thievish arts, perhaps at one period peculiar to their
+race, but at present, for the most part, known and practised by
+thieves in general.&nbsp; These bands, however, speak the pure
+Gypsy language, with all its grammatical peculiarities.&nbsp; It
+is evident, however, that amongst neither of these classes had
+Hervas pushed his researches, which had he done, it is probable
+that his investigations would have resulted in a work of a far
+different character from the confused, unsatisfactory, and
+incorrect details of which is formed his essay on the language of
+the Gypsies.</p>
+<p>Having said thus much concerning the robber language in
+general, we shall now proceed to offer some specimens of it, in
+order that our readers may be better able to understand its
+principles.&nbsp; We shall commence with the Italian dialect,
+which there is reason for supposing to be the prototype of the
+rest.&nbsp; To show what it is, we avail ourselves of some of the
+words adduced by Hervas, as specimens of the language of the
+Git&aacute;nos of Italy.&nbsp; &lsquo;I place them,&rsquo; he
+observes, &lsquo;with the signification which the greater number
+properly have in Italian.&rsquo;</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Robber jargon of Italy.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Proper signification of the words.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Arm</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ale / Barbacane</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Wings / Barbican</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Belly</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Fagiana</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pheasant</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Devil</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rabuino</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Perhaps <i>Rabbin</i>, which, in Hebrew, is Master</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Earth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Calcosa</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Street, road</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Eye</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Balco</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Balcony</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Father</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Grimo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Old, wrinkled</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Fire</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Presto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Quick</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>God</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Anticrotto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Probably Antichrist</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Hair</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Prusa <a name="citation346a"></a><a href="#footnote346a"
+class="citation">[346a]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Head</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Elmo / Borella <a name="citation346b"></a><a
+href="#footnote346b" class="citation">[346b]</a> / Chiurla <a
+name="citation346c"></a><a href="#footnote346c"
+class="citation">[346c]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Helmet</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Heart</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Salsa</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sauce</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Man</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Osmo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>From the Italian <i>uomo</i>, which is man</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Moon</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mocoloso di Sant&rsquo; Alto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Wick of the firmament</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Night</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Brunamaterna</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mother-brown</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Nose</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gambaro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Crab</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sun</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ruffo di Sant&rsquo; Alto</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Red one of the firmament</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tongue</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Serpentina / Danosa</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Serpent-like / Hurtful</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Water</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lenza / Vetta <a name="citation346d"></a><a
+href="#footnote346d" class="citation">[346d]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Fishing-net / Top, bud</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>The Germania of Spain may be said to divide itself into two
+dialects, the ancient and modern.&nbsp; Of the former there
+exists a vocabulary, published first by Juan Hidalgo, in the year
+1609, at Barcelona, and reprinted in Madrid, 1773.&nbsp; Before
+noticing this work, it will perhaps be advisable to endeavour to
+ascertain the true etymology of the word Germania, which
+signifies the slang vocabulary, or robber language of
+Spain.&nbsp; We have no intention to embarrass our readers by
+offering various conjectures respecting its origin; its sound,
+coupled with its signification, affording sufficient evidence
+that it is but a corruption of Rommany, which properly denotes
+the speech of the Roma or Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; The thieves who
+from time to time associated with this wandering people, and
+acquired more or less of their language, doubtless adopted this
+term amongst others, and, after modifying it, applied it to the
+peculiar phraseology which, in the course of time, became
+prevalent amongst them.&nbsp; The dictionary of Hidalgo is
+appended to six ballads, or romances, by the same author, written
+in the Germanian dialect, in which he describes the robber life
+at Seville at the period in which he lived.&nbsp; All of these
+romances possess their peculiar merit, and will doubtless always
+be considered valuable, and be read as faithful pictures of
+scenes and habits which now no longer exist.&nbsp; In the
+prologue, the author states that his principal motive for
+publishing a work written in so strange a language was his
+observing the damage which resulted from an ignorance of the
+Germania, especially to the judges and ministers of justice,
+whose charge it is to cleanse the public from the pernicious
+gentry who use it.&nbsp; By far the greatest part of the
+vocabulary consists of Spanish words used allegorically, which
+are, however, intermingled with many others, most of which may be
+traced to the Latin and Italian, others to the Sanscrit or
+Git&aacute;no, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and German
+languages. <a name="citation348"></a><a href="#footnote348"
+class="citation">[348]</a>&nbsp; The circumstances of words
+belonging to some of the languages last enumerated being found in
+the Git&aacute;no, which at first may strike the reader as
+singular, and almost incredible, will afford but slight surprise,
+when he takes into consideration the peculiar circumstances of
+Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.&nbsp; Spain
+was at that period the most powerful monarchy in Europe; her foot
+reposed upon the Low Countries, whilst her gigantic arms embraced
+a considerable portion of Italy.&nbsp; Maintaining always a
+standing army in Flanders and in Italy, it followed as a natural
+consequence, that her Miquelets and soldiers became tolerably
+conversant with the languages of those countries; and, in course
+of time, returning to their native land, not a few, especially of
+the former class, a brave and intrepid, but always a lawless and
+dissolute species of soldiery, either fell in or returned to evil
+society, and introduced words which they had learnt abroad into
+the robber phraseology; whilst returned galley-slaves from
+Algiers, Tunis, and Tetuan, added to its motley variety of words
+from the relics of the broken Arabic and Turkish, which they had
+acquired during their captivity.&nbsp; The greater part of the
+Germania, however, remained strictly metaphorical, and we are
+aware of no better means of conveying an idea of the principle on
+which it is formed, than by quoting from the first romance of
+Hidalgo, where particular mention is made of this
+jargon:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;A la cama llama Blanda<br />
+Donde Sornan en poblado<br />
+A la Fresada Vellosa,<br />
+Que mucho vello ha criado.<br />
+Dice &aacute; la sabana Alba<br />
+Porque es alba en sumo grado,<br />
+A la camisa Carona,<br />
+Al jubon llama apretado:<br />
+Dice al Sayo Tapador<br />
+Porque le lleva tapado.<br />
+Llama &aacute; los zapatos Duros,<br />
+Que las piedras van pisando.<br />
+A la capa llama nuve,<br />
+Dice al Sombrero Texado.<br />
+Respeto llama &aacute; la Espada,<br />
+Que por ella es respetado,&rsquo; etc. etc.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Hidalgo</span>,
+p. 22&ndash;3.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>After these few remarks on the ancient Germania of Spain, we
+now proceed to the modern, which differs considerably from the
+former.&nbsp; The principal cause of this difference is to be
+attributed to the adoption by the Spanish outlaws, in latter
+years, of a considerable number of words belonging to, or
+modified from, the Rommany, or language of the
+Git&aacute;nos.&nbsp; The Git&aacute;nos of Spain, during the
+last half-century, having, in a great degree, abandoned the
+wandering habit of life which once constituted one of their most
+remarkable peculiarities, and residing, at present, more in the
+cities than in the fields, have come into closer contact with the
+great body of the Spanish nation than was in former days their
+practice.&nbsp; From their living thus in towns, their language
+has not only undergone much corruption, but has become, to a
+slight degree, known to the dregs of society, amongst whom they
+reside.&nbsp; The thieves&rsquo; dialect of the present day
+exhibits, therefore, less of the allegorical language preserved
+in the pages of Hidalgo than of the Gypsy tongue.&nbsp; It must
+be remarked, however, that it is very scanty, and that the whole
+robber phraseology at present used in Spain barely amounts to two
+hundred words, which are utterly insufficient to express the very
+limited ideas of the outcasts who avail themselves of it.</p>
+<p>Concerning the Germania of France, or &lsquo;Argot,&rsquo; as
+it is called, it is unnecessary to make many observations, as
+what has been said of the language of Hidalgo and the Red Italian
+is almost in every respect applicable to it.&nbsp; As early as
+the middle of the sixteenth century a vocabulary of this jargon
+was published under the title of <i>Langue des Escrocs</i>, at
+Paris.&nbsp; Those who wish to study it as it at present exists
+can do no better than consult <i>Les M&eacute;moires de
+Vidocq</i>, where a multitude of words in Argot are to be found,
+and also several songs, the subjects of which are thievish
+adventures.</p>
+<p>The first vocabulary of the &lsquo;Cant Language,&rsquo; or
+English Germania, appeared in the year 1680, appended to the life
+of <i>The English Rogue</i>, a work which, in many respects,
+resembles the <i>History of Guzman d&rsquo;Alfar&aacute;che</i>,
+though it is written with considerably more genius than the
+Spanish novel, every chapter abounding with remarkable adventures
+of the robber whose life it pretends to narrate, and which are
+described with a kind of ferocious energy, which, if it do not
+charm the attention of the reader, at least enslaves it, holding
+it captive with a chain of iron.&nbsp; Amongst his other
+adventures, the hero falls in with a Gypsy encampment, is
+enrolled amongst the fraternity, and is allotted a
+&lsquo;mort,&rsquo; or concubine; a barbarous festival ensues, at
+the conclusion of which an epithalamium is sung in the Gypsy
+language, as it is called in the work in question.&nbsp; Neither
+the epithalamium, however, nor the vocabulary, are written in the
+language of the English Gypsies, but in the &lsquo;Cant,&rsquo;
+or allegorical robber dialect, which is sufficient proof that the
+writer, however well acquainted with thieves in general, their
+customs and manners of life, was in respect to the Gypsies
+profoundly ignorant.&nbsp; His vocabulary, however, has been
+always accepted as the speech of the English Gypsies, whereas it
+is at most entitled to be considered as the peculiar speech of
+the thieves and vagabonds of his time.&nbsp; The cant of the
+present day, which, though it differs in some respects from the
+vocabulary already mentioned, is radically the same, is used not
+only by the thieves in town and country, but by the jockeys of
+the racecourse and the pugilists of the &lsquo;ring.&rsquo; As a
+specimen of the cant of England, we shall take the liberty of
+quoting the epithalamium to which we have above
+alluded:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Bing out, bien morts, and tour and tour<br
+/>
+Bing out, bien morts and tour;<br />
+For all your duds are bing&rsquo;d awast,<br />
+The bien cove hath the loure. <a name="citation351"></a><a
+href="#footnote351" class="citation">[351]</a></p>
+<p>&lsquo;I met a dell, I viewed her well,<br />
+She was benship to my watch:<br />
+So she and I did stall and cloy<br />
+Whatever we could catch.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;This doxy dell can cut ben whids,<br />
+And wap well for a win,<br />
+And prig and cloy so benshiply,<br />
+All daisy-ville within.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;The hoyle was up, we had good luck,<br />
+In frost for and in snow;<br />
+Men they did seek, then we did creep<br />
+And plant the roughman&rsquo;s low.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to say anything more upon the
+Germania in general or in particular; we believe that we have
+achieved the task which we marked out for ourselves, and have
+conveyed to our readers a clear and distinct idea of what it
+is.&nbsp; We have shown that it has been erroneously confounded
+with the Rommany, or Git&aacute;no language, with which it has
+nevertheless some points of similarity.&nbsp; The two languages
+are, at the present day, used for the same purpose, namely, to
+enable habitual breakers of the law to carry on their
+consultations with more secrecy and privacy than by the ordinary
+means.&nbsp; Yet it must not be forgotten that the thieves&rsquo;
+jargon was invented for that purpose, whilst the Rommany,
+originally the proper and only speech of a particular nation, has
+been preserved from falling into entire disuse and oblivion,
+because adapted to answer the same end.&nbsp; It was impossible
+to treat of the Rommany in a manner calculated to exhaust the
+subject, and to leave no ground for future cavilling, without
+devoting a considerable space to the consideration of the robber
+dialect, on which account we hope we shall be excused many of the
+dry details which we have introduced into the present
+essay.&nbsp; There is a link of connection between the history of
+the Roma, or wanderers from Hindustan, who first made their
+appearance in Europe at the commencement of the fifteenth
+century, and that of modern roguery.&nbsp; Many of the arts which
+the Gypsies proudly call their own, and which were perhaps at one
+period peculiar to them, have become divulged, and are now
+practised by the thievish gentry who infest the various European
+states, a result which, we may assert with confidence, was
+brought about by the alliance of the Gypsies being eagerly sought
+on their first arrival by the thieves, who, at one period, were
+less skilful than the former in the ways of deceit and plunder;
+which kind of association continued and held good until the
+thieves had acquired all they wished to learn, when they left the
+Gypsies in the fields and plains, so dear to them from their
+vagabond and nomad habits, and returned to the towns and
+cities.&nbsp; Yet from this temporary association were produced
+two results; European fraud became sharpened by coming into
+contact with Asiatic craft, whilst European tongues, by
+imperceptible degrees, became recruited with various words (some
+of them wonderfully expressive), many of which have long been
+stumbling-stocks to the philologist, who, whilst stigmatising
+them as words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown origin, has
+been far from dreaming that by a little more research he might
+have traced them to the Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, or perhaps
+to the mysterious object of his veneration, the Sanscrit, <a
+name="page354"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 354</span>the sacred
+tongue of the palm-covered regions of Ind; words originally
+introduced into Europe by objects too miserable to occupy for a
+moment his lettered attention&mdash;the despised denizens of the
+tents of Roma.</p>
+<h5>ON THE TERM &lsquo;BUSNO&rsquo;</h5>
+<p>Those who have done me the honour to peruse this strange
+wandering book of mine, must frequently have noticed the word
+&lsquo;Busno,&rsquo; a term bestowed by the Spanish Gypsy on his
+good friend the Spaniard.&nbsp; As the present will probably be
+the last occasion which I shall have to speak of the
+Git&aacute;nos or anything relating to them, it will perhaps be
+advisable to explain the meaning of this word.&nbsp; In the
+vocabulary appended to former editions I have translated Busno by
+such words as Gentile, savage, person who is not a Gypsy, and
+have stated that it is probably connected with a certain Sanscrit
+noun signifying an impure person.&nbsp; It is, however, derived
+immediately from a Hungarian term, exceedingly common amongst the
+lower orders of the Magyars, to their disgrace be it
+spoken.&nbsp; The Hungarian Gypsies themselves not unfrequently
+style the Hungarians Busnoes, in ridicule of their unceasing use
+of the word in question.&nbsp; The first Gypsies who entered
+Spain doubtless brought with them the term from Hungary, the
+language of which country they probably understood to a certain
+extent.&nbsp; That it was not ill applied by them in Spain no one
+will be disposed to deny when told that it exactly corresponds
+with the Shibboleth of the Spaniards, &lsquo;Carajo,&rsquo; an
+oath equally common in Spain as its equivalent in Hungary.&nbsp;
+Busno, therefore, in Spanish means <i>El del carajo</i>, or he
+who has that term continually in his mouth.&nbsp; The Hungarian
+words in Spanish Gypsy may amount to ten or twelve, a very
+inconsiderable number; but the Hungarian Gypsy tongue itself, as
+spoken at the present day, exhibits only a slight sprinkling of
+Hungarian words, whilst it contains many words borrowed from the
+Wallachian, some of which have found their way into Spain, and
+are in common use amongst the Git&aacute;nos.</p>
+<h4><a name="page357"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+357</span>SPECIMENS OF GYPSY DIALECTS</h4>
+<h5>THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY</h5>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Tachipen</span> if I
+jaw &rsquo;doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch: N&rsquo;etist I
+shan&rsquo;t puch kekomi wafu gorgies.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me
+at my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus <a
+name="citation359"></a><a href="#footnote359"
+class="citation">[359]</a>, 1842: he stayed with me during the
+greater part of the morning, discoursing on the affairs of Egypt,
+the aspect of which, he assured me, was becoming daily worse and
+worse.&nbsp; &lsquo;There is no living for the poor people,
+brother,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;the chokengres (police) pursue us
+from place to place, and the gorgios are become either so poor or
+miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass by the
+wayside, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire
+upon.&nbsp; Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no
+probability, unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe
+geiro (justice of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the
+poor persons will have to give up wandering altogether, and then
+what will become of them?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;However, brother,&rsquo; he continued, in a more
+cheerful tone, &lsquo;I am no hindity mush, <a
+name="citation360a"></a><a href="#footnote360a"
+class="citation">[360a]</a> as you well know.&nbsp; I suppose you
+have not forgot how, fifteen years ago, when you made horseshoes
+in the little dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent
+you fifty cottors <a name="citation360b"></a><a
+href="#footnote360b" class="citation">[360b]</a> to purchase the
+wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green Newmarket
+coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred
+instead of the fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would
+have done so, for I knew you would not be long pazorrhus to
+me.&nbsp; I am no hindity mush, brother, no Irishman; I laid out
+the other day twenty pounds in buying ruponoe peamengries; <a
+name="citation360c"></a><a href="#footnote360c"
+class="citation">[360c]</a> and in the Chonggav, <a
+name="citation360d"></a><a href="#footnote360d"
+class="citation">[360d]</a> have a house of my own with a yard
+behind it.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;<i>And</i>, <i>forsooth</i>, <i>if I go
+thither</i>, <i>I can choose a place to light afire upon</i>,
+<i>and shall have no necessity to ask leave of these here
+Gentiles</i>.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the
+English Gypsies.</p>
+<p>The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon,
+in which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are
+to be distinguished.&nbsp; In fact, what has been said of the
+Spanish Gypsy dialect holds good with respect to the English as
+commonly spoken: yet the English dialect has in reality suffered
+much less than the Spanish, and still retains its original syntax
+to a certain extent, its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs,
+and declining nouns and pronouns.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">ENGLISH DIALECT</p>
+<blockquote><p>Moro Dad, savo djives oteh drey o charos, te
+caumen Gorgio ta Romany Chal tiro nav, te awel tiro tem, te
+kairen tiro lav aukko prey puv, sar kairdios oteh drey o
+charos.&nbsp; Dey men to-divvus moro divvuskoe moro, ta for-dey
+men pazorrhus tukey sar men for-denna len pazorrhus amande; ma
+muk te petrenna drey caik temptacionos; ley men abri sor
+doschder.&nbsp; Tiro se o tem, Mi-duvel, tiro o zoozlu vast, tiro
+sor koskopen drey sor cheros.&nbsp; Avali.&nbsp; Ta-chipen.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p style="text-align: center">SPANISH DIALECT</p>
+<blockquote><p>Batu monro sos socabas ot&eacute; enr&eacute; ye
+char, que camele Gacho ta Romani Cha tiro nao, qu&rsquo;abillele
+tiro chim, querese tiro lao acoi opr&eacute; ye puve sarta se
+querela ot&eacute; enr&eacute; ye char.&nbsp; Di&ntilde;anos
+sejonia monro manro de cata chibes, ta estormenanos monrias
+bisauras sasta mu estormenamos a monrias bisabadores; na nos
+meques petrar enr&eacute; cayque pajandia, lillanos abri de saro
+chungalipen.&nbsp; Persos tiro sinela o chim, Undevel, tiro ye
+silna bast, tiro saro lachipen enr&eacute; saro chiros.&nbsp;
+Unga.&nbsp; Chachip&eacute;.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>English Translation of the
+above</i></p>
+<blockquote><p>Our Father who dwellest there in heaven, may
+Gentile and Gypsy love thy name, thy kingdom come, may they do
+thy word here on earth as it is done there in heaven.&nbsp; Give
+us to-day our daily bread, <a name="citation361a"></a><a
+href="#footnote361a" class="citation">[361a]</a> and forgive us
+indebted to thee as we forgive them indebted to us, <a
+name="citation361b"></a><a href="#footnote361b"
+class="citation">[361b]</a> suffer not that we fall into
+<i>no</i> temptation, take us out from all evil. <a
+name="citation361c"></a><a href="#footnote361c"
+class="citation">[361c]</a>&nbsp; Thine <a
+name="citation361d"></a><a href="#footnote361d"
+class="citation">[361d]</a> is the kingdom my God, thine the
+strong hand, thine all goodness in all time.&nbsp; Aye.&nbsp;
+Truth.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h5>HUNGARIAN DIALECT</h5>
+<p>The following short sentences in Hungarian Gypsy, in addition
+to the prayer to the Virgin given in the Introduction, will
+perhaps not prove unacceptable to the reader.&nbsp; In no part of
+the world is the Gypsy tongue at the present day spoken with more
+purity than in Hungary, <a name="citation362"></a><a
+href="#footnote362" class="citation">[362]</a> where it is used
+by the Gypsies not only when they wish to be unintelligible to
+the Hungarians, but in their common conversation amongst
+themselves.</p>
+<p>From these sentences the reader, by the help of the
+translations which accompany them, may form a tolerable idea not
+only of what the Gypsy tongue is, but of the manner in which the
+Hungarian Gypsies think and express themselves.&nbsp; They are
+specimens of genuine Gypsy talk&mdash;sentences which I have
+myself heard proceed from the mouths of the Czigany; they are not
+Busno thoughts done into gentle Rommany.&nbsp; Some of them are
+given here as they were written down by me at the time, others as
+I have preserved them in my memory up to the present
+moment.&nbsp; It is not improbable that at some future time I may
+return to the subject of the Hungarian Gypsies.</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Var&eacute; tava soskei me puchelas cai soskei avillara
+cat&aacute;ri.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Much I ponder why you ask me (questions), and why you
+should come hither.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mango le gulo Devlas vas o erai, hodj o erai te pirel
+misto, te n&rsquo;avel pascotia l&rsquo;eras, ta na avel o erai
+nasvalo.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I pray the sweet Goddess for the gentleman, that the
+gentleman may journey well, that misfortune come not to the
+gentleman, and that the gentleman fall not sick.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Cana cames aves pale.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>When you please come back.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ki&rsquo;som dhes keral avel o rai catari? <a
+name="citation363a"></a><a href="#footnote363a"
+class="citation">[363a]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>How many days did the gentleman take to come hither?</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Kit somu berschengro hal tu? <a name="citation363b"></a><a
+href="#footnote363b" class="citation">[363b]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>How many years old are you?</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Cad&eacute; abri mai lachi e mol sar ando foro.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Here out better (is) the wine than in the city.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sin o mas balichano, ta i gorkhe garasheskri; <a
+name="citation363c"></a><a href="#footnote363c"
+class="citation">[363c]</a> sin o manro parno, cai te felo do
+garashangro.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>The meat is of pig, and the gherkins cost a
+grosh&mdash;the bread is white, and the lard costs two
+groshen.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Yeck quartalli mol ando lende.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>One quart of wine amongst us.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>And&eacute; mol ot&eacute; mestchibo.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>In wine there (is) happiness.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Khava piava&mdash;dui shel, tri shel predinava.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I will eat, I will drink&mdash;two hundred, three hundred
+I will place before.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Damen Devla saschipo ando mure cocala.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Give us Goddess health in our bones.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Te rosarow labio tarraco le Mujeskey miro pralesco, ta
+vela mi anao tukey le Mujeskey miro pralesky.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I will seek a waistcoat, which I have, for Moses my
+brother, and I will change names with Moses my brother. <a
+name="citation363d"></a><a href="#footnote363d"
+class="citation">[363d]</a></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Llundun baro foro, bishwar mai baro sar Cosvaro.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>London (is) a big city, twenty times more big than
+Colosvar.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Nani yag, mullas.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>There is no fire, it is dead.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Nasiliom cai purdiom but; besh te pansch bersch mi homas
+slugadhis pa Baron Splini regimentos.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I have suffered and toiled much: twenty and five years I
+was serving in Baron Splini&rsquo;s regiment.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Saro chiro cado Del; cavo o puro di&ntilde;as o Del.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Every time (cometh) from God; that old (age) God gave.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Me camov te jav ando Buka-resti&mdash;cado Bukaresti
+lachico tem dur drom jin keri.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I wish to go unto Bukarest&mdash;from Bukarest, the good
+country, (it is) a far way unto (my) house.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Mi hom nasvallo.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>I am sick.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Soskei nai jas ke baro ful-cheri?</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Why do you not go to the great physician</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Wei mangue ke nani man lov&eacute; nastis jav.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Because I have no money I can&rsquo;t go</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Belgra sho mille pu cado Cosvarri; hin oter miro
+chabo.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Belgrade (is) six miles of land from Colosvar; there is my
+son.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Te vas Del l&rsquo;erangue ke meclan man abri ando a
+pan-dibo.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>May God help the gentlemen that they let me out (from) in
+the prison.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Opr&eacute; rukh sarkhi ye chiriclo, ca kerel anre e
+chiricli.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>On the tree (is) the nest of the bird, where makes eggs
+the female bird.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ca hin tiro ker?</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Where is your house?</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ando calo berkho, oter bin miro ker, av prala mensar; jas
+mengue keri.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>In the black mountain, there is my house; come brother
+with me; let us go to my house.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ando bersch dui chiro, ye ven, ta nilei.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>In the year (are) two seasons, the winter and summer.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>O felhegos del o breschino, te purdel o barbal.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>The cloud gives the rain, and puffs (forth) the wind.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Hir mi Devlis camo but cavo erai&mdash;lacho manus o,
+Anglus, tama rakarel Ungarica; avel catari ando urdon le trin
+gras-tensas&mdash;beshel cate abri po buklo tan; le poivasis ando
+bas irinel ando lel.&nbsp; Bo zedun stadji ta bari barba.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>By my God I love much that gentleman&mdash;a good man he,
+an Englishman, but he speaks Hungarian; he came <a
+name="citation364a"></a><a href="#footnote364a"
+class="citation">[364a]</a> hither in a waggon with three horses,
+he sits here out in the wilderness; <a name="citation364b"></a><a
+href="#footnote364b" class="citation">[364b]</a> with a pencil in
+his hand he writes in a book.&nbsp; He has a green hat and a big
+beard.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h4><a name="page365"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+365</span>VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE</h4>
+<p>This section of the book could not be transcribed in 1997 as
+it contained many non-european languages and Gutenberg
+didn&rsquo;t support Unicode then.&nbsp; It will be transcribed
+at some future point.&mdash;DP, August 2019.</p>
+<h2><a name="page415"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+415</span>APPENDIX</h2>
+<h3>MISCELLANIES IN THE GIT&Aacute;NO LANGUAGE</h3>
+<h4>ADVERTISEMENT</h4>
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is with the view of preserving
+as many as possible of the monuments of the Spanish Gypsy tongue
+that the author inserts the following pieces; they are for the
+most part, whether original or translated, the productions of the
+&lsquo;Aficion&rsquo; of Seville, of whom something has been said
+in the Preface to the Spurious Gypsy Poetry of Andalusia; not the
+least remarkable, however, of these pieces is a genuine Gypsy
+composition, the translation of the Apostles&rsquo; Creed by the
+Gypsies of Cordova, made under the circumstances detailed in the
+second part of the first volume.&nbsp; To all have been affixed
+translations, more or less literal, to assist those who may wish
+to form some acquaintance with the Git&aacute;no language.</p>
+<h4>COTORRES ON CHIPE CALLI / MISCELLANIES</h4>
+<p><span class="smcap">Bato</span> Nonrro sos socabas on o tarpe,
+manjirific&aacute;do quej&eacute;sa tute acnao; abill&aacute;nos
+or tute sich&eacute;n, y querese tute orependola andial on la
+chen sata on o tarpe; or manrro nonrro de cata chibel
+di&ntilde;anoslo sejo&ntilde;&iacute;a, y estormenanos nonrrias
+bisauras andial sata gab&eacute;res estormenamos &aacute; nonrros
+bisaraores; y nasti nes muques petrar on la bajanb&oacute;, bus
+listrabanos de chorre.&mdash;Anarania.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Father</span> Our, who dwellest in the
+heaven, sanctified become thy name; come-to-us the thy kingdom,
+and be-done thy will so in the earth as in the heaven; the bread
+our of every day give-us-it to-day, and pardon-us our debts so as
+we-others pardon (to) our debtors; and not let us fall in the
+temptation, but deliver-us from wickedness.&mdash;Amen.</p>
+<p>Panchabo on Ostebe Bato saro-asisil&aacute;ble, Perbaraor de o
+tarpe y la chen, y on Greson&eacute; desquero Beyio Chabal
+nonrrio Era&ntilde;o, sos guill&oacute;
+sar-trujatapucher&iacute;do per troecane y sarda&ntilde;a de or
+Chanispero Manjaro, y purel&oacute; de Manjari ostelinda debla;
+Brichol&oacute; ostel&eacute; de or asislar de Brono
+Alie&ntilde;icato; guill&oacute; trejuficao, mule y
+caba&ntilde;ao; y sundil&oacute; &aacute; los casinob&eacute;s,
+<a name="citation416"></a><a href="#footnote416"
+class="citation">[416]</a> y &aacute; or brodel&oacute;
+chib&eacute;l repurel&oacute; de enrre los mul&eacute;s, y
+encalom&oacute; &aacute; los otarpes, y soscabela best&iacute;que
+&aacute; la tabastorre de Ostebe Bato saro-asisilable, ende
+aot&eacute;r &aacute; de abillar &aacute; sarplar &aacute; los
+Apucheris y mul&eacute;s.&nbsp; Panchabo on or Chanispero
+Manjar&oacute;, la Manjari Cangari Pebuld&oacute;rica y
+Rebuld&oacute;rica, la Erunon de los Manjar&oacute;s, or
+Estorm&eacute;n de los crej&eacute;tes, la repurel&oacute; de la
+mansenquere y la chibib&eacute;n verable.&mdash;Anarania,
+Tebl&eacute;que.</p>
+<p>I believe in God, Father all-powerful, creator of the heaven
+and the earth, and in Christ his only Son our Lord, who went
+conceived by deed and favour of the Spirit Holy, and born of
+blessed goddess divine; suffered under (of) the might of Bronos
+Alienicatos; <a name="citation417a"></a><a href="#footnote417a"
+class="citation">[417a]</a> went crucified, dead and buried; and
+descended to the conflagrations, and on the third day revived <a
+name="citation417b"></a><a href="#footnote417b"
+class="citation">[417b]</a> from among the dead, and ascended to
+the heavens, and dwells seated at the right-hand of God, Father
+all-powerful, from there he-has to come to impeach (to) the
+living and dead.&nbsp; I believe in the Spirit Holy, the Holy
+Church Catholic and Apostolic, the communion of the saints, the
+remission of the sins, the re-birth of the flesh, and the life
+everlasting.&mdash;Amen, Jesus.</p>
+<h4>OCANAJIMIA A LA DEBLA / PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN</h4>
+<p>O D&eacute;bla quirind&iacute;a, Day de sar&oacute;s los
+Bordeles on coin panchabo: per los duquip&eacute;nes sos
+naquel&aacute;stes &aacute; or pindr&eacute; de la trej&uacute;l
+de tute Chaborr&oacute; majarol&iacute;simo te mangu&eacute;lo,
+D&eacute;bla, me alcorab&iacute;ses de tute chaborr&oacute; or
+estorm&eacute;n de sares las dojis y crej&eacute;tes sos menda
+udic&aacute;re aquerao on andoba surd&eacute;te.&mdash;Anarania,
+Tebl&eacute;que.</p>
+<p>Osteb&eacute; te berarbe Ostelinda! perdoripe sirles de
+sarda&ntilde;&aacute;; or Era&ntilde;&oacute; sin sartute;
+bresban tute sirles enrr&eacute; sares las rumiles, y bresban sin
+or frujero de tute po.&mdash;Tebl&eacute;que.</p>
+<p>Manjari Ostelinda, day de Osteb&eacute;, brichardila per
+gab&eacute;res crejeta&oacute;res aocan&aacute; y on la ocana de
+nonrra berib&eacute;n!&mdash;Anarania, Tebl&eacute;que.</p>
+<p>Chimuclani or Bato, or Chabal, or Chanispero manjar&oacute;;
+sata sia on or presimelo, aocana, y gajeres: on los sicles de los
+sicles.&mdash;Anarania.</p>
+<p>O most holy Virgin, Mother of all the Christians in whom I
+believe; for the agony which thou didst endure at the foot of the
+cross of thy most blessed Son, I entreat thee, Virgin, that thou
+wilt obtain for me, from thy Son, the remission of all the crimes
+and sins which I may have committed in this world.&mdash;Amen,
+Jesus.</p>
+<p>God save thee, Maria! full art thou of grace; the Lord is with
+thee; blessed art thou amongst all women, and blessed is the
+fruit of thy womb.&mdash;Jesus.</p>
+<p>Holy Maria, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the
+hour of our death!&mdash;Amen, Jesus.</p>
+<p>Glory (to) the Father, the Son, (and) the Holy Ghost; as was
+in the beginning, now, and for ever: in the ages of the
+ages.&mdash;Amen.</p>
+<h4>OR CREDO / THE CREED<br />
+SARTA LO CHIBELARON LOS CALES DE CORDOVATI / TRANSLATED BY THE
+GYSPIES OF CORDOVA</h4>
+<p>Pachab&eacute;lo en Un-debel batu tosaro-baro, que ha querdi
+el char y la chiqu&eacute;; y en Un-deb&eacute;l chinor&oacute;
+su unico chabor&oacute; era&ntilde;o de amangue, que chal&oacute;
+en el trupo de la Majar&iacute; por el Duquende Major&oacute;, y
+abi&oacute; del veo de la Majar&iacute;; guill&oacute;
+cur&aacute;do deb&aacute;jo de la sila de Pontio Pil&aacute;to el
+ch&iacute;nobar&oacute;; guill&oacute; mulo y garabado; se
+chal&eacute; &aacute; las jach&aacute;ris; al trin chib&eacute;
+se ha sicob&aacute;do de los mul&eacute;s al char; sin&eacute;la
+bej&aacute;do &aacute; las baste de Un-deb&eacute;l
+barre&aacute;; y de ot&eacute; abiar&aacute; &aacute; juzgar
+&aacute; los mul&eacute;s y &aacute; los que no lo
+sin&eacute;lan; pachab&eacute;lo en el Majar&oacute;; la
+Cangr&iacute; Majar&iacute; bare&aacute;; el jalar de los
+Majaries; lo mec&oacute; de los gr&eacute;cos; la resureccion de
+la maas, y la ochi que no mar&eacute;la.</p>
+<p>I believe in God the Father all-great, who has made the heaven
+and the earth; and in God the young, his only Son, the Lord of
+us, who went into the body of the blessed (maid) by (means of)
+the Holy Ghost, and came out of the womb of the blessed; he was
+tormented beneath the power of Pontius Pilate, the great
+Alguazil; was dead and buried; he went (down) to the fires; on
+the third day he raised himself from the dead unto the heaven; he
+is seated at the major hand of God; and from thence he shall come
+to judge the dead and those who are not (dead).&nbsp; I believe
+in the blessed one; in the church holy and great; the banquet of
+the saints; the remission of sins; the resurrection of the flesh,
+and the life which does not die.</p>
+<h4>REJELENDRES / PROVERBS</h4>
+<p>Or soscabela juco y ter&aacute;ble garip&eacute; no le sin
+perfin&eacute; anelar relichi.</p>
+<p>Bus yes manupe cha machagarno le pendan chuchipon los
+brochabos.</p>
+<p>Sacais sos ne dicob&eacute;lan calochin ne
+bridaqu&eacute;lan.</p>
+<p>Coin terelare trasardos e dinastes nasti le buchare
+berrand&aacute;&ntilde;as &aacute; desquero contiqu&eacute;.</p>
+<p>On sares las cachimanes de Sersen abillen rech&eacute;s.</p>
+<p>Bus mola yes chirriclo on la ba sos gr&eacute;s balogando.</p>
+<p>A Osteb&eacute; brichardilando y sar or mochique
+di&ntilde;elando.</p>
+<p>Bus mola quesar jero de gabu&ntilde;o sos manpor&iacute; de
+bombardo.</p>
+<p>Dic&aacute;r y panchab&aacute;r, sata penda Manjar&oacute;
+Lillar.</p>
+<p>Or esorji&eacute; de or narsichisl&eacute; sin chismar
+lachingu&eacute;l.</p>
+<p>Las queles mistos grobel&aacute;s: per macara chibel la
+pir&iacute; y de rachi la operisa.</p>
+<p>Aunsos me dicas vriardao de jorpoy ne sirlo braco.</p>
+<p>Chachip&eacute; con juj&aacute;na&mdash;Calzones de
+buch&iacute; y medias de lana.</p>
+<p>Chuquel sos pir&eacute;la cocal ter&eacute;la.</p>
+<p>Len sos sonsi bela pani &oacute; reblandani ter&eacute;la.</p>
+<p>He who is lean and has scabs needs not carry a net. <a
+name="citation419a"></a><a href="#footnote419a"
+class="citation">[419a]</a></p>
+<p>When a man goes drunk the boys say to him &lsquo;suet.&rsquo;
+<a name="citation419b"></a><a href="#footnote419b"
+class="citation">[419b]</a></p>
+<p>Eyes which see not break no heart.</p>
+<p>He who has a roof of glass let him not fling stones at his
+neighbour.</p>
+<p>Into all the taverns of Spain may reeds come.</p>
+<p>A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying.</p>
+<p>To God (be) praying and with the flail plying.</p>
+<p>It is worth more to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a
+lion.</p>
+<p>To see and to believe, as Saint Thomas says.</p>
+<p>The extreme <a name="citation421a"></a><a href="#footnote421a"
+class="citation">[421a]</a> of a dwarf is to spit largely.</p>
+<p>Houses well managed:&mdash;at mid-day the stew-pan, <a
+name="citation421b"></a><a href="#footnote421b"
+class="citation">[421b]</a> and at night salad.</p>
+<p>Although thou seest me dressed in wool I am no sheep.</p>
+<p>Truth with falsehood-Breeches of silk and stockings of Wool.
+<a name="citation421c"></a><a href="#footnote421c"
+class="citation">[421c]</a></p>
+<p>The dog who walks finds a bone.</p>
+<p>The river which makes a noise <a name="citation421d"></a><a
+href="#footnote421d" class="citation">[421d]</a> has either water
+or stones.</p>
+<h4>ODORES YE TILICHE / THE LOVER&rsquo;S JEALOUSY</h4>
+<p>Dica Call&iacute; sos linastes terelas, plasarandote misto men
+calochin desqui&ntilde;ao de trinchas pu&ntilde;&iacute;s y
+canrrias, sata anjella terelaba dicando on los chorres naquelos
+sos me tesumiaste, y andial reutil&aacute; &aacute; men
+Jel&iacute;, di&ntilde;ela gao &aacute; sos menda orobibele; men
+pu&ntilde;i sin trincha per la quimb&iacute;la nevel de yes manu
+barbal&oacute;; sos saro se muca per or jandorro.&nbsp; Lo sos
+bus prejeno Call&iacute; de los Bengorros sin sos nu muqueis per
+yes man&uacute; barbalo. . . . On tute orch&iacute;ri nu chismo,
+tramist&oacute; on coin te araquera, sos menda terela men nostus
+pa avel sos me cam&eacute;la bus sos t&uacute;te.</p>
+<p>Reflect, O Callee! <a name="citation421e"></a><a
+href="#footnote421e" class="citation">[421e]</a> what motives
+hast thou (now that my heart is doting on thee, having rested
+awhile from so many cares and griefs which formerly it endured,
+beholding the evil passages which thou preparedst for me;) to
+recede thus from my love, giving occasion to me to weep.&nbsp; My
+agony is great on account of thy recent acquaintance with a rich
+man; for every thing is abandoned for money&rsquo;s sake.&nbsp;
+What I most feel, O Callee, of the devils is, that thou
+abandonest me for a rich man . . . I spit upon thy beauty, and
+also upon him who converses with thee, for I keep my money for
+another who loves me more than thou.</p>
+<h4>OR PERSIBARARSE SIN CHORO / THE EVILS OF CONCUBINAGE</h4>
+<p>Gajeres sin corb&oacute; rifian soscabar yes manu
+persibara&oacute;, per sos saro se linbid&iacute;an odoros y
+besll&iacute;, y per esegrit&oacute;n apuchelan on
+sarda&ntilde;&aacute; de saros los Benjes, techesc&aacute;ndo
+grejos y olajais&mdash;de sust&iacute;ri sos lo resaronom&oacute;
+niquilla murmo; y andial lo fendi sos terelamos de querar sin
+techescarle yes sulib&aacute;ri &aacute; or Jel&iacute;, y ne
+panchabar on caute manusard&iacute;, persos trutan &aacute;
+yesque lil&iacute;.</p>
+<p>It is always a strange danger for a man to live in
+concubinage, because all turns to jealousy and quarrelling, and
+at last they live in the favour of all the devils, voiding oaths
+and curses: so that what is cheap turns out dear.&nbsp; So the
+best we can do, is to cast a bridle on love, and trust to no
+woman, for they <a name="citation423a"></a><a
+href="#footnote423a" class="citation">[423a]</a> make a man
+mad.</p>
+<h4>LOS CHORES / THE ROBBERS</h4>
+<p>On grejelo chiro begore&oacute; yesque berbanilla de chores
+&aacute; la burda de yes mostipelo a oleba
+rach&iacute;&mdash;Andial sos la prejen&aacute;ron los
+cambra&iacute;s presimel&aacute;ron a cobadrar; sar andoba
+linaste changan&oacute; or lanbr&oacute;, se
+susti&ntilde;&oacute; de la charip&eacute; de lapa, util&oacute;
+la pusca, y niquill&oacute; platanando per or platesquer&oacute;
+de or mostipelo &aacute; la burda sos socabel&aacute;ba
+pand&iacute;, y per or jobi de la clich&iacute; chibel&oacute; or
+jundr&oacute; de la pusca, le di&ntilde;&oacute; pesquibo
+&aacute; or langut&eacute;, y le sumuquel&oacute; yes
+bruchasn&oacute; on la tesqu&eacute;ra &aacute; or
+Jojeri&aacute;n de los ostila&oacute;res y lo techesc&oacute; de
+or gr&aacute;te &aacute; ostel&eacute;.&nbsp; Andial sos los
+debus quimbilos dicobel&aacute;ron &aacute; desquero Jojerian on
+chen sar las canrri&aacute;les de la Beriben, lo
+chibel&aacute;ron espusifias &aacute; los grastes, y
+niquill&aacute;ron chapescando, trutando la romuy ap&aacute;la,
+per bausal&eacute; de las machas &oacute; almed&aacute;lles de
+liripi&oacute;.</p>
+<p>On a certain time arrived a band of thieves at the gate of a
+farm-house at midnight.&nbsp; So soon as the dogs heard them they
+began to bark, which causing <a name="citation423b"></a><a
+href="#footnote423b" class="citation">[423b]</a> the labourer to
+awake, he raised himself from his bed with a start, took his
+musket, and went running to the court-yard of the farm-house to
+the gate, which was shut, placed the barrel of his musket to the
+keyhole, gave his finger its desire, <a
+name="citation423c"></a><a href="#footnote423c"
+class="citation">[423c]</a> and sent a bullet into the forehead
+of the captain of the robbers, casting him down from his
+horse.&nbsp; Soon as the other fellows saw their captain on the
+ground in the agonies of death, they clapped spurs to their
+horses, and galloped off fleeing, turning their faces back on
+account of the flies <a name="citation423d"></a><a
+href="#footnote423d" class="citation">[423d]</a> or almonds of
+lead.</p>
+<h4>COTOR YE GABICOTE MAJARO / SPECIMEN OF THE GOSPEL<br />
+OR SOS SARO LO HA CHIBADO EN CHIPE CALLI OR RANDADOR DE OCONOS
+PAPIRIS AUNSOS NARDIAN LO HA DINADO AL SURDETE / FROM THE
+AUTHOR&rsquo;S UNPUBLISHED TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT</h4>
+<p>Y soscabando dicando dic&oacute; los Barbal&oacute;s sos
+techesc&aacute;ban desqueros mansis on or Gazofilacio; y
+dic&oacute; tramisto yesque pispiricha chorrorita, sos
+techesc&aacute;ba duis chinorris sarab&aacute;llis, y
+penel&oacute;: en chachip&eacute; os penel&oacute;, sos caba
+chorrorri pispiricha &aacute; techescao bus sos sares los
+av&eacute;les: persos saros ondobas han techescao per los mansis
+de Osteb&eacute;, de lo sos les costu&ntilde;a; bus caba e
+desquero chorrorri &aacute; techescao saro or susalo sos
+terelaba.&nbsp; Y pend&oacute; &aacute; cormu&ntilde;&iacute;s,
+sos pend&aacute;ban del cangarip&eacute;, soscabelaba uriardao de
+orch&iacute;ris berrand&aacute;&ntilde;as, y de d&eacute;nes:
+Cabas buchis sos dicais, abillar&aacute;n chibeles, bus ne
+muquelar&aacute; berrand&aacute;&ntilde;a costu&ntilde;&eacute;
+berrand&aacute;&ntilde;a, sos ne quesesa demarabe&aacute;.&nbsp;
+Y le pruch&aacute;ron y pend&aacute;ron: Docurd&oacute;, bus
+quesa ondoba?&nbsp; Y sos simachi abicar&aacute; bus ondoba
+presim&aacute;re?&nbsp; Ondole pencl&oacute;: Dicad, sos nasti
+queseis jonjabaos; persos butes abillar&aacute;n on men acnao,
+pendando: man sirlo, y or chiro soscab&eacute;la pajes: Garabaos
+de guillelar apal&agrave;, de ondol&aacute;yos: y bus junureis
+barga&ntilde;as y susti&ntilde;&eacute;s, ne os espaju&eacute;is;
+persos sin perfin&eacute; sos ondoba chund&eacute;e
+brotob&oacute;, bus nasti quesa escotri&aacute; or
+egresit&oacute;n.&nbsp; Oclinde les pendaba: se sustinar&aacute;
+su&eacute;ste sartra su&eacute;ste, y sich&eacute;n sartra
+sich&eacute;n, y abicar&aacute; bareles dajir&oacute;s de
+ch&eacute;nes per los gaos, y retr&eacute;ques y boc&aacute;tas,
+y abicar&aacute; buchenger&eacute;s espajuis, y bareles simachis
+de ot&aacute;rpe: bus anjella de saro ondoba os
+sinastrar&aacute;n y preguillar&aacute;n, enregando&oacute;s
+&aacute; la Socreter&iacute;a, y los ostard&oacute;s, y os
+legerar&aacute;n &aacute; los Ocl&aacute;yes, y &aacute; los
+Baquedunis, per men acnao: y ondoba os chundear&aacute; on
+chachip&eacute;.&nbsp; Terelad pus seraji on bros
+garloch&iacute;nes de ne orobr&aacute;r anjella sata
+abic&aacute;is de brudilar, persos man os di&ntilde;ar&eacute;
+rotu&ntilde;&iacute; y chan&aacute;r, la sos ne asislar&aacute;n
+resist&iacute;r ne sartra pendar satos bros enormes.&nbsp; Y
+quesar&eacute;is enregaos de bros b&aacute;tos, y opr&aacute;nos,
+y sastris, y monrrores, y querar&aacute;n merar &aacute;
+cormu&ntilde;&iacute; de av&eacute;res; y os cangelar&aacute;n
+saros per men acnao; bus ne carjibar&aacute; ies bal de bros
+jer&oacute;s.&nbsp; Sar bras opachirim&aacute; avelar&eacute;is
+bras orchis: pus bus dicar&eacute;is &aacute; Jerusal&eacute;n
+relli, oclinde chanad sos, desquer&oacute; petra soscabela
+paj&eacute;s; oclinde los soscabelan on la Chut&eacute;a,
+chap&eacute;sguen &aacute; los tober-j&eacute;lis; y los que on
+macara de ondolaya, niquillense; y lo sos on los
+oltariqu&eacute;s, nasti enrren on ondol&aacute;ya; persos ondoba
+sen chib&eacute;les de Abill&aacute;za, pa sos chund&eacute;en
+sares las buch&iacute;s soscab&eacute;lan liban&aacute;s; bus
+isna de las arar&iacute;s, y de las sos di&ntilde;an de oropielar
+on asirios chib&eacute;les; persos abicar&aacute; bare
+quichart&uacute;ra costu&ntilde;e la chen, e guillar&aacute; pa
+andoba Gao; y petrar&aacute;n &aacute; surabi de janrr&oacute;; y
+quesan legeraos sinastros &aacute; sar&eacute;s las
+ch&eacute;nes, y Jerusal&eacute;n ques&aacute; oman&aacute; de
+los suest&iacute;les, sasta sos quejesen los chir&oacute;s de las
+sichenes; y abicara simach&eacute;s on or orc&aacute;n, y on la
+chimuti&aacute;, y on las uchurga&ntilde;is; y on la chen
+chalabe&oacute; on la su&eacute;te per or d&aacute;n sos
+bausalar&aacute; la loria y des-quer&oacute;s gulas;
+muquel&aacute;ndo los rom&aacute;res bifaos per dajiral&oacute;
+de las buch&iacute;s sos costu&ntilde;e abillar&aacute;n &aacute;
+saro or surd&eacute;te; persos los sol&aacute;res de los otarpes
+quesan sar-chalabeaos; y oclinde dicar&aacute;n &aacute; or
+Chabor&oacute; e Man&uacute; abillar costu&ntilde;e yesque
+minrricl&aacute; sar baro asislar y Chimusolano: bus presimelaren
+&aacute; chundear caba buchis, dic&aacute;d, y
+susti&ntilde;&aacute;d bros jer&oacute;s, persos pajes soscabela
+bras redenci&oacute;n.</p>
+<p>And whilst looking he saw the rich who cast their treasures
+into the treasury; and he saw also a poor widow, who cast two
+small coins, and he said: In truth I tell you, that this poor
+widow has cast more than all the others; because all those have
+cast, as offerings to God, from that which to them abounded; but
+she from her poverty has cast all the substance which she
+had.&nbsp; And he said to some, who said of the temple, that it
+was adorned with fair stones, and with gifts: These things which
+ye see, days shall come, when stone shall not remain upon stone,
+which shall not be demolished.&nbsp; And they asked him and said:
+Master, when shall this be? and what sign shall there be when
+this begins?&nbsp; He said: See, that ye be not deceived, because
+many shall come in my name, saying: I am (he), and the time is
+near: beware ye of going after them: and when ye shall hear (of)
+wars and revolts do not fear, because it is needful that this
+happen first, for the end shall not be immediately.&nbsp; Then he
+said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and country
+against country, and there shall be great tremblings of earth
+among the towns, and pestilences and famines; and there shall be
+frightful things, and great signs in the heaven: but before all
+this they shall make ye captive, and shall persecute, delivering
+ye over to the synagogue, and prisons; and they shall carry ye to
+the kings, and the governors, on account of my name: and this
+shall happen to you for truth.&nbsp; Keep then firm in your
+hearts, not to think before how ye have to answer, for I will
+give you mouth and wisdom, which all your enemies shall not be
+able to resist, or contradict.&nbsp; And ye shall be delivered
+over by your fathers, and brothers, and relations, and friends,
+and they shall put to death some of you; and all shall hate you
+for my name; but not one hair of your heads shall perish.&nbsp;
+With your patience ye shall possess your souls: but when ye shall
+see Jerusalem surrounded, then know that its fall is near; then
+those who are in Judea, let them escape to the mountains; and
+those who are in the midst of her, let them go out; and those who
+are in the fields, let them not enter into her; because those are
+days of vengeance, that all the things which are written may
+happen; but alas to the pregnant and those who give suck in those
+days, for there shall be great distress upon the earth, and it
+shall move onward against this people; and they shall fall by the
+edge of the sword; and they shall be carried captive to all the
+countries, and Jerusalem shall be trodden by the nations, until
+are accomplished the times of the nations; and there shall be
+signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and in the
+earth trouble of nations from the fear which the sea and its
+billows shall cause; leaving men frozen with terror of the things
+which shall come upon all the world; because the powers of the
+heavens shall be shaken; and then they shall see the Son of Man
+coming upon a cloud with great power and glory: when these things
+begin to happen, look ye, and raise your heads, for your
+redemption is near.</p>
+<h3><a name="page428"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 428</span>THE
+ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY</h3>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Tachipen</span> if I
+jaw &lsquo;doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch: N&rsquo;etist I
+shan&rsquo;t puch kekomi wafu gorgies.&rsquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me
+at my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus, <a
+name="citation428a"></a><a href="#footnote428a"
+class="citation">[428a]</a> 1842: he stayed with me during the
+greatest part of the morning, discoursing on the affairs of
+Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was becoming daily
+worse and worse.&nbsp; &lsquo;There is no living for the poor
+people, brother,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;the chok-engres (police)
+pursue us from place to place, and the gorgios are become either
+so poor or miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass
+by the way side, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire
+upon.&nbsp; Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no
+probability, unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe
+geiro (justice of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the
+poor persons will have to give up wandering altogether, and then
+what will become of them?</p>
+<p>&lsquo;However, brother,&rsquo; he continued, in a more
+cheerful tone, &lsquo;I am no hindity mush, <a
+name="citation428b"></a><a href="#footnote428b"
+class="citation">[428b]</a> as you well know.&nbsp; I suppose you
+have not forgot how, fifteen years ago, when you made horse-shoes
+in the little dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent
+you fifty cottors <a name="citation428c"></a><a
+href="#footnote428c" class="citation">[428c]</a> to purchase the
+wonderful trotting cob of the innkeeper with the green Newmarket
+coat, which three days after you sold for two hundred.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred,
+instead of the fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would
+have done so, for I knew you would not be long pazorrhus to
+me.&nbsp; I am no hindity mush, brother, no Irishman; I laid out
+the other day twenty pounds in buying rupenoe peam-engries; <a
+name="citation429a"></a><a href="#footnote429a"
+class="citation">[429a]</a> and in the Chong-gav, <a
+name="citation429b"></a><a href="#footnote429b"
+class="citation">[429b]</a> have a house of my own with a yard
+behind it.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;<i>And</i>, <i>forsooth</i>, <i>if I go thither</i>,
+<i>I can choose a place to light a fire upon</i>, <i>and shall
+have no necessity to ask leave of these here
+Gentiles</i>.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the
+English Gypsies.</p>
+<p>The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon,
+in which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are
+to be distinguished.&nbsp; In fact, what has been said of the
+Spanish Gypsy dialect holds good with respect to the English as
+commonly spoken: yet the English dialect has in reality suffered
+much less than the Spanish, and still retains its original syntax
+to a certain extent, its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs,
+and declining nouns and pronouns.&nbsp; I must, however, qualify
+this last assertion, by observing that in the genuine Rommany
+there are no prepositions, but, on the contrary, post-positions;
+now, in the case of the English dialect, these post-positions
+have been lost, and their want, with the exception of the
+genitive, has been supplied with English prepositions, as may be
+seen by a short example:&mdash;</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Hungarian Gypsy. <a name="citation429c"></a><a
+href="#footnote429c" class="citation">[429c]</a></p>
+</td>
+<td><p>English Gypsy.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>English.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Job</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yow</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>He</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Leste</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Leste</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Of him</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Las</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Las</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>To him</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Les</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Los</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Him</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lester</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>From leste</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>From him</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Leha</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>With leste</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>With him</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">PLURAL.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Jole</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Yaun</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>They</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lente</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Lente</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Of them</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Len</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Len</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>To them</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Len</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Len</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Them</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lender</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>From Lende</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>From them</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>The following comparison of words selected at random from the
+English and Spanish dialects of the Rommany will, perhaps, not be
+uninteresting to the philologist or even to the general
+reader.&nbsp; Could a doubt be at present entertained that the
+Gypsy language is virtually the same in all parts of the world
+where it is spoken, I conceive that such a vocabulary would at
+once remove it.</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>English Gypsy.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Spanish Gypsy.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Ant</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Cria</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Crianse</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Bread</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Morro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Manro</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>City</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Forus</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Foros</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Dead</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mulo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Mulo</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Enough</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dosta</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dosta</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Fish</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Matcho</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Macho</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Great</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Boro</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Baro</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>House</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ker</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Quer</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Iron</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Saster</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sas</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>King</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Krallis</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Cr&aacute;lis</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Love(I)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Camova</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Camelo</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Moon</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Tchun</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Chimutra</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Night</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rarde</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Rati</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Onion</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Purrum</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Porumia</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Poison</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Drav</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Drao</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Quick</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sig</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Sigo</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Rain</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Brishindo</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Brejindal</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sunday</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Koorokey</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Curque</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Teeth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Danor</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Dani</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Village</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gav</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Gao</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>White</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pauno</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Parno</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Yes</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Aval&iacute;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Ungal&eacute;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>As specimens of how the English dialect maybe written, the
+following translations of the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer and Belief will
+perhaps suffice.</p>
+<h4>THE LORD&rsquo;S PRAYER</h4>
+<p>M&iacute;ry dad, odoi oprey adrey t&iacute;ro tatcho tan;
+Medeveleskoe si t&iacute;ro nav; awel tiro tem, be kairdo tiro
+lav acoi drey pov s&aacute; odoi adrey kosgo tan: dey mande
+ke-divvus miry diry morro, ta fordel man sor so m&eacute;
+pazzorrus tute, s&aacute; m&eacute; fordel sor so wavior mushor
+pazzorrus amande; ma riggur man adrey kek dosch, ley man abri sor
+wafodu; tiro se o tem, t&iacute;ro or zoozli-wast, tiro or
+corauni, kanaw ta ever-komi.&nbsp; Avali.&nbsp; Tatchipen.</p>
+<h5>LITERAL TRANSLATION</h5>
+<p>My Father, yonder up within thy good place; god-like be thy
+name; come thy kingdom, be done thy word here in earth as yonder
+in good place.&nbsp; Give to me to-day my dear bread, and forgive
+me all that I am indebted to thee, as I forgive all that other
+men are indebted to me; not lead me into any ill; take me out
+(of) all evil; thine is the kingdom, thine the strong hand, thine
+the crown, now and evermore.&nbsp; Yea.&nbsp; Truth.</p>
+<h4>THE BELIEF</h4>
+<p>M&eacute; apasavenna drey mi-dovvel, Dad soro-ruslo, savo
+kedas charvus ta pov: apasavenna drey olescro yeck chavo moro
+arauno Christos, lias medeveleskoe Baval-engro, beano of wendror
+of medeveleskoe gairy Mary: kurredo tuley me-cralliskoe geiro
+Pontius Pilaten wast; nasko pr&eacute; rukh, moreno, chivios
+adrey o hev; jas yov tuley o k&aacute;lo dron ke wafudo tan,
+bengeskoe stariben; jongorasa o trito divvus, atchasa opr&eacute;
+to tatcho tan, M&iacute;-dovvels kair; bestela kanaw odoi
+pr&eacute; Mi-dovvels tacho wast Dad soro-boro; ava sig to lel
+shoonaben opr&eacute; mestepen and merripen.&nbsp; Apasa-venna en
+develeskoe Baval-engro; Boro develeskoe congr&iacute;, develeskoe
+pios of sore tacho foky ketteney, soror wafudu-p&eacute;nes
+fordias, soror mulor jongorella, kek merella apopli.&nbsp;
+Aval&iacute;, palor.</p>
+<h5>LITERAL TRANSLATION</h5>
+<p>I believe in my God, Father all powerful, who made heaven and
+earth; I believe in his one Son our Lord Christ, conceived by
+Holy Ghost, <a name="citation432"></a><a href="#footnote432"
+class="citation">[432]</a> born of bowels of Holy Virgin Mary,
+beaten under the royal governor Pontius Pilate&rsquo;s hand; hung
+on a tree, slain, put into the grave; went he down the black road
+to bad place, the devil&rsquo;s prison; he awaked the third day,
+ascended up to good place, my God&rsquo;s house; sits now there
+on my God&rsquo;s right hand Father-all-powerful; shall come soon
+to hold judgment over life and death.&nbsp; I believe in Holy
+Ghost; Great Holy Church, Holy festival of all good people
+together, all sins forgiveness, that all dead arise, no more die
+again.&nbsp; Yea, brothers.</p>
+<h4>SPECIMEN OF A SONG IN THE VULGAR OR BROKEN ROMMANY</h4>
+<p>As I was a jawing to the gav yeck divvus,<br />
+I met on the dron miro Rommany chi:<br />
+I puch&rsquo;d yoi whether she com sar mande;<br />
+And she penn&rsquo;d: tu si wafo Rommany,</p>
+<p>And I penn&rsquo;d, I shall ker tu miro tacho Rommany,<br />
+Fornigh tute but dui chav&eacute;:<br />
+Methinks I&rsquo;ll cam tute for miro merripen,<br />
+If tu but pen, thou wilt commo sar mande.</p>
+<h5>TRANSLATION</h5>
+<p>One day as I was going to the village,<br />
+I met on the road my Rommany lass:<br />
+I ask&rsquo;d her whether she would come with me,<br />
+And she said thou hast another wife.</p>
+<p>I said, I will make thee my lawful wife,<br />
+Because thou hast but two children;<br />
+Methinks I will love thee until my death,<br />
+If thou but say thou wilt come with me.</p>
+<p>Many other specimens of the English Gypsy muse might be here
+adduced; it is probable, however, that the above will have fully
+satisfied the curiosity of the reader.&nbsp; It has been inserted
+here for the purpose of showing that the Gypsies have songs in
+their own language, a fact which has been denied.&nbsp; In its
+metre it resembles the ancient Sclavonian ballads, with which it
+has another feature in common&mdash;the absence of rhyme.</p>
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+<p><a name="footnote0"></a><a href="#citation0"
+class="footnote">[0]</a>&nbsp; Although the present edition is
+only in one volume, Borrow&rsquo;s original references to the two
+volumes in the above Dedication and the Preface have been
+retained.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1"
+class="footnote">[1]</a>&nbsp; <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Dec.
+1842</p>
+<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2"
+class="footnote">[2]</a>&nbsp; <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, Feb.
+1843.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3"
+class="footnote">[3]</a>&nbsp; <i>Examiner</i>, Dec. 17,
+1842.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4"
+class="footnote">[4]</a>&nbsp; <i>Spectator</i>, Dec. 7,
+1842.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5"
+class="footnote">[5]</a>&nbsp; Thou speakest well, brother!</p>
+<p><a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6"
+class="footnote">[6]</a>&nbsp; This is quite a mistake: I know
+very little of what has been written concerning these people:
+even the work of Grellmann had not come beneath my perusal at the
+time of the publication of the first edition of <i>The
+Zincali</i>, which I certainly do not regret: for though I
+believe the learned German to be quite right in his theory with
+respect to the origin of the Gypsies, his acquaintance with their
+character, habits, and peculiarities, seems to have been
+extremely limited.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7"
+class="footnote">[7]</a>&nbsp; Good day.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8"
+class="footnote">[8]</a>&nbsp; Glandered horse.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote9"></a><a href="#citation9"
+class="footnote">[9]</a>&nbsp; Two brothers.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10"
+class="footnote">[10]</a>&nbsp; The edition here referred to has
+long since been out of print.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25"
+class="footnote">[25]</a>&nbsp; It may not be amiss to give the
+etymology of the word engro, which so frequently occurs in
+compound words in the English Gypsy tongue:&mdash;the <i>en</i>
+properly belongs to the preceding noun, being one of the forms of
+the genitive case; for example, Elik-<i>en</i> boro congry, the
+great Church or Cathedral of Ely; the <i>gro</i> or <i>geiro</i>
+(Spanish <i>guero</i>), is the Sanscrit <i>kar</i>, a particle
+much used in that language in the formation of compounds; I need
+scarcely add that <i>monger</i> in the English words
+Costermonger, Ironmonger, etc., is derived from the same
+root.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26"
+class="footnote">[26]</a>&nbsp; For the knowledge of this fact I
+am indebted to the well-known and enterprising traveller, Mr.
+Vigne, whose highly interesting work on Cashmire and the Panjab
+requires no recommendation from me.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28"
+class="footnote">[28]</a>&nbsp; Gorgio (Spanish <i>gacho</i>), a
+man who is not a Gypsy: the Spanish Gypsies term the Gentiles
+Busne, the meaning of which word will be explained farther
+on.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36"
+class="footnote">[36]</a>&nbsp; An Eastern image tantamount to
+the taking away of life.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37"
+class="footnote">[37]</a>&nbsp; Gentes non multum
+morigerat&aelig;, sed quasi bruta animalia et furentes.&nbsp; See
+vol. xxii. of the Supplement to the works of Muratori, p.
+890.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote43"></a><a href="#citation43"
+class="footnote">[43]</a>&nbsp; As quoted by Hervas: <i>Catalogo
+de las Lenguas</i>, vol. iii. p. 306.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote54"></a><a href="#citation54"
+class="footnote">[54]</a>&nbsp; We have found this beautiful
+metaphor both in Gypsy and Spanish; it runs thus in the former
+language:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Las
+Muchis</span>.&nbsp; (The Sparks.)</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Bus de gres chabalas orchiris man diqu&eacute; &aacute;
+yes chiro purelar sistilias sata rujias, y or sisli carjibal
+di&ntilde;ando trutas discandas.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><a name="footnote69"></a><a href="#citation69"
+class="footnote">[69]</a>&nbsp; In the above little tale the
+writer confesses that there are many things purely imaginary; the
+most material point, however, the attempt to sack the town during
+the pestilence, which was defeated by the courage and activity of
+an individual, rests on historical evidence the most
+satisfactory.&nbsp; It is thus mentioned in the work of Francisco
+de Cordova (he was surnamed Cordova from having been for many
+years canon in that city):&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&lsquo;Annis pr&aelig;teritis Iuliobrigam urbem,
+vulgo Logro&ntilde;o, pestilenti laborantem morbo, et hominibus
+vacuam invadere hi ac diripere tentarunt, perfecissentque ni Dens
+O. M. cuiusdam <i>bibliopol&aelig;</i> opera, in corum, capita,
+quam urbi moliebantur perniciem avertisset.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+<i>Didascalia</i>, Lugduni, 1615, I vol. 8VO. p. 405, cap.
+50.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p><a name="footnote79"></a><a href="#citation79"
+class="footnote">[79]</a>&nbsp; Yet notwithstanding that we
+refuse credit to these particular narrations of Qui&ntilde;ones
+and Fajardo, acts of cannibalism may certainly have been
+perpetrated by the Git&aacute;nos of Spain in ancient times, when
+they were for the most part semi-savages living amongst mountains
+and deserts, where food was hard to be procured: famine may have
+occasionally compelled them to prey on human flesh, as it has in
+modern times compelled people far more civilised than wandering
+Gypsies.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote82a"></a><a href="#citation82a"
+class="footnote">[82a]</a>&nbsp; England.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote82b"></a><a href="#citation82b"
+class="footnote">[82b]</a>&nbsp; Spain.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote86"></a><a href="#citation86"
+class="footnote">[86]</a>&nbsp; <i>Mithridates</i>: erster Theil,
+s. 241.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote98"></a><a href="#citation98"
+class="footnote">[98]</a>&nbsp; Torreblanca: <i>de Magia</i>,
+1678.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote100a"></a><a href="#citation100a"
+class="footnote">[100a]</a>&nbsp; Exodus, chap. xiii. v. 9.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand.&rsquo;
+Eng.&nbsp; Trans.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote100b"></a><a href="#citation100b"
+class="footnote">[100b]</a>&nbsp; No chapter in the book of Job
+contains any such verse.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote100c"></a><a href="#citation100c"
+class="footnote">[100c]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;And the children of
+Israel went out with an high hand.&rsquo;&nbsp; Exodus, chap.
+xiv. v. 8. Eng.&nbsp; Trans.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote100d"></a><a href="#citation100d"
+class="footnote">[100d]</a>&nbsp; No such verse is to be found in
+the book mentioned.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote109a"></a><a href="#citation109a"
+class="footnote">[109a]</a>&nbsp; Prov., chap. vii. vers. 11,
+12.&nbsp; &lsquo;She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in
+her house.&nbsp; Now is she without, now in the streets, and
+lieth in wait at every corner.&rsquo;&nbsp; Eng. Trans.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote109b"></a><a href="#citation109b"
+class="footnote">[109b]</a>&nbsp; <i>Historia de Alonso</i>,
+<i>mozo de muchos amos</i>: or, the story of Alonso, servant of
+many masters; an entertaining novel, written in the seventeenth
+century, by Geronimo of Alcal&aacute;, from which some extracts
+were given in the first edition of the present work.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote117"></a><a href="#citation117"
+class="footnote">[117]</a>&nbsp; O Ali! O Mahomet!&mdash;God is
+God!&mdash;A Turkish war-cry.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote120a"></a><a href="#citation120a"
+class="footnote">[120a]</a>&nbsp; Gen. xlix. 22.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote120b"></a><a href="#citation120b"
+class="footnote">[120b]</a>&nbsp; In the original there is a play
+on words.&mdash;It is not necessary to enter into particulars
+farther than to observe that in the Hebrew language
+&lsquo;ain&rsquo; means a well, and likewise an eye.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote120c"></a><a href="#citation120c"
+class="footnote">[120c]</a>&nbsp; Gen. xlviii. 16.&nbsp; In the
+English version the exact sense of the inspired original is not
+conveyed.&nbsp; The descendants of Joseph are to increase like
+fish.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote122"></a><a href="#citation122"
+class="footnote">[122]</a>&nbsp; Exodus, chap. xii. v. 37,
+38.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote130a"></a><a href="#citation130a"
+class="footnote">[130a]</a>&nbsp; Qui&ntilde;ones, p. 11.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote130b"></a><a href="#citation130b"
+class="footnote">[130b]</a>&nbsp; The writer will by no means
+answer for the truth of these statements respecting Gypsy
+marriages.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote138"></a><a href="#citation138"
+class="footnote">[138]</a>&nbsp; This statement is incorrect.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote139"></a><a href="#citation139"
+class="footnote">[139]</a>&nbsp; The Torlaquis (idle vagabonds),
+Hadgies (saints), and Dervishes (mendicant friars) of the East,
+are Gypsies neither by origin nor habits, but are in general
+people who support themselves in idleness by practising upon the
+credulity and superstition of the Moslems.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote140"></a><a href="#citation140"
+class="footnote">[140]</a>&nbsp; In the Moorish Arabic, 
+<a href="images/p140b.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Arabic text"
+title=
+"Arabic text"
+ src="images/p140s.jpg" />
+</a>&mdash;or reus al haramin, the literal meaning being,
+&lsquo;heads or captains of thieves.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote153"></a><a href="#citation153"
+class="footnote">[153]</a>&nbsp; A favourite saying amongst this
+class of people is the following: &lsquo;Es preciso que cada uno
+coma de su oficio&rsquo;; <i>i.e.</i> every one must live by his
+trade.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote167"></a><a href="#citation167"
+class="footnote">[167]</a>&nbsp; For the above well-drawn
+character of Charles the Third I am indebted to the pen of Louis
+de Usoz y Rio, my coadjutor in the editing of the New Testament
+in Spanish (Madrid, 1837).&nbsp; For a further account of this
+gentleman, the reader is referred to <i>The Bible in Spain</i>,
+preface, p. xxii.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote181"></a><a href="#citation181"
+class="footnote">[181]</a>&nbsp; Steal a horse.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote189"></a><a href="#citation189"
+class="footnote">[189]</a>&nbsp; The lame devil: Asmodeus.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote199"></a><a href="#citation199"
+class="footnote">[199]</a>&nbsp; Rinconete and Cortadillo.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote200"></a><a href="#citation200"
+class="footnote">[200]</a>&nbsp; The great river, or
+Guadalquiver.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote211"></a><a href="#citation211"
+class="footnote">[211]</a>&nbsp; A fountain in Paradise.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote230"></a><a href="#citation230"
+class="footnote">[230]</a>&nbsp; A Gypsy word signifying
+&lsquo;exceeding much.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote235"></a><a href="#citation235"
+class="footnote">[235]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Lengua muy
+cerr&aacute;da.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote236a"></a><a href="#citation236a"
+class="footnote">[236a]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;No camelo ser eray, es
+Cal&oacute; mi nacimi&eacute;nto;<br />
+No camelo ser eray, eon ser Cal&eacute; me
+cont&eacute;nto.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote236b"></a><a href="#citation236b"
+class="footnote">[236b]</a>&nbsp; Armed partisans, or guerillas
+on horseback: they waged a war of extermination against the
+French, but at the same time plundered their countrymen without
+scruple.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote241a"></a><a href="#citation241a"
+class="footnote">[241a]</a>&nbsp; The Basques speak a Tartar
+dialect which strikingly resembles the Mongolian and the
+Mandchou.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote241b"></a><a href="#citation241b"
+class="footnote">[241b]</a>&nbsp; A small nation or rather sect
+of contrabandistas, who inhabit the valley of Pas amidst the
+mountains of Santander; they carry long sticks, in the handling
+of which they are unequalled.&nbsp; Armed with one of these
+sticks, a smuggler of Pas has been known to beat off two mounted
+dragoons.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote242"></a><a href="#citation242"
+class="footnote">[242]</a>&nbsp; The hostess, Maria Diaz, and her
+son Joan Jos&eacute; Lopez, were present when the outcast uttered
+these prophetic words.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote243"></a><a href="#citation243"
+class="footnote">[243]</a>&nbsp; Eodem anno precipue fuit pestis
+seu mortalitas Forlivio.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote247"></a><a href="#citation247"
+class="footnote">[247]</a>&nbsp; This work is styled <i>Historia
+de los Git&aacute;nos</i>, by J. M&mdash;, published at Barcelona
+in the year 1832; it consists of ninety-three very small and
+scantily furnished pages.&nbsp; Its chief, we might say its only
+merit, is the style, which is fluent and easy.&nbsp; The writer
+is a theorist, and sacrifices truth and probability to the shrine
+of one idea, and that one of the most absurd that ever entered
+the head of an individual.&nbsp; He endeavours to persuade his
+readers that the Git&aacute;nos are the descendants of the Moors,
+and the greatest part of his work is a history of those Africans,
+from the time of their arrival in the Peninsula till their
+expatriation by Philip the Third.&nbsp; The Git&aacute;nos he
+supposes to be various tribes of wandering Moors, who baffled
+pursuit amidst the fastnesses of the hills; he denies that they
+are of the same origin as the Gypsies, Bohemians, etc., of other
+lands, though he does not back his denial by any proofs, and is
+confessedly ignorant of the Git&aacute;no language, the grand
+criterion.</p>
+<p>To this work we shall revert on a future occasion.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote262a"></a><a href="#citation262a"
+class="footnote">[262a]</a>&nbsp; A Russian word signifying
+beans.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote262b"></a><a href="#citation262b"
+class="footnote">[262b]</a>&nbsp; The term for poisoning swine in
+English Gypsy is <i>Drabbing bawlor</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote276"></a><a href="#citation276"
+class="footnote">[276]</a>&nbsp; Por m&eacute;dio de
+chalaner&iacute;as.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote278a"></a><a href="#citation278a"
+class="footnote">[278a]</a>&nbsp; The English.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote278b"></a><a href="#citation278b"
+class="footnote">[278b]</a>&nbsp; These words are very ancient,
+and were, perhaps, used by the earliest Spanish Gypsies; they
+differ much from the language of the present day, and are quite
+unintelligible to the modern Git&aacute;nos.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote281"></a><a href="#citation281"
+class="footnote">[281]</a>&nbsp; It was speedily prohibited,
+together with the Basque gospel; by a royal ordonnance, however,
+which appeared in the Gazette of Madrid, in August 1838, every
+public library in the kingdom was empowered to purchase two
+copies in both languages, as the works in question were allowed
+to possess some merit <i>in a literary point of view</i>.&nbsp;
+For a particular account of the Basque translation, and also some
+remarks on the Euscarra language, the reader is referred to
+<i>The Bible in Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 385&ndash;398.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote288"></a><a href="#citation288"
+class="footnote">[288]</a>&nbsp; Steal me, Gypsy.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote290"></a><a href="#citation290"
+class="footnote">[290]</a>&nbsp; A species of gendarme or armed
+policeman.&nbsp; The Miquelets have existed in Spain for upwards
+of two hundred years.&nbsp; They are called Miquelets, from the
+name of their original leader.&nbsp; They are generally Aragonese
+by nation, and reclaimed robbers.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote292"></a><a href="#citation292"
+class="footnote">[292]</a>&nbsp; Those who may be desirous of
+perusing the originals of the following rhymes should consult
+former editions of this work.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote304"></a><a href="#citation304"
+class="footnote">[304]</a>&nbsp; For the original, see other
+editions.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote321"></a><a href="#citation321"
+class="footnote">[321]</a>&nbsp; For this information concerning
+Palmir&eacute;no, and also for a sight of the somewhat rare
+volume written by him, the author was indebted to a kind friend,
+a native of Spain.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote67"></a><a href="#citation67"
+class="footnote">[67]</a>&nbsp; A very unfair inference; that
+some of the Gypsies did not understand the author when he spoke
+Romaic, was no proof that their own private language was a
+feigned one, invented for thievish purposes.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote324"></a><a href="#citation324"
+class="footnote">[324]</a>&nbsp; Of all these, the most terrible,
+and whose sway endured for the longest period, were the Mongols,
+as they were called: few, however, of his original Mongolian
+warriors followed Timour in the invasion of India.&nbsp; His
+armies latterly appear to have consisted chiefly of Turcomans and
+Persians.&nbsp; It was to obtain popularity amongst these
+soldiery that he abandoned his old religion, a kind of fetish, or
+sorcery, and became a Mahometan.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote325a"></a><a href="#citation325a"
+class="footnote">[325a]</a>&nbsp; As quoted by Adelung,
+<i>Mithridates</i>, vol. i.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote325b"></a><a href="#citation325b"
+class="footnote">[325b]</a>&nbsp; Mithridates.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote326"></a><a href="#citation326"
+class="footnote">[326]</a>&nbsp; For example, in the <i>Historia
+de los Git&aacute;nos</i>, of which we have had occasion to speak
+in the first part of the present work: amongst other things the
+author says, p. 95, &lsquo;If there exist any similitude of
+customs between the Git&aacute;nos and the Gypsies, the
+Zigeuners, the Zing&aacute;ri, and the Bohemians, they (the
+Git&aacute;nos) cannot, however, be confounded with these nomad
+castes, nor the same origin be attributed to them; . . . all that
+we shall find in common between these people will be, that the
+one (the Gypsies, etc.) arrived fugitives from the heart of Asia
+by the steppes of Tartary, at the beginning of the fifteenth
+century, while the Git&aacute;nos, descended from the Arab or
+Morisco tribes, came from the coast of Africa as conquerors at
+the beginning of the eighth.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>He gets rid of any evidence with respect to the origin of the
+Git&aacute;nos which their language might be capable of affording
+in the following summary manner: &lsquo;As to the particular
+jargon which they use, any investigation which people might
+pretend to make would be quite useless; in the first place, on
+account of the reserve which they exhibit on this point; and
+secondly, because, in the event of some being found sufficiently
+communicative, the information which they could impart would lead
+to no advantageous result, owing to their extreme
+ignorance.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>It is scarcely worth while to offer a remark on reasoning
+which could only emanate from an understanding of the very lowest
+order,&mdash;so the Git&aacute;nos are so extremely ignorant,
+that however frank they might wish to be, they would be unable to
+tell the curious inquirer the names for bread and water, meat and
+salt, in their own peculiar tongue&mdash;for, assuredly, had they
+sense enough to afford that slight quantum of information, it
+would lead to two very advantageous results, by proving, first,
+that they spoke the same language as the Gypsies, etc., and were
+consequently the same people&mdash;and secondly, that they came
+not from the coast of Northern Africa, where only Arabic and
+Shillah are spoken, but from the heart of Asia, three words of
+the four being pure Sanscrit.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote330"></a><a href="#citation330"
+class="footnote">[330]</a>&nbsp; As given in the
+<i>Mithridates</i> of Adelung.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote346a"></a><a href="#citation346a"
+class="footnote">[346a]</a>&nbsp; Possibly from the Russian
+<i>boloss</i>, which has the same signification.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote346b"></a><a href="#citation346b"
+class="footnote">[346b]</a>&nbsp; Basque, <i>burua</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote346c"></a><a href="#citation346c"
+class="footnote">[346c]</a>&nbsp; Sanscrit, <i>schirra</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote346d"></a><a href="#citation346d"
+class="footnote">[346d]</a>&nbsp; These two words, which Hervas
+supposes to be Italian used in an improper sense, are probably of
+quite another origin.&nbsp; <i>Len</i>, in Git&aacute;no,
+signifies &lsquo;river,&rsquo; whilst <i>vadi</i> in Russian is
+equivalent to water.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote348"></a><a href="#citation348"
+class="footnote">[348]</a>&nbsp; It is not our intention to weary
+the reader with prolix specimens; nevertheless, in corroboration
+of what we have asserted, we shall take the liberty of offering a
+few.&nbsp; Piar, to drink, (p. 188,) is Sanscrit,
+<i>piava</i>.&nbsp; Basilea, gallows, (p. 158,) is Russian,
+<i>becilitz</i>.&nbsp; Caramo, wine, and gurapo, galley, (pp.
+162, 176,) Arabic, <i>haram</i> (which literally signifies that
+which is forbidden) and <i>grab</i>.&nbsp; Iza, (p. 179,) harlot,
+Turkish, <i>kize</i>.&nbsp; Harton, bread, (p. 177,) Greek,
+<i>artos</i>.&nbsp; Guido, good, and hurgamandera, harlot, (pp.
+177, 178,) German, <i>gut</i> and <i>hure</i>.&nbsp; Tiple, wine,
+(p. 197,) is the same as the English word tipple, Gypsy,
+<i>tapillar</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote351"></a><a href="#citation351"
+class="footnote">[351]</a>&nbsp; This word is pure Wallachian
+(&lambda;&omicron;&#957;&alpha;&rho;&epsilon;), and was brought
+by the Gypsies into England; it means &lsquo;booty,&rsquo; or
+what is called in the present cant language,
+&lsquo;swag.&rsquo;&nbsp; The Gypsies call booty
+&lsquo;louripen.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote359"></a><a href="#citation359"
+class="footnote">[359]</a>&nbsp; Christmas, literally
+Wine-day.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote360a"></a><a href="#citation360a"
+class="footnote">[360a]</a>&nbsp; Irishman or beggar, literally a
+dirty squalid person.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote360b"></a><a href="#citation360b"
+class="footnote">[360b]</a>&nbsp; Guineas.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote360c"></a><a href="#citation360c"
+class="footnote">[360c]</a>&nbsp; Silver teapots.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote360d"></a><a href="#citation360d"
+class="footnote">[360d]</a>&nbsp; The Gypsy word for a certain
+town.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote361a"></a><a href="#citation361a"
+class="footnote">[361a]</a>&nbsp; In the Spanish Gypsy version,
+&lsquo;our bread of each day.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote361b"></a><a href="#citation361b"
+class="footnote">[361b]</a>&nbsp; Span., &lsquo;forgive us our
+debts as we forgive our debtors.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote361c"></a><a href="#citation361c"
+class="footnote">[361c]</a>&nbsp; Eng., &lsquo;all evil
+<i>from</i>&rsquo;; Span., &lsquo;from all ugliness.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote361d"></a><a href="#citation361d"
+class="footnote">[361d]</a>&nbsp; Span., &lsquo;for
+thine.&rsquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote362"></a><a href="#citation362"
+class="footnote">[362]</a>&nbsp; By Hungary is here meant not
+only Hungary proper, but Transylvania.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote363a"></a><a href="#citation363a"
+class="footnote">[363a]</a>&nbsp; How many days made come the
+gentleman hither.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote363b"></a><a href="#citation363b"
+class="footnote">[363b]</a>&nbsp; How many-year fellow are
+you.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote363c"></a><a href="#citation363c"
+class="footnote">[363c]</a>&nbsp; Of a grosh.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote363d"></a><a href="#citation363d"
+class="footnote">[363d]</a>&nbsp; My name shall be to you for
+Moses my brother.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote364a"></a><a href="#citation364a"
+class="footnote">[364a]</a>&nbsp; Comes.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote364b"></a><a href="#citation364b"
+class="footnote">[364b]</a>&nbsp; Empty place.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote416"></a><a href="#citation416"
+class="footnote">[416]</a>&nbsp; V. <i>Casinoben</i> in
+Lexicon.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote417a"></a><a href="#citation417a"
+class="footnote">[417a]</a>&nbsp; By these two words, Pontius
+Pilate is represented, but whence they are derived I know
+not.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote417b"></a><a href="#citation417b"
+class="footnote">[417b]</a>&nbsp; Reborn.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote419a"></a><a href="#citation419a"
+class="footnote">[419a]</a>&nbsp; Poverty is always avoided.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote419b"></a><a href="#citation419b"
+class="footnote">[419b]</a>&nbsp; A drunkard reduces himself to
+the condition of a hog.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote421a"></a><a href="#citation421a"
+class="footnote">[421a]</a>&nbsp; The most he can do.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote421b"></a><a href="#citation421b"
+class="footnote">[421b]</a>&nbsp; The puchero, or pan of glazed
+earth, in which bacon, beef, and garbanzos are stewed.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote421c"></a><a href="#citation421c"
+class="footnote">[421c]</a>&nbsp; Truth contrasts strangely with
+falsehood; this is a genuine Gypsy proverb, as are the two which
+follow; it is repeated throughout Spain <i>without being
+understood</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote421d"></a><a href="#citation421d"
+class="footnote">[421d]</a>&nbsp; In the original <i>wears a
+mouth</i>; the meaning is, ask nothing, gain nothing.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote421e"></a><a href="#citation421e"
+class="footnote">[421e]</a>&nbsp; Female Gypsy,</p>
+<p><a name="footnote423a"></a><a href="#citation423a"
+class="footnote">[423a]</a>&nbsp; Women <i>understood</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote423b"></a><a href="#citation423b"
+class="footnote">[423b]</a>&nbsp; With that motive awoke the
+labourer.&nbsp; <i>Orig</i>.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote423c"></a><a href="#citation423c"
+class="footnote">[423c]</a>&nbsp; Gave its pleasure to the
+finger, <i>i.e.</i> his finger was itching to draw the trigger,
+and he humoured it.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote423d"></a><a href="#citation423d"
+class="footnote">[423d]</a>&nbsp; They feared the shot and slugs,
+which are compared, and not badly, to flies and almonds.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote428a"></a><a href="#citation428a"
+class="footnote">[428a]</a>&nbsp; Christmas, literally
+Wine-day.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote428b"></a><a href="#citation428b"
+class="footnote">[428b]</a>&nbsp; Irishman or beggar, literally a
+dirty squalid person.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote428c"></a><a href="#citation428c"
+class="footnote">[428c]</a>&nbsp; Guineas.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote429a"></a><a href="#citation429a"
+class="footnote">[429a]</a>&nbsp; Silver tea-pots.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote429b"></a><a href="#citation429b"
+class="footnote">[429b]</a>&nbsp; The Gypsy word for a certain
+town.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote429c"></a><a href="#citation429c"
+class="footnote">[429c]</a>&nbsp; As given by Grellmann.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote432"></a><a href="#citation432"
+class="footnote">[432]</a>&nbsp; The English Gypsies having, in
+their dialect, no other term for ghost than mulo, which simply
+means a dead person, I have been obliged to substitute a compound
+word.&nbsp; Bavalengro signifies literally a wind thing, or
+<i>form of air</i>.</p>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZINCALI***</p>
+<pre>
+
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+</pre></body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Zincali -- An Account of the Gypsies of
+Spain, by George Borrow
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll
+have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using
+this ebook.
+
+
+
+Title: The Zincali -- An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
+
+Author: George Borrow
+
+Release Date: July 21, 2019 [EBook #565]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZINCALI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Price
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI - AN ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES OF SPAIN
+
+By George Borrow
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+
+IT is with some diffidence that the author ventures to offer the
+present work to the public.
+
+The greater part of it has been written under very peculiar
+circumstances, such as are not in general deemed at all favourable
+for literary composition:  at considerable intervals, during a
+period of nearly five years passed in Spain - in moments snatched
+from more important pursuits - chiefly in ventas and posadas,
+whilst wandering through the country in the arduous and unthankful
+task of distributing the Gospel among its children.
+
+Owing to the causes above stated, he is aware that his work must
+not unfrequently appear somewhat disjointed and unconnected, and
+the style rude and unpolished:  he has, nevertheless, permitted the
+tree to remain where he felled it, having, indeed, subsequently
+enjoyed too little leisure to make much effectual alteration.
+
+At the same time he flatters himself that the work is not destitute
+of certain qualifications to entitle it to approbation.  The
+author's acquaintance with the Gypsy race in general dates from a
+very early period of his life, which considerably facilitated his
+intercourse with the Peninsular portion, to the elucidation of
+whose history and character the present volumes are more
+particularly devoted.  Whatever he has asserted, is less the result
+of reading than of close observation, he having long since come to
+the conclusion that the Gypsies are not a people to be studied in
+books, or at least in such books as he believes have hitherto been
+written concerning them.
+
+Throughout he has dealt more in facts than in theories, of which he
+is in general no friend.  True it is, that no race in the world
+affords, in many points, a more extensive field for theory and
+conjecture than the Gypsies, who are certainly a very mysterious
+people come from some distant land, no mortal knows why, and who
+made their first appearance in Europe at a dark period, when events
+were not so accurately recorded as at the present time.
+
+But if he has avoided as much as possible touching upon subjects
+which must always, to a certain extent, remain shrouded in
+obscurity; for example, the, original state and condition of the
+Gypsies, and the causes which first brought them into Europe; he
+has stated what they are at the present day, what he knows them to
+be from a close scrutiny of their ways and habits, for which,
+perhaps, no one ever enjoyed better opportunities; and he has,
+moreover, given - not a few words culled expressly for the purpose
+of supporting a theory, but one entire dialect of their language,
+collected with much trouble and difficulty; and to this he humbly
+calls the attention of the learned, who, by comparing it with
+certain languages, may decide as to the countries in which the
+Gypsies have lived or travelled.
+
+With respect to the Gypsy rhymes in the second volume, he wishes to
+make one observation which cannot be too frequently repeated, and
+which he entreats the reader to bear in mind:  they are GYPSY
+COMPOSITIONS, and have little merit save so far as they throw light
+on the manner of thinking and speaking of the Gypsy people, or
+rather a portion of them, and as to what they are capable of
+effecting in the way of poetry.  It will, doubtless, be said that
+the rhymes are TRASH; - even were it so, they are original, and on
+that account, in a philosophic point of view, are more valuable
+than the most brilliant compositions pretending to describe Gypsy
+life, but written by persons who are not of the Gypsy sect.  Such
+compositions, however replete with fiery sentiments, and allusions
+to freedom and independence, are certain to be tainted with
+affectation.  Now in the Gypsy rhymes there is no affectation, and
+on that very account they are different in every respect from the
+poetry of those interesting personages who figure, under the names
+of Gypsies, Gitanos, Bohemians, etc., in novels and on the boards
+of the theatre.
+
+It will, perhaps, be objected to the present work, that it contains
+little that is edifying in a moral or Christian point of view:  to
+such an objection the author would reply, that the Gypsies are not
+a Christian people, and that their morality is of a peculiar kind,
+not calculated to afford much edification to what is generally
+termed the respectable portion of society.  Should it be urged that
+certain individuals have found them very different from what they
+are represented in these volumes, he would frankly say that he
+yields no credit to the presumed fact, and at the same time he
+would refer to the vocabulary contained in the second volume,
+whence it will appear that the words HOAX and HOCUS have been
+immediately derived from the language of the Gypsies, who, there is
+good reason to believe, first introduced the system into Europe, to
+which those words belong.
+
+The author entertains no ill-will towards the Gypsies; why should
+he, were he a mere carnal reasoner?  He has known them for upwards
+of twenty years, in various countries, and they never injured a
+hair of his head, or deprived him of a shred of his raiment; but he
+is not deceived as to the motive of their forbearance:  they
+thought him a ROM, and on this supposition they hurt him not, their
+love of 'the blood' being their most distinguishing characteristic.
+He derived considerable assistance from them in Spain, as in
+various instances they officiated as colporteurs in the
+distribution of the Gospel:  but on that account he is not prepared
+to say that they entertained any love for the Gospel or that they
+circulated it for the honour of Tebleque the Saviour.  Whatever
+they did for the Gospel in Spain, was done in the hope that he whom
+they conceived to be their brother had some purpose in view which
+was to contribute to the profit of the Cales, or Gypsies, and to
+terminate in the confusion and plunder of the Busne, or Gentiles.
+Convinced of this, he is too little of an enthusiast to rear, on
+such a foundation, any fantastic edifice of hope which would soon
+tumble to the ground.
+
+The cause of truth can scarcely be forwarded by enthusiasm, which
+is almost invariably the child of ignorance and error.  The author
+is anxious to direct the attention of the public towards the
+Gypsies; but he hopes to be able to do so without any romantic
+appeals in their behalf, by concealing the truth, or by warping the
+truth until it becomes falsehood.  In the following pages he has
+depicted the Gypsies as he has found them, neither aggravating
+their crimes nor gilding them with imaginary virtues.  He has not
+expatiated on 'their gratitude towards good people, who treat them
+kindly and take an interest in their welfare'; for he believes that
+of all beings in the world they are the least susceptible of such a
+feeling.  Nor has he ever done them injustice by attributing to
+them licentious habits, from which they are, perhaps, more free
+than any race in the creation.
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
+
+
+
+I CANNOT permit the second edition of this work to go to press
+without premising it with a few words.
+
+When some two years ago I first gave THE ZINCALI to the world, it
+was, as I stated at the time, with considerable hesitation and
+diffidence:  the composition of it and the collecting of Gypsy
+words had served as a kind of relaxation to me whilst engaged in
+the circulation of the Gospel in Spain.  After the completion of
+the work, I had not the slightest idea that it possessed any
+peculiar merit, or was calculated to make the slightest impression
+upon the reading world.  Nevertheless, as every one who writes
+feels a kind of affection, greater or less, for the productions of
+his pen, I was averse, since the book was written, to suffer it to
+perish of damp in a lumber closet, or by friction in my travelling
+wallet.  I committed it therefore to the press, with a friendly
+'Farewell, little book; I have done for you all I can, and much
+more than you deserve.'
+
+My expectations at this time were widely different from those of my
+namesake George in the VICAR OF WAKEFIELD when he published his
+paradoxes.  I took it as a matter of course that the world, whether
+learned or unlearned, would say to my book what they said to his
+paradoxes, as the event showed, - nothing at all.  To my utter
+astonishment, however, I had no sooner returned to my humble
+retreat, where I hoped to find the repose of which I was very much
+in need, than I was followed by the voice not only of England but
+of the greater part of Europe, informing me that I had achieved a
+feat - a work in the nineteenth century with some pretensions to
+originality.  The book was speedily reprinted in America, portions
+of it were translated into French and Russian, and a fresh edition
+demanded.
+
+In the midst of all this there sounded upon my ears a voice which I
+recognised as that of the Maecenas of British literature:
+'Borromeo, don't believe all you hear, nor think that you have
+accomplished anything so very extraordinary:  a great portion of
+your book is very sorry trash indeed - Gypsy poetry, dry laws, and
+compilations from dull Spanish authors:  it has good points,
+however, which show that you are capable of something much better:
+try your hand again - avoid your besetting sins; and when you have
+accomplished something which will really do credit to - Street, it
+will be time enough to think of another delivery of these GYPSIES.'
+
+Mistos amande:  'I am content,' I replied; and sitting down I
+commenced the BIBLE IN SPAIN.  At first I proceeded slowly -
+sickness was in the land, and the face of nature was overcast -
+heavy rain-clouds swam in the heavens, - the blast howled amid the
+pines which nearly surround my lonely dwelling, and the waters of
+the lake which lies before it, so quiet in general and tranquil,
+were fearfully agitated.  'Bring lights hither, O Hayim Ben Attar,
+son of the miracle! ' And the Jew of Fez brought in the lights, for
+though it was midday I could scarcely see in the little room where
+I was writing. . . .
+
+A dreary summer and autumn passed by, and were succeeded by as
+gloomy a winter.  I still proceeded with the BIBLE IN SPAIN.  The
+winter passed, and spring came with cold dry winds and occasional
+sunshine, whereupon I arose, shouted, and mounting my horse, even
+Sidi Habismilk, I scoured all the surrounding district, and thought
+but little of the BIBLE IN SPAIN.
+
+So I rode about the country, over the heaths, and through the green
+lanes of my native land, occasionally visiting friends at a
+distance, and sometimes, for variety's sake, I stayed at home and
+amused myself by catching huge pike, which lie perdue in certain
+deep ponds skirted with lofty reeds, upon my land, and to which
+there is a communication from the lagoon by a deep and narrow
+watercourse. - I had almost forgotten the BIBLE IN SPAIN.
+
+Then came the summer with much heat and sunshine, and then I would
+lie for hours in the sun and recall the sunny days I had spent in
+Andalusia, and my thoughts were continually reverting to Spain, and
+at last I remembered that the BIBLE IN SPAIN was still unfinished;
+whereupon I arose and said:  'This loitering profiteth nothing' -
+and I hastened to my summer-house by the side of the lake, and
+there I thought and wrote, and every day I repaired to the same
+place, and thought and wrote until I had finished the BIBLE IN
+SPAIN.
+
+And at the proper season the BIBLE IN SPAIN was given to the world;
+and the world, both learned and unlearned, was delighted with the
+BIBLE IN SPAIN, and the highest authority (1) said, 'This is a much
+better book than the GYPSIES'; and the next great authority (2)
+said, 'something betwixt Le Sage and Bunyan.'  'A far more
+entertaining work than DON QUIXOTE,' exclaimed a literary lady.
+'Another GIL BLAS,' said the cleverest writer in Europe. (3)
+'Yes,' exclaimed the cool sensible SPECTATOR, (4) 'a GIL BLAS in
+water-colours.'
+
+And when I heard the last sentence, I laughed, and shouted, 'KOSKO
+PENNESE PAL!' (5)  It pleased me better than all the rest.  Is
+there not a text in a certain old book which says:  Woe unto you
+when all men shall speak well of you!  Those are awful words,
+brothers; woe is me!
+
+'Revenons a nos Bohemiens!'  Now the BIBLE IN SPAIN is off my
+hands, I return to 'these GYPSIES'; and here you have, most kind,
+lenient, and courteous public, a fresh delivery of them.  In the
+present edition, I have attended as much as possible to the
+suggestions of certain individuals, for whose opinion I cannot but
+entertain the highest respect.  I have omitted various passages
+from Spanish authors, which the world has objected to as being
+quite out of place, and serving for no other purpose than to swell
+out the work.  In lieu thereof, I have introduced some original
+matter relative to the Gypsies, which is, perhaps, more calculated
+to fling light over their peculiar habits than anything which has
+yet appeared.  To remodel the work, however, I have neither time
+nor inclination, and must therefore again commend it, with all the
+imperfections which still cling to it, to the generosity of the
+public.
+
+A few words in conclusion.  Since the publication of the first
+edition, I have received more than one letter, in which the writers
+complain that I, who seem to know so much of what has been written
+concerning the Gypsies, (6) should have taken no notice of a theory
+entertained by many, namely, that they are of Jewish origin, and
+that they are neither more nor less than the descendants of the two
+lost tribes of Israel.  Now I am not going to enter into a
+discussion upon this point, for I know by experience, that the
+public cares nothing for discussions, however learned and edifying,
+but will take the present opportunity to relate a little adventure
+of mine, which bears not a little upon this matter.
+
+So it came to pass, that one day I was scampering over a heath, at
+some distance from my present home:  I was mounted upon the good
+horse Sidi Habismilk, and the Jew of Fez, swifter than the wind,
+ran by the side of the good horse Habismilk, when what should I see
+at a corner of the heath but the encampment of certain friends of
+mine; and the chief of that camp, even Mr. Petulengro, stood before
+the encampment, and his adopted daughter, Miss Pinfold, stood
+beside him.
+
+MYSELF. - 'Kosko divvus (7), Mr. Petulengro!  I am glad to see you:
+how are you getting on?'
+
+MR. PETULENGRO. - 'How am I getting on? as well as I can.  What
+will you have for that nokengro (8)?'
+
+Thereupon I dismounted, and delivering the reins of the good horse
+to Miss Pinfold, I took the Jew of Fez, even Hayim Ben Attar, by
+the hand, and went up to Mr. Petulengro, exclaiming, 'Sure ye are
+two brothers.'  Anon the Gypsy passed his hand over the Jew's face,
+and stared him in the eyes:  then turning to me he said, 'We are
+not dui palor (9); this man is no Roman; I believe him to be a Jew;
+he has the face of one; besides, if he were a Rom, even from
+Jericho, he could rokra a few words in Rommany.'
+
+Now the Gypsy had been in the habit of seeing German and English
+Jews, who must have been separated from their African brethren for
+a term of at least 1700 years; yet he recognised the Jew of Fez for
+what he was - a Jew, and without hesitation declared that he was
+'no Roman.'  The Jews, therefore, and the Gypsies have each their
+peculiar and distinctive countenance, which, to say nothing of the
+difference of language, precludes the possibility of their having
+ever been the same people.
+
+MARCH 1, 1843.
+
+
+
+NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
+
+
+
+THIS edition has been carefully revised by the author, and some few
+insertions have been made.  In order, however, to give to the work
+a more popular character, the elaborate vocabulary of the Gypsy
+tongue, and other parts relating to the Gypsy language and
+literature, have been omitted.  Those who take an interest in these
+subjects are referred to the larger edition in two vols. (10)
+
+
+
+THE GYPSIES - INTRODUCTION
+
+
+
+THROUGHOUT my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar
+interest for me.  Indeed I can remember no period when the mere
+mention of the name of Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard
+to be described.  I cannot account for this - I merely state a
+fact.
+
+Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have
+accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present
+animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of
+their people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis,
+and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by
+passing through an infinite number of bodies, attain at length
+sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of perfect rest and
+quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they can form.
+
+Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy
+with these people, I have come to the following conclusions
+respecting them:  that wherever they are found, their manners and
+customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by
+circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves,
+and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in
+ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been
+subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their
+countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker
+or fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but
+invariably darker, at least in Europe, than those of the natives of
+the countries in which they dwell, for example, England and Russia,
+Germany and Spain.
+
+The names by which they are known differ with the country, though,
+with one or two exceptions, not materially for example, they are
+styled in Russia, Zigani; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in
+Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently spring from the same
+etymon, which there is no improbability in supposing to be
+'Zincali,' a term by which these people, especially those of Spain,
+sometimes designate themselves, and the meaning of which is
+believed to be, THE BLACK MEN OF ZEND OR IND.  In England and Spain
+they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitanos, from a general
+belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words
+are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance
+that Bohemia was one of the first countries in civilised Europe
+where they made their appearance.
+
+But they generally style themselves and the language which they
+speak, Rommany.  This word, of which I shall ultimately have more
+to say, is of Sanscrit origin, and signifies, The Husbands, or that
+which pertaineth unto them.  From whatever motive this appellation
+may have originated, it is perhaps more applicable than any other
+to a sect or caste like them, who have no love and no affection
+beyond their own race; who are capable of making great sacrifices
+for each other, and who gladly prey upon all the rest of the human
+species, whom they detest, and by whom they are hated and despised.
+It will perhaps not be out of place to observe here, that there is
+no reason for supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is derived
+from the Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some
+people not much acquainted with the language of the race in
+question have imagined.
+
+I have no intention at present to say anything about their origin.
+Scholars have asserted that the language which they speak proves
+them to be of Indian stock, and undoubtedly a great number of their
+words are Sanscrit.  My own opinion upon this subject will be found
+in a subsequent article.  I shall here content myself with
+observing that from whatever country they come, whether from India
+or Egypt, there can be no doubt that they are human beings and have
+immortal souls; and it is in the humble hope of drawing the
+attention of the Christian philanthropist towards them, especially
+that degraded and unhappy portion of them, the Gitanos of Spain,
+that the present little work has been undertaken.  But before
+proceeding to speak of the latter, it will perhaps not be amiss to
+afford some account of the Rommany as I have seen them in other
+countries; for there is scarcely a part of the habitable world
+where they are not to be found:  their tents are alike pitched on
+the heaths of Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and
+their language is heard at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of
+London and Stamboul.
+
+
+THE ZIGANI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES
+
+
+They are found in all parts of Russia, with the exception of the
+government of St. Petersburg, from which they have been banished.
+In most of the provincial towns they are to be found in a state of
+half-civilisation, supporting themselves by trafficking in horses,
+or by curing the disorders incidental to those animals; but the
+vast majority reject this manner of life, and traverse the country
+in bands, like the ancient Hamaxobioi; the immense grassy plains of
+Russia affording pasturage for their herds of cattle, on which, and
+the produce of the chase, they chiefly depend for subsistence.
+They are, however, not destitute of money, which they obtain by
+various means, but principally by curing diseases amongst the
+cattle of the mujiks or peasantry, and by telling fortunes, and not
+unfrequently by theft and brigandage.
+
+Their power of resisting cold is truly wonderful, as it is not
+uncommon to find them encamped in the midst of the snow, in slight
+canvas tents, when the temperature is twenty-five or thirty degrees
+below the freezing-point according to Reaumur; but in the winter
+they generally seek the shelter of the forests, which afford fuel
+for their fires, and abound in game.
+
+The race of the Rommany is by nature perhaps the most beautiful in
+the world; and amongst the children of the Russian Zigani are
+frequently to be found countenances to do justice to which would
+require the pencil of a second Murillo; but exposure to the rays of
+the burning sun, the biting of the frost, and the pelting of the
+pitiless sleet and snow, destroys their beauty at a very early age;
+and if in infancy their personal advantages are remarkable, their
+ugliness at an advanced age is no less so, for then it is
+loathsome, and even appalling.
+
+A hundred years, could I live so long, would not efface from my
+mind the appearance of an aged Ziganskie Attaman, or Captain of
+Zigani, and his grandson, who approached me on the meadow before
+Novo Gorod, where stood the encampment of a numerous horde.  The
+boy was of a form and face which might have entitled him to
+represent Astyanax, and Hector of Troy might have pressed him to
+his bosom, and called him his pride; but the old man was, perhaps,
+such a shape as Milton has alluded to, but could only describe as
+execrable - he wanted but the dart and kingly crown to have
+represented the monster who opposed the progress of Lucifer, whilst
+careering in burning arms and infernal glory to the outlet of his
+hellish prison.
+
+But in speaking of the Russian Gypsies, those of Moscow must not be
+passed over in silence.  The station to which they have attained in
+society in that most remarkable of cities is so far above the
+sphere in which the remainder of their race pass their lives, that
+it may be considered as a phenomenon in Gypsy history, and on that
+account is entitled to particular notice.
+
+Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gypsy as a wandering
+outcast, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a settled and
+civilised life, or - if abandoning vagabond propensities, and
+becoming stationary - as one who never ascends higher than the
+condition of a low trafficker, will be surprised to learn, that
+amongst the Gypsies of Moscow there are not a few who inhabit
+stately houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are behind the
+higher orders of the Russians neither in appearance nor mental
+acquirements.  To the power of song alone this phenomenon is to be
+attributed.  From time immemorial the female Gypsies of Moscow have
+been much addicted to the vocal art, and bands or quires of them
+have sung for pay in the halls of the nobility or upon the boards
+of the theatre.  Some first-rate songsters have been produced among
+them, whose merits have been acknowledged, not only by the Russian
+public, but by the most fastidious foreign critics.  Perhaps the
+highest compliment ever paid to a songster was paid by Catalani
+herself to one of these daughters of Roma.  It is well known
+throughout Russia that the celebrated Italian was so enchanted with
+the voice of a Moscow Gypsy (who, after the former had displayed
+her noble talent before a splendid audience in the old Russian
+capital, stepped forward and poured forth one of her national
+strains), that she tore from her own shoulders a shawl of cashmire,
+which had been presented to her by the Pope, and, embracing the
+Gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the splendid gift, saying,
+that it had been intended for the matchless songster, which she now
+perceived she herself was not.
+
+The sums obtained by many of these females by the exercise of their
+art enable them to support their relatives in affluence and luxury:
+some are married to Russians, and no one who has visited Russia can
+but be aware that a lovely and accomplished countess, of the noble
+and numerous family of Tolstoy, is by birth a Zigana, and was
+originally one of the principal attractions of a Rommany choir at
+Moscow.
+
+But it is not to be supposed that the whole of the Gypsy females at
+Moscow are of this high and talented description; the majority of
+them are of far lower quality, and obtain their livelihood by
+singing and dancing at taverns, whilst their husbands in general
+follow the occupation of horse-dealing.
+
+Their favourite place of resort in the summer time is Marina Rotze,
+a species of sylvan garden about two versts from Moscow, and
+thither, tempted by curiosity, I drove one fine evening.  On my
+arrival the Ziganas came flocking out from their little tents, and
+from the tractir or inn which has been erected for the
+accommodation of the public.  Standing on the seat of the calash, I
+addressed them in a loud voice in the English dialect of the
+Rommany, of which I have some knowledge.  A shrill scream of wonder
+was instantly raised, and welcomes and blessings were poured forth
+in floods of musical Rommany, above all of which predominated the
+cry of KAK CAMENNA TUTE PRALA - or, How we love you, brother! - for
+at first they mistook me for one of their wandering brethren from
+the distant lands, come over the great panee or ocean to visit
+them.
+
+After some conversation they commenced singing, and favoured me
+with many songs, both in Russian and Rommany:  the former were
+modern popular pieces, such as are accustomed to be sung on the
+boards of the theatre; but the latter were evidently of great
+antiquity, exhibiting the strongest marks of originality, the
+metaphors bold and sublime, and the metre differing from anything
+of the kind which it has been my fortune to observe in Oriental or
+European prosody.
+
+One of the most remarkable, and which commences thus:
+
+
+'Za mateia rosherroro odolata
+Bravintata,'
+
+
+(or, Her head is aching with grief, as if she had tasted wine)
+describes the anguish of a maiden separated from her lover, and who
+calls for her steed:
+
+
+'Tedjav manga gurraoro' -
+
+
+that she may depart in quest of the lord of her bosom, and share
+his joys and pleasures.
+
+A collection of these songs, with a translation and vocabulary,
+would be no slight accession to literature, and would probably
+throw more light on the history of this race than anything which
+has yet appeared; and, as there is no want of zeal and talent in
+Russia amongst the cultivators of every branch of literature, and
+especially philology, it is only surprising that such a collection
+still remains a desideratum.
+
+The religion which these singular females externally professed was
+the Greek, and they mostly wore crosses of copper or gold; but when
+I questioned them on this subject in their native language, they
+laughed, and said it was only to please the Russians.  Their names
+for God and his adversary are Deval and Bengel, which differ little
+from the Spanish Un-debel and Bengi, which signify the same.  I
+will now say something of
+
+
+THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIGANY
+
+
+Hungary, though a country not a tenth part so extensive as the huge
+colossus of the Russian empire, whose tzar reigns over a hundred
+lands, contains perhaps as many Gypsies, it not being uncommon to
+find whole villages inhabited by this race; they likewise abound in
+the suburbs of the towns.  In Hungary the feudal system still
+exists in all its pristine barbarity; in no country does the hard
+hand of this oppression bear so heavy upon the lower classes - not
+even in Russia.  The peasants of Russia are serfs, it is true, but
+their condition is enviable compared with that of the same class in
+the other country; they have certain rights and privileges, and
+are, upon the whole, happy and contented, whilst the Hungarians are
+ground to powder.  Two classes are free in Hungary to do almost
+what they please - the nobility and - the Gypsies; the former are
+above the law - the latter below it:  a toll is wrung from the
+hands of the hard-working labourers, that most meritorious class,
+in passing over a bridge, for example at Pesth, which is not
+demanded from a well-dressed person - nor from the Czigany, who
+have frequently no dress at all - and whose insouciance stands in
+striking contrast with the trembling submission of the peasants.
+The Gypsy, wherever you find him, is an incomprehensible being, but
+nowhere more than in Hungary, where, in the midst of slavery, he is
+free, though apparently one step lower than the lowest slave.  The
+habits of the Hungarian Gypsies are abominable; their hovels appear
+sinks of the vilest poverty and filth, their dress is at best rags,
+their food frequently the vilest carrion, and occasionally, if
+report be true, still worse - on which point, when speaking of the
+Spanish Gitanos, we shall have subsequently more to say:  thus they
+live in filth, in rags, in nakedness, and in merriness of heart,
+for nowhere is there more of song and dance than in an Hungarian
+Gypsy village.  They are very fond of music, and some of them are
+heard to touch the violin in a manner wild, but of peculiar
+excellence.  Parties of them have been known to exhibit even at
+Paris.
+
+In Hungary, as in all parts, they are addicted to horse-dealing;
+they are likewise tinkers, and smiths in a small way.  The women
+are fortune-tellers, of course - both sexes thieves of the first
+water.  They roam where they list - in a country where all other
+people are held under strict surveillance, no one seems to care
+about these Parias.  The most remarkable feature, however,
+connected with the habits of the Czigany, consists in their foreign
+excursions, having plunder in view, which frequently endure for
+three or four years, when, if no mischance has befallen them, they
+return to their native land - rich; where they squander the
+proceeds of their dexterity in mad festivals.  They wander in bands
+of twelve and fourteen through France, even to Rome.  Once, during
+my own wanderings in Italy, I rested at nightfall by the side of a
+kiln, the air being piercingly cold; it was about four leagues from
+Genoa.  Presently arrived three individuals to take advantage of
+the warmth - a man, a woman, and a lad.  They soon began to
+discourse - and I found that they were Hungarian Gypsies; they
+spoke of what they had been doing, and what they had amassed - I
+think they mentioned nine hundred crowns.  They had companions in
+the neighbourhood, some of whom they were expecting; they took no
+notice of me, and conversed in their own dialect; I did not approve
+of their propinquity, and rising, hastened away.
+
+When Napoleon invaded Spain there were not a few Hungarian Gypsies
+in his armies; some strange encounters occurred on the field of
+battle between these people and the Spanish Gitanos, one of which
+is related in the second part of the present work.  When quartered
+in the Spanish towns, the Czigany invariably sought out their
+peninsular brethren, to whom they revealed themselves, kissing and
+embracing most affectionately; the Gitanos were astonished at the
+proficiency of the strangers in thievish arts, and looked upon them
+almost in the light of superior beings:  'They knew the whole
+reckoning,' is still a common expression amongst them.  There was a
+Cziganian soldier for some time at Cordoba, of whom the Gitanos of
+the place still frequently discourse, whilst smoking their cigars
+during winter nights over their braseros.
+
+The Hungarian Gypsies have a peculiar accent when speaking the
+language of the country, by which they can be instantly
+distinguished; the same thing is applicable to the Gitanos of Spain
+when speaking Spanish.  In no part of the world is the Gypsy
+language preserved better than in Hungary.
+
+The following short prayer to the Virgin, which I have frequently
+heard amongst the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania, will serve
+as a specimen of their language.-
+
+
+Gula Devla, da me saschipo.  Swuntuna Devla, da me bacht t'
+aldaschis cari me jav; te ferin man, Devla, sila ta niapaschiata,
+chungale manuschendar, ke me jav ande drom ca hin man traba; ferin
+man, Devia; ma mek man Devla, ke manga man tre Devies-key.
+
+Sweet Goddess, give me health.  Holy Goddess, give me luck and
+grace wherever I go; and help me, Goddess, powerful and immaculate,
+from ugly men, that I may go in the road to the place I purpose:
+help me, Goddess; forsake me not, Goddess, for I pray for God's
+sake.
+
+
+
+WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA
+
+
+
+In Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the eastern-most regions of
+Europe, are to be found seven millions of people calling themselves
+Roumouni, and speaking a dialect of the Latin tongue much corrupted
+by barbarous terms, so called.  They are supposed to be in part
+descendants of Roman soldiers, Rome in the days of her grandeur
+having established immense military colonies in these parts.  In
+the midst of these people exist vast numbers of Gypsies, amounting,
+I am disposed to think, to at least two hundred thousand.  The land
+of the Roumouni, indeed, seems to have been the hive from which the
+West of Europe derived the Gypsy part of its population.  Far be it
+from me to say that the Gypsies sprang originally from Roumouni-
+land.  All I mean is, that it was their grand resting-place after
+crossing the Danube.  They entered Roumouni-land from Bulgaria,
+crossing the great river, and from thence some went to the north-
+east, overrunning Russia, others to the west of Europe, as far as
+Spain and England.  That the early Gypsies of the West, and also
+those of Russia, came from Roumouni-land, is easily proved, as in
+all the western Gypsy dialects, and also in the Russian, are to be
+found words belonging to the Roumouni speech; for example,
+primavera, spring; cheros, heaven; chorab, stocking; chismey,
+boots; - Roum - primivari, cherul, chorapul, chisme.  One might
+almost be tempted to suppose that the term Rommany, by which the
+Gypsies of Russia and the West call themselves, was derived from
+Roumouni, were it not for one fact, which is, that Romanus in the
+Latin tongue merely means a native of Rome, whilst the specific
+meaning of Rome still remains in the dark; whereas in Gypsy Rom
+means a husband, Rommany the sect of the husbands; Romanesti if
+married.  Whether both words were derived originally from the same
+source, as I believe some people have supposed, is a question
+which, with my present lights, I cannot pretend to determine.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+
+No country appears less adapted for that wandering life, which
+seems so natural to these people, than England.  Those wildernesses
+and forests, which they are so attached to, are not to be found
+there; every inch of land is cultivated, and its produce watched
+with a jealous eye; and as the laws against trampers, without the
+visible means of supporting themselves, are exceedingly severe, the
+possibility of the Gypsies existing as a distinct race, and
+retaining their original free and independent habits, might
+naturally be called in question by those who had not satisfactorily
+verified the fact.  Yet it is a truth that, amidst all these
+seeming disadvantages, they not only exist there, but in no part of
+the world is their life more in accordance with the general idea
+that the Gypsy is like Cain, a wanderer of the earth; for in
+England the covered cart and the little tent are the houses of the
+Gypsy, and he seldom remains more than three days in the same
+place.
+
+At present they are considered in some degree as a privileged
+people; for, though their way of life is unlawful, it is connived
+at; the law of England having discovered by experience, that its
+utmost fury is inefficient to reclaim them from their inveterate
+habits.
+
+Shortly after their first arrival in England, which is upwards of
+three centuries since, a dreadful persecution was raised against
+them, the aim of which was their utter extermination; the being a
+Gypsy was esteemed a crime worthy of death, and the gibbets of
+England groaned and creaked beneath the weight of Gypsy carcases,
+and the miserable survivors were literally obliged to creep into
+the earth in order to preserve their lives.  But these days passed
+by; their persecutors became weary of pursuing them; they showed
+their heads from the holes and caves where they had hidden
+themselves, they ventured forth, increased in numbers, and, each
+tribe or family choosing a particular circuit, they fairly divided
+the land amongst them.
+
+In England, the male Gypsies are all dealers in horses, and
+sometimes employ their idle time in mending the tin and copper
+utensils of the peasantry; the females tell fortunes.  They
+generally pitch their tents in the vicinity of a village or small
+town by the road side, under the shelter of the hedges and trees.
+The climate of England is well known to be favourable to beauty,
+and in no part of the world is the appearance of the Gypsies so
+prepossessing as in that country; their complexion is dark, but not
+disagreeably so; their faces are oval, their features regular,
+their foreheads rather low, and their hands and feet small.  The
+men are taller than the English peasantry, and far more active.
+They all speak the English language with fluency, and in their gait
+and demeanour are easy and graceful; in both points standing in
+striking contrast with the peasantry, who in speech are slow and
+uncouth, and in manner dogged and brutal.
+
+The dialect of the Rommany, which they speak, though mixed with
+English words, may be considered as tolerably pure, from the fact
+that it is intelligible to the Gypsy race in the heart of Russia.
+Whatever crimes they may commit, their vices are few, for the men
+are not drunkards, nor are the women harlots; there are no two
+characters which they hold in so much abhorrence, nor do any words
+when applied by them convey so much execration as these two.
+
+The crimes of which these people were originally accused were
+various, but the principal were theft, sorcery, and causing disease
+among the cattle; and there is every reason for supposing that in
+none of these points they were altogether guiltless.
+
+With respect to sorcery, a thing in itself impossible, not only the
+English Gypsies, but the whole race, have ever professed it;
+therefore, whatever misery they may have suffered on that account,
+they may be considered as having called it down upon their own
+heads.
+
+Dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of the female
+Gypsy.  She affects to tell the future, and to prepare philtres by
+means of which love can be awakened in any individual towards any
+particular object; and such is the credulity of the human race,
+even in the most enlightened countries, that the profits arising
+from these practices are great.  The following is a case in point:
+two females, neighbours and friends, were tried some years since,
+in England, for the murder of their husbands.  It appeared that
+they were in love with the same individual, and had conjointly, at
+various times, paid sums of money to a Gypsy woman to work charms
+to captivate his affections.  Whatever little effect the charms
+might produce, they were successful in their principal object, for
+the person in question carried on for some time a criminal
+intercourse with both.  The matter came to the knowledge of the
+husbands, who, taking means to break off this connection, were
+respectively poisoned by their wives.  Till the moment of
+conviction these wretched females betrayed neither emotion nor
+fear, but then their consternation was indescribable; and they
+afterwards confessed that the Gypsy, who had visited them in
+prison, had promised to shield them from conviction by means of her
+art.  It is therefore not surprising that in the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries, when a belief in sorcery was supported by the
+laws of all Europe, these people were regarded as practisers of
+sorcery, and punished as such, when, even in the nineteenth, they
+still find people weak enough to place confidence in their claims
+to supernatural power.
+
+The accusation of producing disease and death amongst the cattle
+was far from groundless.  Indeed, however strange and incredible it
+may sound in the present day to those who are unacquainted with
+this caste, and the peculiar habits of the Rommanees, the practice
+is still occasionally pursued in England and many other countries
+where they are found.  From this practice, when they are not
+detected, they derive considerable advantage.  Poisoning cattle is
+exercised by them in two ways:  by one, they merely cause disease
+in the animals, with the view of receiving money for curing them
+upon offering their services; the poison is generally administered
+by powders cast at night into the mangers of the animals:  this way
+is only practised upon the larger cattle, such as horses and cows.
+By the other, which they practise chiefly on swine, speedy death is
+almost invariably produced, the drug administered being of a highly
+intoxicating nature, and affecting the brain.  They then apply at
+the house or farm where the disaster has occurred for the carcase
+of the animal, which is generally given them without suspicion, and
+then they feast on the flesh, which is not injured by the poison,
+which only affects the head.
+
+The English Gypsies are constant attendants at the racecourse; what
+jockey is not?  Perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even
+racing, at least in England.  Jockeyism properly implies THE
+MANAGEMENT OF A WHIP, and the word jockey is neither more nor less
+than the term slightly modified, by which they designate the
+formidable whips which they usually carry, and which are at present
+in general use amongst horse-traffickers, under the title of jockey
+whips.  They are likewise fond of resorting to the prize-ring, and
+have occasionally even attained some eminence, as principals, in
+those disgraceful and brutalising exhibitions called pugilistic
+combats.  I believe a great deal has been written on the subject of
+the English Gypsies, but the writers have dwelt too much in
+generalities; they have been afraid to take the Gypsy by the hand,
+lead him forth from the crowd, and exhibit him in the area; he is
+well worth observing.  When a boy of fourteen, I was present at a
+prize-fight; why should I hide the truth?  It took place on a green
+meadow, beside a running stream, close by the old church of E-, and
+within a league of the ancient town of N-, the capital of one of
+the eastern counties.  The terrible Thurtell was present, lord of
+the concourse; for wherever he moved he was master, and whenever he
+spoke, even when in chains, every other voice was silent.  He stood
+on the mead, grim and pale as usual, with his bruisers around.  He
+it was, indeed, who GOT UP the fight, as he had previously done
+twenty others; it being his frequent boast that he had first
+introduced bruising and bloodshed amidst rural scenes, and
+transformed a quiet slumbering town into a den of Jews and
+metropolitan thieves.  Some time before the commencement of the
+combat, three men, mounted on wild-looking horses, came dashing
+down the road in the direction of the meadow, in the midst of which
+they presently showed themselves, their horses clearing the deep
+ditches with wonderful alacrity.  'That's Gypsy Will and his gang,'
+lisped a Hebrew pickpocket; 'we shall have another fight.'  The
+word Gypsy was always sufficient to excite my curiosity, and I
+looked attentively at the newcomers.
+
+I have seen Gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and
+Turkish; and I have also seen the legitimate children of most
+countries of the world; but I never saw, upon the whole, three more
+remarkable individuals, as far as personal appearance was
+concerned, than the three English Gypsies who now presented
+themselves to my eyes on that spot.  Two of them had dismounted,
+and were holding their horses by the reins.  The tallest, and, at
+the first glance, the most interesting of the two, was almost a
+giant, for his height could not have been less than six feet three.
+It is impossible for the imagination to conceive anything more
+perfectly beautiful than were the features of this man, and the
+most skilful sculptor of Greece might have taken them as his model
+for a hero and a god.  The forehead was exceedingly lofty, - a rare
+thing in a Gypsy; the nose less Roman than Grecian, - fine yet
+delicate; the eyes large, overhung with long drooping lashes,
+giving them almost a melancholy expression; it was only when the
+lashes were elevated that the Gypsy glance was seen, if that can be
+called a glance which is a strange stare, like nothing else in this
+world.  His complexion was a beautiful olive; and his teeth were of
+a brilliancy uncommon even amongst these people, who have all fine
+teeth.  He was dressed in a coarse waggoner's slop, which, however,
+was unable to conceal altogether the proportions of his noble and
+Herculean figure.  He might be about twenty-eight.  His companion
+and his captain, Gypsy Will, was, I think, fifty when he was
+hanged, ten years subsequently (for I never afterwards lost sight
+of him), in the front of the jail of Bury St. Edmunds.  I have
+still present before me his bushy black hair, his black face, and
+his big black eyes fixed and staring.  His dress consisted of a
+loose blue jockey coat, jockey boots and breeches; in his hand was
+a huge jockey whip, and on his head (it struck me at the time for
+its singularity) a broad-brimmed, high-peaked Andalusian hat, or at
+least one very much resembling those generally worn in that
+province.  In stature he was shorter than his more youthful
+companion, yet he must have measured six feet at least, and was
+stronger built, if possible.  What brawn! - what bone! - what legs!
+- what thighs!  The third Gypsy, who remained on horseback, looked
+more like a phantom than any thing human.  His complexion was the
+colour of pale dust, and of that same colour was all that pertained
+to him, hat and clothes.  His boots were dusty of course, for it
+was midsummer, and his very horse was of a dusty dun.  His features
+were whimsically ugly, most of his teeth were gone, and as to his
+age, he might be thirty or sixty.  He was somewhat lame and halt,
+but an unequalled rider when once upon his steed, which he was
+naturally not very solicitous to quit.  I subsequently discovered
+that he was considered the wizard of the gang.
+
+I have been already prolix with respect to these Gypsies, but I
+will not leave them quite yet.  The intended combatants at length
+arrived; it was necessary to clear the ring, - always a troublesome
+and difficult task.  Thurtell went up to the two Gypsies, with whom
+he seemed to be acquainted, and with his surly smile, said two or
+three words, which I, who was standing by, did not understand.  The
+Gypsies smiled in return, and giving the reins of their animals to
+their mounted companion, immediately set about the task which the
+king of the flash-men had, as I conjecture, imposed upon them; this
+they soon accomplished.  Who could stand against such fellows and
+such whips?  The fight was soon over - then there was a pause.
+Once more Thurtell came up to the Gypsies and said something - the
+Gypsies looked at each other and conversed; but their words then
+had no meaning for my ears.  The tall Gypsy shook his head - 'Very
+well,' said the other, in English.  'I will - that's all.'
+
+Then pushing the people aside, he strode to the ropes, over which
+he bounded into the ring, flinging his Spanish hat high into the
+air.
+
+GYPSY WILL. - 'The best man in England for twenty pounds!'
+
+'THURTELL. - 'I am backer!'
+
+Twenty pounds is a tempting sum, and there men that day upon the
+green meadow who would have shed the blood of their own fathers for
+the fifth of the price.  But the Gypsy was not an unknown man, his
+prowess and strength were notorious, and no one cared to encounter
+him.  Some of the Jews looked eager for a moment; but their sharp
+eyes quailed quickly before his savage glances, as he towered in
+the ring, his huge form dilating, and his black features convulsed
+with excitement.  The Westminster bravoes eyed the Gypsy askance;
+but the comparison, if they made any, seemed by no means favourable
+to themselves.  'Gypsy! rum chap. - Ugly customer, - always in
+training.'  Such were the exclamations which I heard, some of which
+at that period of my life I did not understand.
+
+No man would fight the Gypsy. - Yes! a strong country fellow wished
+to win the stakes, and was about to fling up his hat in defiance,
+but he was prevented by his friends, with - 'Fool! he'll kill you!'
+
+As the Gypsies were mounting their horses, I heard the dusty
+phantom exclaim -
+
+'Brother, you are an arrant ring-maker and a horse-breaker; you'll
+make a hempen ring to break your own neck of a horse one of these
+days.'
+
+They pressed their horses' flanks, again leaped over the ditches,
+and speedily vanished, amidst the whirlwinds of dust which they
+raised upon the road.
+
+The words of the phantom Gypsy were ominous.  Gypsy Will was
+eventually executed for a murder committed in his early youth, in
+company with two English labourers, one of whom confessed the fact
+on his death-bed.  He was the head of the clan Young, which, with
+the clan Smith, still haunts two of the eastern counties.
+
+
+SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+It is difficult to say at what period the Gypsies or Rommany made
+their first appearance in England.  They had become, however, such
+a nuisance in the time of Henry the Eighth, Philip and Mary, and
+Elizabeth, that Gypsyism was denounced by various royal statutes,
+and, if persisted in, was to be punished as felony without benefit
+of clergy; it is probable, however, that they had overrun England
+long before the period of the earliest of these monarchs.  The
+Gypsies penetrate into all countries, save poor ones, and it is
+hardly to be supposed that a few leagues of intervening salt water
+would have kept a race so enterprising any considerable length of
+time, after their arrival on the continent of Europe, from
+obtaining a footing in the fairest and richest country of the West.
+
+It is easy enough to conceive the manner in which the Gypsies lived
+in England for a long time subsequent to their arrival:  doubtless
+in a half-savage state, wandering about from place to place,
+encamping on the uninhabited spots, of which there were then so
+many in England, feared and hated by the population, who looked
+upon them as thieves and foreign sorcerers, occasionally committing
+acts of brigandage, but depending chiefly for subsistence on the
+practice of the 'arts of Egypt,' in which cunning and dexterity
+were far more necessary than courage or strength of hand.
+
+It would appear that they were always divided into clans or tribes,
+each bearing a particular name, and to which a particular district
+more especially belonged, though occasionally they would exchange
+districts for a period, and, incited by their characteristic love
+of wandering, would travel far and wide.  Of these families each
+had a sher-engro, or head man, but that they were ever united under
+one Rommany Krallis, or Gypsy King, as some people have insisted,
+there is not the slightest ground for supposing.
+
+It is possible that many of the original Gypsy tribes are no longer
+in existence:  disease or the law may have made sad havoc among
+them, and the few survivors have incorporated themselves with other
+families, whose name they have adopted.  Two or three instances of
+this description have occurred within the sphere of my own
+knowledge:  the heads of small families have been cut off, and the
+subordinate members, too young and inexperienced to continue
+Gypsying as independent wanderers, have been adopted by other
+tribes.
+
+The principal Gypsy tribes at present in existence are the
+Stanleys, whose grand haunt is the New Forest; the Lovells, who are
+fond of London and its vicinity; the Coopers, who call Windsor
+Castle their home; the Hernes, to whom the north country, more
+especially Yorkshire, belongeth; and lastly, my brethren, the
+Smiths, - to whom East Anglia appears to have been allotted from
+the beginning.
+
+All these families have Gypsy names, which seem, however, to be
+little more than attempts at translation of the English ones:- thus
+the Stanleys are called Bar-engres (11), which means stony-fellows,
+or stony-hearts; the Coopers, Wardo-engres, or wheelwrights; the
+Lovells, Camo-mescres, or amorous fellows the Hernes (German
+Haaren) Balors, hairs, or hairy men; while the Smiths are called
+Petul-engres, signifying horseshoe fellows, or blacksmiths.
+
+It is not very easy to determine how the Gypsies became possessed
+of some of these names:  the reader, however, will have observed
+that two of them, Stanley and Lovell, are the names of two highly
+aristocratic English families; the Gypsies who bear them perhaps
+adopted them from having, at their first arrival, established
+themselves on the estates of those great people; or it is possible
+that they translated their original Gypsy appellations by these
+names, which they deemed synonymous.  Much the same may be said
+with respect to Herne, an ancient English name; they probably
+sometimes officiated as coopers or wheelwrights, whence the
+cognomination.  Of the term Petul-engro, or Smith, however, I wish
+to say something in particular.
+
+There is every reason for believing that this last is a genuine
+Gypsy name, brought with them from the country from which they
+originally came; it is compounded of two words, signifying, as has
+been already observed, horseshoe fellows, or people whose trade is
+to manufacture horseshoes, a trade which the Gypsies ply in various
+parts of the world, - for example, in Russia and Hungary, and more
+particularly about Granada in Spain, as will subsequently be shown.
+True it is, that at present there are none amongst the English
+Gypsies who manufacture horseshoes; all the men, however, are
+tinkers more or less, and the word Petul-engro is applied to the
+tinker also, though the proper meaning of it is undoubtedly what I
+have already stated above.  In other dialects of the Gypsy tongue,
+this cognomen exists, though not exactly with the same
+signification; for example, in the Hungarian dialect, PINDORO,
+which is evidently a modification of Petul-engro, is applied to a
+Gypsy in general, whilst in Spanish Pepindorio is the Gypsy word
+for Antonio.  In some parts of Northern Asia, the Gypsies call
+themselves Wattul (12), which seems to be one and the same as
+Petul.
+
+Besides the above-named Gypsy clans, there are other smaller ones,
+some of which do not comprise more than a dozen individuals,
+children included.  For example, the Bosviles, the Browns, the
+Chilcotts, the Grays, Lees, Taylors, and Whites; of these the
+principal is the Bosvile tribe.
+
+After the days of the great persecution in England against the
+Gypsies, there can be little doubt that they lived a right merry
+and tranquil life, wandering about and pitching their tents
+wherever inclination led them:  indeed, I can scarcely conceive any
+human condition more enviable than Gypsy life must have been in
+England during the latter part of the seventeenth, and the whole of
+the eighteenth century, which were likewise the happy days for
+Englishmen in general; there was peace and plenty in the land, a
+contented population, and everything went well.  Yes, those were
+brave times for the Rommany chals, to which the old people often
+revert with a sigh:  the poor Gypsies, say they, were then allowed
+to SOVE ABRI (sleep abroad) where they listed, to heat their
+kettles at the foot of the oaks, and no people grudged the poor
+persons one night's use of a meadow to feed their cattle in.
+TUGNIS AMANDE, our heart is heavy, brother, - there is no longer
+Gypsy law in the land, - our people have become negligent, - they
+are but half Rommany, - they are divided and care for nothing, -
+they do not even fear Pazorrhus, brother.
+
+Much the same complaints are at present made by the Spanish
+Gypsies.  Gypsyism is certainly on the decline in both countries.
+In England, a superabundant population, and, of late, a very
+vigilant police, have done much to modify Gypsy life; whilst in
+Spain, causes widely different have produced a still greater
+change, as will be seen further on.
+
+Gypsy law does not flourish at present in England, and still less
+in Spain, nor does Gypsyism.  I need not explain here what Gypsyism
+is, but the reader may be excused for asking what is Gypsy law.
+Gypsy law divides itself into the three following heads or
+precepts:-
+
+
+Separate not from THE HUSBANDS.
+Be faithful to THE HUSBANDS.
+Pay your debts to THE HUSBANDS.
+
+
+By the first section the Rom or Gypsy is enjoined to live with his
+brethren, the husbands, and not with the gorgios (13) or gentiles;
+he is to live in a tent, as is befitting a Rom and a wanderer, and
+not in a house, which ties him to one spot; in a word, he is in
+every respect to conform to the ways of his own people, and to
+eschew those of gorgios, with whom he is not to mix, save to tell
+them HOQUEPENES (lies), and to chore them.
+
+The second section, in which fidelity is enjoined, was more
+particularly intended for the women:  be faithful to the ROMS, ye
+JUWAS, and take not up with the gorgios, whether they be RAIOR or
+BAUOR (gentlemen or fellows).  This was a very important
+injunction, so much so, indeed, that upon the observance of it
+depended the very existence of the Rommany sect, - for if the
+female Gypsy admitted the gorgio to the privilege of the Rom, the
+race of the Rommany would quickly disappear.  How well this
+injunction has been observed needs scarcely be said; for the
+Rommany have been roving about England for three centuries at
+least, and are still to be distinguished from the gorgios in
+feature and complexion, which assuredly would not have been the
+case if the juwas had not been faithful to the Roms.  The gorgio
+says that the juwa is at his disposal in all things, because she
+tells him fortunes and endures his free discourse; but the Rom,
+when he hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and whispers to
+himself, LET HIM TRY.
+
+The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is highly
+curious.  In the Gypsy language, the state of being in debt is
+called PAZORRHUS, and the Rom who did not seek to extricate himself
+from that state was deemed infamous, and eventually turned out of
+the society.  It has been asserted, I believe, by various gorgio
+writers, that the Roms have everything in common, and that there is
+a common stock out of which every one takes what he needs; this is
+quite a mistake, however:  a Gypsy tribe is an epitome of the
+world; every one keeps his own purse and maintains himself and
+children to the best of his ability, and every tent is independent
+of the other.  True it is that one Gypsy will lend to another in
+the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the borrower
+is pazorrhus, or indebted.  Even at the present time, a Gypsy will
+make the greatest sacrifices rather than remain pazorrhus to one of
+his brethren, even though he be of another clan; though perhaps the
+feeling is not so strong as of old, for time modifies everything;
+even Jews and Gypsies are affected by it.  In the old time, indeed,
+the Gypsy law was so strong against the debtor, that provided he
+could not repay his brother husband, he was delivered over to him
+as his slave for a year and a day, and compelled to serve him as a
+hewer of wood, a drawer of water, or a beast of burden; but those
+times are past, the Gypsies are no longer the independent people
+they were of yore, - dark, mysterious, and dreaded wanderers,
+living apart in the deserts and heaths with which England at one
+time abounded.  Gypsy law has given place to common law; but the
+principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and base
+indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus because Gypsy
+law has become too weak to force him to liquidate a debt by money
+or by service.
+
+Such was Gypsy law in England, and there is every probability that
+it is much the same in all parts of the world where the Gypsy race
+is to be found.  About the peculiar practices of the Gypsies I need
+not say much here; the reader will find in the account of the
+Spanish Gypsies much that will afford him an idea of Gypsy arts in
+England.  I have already alluded to CHIVING DRAV, or poisoning,
+which is still much practised by the English Gypsies, though it has
+almost entirely ceased in Spain; then there is CHIVING LUVVU ADREY
+PUVO, or putting money within the earth, a trick by which the
+females deceive the gorgios, and which will be more particularly
+described in the affairs of Spain:  the men are adepts at cheating
+the gorgios by means of NOK-ENGROES and POGGADO-BAVENGROES
+(glandered and broken-winded horses).  But, leaving the subject of
+their tricks and Rommany arts, by no means an agreeable one, I will
+take the present opportunity of saying a few words about a practice
+of theirs, highly characteristic of a wandering people, and which
+is only extant amongst those of the race who still continue to
+wander much; for example, the Russian Gypsies and those of the
+Hungarian family, who stroll through Italy on plundering
+expeditions:  I allude to the PATTERAN or TRAIL.
+
+It is very possible that the reader during his country walks or
+rides has observed, on coming to four cross-roads, two or three
+handfuls of grass lying at a small distance from each other down
+one of these roads; perhaps he may have supposed that this grass
+was recently plucked from the roadside by frolicsome children, and
+flung upon the ground in sport, and this may possibly have been the
+case; it is ten chances to one, however, that no children's hands
+plucked them, but that they were strewed in this manner by Gypsies,
+for the purpose of informing any of their companions, who might be
+straggling behind, the route which they had taken; this is one form
+of the patteran or trail.  It is likely, too, that the gorgio
+reader may have seen a cross drawn at the entrance of a road, the
+long part or stem of it pointing down that particular road, and he
+may have thought nothing of it, or have supposed that some
+sauntering individual like himself had made the mark with his
+stick:  not so, courteous gorgio; ley tiro solloholomus opre lesti,
+YOU MAY TAKE YOUR OATH UPON IT that it was drawn by a Gypsy finger,
+for that mark is another of the Rommany trails; there is no mistake
+in this.  Once in the south of France, when I was weary, hungry,
+and penniless, I observed one of these last patterans, and
+following the direction pointed out, arrived at the resting-place
+of 'certain Bohemians,' by whom I was received with kindness and
+hospitality, on the faith of no other word of recommendation than
+patteran.  There is also another kind of patteran, which is more
+particularly adapted for the night; it is a cleft stick stuck at
+the side of the road, close by the hedge, with a little arm in the
+cleft pointing down the road which the band have taken, in the
+manner of a signpost; any stragglers who may arrive at night where
+cross-roads occur search for this patteran on the left-hand side,
+and speedily rejoin their companions.
+
+By following these patterans, or trails, the first Gypsies on their
+way to Europe never lost each other, though wandering amidst horrid
+wildernesses and dreary defiles.  Rommany matters have always had a
+peculiar interest for me; nothing, however, connected with Gypsy
+life ever more captivated my imagination than this patteran system:
+many thanks to the Gypsies for it; it has more than once been of
+service to me.
+
+The English Gypsies at the present day are far from being a
+numerous race; I consider their aggregate number, from the
+opportunities which I have had of judging, to be considerably under
+ten thousand:  it is probable that, ere the conclusion of the
+present century, they will have entirely disappeared.  They are in
+general quite strangers to the commonest rudiments of education;
+few even of the most wealthy can either read or write.  With
+respect to religion, they call themselves members of the
+Established Church, and are generally anxious to have their
+children baptized, and to obtain a copy of the register.  Some of
+their baptismal papers, which they carry about with them, are
+highly curious, going back for a period of upwards of two hundred
+years.  With respect to the essential points of religion, they are
+quite careless and ignorant; if they believe in a future state they
+dread it not, and if they manifest when dying any anxiety, it is
+not for the soul, but the body:  a handsome coffin, and a grave in
+a quiet country churchyard, are invariably the objects of their
+last thoughts; and it is probable that, in their observance of the
+rite of baptism, they are principally influenced by a desire to
+enjoy the privilege of burial in consecrated ground.  A Gypsy
+family never speak of their dead save with regret and affection,
+and any request of the dying individual is attended to, especially
+with regard to interment; so much so, that I have known a corpse
+conveyed a distance of nearly one hundred miles, because the
+deceased expressed a wish to be buried in a particular spot.
+
+Of the language of the English Gypsies, some specimens will be
+given in the sequel; it is much more pure and copious than the
+Spanish dialect.  It has been asserted that the English Gypsies are
+not possessed of any poetry in their own tongue; but this is a
+gross error; they possess a great many songs and ballads upon
+ordinary subjects, without any particular merit, however, and
+seemingly of a very modern date.
+
+
+THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI
+
+
+What has been said of the Gypsies of Europe is, to a considerable
+extent, applicable to their brethren in the East, or, as they are
+called, Zingarri; they are either found wandering amongst the
+deserts or mountains, or settled in towns, supporting themselves by
+horse-dealing or jugglery, by music and song.  In no part of the
+East are they more numerous than in Turkey, especially in
+Constantinople, where the females frequently enter the harems of
+the great, pretending to cure children of 'the evil eye,' and to
+interpret the dreams of the women.  They are not unfrequently seen
+in the coffee-houses, exhibiting their figures in lascivious dances
+to the tune of various instruments; yet these females are by no
+means unchaste, however their manners and appearance may denote the
+contrary, and either Turk or Christian who, stimulated by their
+songs and voluptuous movements, should address them with proposals
+of a dishonourable nature, would, in all probability, meet with a
+decided repulse.
+
+Among the Zingarri are not a few who deal in precious stones, and
+some who vend poisons; and the most remarkable individual whom it
+has been my fortune to encounter amongst the Gypsies, whether of
+the Eastern or Western world, was a person who dealt in both these
+articles.  He was a native of Constantinople, and in the pursuit of
+his trade had visited the most remote and remarkable portions of
+the world.  He had traversed alone and on foot the greatest part of
+India; he spoke several dialects of the Malay, and understood the
+original language of Java, that isle more fertile in poisons than
+even 'far Iolchos and Spain.' From what I could learn from him, it
+appeared that his jewels were in less request than his drugs,
+though he assured me that there was scarcely a Bey or Satrap in
+Persia or Turkey whom he had not supplied with both.  I have seen
+this individual in more countries than one, for he flits over the
+world like the shadow of a cloud; the last time at Granada in
+Spain, whither he had come after paying a visit to his Gitano
+brethren in the presidio of Ceuta.
+
+Few Eastern authors have spoken of the Zingarri, notwithstanding
+they have been known in the East for many centuries; amongst the
+few, none has made more curious mention of them than Arabschah, in
+a chapter of his life of Timour or Tamerlane, which is deservedly
+considered as one of the three classic works of Arabian literature.
+This passage, which, while it serves to illustrate the craft, if
+not the valour of the conqueror of half the world, offers some
+curious particulars as to Gypsy life in the East at a remote
+period, will scarcely be considered out of place if reproduced
+here, and the following is as close a translation of it as the
+metaphorical style of the original will allow.
+
+'There were in Samarcand numerous families of Zingarri of various
+descriptions:  some were wrestlers, others gladiators, others
+pugilists.  These people were much at variance, so that hostilities
+and battling were continually arising amongst them.  Each band had
+its chief and subordinate officers; and it came to pass that Timour
+and the power which he possessed filled them with dread, for they
+knew that he was aware of their crimes and disorderly way of life.
+Now it was the custom of Timour, on departing upon his expeditions,
+to leave a viceroy in Samarcand; but no sooner had he left the
+city, than forth marched these bands, and giving battle to the
+viceroy, deposed him and took possession of the government, so that
+on the return of Timour he found order broken, confusion reigning,
+and his throne overturned, and then he had much to do in restoring
+things to their former state, and in punishing or pardoning the
+guilty; but no sooner did he depart again to his wars, and to his
+various other concerns, than they broke out into the same excesses,
+and this they repeated no less than three times, and he at length
+laid a plan for their utter extermination, and it was the
+following:- He commenced building a wall, and he summoned unto him
+the people small and great, and he allotted to every man his place,
+and to every workman his duty, and he stationed the Zingarri and
+their chieftains apart; and in one particular spot he placed a band
+of soldiers, and he commanded them to kill whomsoever he should
+send to them; and having done so, he called to him the heads of the
+people, and he filled the cup for them and clothed them in splendid
+vests; and when the turn came to the Zingarri, he likewise pledged
+one of them, and bestowed a vest upon him, and sent him with a
+message to the soldiers, who, as soon as he arrived, tore from him
+his vest, and stabbed him, pouring forth the gold of his heart into
+the pan of destruction, (14) and in this way they continued until
+the last of them was destroyed; and by that blow he exterminated
+their race, and their traces, and from that time forward there were
+no more rebellions in Samarcand.'
+
+It has of late years been one of the favourite theories of the
+learned, that Timour's invasion of Hindostan, and the cruelties
+committed by his savage hordes in that part of the world, caused a
+vast number of Hindoos to abandon their native land, and that the
+Gypsies of the present day are the descendants of those exiles who
+wended their weary way to the West.  Now, provided the above
+passage in the work of Arabschah be entitled to credence, the
+opinion that Timour was the cause of the expatriation and
+subsequent wandering life of these people, must be abandoned as
+untenable.  At the time he is stated by the Arabian writer to have
+annihilated the Gypsy hordes of Samarcand, he had but just
+commenced his career of conquest and devastation, and had not even
+directed his thoughts to the invasion of India; yet at this early
+period of the history of his life, we find families of Zingarri
+established at Samarcand, living much in the same manner as others
+of the race have subsequently done in various towns of Europe and
+the East; but supposing the event here narrated to be a fable, or
+at best a floating legend, it appears singular that, if they left
+their native land to escape from Timour, they should never have
+mentioned in the Western world the name of that scourge of the
+human race, nor detailed the history of their flight and
+sufferings, which assuredly would have procured them sympathy; the
+ravages of Timour being already but too well known in Europe.  That
+they came from India is much easier to prove than that they fled
+before the fierce Mongol.
+
+Such people as the Gypsies, whom the Bishop of Forli in the year
+1422, only sixteen years subsequent to the invasion of India,
+describes as a 'raging rabble, of brutal and animal propensities,'
+(15) are not such as generally abandon their country on foreign
+invasion.
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES OF SPAIN - PART I
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+GITANOS, or Egyptians, is the name by which the Gypsies have been
+most generally known in Spain, in the ancient as well as in the
+modern period, but various other names have been and still are
+applied to them; for example, New Castilians, Germans, and
+Flemings; the first of which titles probably originated after the
+name of Gitano had begun to be considered a term of reproach and
+infamy.  They may have thus designated themselves from an
+unwillingness to utter, when speaking of themselves, the detested
+expression 'Gitano,' a word which seldom escapes their mouths; or
+it may have been applied to them first by the Spaniards, in their
+mutual dealings and communication, as a term less calculated to
+wound their feelings and to beget a spirit of animosity than the
+other; but, however it might have originated, New Castilian, in
+course of time, became a term of little less infamy than Gitano;
+for, by the law of Philip the Fourth, both terms are forbidden to
+be applied to them under severe penalties.
+
+That they were called Germans, may be accounted for, either by the
+supposition that their generic name of Rommany was misunderstood
+and mispronounced by the Spaniards amongst whom they came, or from
+the fact of their having passed through Germany in their way to the
+south, and bearing passports and letters of safety from the various
+German states.  The title of Flemings, by which at the present day
+they are known in various parts of Spain, would probably never have
+been bestowed upon them but from the circumstance of their having
+been designated or believed to be Germans, - as German and Fleming
+are considered by the ignorant as synonymous terms.
+
+Amongst themselves they have three words to distinguish them and
+their race in general:  Zincalo, Romano, and Chai; of the first two
+of which something has been already said.
+
+They likewise call themselves 'Cales,' by which appellation indeed
+they are tolerably well known by the Spaniards, and which is merely
+the plural termination of the compound word Zincalo, and signifies,
+The black men.  Chai is a modification of the word Chal, which, by
+the Gitanos of Estremadura, is applied to Egypt, and in many parts
+of Spain is equivalent to 'Heaven,' and which is perhaps a
+modification of 'Cheros,' the word for heaven in other dialects of
+the Gypsy language.  Thus Chai may denote, The men of Egypt, or,
+The sons of Heaven.  It is, however, right to observe, that amongst
+the Gitanos, the word Chai has frequently no other signification
+than the simple one of 'children.'
+
+It is impossible to state for certainty the exact year of their
+first appearance in Spain; but it is reasonable to presume that it
+was early in the fifteenth century; as in the year 1417 numerous
+bands entered France from the north-east of Europe, and speedily
+spread themselves over the greatest part of that country.  Of these
+wanderers a French author has left the following graphic
+description:  (16)
+
+'On the 17th of April 1427, appeared in Paris twelve penitents of
+Egypt, driven from thence by the Saracens; they brought in their
+company one hundred and twenty persons; they took up their quarters
+in La Chapelle, whither the people flocked in crowds to visit them.
+They had their ears pierced, from which depended a ring of silver;
+their hair was black and crispy, and their women were filthy to a
+degree, and were sorceresses who told fortunes.'
+
+Such were the people who, after traversing France and scaling the
+sides of the Pyrenees, poured down in various bands upon the
+sunburnt plains of Spain.  Wherever they had appeared they had been
+looked upon as a curse and a pestilence, and with much reason.
+Either unwilling or unable to devote themselves to any laborious or
+useful occupation, they came like flights of wasps to prey upon the
+fruits which their more industrious fellow-beings amassed by the
+toil of their hands and the sweat of their foreheads; the natural
+result being, that wherever they arrived, their fellow-creatures
+banded themselves against them.  Terrible laws were enacted soon
+after their appearance in France, calculated to put a stop to their
+frauds and dishonest propensities; wherever their hordes were
+found, they were attacked by the incensed rustics or by the armed
+hand of justice, and those who were not massacred on the spot, or
+could not escape by flight, were, without a shadow of a trial,
+either hanged on the next tree, or sent to serve for life in the
+galleys; or if females or children, either scourged or mutilated.
+
+The consequence of this severity, which, considering the manners
+and spirit of the time, is scarcely to be wondered at, was the
+speedy disappearance of the Gypsies from the soil of France.
+
+Many returned by the way they came, to Germany, Hungary, and the
+woods and forests of Bohemia; but there is little doubt that by far
+the greater portion found a refuge in the Peninsula, a country
+which, though by no means so rich and fertile as the one they had
+quitted, nor offering so wide and ready a field for the exercise of
+those fraudulent arts for which their race had become so infamously
+notorious, was, nevertheless, in many respects, suitable and
+congenial to them.  If there were less gold and silver in the
+purses of the citizens to reward the dexterous handler of the knife
+and scissors amidst the crowd in the market-place; if fewer sides
+of fatted swine graced the ample chimney of the labourer in Spain
+than in the neighbouring country; if fewer beeves bellowed in the
+plains, and fewer sheep bleated upon the hills, there were far
+better opportunities afforded of indulging in wild independence.
+Should the halberded bands of the city be ordered out to quell,
+seize, or exterminate them; should the alcalde of the village cause
+the tocsin to be rung, gathering together the villanos for a
+similar purpose, the wild sierra was generally at hand, which, with
+its winding paths, its caves, its frowning precipices, and ragged
+thickets, would offer to them a secure refuge where they might
+laugh to scorn the rage of their baffled pursuers, and from which
+they might emerge either to fresh districts or to those which they
+had left, to repeat their ravages when opportunity served.
+
+After crossing the Pyrenees, a very short time elapsed before the
+Gypsy hordes had bivouacked in the principal provinces of Spain.
+There can indeed be little doubt, that shortly after their arrival
+they made themselves perfectly acquainted with all the secrets of
+the land, and that there was scarcely a nook or retired corner
+within Spain, from which the smoke of their fires had not arisen,
+or where their cattle had not grazed.  People, however, so acute as
+they have always proverbially been, would scarcely be slow in
+distinguishing the provinces most adapted to their manner of life,
+and most calculated to afford them opportunities of practising
+those arts to which they were mainly indebted for their
+subsistence; the savage hills of Biscay, of Galicia, and the
+Asturias, whose inhabitants were almost as poor as themselves,
+which possessed no superior breed of horses or mules from amongst
+which they might pick and purloin many a gallant beast, and having
+transformed by their dexterous scissors, impose him again upon his
+rightful master for a high price, - such provinces, where,
+moreover, provisions were hard to be obtained, even by pilfering
+hands, could scarcely be supposed to offer strong temptations to
+these roving visitors to settle down in, or to vex and harass by a
+long sojourn.
+
+Valencia and Murcia found far more favour in their eyes; a far more
+fertile soil, and wealthier inhabitants, were better calculated to
+entice them; there was a prospect of plunder, and likewise a
+prospect of safety and refuge, should the dogs of justice be roused
+against them.  If there were the populous town and village in those
+lands, there was likewise the lone waste, and uncultivated spot, to
+which they could retire when danger threatened them.  Still more
+suitable to them must have been La Mancha, a land of tillage, of
+horses, and of mules, skirted by its brown sierra, ever eager to
+afford its shelter to their dusky race.  Equally suitable,
+Estremadura and New Castile; but far, far more, Andalusia, with its
+three kingdoms, Jaen, Granada, and Seville, one of which was still
+possessed by the swarthy Moor, - Andalusia, the land of the proud
+steed and the stubborn mule, the land of the savage sierra and the
+fruitful and cultivated plain:  to Andalusia they hied, in bands of
+thirties and sixties; the hoofs of their asses might be heard
+clattering in the passes of the stony hills; the girls might be
+seen bounding in lascivious dance in the streets of many a town,
+and the beldames standing beneath the eaves telling the 'buena
+ventura' to many a credulous female dupe; the men the while
+chaffered in the fair and market-place with the labourers and
+chalanes, casting significant glances on each other, or exchanging
+a word or two in Rommany, whilst they placed some uncouth animal in
+a particular posture which served to conceal its ugliness from the
+eyes of the chapman.  Yes, of all provinces of Spain, Andalusia was
+the most frequented by the Gitano race, and in Andalusia they most
+abound at the present day, though no longer as restless independent
+wanderers of the fields and hills, but as residents in villages and
+towns, especially in Seville.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+HAVING already stated to the reader at what period and by what
+means these wanderers introduced themselves into Spain, we shall
+now say something concerning their manner of life.
+
+It would appear that, for many years after their arrival in the
+Peninsula, their manners and habits underwent no change; they were
+wanderers, in the strictest sense of the word, and lived much in
+the same way as their brethren exist in the present day in England,
+Russia, and Bessarabia, with the exception perhaps of being more
+reckless, mischievous, and having less respect for the laws; it is
+true that their superiority in wickedness in these points may have
+been more the effect of the moral state of the country in which
+they were, than of any other operating cause.
+
+Arriving in Spain with a predisposition to every species of crime
+and villainy, they were not likely to be improved or reclaimed by
+the example of the people with whom they were about to mix; nor was
+it probable that they would entertain much respect for laws which,
+from time immemorial, have principally served, not to protect the
+honest and useful members of society, but to enrich those entrusted
+with the administration of them.  Thus, if  they came thieves, it
+is not probable that they would become ashamed of the title of
+thief in Spain, where the officers of justice were ever willing to
+shield an offender on receiving the largest portion of the booty
+obtained.  If on their arrival they held the lives of others in
+very low estimation, could it be expected that they would become
+gentle as lambs in a land where blood had its price, and the
+shedder was seldom executed unless he was poor and friendless, and
+unable to cram with ounces of yellow gold the greedy hands of the
+pursuers of blood, - the alguazil and escribano? therefore, if the
+Spanish Gypsies have been more bloody and more wolfishly eager in
+the pursuit of booty than those of their race in most other
+regions, the cause must be attributed to their residence in a
+country unsound in every branch of its civil polity, where right
+has ever been in less esteem, and wrong in less disrepute, than in
+any other part of the world.
+
+However, if the moral state of Spain was not calculated to have a
+favourable effect on the habits and pursuits of the Gypsies, their
+manners were as little calculated to operate beneficially, in any
+point of view, on the country where they had lately arrived.
+Divided into numerous bodies, frequently formidable in point of
+number, their presence was an evil and a curse in whatever quarter
+they directed their steps.  As might be expected, the labourers,
+who in all countries are the most honest, most useful, and
+meritorious class, were the principal sufferers; their mules and
+horses were stolen, carried away to distant fairs, and there
+disposed of, perhaps, to individuals destined to be deprived of
+them in a similar manner; whilst their flocks of sheep and goats
+were laid under requisition to assuage the hungry cravings of these
+thievish cormorants.
+
+It was not uncommon for a large band or tribe to encamp in the
+vicinity of a remote village scantily peopled, and to remain there
+until, like a flight of locusts, they had consumed everything which
+the inhabitants possessed for their support; or until they were
+scared away by the approach of justice, or by an army of rustics
+assembled from the surrounding country.  Then would ensue the
+hurried march; the women and children, mounted on lean but spirited
+asses, would scour along the plains fleeter than the wind; ragged
+and savage-looking men, wielding the scourge and goad, would
+scamper by their side or close behind, whilst perhaps a small party
+on strong horses, armed with rusty matchlocks or sabres, would
+bring up the rear, threatening the distant foe, and now and then
+saluting them with a hoarse blast from the Gypsy horn:-
+
+
+'O, when I sit my courser bold,
+My bantling in my rear,
+And in my hand my musket hold -
+O how they quake with fear!'
+
+
+Let us for a moment suppose some unfortunate traveller, mounted on
+a handsome mule or beast of some value, meeting, unarmed and alone,
+such a rabble rout at the close of eve, in the wildest part, for
+example, of La Mancha; we will suppose that he is journeying from
+Seville to Madrid, and that he has left at a considerable distance
+behind him the gloomy and horrible passes of the Sierra Morena; his
+bosom, which for some time past has been contracted with dreadful
+forebodings, is beginning to expand; his blood, which has been
+congealed in his veins, is beginning to circulate warmly and
+freely; he is fondly anticipating the still distant posada and
+savoury omelet.  The sun is sinking rapidly behind the savage and
+uncouth hills in his rear; he has reached the bottom of a small
+valley, where runs a rivulet at which he allows his tired animal to
+drink; he is about to ascend the side of the hill; his eyes are
+turned upwards; suddenly he beholds strange and uncouth forms at
+the top of the ascent - the sun descending slants its rays upon red
+cloaks, with here and there a turbaned head, or long streaming
+hair.  The traveller hesitates, but reflecting that he is no longer
+in the mountains, and that in the open road there is no danger of
+banditti, he advances.  In a moment he is in the midst of the Gypsy
+group, in a moment there is a general halt; fiery eyes are turned
+upon him replete with an expression which only the eyes of the Roma
+possess, then ensues a jabber in a language or jargon which is
+strange to the ears of the traveller; at last an ugly urchin
+springs from the crupper of a halting mule, and in a lisping accent
+entreats charity in the name of the Virgin and the Majoro.  The
+traveller, with a faltering hand, produces his purse, and is
+proceeding to loosen its strings, but he accomplishes not his
+purpose, for, struck violently by a huge knotted club in an unseen
+hand, he tumbles headlong from his mule.  Next morning a naked
+corse, besmeared with brains and blood, is found by an arriero; and
+within a week a simple cross records the event, according to the
+custom of Spain.
+
+
+'Below there in the dusky pass
+Was wrought a murder dread;
+The murdered fell upon the grass,
+Away the murderer fled.'
+
+
+To many, such a scene, as above described, will appear purely
+imaginary, or at least a mass of exaggeration, but many such
+anecdotes are related by old Spanish writers of these people; they
+traversed the country in gangs; they were what the Spanish law has
+styled Abigeos and Salteadores de Camino, cattle-stealers and
+highwaymen; though, in the latter character, they never rose to any
+considerable eminence.  True it is that they would not hesitate to
+attack or even murder the unarmed and defenceless traveller, when
+they felt assured of obtaining booty with little or no risk to
+themselves; but they were not by constitution adapted to rival
+those bold and daring banditti of whom so many terrible anecdotes
+are related in Spain and Italy, and who have acquired their renown
+by the dauntless daring which they have invariably displayed in the
+pursuit of plunder.
+
+Besides trafficking in horses and mules, and now and then attacking
+and plundering travellers upon the highway, the Gypsies of Spain
+appear, from a very early period, to have plied occasionally the
+trade of the blacksmith, and to have worked in iron, forming rude
+implements of domestic and agricultural use, which they disposed
+of, either for provisions or money, in the neighbourhood of those
+places where they had taken up their temporary residence.  As their
+bands were composed of numerous individuals, there is no
+improbability in assuming that to every member was allotted that
+branch of labour in which he was most calculated to excel.  The
+most important, and that which required the greatest share of
+cunning and address, was undoubtedly that of the chalan or jockey,
+who frequented the fairs with the beasts which he had obtained by
+various means, but generally by theft.  Highway robbery, though
+occasionally committed by all jointly or severally, was probably
+the peculiar department of the boldest spirits of the gang; whilst
+wielding the hammer and tongs was abandoned to those who, though
+possessed of athletic forms, were perhaps, like Vulcan, lame, or
+from some particular cause, moral or physical, unsuited for the
+other two very respectable avocations.  The forge was generally
+placed in the heart of some mountain abounding in wood; the gaunt
+smiths felled a tree, perhaps with the very axes which their own
+sturdy hands had hammered at a former period; with the wood thus
+procured they prepared the charcoal which their labour demanded.
+Everything is in readiness; the bellows puff until the coal is
+excited to a furious glow; the metal, hot, pliant, and ductile, is
+laid on the anvil, round which stands the Cyclop group, their
+hammers upraised; down they descend successively, one, two, three,
+the sparks are scattered on every side.  The sparks -
+
+
+'More than a hundred lovely daughters I see produced at one time,
+fiery as roses:  in one moment they expire gracefully
+circumvolving.' (17)
+
+
+The anvil rings beneath the thundering stroke, hour succeeds hour,
+and still endures the hard sullen toil.
+
+One of the most remarkable features in the history of Gypsies is
+the striking similarity of their pursuits in every region of the
+globe to which they have penetrated; they are not merely alike in
+limb and in feature, in the cast and expression of the eye, in the
+colour of the hair, in their walk and gait, but everywhere they
+seem to exhibit the same tendencies, and to hunt for their bread by
+the same means, as if they were not of the human but rather of the
+animal species, and in lieu of reason were endowed with a kind of
+instinct which assists them to a very limited extent and no
+farther.
+
+In no part of the world are they found engaged in the cultivation
+of the earth, or in the service of a regular master; but in all
+lands they are jockeys, or thieves, or cheats; and if ever they
+devote themselves to any toil or trade, it is assuredly in every
+material point one and the same.  We have found them above, in the
+heart of a wild mountain, hammering iron, and manufacturing from it
+instruments either for their own use or that of the neighbouring
+towns and villages.  They may be seen employed in a similar manner
+in the plains of Russia, or in the bosom of its eternal forests;
+and whoever inspects the site where a horde of Gypsies has
+encamped, in the grassy lanes beneath the hazel bushes of merry
+England, is generally sure to find relics of tin and other metal,
+avouching that they have there been exercising the arts of the
+tinker or smith.  Perhaps nothing speaks more forcibly for the
+antiquity of this sect or caste than the tenacity with which they
+have uniformly preserved their peculiar customs since the period of
+their becoming generally known; for, unless their habits had become
+a part of their nature, which could only have been effected by a
+strict devotion to them through a long succession of generations,
+it is not to be supposed that after their arrival in civilised
+Europe they would have retained and cherished them precisely in the
+same manner in the various countries where they found an asylum.
+
+Each band or family of the Spanish Gypsies had its Captain, or, as
+he was generally designated, its Count.  Don Juan de Quinones, who,
+in a small volume published in 1632, has written some details
+respecting their way of life, says:  'They roam about, divided into
+families and troops, each of which has its head or Count; and to
+fill this office they choose the most valiant and courageous
+individual amongst them, and the one endowed with the greatest
+strength.  He must at the same time be crafty and sagacious, and
+adapted in every respect to govern them.  It is he who settles
+their differences and disputes, even when they are residing in a
+place where there is a regular justice.  He heads them at night
+when they go out to plunder the flocks, or to rob travellers on the
+highway; and whatever they steal or plunder they divide amongst
+them, always allowing the captain a third part of the whole.'
+
+These Counts, being elected for such qualities as promised to be
+useful to their troop or family, were consequently liable to be
+deposed if at any time their conduct was not calculated to afford
+satisfaction to their subjects.  The office was not hereditary, and
+though it carried along with it partial privileges, was both
+toilsome and dangerous.  Should the plans for plunder, which it was
+the duty of the Count to form, miscarry in the attempt to execute
+them; should individuals of the gang fall into the hand of justice,
+and the Count be unable to devise a method to save their lives or
+obtain their liberty, the blame was cast at the Count's door, and
+he was in considerable danger of being deprived of his insignia of
+authority, which consisted not so much in ornaments or in dress, as
+in hawks and hounds with which the Senor Count took the diversion
+of hunting when he thought proper.  As the ground which he hunted
+over was not his own, he incurred some danger of coming in contact
+with the lord of the soil, attended, perhaps, by his armed
+followers.  There is a tradition (rather apocryphal, it is true),
+that a Gitano chief, once pursuing this amusement, was encountered
+by a real Count, who is styled Count Pepe.  An engagement ensued
+between the two parties, which ended in the Gypsies being worsted,
+and their chief left dying on the field.  The slain chief leaves a
+son, who, at the instigation of his mother, steals the infant heir
+of his father's enemy, who, reared up amongst the Gypsies, becomes
+a chief, and, in process of time, hunting over the same ground,
+slays Count Pepe in the very spot where the blood of the Gypsy had
+been poured out.  This tradition is alluded to in the following
+stanza:-
+
+
+'I have a gallant mare in stall;
+My mother gave that mare
+That I might seek Count Pepe's hall
+And steal his son and heir.'
+
+
+Martin Del Rio, in his TRACTATUS DE MAGIA, speaks of the Gypsies
+and their Counts to the following effect:  'When, in the year 1584,
+I was marching in Spain with the regiment, a multitude of these
+wretches were infesting the fields.  It happened that the feast of
+Corpus Domini was being celebrated, and they requested to be
+admitted into the town, that they might dance in honour of the
+sacrifice, as was customary; they did so, but about midday a great
+tumult arose owing to the many thefts which the women committed,
+whereupon they fled out of the suburbs, and assembled about St.
+Mark's, the magnificent mansion and hospital of the knights of St.
+James, where the ministers of justice attempting to seize them were
+repulsed by force of arms; nevertheless, all of a sudden, and I
+know not how, everything was hushed up.  At this time they had a
+Count, a fellow who spoke the Castilian idiom with as much purity
+as if he had been a native of Toledo; he was acquainted with all
+the ports of Spain, and all the difficult and broken ground of the
+provinces.  He knew the exact strength of every city, and who were
+the principal people in each, and the exact amount of their
+property; there was nothing relating to the state, however secret,
+that he was not acquainted with; nor did he make a mystery of his
+knowledge, but publicly boasted of it.'
+
+From the passage quoted above, we learn that the Gitanos in the
+ancient times were considered as foreigners who prowled about the
+country; indeed, in many of the laws which at various times have
+been promulgated against them, they are spoken of as Egyptians, and
+as such commanded to leave Spain, and return to their native
+country; at one time they undoubtedly were foreigners in Spain,
+foreigners by birth, foreigners by language but at the time they
+are mentioned by the worthy Del Rio, they were certainly not
+entitled to the appellation.  True it is that they spoke a language
+amongst themselves, unintelligible to the rest of the Spaniards,
+from whom they differed considerably in feature and complexion, as
+they still do; but if being born in a country, and being bred
+there, constitute a right to be considered a native of that
+country, they had as much claim to the appellation of Spaniards as
+the worthy author himself.  Del Rio mentions, as a remarkable
+circumstance, the fact of the Gypsy Count speaking Castilian with
+as much purity as a native of Toledo, whereas it is by no means
+improbable that the individual in question was a native of that
+town; but the truth is, at the time we are speaking of, they were
+generally believed to be not only foreigners, but by means of
+sorcery to have acquired the power of speaking all languages with
+equal facility; and Del Rio, who was a believer in magic, and wrote
+one of the most curious and erudite treatises on the subject ever
+penned, had perhaps adopted that idea, which possibly originated
+from their speaking most of the languages and dialects of the
+Peninsula, which they picked up in their wanderings.  That the
+Gypsy chief was so well acquainted with every town of Spain, and
+the broken and difficult ground, can cause but little surprise,
+when we reflect that the life which the Gypsies led was one above
+all others calculated to afford them that knowledge.  They were
+continually at variance with justice; they were frequently obliged
+to seek shelter in the inmost recesses of the hills; and when their
+thievish pursuits led them to the cities, they naturally made
+themselves acquainted with the names of the principal individuals,
+in hopes of plundering them.  Doubtless the chief possessed all
+this species of knowledge in a superior degree, as it was his
+courage, acuteness, and experience alone which placed him at the
+head of his tribe, though Del Rio from this circumstance wishes to
+infer that the Gitanos were spies sent by foreign foes, and with
+some simplicity inquires, 'Quo ant cui rei haec curiosa exploratio?
+nonne compescenda vagamundorum haec curiositas, etiam si solum
+peregrini et inculpatae vitae.'
+
+With the Counts rested the management and direction of these
+remarkable societies; it was they who determined their marches,
+counter-marches, advances, and retreats; what was to be attempted
+or avoided; what individuals were to be admitted into the
+fellowship and privileges of the Gitanos, or who were to be
+excluded from their society; they settled disputes and sat in
+judgment over offences.  The greatest crimes, according to the
+Gypsy code, were a quarrelsome disposition, and revealing the
+secrets of the brotherhood.  By this code the members were
+forbidden to eat, drink, or sleep in the house of a Busno, which
+signifies any person who is not of the sect of the Gypsies, or to
+marry out of that sect; they were likewise not to teach the
+language of Roma to any but those who, by birth or inauguration,
+belonged to that sect; they were enjoined to relieve their brethren
+in distress at any expense or peril; they were to use a peculiar
+dress, which is frequently alluded to in the Spanish laws, but the
+particulars of which are not stated; and they were to cultivate the
+gift of speech to the utmost possible extent, and never to lose
+anything which might be obtained by a loose and deceiving tongue,
+to encourage which they had many excellent proverbs, for example -
+
+'The poor fool who closes his mouth never winneth a dollar.'
+
+'The river which runneth with sound bears along with it stones and
+water.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos not unfrequently made their appearance in considerable
+numbers, so as to be able to bid defiance to any force which could
+be assembled against them on a sudden; whole districts thus became
+a prey to them, and were plundered and devastated.
+
+It is said that, in the year 1618, more than eight hundred of these
+wretches scoured the country between Castile and Aragon, committing
+the most enormous crimes.  The royal council despatched regular
+troops against them, who experienced some difficulty in dispersing
+them.
+
+But we now proceed to touch upon an event which forms an era in the
+history of the Gitanos of Spain, and which for wildness and
+singularity throws all other events connected with them and their
+race, wherever found, entirely into the shade.
+
+
+THE BOOKSELLER OF LOGRONO
+
+
+About the middle of the sixteenth century, there resided one
+Francisco Alvarez in the city of Logrono, the chief town of Rioja,
+a province which borders on Aragon.  He was a man above the middle
+age, sober, reserved, and in general absorbed in thought; he lived
+near the great church, and obtained a livelihood by selling printed
+books and manuscripts in a small shop.  He was a very learned man,
+and was continually reading in the books which he was in the habit
+of selling, and some of these books were in foreign tongues and
+characters, so foreign, indeed, that none but himself and some of
+his friends, the canons, could understand them; he was much visited
+by the clergy, who were his principal customers, and took much
+pleasure in listening to his discourse.
+
+He had been a considerable traveller in his youth, and had wandered
+through all Spain, visiting the various provinces and the most
+remarkable cities.  It was likewise said that he had visited Italy
+and Barbary.  He was, however, invariably silent with respect to
+his travels, and whenever the subject was mentioned to him, the
+gloom and melancholy increased which usually clouded his features.
+
+One day, in the commencement of autumn, he was visited by a priest
+with whom he had long been intimate, and for whom he had always
+displayed a greater respect and liking than for any other
+acquaintance.  The ecclesiastic found him even more sad than usual,
+and there was a haggard paleness upon his countenance which alarmed
+his visitor.  The good priest made affectionate inquiries
+respecting the health of his friend, and whether anything had of
+late occurred to give him uneasiness; adding at the same time, that
+he had long suspected that some secret lay heavy upon his mind,
+which he now conjured him to reveal, as life was uncertain, and it
+was very possible that he might be quickly summoned from earth into
+the presence of his Maker.
+
+The bookseller continued for some time in gloomy meditation, till
+at last he broke silence in these words:- 'It is true I have a
+secret which weighs heavy upon my mind, and which I am still loth
+to reveal; but I have a presentiment that my end is approaching,
+and that a heavy misfortune is about to fall upon this city:  I
+will therefore unburden myself, for it were now a sin to remain
+silent.
+
+'I am, as you are aware, a native of this town, which I first left
+when I went to acquire an education at Salamanca; I continued there
+until I became a licentiate, when I quitted the university and
+strolled through Spain, supporting myself in general by touching
+the guitar, according to the practice of penniless students; my
+adventures were numerous, and I frequently experienced great
+poverty.  Once, whilst making my way from Toledo to Andalusia
+through the wild mountains, I fell in with and was made captive by
+a band of the people called Gitanos, or wandering Egyptians; they
+in general lived amongst these wilds, and plundered or murdered
+every person whom they met.  I should probably have been
+assassinated by them, but my skill in music perhaps saved my life.
+I continued with them a considerable time, till at last they
+persuaded me to become one of them, whereupon I was inaugurated
+into their society with many strange and horrid ceremonies, and
+having thus become a Gitano, I went with them to plunder and
+assassinate upon the roads.
+
+'The Count or head man of these Gitanos had an only daughter, about
+my own age; she was very beautiful, but, at the same time,
+exceedingly strong and robust; this Gitana was given to me as a
+wife or cadjee, and I lived with her several years, and she bore me
+children.
+
+'My wife was an arrant Gitana, and in her all the wickedness of her
+race seemed to be concentrated.  At last her father was killed in
+an affray with the troopers of the Hermandad, whereupon my wife and
+myself succeeded to the authority which he had formerly exercised
+in the tribe.  We had at first loved each other, but at last the
+Gitano life, with its accompanying wickedness, becoming hateful to
+my eyes, my wife, who was not slow in perceiving my altered
+disposition, conceived for me the most deadly hatred; apprehending
+that I meditated withdrawing myself from the society, and perhaps
+betraying the secrets of the band, she formed a conspiracy against
+me, and, at one time, being opposite the Moorish coast, I was
+seized and bound by the other Gitanos, conveyed across the sea, and
+delivered as a slave into the hands of the Moors.
+
+'I continued for a long time in slavery in various parts of Morocco
+and Fez, until I was at length redeemed from my state of bondage by
+a missionary friar who paid my ransom.  With him I shortly after
+departed for Italy, of which he was a native.  In that country I
+remained some years, until a longing to revisit my native land
+seized me, when I returned to Spain and established myself here,
+where I have since lived by vending books, many of which I brought
+from the strange lands which I visited.  I kept my history,
+however, a profound secret, being afraid of exposing myself to the
+laws in force against the Gitanos, to which I should instantly
+become amenable, were it once known that I had at any time been a
+member of this detestable sect.
+
+'My present wretchedness, of which you have demanded the cause,
+dates from yesterday; I had been on a short journey to the
+Augustine convent, which stands on the plain in the direction of
+Saragossa, carrying with me an Arabian book, which a learned monk
+was desirous of seeing.  Night overtook me ere I could return.  I
+speedily lost my way, and wandered about until I came near a
+dilapidated edifice with which I was acquainted; I was about to
+proceed in the direction of the town, when I heard voices within
+the ruined walls; I listened, and recognised the language of the
+abhorred Gitanos; I was about to fly, when a word arrested me.  It
+was Drao, which in their tongue signifies the horrid poison with
+which this race are in the habit of destroying the cattle; they now
+said that the men of Logrono should rue the Drao which they had
+been casting.  I heard no more, but fled.  What increased my fear
+was, that in the words spoken, I thought I recognised the peculiar
+jargon of my own tribe; I repeat, that I believe some horrible
+misfortune is overhanging this city, and that my own days are
+numbered.'
+
+The priest, having conversed with him for some time upon particular
+points of the history that he had related, took his leave, advising
+him to compose his spirits, as he saw no reason why he should
+indulge in such gloomy forebodings.
+
+The very next day a sickness broke out in the town of Logrono.  It
+was one of a peculiar kind; unlike most others, it did not arise by
+slow and gradual degrees, but at once appeared in full violence, in
+the shape of a terrific epidemic.  Dizziness in the head was the
+first symptom:  then convulsive retchings, followed by a dreadful
+struggle between life and death, which generally terminated in
+favour of the grim destroyer.  The bodies, after the spirit which
+animated them had taken flight, were frightfully swollen, and
+exhibited a dark blue colour, checkered with crimson spots.
+Nothing was heard within the houses or the streets, but groans of
+agony; no remedy was at hand, and the powers of medicine were
+exhausted in vain upon this terrible pest; so that within a few
+days the greatest part of the inhabitants of Logrono had perished.
+The bookseller had not been seen since the commencement of this
+frightful visitation.
+
+Once, at the dead of night, a knock was heard at the door of the
+priest, of whom we have already spoken; the priest himself
+staggered to the door, and opened it, - he was the only one who
+remained alive in the house, and was himself slowly recovering from
+the malady which had destroyed all the other inmates; a wild
+spectral-looking figure presented itself to his eye - it was his
+friend Alvarez.  Both went into the house, when the bookseller,
+glancing gloomily on the wasted features of the priest, exclaimed,
+'You too, I see, amongst others, have cause to rue the Drao which
+the Gitanos have cast.  Know,' he continued, 'that in order to
+accomplish a detestable plan, the fountains of Logrono have been
+poisoned by emissaries of the roving bands, who are now assembled
+in the neighbourhood.  On the first appearance of the disorder,
+from which I happily escaped by tasting the water of a private
+fountain, which I possess in my own house, I instantly recognised
+the effects of the poison of the Gitanos, brought by their
+ancestors from the isles of the Indian sea; and suspecting their
+intentions, I disguised myself as a Gitano, and went forth in the
+hope of being able to act as a spy upon their actions.  I have been
+successful, and am at present thoroughly acquainted with their
+designs.  They intended, from the first, to sack the town, as soon
+as it should have been emptied of its defenders.
+
+'Midday, to-morrow, is the hour in which they have determined to
+make the attempt.  There is no time to be lost; let us, therefore,
+warn those of our townsmen who still survive, in order that they
+may make preparations for their defence.'
+
+Whereupon the two friends proceeded to the chief magistrate, who
+had been but slightly affected by the disorder; he heard the tale
+of the bookseller with horror and astonishment, and instantly took
+the best measures possible for frustrating the designs of the
+Gitanos; all the men capable of bearing arms in Logrono were
+assembled, and weapons of every description put in their hands.  By
+the advice of the bookseller all the gates of the town were shut,
+with the exception of the principal one; and the little band of
+defenders, which barely amounted to sixty men, was stationed in the
+great square, to which, he said, it was the intention of the
+Gitanos to penetrate in the first instance, and then, dividing
+themselves into various parties, to sack the place.  The bookseller
+was, by general desire, constituted leader of the guardians of the
+town.
+
+It was considerably past noon; the sky was overcast, and tempest
+clouds, fraught with lightning and thunder, were hanging black and
+horrid over the town of Logrono.  The little troop, resting on
+their arms, stood awaiting the arrival of their unnatural enemies;
+rage fired their minds as they thought of the deaths of their
+fathers, their sons, and their dearest relatives, who had perished,
+not by the hand of God, but, like infected cattle, by the hellish
+arts of Egyptian sorcerers.  They longed for their appearance,
+determined to wreak upon them a bloody revenge; not a word was
+uttered, and profound silence reigned around, only interrupted by
+the occasional muttering of the thunder-clouds.  Suddenly, Alvarez,
+who had been intently listening, raised his hand with a significant
+gesture; presently, a sound was heard - a rustling like the waving
+of trees, or the rushing of distant water; it gradually increased,
+and seemed to proceed from the narrow street which led from the
+principal gate into the square.  All eyes were turned in that
+direction. . . .
+
+That night there was repique or ringing of bells in the towers of
+Logrono, and the few priests who had escaped from the pestilence
+sang litanies to God and the Virgin for the salvation of the town
+from the hands of the heathen.  The attempt of the Gitanos had been
+most signally defeated, and the great square and the street were
+strewn with their corpses.  Oh! what frightful objects:  there lay
+grim men more black than mulattos, with fury and rage in their
+stiffened features; wild women in extraordinary dresses, their
+hair, black and long as the tail of the horse, spread all
+dishevelled upon the ground; and gaunt and naked children grasping
+knives and daggers in their tiny hands.  Of the patriotic troop not
+one appeared to have fallen; and when, after their enemies had
+retreated with howlings of fiendish despair, they told their
+numbers, only one man was missing, who was never seen again, and
+that man was Alvarez.
+
+In the midst of the combat, the tempest, which had for a long time
+been gathering, burst over Logrono, in lightning, thunder,
+darkness, and vehement hail.
+
+A man of the town asserted that the last time he had seen Alvarez,
+the latter was far in advance of his companions, defending himself
+desperately against three powerful young heathen, who seemed to be
+acting under the direction of a tall woman who stood nigh, covered
+with barbaric ornaments, and wearing on her head a rude silver
+crown. (18)
+
+Such is the tale of the Bookseller of Logrono, and such is the
+narrative of the attempt of the Gitanos to sack the town in the
+time of pestilence, which is alluded to by many Spanish authors,
+but more particularly by the learned Francisco de Cordova, in his
+DIDASCALIA, one of the most curious and instructive books within
+the circle of universal literature.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+THE Moors, after their subjugation, and previous to their expulsion
+from Spain, generally resided apart, principally in the suburbs of
+the towns, where they kept each other in countenance, being hated
+and despised by the Spaniards, and persecuted on all occasions.  By
+this means they preserved, to a certain extent, the Arabic
+language, though the use of it was strictly forbidden, and
+encouraged each other in the secret exercise of the rites of the
+Mohammedan religion, so that, until the moment of their final
+expulsion, they continued Moors in almost every sense of the word.
+Such places were called Morerias, or quarters of the Moors.
+
+In like manner there were Gitanerias, or quarters of the Gitanos,
+in many of the towns of Spain; and in more than one instance
+particular barrios or districts are still known by this name,
+though the Gitanos themselves have long since disappeared.  Even in
+the town of Oviedo, in the heart of the Asturias, a province never
+famous for Gitanos, there is a place called the Gitaneria, though
+no Gitano has been known to reside in the town within the memory of
+man, nor indeed been seen, save, perhaps, as a chance visitor at a
+fair.
+
+The exact period when the Gitanos first formed these colonies
+within the towns is not known; the laws, however, which commanded
+them to abandon their wandering life under penalty of banishment
+and death, and to become stationary in towns, may have induced them
+first to take such a step.  By the first of these laws, which was
+made by Ferdinand and Isabella as far back as the year 1499, they
+are commanded to seek out for themselves masters.  This injunction
+they utterly disregarded.  Some of them for fear of the law, or
+from the hope of bettering their condition, may have settled down
+in the towns, cities, and villages for a time, but to expect that a
+people, in whose bosoms was so deeply rooted the love of lawless
+independence, would subject themselves to the yoke of servitude,
+from any motive whatever, was going too far; as well might it have
+been expected, according to the words of the great poet of Persia,
+THAT THEY WOULD HAVE WASHED THEIR SKINS WHITE.
+
+In these Gitanerias, therefore, many Gypsy families resided, but
+ever in the Gypsy fashion, in filth and in misery, with little of
+the fear of man, and nothing of the fear of God before their eyes.
+Here the swarthy children basked naked in the sun before the doors;
+here the women prepared love draughts, or told the buena ventura;
+and here the men plied the trade of the blacksmith, a forbidden
+occupation, or prepared for sale, by disguising them, animals
+stolen by themselves or their accomplices.  In these places were
+harboured the strange Gitanos on their arrival, and here were
+discussed in the Rommany language, which, like the Arabic, was
+forbidden under severe penalties, plans of fraud and plunder, which
+were perhaps intended to be carried into effect in a distant
+province and a distant city.
+
+The great body, however, of the Gypsy race in Spain continued
+independent wanderers of the plains and the mountains, and indeed
+the denizens of the Gitanerias were continually sallying forth,
+either for the purpose of reuniting themselves with the wandering
+tribes, or of strolling about from town to town, and from fair to
+fair.  Hence the continual complaints in the Spanish laws against
+the Gitanos who have left their places of domicile, from doing
+which they were interdicted, even as they were interdicted from
+speaking their language and following the occupations of the
+blacksmith and horse-dealer, in which they still persist even at
+the present day.
+
+The Gitanerias at evening fall were frequently resorted to by
+individuals widely differing in station from the inmates of these
+places - we allude to the young and dissolute nobility and hidalgos
+of Spain.  This was generally the time of mirth and festival, and
+the Gitanos, male and female, danced and sang in the Gypsy fashion
+beneath the smile of the moon.  The Gypsy women and girls were the
+principal attractions to these visitors; wild and singular as these
+females are in their appearance, there can be no doubt, for the
+fact has been frequently proved, that they are capable of exciting
+passion of the most ardent description, particularly in the bosoms
+of those who are not of their race, which passion of course becomes
+the more violent when the almost utter impossibility of gratifying
+it is known.  No females in the world can be more licentious in
+word and gesture, in dance and in song, than the Gitanas; but there
+they stop:  and so of old, if their titled visitors presumed to
+seek for more, an unsheathed dagger or gleaming knife speedily
+repulsed those who expected that the gem most dear amongst the sect
+of the Roma was within the reach of a Busno.
+
+Such visitors, however, were always encouraged to a certain point,
+and by this and various other means the Gitanos acquired
+connections which frequently stood them in good stead in the hour
+of need.  What availed it to the honest labourers of the
+neighbourhood, or the citizens of the town, to make complaints to
+the corregidor concerning the thefts and frauds committed by the
+Gitanos, when perhaps the sons of that very corregidor frequented
+the nightly dances at the Gitaneria, and were deeply enamoured with
+some of the dark-eyed singing-girls?  What availed making
+complaints, when perhaps a Gypsy sibyl, the mother of those very
+girls, had free admission to the house of the corregidor at all
+times and seasons, and spaed the good fortune to his daughters,
+promising them counts and dukes, and Andalusian knights in
+marriage, or prepared philtres for his lady by which she was always
+to reign supreme in the affections of her husband?  And, above all,
+what availed it to the plundered party to complain that his mule or
+horse had been stolen, when the Gitano robber, perhaps the husband
+of the sibyl and the father of the black-eyed Gitanillas, was at
+that moment actually in treaty with my lord the corregidor himself
+for supplying him with some splendid thick-maned, long-tailed steed
+at a small price, to be obtained, as the reader may well suppose,
+by an infraction of the laws?  The favour and protection which the
+Gitanos experienced from people of high rank is alluded to in the
+Spanish laws, and can only be accounted for by the motives above
+detailed.
+
+The Gitanerias were soon considered as public nuisances, on which
+account the Gitanos were forbidden to live together in particular
+parts of the town, to hold meetings, and even to intermarry with
+each other; yet it does not appear that the Gitanerias were ever
+suppressed by the arm of the law, as many still exist where these
+singular beings 'marry and are given in marriage,' and meet
+together to discuss their affairs, which, in their opinion, never
+flourish unless those of their fellow-creatures suffer.  So much
+for the Gitanerias, or Gypsy colonies in the towns of Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+'LOS Gitanos son muy malos! - the Gypsies are very bad people,'
+said the Spaniards of old times.  They are cheats; they are
+highwaymen; they practise sorcery; and, lest the catalogue of their
+offences should be incomplete, a formal charge of cannibalism was
+brought against them.  Cheats they have always been, and
+highwaymen, and if not sorcerers, they have always done their best
+to merit that appellation, by arrogating to themselves supernatural
+powers; but that they were addicted to cannibalism is a matter not
+so easily proved.
+
+Their principal accuser was Don Juan de Quinones, who, in the work
+from which we have already had occasion to quote, gives several
+anecdotes illustrative of their cannibal propensities.  Most of
+these anecdotes, however, are so highly absurd, that none but the
+very credulous could ever have vouchsafed them the slightest
+credit.  This author is particularly fond of speaking of a certain
+juez, or judge, called Don Martin Fajardo, who seems to have been
+an arrant Gypsy-hunter, and was probably a member of the ancient
+family of the Fajardos, which still flourishes in Estremadura, and
+with individuals of which we are acquainted.  So it came to pass
+that this personage was, in the year 1629, at Jaraicejo, in
+Estremadura, or, as it is written in the little book in question,
+Zaraizejo, in the capacity of judge; a zealous one he undoubtedly
+was.
+
+A very strange place is this same Jaraicejo, a small ruinous town
+or village, situated on a rising ground, with a very wild country
+all about it.  The road from Badajoz to Madrid passes through it;
+and about two leagues distant, in the direction of Madrid, is the
+famous mountain pass of Mirabete, from the top of which you enjoy a
+most picturesque view across the Tagus, which flows below, as far
+as the huge mountains of Plasencia, the tops of which are generally
+covered with snow.
+
+So this Don Martin Fajardo, judge, being at Jaraicejo, laid his
+claw upon four Gitanos, and having nothing, as it appears, to
+accuse them of, except being Gitanos, put them to the torture, and
+made them accuse themselves, which they did; for, on the first
+appeal which was made to the rack, they confessed that they had
+murdered a female Gypsy in the forest of Las Gamas, and had there
+eaten her. . . .
+
+I am myself well acquainted with this same forest of Las Gamas,
+which lies between Jaraicejo and Trujillo; it abounds with chestnut
+and cork trees, and is a place very well suited either for the
+purpose of murder or cannibalism.  It will be as well to observe
+that I visited it in company with a band of Gitanos, who bivouacked
+there, and cooked their supper, which however did not consist of
+human flesh, but of a puchera, the ingredients of which were beef,
+bacon, garbanzos, and berdolaga, or field-pease and purslain, -
+therefore I myself can bear testimony that there is such a forest
+as Las Gamas, and that it is frequented occasionally by Gypsies, by
+which two points are established by far the most important to the
+history in question, or so at least it would be thought in Spain,
+for being sure of the forest and the Gypsies, few would be
+incredulous enough to doubt the facts of the murder and
+cannibalism. . . .
+
+On being put to the rack a second time, the Gitanos confessed that
+they had likewise murdered and eaten a female pilgrim in the forest
+aforesaid; and on being tortured yet again, that they had served in
+the same manner, and in the same forest, a friar of the order of
+San Francisco, whereupon they were released from the rack and
+executed.  This is one of the anecdotes of Quinones.
+
+And it came to pass, moreover, that the said Fajardo, being in the
+town of Montijo, was told by the alcalde, that a certain inhabitant
+of that place had some time previous lost a mare; and wandering
+about the plains in quest of her, he arrived at a place called
+Arroyo el Puerco, where stood a ruined house, on entering which he
+found various Gitanos employed in preparing their dinner, which
+consisted of a quarter of a human body, which was being roasted
+before a huge fire:  the result, however, we are not told; whether
+the Gypsies were angry at being disturbed in their cookery, or
+whether the man of the mare departed unobserved.
+
+Quinones, in continuation, states in his book that he learned (he
+does not say from whom, but probably from Fajardo) that there was a
+shepherd of the city of Gaudix, who once lost his way in the wild
+sierra of Gadol:  night came on, and the wind blew cold:  he
+wandered about until he descried a light in the distance, towards
+which he bent his way, supposing it to be a fire kindled by
+shepherds:  on arriving at the spot, however, he found a whole
+tribe of Gypsies, who were roasting the half of a man, the other
+half being hung on a cork-tree:  the Gypsies welcomed him very
+heartily, and requested him to be seated at the fire and to sup
+with them; but he presently heard them whisper to each other, 'this
+is a fine fat fellow,' from which he suspected that they were
+meditating a design upon his body:  whereupon, feeling himself
+sleepy, he made as if he were seeking a spot where to lie, and
+suddenly darted headlong down the mountain-side, and escaped from
+their hands without breaking his neck.
+
+These anecdotes scarcely deserve comment; first we have the
+statement of Fajardo, the fool or knave who tortures wretches, and
+then puts them to death for the crimes with which they have taxed
+themselves whilst undergoing the agony of the rack, probably with
+the hope of obtaining a moment's respite; last comes the tale of
+the shepherd, who is invited by Gypsies on a mountain at night to
+partake of a supper of human flesh, and who runs away from them on
+hearing them talk of the fatness of his own body, as if cannibal
+robbers detected in their orgies by a single interloper would have
+afforded him a chance of escaping.  Such tales cannot be true. (19)
+
+Cases of cannibalism are said to have occurred in Hungary amongst
+the Gypsies; indeed, the whole race, in that country, has been
+accused of cannibalism, to which we have alluded whilst speaking of
+the Chingany:  it is very probable, however, that they were quite
+innocent of this odious practice, and that the accusation had its
+origin in popular prejudice, or in the fact of their foul feeding,
+and their seldom rejecting carrion or offal of any description.
+
+The Gazette of Frankfort for the year 1782, Nos. 157 and 207,
+states that one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged
+with this practice; and that the Empress Teresa sent commissioners
+to inquire into the facts of the accusation, who discovered that
+they were true; whereupon the empress published a law to oblige all
+the Gypsies in her dominions to become stationary, which, however,
+had no effect.
+
+Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own knowledge.
+
+After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a
+few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet.  I believe that it
+has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are
+perfectly indifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they
+can appease their hunger; and that they have no objection to
+partake of the carcasses of animals which have died a natural
+death, and have been left to putrefy by the roadside; moreover,
+that they use for food all kinds of reptiles and vermin which they
+can lay their hands upon.
+
+In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same time
+it must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of the
+Gypsies in regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to
+favour the supposition.  This observation chiefly holds good with
+respect to those of the Gypsy race who still continue in a
+wandering state, and who, doubtless, retain more of the ways and
+customs of their forefathers than those who have adopted a
+stationary life.  There can be no doubt that the wanderers amongst
+the Gypsy race are occasionally seen to feast upon carcasses of
+cattle which have been abandoned to the birds of the air, yet it
+would be wrong, from this fact, to conclude that the Gypsies were
+habitual devourers of carrion.  Carrion it is true they may
+occasionally devour, from want of better food, but many of these
+carcasses are not in reality the carrion which they appear, but are
+the bodies of animals which the Gypsies have themselves killed by
+casting drao, in hope that the flesh may eventually be abandoned to
+them.  It is utterly useless to write about the habits of the
+Gypsies, especially of the wandering tribes, unless you have lived
+long and intimately with them; and unhappily, up to the present
+time, all the books which have been published concerning them have
+been written by those who have introduced themselves into their
+society for a few hours, and from what they have seen or heard
+consider themselves competent to give the world an idea of the
+manners and customs of the mysterious Rommany:  thus, because they
+have been known to beg the carcass of a hog which they themselves
+have poisoned, it has been asserted that they prefer carrion which
+has perished of sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because
+they have been seen to make a ragout of boror (SNAILS), and to
+roast a hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that
+reptiles of every description form a part of their cuisine.  It is
+high time to undeceive the Gentiles on these points.  Know, then, O
+Gentile, whether thou be from the land of the Gorgios (20) or the
+Busne (21), that the very Gypsies who consider a ragout of snails a
+delicious dish will not touch an eel, because it bears resemblance
+to a SNAKE; and that those who will feast on a roasted hedgehog
+could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel, a delicious and
+wholesome species of game, living on the purest and most nutritious
+food which the fields and forests can supply.  I myself, while
+living among the Roms of England, have been regarded almost in the
+light of a cannibal for cooking the latter animal and preferring it
+to hotchiwitchu barbecued, or ragout of boror.  'You are but half
+Rommany, brother,' they would say, 'and you feed gorgiko-nes (LIKE
+A GENTILE), even as you talk.  Tchachipen (IN TRUTH), if we did not
+know you to be of the Mecralliskoe rat (ROYAL BLOOD) of Pharaoh, we
+should be justified in driving you forth as a juggel-mush (DOG
+MAN), one more fitted to keep company with wild beasts and Gorgios
+than gentle Rommanys.'
+
+No person can read the present volume without perceiving, at a
+glance, that the Romas are in most points an anomalous people; in
+their morality there is much of anomaly, and certainly not less in
+their cuisine.
+
+'Los Gitanos son muy malos; llevan ninos hurtados a Berberia.  The
+Gypsies are very bad people; they steal children and carry them to
+Barbary, where they sell them to the Moors' - so said the Spaniards
+in old times.  There can be little doubt that even before the fall
+of the kingdom of Granada, which occurred in the year 1492, the
+Gitanos had intercourse with the Moors of Spain.  Andalusia, which
+has ever been the province where the Gitano race has most abounded
+since its arrival, was, until the edict of Philip the Third, which
+banished more than a million of Moriscos from Spain, principally
+peopled by Moors, who differed from the Spaniards both in language
+and religion.  By living even as wanderers amongst these people,
+the Gitanos naturally became acquainted with their tongue, and with
+many of their customs, which of course much facilitated any
+connection which they might subsequently form with the
+Barbaresques.  Between the Moors of Barbary and the Spaniards a
+deadly and continued war raged for centuries, both before and after
+the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain.  The Gitanos, who cared
+probably as little for one nation as the other, and who have no
+sympathy and affection beyond the pale of their own sect, doubtless
+sided with either as their interest dictated, officiating as spies
+for both parties and betraying both.
+
+It is likely enough that they frequently passed over to Barbary
+with stolen children of both sexes, whom they sold to the Moors,
+who traffic in slaves, whether white or black, even at the present
+day; and perhaps this kidnapping trade gave occasion to other
+relations.  As they were perfectly acquainted, from their wandering
+life, with the shores of the Spanish Mediterranean, they must have
+been of considerable assistance to the Barbary pirates in their
+marauding trips to the Spanish coasts, both as guides and advisers;
+and as it was a far easier matter, and afforded a better prospect
+of gain, to plunder the Spaniards than the Moors, a people almost
+as wild as themselves, they were, on that account, and that only,
+more Moors than Christians, and ever willing to assist the former
+in their forays on the latter.
+
+Quinones observes:  'The Moors, with whom they hold correspondence,
+let them go and come without any let or obstacle:  an instance of
+this was seen in the year 1627, when two galleys from Spain were
+carrying assistance to Marmora, which was then besieged by the
+Moors.  These galleys struck on a shoal, when the Moors seized all
+the people on board, making captives of the Christians and setting
+at liberty all the Moors, who were chained to the oar; as for the
+Gypsy galley-slaves whom they found amongst these last, they did
+not make them slaves, but received them as people friendly to them,
+and at their devotion; which matter was public and notorious.'
+
+Of the Moors and the Gitanos we shall have occasion to say
+something in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+THERE is no portion of the world so little known as Africa in
+general; and perhaps of all Africa there is no corner with which
+Europeans are so little acquainted as Barbary, which nevertheless
+is only separated from the continent of Europe by a narrow strait
+of four leagues across.
+
+China itself has, for upwards of a century, ceased to be a land of
+mystery to the civilised portion of the world; the enterprising
+children of Loyola having wandered about it in every direction
+making converts to their doctrine and discipline, whilst the
+Russians possess better maps of its vast regions than of their own
+country, and lately, owing to the persevering labour and searching
+eye of my friend Hyacinth, Archimandrite of Saint John Nefsky, are
+acquainted with the number of its military force to a man, and also
+with the names and places of residence of its civil servants.  Yet
+who possesses a map of Fez and Morocco, or would venture to form a
+conjecture as to how many fiery horsemen Abderrahman, the mulatto
+emperor, could lead to the field, were his sandy dominions
+threatened by the Nazarene?  Yet Fez is scarcely two hundred
+leagues distant from Madrid, whilst Maraks, the other great city of
+the Moors, and which also has given its name to an empire, is
+scarcely farther removed from Paris, the capital of civilisation:
+in a word, we scarcely know anything of Barbary, the scanty
+information which we possess being confined to a few towns on the
+sea-coast; the zeal of the Jesuit himself being insufficient to
+induce him to confront the perils of the interior, in the hopeless
+endeavour of making one single proselyte from amongst the wildest
+fanatics of the creed of the Prophet Camel-driver.
+
+Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary?  This is a
+question which I have frequently asked myself.  Several respectable
+authors have, I believe, asserted the fact, amongst whom Adelung,
+who, speaking of the Gypsies, says:  'Four hundred years have
+passed away since they departed from their native land.  During
+this time, they have spread themselves through the whole of Western
+Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa.' (22)  But it is one thing to
+make an assertion, and another to produce the grounds for making
+it.  I believe it would require a far greater stock of information
+than has hitherto been possessed by any one who has written on the
+subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in asserting positively that
+after traversing the west of Europe, they spread themselves over
+Northern Africa, though true it is that to those who take a
+superficial view of the matter, nothing appears easier and more
+natural than to come to such a conclusion.
+
+Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is opposite
+to Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running between, less wide
+than many rivers.  Bands, therefore, of these wanderers, of course,
+on reaching Tarifa, passed over into Africa, even as thousands
+crossed the channel from France to England.  They have at all times
+shown themselves extravagantly fond of a roving life.  What land is
+better adapted for such a life than Africa and its wilds?  What
+land, therefore, more likely to entice them?
+
+All this is very plausible.  It was easy enough for the Gitanos to
+pass over to Tangier and Tetuan from the Spanish towns of Tarifa
+and Algeziras.  In the last chapter I have stated my belief of the
+fact, and that moreover they formed certain connections with the
+Moors of the coast, to whom it is likely that they occasionally
+sold children stolen in Spain; yet such connection would by no
+means have opened them a passage into the interior of Barbary,
+which is inhabited by wild and fierce people, in comparison with
+whom the Moors of the coast, bad as they always have been, are
+gentle and civilised.
+
+To penetrate into Africa, the Gitanos would have been compelled to
+pass through the tribes who speak the Shilha language, and who are
+the descendants of the ancient Numidians.  These tribes are the
+most untamable and warlike of mankind, and at the same time the
+most suspicious, and those who entertain the greatest aversion to
+foreigners.  They are dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have
+always remained, to a certain degree, independent of the emperors
+of Morocco.  They are the most terrible of robbers and murderers,
+and entertain far more reluctance to spill water than the blood of
+their fellow-creatures:  the Bedouins, also, of the Arabian race,
+are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would not have failed
+instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever they found
+them, and in all probability would have exterminated them.  Now the
+Gitanos, such as they arrived in Barbary, could not have defended
+themselves against such enemies, had they even arrived in large
+divisions, instead of bands of twenties and thirties, as is their
+custom to travel.  They are not by nature nor by habit a warlike
+race, and would have quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most
+other people, engage in wars from what appears to be an innate love
+of the cruel and bloody scenes attendant on war.
+
+It may be said, that if the Gitanos were able to make their way
+from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the province
+which the learned consider to be the original dwelling-place of the
+race, to such an immense distance as the western part of Spain,
+passing necessarily through many wild lands and tribes, why might
+they not have penetrated into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore
+may not their descendants be still there, following the same kind
+of life as the European Gypsies, that is, wandering about from
+place to place, and maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?
+
+But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of
+Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for
+a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from
+the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.
+True it is, that, from their intercourse with the Moors of Spain,
+the Gypsies might have become acquainted with the Arabic language,
+and might even have adopted the Moorish dress, ere entering
+Barbary; and, moreover, might have professed belief in the religion
+of Mahomet; still they would have been known as foreigners, and, on
+that account, would have been assuredly attacked by the people of
+the interior, had they gone amongst them, who, according to the
+usual practice, would either have massacred them or made them
+slaves; and as slaves, they would have been separated.  The mulatto
+hue of their countenances would probably have insured them the
+latter fate, as all blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the
+Moor are properly slaves, and can be bought and sold, unless by
+some means or other they become free, in which event their colour
+is no obstacle to their elevation to the highest employments and
+dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and provinces, or
+even to their ascending the throne.  Several emperors of Morocco
+have been mulattos.
+
+Above I have pointed out all the difficulties and dangers which
+must have attended the path of the Gitanos, had they passed from
+Spain into Barbary, and attempted to spread themselves over that
+region, as over Europe and many parts of Asia.  To these
+observations I have been led by the assertion that they
+accomplished this, and no proof of the fact having, as I am aware,
+ever been adduced; for who amongst those who have made such a
+statement has seen or conversed with the Egyptians of Barbary, or
+had sufficient intercourse with them to justify him in the
+assertion that they are one and the same people as those of Europe,
+from whom they differ about as much as the various tribes which
+inhabit various European countries differ from each other?  At the
+same time, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am far from
+denying the existence of Gypsies in various parts of the interior
+of Barbary.  Indeed, I almost believe the fact, though the
+information which I possess is by no means of a description which
+would justify me in speaking with full certainty; I having myself
+never come in contact with any sect or caste of people amongst the
+Moors, who not only tallied in their pursuits with the Rommany, but
+who likewise spoke amongst themselves a dialect of the language of
+Roma; nor am I aware that any individual worthy of credit has ever
+presumed to say that he has been more fortunate in these respects.
+
+Nevertheless, I repeat that I am inclined to believe that Gypsies
+virtually exist in Barbary, and my reasons I shall presently
+adduce; but I will here observe, that if these strange outcasts did
+indeed contrive to penetrate into the heart of that savage and
+inhospitable region, they could only have succeeded after having
+become well acquainted with the Moorish language, and when, after a
+considerable sojourn on the coast, they had raised for themselves a
+name, and were regarded with superstitious fear; in a word, if they
+walked this land of peril untouched and unscathed, it was not that
+they were considered as harmless and inoffensive people, which,
+indeed, would not have protected them, and which assuredly they
+were not; it was not that they were mistaken for wandering Moors
+and Bedouins, from whom they differed in feature and complexion,
+but because, wherever they went, they were dreaded as the
+possessors of supernatural powers, and as mighty sorcerers.
+
+There is in Barbary more than one sect of wanderers, which, to the
+cursory observer, might easily appear, and perhaps have appeared,
+in the right of legitimate Gypsies.  For example, there are the
+Beni Aros.  The proper home of these people is in certain high
+mountains in the neighbourhood of Tetuan, but they are to be found
+roving about the whole kingdom of Fez.  Perhaps it would be
+impossible to find, in the whole of Northern Africa, a more
+detestable caste.  They are beggars by profession, but are
+exceedingly addicted to robbery and murder; they are notorious
+drunkards, and are infamous, even in Barbary, for their unnatural
+lusts.  They are, for the most part, well made and of comely
+features.  I have occasionally spoken with them; they are Moors,
+and speak no language but the Arabic.
+
+Then there is the sect of Sidi Hamed au Muza, a very roving people,
+companies of whom are generally to be found in all the principal
+towns of Barbary.  The men are expert vaulters and tumblers, and
+perform wonderful feats of address with swords and daggers, to the
+sound of wild music, which the women, seated on the ground, produce
+from uncouth instruments; by these means they obtain a livelihood.
+Their dress is picturesque, scarlet vest and white drawers.  In
+many respects they not a little resemble the Gypsies; but they are
+not an evil people, and are looked upon with much respect by the
+Moors, who call them Santons.  Their patron saint is Hamed au Muza,
+and from him they derive their name.  Their country is on the
+confines of the Sahara, or great desert, and their language is the
+Shilhah, or a dialect thereof.  They speak but little Arabic.  When
+I saw them for the first time, I believed them to be of the Gypsy
+caste, but was soon undeceived.  A more wandering race does not
+exist than the children of Sidi Hamed au Muza.  They have even
+visited France, and exhibited their dexterity and agility at Paris
+and Marseilles.
+
+I will now say a few words concerning another sect which exists in
+Barbary, and will here premise, that if those who compose it are
+not Gypsies, such people are not to be found in North Africa, and
+the assertion, hitherto believed, that they abound there, is devoid
+of foundation.  I allude to certain men and women, generally termed
+by the Moors 'Those of the Dar-bushi-fal,' which word is equivalent
+to prophesying or fortune-telling.  They are great wanderers, but
+have also their fixed dwellings or villages, and such a place is
+called 'Char Seharra,' or witch-hamlet.  Their manner of life, in
+every respect, resembles that of the Gypsies of other countries;
+they are wanderers during the greatest part of the year, and
+subsist principally by pilfering and fortune-telling.  They deal
+much in mules and donkeys, and it is believed, in Barbary, that
+they can change the colour of any animal by means of sorcery, and
+so disguise him as to sell him to his very proprietor, without fear
+of his being recognised.  This latter trait is quite characteristic
+of the Gypsy race, by whom the same thing is practised in most
+parts of the world.  But the Moors assert, that the children of the
+Dar-bushi-fal can not only change the colour of a horse or a mule,
+but likewise of a human being, in one night, transforming a white
+into a black, after which they sell him for a slave; on which
+account the superstitious Moors regard them with the utmost dread,
+and in general prefer passing the night in the open fields to
+sleeping in their hamlets.  They are said to possess a particular
+language, which is neither Shilhah nor Arabic, and which none but
+themselves understand; from all which circumstances I am led to
+believe, that the children of the Dar-bushi-fal are legitimate
+Gypsies, descendants of those who passed over to Barbary from
+Spain.  Nevertheless, as it has never been my fortune to meet or to
+converse with any of this caste, though they are tolerably numerous
+in Barbary, I am far from asserting that they are of Gypsy race.
+More enterprising individuals than myself may, perhaps, establish
+the fact.  Any particular language or jargon which they speak
+amongst themselves will be the best criterion.  The word which they
+employ for 'water' would decide the point; for the Dar-bushi-fal
+are not Gypsies, if, in their peculiar speech, they designate that
+blessed element and article most necessary to human existence by
+aught else than the Sanscrit term 'Pani,' a word brought by the
+race from sunny Ind, and esteemed so holy that they have never even
+presumed to modify it.
+
+The following is an account of the Dar-bushi-fal, given me by a Jew
+of Fez, who had travelled much in Barbary, and which I insert
+almost literally as I heard it from his mouth.  Various other
+individuals, Moors, have spoken of them in much the same manner.
+
+'In one of my journeys I passed the night in a place called Mulai-
+Jacub Munsur.
+
+'Not far from this place is a Char Seharra, or witch-hamlet, where
+dwell those of the Dar-bushi-fal.  These are very evil people, and
+powerful enchanters; for it is well known that if any traveller
+stop to sleep in their Char, they will with their sorceries, if he
+be a white man, turn him as black as a coal, and will afterwards
+sell him as a negro.  Horses and mules they serve in the same
+manner, for if they are black, they will turn them red, or any
+other colour which best may please them; and although the owners
+demand justice of the authorities, the sorcerers always come off
+best.  They have a language which they use among themselves, very
+different from all other languages, so much so that it is
+impossible to understand them.  They are very swarthy, quite as
+much so as mulattos, and their faces are exceedingly lean.  As for
+their legs, they are like reeds; and when they run, the devil
+himself cannot overtake them.  They tell Dar-bushi-fal with flour;
+they fill a plate, and then they are able to tell you anything you
+ask them.  They likewise tell it with a shoe; they put it in their
+mouth, and then they will recall to your memory every action of
+your life.  They likewise tell Dar-bushi-fal with oil; and indeed
+are, in every respect, most powerful sorcerers.
+
+'Two women, once on a time, came to Fez, bringing with them an
+exceedingly white donkey, which they placed in the middle of the
+square called Faz el Bali; they then killed it, and cut it into
+upwards of thirty pieces.  Upon the ground there was much of the
+donkey's filth and dung; some of this they took in their hands,
+when it straight assumed the appearance of fresh dates.  There were
+some people who were greedy enough to put these dates into their
+mouths, and then they found that it was dung.  These women deceived
+me amongst the rest with a date; when I put it into my mouth, lo
+and behold it was the donkey's dung.  After they had collected much
+money from the spectators, one of them took a needle, and ran it
+into the tail of the donkey, crying "Arrhe li dar" (Get home),
+whereupon the donkey instantly rose up, and set off running,
+kicking every now and then most furiously; and it was remarked,
+that not one single trace of blood remained upon the ground, just
+as if they had done nothing to it.  Both these women were of the
+very same Char Seharra which I have already mentioned.  They
+likewise took paper, and cut it into the shape of a peseta, and a
+dollar, and a half-dollar, until they had made many pesetas and
+dollars, and then they put them into an earthen pan over a fire,
+and when they took them out, they appeared just fresh from the
+stamp, and with such money these people buy all they want.
+
+'There was a friend of my grandfather, who came frequently to our
+house, who was in the habit of making this money.  One day he took
+me with him to buy white silk; and when they had shown him some, he
+took the silk in his hand, and pressed it to his mouth, and then I
+saw that the silk, which was before white, had become green, even
+as grass.  The master of the shop said, "Pay me for my silk."  "Of
+what colour was your silk?" he demanded.  "White," said the man;
+whereupon, turning round, he cried, "Good people, behold, the white
+silk is green"; and so he got a pound of silk for nothing; and he
+also was of the Char Seharra.
+
+'They are very evil people indeed, and the emperor himself is
+afraid of them.  The poor wretch who falls into their hands has
+cause to rue; they always go badly dressed, and exhibit every
+appearance of misery, though they are far from being miserable.
+Such is the life they lead.'
+
+There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of the
+Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there is a
+foundation of truth in all the facts stated.  The belief that they
+are enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into a black man had its
+origin in the great skill which they possess in altering the
+appearance of a horse or a mule, and giving it another colour.
+Their changing white into green silk is a very simple trick, and is
+accomplished by dexterously substituting one thing for another.
+Had the man of the Dar-bushi-fal been searched, the white silk
+would have been found upon him.  The Gypsies, wherever they are
+found, are fond of this species of fraud.  In Germany, for example,
+they go to the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly similar, one in
+their hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks filled with
+water; when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they pretend to
+be dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but contrive
+to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the wine-
+seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the contents back,
+as he thinks, into the butt - but it is not wine but water which he
+pours.  With respect to the donkey, which APPEARED to be cut in
+pieces, but which afterwards, being pricked in the tail, got up and
+ran home, I have little to say, but that I have myself seen almost
+as strange things without believing in sorcery.
+
+As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere feats
+of legerdemain.
+
+I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary, they
+are the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+CHIROMANCY, or the divination of the hand, is, according to the
+orthodox theory, the determining from certain lines upon the hand
+the quality of the physical and intellectual powers of the
+possessor.
+
+The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in the
+hand, and the triangle which they form in the palm.  These lines,
+which have all their particular and appropriate names, and the
+principal of which is called 'the line of life,' are, if we may
+believe those who have written on the subject, connected with the
+heart, with the genitals, with the brain, with the liver or
+stomach, and the head.  Torreblanca, (23) in his curious and
+learned book on magic, observes:  'In judging these lines you must
+pay attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together
+with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the line
+be well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour, without
+being intermitted or PUNCTURIS INFECTA, it denotes the good
+complexion and virtue of its member, according to Aristotle.
+
+'So that if the line of the heart be found sufficiently long and
+reasonably deep, and not crossed by other accidental lines, it is
+an infallible sign of the health of the heart and the great virtue
+of the heart, and the abundance of spirits and good blood in the
+heart, and accordingly denotes boldness and liberal genius for
+every work.'
+
+In like manner, by means of the hepatal line, it is easy to form an
+accurate judgment as to the state of a person's liver, and of his
+powers of digestion, and so on with respect to all the other organs
+of the body.
+
+After having laid down all the rules of chiromancy with the utmost
+possible clearness, the sage Torreblanca exclaims:  'And with these
+terminate the canons of true and catholic chiromancy; for as for
+the other species by which people pretend to divine concerning the
+affairs of life, either past or to come, dignities, fortunes,
+children, events, chances, dangers, etc., such chiromancy is not
+only reprobated by theologians, but by men of law and physic, as a
+foolish, false, vain, scandalous, futile, superstitious practice,
+smelling much of divinery and a pact with the devil.'
+
+Then, after mentioning a number of erudite and enlightened men of
+the three learned professions, who have written against such absurd
+superstitions, amongst whom he cites Martin Del Rio, he falls foul
+of the Gypsy wives in this manner:  'A practice turned to profit by
+the wives of that rabble of abandoned miscreants whom the Italians
+call Cingari, the Latins Egyptians, and we Gitanos, who,
+notwithstanding that they are sent by the Turks into Spain for the
+purpose of acting as spies upon the Christian religion, pretend
+that they are wandering over the world in fulfilment of a penance
+enjoined upon them, part of which penance seems to be the living by
+fraud and imposition.'  And shortly afterwards he remarks:  'Nor do
+they derive any authority for such a practice from those words in
+Exodus, (24) "et quasi signum in manu tua," as that passage does
+not treat of chiromancy, but of the festival of unleavened bread;
+the observance of which, in order that it might be memorable to the
+Hebrews, the sacred historian said should be as a sign upon the
+hand; a metaphor derived from those who, when they wish to remember
+anything, tie a thread round their finger, or put a ring upon it;
+and still less I ween does that chapter of Job (25) speak in their
+favour, where is written, "Qui in manu hominis signat, ut norint
+omnes opera sua," because the divine power is meant thereby which
+is preached to those here below:  for the hand is intended for
+power and magnitude, Exod. chap. xiv., (26) or stands for free
+will, which is placed in a man's hand, that is, in his power.
+Wisdom, chap. xxxvi. "In manibus abscondit lucem," (27) etc. etc.
+etc.
+
+No, no, good Torreblanca, we know perfectly well that the witch-
+wives of Multan, who for the last four hundred years have been
+running about Spain and other countries, telling fortunes by the
+hand, and deriving good profit from the same, are not countenanced
+in such a practice by the sacred volume; we yield as little credit
+to their chiromancy as we do to that which you call the true and
+catholic, and believe that the lines of the hand have as little
+connection with the events of life as with the liver and stomach,
+notwithstanding Aristotle, who you forget was a heathen, and knew
+as little and cared as little for the Scriptures as the Gitanos,
+whether male or female, who little reck what sanction any of their
+practices may receive from authority, whether divine or human, if
+the pursuit enable them to provide sufficient for the existence,
+however poor and miserable, of their families and themselves.
+
+A very singular kind of women are the Gitanas, far more remarkable
+in most points than their husbands, in whose pursuits of low
+cheating and petty robbery there is little capable of exciting much
+interest; but if there be one being in the world who, more than
+another, deserves the title of sorceress (and where do you find a
+word of greater romance and more thrilling interest?), it is the
+Gypsy female in the prime and vigour of her age and ripeness of her
+understanding - the Gypsy wife, the mother of two or three
+children.  Mention to me a point of devilry with which that woman
+is not acquainted.  She can at any time, when it suits her, show
+herself as expert a jockey as her husband, and he appears to
+advantage in no other character, and is only eloquent when
+descanting on the merits of some particular animal; but she can do
+much more:  she is a prophetess, though she believes not in
+prophecy; she is a physician, though she will not taste her own
+philtres; she is a procuress, though she is not to be procured; she
+is a singer of obscene songs, though she will suffer no obscene
+hand to touch her; and though no one is more tenacious of the
+little she possesses, she is a cutpurse and a shop-lifter whenever
+opportunity shall offer.
+
+In all times, since we have known anything of these women, they
+have been addicted to and famous for fortune-telling; indeed, it is
+their only ostensible means of livelihood, though they have various
+others which they pursue more secretly.  Where and how they first
+learned the practice we know not; they may have brought it with
+them from the East, or they may have adopted it, which is less
+likely, after their arrival in Europe.  Chiromancy, from the most
+remote periods, has been practised in all countries.  Neither do we
+know, whether in this practice they were ever guided by fixed and
+certain rules; the probability, however, is, that they were not,
+and that they never followed it but as a means of fraud and
+robbery; certainly, amongst all the professors of this art that
+ever existed, no people are more adapted by nature to turn it to
+account than these females, call them by whatever name you will,
+Gitanas, Ziganas, Gypsies, or Bohemians; their forms, their
+features, the expression of their countenances are ever wild and
+Sibylline, frequently beautiful, but never vulgar.  Observe, for
+example, the Gitana, even her of Seville.  She is standing before
+the portal of a large house in one of the narrow Moorish streets of
+the capital of Andalusia; through the grated iron door, she looks
+in upon the court; it is paved with small marble slabs of almost
+snowy whiteness; in the middle is a fountain distilling limpid
+water, and all around there is a profusion of macetas, in which
+flowering plants and aromatic shrubs are growing, and at each
+corner there is an orange tree, and the perfume of the azahar may
+be distinguished; you hear the melody of birds from a small aviary
+beneath the piazza which surrounds the court, which is surmounted
+by a toldo or linen awning, for it is the commencement of May, and
+the glorious sun of Andalusia is burning with a splendour too
+intense for his rays to be borne with impunity.  It is a fairy
+scene such as nowhere meets the eye but at Seville, or perhaps at
+Fez and Shiraz, in the palaces of the Sultan and the Shah.  The
+Gypsy looks through the iron-grated door, and beholds, seated near
+the fountain, a richly dressed dame and two lovely delicate
+maidens; they are busied at their morning's occupation,
+intertwining with their sharp needles the gold and silk on the
+tambour; several female attendants are seated behind.  The Gypsy
+pulls the bell, when is heard the soft cry of 'Quien es'; the door,
+unlocked by means of a string, recedes upon its hinges, when in
+walks the Gitana, the witch-wife of Multan, with a look such as the
+tiger-cat casts when she stealeth from her jungle into the plain.
+
+Yes, well may you exclaim 'Ave Maria purissima,' ye dames and
+maidens of Seville, as she advances towards you; she is not of
+yourselves, she is not of your blood, she or her fathers have
+walked to your climate from a distance of three thousand leagues.
+She has come from the far East, like the three enchanted kings, to
+Cologne; but, unlike them, she and her race have come with hate and
+not with love.  She comes to flatter, and to deceive, and to rob,
+for she is a lying prophetess, and a she-Thug; she will greet you
+with blessings which will make your hearts rejoice, but your
+hearts' blood would freeze, could you hear the curses which to
+herself she murmurs against you; for she says, that in her
+children's veins flows the dark blood of the 'husbands,' whilst in
+those of yours flows the pale tide of the 'savages,' and therefore
+she would gladly set her foot on all your corses first poisoned by
+her hands.  For all her love - and she can love - is for the Romas;
+and all her hate - and who can hate like her? - is for the Busnees;
+for she says that the world would be a fair world if there were no
+Busnees, and if the Romamiks could heat their kettles undisturbed
+at the foot of the olive-trees; and therefore she would kill them
+all if she could and if she dared.  She never seeks the houses of
+the Busnees but for the purpose of prey; for the wild animals of
+the sierra do not more abhor the sight of man than she abhors the
+countenances of the Busnees.  She now comes to prey upon you and to
+scoff at you.  Will you believe her words?  Fools! do you think
+that the being before ye has any sympathy for the like of you?
+
+She is of the middle stature, neither strongly nor slightly built,
+and yet her every movement denotes agility and vigour.  As she
+stands erect before you, she appears like a falcon about to soar,
+and you are almost tempted to believe that the power of volition is
+hers; and were you to stretch forth your hand to seize her, she
+would spring above the house-tops like a bird.  Her face is oval,
+and her features are regular but somewhat hard and coarse, for she
+was born amongst rocks in a thicket, and she has been wind-beaten
+and sun-scorched for many a year, even like her parents before her;
+there is many a speck upon her cheek, and perhaps a scar, but no
+dimples of love; and her brow is wrinkled over, though she is yet
+young.  Her complexion is more than dark, for it is almost that of
+a mulatto; and her hair, which hangs in long locks on either side
+of her face, is black as coal, and coarse as the tail of a horse,
+from which it seems to have been gathered.
+
+There is no female eye in Seville can support the glance of hers, -
+so fierce and penetrating, and yet so artful and sly, is the
+expression of their dark orbs; her mouth is fine and almost
+delicate, and there is not a queen on the proudest throne between
+Madrid and Moscow who might not and would not envy the white and
+even rows of teeth which adorn it, which seem not of pearl but of
+the purest elephant's bone of Multan.  She comes not alone; a
+swarthy two-year-old bantling clasps her neck with one arm, its
+naked body half extant from the coarse blanket which, drawn round
+her shoulders, is secured at her bosom by a skewer.  Though tender
+of age, it looks wicked and sly, like a veritable imp of Roma.
+Huge rings of false gold dangle from wide slits in the lobes of her
+ears; her nether garments are rags, and her feet are cased in
+hempen sandals.  Such is the wandering Gitana, such is the witch-
+wife of Multan, who has come to spae the fortune of the Sevillian
+countess and her daughters.
+
+'O may the blessing of Egypt light upon your head, you high-born
+lady!  (May an evil end overtake your body, daughter of a Busnee
+harlot!) and may the same blessing await the two fair roses of the
+Nile here flowering by your side!  (May evil Moors seize them and
+carry them across the water!)  O listen to the words of the poor
+woman who is come from a distant country; she is of a wise people,
+though it has pleased the God of the sky to punish them for their
+sins by sending them to wander through the world.  They denied
+shelter to the Majari, whom you call the queen of heaven, and to
+the Son of God, when they flew to the land of Egypt before the
+wrath of the wicked king; it is said that they even refused them a
+draught of the sweet waters of the great river when the blessed two
+were athirst.  O you will say that it was a heavy crime; and truly
+so it was, and heavily has the Lord punished the Egyptians.  He has
+sent us a-wandering, poor as you see, with scarcely a blanket to
+cover us.  O blessed lady, (Accursed be thy dead, as many as thou
+mayest have,) we have no money to buy us bread; we have only our
+wisdom with which to support ourselves and our poor hungry babes;
+when God took away their silks from the Egyptians, and their gold
+from the Egyptians, he left them their wisdom as a resource that
+they might not starve.  O who can read the stars like the
+Egyptians? and who can read the lines of the palm like the
+Egyptians?  The poor woman read in the stars that there was a rich
+ventura for all of this goodly house, so she followed the bidding
+of the stars and came to declare it.  O blessed lady, (I defile thy
+dead corse,) your husband is at Granada, fighting with king
+Ferdinand against the wild Corahai!  (May an evil ball smite him
+and split his head!)  Within three months he shall return with
+twenty captive Moors, round the neck of each a chain of gold.  (God
+grant that when he enter the house a beam may fall upon him and
+crush him!)  And within nine months after his return God shall
+bless you with a fair chabo, the pledge for which you have sighed
+so long.  (Accursed be the salt placed in its mouth in the church
+when it is baptized!)  Your palm, blessed lady, your palm, and the
+palms of all I see here, that I may tell you all the rich ventura
+which is hanging over this good house; (May evil lightning fall
+upon it and consume it!) but first let me sing you a song of Egypt,
+that the spirit of the Chowahanee may descend more plenteously upon
+the poor woman.'
+
+Her demeanour now instantly undergoes a change.  Hitherto she has
+been pouring forth a lying and wild harangue without much flurry or
+agitation of manner.  Her speech, it is true, has been rapid, but
+her voice has never been raised to a very high key; but she now
+stamps on the ground, and placing her hands on her hips, she moves
+quickly to the right and left, advancing and retreating in a
+sidelong direction.  Her glances become more fierce and fiery, and
+her coarse hair stands erect on her head, stiff as the prickles of
+the hedgehog; and now she commences clapping her hands, and
+uttering words of an unknown tongue, to a strange and uncouth tune.
+The tawny bantling seems inspired with the same fiend, and, foaming
+at the mouth, utters wild sounds, in imitation of its dam.  Still
+more rapid become the sidelong movements of the Gitana.  Movement!
+she springs, she bounds, and at every bound she is a yard above the
+ground.  She no longer bears the child in her bosom; she plucks it
+from thence, and fiercely brandishes it aloft, till at last, with a
+yell she tosses it high into the air, like a ball, and then, with
+neck and head thrown back, receives it, as it falls, on her hands
+and breast, extracting a cry from the terrified beholders.  Is it
+possible she can be singing?  Yes, in the wildest style of her
+people; and here is a snatch of the song, in the language of Roma,
+which she occasionally screams -
+
+
+'En los sastos de yesque plai me diquelo,
+Doscusanas de sonacai terelo, -
+Corojai diquelo abillar,
+Y ne asislo chapescar, chapescar.'
+
+'On the top of a mountain I stand,
+With a crown of red gold in my hand, -
+Wild Moors came trooping o'er the lea,
+O how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?
+O how from their fury shall I flee?'
+
+
+Such was the Gitana in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, and much
+the same is she now in the days of Isabel and Christina.
+
+Of the Gitanas and their practices I shall have much to say on a
+future occasion, when speaking of those of the present time, with
+many of whom I have had no little intercourse.  All the ancient
+Spanish authors who mention these women speak of them in unmeasured
+terms of abhorrence, employing against them every abusive word
+contained in the language in which they wrote.  Amongst other vile
+names, they have been called harlots, though perhaps no females on
+earth are, and have ever been, more chaste in their own persons,
+though at all times willing to encourage licentiousness in others,
+from a hope of gain.  It is one thing to be a procuress, and
+another to be a harlot, though the former has assuredly no reason
+to complain if she be confounded with the latter.  'The Gitanas,'
+says Doctor Sancho de Moncada, in his discourse concerning the
+Gypsies, which I shall presently lay before the reader, 'are public
+harlots, common, as it is said, to all the Gitanos, and with
+dances, demeanour, and filthy songs, are the cause of infinite harm
+to the souls of the vassals of your Majesty (Philip III.), as it is
+notorious what infinite harm they have caused in many honourable
+houses.  The married women whom they have separated from their
+husbands, and the maidens whom they have perverted; and finally, in
+the best of these Gitanas, any one may recognise all the signs of a
+harlot given by the wise king:  "they are gadders about,
+whisperers, always unquiet in the places and corners."' (28)
+
+The author of Alonso, (29) he who of all the old Spanish writers
+has written most graphically concerning the Gitanos, and I believe
+with most correctness, puts the following account of the Gitanas,
+and their fortune-telling practices, into the entertaining mouth of
+his hero:-
+
+'O how many times did these Gitanas carry me along with them, for
+being, after all, women, even they have their fears, and were glad
+of me as a protector:  and so they went through the neighbouring
+villages, and entered the houses a-begging, giving to understand
+thereby their poverty and necessity, and then they would call aside
+the girls, in order to tell them the buena ventura, and the young
+fellows the good luck which they were to enjoy, never failing in
+the first place to ask for a cuarto or real, in order to make the
+sign of the cross; and with these flattering words, they got as
+much as they could, although, it is true, not much in money, as
+their harvest in that article was generally slight; but enough in
+bacon to afford subsistence to their husbands and bantlings.  I
+looked on and laughed at the simplicity of those foolish people,
+who, especially such as wished to be married, were as satisfied and
+content with what the Gitana told them, as if an apostle had spoken
+it.'
+
+The above description of Gitanas telling fortunes amongst the
+villages of Navarre, and which was written by a Spanish author at
+the commencement of the seventeenth century, is, in every respect,
+applicable, as the reader will not fail to have observed, to the
+English Gypsy women of the present day, engaged in the same
+occupation in the rural districts of England, where the first
+demand of the sibyls is invariably a sixpence, in order that they
+may cross their hands with silver, and where the same promises are
+made, and as easily believed; all which, if it serves to confirm
+the opinion that in all times the practices and habits of the
+Egyptian race have been, in almost all respects, the same as at the
+present day, brings us also to the following mortifying conclusion,
+- that mental illumination, amongst the generality of mankind, has
+made no progress at all; as we observe in the nineteenth century
+the same gross credulity manifested as in the seventeenth, and the
+inhabitants of one of the countries most celebrated for the arts of
+civilisation, imposed upon by the same stale tricks which served to
+deceive two centuries before in Spain, a country whose name has
+long and justly been considered as synonymous with every species of
+ignorance and barbarism.
+
+The same author, whilst speaking of these female Thugs, relates an
+anecdote very characteristic of them; a device at which they are
+adepts, which they love to employ, and which is generally attended
+with success.  It is the more deserving attention, as an instance
+of the same description, attended with very similar circumstances,
+occurred within the sphere of my own knowledge in my own country.
+This species of deceit is styled, in the peculiar language of the
+Rommany, HOKKANO BARO, or the 'great trick'; it being considered by
+the women as their most fruitful source of plunder.  The story, as
+related by Alonso, runs as follows:-
+
+'A band of Gitanos being in the neighbourhood of a village, one of
+the women went to a house where lived a lady alone.  This lady was
+a young widow, rich, without children, and of very handsome person.
+After having saluted her, the Gypsy repeated the harangue which she
+had already studied, to the effect that there was neither bachelor,
+widower, nor married man, nobleman, nor gallant, endowed with a
+thousand graces, who was not dying for love of her; and then
+continued:  "Lady, I have contracted a great affection for you, and
+since I know that you well merit the riches you possess,
+notwithstanding you live heedless of your good fortune, I wish to
+reveal to you a secret.  You must know, then, that in your cellar
+you have a vast treasure; nevertheless you will experience great
+difficulty in arriving at it, as it is enchanted, and to remove it
+is impossible, save alone on the eve of Saint John.  We are now at
+the eighteenth of June, and it wants five days to the twenty-third;
+therefore, in the meanwhile, collect some jewels of gold and
+silver, and likewise some money, whatever you please, provided it
+be not copper, and provide six tapers, of white or yellow wax, for
+at the time appointed I will come with a sister of mine, when we
+will extract from the cellar such abundance of riches, that you
+will be able to live in a style which will excite the envy of the
+whole country."  The ignorant widow, hearing these words, put
+implicit confidence in the deceiver, and imagined that she already
+possessed all the gold of Arabia and the silver of Potosi.
+
+'The appointed day arrived, and not more punctual were the two
+Gypsies, than anxiously expected by the lady.  Being asked whether
+she had prepared all as she had been desired, she replied in the
+affirmative, when the Gypsy thus addressed her:  "You must know,
+good lady, that gold calls forth gold, and silver calls forth
+silver; let us light these tapers, and descend to the cellar before
+it grows late, in order that we may have time for our
+conjurations."  Thereupon the trio, the widow and the two Gypsies,
+went down, and having lighted the tapers and placed them in
+candlesticks in the shape of a circle, they deposited in the midst
+a silver tankard, with some pieces of eight, and some corals tipped
+with gold, and other jewels of small value.  They then told the
+lady, that it was necessary for them all to return to the staircase
+by which they had descended to the cellar, and there they uplifted
+their hands, and remained for a short time as if engaged in prayer.
+
+'The two Gypsies then bade the widow wait for them, and descended
+again, when they commenced holding a conversation, speaking and
+answering alternately, and altering their voices in such a manner
+that five or six people appeared to be in the cellar.  "Blessed
+little Saint John," said one, "will it be possible to remove the
+treasure which you keep hidden here?"  "O yes, and with a little
+more trouble it will be yours," replied the Gypsy sister, altering
+her voice to a thin treble, as if it proceeded from a child four or
+five years old.  In the meantime, the lady remained astonished,
+expecting the promised riches, and the two Gitanas presently coming
+to her, said, "Come up, lady, for our desire is upon the point of
+being gratified.  Bring down the best petticoat, gown, and mantle
+which you have in your chest, that I may dress myself, and appear
+in other guise to what I do now."  The simple woman, not perceiving
+the trick they were playing upon her, ascended with them to the
+doorway, and leaving them alone, went to fetch the things which
+they demanded.  Thereupon the two Gypsies, seeing themselves at
+liberty, and having already pocketed the gold and silver which had
+been deposited for their conjuration, opened the street door, and
+escaped with all the speed they could.
+
+'The beguiled widow returned laden with the clothes, and not
+finding those whom she had left waiting, descended into the cellar,
+when, perceiving the trick which they had played her, and the
+robbery which they had committed in stealing her jewels, she began
+to cry and weep, but all in vain.  All the neighbours hastened to
+her, and to them she related her misfortune, which served more to
+raise laughter and jeers at her expense than to excite pity; though
+the subtlety of the two she-thieves was universally praised.  These
+latter, as soon as they had got out of the door, knew well how to
+conceal themselves, for having once reached the mountain it was not
+possible to find them.  So much for their divination, their
+foreseeing things to come, their power over the secrets of nature,
+and their knowledge of the stars.'
+
+The Gitanas in the olden time appear to have not unfrequently been
+subjected to punishment as sorceresses, and with great justice, as
+the abominable trade which they drove in philtres and decoctions
+certainly entitled them to that appellation, and to the pains and
+penalties reserved for those who practised what was termed
+'witchcraft.'
+
+Amongst the crimes laid to their charge, connected with the
+exercise of occult powers, there is one, however, of which they
+were certainly not capable, as it is a purely imaginary one, though
+if they were punished for it, they had assuredly little right to
+complain, as the chastisement they met was fully merited by
+practices equally malefic as the crime imputed to them, provided
+that were possible.  IT WAS CASTING THE EVIL EYE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+IN the Gitano language, casting the evil eye is called QUERELAR
+NASULA, which simply means making sick, and which, according to the
+common superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at
+people, especially children, who, from the tenderness of their
+constitution, are supposed to be more easily blighted than those of
+a more mature age.  After receiving the evil glance, they fall
+sick, and die in a few hours.
+
+The Spaniards have very little to say respecting the evil eye,
+though the belief in it is very prevalent, especially in Andalusia
+amongst the lower orders.  A stag's horn is considered a good
+safeguard, and on that account a small horn, tipped with silver, is
+frequently attached to the children's necks by means of a cord
+braided from the hair of a black mare's tail.  Should the evil
+glance be cast, it is imagined that the horn receives it, and
+instantly snaps asunder.  Such horns may be purchased in some of
+the silversmiths' shops at Seville.
+
+The Gitanos have nothing more to say on this species of sorcery
+than the Spaniards, which can cause but little surprise, when we
+consider that they have no traditions, and can give no rational
+account of themselves, nor of the country from which they come.
+
+Some of the women, however, pretend to have the power of casting
+it, though if questioned how they accomplish it, they can return no
+answer.  They will likewise sell remedies for the evil eye, which
+need not be particularised, as they consist of any drugs which they
+happen to possess or be acquainted with; the prescribers being
+perfectly reckless as to the effect produced on the patient,
+provided they receive their paltry reward.
+
+I have known these beings offer to cure the glanders in a horse (an
+incurable disorder) with the very same powders which they offer as
+a specific for the evil eye.
+
+Leaving, therefore, for a time, the Spaniards and Gitanos, whose
+ideas on this subject are very scanty and indistinct, let us turn
+to other nations amongst whom this superstition exists, and
+endeavour to ascertain on what it is founded, and in what it
+consists.  The fear of the evil eye is common amongst all oriental
+people, whether Turks, Arabs, or Hindoos.  It is dangerous in some
+parts to survey a person with a fixed glance, as he instantly
+concludes that you are casting the evil eye upon him.  Children,
+particularly, are afraid of the evil eye from the superstitious
+fear inculcated in their minds in the nursery.  Parents in the East
+feel no delight when strangers look at their children in admiration
+of their loveliness; they consider that you merely look at them in
+order to blight them.  The attendants on the children of the great
+are enjoined never to permit strangers to fix their glance upon
+them.  I was once in the shop of an Armenian at Constantinople,
+waiting to see a procession which was expected to pass by; there
+was a Janisary there, holding by the hand a little boy about six
+years of age, the son of some Bey; they also had come to see the
+procession.  I was struck with the remarkable loveliness of the
+child, and fixed my glance upon it:  presently it became uneasy,
+and turning to the Janisary, said:  'There are evil eyes upon me;
+drive them away.'  'Take your eyes off the child, Frank,' said the
+Janisary, who had a long white beard, and wore a hanjar.  'What
+harm can they do to the child, efendijem?' said I.  'Are they not
+the eyes of a Frank?' replied the Janisary; 'but were they the eyes
+of Omar, they should not rest on the child.'  'Omar,' said I, 'and
+why not Ali?  Don't you love Ali?'  'What matters it to you whom I
+love,' said the Turk in a rage; 'look at the child again with your
+chesm fanar and I will smite you.'  'Bad as my eyes are,' said I,
+'they can see that you do not love Ali.'  'Ya Ali, ya Mahoma,
+Alahhu!' (30) said the Turk, drawing his hanjar.  All Franks, by
+which are meant Christians, are considered as casters of the evil
+eye.  I was lately at Janina in Albania, where a friend of mine, a
+Greek gentleman, is established as physician.  'I have been
+visiting the child of a Jew that is sick,' said he to me one day;
+'scarcely, however, had I left the house, when the father came
+running after me.  "You have cast the evil eye on my child," said
+he; "come back and spit in its face."  And I assure you,' continued
+my friend, 'that notwithstanding all I could say, he compelled me
+to go back and spit in the face of his child.'
+
+Perhaps there is no nation in the world amongst whom this belief is
+so firmly rooted and from so ancient a period as the Jews; it being
+a subject treated of, and in the gravest manner, by the old
+Rabbinical writers themselves, which induces the conclusion that
+the superstition of the evil eye is of an antiquity almost as
+remote as the origin of the Hebrew race; (and can we go farther
+back?) as the oral traditions of the Jews, contained and commented
+upon in what is called the Talmud, are certainly not less ancient
+than the inspired writings of the Old Testament, and have unhappily
+been at all times regarded by them with equal if not greater
+reverence.
+
+The evil eye is mentioned in Scripture, but of course not in the
+false and superstitious sense; evil in the eye, which occurs in
+Prov. xxiii. v. 6, merely denoting niggardness and illiberality.
+The Hebrew words are AIN RA, and stand in contradistinction to AIN
+TOUB, or the benignant in eye, which denotes an inclination to
+bounty and liberality.
+
+It is imagined that this blight is most easily inflicted when a
+person is enjoying himself with little or no care for the future,
+when he is reclining in the sun before the door, or when he is full
+of health and spirits:  it may be cast designedly or not; and the
+same effect may be produced by an inadvertent word.  It is deemed
+partially unlucky to say to any person, 'How well you look'; as the
+probabilities are that such an individual will receive a sudden
+blight and pine away.  We have however no occasion to go to
+Hindoos, Turks, and Jews for this idea; we shall find it nearer
+home, or something akin to it.  Is there one of ourselves, however
+enlightened and free from prejudice, who would not shrink, even in
+the midst of his highest glee and enjoyment, from saying, 'How
+happy I am!' or if the words inadvertently escaped him, would he
+not consider them as ominous of approaching evil, and would he not
+endeavour to qualify them by saying, 'God preserve me!' - Ay, God
+preserve you, brother!  Who knows what the morrow will bring forth?
+
+The common remedy for the evil eye, in the East, is the spittle of
+the person who has cast it, provided it can be obtained.  'Spit in
+the face of my child,' said the Jew of Janina to the Greek
+physician:  recourse is had to the same means in Barbary, where the
+superstition is universal.  In that country both Jews and Moors
+carry papers about with them scrawled with hieroglyphics, which are
+prepared by their respective priests, and sold.  These papers,
+placed in a little bag, and hung about the person, are deemed
+infallible preservatives from the 'evil eye.'
+
+Let us now see what the TALMUD itself says about the evil eye.  The
+passage which we are about to quote is curious, not so much from
+the subject which it treats of, as in affording an example of the
+manner in which the Rabbins are wont to interpret the Scripture,
+and the strange and wonderful deductions which they draw from words
+and phrases apparently of the greatest simplicity.
+
+'Whosoever when about to enter into a city is afraid of evil eyes,
+let him grasp the thumb of his right hand with his left hand, and
+his left-hand thumb with his right hand, and let him cry in this
+manner:  "I am such a one, son of such a one, sprung from the seed
+of Joseph"; and the evil eyes shall not prevail against him.
+JOSEPH IS A FRUITFUL BOUGH, A FRUITFUL BOUGH BY A WELL, (31) etc.
+Now you should not say BY A WELL, but OVER AN EYE. (32)  Rabbi
+Joseph Bar Henina makes the following deduction:  AND THEY SHALL
+BECOME (the seed of Joseph) LIKE FISHES IN MULTITUDE IN THE MIDST
+OF THE EARTH. (33)  Now the fishes of the sea are covered by the
+waters, and the evil eye has no power over them; and so over those
+of the seed of Joseph the evil eye has no power.'
+
+I have been thus diffuse upon the evil eye, because of late years
+it has been a common practice of writers to speak of it without
+apparently possessing any farther knowledge of the subject than
+what may be gathered from the words themselves.
+
+Like most other superstitions, it is, perhaps, founded on a
+physical reality.
+
+I have observed, that only in hot countries, where the sun and moon
+are particularly dazzling, the belief in the evil eye is prevalent.
+If we turn to Scripture, the wonderful book which is capable of
+resolving every mystery, I believe that we shall presently come to
+the solution of the evil eye.  'The sun shall not smite thee by
+day, nor the moon by night.' Ps. cxxi. v. 6.
+
+Those who wish to avoid the evil eye, instead of trusting in
+charms, scrawls, and Rabbinical antidotes, let them never loiter in
+the sunshine before the king of day has nearly reached his bourn in
+the west; for the sun has an evil eye, and his glance produces
+brain fevers; and let them not sleep uncovered beneath the smile of
+the moon, for her glance is poisonous, and produces insupportable
+itching in the eye, and not unfrequently blindness.
+
+The northern nations have a superstition which bears some
+resemblance to the evil eye, when allowance is made for
+circumstances.  They have no brilliant sun and moon to addle the
+brain and poison the eye, but the grey north has its marshes, and
+fenny ground, and fetid mists, which produce agues, low fevers, and
+moping madness, and are as fatal to cattle as to man.  Such
+disorders are attributed to elves and fairies.  This superstition
+still lingers in some parts of England under the name of elf-shot,
+whilst, throughout the north, it is called elle-skiod, and elle-
+vild (fairy wild).  It is particularly prevalent amongst shepherds
+and cow-herds, the people who, from their manner of life, are most
+exposed to the effects of the elf-shot.  Those who wish to know
+more of this superstition are referred to Thiele's - DANSKE
+FOLKESAGN, and to the notes of the KOEMPE-VISER, or popular Danish
+Ballads.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+
+WHEN the six hundred thousand men, (34) and the mixed multitude of
+women and children, went forth from the land of Egypt, the God whom
+they worshipped, the only true God, went before them by day in a
+pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of
+fire to give them light; this God who rescued them from slavery,
+who guided them through the wilderness, who was their captain in
+battle, and who cast down before them the strong walls which
+encompassed the towns of their enemies, this God they still
+remember, after the lapse of more than three thousand years, and
+still worship with adoration the most unbounded.  If there be one
+event in the eventful history of the Hebrews which awakens in their
+minds deeper feelings of gratitude than another, it is the exodus;
+and that wonderful manifestation of olden mercy still serves them
+as an assurance that the Lord will yet one day redeem and gather
+together his scattered and oppressed people.  'Art thou not the God
+who brought us out of the land of bondage?' they exclaim in the
+days of their heaviest trouble and affliction.  He who redeemed
+Israel from the hand of Pharaoh is yet capable of restoring the
+kingdom and sceptre to Israel.
+
+If the Rommany trusted in any God at the period of THEIR exodus,
+they must speedily have forgotten him.  Coming from Ind, as they
+most assuredly did, it was impossible for them to have known the
+true, and they must have been followers (if they followed any)
+either of Buddh, or Brahmah, those tremendous phantoms which have
+led, and are likely still to lead, the souls of hundreds of
+millions to destruction; yet they are now ignorant of such names,
+nor does it appear that such were ever current amongst them
+subsequent to their arrival in Europe, if indeed they ever were.
+They brought with them no Indian idols, as far as we are able to
+judge at the present time, nor indeed Indian rites or observances,
+for no traces of such are to be discovered amongst them.
+
+All, therefore, which relates to their original religion is
+shrouded in mystery, and is likely so to remain.  They may have
+been idolaters, or atheists, or what they now are, totally
+neglectful of worship of any kind; and though not exactly prepared
+to deny the existence of a Supreme Being, as regardless of him as
+if he existed not, and never mentioning his name, save in oaths and
+blasphemy, or in moments of pain or sudden surprise, as they have
+heard other people do, but always without any fixed belief, trust,
+or hope.
+
+There are certainly some points of resemblance between the children
+of Roma and those of Israel.  Both have had an exodus, both are
+exiles and dispersed amongst the Gentiles, by whom they are hated
+and despised, and whom they hate and despise, under the names of
+Busnees and Goyim; both, though speaking the language of the
+Gentiles, possess a peculiar tongue, which the latter do not
+understand, and both possess a peculiar cast of countenance, by
+which they may, without difficulty, be distinguished from all other
+nations; but with these points the similarity terminates.  The
+Israelites have a peculiar religion, to which they are fanatically
+attached; the Romas have none, as they invariably adopt, though
+only in appearance, that of the people with whom they chance to
+sojourn; the Israelites possess the most authentic history of any
+people in the world, and are acquainted with and delight to
+recapitulate all that has befallen their race, from ages the most
+remote; the Romas have no history, they do not even know the name
+of their original country; and the only tradition which they
+possess, that of their Egyptian origin, is a false one, whether
+invented by themselves or others; the Israelites are of all people
+the most wealthy, the Romas the most poor - poor as a Gypsy being
+proverbial amongst some nations, though both are equally greedy of
+gain; and finally, though both are noted for peculiar craft and
+cunning, no people are more ignorant than the Romas, whilst the
+Jews have always been a learned people, being in possession of the
+oldest literature in the world, and certainly the most important
+and interesting.
+
+Sad and weary must have been the path of the mixed rabble of the
+Romas, when they left India's sunny land and wended their way to
+the West, in comparison with the glorious exodus of the Israelites
+from Egypt, whose God went before them in cloud and in fire,
+working miracles and astonishing the hearts of their foes.
+
+Even supposing that they worshipped Buddh or Brahmah, neither of
+these false deities could have accomplished for them what God
+effected for his chosen people, although it is true that the idea
+that a Supreme Being was watching over them, in return for the
+reverence paid to his image, might have cheered them 'midst storm
+and lightning, 'midst mountains and wildernesses, 'midst hunger and
+drought; for it is assuredly better to trust even in an idol, in a
+tree, or a stone, than to be entirely godless; and the most
+superstitious hind of the Himalayan hills, who trusts in the Grand
+Foutsa in the hour of peril and danger, is more wise than the most
+enlightened atheist, who cherishes no consoling delusion to relieve
+his mind, oppressed by the terrible ideas of reality.
+
+But it is evident that they arrived at the confines of Europe
+without any certain or rooted faith.  Knowing, as we do, with what
+tenacity they retain their primitive habits and customs, their sect
+being, in all points, the same as it was four hundred years ago, it
+appears impossible that they should have forgotten their peculiar
+god, if in any peculiar god they trusted.
+
+Though cloudy ideas of the Indian deities might be occasionally
+floating in their minds, these ideas, doubtless, quickly passed
+away when they ceased to behold the pagodas and temples of Indian
+worship, and were no longer in contact with the enthusiastic
+adorers of the idols of the East; they passed away even as the dim
+and cloudy ideas which they subsequently adopted of the Eternal and
+His Son, Mary and the saints, would pass away when they ceased to
+be nourished by the sight of churches and crosses; for should it
+please the Almighty to reconduct the Romas to Indian climes, who
+can doubt that within half a century they would entirely forget all
+connected with the religion of the West!  Any poor shreds of that
+faith which they bore with them they would drop by degrees as they
+would relinquish their European garments when they became old, and
+as they relinquished their Asiatic ones to adopt those of Europe;
+no particular dress makes a part of the things essential to the
+sect of Roma, so likewise no particular god and no particular
+religion.
+
+Where these people first assumed the name of Egyptians, or where
+that title was first bestowed upon them, it is difficult to
+determine; perhaps, however, in the eastern parts of Europe, where
+it should seem the grand body of this nation of wanderers made a
+halt for a considerable time, and where they are still to be found
+in greater numbers than in any other part.  One thing is certain,
+that when they first entered Germany, which they speedily overran,
+they appeared under the character of Egyptians, doing penance for
+the sin of having refused hospitality to the Virgin and her Son,
+and, of course, as believers in the Christian faith,
+notwithstanding that they subsisted by the perpetration of every
+kind of robbery and imposition; Aventinus (ANNALES BOIORUM, 826)
+speaking of them says:  'Adeo tamen vana superstitio hominum
+mentes, velut lethargus invasit, ut eos violari nefas putet, atque
+grassari, furari, imponere passim sinant.'
+
+This singular story of banishment from Egypt, and Wandering through
+the world for a period of seven years, for inhospitality displayed
+to the Virgin, and which I find much difficulty in attributing to
+the invention of people so ignorant as the Romas, tallies strangely
+with the fate foretold to the ancient Egyptians in certain chapters
+of Ezekiel, so much so, indeed, that it seems to be derived from
+that source.  The Lord is angry with Egypt because its inhabitants
+have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, and thus he
+threatens them by the mouth of his prophet.
+
+'I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the
+countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that
+are laid waste shall be desolate forty years:  and I will scatter
+the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the
+countries.'  Ezek., chap. xxix. v. 12.  'Yet thus saith the Lord
+God; at the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the
+people whither they were scattered.' v. 13.
+
+'Thus saith the Lord; I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease,
+by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.'  Chap. xxx. v. 10.
+
+'And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse
+them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord.'
+Chap.  xxx. v. 26.
+
+The reader will at once observe that the apocryphal tale which the
+Romas brought into Germany, concerning their origin and wanderings,
+agrees in every material point with the sacred prophecy.  The
+ancient Egyptians were to be driven from their country and
+dispersed amongst the nations, for a period of forty years, for
+having been the cause of Israel's backsliding, and for not having
+known the Lord, - the modern pseudo-Egyptians are to be dispersed
+among the nations for seven years, for having denied hospitality to
+the Virgin and her child.  The prophecy seems only to have been
+remodelled for the purpose of suiting the taste of the time; as no
+legend possessed much interest in which the Virgin did not figure,
+she and her child are here introduced instead of the Israelites,
+and the Lord of Heaven offended with the Egyptians; and this legend
+appears to have been very well received in Germany, for a time at
+least, for, as Aventinus observes, it was esteemed a crime of the
+first magnitude to offer any violence to the Egyptian pilgrims, who
+were permitted to rob on the highway, to commit larceny, and to
+practise every species of imposition with impunity.
+
+The tale, however, of the Romas could hardly have been invented by
+themselves, as they were, and still are, utterly unacquainted with
+the Scripture; it probably originated amongst the priests and
+learned men of the east of Europe, who, startled by the sudden
+apparition of bands of people foreign in appearance and language,
+skilled in divination and the occult arts, endeavoured to find in
+Scripture a clue to such a phenomenon; the result of which was,
+that the Romas of Hindustan were suddenly transformed into Egyptian
+penitents, a title which they have ever since borne in various
+parts of Europe.  There are no means of ascertaining whether they
+themselves believed from the first in this story; they most
+probably took it on credit, more especially as they could give no
+account of themselves, there being every reason for supposing that
+from time immemorial they had existed in the East as a thievish
+wandering sect, as they at present do in Europe, without history or
+traditions, and unable to look back for a period of eighty years.
+The tale moreover answered their purpose, as beneath the garb of
+penitence they could rob and cheat with impunity, for a time at
+least.  One thing is certain, that in whatever manner the tale of
+their Egyptian descent originated, many branches of the sect place
+implicit confidence in it at the present day, more especially those
+of England and Spain.
+
+Even at the present time there are writers who contend that the
+Romas are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who were
+scattered amongst the nations by the Assyrians.  This belief they
+principally found upon particular parts of the prophecy from which
+we have already quoted, and there is no lack of plausibility in the
+arguments which they deduce therefrom.  The Egyptians, say they,
+were to fall upon the open fields, they were not to be brought
+together nor gathered; they were to be dispersed through the
+countries, their idols were to be destroyed, and their images were
+to cease out of Noph!  In what people in the world do these
+denunciations appear to be verified save the Gypsies? - a people
+who pass their lives in the open fields, who are not gathered
+together, who are dispersed through the countries, who have no
+idols, no images, nor any fixed or certain religion.
+
+In Spain, the want of religion amongst the Gitanos was speedily
+observed, and became quite as notorious as their want of honesty;
+they have been styled atheists, heathen idolaters, and Moors.  In
+the little book of Quinones', we find the subject noticed in the
+following manner:-
+
+'They do not understand what kind of thing the church is, and never
+enter it but for the purpose of committing sacrilege.  They do not
+know the prayers; for I examined them myself, males and females,
+and they knew them not, or if any, very imperfectly.  They never
+partake of the Holy Sacraments, and though they marry relations
+they procure no dispensations. (35)  No one knows whether they are
+baptized.  One of the five whom I caused to be hung a few days ago
+was baptized in the prison, being at the time upwards of thirty
+years of age.  Don Martin Fajardo says that two Gitanos and a
+Gitana, whom he hanged in the village of Torre Perojil, were
+baptized at the foot of the gallows, and declared themselves Moors.
+
+'They invariably look out, when they marry, if we can call theirs
+marrying, for the woman most dexterous in pilfering and deceiving,
+caring nothing whether she is akin to them or married already, (36)
+for it is only necessary to keep her company and to call her wife.
+Sometimes they purchase them from their husbands, or receive them
+as pledges:  so says, at least, Doctor Salazar de Mendoza.
+
+'Friar Melchior of Guelama states that he heard asserted of two
+Gitanos what was never yet heard of any barbarous nation, namely,
+that they exchanged their wives, and that as one was more comely
+looking than the other, he who took the handsome woman gave a
+certain sum of money to him who took the ugly one.  The licentiate
+Alonzo Duran has certified to me, that in the year 1623-4, one
+Simon Ramirez, captain of a band of Gitanos, repudiated Teresa
+because she was old, and married one called Melchora, who was young
+and handsome, and that on the day when the repudiation took place
+and the bridal was celebrated he was journeying along the road, and
+perceived a company feasting and revelling beneath some trees in a
+plain within the jurisdiction of the village of Deleitosa, and that
+on demanding the cause he was told that it was on account of Simon
+Ramirez marrying one Gitana and casting off another; and that the
+repudiated woman told him, with an agony of tears, that he
+abandoned her because she was old, and married another because she
+was young.  Certainly Gitanos and Gitanas confessed before Don
+Martin Fajardo that they did not really marry, but that in their
+banquets and festivals they selected the woman whom they liked, and
+that it was lawful for them to have as many as three mistresses,
+and on that account they begat so many children.  They never keep
+fasts nor any ecclesiastical command.  They always eat meat, Friday
+and Lent not excepted; the morning when I seized those whom I
+afterwards executed, which was in Lent, they had three lambs which
+they intended to eat for their dinner that day. - Quinones, page
+13.
+
+Although what is stated in the above extracts, respecting the
+marriages of the Gitanos and their licentious manner of living, is,
+for the most part, incorrect, there is no reason to conclude the
+same with respect to their want of religion in the olden time, and
+their slight regard for the forms and observances of the church, as
+their behaviour at the present day serves to confirm what is said
+on those points.  From the whole, we may form a tolerably correct
+idea of the opinions of the time respecting the Gitanos in matters
+of morality and religion.  A very natural question now seems to
+present itself, namely, what steps did the government of Spain,
+civil and ecclesiastical, which has so often trumpeted its zeal in
+the cause of what it calls the Christian religion, which has so
+often been the scourge of the Jew, of the Mahometan, and of the
+professors of the reformed faith; what steps did it take towards
+converting, punishing, and rooting out from Spain, a sect of demi-
+atheists, who, besides being cheats and robbers, displayed the most
+marked indifference for the forms of the Catholic religion, and
+presumed to eat flesh every day, and to intermarry with their
+relations, without paying the vicegerent of Christ here on earth
+for permission so to do?
+
+The Gitanos have at all times, since their first appearance in
+Spain, been notorious for their contempt of religious observances;
+yet there is no proof that they were subjected to persecution on
+that account.  The men have been punished as robbers and murderers,
+with the gallows and the galleys; the women, as thieves and
+sorceresses, with imprisonment, flagellation, and sometimes death;
+but as a rabble, living without fear of God, and, by so doing,
+affording an evil example to the nation at large, few people gave
+themselves much trouble about them, though they may have
+occasionally been designated as such in a royal edict, intended to
+check their robberies, or by some priest from the pulpit, from
+whose stable they had perhaps contrived to extract the mule which
+previously had the honour of ambling beneath his portly person.
+
+The Inquisition, which burnt so many Jews and Moors, and
+conscientious Christians, at Seville and Madrid, and in other parts
+of Spain, seems to have exhibited the greatest clemency and
+forbearance to the Gitanos.  Indeed, we cannot find one instance of
+its having interfered with them.  The charge of restraining the
+excesses of the Gitanos was abandoned entirely to the secular
+authorities, and more particularly to the Santa Hermandad, a kind
+of police instituted for the purpose of clearing the roads of
+robbers.  Whilst I resided at Cordova, I was acquainted with an
+aged ecclesiastic, who was priest of a village called Puente, at
+about two leagues' distance from the city.  He was detained in
+Cordova on account of his political opinions, though he was
+otherwise at liberty.  We lived together at the same house; and he
+frequently visited me in my apartment.
+
+This person, who was upwards of eighty years of age, had formerly
+been inquisitor at Cordova.  One night, whilst we were seated
+together, three Gitanos entered to pay me a visit, and on observing
+the old ecclesiastic, exhibited every mark of dissatisfaction, and
+speaking in their own idiom, called him a BALICHOW, and abused
+priests in general in most unmeasured terms.  On their departing, I
+inquired of the old man whether he, who having been an inquisitor,
+was doubtless versed in the annals of the holy office, could inform
+me whether the Inquisition had ever taken any active measures for
+the suppression and punishment of the sect of the Gitanos:
+whereupon he replied, 'that he was not aware of one case of a
+Gitano having been tried or punished by the Inquisition'; adding
+these remarkable words:  'The Inquisition always looked upon them
+with too much contempt to give itself the slightest trouble
+concerning them; for as no danger either to the state, or the
+church of Rome, could proceed from the Gitanos, it was a matter of
+perfect indifference to the holy office whether they lived without
+religion or not.  The holy office has always reserved its anger for
+people very different; the Gitanos having at all times been GENTE
+BARATA Y DESPRECIABLE.
+
+Indeed, most of the persecutions which have arisen in Spain against
+Jews, Moors, and Protestants, sprang from motives with which
+fanaticism and bigotry, of which it is true the Spaniards have
+their full share, had very little connection.  Religion was assumed
+as a mask to conceal the vilest and most detestable motives which
+ever yet led to the commission of crying injustice; the Jews were
+doomed to persecution and destruction on two accounts, - their
+great riches, and their high superiority over the Spaniards in
+learning and intellect.  Avarice has always been the dominant
+passion in Spanish minds, their rage for money being only to be
+compared to the wild hunger of wolves for horse-flesh in the time
+of winter:  next to avarice, envy of superior talent and
+accomplishment is the prevailing passion.  These two detestable
+feelings united, proved the ruin of the Jews in Spain, who were,
+for a long time, an eyesore, both to the clergy and laity, for
+their great riches and learning.  Much the same causes insured the
+expulsion of the Moriscos, who were abhorred for their superior
+industry, which the Spaniards would not imitate; whilst the
+reformation was kept down by the gaunt arm of the Inquisition, lest
+the property of the church should pass into other and more
+deserving hands.  The faggot piles in the squares of Seville and
+Madrid, which consumed the bodies of the Hebrew, the Morisco, and
+the Protestant, were lighted by avarice and envy, and those same
+piles would likewise have consumed the mulatto carcass of the
+Gitano, had he been learned and wealthy enough to become obnoxious
+to the two master passions of the Spaniards.
+
+Of all the Spanish writers who have written concerning the Gitanos,
+the one who appears to have been most scandalised at the want of
+religion observable amongst them, and their contempt for things
+sacred, was a certain Doctor Sancho De Moncada.
+
+This worthy, whom we have already had occasion to mention, was
+Professor of Theology at the University of Toledo, and shortly
+after the expulsion of the Moriscos had been brought about by the
+intrigues of the monks and robbers who thronged the court of Philip
+the Third, he endeavoured to get up a cry against the Gitanos
+similar to that with which for the last half-century Spain had
+resounded against the unfortunate and oppressed Africans, and to
+effect this he published a discourse, entitled 'The Expulsion of
+the Gitanos,' addressed to Philip the Third, in which he conjures
+that monarch, for the sake of morality and everything sacred, to
+complete the good work he had commenced, and to send the Gitanos
+packing after the Moriscos.
+
+Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author, we have
+no means of ascertaining.  One thing is certain, that it did no
+harm to the Gitanos, who still continue in Spain.
+
+If he had other expectations, he must have understood very little
+of the genius of his countrymen, or of King Philip and his court.
+It would have been easier to get up a crusade against the wild cats
+of the sierra, than against the Gitanos, as the former have skins
+to reward those who slay them.  His discourse, however, is well
+worthy of perusal, as it exhibits some learning, and comprises many
+curious details respecting the Gitanos, their habits, and their
+practices.  As it is not very lengthy, we here subjoin it, hoping
+that the reader will excuse its many absurdities, for the sake of
+its many valuable facts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+
+'SIRE,
+
+'The people of God were always afflicted by the Egyptians, but the
+Supreme King delivered them from their hands by means of many
+miracles, which are related in the Holy Scriptures; and now,
+without having recourse to so many, but only by means of the
+miraculous talent which your Majesty possesses for expelling such
+reprobates, he will, doubtless, free this kingdom from them, which
+is what is supplicated in this discourse, and it behoves us, in the
+first place, to consider
+
+
+'WHO ARE THE GITANOS?
+
+
+'Writers generally agree that the first time the Gitanos were seen
+in Europe was the year 1417, which was in the time of Pope Martinus
+the Fifth and King Don John the Second; others say that Tamerlane
+had them in his camp in 1401, and that their captain was Cingo,
+from whence it is said that they call themselves Cingary.  But the
+opinions concerning their origin are infinite.
+
+'The first is that they are foreigners, though authors differ much
+with respect to the country from whence they came.  The majority
+say that they are from Africa, and that they came with the Moors
+when Spain was lost; others that they are Tartars, Persians,
+Cilicians, Nubians, from Lower Egypt, from Syria, or from other
+parts of Asia and Africa, and others consider them to be
+descendants of Chus, son of Cain; others say that they are of
+European origin, Bohemians, Germans, or outcasts from other nations
+of this quarter of the world.
+
+'The second and sure opinion is, that those who prowl about Spain
+are not Egyptians, but swarms of wasps and atheistical wretches,
+without any kind of law or religion, Spaniards, who have introduced
+this Gypsy life or sect, and who admit into it every day all the
+idle and broken people of Spain.  There are some foreigners who
+would make Spain the origin and fountain of all the Gypsies of
+Europe, as they say that they proceeded from a river in Spain
+called Cija, of which Lucan makes mention; an opinion, however, not
+much adopted amongst the learned.  In the opinion of respectable
+authors, they are called Cingary or Cinli, because they in every
+respect resemble the bird cinclo, which we call in Spanish
+Motacilla, or aguzanieve (wagtail), which is a vagrant bird and
+builds no nest, (37) but broods in those of other birds, a bird
+restless and poor of plumage, as AElian writes.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS ARE VERY HURTFUL TO SPAIN
+
+
+'There is not a nation which does not consider them as a most
+pernicious rabble; even the Turks and Moors abominate them, amongst
+whom this sect is found under the names of Torlaquis, (38)
+Hugiemalars, and Dervislars, of whom some historians make mention,
+and all agree that they are most evil people, and highly
+detrimental to the country where they are found.
+
+'In the first place, because in all parts they are considered as
+enemies of the states where they wander, and as spies and traitors
+to the crown; which was proven by the emperors Maximilian and
+Albert, who declared them to be such in public edicts; a fact easy
+to be believed, when we consider that they enter with ease into the
+enemies' country, and know the languages of all nations.
+
+'Secondly, because they are idle vagabond people, who are in no
+respect useful to the kingdom; without commerce, occupation, or
+trade of any description; and if they have any it is making
+picklocks and pothooks for appearance sake, being wasps, who only
+live by sucking and impoverishing the country, sustaining
+themselves by the sweat of the miserable labourers, as a German
+poet has said of them:-
+
+
+"Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare molestum,
+Fastidit patrium non nisi nosse solum."
+
+
+They are much more useless than the Moriscos, as these last were of
+some service to the state and the royal revenues, but the Gitanos
+are neither labourers, gardeners, mechanics, nor merchants, and
+only serve, like the wolves, to plunder and to flee.
+
+'Thirdly, because the Gitanas are public harlots, common, as it is
+said, to all the Gitanos, and with dances, demeanour, and filthy
+songs, are the cause of continual detriment to the souls of the
+vassals of your Majesty, it being notorious that they have done
+infinite harm in many honourable houses by separating the married
+women from their husbands, and perverting the maidens:  and
+finally, in the best of these Gitanas any one may recognise all the
+signs of a harlot given by the wise king; they are gadders about,
+whisperers, always unquiet in places and corners.
+
+'Fourthly, because in all parts they are accounted famous thieves,
+about which authors write wonderful things; we ourselves have
+continual experience of this fact in Spain, where there is scarcely
+a corner where they have not committed some heavy offence.
+
+'Father Martin Del Rio says they were notorious when he was in Leon
+in the year 1584; as they even attempted to sack the town of
+Logrono in the time of the pest, as Don Francisco De Cordoba writes
+in his DIDASCALIA.  Enormous cases of their excesses we see in
+infinite processes in all the tribunals, and particularly in that
+of the Holy Brotherhood; their wickedness ascending to such a
+pitch, that they steal children, and carry them for sale to
+Barbary; the reason why the Moors call them in Arabic, RASO
+CHERANY, (39) which, as Andreas Tebetus writes, means MASTER
+THIEVES.  Although they are addicted to every species of robbery,
+they mostly practise horse and cattle stealing, on which account
+they are called in law ABIGEOS, and in Spanish QUATREROS, from
+which practice great evils result to the poor labourers.  When they
+cannot steal cattle, they endeavour to deceive by means of them,
+acting as TERCEROS, in fairs and markets.
+
+'Fifthly, because they are enchanters, diviners, magicians,
+chiromancers, who tell the future by the lines of the hand, which
+is what they call BUENA VENTURA, and are in general addicted to all
+kind of superstition.
+
+'This is the opinion entertained of them universally, and which is
+confirmed every day by experience; and some think that they are
+caller Cingary, from the great Magian Cineus, from whom it is said
+they learned their sorceries, and from which result in Spain
+(especially amongst the vulgar) great errors, and superstitious
+credulity, mighty witchcrafts, and heavy evils, both spiritual and
+corporeal.
+
+'Sixthly, because very devout men consider them as heretics, and
+many as Gentile idolaters, or atheists, without any religion,
+although they exteriorly accommodate themselves to the religion of
+the country in which they wander, being Turks with the Turks,
+heretics with the heretics, and, amongst the Christians, baptizing
+now and then a child for form's sake.  Friar Jayme Bleda produces a
+hundred signs, from which he concludes that the Moriscos were not
+Christians, all which are visible in the Gitanos; very few are
+known to baptize their children; they are not married, but it is
+believed that they keep the women in common; they do not use
+dispensations, nor receive the sacraments; they pay no respect to
+images, rosaries, bulls, neither do they hear mass, nor divine
+services; they never enter the churches, nor observe fasts, Lent,
+nor any ecclesiastical precept; which enormities have been attested
+by long experience, as every person says.
+
+'Finally, they practise every kind of wickedness in safety, by
+discoursing amongst themselves in a language with which they
+understand each other without being understood, which in Spain is
+called Gerigonza, which, as some think, ought to be called
+Cingerionza, or language of Cingary.  The king our lord saw the
+evil of such a practice in the law which he enacted at Madrid, in
+the year 1566, in which he forbade the Arabic to the Moriscos, as
+the use of different languages amongst the natives of one kingdom
+opens a door to treason, and is a source of heavy inconvenience;
+and this is exemplified more in the case of the Gitanos than of any
+other people.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS OUGHT TO BE SEIZED WHEREVER FOUND
+
+
+'The civil law ordains that vagrants be seized wherever they are
+found, without any favour being shown to them; in conformity with
+which, the Gitanos in the Greek empire were given as slaves to
+those who should capture them; as respectable authors write.
+Moreover, the emperor, our lord, has decreed by a law made in
+Toledo, in the year 1525, THAT THE THIRD TIME THEY BE FOUND
+WANDERING THEY SHALL SERVE AS SLAVES DURING THEIR WHOLE LIFE TO
+THOSE WHO CAPTURE THEM.  Which can be easily justified, inasmuch as
+there is no shepherd who does not place barriers against the
+wolves, and does not endeavour to save his flock, and I have
+already exposed to your Majesty the damage which the Gitanos
+perpetrate in Spain.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS OUGHT TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+
+
+'The reasons are many.  The first, for being spies, and traitors to
+the crown; the second as idlers and vagabonds.
+
+'It ought always to be considered, that no sooner did the race of
+man begin, after the creation of the world, than the important
+point of civil policy arose of condemning vagrants to death; for
+Cain was certain that he should meet his destruction in wandering
+as a vagabond for the murder of Abel.  ERO VAGUS ET PROFUGUS IN
+TERRA:  OMNIS IGITUR QUI INVENERIT ME, OCCIDET ME.  Now, the IGITUR
+stands here as the natural consequence of VAGUS ERO; as it is
+evident, that whoever shall see me must kill me, because he sees me
+a wanderer.  And it must always be remembered, that at that time
+there were no people in the world but the parents and brothers of
+Cain, as St. Ambrose has remarked.  Moreover, God, by the mouth of
+Jeremias, menaced his people, that all should devour them whilst
+they went wandering amongst the mountains.  And it is a doctrine
+entertained by theologians, that the mere act of wandering, without
+anything else, carries with it a vehement suspicion of capital
+crime.  Nature herself demonstrates it in the curious political
+system of the bees, in whose well-governed republic the drones are
+killed in April, when they commence working.
+
+'The third, because they are stealers of four-footed beasts, who
+are condemned to death by the laws of Spain, in the wise code of
+the famous King Don Alonso; which enactment became a part of the
+common law.
+
+'The fourth, for wizards, diviners, and for practising arts which
+are prohibited under pain of death by the divine law itself.  And
+Saul is praised for having caused this law to be put in execution
+in the beginning of his reign; and the Holy Scripture attributes to
+the breach of it (namely, his consulting the witch) his disastrous
+death, and the transfer of the kingdom to David.  The Emperor
+Constantine the Great, and other emperors who founded the civil
+law, condemned to death those who should practise such
+facinorousness, - as the President of Tolosa has written.
+
+'The last and most urgent cause is, that they are heretics, if what
+is said be truth; and it is the practice of the law in Spain to
+burn such.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS ARE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNTRY BY THE LAWS OF SPAIN
+
+
+'Firstly, they are comprehended as hale beggars in the law of the
+wise king, Don Alonso, by which he expelled all sturdy beggars, as
+being idle and useless.
+
+'Secondly, the law expels public harlots from the city; and of this
+matter I have already said something in my second chapter.
+
+'Thirdly, as people who cause scandal, and who, as is visible at
+the first glance, are prejudicial to morals and common decency.
+Now, it is established by the statute law of these kingdoms, that
+such people be expelled therefrom; it is said so in the well-
+pondered words of the edict for the expulsion of the Moors:  "And
+forasmuch as the sense of good and Christian government makes it a
+matter of conscience to expel from the kingdoms the things which
+cause scandal, injury to honest subjects, danger to the state, and
+above all, disloyalty to the Lord our God."  Therefore, considering
+the incorrigibility of the Gitanos, the Spanish kings made many
+holy laws in order to deliver their subjects from such pernicious
+people.
+
+'Fourthly, the Catholic princes, Ferdinand and Isabella, by a law
+which they made in Medina del Campo, in the year 1494, and which
+the emperor our lord renewed in Toledo in 1523, and in Madrid in
+1528 and 1534, and the late king our lord, in 1560, banished them
+perpetually from Spain, and gave them as slaves to whomsoever
+should find them, after the expiration of the term specified in the
+edict - laws which are notorious even amongst strangers.  The words
+are:- "We declare to be vagabonds, and subject to the aforesaid
+penalty, the Egyptians and foreign tinkers, who by laws and
+statutes of these kingdoms are commanded to depart therefrom; and
+the poor sturdy beggars, who contrary to the order given in the new
+edict, beg for alms and wander about."
+
+
+'THE LAWS ARE VERY JUST WHICH EXPEL THE GITANOS FROM THE STATES
+
+
+All the doctors, who are of opinion that the Gitanos may be
+condemned to death, would consider it as an act of mercy in your
+Majesty to banish them perpetually from Spain, and at the same time
+as exceedingly just.  Many and learned men not only consider that
+it is just to expel them, but cannot sufficiently wonder that they
+are tolerated in Christian states, and even consider that such
+toleration is an insult to the kingdoms.
+
+'Whilst engaged in writing this, I have seen a very learned
+memorial, in which Doctor Salazar de Mendoza makes the same
+supplication to your Majesty which is made in this discourse,
+holding it to be the imperious duty of every good government.
+
+'It stands in reason that the prince is bound to watch for the
+welfare of his subjects, and the wrongs which those of your Majesty
+receive from the Gitanos I have already exposed in my second
+chapter; it being a point worthy of great consideration that the
+wrongs caused by the Moriscos moved your royal and merciful bosom
+to drive them out, although they were many, and their departure
+would be felt as a loss to the population, the commerce, the royal
+revenues, and agriculture.  Now, with respect to the Gitanos, as
+they are few, and perfectly useless for everything, it appears more
+necessary to drive them forth, the injuries which they cause being
+so numerous.
+
+'Secondly, because the Gitanos, as I have already said, are
+Spaniards; and as others profess the sacred orders of religion,
+even so do these fellows profess gypsying, which is robbery and all
+the other vices enumerated in chapter the second.  And whereas it
+is just to banish from the kingdom those who have committed any
+heavy delinquency, it is still more so to banish those who profess
+to be injurious to all.
+
+'Thirdly, because all the kings and rulers have always endeavoured
+to eject from their kingdoms the idle and useless.  And it is very
+remarkable, that the law invariably commands them to be expelled,
+and the republics of Athens and Corinth were accustomed to do so -
+casting them forth like dung, even as Athenaeus writes:  NOS GENUS
+HOC MORTALIUM EJICIMUS EX HAC URBE VELUT PURGAMINA.  Now the
+profession of the Gypsy is idleness.
+
+'Fourthly, because the Gitanos are diviners, enchanters, and
+mischievous wretches, and the law commands us to expel such from
+the state.
+
+'In the fifth place, because your Majesty, in the Cortes at present
+assembled, has obliged your royal conscience to fulfil all the
+articles voted for the public service, and the forty-ninth says:
+"One of the things at present most necessary to be done in these
+kingdoms, is to afford a remedy for the robberies, plundering and
+murders committed by the Gitanos, who go wandering about the
+country, stealing the cattle of the poor, and committing a thousand
+outrages, living without any fear of God, and being Christians only
+in name.  It is therefore deemed expedient, that your Majesty
+command them to quit these kingdoms within six months, to be
+reckoned from the day of the ratification of these presents, and
+that they do not return to the same under pain of death."
+
+'Against this, two things may possibly be urged:-
+
+'The first, that the laws of Spain give unto the Gitanos the
+alternative of residing in large towns, which, it appears, would be
+better than expelling them.  But experience, recognised by grave
+and respectable men, has shown that it is not well to harbour these
+people; for their houses are dens of thieves, from whence they
+prowl abroad to rob the land.
+
+'The second, that it appears a pity to banish the women and
+children.  But to this can be opposed that holy act of your Majesty
+which expelled the Moriscos, and the children of the Moriscos, for
+the reason given in the royal edict.  WHENEVER ANY DETESTABLE CRIME
+IS COMMITTED BY ANY UNIVERSITY, IT IS WELL TO PUNISH ALL.  And the
+most detestable crimes of all are those which the Gitanos commit,
+since it is notorious that they subsist on what they steal; and as
+to the children, there is no law which obliges us to bring up wolf-
+whelps, to cause here-after certain damage to the flock.
+
+
+'IT HAS EVER BEEN THE PRACTICE OF PRINCES TO EXPEL THE GITANOS
+
+
+'Every one who considers the manner of your Majesty's government as
+the truly Christian pattern must entertain fervent hope that the
+advice proffered in this discourse will be attended to; more
+especially on reflecting that not only the good, but even the most
+barbarous kings have acted up to it in their respective dominions.
+
+'Pharaoh was bad enough, nevertheless he judged that the children
+of Israel were dangerous to the state, because they appeared to him
+to be living without any certain occupation; and for this very
+reason the Chaldeans cast them out of Babylon.  Amasis, king of
+Egypt, drove all the vagrants from his kingdom, forbidding them to
+return under pain of death.  The Soldan of Egypt expelled the
+Torlaquis.  The Moors did the same; and Bajazet cast them out of
+all the Ottoman empire, according to Leo Clavius.
+
+'In the second place, the Christian princes have deemed it an
+important measure of state.
+
+'The emperor our Lord, in the German Diets of the year 1548,
+expelled the Gitanos from all his empire, and these were the words
+of the decree:  "Zigeuner quos compertum est proditores esse, et
+exploratores hostium nusquam in imperio locum inveniunto.  In
+deprehensos vis et injuria sine fraude esto.  Fides publica
+Zigeuners ne dator, nec data servator."
+
+'The King of France, Francis, expelled them from thence; and the
+Duke of Terranova, when Governor of Milan for our lord the king,
+obliged them to depart from that territory under pain of death.
+
+'Thirdly, there is one grand reason which ought to be conclusive in
+moving him who so much values himself in being a faithful son of
+the church, - I mean the example which Pope Pius the Fifth gave to
+all the princes; for he drove the Gitanos from all his domains, and
+in the year 1568, he expelled the Jews, assigning as reasons for
+their expulsion those which are more closely applicable to the
+Gitanos; - namely, that they sucked the vitals of the state,
+without being of any utility whatever; that they were thieves
+themselves, and harbourers of others; that they were wizards,
+diviners, and wretches who induced people to believe that they knew
+the future, which is what the Gitanos at present do by telling
+fortunes.
+
+'Your Majesty has already freed us from greater and more dangerous
+enemies; finish, therefore, the enterprise begun, whence will
+result universal joy and security, and by which your Majesty will
+earn immortal honour.  Amen.
+
+'O Regum summe, horum plura ne temnas (absit) ne forte tempsisse
+Hispaniae periculosum existat.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+
+PERHAPS there is no country in which more laws have been framed,
+having in view the extinction and suppression of the Gypsy name,
+race, and manner of life, than Spain.  Every monarch, during a
+period of three hundred years, appears at his accession to the
+throne to have considered that one of his first and most imperative
+duties consisted in suppressing or checking the robberies, frauds,
+and other enormities of the Gitanos, with which the whole country
+seems to have resounded since the time of their first appearance.
+
+They have, by royal edicts, been repeatedly banished from Spain,
+under terrible penalties, unless they renounced their inveterate
+habits; and for the purpose of eventually confounding them with the
+residue of the population, they have been forbidden, even when
+stationary, to reside together, every family being enjoined to live
+apart, and neither to seek nor to hold communication with others of
+the race.
+
+We shall say nothing at present as to the wisdom which dictated
+these provisions, nor whether others might not have been devised,
+better calculated to produce the end desired.  Certain it is, that
+the laws were never, or very imperfectly, put in force, and for
+reasons with which their expediency or equity (which no one at the
+time impugned) had no connection whatever.
+
+It is true that, in a country like Spain, abounding in wildernesses
+and almost inaccessible mountains, the task of hunting down and
+exterminating or banishing the roving bands would have been found
+one of no slight difficulty, even if such had ever been attempted;
+but it must be remembered, that from an early period colonies of
+Gitanos have existed in the principal towns of Spain, where the men
+have plied the trades of jockeys and blacksmiths, and the women
+subsisted by divination, and all kinds of fraud.  These colonies
+were, of course, always within the reach of the hand of justice,
+yet it does not appear that they were more interfered with than the
+roving and independent bands, and that any serious attempts were
+made to break them up, though notorious as nurseries and refuges of
+crime.
+
+It is a lamentable fact, that pure and uncorrupt justice has never
+existed in Spain, as far at least as record will allow us to judge;
+not that the principles of justice have been less understood there
+than in other countries, but because the entire system of
+justiciary administration has ever been shamelessly profligate and
+vile.
+
+Spanish justice has invariably been a mockery, a thing to be bought
+and sold, terrible only to the feeble and innocent, and an
+instrument of cruelty and avarice.
+
+The tremendous satires of Le Sage upon Spanish corregidors and
+alguazils are true, even at the present day, and the most notorious
+offenders can generally escape, if able to administer sufficient
+bribes to the ministers (40) of what is misnamed justice.
+
+The reader, whilst perusing the following extracts from the laws
+framed against the Gitanos, will be filled with wonder that the
+Gypsy sect still exists in Spain, contrary to the declared will of
+the sovereign and the nation, so often repeated during a period of
+three hundred years; yet such is the fact, and it can only be
+accounted for on the ground of corruption.
+
+It was notorious that the Gitanos had powerful friends and
+favourers in every district, who sanctioned and encouraged them in
+their Gypsy practices.  These their fautors were of all ranks and
+grades, from the corregidor of noble blood to the low and obscure
+escribano; and from the viceroy of the province to the archer of
+the Hermandad.
+
+To the high and noble, they were known as Chalanes, and to the
+plebeian functionaries, as people who, notwithstanding their
+general poverty, could pay for protection.
+
+A law was even enacted against these protectors of the Gitanos,
+which of course failed, as the execution of the law was confided to
+the very delinquents against whom it was directed.  Thus, the
+Gitano bought, sold, and exchanged animals openly, though he
+subjected himself to the penalty of death by so doing, or left his
+habitation when he thought fit, though such an act, by the law of
+the land, was punishable with the galleys.
+
+In one of their songs they have commemorated the impunity with
+which they wandered about.  The escribano, to whom the Gitanos of
+the neighbourhood pay contribution, on a strange Gypsy being
+brought before him, instantly orders him to be liberated, assigning
+as a reason that he is no Gitano, but a legitimate Spaniard:-
+
+
+'I left my house, and walked about
+They seized me fast, and bound:
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+The Spaniards here have found.
+
+'From out the prison me they led,
+Before the scribe they brought;
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+The Spaniards here have caught.'
+
+
+In a word, nothing was to be gained by interfering with the
+Gitanos, by those in whose hands the power was vested; but, on the
+contrary, something was to be lost.  The chief sufferers were the
+labourers, and they had no power to right themselves, though their
+wrongs were universally admitted, and laws for their protection
+continually being made, which their enemies contrived to set at
+nought; as will presently be seen.
+
+The first law issued against the Gypsies appears to have been that
+of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Medina del Campo, in 1499.  In this
+edict they were commanded, under certain penalties, to become
+stationary in towns and villages, and to provide themselves with
+masters whom they might serve for their maintenance, or in default
+thereof, to quit the kingdom at the end of sixty days.  No mention
+is made of the country to which they were expected to betake
+themselves in the event of their quitting Spain.  Perhaps, as they
+are called Egyptians, it was concluded that they would forthwith
+return to Egypt; but the framers of the law never seem to have
+considered what means these Egyptians possessed of transporting
+their families and themselves across the sea to such a distance, or
+if they betook themselves to other countries, what reception a host
+of people, confessedly thieves and vagabonds, were likely to meet
+with, or whether it was fair in the TWO CHRISTIAN PRINCES to get
+rid of such a nuisance at the expense of their neighbours.  Such
+matters were of course left for the Gypsies themselves to settle.
+
+In this edict, a class of individuals is mentioned in conjunction
+with the Gitanos, or Gypsies, but distinguished from them by the
+name of foreign tinkers, or Calderos estrangeros.  By these, we
+presume, were meant the Calabrians, who are still to be seen upon
+the roads of Spain, wandering about from town to town, in much the
+same way as the itinerant tinkers of England at the present day.  A
+man, half a savage, a haggard woman, who is generally a Spaniard, a
+wretched child, and still more miserable donkey, compose the group;
+the gains are of course exceedingly scanty, nevertheless this life,
+seemingly so wretched, has its charms for these outcasts, who live
+without care and anxiety, without a thought beyond the present
+hour, and who sleep as sound in ruined posadas and ventas, or in
+ravines amongst rocks and pines, as the proudest grandee in his
+palace at Seville or Madrid.
+
+Don Carlos and Donna Juanna, at Toledo, 1539, confirmed the edict
+of Medina del Campo against the Egyptians, with the addition, that
+if any Egyptian, after the expiration of the sixty days, should be
+found wandering about, he should be sent to the galleys for six
+years, if above the age of twenty and under that of fifty, and if
+under or above those years, punished as the preceding law provides.
+
+Philip the Second, at Madrid, 1586, after commanding that all the
+laws and edicts be observed, by which the Gypsies are forbidden to
+wander about, and commanded to establish themselves, ordains, with
+the view of restraining their thievish and cheating practices, that
+none of them be permitted to sell anything, either within or
+without fairs or markets, if not provided with a testimony signed
+by the notary public, to prove that they have a settled residence,
+and where it may be; which testimony must also specify and describe
+the horses, cattle, linen, and other things, which they carry forth
+for sale; otherwise they are to be punished as thieves, and what
+they attempt to sell considered as stolen property.
+
+Philip the Third, at Belem, in Portugal, 1619, commands all the
+Gypsies of the kingdom to quit the same within the term of six
+months, and never to return, under pain of death; those who should
+wish to remain are to establish themselves in cities, towns, and
+villages, of one thousand families and upwards, and are not to be
+allowed the use of the dress, name, and language of Gypsies, IN
+ORDER THAT, FORASMUCH AS THEY ARE NOT SUCH BY NATION, THIS NAME AND
+MANNER OF LIFE MAY BE FOR EVERMORE CONFOUNDED AND FORGOTTEN.  They
+are moreover forbidden, under the same penalty, to have anything to
+do with the buying or selling of cattle, whether great or small.
+
+The most curious portion of the above law is the passage in which
+these people are declared not to be Gypsies by nation.  If they are
+not Gypsies, who are they then?  Spaniards?  If so, what right had
+the King of Spain to send the refuse of his subjects abroad, to
+corrupt other lands, over which he had no jurisdiction?
+
+The Moors were sent back to Africa, under some colour of justice,
+as they came originally from that part of the world; but what would
+have been said to such a measure, if the edict which banished them
+had declared that they were not Moors, but Spaniards?
+
+The law, moreover, in stating that they are not Gypsies by nation,
+seems to have forgotten that in that case it would be impossible to
+distinguish them from other Spaniards, so soon as they should have
+dropped the name, language, and dress of Gypsies.  How, provided
+they were like other Spaniards, and did not carry the mark of
+another nation on their countenances, could it be known whether or
+not they obeyed the law, which commanded them to live only in
+populous towns or villages, or how could they be detected in the
+buying or selling of cattle, which the law forbids them under pain
+of death?
+
+The attempt to abolish the Gypsy name and manner of life might have
+been made without the assertion of a palpable absurdity.
+
+Philip the Fourth, May 8, 1633, after reference to the evil lives
+and want of religion of the Gypsies, and the complaints made
+against them by prelates and others, declares 'that the laws
+hitherto adopted since the year 1499, have been inefficient to
+restrain their excesses; that they are not Gypsies by origin or
+nature, but have adopted this form of life'; and then, after
+forbidding them, according to custom, the dress and language of
+Gypsies, under the usual severe penalties, he ordains:-
+
+'1st.  That under the same penalties, the aforesaid people shall,
+within two months, leave the quarters (barrios) where they now live
+with the denomination of Gitanos, and that they shall separate from
+each other, and mingle with the other inhabitants, and that they
+shall hold no more meetings, neither in public nor in secret; that
+the ministers of justice are to observe, with particular diligence,
+how they fulfil these commands, and whether they hold communication
+with each other, or marry amongst themselves; and how they fulfil
+the obligations of Christians by assisting at sacred worship in the
+churches; upon which latter point they are to procure information
+with all possible secrecy from the curates and clergy of the
+parishes where the Gitanos reside.
+
+'2ndly.  And in order to extirpate, in every way, the name of
+Gitanos, we ordain that they be not called so, and that no one
+venture to call them so, and that such shall be esteemed a very
+heavy injury, and shall be punished as such, if proved, and that
+nought pertaining to the Gypsies, their name, dress, or actions, be
+represented, either in dances or in any other performance, under
+the penalty of two years' banishment, and a mulct of fifty thousand
+maravedis to whomsoever shall offend for the first time, and double
+punishment for the second.'
+
+The above two articles seem to have in view the suppression and
+breaking up of the Gypsy colonies established in the large towns,
+more especially the suburbs; farther on, mention is made of the
+wandering bands.
+
+'4thly.  And forasmuch as we have understood that numerous Gitanos
+rove in bands through various parts of the kingdom, committing
+robberies in uninhabited places, and even invading some small
+villages, to the great terror and danger of the inhabitants, we
+give by this our law a general commission to all ministers of
+justice, whether appertaining to royal domains, lordships, or
+abbatial territories, that every one may, in his district, proceed
+to the imprisonment and chastisement of the delinquents, and may
+pass beyond his own jurisdiction in pursuit of them; and we also
+command all the ministers of justice aforesaid, that on receiving
+information that Gitanos or highwaymen are prowling in their
+districts, they do assemble at an appointed day, and with the
+necessary preparation of men and arms they do hunt down, take, and
+deliver them under a good guard to the nearest officer holding the
+royal commission.'
+
+Carlos the Second followed in the footsteps of his predecessors,
+with respect to the Gitanos.  By a law of the 20th of November
+1692, he inhibits the Gitanos from living in towns of less than one
+thousand heads of families (vecinos), and pursuing any trade or
+employment, save the cultivation of the ground; from going in the
+dress of Gypsies, or speaking the language or gibberish which they
+use; from living apart in any particular quarter of the town; from
+visiting fairs with cattle, great or small, or even selling or
+exchanging such at any time, unless with the testimonial of the
+public notary, that they were bred within their own houses.  By
+this law they are also forbidden to have firearms in their
+possession.
+
+So far from being abashed by this law, or the preceding one, the
+Gitanos seem to have increased in excesses of every kind.  Only
+three years after (12th June 1695), the same monarch deemed it
+necessary to publish a new law for their persecution and
+chastisement.  This law, which is exceedingly severe, consists of
+twenty-nine articles.  By the fourth they are forbidden any other
+exercise or manner of life than that of the cultivation of the
+fields, in which their wives and children, if of competent age, are
+to assist them.
+
+Of every other office, employment, or commerce, they are declared
+incapable, and especially of being BLACKSMITHS.
+
+By the fifth, they are forbidden to keep horses or mares, either
+within or without their houses, or to make use of them in any way
+whatever, under the penalty of two months' imprisonment and the
+forfeiture of such animals; and any one lending them a horse or a
+mare is to forfeit the same, if it be found in their possession.
+They are declared only capable of keeping a mule, or some lesser
+beast, to assist them in their labour, or for the use of their
+families.
+
+By the twelfth, they are to be punished with six years in the
+galleys, if they leave the towns or villages in which they are
+located, and pass to others, or wander in the fields or roads; and
+they are only to be permitted to go out, in order to exercise the
+pursuit of husbandry.  In this edict, particular mention is made of
+the favour and protection shown to the Gitanos, by people of
+various descriptions, by means of which they had been enabled to
+follow their manner of life undisturbed, and to baffle the severity
+of the laws:-
+
+'Article 16. - And because we understand that the continuance in
+these kingdoms of those who are called Gitanos has depended on the
+favour, protection, and assistance which they have experienced from
+persons of different stations, we do ordain, that whosoever,
+against whom shall be proved the fact of having, since the day of
+the publication hereof, favoured, received, or assisted the said
+Gitanos, in any manner whatever, whether within their houses or
+without, the said person, provided he is noble, shall be subjected
+to the fine of six thousand ducats, the half of which shall be
+applied to our treasury, and the other half to the expenses of the
+prosecution; and, if a plebeian, to a punishment of ten years in
+the galleys.  And we declare, that in order to proceed to the
+infliction of such fine and punishment, the evidence of two
+respectable witnesses, without stain or suspicion, shall be
+esteemed legitimate and conclusive, although they depose to
+separate acts, or three depositions of the Gitanos themselves, MADE
+UPON THE RACK, although they relate to separate and different acts
+of abetting and harbouring.'
+
+The following article is curious, as it bears evidence to Gypsy
+craft and cunning:-
+
+'Article 18. - And whereas it is very difficult to prove against
+the Gitanos the robberies and delinquencies which they commit,
+partly because they happen in uninhabited places, but more
+especially on account of the MALICE and CUNNING with which they
+execute them; we do ordain, in order that they may receive the
+merited chastisement, that to convict, in these cases, those who
+are called Gitanos, the depositions of the persons whom they have
+robbed in uninhabited places shall be sufficient, provided there
+are at least two witnesses to one and the same fact, and these of
+good fame and reputation; and we also declare, that the CORPUS
+DELICTI may be proved in the same manner in these cases, in order
+that the culprits may be proceeded against, and condemned to the
+corresponding pains and punishments.'
+
+The council of Madrid published a schedule, 18th of August 1705,
+from which it appears that the villages and roads were so much
+infested by the Gitano race, that there was neither peace nor
+safety for labourers and travellers; the corregidors and justices
+are therefore exhorted to use their utmost endeavour to apprehend
+these outlaws, and to execute upon them the punishments enjoined by
+the preceding law.  The ministers of justice are empowered to fire
+upon them as public enemies, wherever they meet them, in case of
+resistance or refusal to deliver up the arms they carry about them.
+
+Philip the Fifth, by schedule, October 1st, 1726, forbade any
+complaints which the Gitanos might have to make against the
+inferior justices being heard in the higher tribunals, and, on that
+account, banished all the Gypsy women from Madrid, and, indeed,
+from all towns where royal audiences were held, it being the custom
+of the women to flock up to the capital from the small towns and
+villages, under pretence of claiming satisfaction for wrongs
+inflicted upon their husbands and relations, and when there to
+practise the art of divination, and to sing obscene songs through
+the streets; by this law, also, the justices are particularly
+commanded not to permit the Gitanos to leave their places of
+domicile, except in cases of very urgent necessity.
+
+This law was attended with the same success as the others; the
+Gitanos left their places of domicile whenever they thought proper,
+frequented the various fairs, and played off their jockey tricks as
+usual, or traversed the country in armed gangs, plundering the
+small villages, and assaulting travellers.
+
+The same monarch, in October, published another law against them,
+from St. Lorenzo, of the Escurial.  From the words of this edict,
+and the measures resolved upon, the reader may form some idea of
+the excesses of the Gitanos at this period.  They are to be hunted
+down with fire and sword, and even the sanctity of the temples is
+to be invaded in their pursuit, and the Gitanos dragged from the
+horns of the altar, should they flee thither for refuge.  It was
+impossible, in Spain, to carry the severity of persecution farther,
+as the very parricide was in perfect safety, could he escape to the
+church.  Here follows part of this law:-
+
+'I have resolved that all the lord-lieutenants, intendants, and
+corregidors shall publish proclamations, and fix edicts, to the
+effect that all the Gitanos who are domiciled in the cities and
+towns of their jurisdiction shall return within the space of
+fifteen days to their places of domicile, under penalty of being
+declared, at the expiration of that term, as public banditti,
+subject to be fired at in the event of being found with arms, or
+without them, beyond the limits of their places of domicile; and at
+the expiration of the term aforesaid, the lord-lieutenants,
+intendants, and corregidors are strictly commanded, that either
+they themselves, or suitable persons deputed by them, march out
+with armed soldiery, or if there be none at hand, with the
+militias, and their officers, accompanied by the horse rangers,
+destined for the protection of the revenue, for the purpose of
+scouring the whole district within their jurisdiction, making use
+of all possible diligence to apprehend such Gitanos as are to be
+found on the public roads and other places beyond their domiciliary
+bounds, and to inflict upon them the penalty of death, for the mere
+act of being found.
+
+'And in the event of their taking refuge in sacred places, they are
+empowered to drag them forth, and conduct them to the neighbouring
+prisons and fortresses, and provided the ecclesiastical judges
+proceed against the secular, in order that they be restored to the
+church, they are at liberty to avail themselves of the recourse to
+force, countenanced by laws declaring, even as I now declare, that
+all the Gitanos who shall leave their allotted places of abode, are
+to be held as incorrigible rebels, and enemies of the public
+peace.'
+
+From this period, until the year 1780, various other laws and
+schedules were directed against the Gitanos, which, as they contain
+nothing very new or remarkable, we may be well excused from
+particularising.  In 1783, a law was passed by the government,
+widely differing in character from any which had hitherto been
+enacted in connection with the Gitano caste or religion in Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+
+CARLOS TERCERO, or Charles the Third, ascended the throne of Spain
+in the year 1759, and died in 1788.  No Spanish monarch has left
+behind a more favourable impression on the minds of the generality
+of his countrymen; indeed, he is the only one who is remembered at
+all by all ranks and conditions; - perhaps he took the surest means
+for preventing his name being forgotten, by erecting a durable
+monument in every large town, - we do not mean a pillar surmounted
+by a statue, or a colossal figure on horseback, but some useful and
+stately public edifice.  All the magnificent modern buildings which
+attract the eye of the traveller in Spain, sprang up during the
+reign of Carlos Tercero, - for example, the museum at Madrid, the
+gigantic tobacco fabric at Seville, - half fortress, half
+manufactory, - and the Farol, at Coruna.  We suspect that these
+erections, which speak to the eye, have gained him far greater
+credit amongst Spaniards than the support which he afforded to
+liberal opinions, which served to fan the flame of insurrection in
+the new world, and eventually lost for Spain her transatlantic
+empire.
+
+We have said that he left behind him a favourable impression
+amongst the generality of his countrymen; by which we mean the
+great body found in every nation, who neither think nor reason, -
+for there are amongst the Spaniards not a few who deny that any of
+his actions entitle him to the gratitude of the nation.  'All his
+thoughts,' say they, 'were directed to hunting - and hunting alone;
+and all the days of the year he employed himself either in hunting
+or in preparation for the sport.  In one expedition, in the parks
+of the Pardo, he spent several millions of reals.  The noble
+edifices which adorn Spain, though built by his orders, are less
+due to his reign than to the anterior one, - to the reign of
+Ferdinand the Sixth, who left immense treasures, a small portion of
+which Carlos Tercero devoted to these purposes, squandering away
+the remainder.  It is said that Carlos Tercero was no friend to
+superstition; yet how little did Spain during his time gain in
+religious liberty!  The great part of the nation remained
+intolerant and theocratic as before, the other and smaller section
+turned philosophic, but after the insane manner of the French
+revolutionists, intolerant in its incredulity, and believing more
+in the ENCYCLOPEDIE than in the Gospel of the Nazarene.' (41)
+
+We should not have said thus much of Carlos Tercero, whose
+character has been extravagantly praised by the multitude, and
+severely criticised by the discerning few who look deeper than the
+surface of things, if a law passed during his reign did not connect
+him intimately with the history of the Gitanos, whose condition to
+a certain extent it has already altered, and over whose future
+destinies there can be no doubt that it will exert considerable
+influence.  Whether Carlos Tercero had anything farther to do with
+its enactment than subscribing it with his own hand, is a point
+difficult to determine; the chances are that he had not; there is
+damning evidence to prove that in many respects he was a mere
+Nimrod, and it is not probable that such a character would occupy
+his thoughts much with plans for the welfare of his people,
+especially such a class as the Gitanos, however willing to build
+public edifices, gratifying to his vanity, with the money which a
+provident predecessor had amassed.
+
+The law in question is dated 19th September 1783.  It is entitled,
+'Rules for repressing and chastising the vagrant mode of life, and
+other excesses, of those who are called Gitanos.'  It is in many
+respects widely different from all the preceding laws, and on that
+account we have separated it from them, deeming it worthy of
+particular notice.  It is evidently the production of a
+comparatively enlightened spirit, for Spain had already begun to
+emerge from the dreary night of monachism and bigotry, though the
+light which beamed upon her was not that of the Gospel, but of
+modern philosophy.  The spirit, however, of the writers of the
+ENCYCLOPEDIE is to be preferred to that of TORQUEMADA AND MONCADA,
+and however deeply we may lament the many grievous omissions in the
+law of Carlos Tercero (for no provision was made for the spiritual
+instruction of the Gitanos), we prefer it in all points to that of
+Philip the Third, and to the law passed during the reign of that
+unhappy victim of monkish fraud, perfidy, and poison, Charles the
+Second.
+
+Whoever framed the law of Carlos Tercero with respect to the
+Gitanos, had sense enough to see that it would be impossible to
+reclaim and bring them within the pale of civilised society by
+pursuing the course invariably adopted on former occasions - to see
+that all the menacing edicts for the last three hundred years,
+breathing a spirit of blood and persecution, had been unable to
+eradicate Gitanismo from Spain; but on the contrary, had rather
+served to extend it.  Whoever framed this law was, moreover, well
+acquainted with the manner of administering justice in Spain, and
+saw the folly of making statutes which were never put into effect.
+Instead, therefore, of relying on corregidors and alguazils for the
+extinction of the Gypsy sect, the statute addresses itself more
+particularly to the Gitanos themselves, and endeavours to convince
+them that it would be for their interest to renounce their much
+cherished Gitanismo.  Those who framed the former laws had
+invariably done their best to brand this race with infamy, and had
+marked out for its members, in the event of abandoning their Gypsy
+habits, a life to which death itself must have been preferable in
+every respect.  They were not to speak to each other, nor to
+intermarry, though, as they were considered of an impure caste, it
+was scarcely to be expected that the other Spaniards would form
+with them relations of love or amity, and they were debarred the
+exercise of any trade or occupation but hard labour, for which
+neither by nature nor habit they were at all adapted.  The law of
+Carlos Tercero, on the contrary, flung open to them the whole
+career of arts and sciences, and declared them capable of following
+any trade or profession to which they might please to addict
+themselves.  Here follow extracts from the above-mentioned law:-
+
+'Art. 1.  I declare that those who go by the name of Gitanos are
+not so by origin or nature, nor do they proceed from any infected
+root.
+
+'2.  I therefore command that neither they, nor any one of them
+shall use the language, dress, or vagrant kind of life which they
+have followed unto the present time, under the penalties here below
+contained.
+
+'3.  I forbid all my vassals, of whatever state, class, and
+condition they may be, to call or name the above-mentioned people
+by the names of Gitanos, or new Castilians, under the same
+penalties to which those are subject who injure others by word or
+writing.
+
+'5.  It is my will that those who abandon the said mode of life,
+dress, language, or jargon, be admitted to whatever offices or
+employments to which they may apply themselves, and likewise to any
+guilds or communities, without any obstacle or contradiction being
+offered to them, or admitted under this pretext within or without
+courts of law.
+
+'6.  Those who shall oppose and refuse the admission of this class
+of reclaimed people to their trades and guilds shall be mulcted ten
+ducats for the first time, twenty for the second, and a double
+quantity for the third; and during the time they continue in their
+opposition they shall be prohibited from exercising the same trade,
+for a certain period, to be determined by the judge, and
+proportioned to the opposition which they display.
+
+'7.  I grant the term of ninety days, to be reckoned from the
+publication of this law in the principal town of every district, in
+order that all the vagabonds of this and any other class may retire
+to the towns and villages where they may choose to locate
+themselves, with the exception, for the present, of the capital and
+the royal residences, in order that, abandoning the dress,
+language, and behaviour of those who are called Gitanos, they may
+devote themselves to some honest office, trade, or occupation, it
+being a matter of indifference whether the same be connected with
+labour or the arts.
+
+'8.  It will not be sufficient for those who have been formerly
+known to follow this manner of life to devote themselves solely to
+the occupation of shearing and clipping animals, nor to the traffic
+of markets and fairs, nor still less to the occupation of keepers
+of inns and ventas in uninhabited places, although they may be
+innkeepers within towns, which employment shall be considered as
+sufficient, provided always there be no well-founded indications of
+their being delinquents themselves, or harbourers of such people.
+
+'9.  At the expiration of ninety days, the justices shall proceed
+against the disobedient in the following manner:- Those who, having
+abandoned the dress, name, language or jargon, association, and
+manners of Gitanos, and shall have moreover chosen and established
+a domicile, but shall not have devoted themselves to any office or
+employment, though it be only that of day-labourers, shall be
+considered as vagrants, and be apprehended and punished according
+to the laws in force against such people without any distinction
+being made between them and the other vassals.
+
+'10.  Those who henceforth shall commit any crimes, having
+abandoned the language, dress, and manners of Gitanos, chosen a
+domicile, and applied themselves to any office, shall be prosecuted
+and chastised like others guilty of the same crimes, without any
+difference being made between them.
+
+'11.  But those who shall have abandoned the aforesaid dress,
+language and behaviour, and those who, pretending to speak and
+dress like the other vassals, and even to choose a domiciliary
+residence, shall continue to go forth, wandering about the roads
+and uninhabited places, although it be with the pretext of visiting
+markets and fairs, such people shall be pursued and taken by the
+justices, and a list of them formed, with their names and
+appellations, age, description, with the places where they say they
+reside and were born.
+
+'16.   I, however, except from punishment the children and young
+people of both sexes who are not above sixteen years of age.
+
+'17.  Such, although they may belong to a family, shall be
+separated from their parents who wander about and have no
+employment, and shall be destined to learn something, or shall be
+placed out in hospices or houses of instruction.
+
+'20.  When the register of the Gitanos who have proved disobedient
+shall have taken place, it shall be notified and made known to
+them, that in case of another relapse, the punishment of death
+shall be executed upon them without remission, on the examination
+of the register, and proof being adduced that they have returned to
+their former life.'
+
+What effect was produced by this law, and whether its results at
+all corresponded to the views of those who enacted it, will be
+gathered from the following chapters of this work, in which an
+attempt will be made to delineate briefly the present condition of
+the Gypsies in Spain.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI - PART II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+ABOUT twelve in the afternoon of the 6th of January 1836, I crossed
+the bridge of the Guadiana, a boundary river between Portugal and
+Spain, and entered Badajoz, a strong town in the latter kingdom,
+containing about eight thousand inhabitants, supposed to have been
+founded by the Romans.  I instantly returned thanks to God for
+having preserved me in a journey of five days through the wilds of
+the Alemtejo, the province of Portugal the most infested by robbers
+and desperate characters, which I had traversed with no other human
+companion than a lad, almost an idiot, who was to convey back the
+mules which had brought me from Aldea Gallega.  I intended to make
+but a short stay, and as a diligence would set out for Madrid the
+day next but one to my arrival, I purposed departing therein for
+the capital of Spain.
+
+I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken up my
+temporary abode; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at
+hand; I was thinking on the state of the country I had just
+entered, which was involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and
+where the ministers of a religion falsely styled Catholic and
+Christian were blowing the trump of war, instead of preaching the
+love-engendering words of the blessed Gospel.
+
+Suddenly two men, wrapped in long cloaks, came down the narrow and
+almost deserted street; they were about to pass, and the face of
+the nearest was turned full towards me; I knew to whom the
+countenance which he displayed must belong, and I touched him on
+the arm.  The man stopped, and likewise his companion; I said a
+certain word, to which, after an exclamation of surprise, he
+responded in the manner I expected.  The men were Gitanos or
+Gypsies, members of that singular family or race which has diffused
+itself over the face of the civilised globe, and which, in all
+lands, has preserved more or less its original customs and its own
+peculiar language.
+
+We instantly commenced discoursing in the Spanish dialect of this
+language, with which I was tolerably well acquainted.  I asked my
+two newly-made acquaintances whether there were many of their race
+in Badajoz and the vicinity:  they informed me that there were
+eight or ten families in the town, and that there were others at
+Merida, a town about six leagues distant.  I inquired by what means
+they lived, and they replied that they and their brethren
+principally gained a livelihood by trafficking in mules and asses,
+but that all those in Badajoz were very poor, with the exception of
+one man, who was exceedingly BALBALO, or rich, as he was in
+possession of many mules and other cattle.  They removed their
+cloaks for a moment, and I found that their under-garments were
+rags.
+
+They left me in haste, and went about the town informing the rest
+that a stranger had arrived who spoke Rommany as well as
+themselves, who had the face of a Gitano, and seemed to be of the
+'errate,' or blood.  In less than half an hour the street before
+the inn was filled with the men, women, and children of Egypt.  I
+went out amongst them, and my heart sank within me as I surveyed
+them:  so much vileness, dirt, and misery I had never seen amongst
+a similar number of human beings; but worst of all was the evil
+expression of their countenances, which spoke plainly that they
+were conversant with every species of crime, and it was not long
+before I found that their countenances did not belie them.  After
+they had asked me an infinity of questions, and felt my hands,
+face, and clothes, they retired to their own homes.
+
+That same night the two men of whom I have already particularly
+spoken came to see me.  They sat down by the brasero in the middle
+of the apartment, and began to smoke small paper cigars.  We
+continued for a considerable time in silence surveying each other.
+Of the two Gitanos one was an elderly man, tall and bony, with
+lean, skinny, and whimsical features, though perfectly those of a
+Gypsy; he spoke little, and his expressions were generally singular
+and grotesque.  His companion, who was the man whom I had first
+noticed in the street, differed from him in many respects; he could
+be scarcely thirty, and his figure, which was about the middle
+height, was of Herculean proportions; shaggy black hair, like that
+of a wild beast, covered the greatest part of his immense head; his
+face was frightfully seamed with the small-pox, and his eyes, which
+glared like those of ferrets, peered from beneath bushy eyebrows;
+he wore immense moustaches, and his wide mouth was garnished with
+teeth exceedingly large and white.  There was one peculiarity about
+him which must not be forgotten:  his right arm was withered, and
+hung down from his shoulder a thin sapless stick, which contrasted
+strangely with the huge brawn of the left.  A figure so perfectly
+wild and uncouth I had scarcely ever before seen.  He had now flung
+aside his cloak, and sat before me gaunt in his rags and nakedness.
+In spite of his appearance, however, he seemed to be much the most
+sensible of the two; and the conversation which ensued was carried
+on chiefly between him and myself.  This man, whom I shall call the
+first Gypsy, was the first to break silence; and he thus addressed
+me, speaking in Spanish, broken with words of the Gypsy tongue:-
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Arromali (in truth), I little thought when I saw
+the errano standing by the door of the posada that I was about to
+meet a brother - one too who, though well dressed, was not ashamed
+to speak to a poor Gitano; but tell me, I beg you, brother, from
+whence you come; I have heard that you have just arrived from
+Laloro, but I am sure you are no Portuguese; the Portuguese are
+very different from you; I know it, for I have been in Laloro; I
+rather take you to be one of the Corahai, for I have heard say that
+there is much of our blood there.  You are a Corahano, are you
+not?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am no Moor, though I have been in the country.  I was
+born in an island in the West Sea, called England, which I suppose
+you have heard spoken of.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Yes, yes, I have a right to know something of the
+English.  I was born in this foros, and remember the day when the
+English hundunares clambered over the walls, and took the town from
+the Gabine:  well do I remember that day, though I was but a child;
+the streets ran red with blood and wine!  Are there Gitanos then
+amongst the English?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'There are numbers, and so there are amongst most nations
+of the world.'
+
+SECOND GYPSY. - 'Vaya!  And do the English Calore gain their bread
+in the same way as those of Spain?  Do they shear and trim?  Do
+they buy and change beasts, and (lowering his voice) do they now
+and then chore a gras?' (42)
+
+MYSELF. - 'They do most of these things:  the men frequent fairs
+and markets with horses, many of which they steal; and the women
+tell fortunes and perform all kinds of tricks, by which they gain
+more money than their husbands.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'They would not be callees if they did not:  I have
+known a Gitana gain twenty ounces of gold, by means of the hokkano
+baro, in a few hours, whilst the silly Gypsy, her husband, would be
+toiling with his shears for a fortnight, trimming the horses of the
+Busne, and yet not be a dollar richer at the end of the time.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You seem wretchedly poor.  Are you married?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'I am, and to the best-looking and cleverest callee
+in Badajoz; nevertheless we have never thriven since the day of our
+marriage, and a curse seems to rest upon us both.  Perhaps I have
+only to thank myself; I was once rich, and had never less than six
+borricos to sell or exchange, but the day before my marriage I sold
+all I possessed, in order to have a grand fiesta.  For three days
+we were merry enough; I entertained every one who chose to come in,
+and flung away my money by handfuls, so that when the affair was
+over I had not a cuarto in the world; and the very people who had
+feasted at my expense refused me a dollar to begin again, so we
+were soon reduced to the greatest misery.  True it is, that I now
+and then shear a mule, and my wife tells the bahi (fortune) to the
+servant-girls, but these things stand us in little stead:  the
+people are now very much on the alert, and my wife, with all her
+knowledge, has been unable to perform any grand trick which would
+set us up at once.  She wished to come to see you, brother, this
+night, but was ashamed, as she has no more clothes than myself.
+Last summer our distress was so great that we crossed the frontier
+into Portugal:  my wife sung, and I played the guitar, for though I
+have but one arm, and that a left one, I have never felt the want
+of the other.  At Estremoz I was cast into prison as a thief and
+vagabond, and there I might have remained till I starved with
+hunger.  My wife, however, soon got me out:  she went to the lady
+of the corregidor, to whom she told a most wonderful bahi,
+promising treasures and titles, and I wot not what; so I was set at
+liberty, and returned to Spain as quick as I could.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Is it not the custom of the Gypsies of Spain to relieve
+each other in distress? - it is the rule in other countries.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'El krallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales - (The
+king has destroyed the law of the Gypsies); we are no longer the
+people we were once, when we lived amongst the sierras and deserts,
+and kept aloof from the Busne; we have lived amongst the Busne till
+we are become almost like them, and we are no longer united, ready
+to assist each other at all times and seasons, and very frequently
+the Gitano is the worst enemy of his brother.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'The Gitanos, then, no longer wander about, but have
+fixed residences in the towns and villages?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'In the summer time a few of us assemble together,
+and live about amongst the plains and hills, and by doing so we
+frequently contrive to pick up a horse or a mule for nothing, and
+sometimes we knock down a Busne, and strip him, but it is seldom we
+venture so far.  We are much looked after by the Busne, who hold us
+in great dread, and abhor us.  Sometimes, when wandering about, we
+are attacked by the labourers, and then we defend ourselves as well
+as we can.  There is no better weapon in the hands of a Gitano than
+his "cachas," or shears, with which he trims the mules.  I once
+snipped off the nose of a Busne, and opened the greater part of his
+cheek in an affray up the country near Trujillo.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have you travelled much about Spain?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Very little; I have never been out of this province
+of Estremadura, except last year, as I told you, into Portugal.
+When we wander we do not go far, and it is very rare that we are
+visited by our brethren of other parts.  I have never been in
+Andalusia, but I have heard say that the Gitanos are many in
+Andalusia, and are more wealthy than those here, and that they
+follow better the Gypsy law.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'What do you mean by the Gypsy law?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Wherefore do you ask, brother?  You know what is
+meant by the law of the Cales better even than ourselves.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I know what it is in England and in Hungary, but I can
+only give a guess as to what it is in Spain.'
+
+BOTH GYPSIES. - 'What do you consider it to be in Spain?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Cheating and choring the Busne on all occasions, and
+being true to the errate in life and in death.'
+
+At these words both the Gitanos sprang simultaneously from their
+seats, and exclaimed with a boisterous shout - 'Chachipe.'
+
+This meeting with the Gitanos was the occasion of my remaining at
+Badajoz a much longer time than I originally intended.  I wished to
+become better acquainted with their condition and manners, and
+above all to speak to them of Christ and His Word; for I was
+convinced, that should I travel to the end of the universe, I
+should meet with no people more in need of a little Christian
+exhortation, and I accordingly continued at Badajoz for nearly
+three weeks.
+
+During this time I was almost constantly amongst them, and as I
+spoke their language, and was considered by them as one of
+themselves, I had better opportunity of arriving at a fair
+conclusion respecting their character than any other person could
+have had, whether Spanish or foreigner, without such an advantage.
+I found that their ways and pursuits were in almost every respect
+similar to those of their brethren in other countries.  By cheating
+and swindling they gained their daily bread; the men principally by
+the arts of the jockey, - by buying, selling, and exchanging
+animals, at which they are wonderfully expert; and the women by
+telling fortunes, selling goods smuggled from Portugal, and dealing
+in love-draughts and diablerie.  The most innocent occupation which
+I observed amongst them was trimming and shearing horses and mules,
+which in their language is called 'monrabar,' and in Spanish
+'esquilar'; and even whilst exercising this art, they not
+unfrequently have recourse to foul play, doing the animal some
+covert injury, in hope that the proprietor will dispose of it to
+themselves at an inconsiderable price, in which event they soon
+restore it to health; for knowing how to inflict the harm, they
+know likewise how to remove it.
+
+Religion they have none; they never attend mass, nor did I ever
+hear them employ the names of God, Christ, and the Virgin, but in
+execration and blasphemy.  From what I could learn, it appeared
+that their fathers had entertained some belief in metempsychosis;
+but they themselves laughed at the idea, and were of opinion that
+the soul perished when the body ceased to breathe; and the argument
+which they used was rational enough, so far as it impugned
+metempsychosis:  'We have been wicked and miserable enough in this
+life,' they said; 'why should we live again?'
+
+I translated certain portions of Scripture into their dialect,
+which I frequently read to them; especially the parable of Lazarus
+and the Prodigal Son, and told them that the latter had been as
+wicked as themselves, and both had suffered as much or more; but
+that the sufferings of the former, who always looked forward to a
+blessed resurrection, were recompensed by admission, in the life to
+come, to the society of Abraham and the Prophets, and that the
+latter, when he repented of his sins, was forgiven, and received
+into as much favour as the just son.
+
+They listened with admiration; but, alas! not of the truths, the
+eternal truths, I was telling them, but to find that their broken
+jargon could be written and read.  The only words denoting anything
+like assent to my doctrine which I ever obtained, were the
+following from the mouth of a woman:  'Brother, you tell us strange
+things, though perhaps you do not lie; a month since I would sooner
+have believed these tales, than that this day I should see one who
+could write Rommany.'
+
+Two or three days after my arrival, I was again visited by the
+Gypsy of the withered arm, who I found was generally termed Paco,
+which is the diminutive of Francisco; he was accompanied by his
+wife, a rather good-looking young woman with sharp intelligent
+features, and who appeared in every respect to be what her husband
+had represented her on the former visit.  She was very poorly clad,
+and notwithstanding the extreme sharpness of the weather, carried
+no mantle to protect herself from its inclemency, - her raven black
+hair depended behind as far down as her hips.  Another Gypsy came
+with them, but not the old fellow whom I had before seen.  This was
+a man about forty-five, dressed in a zamarra of sheep-skin, with a
+high-crowned Andalusian hat; his complexion was dark as pepper, and
+his eyes were full of sullen fire.  In his appearance he exhibited
+a goodly compound of Gypsy and bandit.
+
+PACO. - 'Laches chibeses te dinele Undebel (May God grant you good
+days, brother).  This is my wife, and this is my wife's father.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am glad to see them.  What are their names?'
+
+PACO. - 'Maria and Antonio; their other name is Lopez.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have they no Gypsy names?'
+
+PACO. - 'They have no other names than these.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Then in this respect the Gitanos of Spain are unlike
+those of my country.  Every family there has two names; one by
+which they are known to the Busne, and another which they use
+amongst themselves.'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'Give me your hand, brother!  I should have come to see
+you before, but I have been to Olivenzas in search of a horse.
+What I have heard of you has filled me with much desire to know
+you, and I now see that you can tell me many things which I am
+ignorant of.  I am Zincalo by the four sides - I love our blood,
+and I hate that of the Busne.  Had I my will I would wash my face
+every day in the blood of the Busne, for the Busne are made only to
+be robbed and to be slaughtered; but I love the Calore, and I love
+to hear of things of the Calore, especially from those of foreign
+lands; for the Calore of foreign lands know more than we of Spain,
+and more resemble our fathers of old.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have you ever met before with Calore who were not
+Spaniards?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'I will tell you, brother.  I served as a soldier in the
+war of the independence against the French.  War, it is true, is
+not the proper occupation of a Gitano, but those were strange
+times, and all those who could bear arms were compelled to go forth
+to fight:  so I went with the English armies, and we chased the
+Gabine unto the frontier of France; and it happened once that we
+joined in desperate battle, and there was a confusion, and the two
+parties became intermingled and fought sword to sword and bayonet
+to bayonet, and a French soldier singled me out, and we fought for
+a long time, cutting, goring, and cursing each other, till at last
+we flung down our arms and grappled; long we wrestled, body to
+body, but I found that I was the weaker, and I fell.  The French
+soldier's knee was on my breast, and his grasp was on my throat,
+and he seized his bayonet, and he raised it to thrust me through
+the jaws; and his cap had fallen off, and I lifted up my eyes
+wildly to his face, and our eyes met, and I gave a loud shriek, and
+cried Zincalo, Zincalo! and I felt him shudder, and he relaxed his
+grasp and started up, and he smote his forehead and wept, and then
+he came to me and knelt down by my side, for I was almost dead, and
+he took my hand and called me Brother and Zincalo, and he produced
+his flask and poured wine into my mouth, and I revived, and he
+raised me up, and led me from the concourse, and we sat down on a
+knoll, and the two parties were fighting all around, and he said,
+"Let the dogs fight, and tear each others' throats till they are
+all destroyed, what matters it to the Zincali? they are not of our
+blood, and shall that be shed for them?"  So we sat for hours on
+the knoll and discoursed on matters pertaining to our people; and I
+could have listened for years, for he told me secrets which made my
+ears tingle, and I soon found that I knew nothing, though I had
+before considered myself quite Zincalo; but as for him, he knew the
+whole cuenta; the Bengui Lango (43) himself could have told him
+nothing but what he knew.  So we sat till the sun went down and the
+battle was over, and he proposed that we should both flee to his
+own country and live there with the Zincali; but my heart failed
+me; so we embraced, and he departed to the Gabine, whilst I
+returned to our own battalions.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you know from what country he came?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'He told me that he was a Mayoro.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You mean a Magyar or Hungarian.'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'Just so; and I have repented ever since that I did not
+follow him.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Why so?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'I will tell you:  the king has destroyed the law of the
+Cales, and has put disunion amongst us.  There was a time when the
+house of every Zincalo, however rich, was open to his brother,
+though he came to him naked; and it was then the custom to boast of
+the "errate."  It is no longer so now:  those who are rich keep
+aloof from the rest, will not speak in Calo, and will have no
+dealings but with the Busne.  Is there not a false brother in this
+foros, the only rich man among us, the swine, the balichow? he is
+married to a Busnee and he would fain appear as a Busno!  Tell me
+one thing, has he been to see you?  The white blood, I know he has
+not; he was afraid to see you, for he knew that by Gypsy law he was
+bound to take you to his house and feast you, whilst you remained,
+like a prince, like a crallis of the Cales, as I believe you are,
+even though he sold the last gras from the stall.  Who have come to
+see you, brother?  Have they not been such as Paco and his wife,
+wretches without a house, or, at best, one filled with cold and
+poverty; so that you have had to stay at a mesuna, at a posada of
+the Busne; and, moreover, what have the Cales given you since you
+have been residing here?  Nothing, I trow, better than this
+rubbish, which is all I can offer you, this Meligrana de los
+Bengues.'
+
+Here he produced a pomegranate from the pocket of his zamarra, and
+flung it on the table with such force that the fruit burst, and the
+red grains were scattered on the floor.
+
+The Gitanos of Estremadura call themselves in general Chai or
+Chabos, and say that their original country was Chal or Egypt.  I
+frequently asked them what reason they could assign for calling
+themselves Egyptians, and whether they could remember the names of
+any places in their supposed fatherland; but I soon found that,
+like their brethren in other parts of the world, they were unable
+to give any rational account of themselves, and preserved no
+recollection of the places where their forefathers had wandered;
+their language, however, to a considerable extent, solved the
+riddle, the bulk of which being Hindui, pointed out India as the
+birthplace of their race, whilst the number of Persian, Sclavonian,
+and modern Greek words with which it is checkered, spoke plainly as
+to the countries through which these singular people had wandered
+before they arrived in Spain.
+
+They said that they believed themselves to be Egyptians, because
+their fathers before them believed so, who must know much better
+than themselves.  They were fond of talking of Egypt and its former
+greatness, though it was evident that they knew nothing farther of
+the country and its history than what they derived from spurious
+biblical legends current amongst the Spaniards; only from such
+materials could they have composed the following account of the
+manner of their expulsion from their native land.
+
+'There was a great king in Egypt, and his name was Pharaoh.  He had
+numerous armies, with which he made war on all countries, and
+conquered them all.  And when he had conquered the entire world, he
+became sad and sorrowful; for as he delighted in war, he no longer
+knew on what to employ himself.  At last he bethought him on making
+war on God; so he sent a defiance to God, daring him to descend
+from the sky with his angels, and contend with Pharaoh and his
+armies; but God said, I will not measure my strength with that of a
+man.  But God was incensed against Pharaoh, and resolved to punish
+him; and he opened a hole in the side of an enormous mountain, and
+he raised a raging wind, and drove before it Pharaoh and his armies
+to that hole, and the abyss received them, and the mountain closed
+upon them; but whosoever goes to that mountain on the night of St.
+John can hear Pharaoh and his armies singing and yelling therein.
+And it came to pass, that when Pharaoh and his armies had
+disappeared, all the kings and the nations which had become subject
+to Egypt revolted against Egypt, which, having lost her king and
+her armies, was left utterly without defence; and they made war
+against her, and prevailed against her, and took her people and
+drove them forth, dispersing them over all the world.'
+
+So that now, say the Chai, 'Our horses drink the water of the
+Guadiana' - (Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee).
+
+
+'THE STEEDS OF THE EGYPTIANS DRINK THE WATERS OF THE GUADIANA
+
+'The region of Chal was our dear native soil,
+Where in fulness of pleasure we lived without toil;
+Till dispersed through all lands, 'twas our fortune to be -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'Once kings came from far to kneel down at our gate,
+And princes rejoic'd on our meanest to wait;
+But now who so mean but would scorn our degree -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'For the Undebel saw, from his throne in the cloud,
+That our deeds they were foolish, our hearts they were proud;
+And in anger he bade us his presence to flee -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'Our horses should drink of no river but one;
+It sparkles through Chal, 'neath the smile of the sun,
+But they taste of all streams save that only, and see -
+Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+IN Madrid the Gitanos chiefly reside in the neighbourhood of the
+'mercado,' or the place where horses and other animals are sold, -
+in two narrow and dirty lanes, called the Calle de la Comadre and
+the Callejon de Lavapies.  It is said that at the beginning of last
+century Madrid abounded with these people, who, by their lawless
+behaviour and dissolute lives, gave occasion to great scandal; if
+such were the case, their numbers must have considerably diminished
+since that period, as it would be difficult at any time to collect
+fifty throughout Madrid.  These Gitanos seem, for the most part, to
+be either Valencians or of Valencian origin, as they in general
+either speak or understand the dialect of Valencia; and whilst
+speaking their own peculiar jargon, the Rommany, are in the habit
+of making use of many Valencian words and terms.
+
+The manner of life of the Gitanos of Madrid differs in no material
+respect from that of their brethren in other places.  The men,
+every market-day, are to be seen on the skirts of the mercado,
+generally with some miserable animal - for example, a foundered
+mule or galled borrico, by means of which they seldom fail to gain
+a dollar or two, either by sale or exchange.  It must not, however,
+be supposed that they content themselves with such paltry earnings.
+Provided they have any valuable animal, which is not unfrequently
+the case, they invariably keep such at home snug in the stall,
+conducting thither the chapman, should they find any, and
+concluding the bargain with the greatest secrecy.  Their general
+reason for this conduct is an unwillingness to exhibit anything
+calculated to excite the jealousy of the chalans, or jockeys of
+Spanish blood, who on the slightest umbrage are in the habit of
+ejecting them from the fair by force of palos or cudgels, in which
+violence the chalans are to a certain extent countenanced by law;
+for though by the edict of Carlos the Third the Gitanos were in
+other respects placed upon an equality with the rest of the
+Spaniards, they were still forbidden to obtain their livelihood by
+the traffic of markets and fairs.
+
+They have occasionally however another excellent reason for not
+exposing the animal in the public mercado - having obtained him by
+dishonest means.  The stealing, concealing, and receiving animals
+when stolen, are inveterate Gypsy habits, and are perhaps the last
+from which the Gitano will be reclaimed, or will only cease when
+the race has become extinct.  In the prisons of Madrid, either in
+that of the Saladero or De la Corte, there are never less than a
+dozen Gitanos immured for stolen horses or mules being found in
+their possession, which themselves or their connections have
+spirited away from the neighbouring villages, or sometimes from a
+considerable distance.  I say spirited away, for so well do the
+thieves take their measures, and watch their opportunity, that they
+are seldom or never taken in the fact.
+
+The Madrilenian Gypsy women are indefatigable in the pursuit of
+prey, prowling about the town and the suburbs from morning till
+night, entering houses of all descriptions, from the highest to the
+lowest; telling fortunes, or attempting to play off various kinds
+of Gypsy tricks, from which they derive much greater profit, and of
+which we shall presently have occasion to make particular mention.
+
+From Madrid let us proceed to Andalusia, casting a cursory glance
+on the Gitanos of that country.  I found them very numerous at
+Granada, which in the Gitano language is termed Meligrana.  Their
+general condition in this place is truly miserable, far exceeding
+in wretchedness the state of the tribes of Estremadura.  It is
+right to state that Granada itself is the poorest city in Spain;
+the greatest part of the population, which exceeds sixty thousand,
+living in beggary and nakedness, and the Gitanos share in the
+general distress.
+
+Many of them reside in caves scooped in the sides of the ravines
+which lead to the higher regions of the Alpujarras, on a skirt of
+which stands Granada.  A common occupation of the Gitanos of
+Granada is working in iron, and it is not unfrequent to find these
+caves tenanted by Gypsy smiths and their families, who ply the
+hammer and forge in the bowels of the earth.  To one standing at
+the mouth of the cave, especially at night, they afford a
+picturesque spectacle.  Gathered round the forge, their bronzed and
+naked bodies, illuminated by the flame, appear like figures of
+demons; while the cave, with its flinty sides and uneven roof,
+blackened by the charcoal vapours which hover about it in festoons,
+seems to offer no inadequate representation of fabled purgatory.
+Working in iron was an occupation strictly forbidden to the Gitanos
+by the ancient laws, on what account does not exactly appear;
+though, perhaps, the trade of the smith was considered as too much
+akin to that of the chalan to be permitted to them.  The Gypsy
+smith of Granada is still a chalan, even as his brother in England
+is a jockey and tinker alternately.
+
+Whilst speaking of the Gitanos of Granada, we cannot pass by in
+silence a tragedy which occurred in this town amongst them, some
+fifteen years ago, and the details of which are known to every
+Gitano in Spain, from Catalonia to Estremadura.  We allude to the
+murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde.  Both these individuals were
+Gitanos; the latter was a celebrated contrabandista, of whom many
+remarkable tales are told.  On one occasion, having committed some
+enormous crime, he fled over to Barbary and turned Moor, and was
+employed by the Moorish emperor in his wars, in company with the
+other renegade Spaniards, whose grand depot or presidio is the town
+of Agurey in the kingdom of Fez.  After the lapse of some years,
+when his crime was nearly forgotten, he returned to Granada, where
+he followed his old occupations of contrabandista and chalan.
+Pindamonas was a Gitano of considerable wealth, and was considered
+as the most respectable of the race at Granada, amongst whom he
+possessed considerable influence.  Between this man and Pepe Conde
+there existed a jealousy, especially on the part of the latter,
+who, being a man of proud untamable spirit, could not well brook a
+superior amongst his own people.  It chanced one day that
+Pindamonas and other Gitanos, amongst whom was Pepe Conde, were in
+a coffee-house.  After they had all partaken of some refreshment,
+they called for the reckoning, the amount of which Pindamonas
+insisted on discharging.  It will be necessary here to observe,
+that on such occasions in Spain it is considered as a species of
+privilege to be allowed to pay, which is an honour generally
+claimed by the principal man of the party.  Pepe Conde did not fail
+to take umbrage at the attempt of Pindamonas, which he considered
+as an undue assumption of superiority, and put in his own claim;
+but Pindamonas insisted, and at last flung down the money on the
+table, whereupon Pepe Conde instantly unclasped one of those
+terrible Manchegan knives which are generally carried by the
+contrabandistas, and with a frightful gash opened the abdomen of
+Pindamonas, who presently expired.
+
+After this exploit, Pepe Conde fled, and was not seen for some
+time.  The cave, however, in which he had been in the habit of
+residing was watched, as a belief was entertained that sooner or
+later he would return to it, in the hope of being able to remove
+some of the property contained in it.  This belief was well
+founded.  Early one morning he was observed to enter it, and a band
+of soldiers was instantly despatched to seize him.  This
+circumstance is alluded to in a Gypsy stanza:-
+
+
+'Fly, Pepe Conde, seek the hill;
+To flee's thy only chance;
+With bayonets fixed, thy blood to spill,
+See soldiers four advance.'
+
+
+And before the soldiers could arrive at the cave, Pepe Conde had
+discovered their approach and fled, endeavouring to make his escape
+amongst the rocks and barrancos of the Alpujarras.  The soldiers
+instantly pursued, and the chase continued a considerable time.
+The fugitive was repeatedly summoned to surrender himself, but
+refusing, the soldiers at last fired, and four balls entered the
+heart of the Gypsy contrabandista and murderer.
+
+Once at Madrid I received a letter from the sister's son of
+Pindamonas, dated from the prison of the Saladero.  In this letter
+the writer, who it appears was in durance for stealing a pair of
+mules, craved my charitable assistance and advice; and possibly in
+the hope of securing my favour, forwarded some uncouth lines
+commemorative of the death of his relation, and commencing thus:-
+
+
+'The death of Pindamonas fill'd all the world with pain;
+At the coffee-house's portal, by Pepe he was slain.'
+
+
+The faubourg of Triana, in Seville, has from time immemorial been
+noted as a favourite residence of the Gitanos; and here, at the
+present day, they are to be found in greater number than in any
+other town in Spain.  This faubourg is indeed chiefly inhabited by
+desperate characters, as, besides the Gitanos, the principal part
+of the robber population of Seville is here congregated.  Perhaps
+there is no part even of Naples where crime so much abounds, and
+the law is so little respected, as at Triana, the character of
+whose inmates was so graphically delineated two centuries and a
+half back by Cervantes, in one of the most amusing of his tales.
+(44)
+
+In the vilest lanes of this suburb, amidst dilapidated walls and
+ruined convents, exists the grand colony of Spanish Gitanos.  Here
+they may be seen wielding the hammer; here they may be seen
+trimming the fetlocks of horses, or shearing the backs of mules and
+borricos with their cachas; and from hence they emerge to ply the
+same trade in the town, or to officiate as terceros, or to buy,
+sell, or exchange animals in the mercado, and the women to tell the
+bahi through the streets, even as in other parts of Spain,
+generally attended by one or two tawny bantlings in their arms or
+by their sides; whilst others, with baskets and chafing-pans,
+proceed to the delightful banks of the Len Baro, (45) by the Golden
+Tower, where, squatting on the ground and kindling their charcoal,
+they roast the chestnuts which, when well prepared, are the
+favourite bonne bouche of the Sevillians; whilst not a few, in
+league with the contrabandistas, go from door to door offering for
+sale prohibited goods brought from the English at Gibraltar.  Such
+is Gitano life at Seville; such it is in the capital of Andalusia.
+
+It is the common belief of the Gitanos of other provinces that in
+Andalusia the language, customs, habits, and practices peculiar to
+their race are best preserved.  This opinion, which probably
+originated from the fact of their being found in greater numbers in
+this province than in any other, may hold good in some instances,
+but certainly not in all.  In various parts of Spain I have found
+the Gitanos retaining their primitive language and customs better
+than in Seville, where they most abound:  indeed, it is not plain
+that their number has operated at all favourably in this respect.
+At Cordova, a town at the distance of twenty leagues from Seville,
+which scarcely contains a dozen Gitano families, I found them
+living in much more brotherly amity, and cherishing in a greater
+degree the observances of their forefathers.
+
+I shall long remember these Cordovese Gitanos, by whom I was very
+well received, but always on the supposition that I was one of
+their own race.  They said that they never admitted strangers to
+their houses save at their marriage festivals, when they flung
+their doors open to all, and save occasionally people of influence
+and distinction, who wished to hear their songs and converse with
+their women; but they assured me, at the same time, that these they
+invariably deceived, and merely made use of as instruments to serve
+their own purposes.  As for myself, I was admitted without scruple
+to their private meetings, and was made a participator of their
+most secret thoughts.  During our intercourse some remarkable
+scenes occurred.  One night more than twenty of us, men and women,
+were assembled in a long low room on the ground floor, in a dark
+alley or court in the old gloomy town of Cordova.  After the
+Gitanos had discussed several jockey plans, and settled some
+private bargains amongst themselves, we all gathered round a huge
+brasero of flaming charcoal, and began conversing SOBRE LAS COSAS
+DE EGYPTO, when I proposed that, as we had no better means of
+amusing ourselves, we should endeavour to turn into the Calo
+language some pieces of devotion, that we might see whether this
+language, the gradual decay of which I had frequently heard them
+lament, was capable of expressing any other matters than those
+which related to horses, mules, and Gypsy traffic.  It was in this
+cautious manner that I first endeavoured to divert the attention of
+these singular people to matters of eternal importance.  My
+suggestion was received with acclamations, and we forthwith
+proceeded to the translation of the Apostles' creed.  I first
+recited in Spanish, in the usual manner and without pausing, this
+noble confession, and then repeated it again, sentence by sentence,
+the Gitanos translating as I proceeded.  They exhibited the
+greatest eagerness and interest in their unwonted occupation, and
+frequently broke into loud disputes as to the best rendering - many
+being offered at the same time.  In the meanwhile, I wrote down
+from their dictation; and at the conclusion I read aloud the
+translation, the result of the united wisdom of the assembly,
+whereupon they all raised a shout of exultation, and appeared not a
+little proud of the composition.
+
+The Cordovese Gitanos are celebrated esquiladors.  Connected with
+them and the exercise of the ARTE DE ESQUILAR, in Gypsy monrabar, I
+have a curious anecdote to relate.  In the first place, however, it
+may not be amiss to say something about the art itself, of all
+relating to which it is possible that the reader may be quite
+ignorant.
+
+Nothing is more deserving of remark in Spanish grooming than the
+care exhibited in clipping and trimming various parts of the horse,
+where the growth of hair is considered as prejudicial to the
+perfect health and cleanliness of the animal, particular attention
+being always paid to the pastern, that part of the foot which lies
+between the fetlock and the hoof, to guard against the arestin -
+that cutaneous disorder which is the dread of the Spanish groom, on
+which account the services of a skilful esquilador are continually
+in requisition.
+
+The esquilador, when proceeding to the exercise of his vocation,
+generally carries under his arm a small box containing the
+instruments necessary, and which consist principally of various
+pairs of scissors, and the ACIAL, two short sticks tied together
+with whipcord at the end, by means of which the lower lip of the
+horse, should he prove restive, is twisted, and the animal reduced
+to speedy subjection.  In the girdle of the esquilador are stuck
+the large scissors called in Spanish TIJERAS, and in the Gypsy
+tongue CACHAS, with which he principally works.  He operates upon
+the backs, ears, and tails of mules and borricos, which are
+invariably sheared quite bare, that if the animals are galled,
+either by their harness or the loads which they carry, the wounds
+may be less liable to fester, and be more easy to cure.  Whilst
+engaged with horses, he confines himself to the feet and ears.  The
+esquiladores in the two Castiles, and in those provinces where the
+Gitanos do not abound, are for the most part Aragonese; but in the
+others, and especially in Andalusia, they are of the Gypsy race.
+The Gitanos are in general very expert in the use of the cachas,
+which they handle in a manner practised nowhere but in Spain; and
+with this instrument the poorer class principally obtain their
+bread.
+
+In one of their couplets allusion is made to this occupation in the
+following manner:-
+
+
+'I'll rise to-morrow bread to earn,
+For hunger's worn me grim;
+Of all I meet I'll ask in turn,
+If they've no beasts to trim.'
+
+
+Sometimes, whilst shearing the foot of a horse, exceedingly small
+scissors are necessary for the purpose of removing fine solitary
+hairs; for a Spanish groom will tell you that a horse's foot behind
+ought to be kept as clean and smooth as the hand of a senora:  such
+scissors can only be procured at Madrid.  My sending two pair of
+this kind to a Cordovese Gypsy, from whom I had experienced much
+attention whilst in that city, was the occasion of my receiving a
+singular epistle from another whom I scarcely knew, and which I
+shall insert as being an original Gypsy composition, and in some
+points not a little characteristic of the people of whom I am now
+writing.
+
+
+'Cordova, 20th day of January, 1837.
+'SENOR DON JORGE,
+
+'After saluting you and hoping that you are well, I proceed to tell
+you that the two pair of scissors arrived at this town of Cordova
+with him whom you sent them by; but, unfortunately, they were given
+to another Gypsy, whom you neither knew nor spoke to nor saw in
+your life; for it chanced that he who brought them was a friend of
+mine, and he told me that he had brought two pair of scissors which
+an Englishman had given him for the Gypsies; whereupon I,
+understanding it was yourself, instantly said to him, "Those
+scissors are for me"; he told me, however, that he had already
+given them to another, and he is a Gypsy who was not even in
+Cordova during the time you were.  Nevertheless, Don Jorge, I am
+very grateful for your thus remembering me, although I did not
+receive your present, and in order that you may know who I am, my
+name is Antonio Salazar, a man pitted with the small-pox, and the
+very first who spoke to you in Cordova in the posada where you
+were; and you told me to come and see you next day at eleven, and I
+went, and we conversed together alone.  Therefore I should wish you
+to do me the favour to send me scissors for trimming beasts, - good
+scissors, mind you, - such would be a very great favour, and I
+should be ever grateful, for here in Cordova there are none, or if
+there be, they are good for nothing.  Senor Don Jorge, you remember
+I told you that I was an esquilador by trade, and only by that I
+got bread for my babes.  Senor Don Jorge, if you do send me the
+scissors for trimming, pray write and direct to the alley De la
+Londiga, No. 28, to Antonio Salazar, in Cordova.  This is what I
+have to tell you, and do you ever command your trusty servant, who
+kisses your hand and is eager to serve you.
+
+'ANTONIO SALAZAR.'
+
+FIRST COUPLET
+
+'That I may clip and trim the beasts, a pair of cachas grant,
+If not, I fear my luckless babes will perish all of want.'
+
+SECOND COUPLET
+
+'If thou a pair of cachas grant, that I my babes may feed,
+I'll pray to the Almighty God, that thee he ever speed.'
+
+
+It is by no means my intention to describe the exact state and
+condition of the Gitanos in every town and province where they are
+to be found; perhaps, indeed, it will be considered that I have
+already been more circumstantial and particular than the case
+required.  The other districts which they inhabit are principally
+those of Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia; and they are likewise to
+be met with in the Basque provinces, where they are called
+Egipcioac, or Egyptians.  What I next purpose to occupy myself with
+are some general observations on the habits, and the physical and
+moral state of the Gitanos throughout Spain, and of the position
+which they hold in society.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+ALREADY, from the two preceding chapters, it will have been
+perceived that the condition of the Gitanos in Spain has been
+subjected of late to considerable modification.  The words of the
+Gypsy of Badajoz are indeed, in some respects, true; they are no
+longer the people that they were; the roads and 'despoblados' have
+ceased to be infested by them, and the traveller is no longer
+exposed to much danger on their account; they at present confine
+themselves, for the most part, to towns and villages, and if they
+occasionally wander abroad, it is no longer in armed bands,
+formidable for their numbers, and carrying terror and devastation
+in all directions, bivouacking near solitary villages, and
+devouring the substance of the unfortunate inhabitants, or
+occasionally threatening even large towns, as in the singular case
+of Logrono, mentioned by Francisco de Cordova.  As the reader will
+probably wish to know the cause of this change in the lives and
+habits of these people, we shall, as briefly as possible, afford as
+much information on the subject as the amount of our knowledge will
+permit.
+
+One fact has always struck us with particular force in the history
+of these people, namely, that Gitanismo - which means Gypsy
+villainy of every description - flourished and knew nothing of
+decay so long as the laws recommended and enjoined measures the
+most harsh and severe for the suppression of the Gypsy sect; the
+palmy days of Gitanismo were those in which the caste was
+proscribed, and its members, in the event of renouncing their Gypsy
+habits, had nothing farther to expect than the occupation of
+tilling the earth, a dull hopeless toil; then it was that the
+Gitanos paid tribute to the inferior ministers of justice, and were
+engaged in illicit connection with those of higher station, and by
+such means baffled the law, whose vengeance rarely fell upon their
+heads; and then it was that they bid it open defiance, retiring to
+the deserts and mountains, and living in wild independence by
+rapine and shedding of blood; for as the law then stood they would
+lose all by resigning their Gitanismo, whereas by clinging to it
+they lived either in the independence so dear to them, or beneath
+the protection of their confederates.  It would appear that in
+proportion as the law was harsh and severe, so was the Gitano bold
+and secure.  The fiercest of these laws was the one of Philip the
+Fifth, passed in the year 1745, which commands that the refractory
+Gitanos be hunted down with fire and sword; that it was quite
+inefficient is satisfactorily proved by its being twice reiterated,
+once in the year '46, and again in '49, which would scarcely have
+been deemed necessary had it quelled the Gitanos.  This law, with
+some unimportant modifications, continued in force till the year
+'83, when the famous edict of Carlos Tercero superseded it.  Will
+any feel disposed to doubt that the preceding laws had served to
+foster what they were intended to suppress, when we state the
+remarkable fact, that since the enactment of that law, as humane as
+the others were unjust, WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING MORE OF THE GITANOS
+FROM OFFICIAL QUARTERS; THEY HAVE CEASED TO PLAY A DISTINCT PART IN
+THE HISTORY OF SPAIN; AND THE LAW NO LONGER SPEAKS OF THEM AS A
+DISTINCT PEOPLE?  The caste of the Gitano still exists, but it is
+neither so extensive nor so formidable as a century ago, when the
+law in denouncing Gitanismo proposed to the Gitanos the
+alternatives of death for persisting in their profession, or
+slavery for abandoning it.
+
+There are fierce and discontented spirits amongst them, who regret
+such times, and say that Gypsy law is now no more, that the Gypsy
+no longer assists his brother, and that union has ceased among
+them.  If this be true, can better proof be adduced of the
+beneficial working of the later law?  A blessing has been conferred
+on society, and in a manner highly creditable to the spirit of
+modern times; reform has been accomplished, not by persecution, not
+by the gibbet and the rack, but by justice and tolerance.  The
+traveller has flung aside his cloak, not compelled by the angry
+buffeting of the north wind, but because the mild, benignant
+weather makes such a defence no longer necessary.  The law no
+longer compels the Gitanos to stand back to back, on the principal
+of mutual defence, and to cling to Gitanismo to escape from
+servitude and thraldom.
+
+Taking everything into consideration, and viewing the subject in
+all its bearings with an impartial glance, we are compelled to come
+to the conclusion that the law of Carlos Tercero, the provisions of
+which were distinguished by justice and clemency, has been the
+principal if not the only cause of the decline of Gitanismo in
+Spain.  Some importance ought to be attached to the opinion of the
+Gitanos themselves on this point.  'El Crallis ha nicobado la liri
+de los Cales,' is a proverbial saying among them.  By Crallis, or
+King, they mean Carlos Tercero, so that the saying, the proverbial
+saying, may be thus translated:  THE LAW OF CARLOS TERCERO HAS
+SUPERSEDED GYPSY LAW.
+
+By the law the schools are open to them, and there is no art or
+science which they may not pursue, if they are willing.  Have they
+availed themselves of the rights which the law has conferred upon
+them?
+
+Up to the present period but little - they still continue jockeys
+and blacksmiths; but some of these Gypsy chalans, these bronzed
+smiths, these wild-looking esquiladors, can read or write in the
+proportion of one man in three or four; what more can be expected?
+Would you have the Gypsy bantling, born in filth and misery, 'midst
+mules and borricos, amidst the mud of a choza or the sand of a
+barranco, grasp with its swarthy hands the crayon and easel, the
+compass, or the microscope, or the tube which renders more distinct
+the heavenly orbs, and essay to become a Murillo, or a Feijoo, or a
+Lorenzo de Hervas, as soon as the legal disabilities are removed
+which doomed him to be a thievish jockey or a sullen husbandman?
+Much will have been accomplished, if, after the lapse of a hundred
+years, one hundred human beings shall have been evolved from the
+Gypsy stock, who shall prove sober, honest, and useful members of
+society, - that stock so degraded, so inveterate in wickedness and
+evil customs, and so hardened by brutalising laws.  Should so many
+beings, should so many souls be rescued from temporal misery and
+eternal woe; should only the half of that number, should only the
+tenth, nay, should only one poor wretched sheep be saved, there
+will be joy in heaven, for much will have been accomplished on
+earth, and those lines will have been in part falsified which
+filled the stout heart of Mahmoud with dismay:-
+
+
+'For the root that's unclean, hope if you can;
+No washing e'er whitens the black Zigan:
+The tree that's bitter by birth and race,
+If in paradise garden to grow you place,
+And water it free with nectar and wine,
+From streams in paradise meads that shine,
+At the end its nature it still declares,
+For bitter is all the fruit it bears.
+If the egg of the raven of noxious breed
+You place 'neath the paradise bird, and feed
+The splendid fowl upon its nest,
+With immortal figs, the food of the blest,
+And give it to drink from Silisbel, (46)
+Whilst life in the egg breathes Gabriel,
+A raven, a raven, the egg shall bear,
+And the fostering bird shall waste its care.' -
+
+FERDOUSI.
+
+
+The principal evidence which the Gitanos have hitherto given that a
+partial reformation has been effected in their habits, is the
+relinquishment, in a great degree, of that wandering life of which
+the ancient laws were continually complaining, and which was the
+cause of infinite evils, and tended not a little to make the roads
+insecure.
+
+Doubtless there are those who will find some difficulty in
+believing that the mild and conciliatory clauses of the law in
+question could have much effect in weaning the Gitanos from this
+inveterate habit, and will be more disposed to think that this
+relinquishment was effected by energetic measures resorted to by
+the government, to compel them to remain in their places of
+location.  It does not appear, however, that such measures were
+ever resorted to.  Energy, indeed, in the removal of a nuisance, is
+scarcely to be expected from Spaniards under any circumstances.
+All we can say on the subject, with certainty, is, that since the
+repeal of the tyrannical laws, wandering has considerably decreased
+among the Gitanos.
+
+Since the law has ceased to brand them, they have come nearer to
+the common standard of humanity, and their general condition has
+been ameliorated.  At present, only the very poorest, the parias of
+the race, are to be found wandering about the heaths and mountains,
+and this only in the summer time, and their principal motive,
+according to their own confession, is to avoid the expense of house
+rent; the rest remain at home, following their avocations, unless
+some immediate prospect of gain, lawful or unlawful, calls them
+forth; and such is frequently the case.  They attend most fairs,
+women and men, and on the way frequently bivouac in the fields, but
+this practice must not be confounded with systematic wandering.
+
+Gitanismo, therefore, has not been extinguished, only modified; but
+that modification has been effected within the memory of man,
+whilst previously near four centuries elapsed, during which no
+reform had been produced amongst them by the various measures
+devised, all of which were distinguished by an absence not only of
+true policy, but of common-sense; it is therefore to be hoped, that
+if the Gitanos are abandoned to themselves, by which we mean no
+arbitrary laws are again enacted for their extinction, the sect
+will eventually cease to be, and its members become confounded with
+the residue of the population; for certainly no Christian nor
+merely philanthropic heart can desire the continuance of any sect
+or association of people whose fundamental principle seems to be to
+hate all the rest of mankind, and to live by deceiving them; and
+such is the practice of the Gitanos.
+
+During the last five years, owing to the civil wars, the ties which
+unite society have been considerably relaxed; the law has been
+trampled under foot, and the greatest part of Spain overrun with
+robbers and miscreants, who, under pretence of carrying on partisan
+warfare, and not unfrequently under no pretence at all, have
+committed the most frightful excesses, plundering and murdering the
+defenceless.  Such a state of things would have afforded the
+Gitanos a favourable opportunity to resume their former kind of
+life, and to levy contributions as formerly, wandering about in
+bands.  Certain it is, however, that they have not sought to repeat
+their ancient excesses, taking advantage of the troubles of the
+country; they have gone on, with a few exceptions, quietly pursuing
+that part of their system to which they still cling, their
+jockeyism, which, though based on fraud and robbery, is far
+preferable to wandering brigandage, which necessarily involves the
+frequent shedding of blood.  Can better proof be adduced, that
+Gitanismo owes its decline, in Spain, not to force, not to
+persecution, not to any want of opportunity of exercising it, but
+to some other cause? - and we repeat that we consider the principal
+if not the only cause of the decline of Gitanismo to be the
+conferring on the Gitanos the rights and privileges of other
+subjects.
+
+We have said that the Gitanos have not much availed themselves of
+the permission, which the law grants them, of embarking in various
+spheres of life.  They remain jockeys, but they have ceased to be
+wanderers; and the grand object of the law is accomplished.  The
+law forbids them to be jockeys, or to follow the trade of trimming
+and shearing animals, without some other visible mode of
+subsistence.  This provision, except in a few isolated instances,
+they evade; and the law seeks not, and perhaps wisely, to disturb
+them, content with having achieved so much.  The chief evils of
+Gitanismo which still remain consist in the systematic frauds of
+the Gypsy jockeys and the tricks of the women.  It is incurring
+considerable risk to purchase a horse or a mule, even from the most
+respectable Gitano, without a previous knowledge of the animal and
+his former possessor, the chances being that it is either diseased
+or stolen from a distance.  Of the practices of the females,
+something will be said in particular in a future chapter.
+
+The Gitanos in general are very poor, a pair of large cachas and
+various scissors of a smaller description constituting their whole
+capital; occasionally a good hit is made, as they call it, but the
+money does not last long, being quickly squandered in feasting and
+revelry.  He who has habitually in his house a couple of donkeys is
+considered a thriving Gitano; there are some, however, who are
+wealthy in the strict sense of the word, and carry on a very
+extensive trade in horses and mules.  These, occasionally, visit
+the most distant fairs, traversing the greatest part of Spain.
+There is a celebrated cattle-fair held at Leon on St. John's or
+Midsummer Day, and on one of these occasions, being present, I
+observed a small family of Gitanos, consisting of a man of about
+fifty, a female of the same age, and a handsome young Gypsy, who
+was their son; they were richly dressed after the Gypsy fashion,
+the men wearing zamarras with massy clasps and knobs of silver, and
+the woman a species of riding-dress with much gold embroidery, and
+having immense gold rings attached to her ears.  They came from
+Murcia, a distance of one hundred leagues and upwards.  Some
+merchants, to whom I was recommended, informed me that they had
+credit on their house to the amount of twenty thousand dollars.
+
+They experienced rough treatment in the fair, and on a very
+singular account:  immediately on their appearing on the ground,
+the horses in the fair, which, perhaps, amounted to three thousand,
+were seized with a sudden and universal panic; it was one of those
+strange incidents for which it is difficult to assign a rational
+cause; but a panic there was amongst the brutes, and a mighty one;
+the horses neighed, screamed, and plunged, endeavouring to escape
+in all directions; some appeared absolutely possessed, stamping and
+tearing, their manes and tails stiffly erect, like the bristles of
+the wild boar - many a rider lost his seat.  When the panic had
+ceased, and it did cease almost as suddenly as it had arisen, the
+Gitanos were forthwith accused as the authors of it; it was said
+that they intended to steal the best horses during the confusion,
+and the keepers of the ground, assisted by a rabble of chalans, who
+had their private reasons for hating the Gitanos, drove them off
+the field with sticks and cudgels.  So much for having a bad name.
+
+These wealthy Gitanos, when they are not ashamed of their blood or
+descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or 'barbales,' as
+they are called, possess great influence with the rest of their
+brethren, almost as much as the rabbins amongst the Jews; their
+bidding is considered law, and the other Gitanos are at their
+devotion.  On the contrary, when they prefer the society of the
+Busne to that of their own race, and refuse to assist their less
+fortunate brethren in poverty or in prison, they are regarded with
+unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the rich Gypsy
+of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to destruction:  such
+characters are mentioned in their couplets:-
+
+
+'The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead,
+Who never gave a straw,
+He would destroy, for very greed,
+The good Egyptian law.
+
+'The false Juanito day and night
+Had best with caution go;
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+Have sworn to lay him low.'
+
+
+However some of the Gitanos may complain that there is no longer
+union to be found amongst them, there is still much of that fellow-
+feeling which springs from a consciousness of proceeding from one
+common origin, or, as they love to term it, 'blood.'  At present
+their system exhibits less of a commonwealth than when they roamed
+in bands amongst the wilds, and principally subsisted by foraging,
+each individual contributing to the common stock, according to his
+success.  The interests of individuals are now more distinct, and
+that close connection is of course dissolved which existed when
+they wandered about, and their dangers, gains, and losses were felt
+in common; and it can never be too often repeated that they are no
+longer a proscribed race, with no rights nor safety save what they
+gained by a close and intimate union.  Nevertheless, the Gitano,
+though he naturally prefers his own interest to that of his
+brother, and envies him his gain when he does not expect to share
+in it, is at all times ready to side with him against the Busno,
+because the latter is not a Gitano, but of a different blood, and
+for no other reason.  When one Gitano confides his plans to
+another, he is in no fear that they will be betrayed to the Busno,
+for whom there is no sympathy, and when a plan is to be executed
+which requires co-operation, they seek not the fellowship of the
+Busne, but of each other, and if successful, share the gain like
+brothers.
+
+As a proof of the fraternal feeling which is not unfrequently
+displayed amongst the Gitanos, I shall relate a circumstance which
+occurred at Cordova a year or two before I first visited it.  One
+of the poorest of the Gitanos murdered a Spaniard with the fatal
+Manchegan knife; for this crime he was seized, tried, and found
+guilty.  Blood-shedding in Spain is not looked upon with much
+abhorrence, and the life of the culprit is seldom taken, provided
+he can offer a bribe sufficient to induce the notary public to
+report favourably upon his case; but in this instance money was of
+no avail; the murdered individual left behind him powerful friends
+and connections, who were determined that justice should take its
+course.  It was in vain that the Gitanos exerted all their
+influence with the authorities in behalf of their comrade, and such
+influence was not slight; it was in vain that they offered
+extravagant sums that the punishment of death might be commuted to
+perpetual slavery in the dreary presidio of Ceuta; I was credibly
+informed that one of the richest Gitanos, by name Fruto, offered
+for his own share of the ransom the sum of five thousand crowns,
+whilst there was not an individual but contributed according to his
+means - nought availed, and the Gypsy was executed in the Plaza.
+The day before the execution, the Gitanos, perceiving that the fate
+of their brother was sealed, one and all quitted Cordova, shutting
+up their houses and carrying with them their horses, their mules,
+their borricos, their wives and families, and the greatest part of
+their household furniture.  No one knew whither they directed their
+course, nor were they seen in Cordova for some months, when they
+again suddenly made their appearance; a few, however, never
+returned.  So great was the horror of the Gitanos at what had
+occurred, that they were in the habit of saying that the place was
+cursed for evermore; and when I knew them, there were many amongst
+them who, on no account, would enter the Plaza which had witnessed
+the disgraceful end of their unfortunate brother.
+
+The position which the Gitanos hold in society in Spain is the
+lowest, as might be expected; they are considered at best as
+thievish chalans, and the women as half sorceresses, and in every
+respect thieves; there is not a wretch, however vile, the outcast
+of the prison and the presidio, who calls himself Spaniard, but
+would feel insulted by being termed Gitano, and would thank God
+that he is not; and yet, strange to say, there are numbers, and
+those of the higher classes, who seek their company, and endeavour
+to imitate their manners and way of speaking.  The connections
+which they form with the Spaniards are not many; occasionally some
+wealthy Gitano marries a Spanish female, but to find a Gitana
+united to a Spaniard is a thing of the rarest occurrence, if it
+ever takes place.  It is, of course, by intermarriage alone that
+the two races will ever commingle, and before that event is brought
+about, much modification must take place amongst the Gitanos, in
+their manners, in their habits, in their affections, and their
+dislikes, and, perhaps, even in their physical peculiarities; much
+must be forgotten on both sides, and everything is forgotten in the
+course of time.
+
+The number of the Gitano population of Spain at the present day may
+be estimated at about forty thousand.  At the commencement of the
+present century it was said to amount to sixty thousand.  There can
+be no doubt that the sect is by no means so numerous as it was at
+former periods; witness those barrios in various towns still
+denominated Gitanerias, but from whence the Gitanos have
+disappeared even like the Moors from the Morerias.  Whether this
+diminution in number has been the result of a partial change of
+habits, of pestilence or sickness, of war or famine, or of all
+these causes combined, we have no means of determining, and shall
+abstain from offering conjectures on the subject.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+IN the autumn of the year 1839, I landed at Tarifa, from the coast
+of Barbary.  I arrived in a small felouk laden with hides for
+Cadiz, to which place I was myself going.  We stopped at Tarifa in
+order to perform quarantine, which, however, turned out a mere
+farce, as we were all permitted to come on shore; the master of the
+felouk having bribed the port captain with a few fowls.  We formed
+a motley group.  A rich Moor and his son, a child, with their
+Jewish servant Yusouf, and myself with my own man Hayim Ben Attar,
+a Jew.  After passing through the gate, the Moors and their
+domestics were conducted by the master to the house of one of his
+acquaintance, where he intended they should lodge; whilst a sailor
+was despatched with myself and Hayim to the only inn which the
+place afforded.  I stopped in the street to speak to a person whom
+I had known at Seville.  Before we had concluded our discourse,
+Hayim, who had walked forward, returned, saying that the quarters
+were good, and that we were in high luck, for that he knew the
+people of the inn were Jews.  'Jews,' said I, 'here in Tarifa, and
+keeping an inn, I should be glad to see them.'  So I left my
+acquaintance, and hastened to the house.  We first entered a
+stable, of which the ground floor of the building consisted, and
+ascending a flight of stairs entered a very large room, and from
+thence passed into a kitchen, in which were several people.  One of
+these was a stout, athletic, burly fellow of about fifty, dressed
+in a buff jerkin, and dark cloth pantaloons.  His hair was black as
+a coal and exceedingly bushy, his face much marked from some
+disorder, and his skin as dark as that of a toad.  A very tall
+woman stood by the dresser, much resembling him in feature, with
+the same hair and complexion, but with more intelligence in her
+eyes than the man, who looked heavy and dogged.  A dark woman, whom
+I subsequently discovered to be lame, sat in a corner, and two or
+three swarthy girls, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, were
+flitting about the room.  I also observed a wicked-looking boy, who
+might have been called handsome, had not one of his eyes been
+injured.  'Jews,' said I, in Moorish, to Hayim, as I glanced at
+these people and about the room; 'these are not Jews, but children
+of the Dar-bushi-fal.'
+
+'List to the Corahai,' said the tall woman, in broken Gypsy slang,
+'hear how they jabber (hunelad como chamulian), truly we will make
+them pay for the noise they raise in the house.'  Then coming up to
+me, she demanded with a shout, fearing otherwise that I should not
+understand, whether I would not wish to see the room where I was to
+sleep.  I nodded:  whereupon she led me out upon a back terrace,
+and opening the door of a small room, of which there were three,
+asked me if it would suit.  'Perfectly,' said I, and returned with
+her to the kitchen.
+
+'O, what a handsome face! what a royal person!' exclaimed the whole
+family as I returned, in Spanish, but in the whining, canting tones
+peculiar to the Gypsies, when they are bent on victimising.  'A
+more ugly Busno it has never been our chance to see,' said the same
+voices in the next breath, speaking in the jargon of the tribe.
+'Won't your Moorish Royalty please to eat something?' said the tall
+hag.  'We have nothing in the house; but I will run out and buy a
+fowl, which I hope may prove a royal peacock to nourish and
+strengthen you.'  'I hope it may turn to drow in your entrails,'
+she muttered to the rest in Gypsy.  She then ran down, and in a
+minute returned with an old hen, which, on my arrival, I had
+observed below in the stable.  'See this beautiful fowl,' said she,
+'I have been running over all Tarifa to procure it for your
+kingship; trouble enough I have had to obtain it, and dear enough
+it has cost me.  I will now cut its throat.'  'Before you kill it,'
+said I, 'I should wish to know what you paid for it, that there may
+be no dispute about it in the account.'  'Two dollars I paid for
+it, most valorous and handsome sir; two dollars it cost me, out of
+my own quisobi - out of my own little purse.'  I saw it was high
+time to put an end to these zalamerias, and therefore exclaimed in
+Gitano, 'You mean two brujis (reals), O mother of all the witches,
+and that is twelve cuartos more than it is worth.'  'Ay Dios mio,
+whom have we here?' exclaimed the females.  'One,' I replied, 'who
+knows you well and all your ways.  Speak! am I to have the hen for
+two reals? if not, I shall leave the house this moment.'  'O yes,
+to be sure, brother, and for nothing if you wish it,' said the tall
+woman, in natural and quite altered tones; 'but why did you enter
+the house speaking in Corahai like a Bengui?  We thought you a
+Busno, but we now see that you are of our religion; pray sit down
+and tell us where you have been.' . .
+
+MYSELF. - 'Now, my good people, since I have answered your
+questions, it is but right that you should answer some of mine;
+pray who are you? and how happens it that you are keeping this
+inn?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Verily, brother, we can scarcely tell you who we are.
+All we know of ourselves is, that we keep this inn, to our trouble
+and sorrow, and that our parents kept it before us; we were all
+born in this house, where I suppose we shall die.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Who is the master of the house, and whose are these
+children?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'The master of the house is the fool, my brother, who
+stands before you without saying a word; to him belong these
+children, and the cripple in the chair is his wife, and my cousin.
+He has also two sons who are grown-up men; one is a chumajarri
+(shoemaker), and the other serves a tanner.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Is it not contrary to the law of the Cales to follow
+such trades?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'We know of no law, and little of the Cales
+themselves.  Ours is the only Calo family in Tarifa, and we never
+left it in our lives, except occasionally to go on the smuggling
+lay to Gibraltar.  True it is that the Cales, when they visit
+Tarifa, put up at our house, sometimes to our cost.  There was one
+Rafael, son of the rich Fruto of Cordova, here last summer, to buy
+up horses, and he departed a baria and a half in our debt; however,
+I do not grudge it him, for he is a handsome and clever Chabo - a
+fellow of many capacities.  There was more than one Busno had cause
+to rue his coming to Tarifa.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you live on good terms with the Busne of Tarifa?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Brother, we live on the best terms with the Busne of
+Tarifa; especially with the errays.  The first people in Tarifa
+come to this house, to have their baji told by the cripple in the
+chair and by myself.  I know not how it is, but we are more
+considered by the grandees than the poor, who hate and loathe us.
+When my first and only infant died, for I have been married, the
+child of one of the principal people was put to me to nurse, but I
+hated it for its white blood, as you may well believe.  It never
+throve, for I did it a private mischief, and though it grew up and
+is now a youth, it is - mad.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'With whom will your brother's children marry?  You say
+there are no Gypsies here.'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Ay de mi, hermano!  It is that which grieves me.  I
+would rather see them sold to the Moors than married to the Busne.
+When Rafael was here he wished to persuade the chumajarri to
+accompany him to Cordova, and promised to provide for him, and to
+find him a wife among the Callees of that town; but the faint heart
+would not, though I myself begged him to comply.  As for the
+curtidor (tanner), he goes every night to the house of a Busnee;
+and once, when I reproached him with it, he threatened to marry
+her.  I intend to take my knife, and to wait behind the door in the
+dark, and when she comes out to gash her over the eyes.  I trow he
+will have little desire to wed with her then.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do many Busne from the country put up at this house?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Not so many as formerly, brother; the labourers from
+the Campo say that we are all thieves; and that it is impossible
+for any one but a Calo to enter this house without having the shirt
+stripped from his back.  They go to the houses of their
+acquaintance in the town, for they fear to enter these doors.  I
+scarcely know why, for my brother is the veriest fool in Tarifa.
+Were it not for his face, I should say that he is no Chabo, for he
+cannot speak, and permits every chance to slip through his fingers.
+Many a good mule and borrico have gone out of the stable below,
+which he might have secured, had he but tongue enough to have
+cozened the owners.  But he is a fool, as I said before; he cannot
+speak, and is no Chabo.'
+
+How far the person in question, who sat all the while smoking his
+pipe, with the most unperturbed tranquillity, deserved the
+character bestowed upon him by his sister, will presently appear.
+It is not my intention to describe here all the strange things I
+both saw and heard in this Gypsy inn.  Several Gypsies arrived from
+the country during the six days that I spent within its walls; one
+of them, a man, from Moron, was received with particular
+cordiality, he having a son, whom he was thinking of betrothing to
+one of the Gypsy daughters.  Some females of quality likewise
+visited the house to gossip, like true Andalusians.  It was
+singular to observe the behaviour of the Gypsies to these people,
+especially that of the remarkable woman, some of whose conversation
+I have given above.  She whined, she canted, she blessed, she
+talked of beauty of colour, of eyes, of eyebrows, and pestanas
+(eyelids), and of hearts which were aching for such and such a
+lady.  Amongst others, came a very fine woman, the widow of a
+colonel lately slain in battle; she brought with her a beautiful
+innocent little girl, her daughter, between three and four years of
+age.  The Gypsy appeared to adore her; she sobbed, she shed tears,
+she kissed the child, she blessed it, she fondled it.  I had my eye
+upon her countenance, and it brought to my recollection that of a
+she-wolf, which I had once seen in Russia, playing with her whelp
+beneath a birch-tree.  'You seem to love that child very much, O my
+mother,' said I to her, as the lady was departing.
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'No lo camelo, hijo!  I do not love it, O my son, I do
+not love it; I love it so much, that I wish it may break its leg as
+it goes downstairs, and its mother also.'
+
+On the evening of the fourth day, I was seated on the stone bench
+at the stable door, taking the fresco; the Gypsy innkeeper sat
+beside me, smoking his pipe, and silent as usual; presently a man
+and woman with a borrico, or donkey, entered the portal.  I took
+little or no notice of a circumstance so slight, but I was
+presently aroused by hearing the Gypsy's pipe drop upon the ground.
+I looked at him, and scarcely recognised his face.  It was no
+longer dull, black, and heavy, but was lighted up with an
+expression so extremely villainous that I felt uneasy.  His eyes
+were scanning the recent comers, especially the beast of burden,
+which was a beautiful female donkey.  He was almost instantly at
+their side, assisting to remove its housings, and the alforjas, or
+bags.  His tongue had become unloosed, as if by sorcery; and far
+from being unable to speak, he proved that, when it suited his
+purpose, he could discourse with wonderful volubility.  The donkey
+was soon tied to the manger, and a large measure of barley emptied
+before it, the greatest part of which the Gypsy boy presently
+removed, his father having purposely omitted to mix the barley with
+the straw, with which the Spanish mangers are always kept filled.
+The guests were hurried upstairs as soon as possible.  I remained
+below, and subsequently strolled about the town and on the beach.
+It was about nine o'clock when I returned to the inn to retire to
+rest; strange things had evidently been going on during my absence.
+As I passed through the large room on my way to my apartment, lo,
+the table was set out with much wine, fruits, and viands.  There
+sat the man from the country, three parts intoxicated; the Gypsy,
+already provided with another pipe, sat on his knee, with his right
+arm most affectionately round his neck; on one side sat the
+chumajarri drinking and smoking, on the other the tanner.  Behold,
+poor humanity, thought I to myself, in the hands of devils; in this
+manner are human souls ensnared to destruction by the fiends of the
+pit.  The females had already taken possession of the woman at the
+other end of the table, embracing her, and displaying every mark of
+friendship and affection.  I passed on, but ere I reached my
+apartment I heard the words mule and donkey.  'Adios,' said I, for
+I but too well knew what was on the carpet.
+
+In the back stable the Gypsy kept a mule, a most extraordinary
+animal, which was employed in bringing water to the house, a task
+which it effected with no slight difficulty; it was reported to be
+eighteen years of age; one of its eyes had been removed by some
+accident, it was foundered, and also lame, the result of a broken
+leg.  This animal was the laughing-stock of all Tarifa; the Gypsy
+grudged it the very straw on while alone he fed it, and had
+repeatedly offered it for sale at a dollar, which he could never
+obtain.  During the night there was much merriment going on, and I
+could frequently distinguish the voice of the Gypsy raised to a
+boisterous pitch.  In the morning the Gypsy hag entered my
+apartment, bearing the breakfast of myself and Hayim.  'What were
+you about last night?' said I.
+
+'We were bargaining with the Busno, evil overtake him, and he has
+exchanged us the ass, for the mule and the reckoning,' said the
+hag, in whose countenance triumph was blended with anxiety.
+
+'Was he drunk when he saw the mule?' I demanded.
+
+'He did not see her at all, O my son, but we told him we had a
+beautiful mule, worth any money, which we were anxious to dispose
+of, as a donkey suited our purpose better.  We are afraid that when
+he sees her he will repent his bargain, and if he calls off within
+four-and-twenty hours, the exchange is null, and the justicia will
+cause us to restore the ass; we have, however, already removed her
+to our huerta out of the town, where we have hid her below the
+ground.  Dios sabe (God knows) how it will turn out.'
+
+When the man and woman saw the lame, foundered, one-eyed creature,
+for which and the reckoning they had exchanged their own beautiful
+borrico, they stood confounded.  It was about ten in the morning,
+and they had not altogether recovered from the fumes of the wine of
+the preceding night; at last the man, with a frightful oath,
+exclaimed to the innkeeper, 'Restore my donkey, you Gypsy villain!'
+
+'It cannot be, brother,' replied the latter, 'your donkey is by
+this time three leagues from here:  I sold her this morning to a
+man I do not know, and I am afraid I shall have a hard bargain with
+her, for he only gave two dollars, as she was unsound.  O, you have
+taken me in, I am a poor fool as they call me here, and you
+understand much, very much, baribu.' (47)
+
+'Her value was thirty-five dollars, thou demon,' said the
+countryman, 'and the justicia will make you pay that.'
+
+'Come, come, brother,' said the Gypsy, 'all this is mere
+conversation; you have a capital bargain, to-day the mercado is
+held, and you shall sell the mule; I will go with you myself.  O,
+you understand baribu; sister, bring the bottle of anise; the senor
+and the senora must drink a copita.'  After much persuasion, and
+many oaths, the man and woman were weak enough to comply; when they
+had drunk several glasses, they departed for the market, the Gypsy
+leading the mule.  In about two hours they returned with the
+wretched beast, but not exactly as they went; a numerous crowd
+followed, laughing and hooting.  The man was now frantic, and the
+woman yet more so.  They forced their way upstairs to collect their
+baggage, which they soon effected, and were about to leave the
+house, vowing revenge.  Now ensued a truly terrific scene, there
+were no more blandishments; the Gypsy men and women were in arms,
+uttering the most frightful execrations; as the woman came
+downstairs, the females assailed her like lunatics; the cripple
+poked at her with a stick, the tall hag clawed at her hair, whilst
+the father Gypsy walked close beside the man, his hand on his
+clasp-knife, looking like nothing in this world:  the man, however,
+on reaching the door, turned to him and said:  'Gypsy demon, my
+borrico by three o'clock - or you know the rest, the justicia.'
+
+The Gypsies remained filled with rage and disappointment; the hag
+vented her spite on her brother.  ''Tis your fault,' said she;
+'fool! you have no tongue; you a Chabo, you can't speak'; whereas,
+within a few hours, he had perhaps talked more than an auctioneer
+during a three days' sale:  but he reserved his words for fitting
+occasions, and now sat as usual, sullen and silent, smoking his
+pipe.
+
+The man and woman made their appearance at three o'clock, but they
+came - intoxicated; the Gypsy's eyes glistened - blandishment was
+again had recourse to.  'Come and sit down with the cavalier here,'
+whined the family; 'he is a friend of ours, and will soon arrange
+matters to your satisfaction.'  I arose, and went into the street;
+the hag followed me.  'Will you not assist us, brother, or are you
+no Chabo?' she muttered.
+
+'I will have nothing to do with your matters,' said I.
+
+'I know who will,' said the hag, and hurried down the street.
+
+The man and woman, with much noise, demanded their donkey; the
+innkeeper made no answer, and proceeded to fill up several glasses
+with the ANISADO.  In about a quarter of an hour, the Gypsy hag
+returned with a young man, well dressed, and with a genteel air,
+but with something wild and singular in his eyes.  He seated
+himself by the table, smiled, took a glass of liquor, drank part of
+it, smiled again, and handed it to the countryman.  The latter
+seeing himself treated in this friendly manner by a caballero, was
+evidently much flattered, took off his hat to the newcomer, and
+drank, as did the woman also.  The glass was filled, and refilled,
+till they became yet more intoxicated.  I did not hear the young
+man say a word:  he appeared a passive automaton.  The Gypsies,
+however, spoke for him, and were profuse of compliments.  It was
+now proposed that the caballero should settle the dispute; a long
+and noisy conversation ensued, the young man looking vacantly on:
+the strange people had no money, and had already run up another
+bill at a wine-house to which they had retired.  At last it was
+proposed, as if by the young man, that the Gypsy should purchase
+his own mule for two dollars, and forgive the strangers the
+reckoning of the preceding night.  To this they agreed, being
+apparently stultified with the liquor, and the money being paid to
+them in the presence of witnesses, they thanked the friendly
+mediator, and reeled away.
+
+Before they left the town that night, they had contrived to spend
+the entire two dollars, and the woman, who first recovered her
+senses, was bitterly lamenting that they had permitted themselves
+to be despoiled so cheaply of a PRENDA TAN PRECIOSA, as was the
+donkey.  Upon the whole, however, I did not much pity them.  The
+woman was certainly not the man's wife.  The labourer had probably
+left his village with some strolling harlot, bringing with him the
+animal which had previously served to support himself and family.
+
+I believe that the Gypsy read, at the first glance, their history,
+and arranged matters accordingly.  The donkey was soon once more in
+the stable, and that night there was much rejoicing in the Gypsy
+inn.
+
+Who was the singular mediator?  He was neither more nor less than
+the foster child of the Gypsy hag, the unfortunate being whom she
+had privately injured in his infancy.  After having thus served
+them as an instrument in their villainy, he was told to go home. .
+. .
+
+
+THE GYPSY SOLDIER OF VALDEPENAS
+
+
+It was at Madrid one fine afternoon in the beginning of March 1838,
+that, as I was sitting behind my table in a cabinete, as it is
+called, of the third floor of No. 16, in the Calle de Santiago,
+having just taken my meal, my hostess entered and informed me that
+a military officer wished to speak to me, adding, in an undertone,
+that he looked a STRANGE GUEST.  I was acquainted with no military
+officer in the Spanish service; but as at that time I expected
+daily to be arrested for having distributed the Bible, I thought
+that very possibly this officer might have been sent to perform
+that piece of duty.  I instantly ordered him to be admitted,
+whereupon a thin active figure, somewhat above the middle height,
+dressed in a blue uniform, with a long sword hanging at his side,
+tripped into the room.  Depositing his regimental hat on the
+ground, he drew a chair to the table, and seating himself, placed
+his elbows on the board, and supporting his face with his hands,
+confronted me, gazing steadfastly upon me, without uttering a word.
+I looked no less wistfully at him, and was of the same opinion as
+my hostess, as to the strangeness of my guest.  He was about fifty,
+with thin flaxen hair covering the sides of his head, which at the
+top was entirely bald.  His eyes were small, and, like ferrets',
+red and fiery.  His complexion like a brick, a dull red, checkered
+with spots of purple.  'May I inquire your name and business, sir?'
+I at length demanded.
+
+STRANGER. - 'My name is Chaleco of Valdepenas; in the time of the
+French I served as bragante, fighting for Ferdinand VII.  I am now
+a captain on half-pay in the service of Donna Isabel; as for my
+business here, it is to speak with you.  Do you know this book?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'This book is Saint Luke's Gospel in the Gypsy language;
+how can this book concern you?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'No one more.  It is in the language of my people.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You do not pretend to say that you are a Calo?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'I do!  I am Zincalo, by the mother's side.  My father,
+it is true, was one of the Busne; but I glory in being a Calo, and
+care not to acknowledge other blood.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'How became you possessed of that book?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'I was this morning in the Prado, where I met two women
+of our people, and amongst other things they told me that they had
+a gabicote in our language.  I did not believe them at first, but
+they pulled it out, and I found their words true.  They then spoke
+to me of yourself, and told me where you live, so I took the book
+from them and am come to see you.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Are you able to understand this book?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'Perfectly, though it is written in very crabbed
+language:  (48) but I learnt to read Calo when very young.  My
+mother was a good Calli, and early taught me both to speak and read
+it.  She too had a gabicote, but not printed like this, and it
+treated of a different matter.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'How came your mother, being a good Calli, to marry one
+of a different blood?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'It was no fault of hers; there was no remedy.  In her
+infancy she lost her parents, who were executed; and she was
+abandoned by all, till my father, taking compassion on her, brought
+her up and educated her:  at last he made her his wife, though
+three times her age.  She, however, remembered her blood and hated
+my father, and taught me to hate him likewise, and avoid him.  When
+a boy, I used to stroll about the plains, that I might not see my
+father; and my father would follow me and beg me to look upon him,
+and would ask me what I wanted; and I would reply, Father, the only
+thing I want is to see you dead.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'That was strange language from a child to its parent.'
+
+STRANGER. - 'It was - but you know the couplet, (49) which says, "I
+do not wish to be a lord - I am by birth a Gypsy - I do not wish to
+be a gentleman - I am content with being a Calo!"'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am anxious to hear more of your history - pray
+proceed.'
+
+STRANGER. - 'When I was about twelve years old my father became
+distracted, and died.  I then continued with my mother for some
+years; she loved me much, and procured a teacher to instruct me in
+Latin.  At last she died, and then there was a pleyto (law-suit).
+I took to the sierra and became a highwayman; but the wars broke
+out.  My cousin Jara, of Valdepenas, raised a troop of brigantes.
+(50)  I enlisted with him and distinguished myself very much; there
+is scarcely a man or woman in Spain but has heard of Jara and
+Chaleco.  I am now captain in the service of Donna Isabel - I am
+covered with wounds - I am - ugh! ugh! ugh - !'
+
+He had commenced coughing, and in a manner which perfectly
+astounded me.  I had heard hooping coughs, consumptive coughs,
+coughs caused by colds, and other accidents, but a cough so
+horrible and unnatural as that of the Gypsy soldier, I had never
+witnessed in the course of my travels.  In a moment he was bent
+double, his frame writhed and laboured, the veins of his forehead
+were frightfully swollen, and his complexion became black as the
+blackest blood; he screamed, he snorted, he barked, and appeared to
+be on the point of suffocation - yet more explosive became the
+cough; and the people of the house, frightened, came running into
+the apartment.  I cries, 'The man is perishing, run instantly for a
+surgeon!'  He heard me, and with a quick movement raised his left
+hand as if to countermand the order; another struggle, then one
+mighty throe, which seemed to search his deepest intestines; and he
+remained motionless, his head on his knee.  The cough had left him,
+and within a minute or two he again looked up.
+
+'That is a dreadful cough, friend,' said I, when he was somewhat
+recovered.  'How did you get it?'
+
+GYPSY SOLDIER. - 'I am - shot through the lungs - brother!  Let me
+but take breath, and I will show you the hole - the agujero.'
+
+He continued with me a considerable time, and showed not the
+slightest disposition to depart; the cough returned twice, but not
+so violently; - at length, having an engagement, I arose, and
+apologising, told him I must leave him.  The next day he came again
+at the same hour, but he found me not, as I was abroad dining with
+a friend.  On the third day, however, as I was sitting down to
+dinner, in he walked, unannounced.  I am rather hospitable than
+otherwise, so I cordially welcomed him, and requested him to
+partake of my meal.  'Con mucho gusto,' he replied, and instantly
+took his place at the table.  I was again astonished, for if his
+cough was frightful, his appetite was yet more so.  He ate like a
+wolf of the sierra; - soup, puchero, fowl and bacon disappeared
+before him in a twinkling.  I ordered in cold meat, which he
+presently despatched; a large piece of cheese was then produced.
+We had been drinking water.
+
+'Where is the wine?' said he.
+
+'I never use it,' I replied.
+
+He looked blank.  The hostess, however, who was present waiting,
+said, 'If the gentleman wish for wine, I have a bota nearly full,
+which I will instantly fetch.'
+
+The skin bottle, when full, might contain about four quarts.  She
+filled him a very large glass, and was removing the skin, but he
+prevented her, saying, 'Leave it, my good woman; my brother here
+will settle with you for the little I shall use.'
+
+He now lighted his cigar, and it was evident that he had made good
+his quarters.  On the former occasion I thought his behaviour
+sufficiently strange, but I liked it still less on the present.
+Every fifteen minutes he emptied his glass, which contained at
+least a pint; his conversation became horrible.  He related the
+atrocities which he had committed when a robber and bragante in La
+Mancha.  'It was our custom,' said he, 'to tie our prisoners to the
+olive-trees, and then, putting our horses to full speed, to tilt at
+them with our spears.'  As he continued to drink he became waspish
+and quarrelsome:  he had hitherto talked Castilian, but he would
+now only converse in Gypsy and in Latin, the last of which
+languages he spoke with great fluency, though ungrammatically.  He
+told me that he had killed six men in duels; and, drawing his
+sword, fenced about the room.  I saw by the manner in which he
+handled it, that he was master of his weapon.  His cough did not
+return, and he said it seldom afflicted him when he dined well.  He
+gave me to understand that he had received no pay for two years.
+'Therefore you visit me,' thought I.  At the end of three hours,
+perceiving that he exhibited no signs of taking his departure, I
+arose, and said I must again leave him.  'As you please, brother,'
+said he; 'use no ceremony with me, I am fatigued, and will wait a
+little while.'  I did not return till eleven at night, when my
+hostess informed me that he had just departed, promising to return
+next day.  He had emptied the bota to the last drop, and the cheese
+produced being insufficient for him, he sent for an entire Dutch
+cheese on my account; part of which he had eaten and the rest
+carried away.  I now saw that I had formed a most troublesome
+acquaintance, of whom it was highly necessary to rid myself, if
+possible; I therefore dined out for the next nine days.
+
+For a week he came regularly at the usual hour, at the end of which
+time he desisted; the hostess was afraid of him, as she said that
+he was a brujo or wizard, and only spoke to him through the wicket.
+
+On the tenth day I was cast into prison, where I continued several
+weeks.  Once, during my confinement, he called at the house, and
+being informed of my mishap, drew his sword, and vowed with
+horrible imprecations to murder the prime minister of Ofalia, for
+having dared to imprison his brother.  On my release, I did not
+revisit my lodgings for some days, but lived at an hotel.  I
+returned late one afternoon, with my servant Francisco, a Basque of
+Hernani, who had served me with the utmost fidelity during my
+imprisonment, which he had voluntarily shared with me.  The first
+person I saw on entering was the Gypsy soldier, seated by the
+table, whereon were several bottles of wine which he had ordered
+from the tavern, of course on my account.  He was smoking, and
+looked savage and sullen; perhaps he was not much pleased with the
+reception he had experienced.  He had forced himself in, and the
+woman of the house sat in a corner looking upon him with dread.  I
+addressed him, but he would scarcely return an answer.  At last he
+commenced discoursing with great volubility in Gypsy and Latin.  I
+did not understand much of what he said.  His words were wild and
+incoherent, but he repeatedly threatened some person.  The last
+bottle was now exhausted:  he demanded more.  I told him in a
+gentle manner that he had drunk enough.  He looked on the ground
+for some time, then slowly, and somewhat hesitatingly, drew his
+sword and laid it on the table.  It was become dark.  I was not
+afraid of the fellow, but I wished to avoid anything unpleasant.  I
+called to Francisco to bring lights, and obeying a sign which I
+made him, he sat down at the table.  The Gypsy glared fiercely upon
+him - Francisco laughed, and began with great glee to talk in
+Basque, of which the Gypsy understood not a word.  The Basques,
+like all Tartars, (51) and such they are, are paragons of fidelity
+and good nature; they are only dangerous when outraged, when they
+are terrible indeed.  Francisco, to the strength of a giant joined
+the disposition of a lamb.  He was beloved even in the patio of the
+prison, where he used to pitch the bar and wrestle with the
+murderers and felons, always coming off victor.  He continued
+speaking Basque.  The Gypsy was incensed; and, forgetting the
+languages in which, for the last hour, he had been speaking,
+complained to Francisco of his rudeness in speaking any tongue but
+Castilian.  The Basque replied by a loud carcajada, and slightly
+touched the Gypsy on the knee.  The latter sprang up like a mine
+discharged, seized his sword, and, retreating a few steps, made a
+desperate lunge at Francisco.
+
+The Basques, next to the Pasiegos, (52) are the best cudgel-players
+in Spain, and in the world.  Francisco held in his hand part of a
+broomstick, which he had broken in the stable, whence he had just
+ascended.  With the swiftness of lightning he foiled the stroke of
+Chaleco, and, in another moment, with a dexterous blow, struck the
+sword out of his hand, sending it ringing against the wall.
+
+The Gypsy resumed his seat and his cigar.  He occasionally looked
+at the Basque.  His glances were at first atrocious, but presently
+changed their expression, and appeared to me to become prying and
+eagerly curious.  He at last arose, picked up his sword, sheathed
+it, and walked slowly to the door; when there he stopped, turned
+round, advanced close to Francisco, and looked him steadfastly in
+the face.  'My good fellow,' said he, 'I am a Gypsy, and can read
+baji.  Do you know where you will be at this time to-morrow?' (53)
+Then, laughing like a hyena, he departed, and I never saw him
+again.
+
+At that time on the morrow, Francisco was on his death-bed.  He had
+caught the jail fever, which had long raged in the Carcel de la
+Corte, where I was imprisoned.  In a few days he was buried, a mass
+of corruption, in the Campo Santo of Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos, in their habits and manner of life, are much less
+cleanly than the Spaniards.  The hovels in which they reside
+exhibit none of the neatness which is observable in the habitations
+of even the poorest of the other race.  The floors are unswept, and
+abound with filth and mud, and in their persons they are scarcely
+less vile.  Inattention to cleanliness is a characteristic of the
+Gypsies, in all parts of the world.
+
+The Bishop of Forli, as far back as 1422, gives evidence upon this
+point, and insinuates that they carried the plague with them; as he
+observes that it raged with peculiar violence the year of their
+appearance at Forli. (54)
+
+At the present day they are almost equally disgusting, in this
+respect, in Hungary, England, and Spain.  Amongst the richer
+Gitanos, habits of greater cleanliness of course exist than amongst
+the poorer.  An air of sluttishness, however, pervades their
+dwellings, which, to an experienced eye, would sufficiently attest
+that the inmates were Gitanos, in the event of their absence.
+
+What can be said of the Gypsy dress, of which such frequent mention
+is made in the Spanish laws, and which is prohibited together with
+the Gypsy language and manner of life?  Of whatever it might
+consist in former days, it is so little to be distinguished from
+the dress of some classes amongst the Spaniards, that it is almost
+impossible to describe the difference.  They generally wear a high-
+peaked, narrow-brimmed hat, a zamarra of sheep-skin in winter, and,
+during summer, a jacket of brown cloth; and beneath this they are
+fond of exhibiting a red plush waistcoat, something after the
+fashion of the English jockeys, with numerous buttons and clasps.
+A faja, or girdle of crimson silk, surrounds the waist, where, not
+unfrequently, are stuck the cachas which we have already described.
+Pantaloons of coarse cloth or leather descend to the knee; the legs
+are protected by woollen stockings, and sometimes by a species of
+spatterdash, either of cloth or leather; stout high-lows complete
+the equipment.
+
+Such is the dress of the Gitanos of most parts of Spain.  But it is
+necessary to remark that such also is the dress of the chalans, and
+of the muleteers, except that the latter are in the habit of
+wearing broad sombreros as preservatives from the sun.  This dress
+appears to be rather Andalusian than Gitano; and yet it certainly
+beseems the Gitano better than the chalan or muleteer.  He wears it
+with more easy negligence or jauntiness, by which he may be
+recognised at some distance, even from behind.
+
+It is still more difficult to say what is the peculiar dress of the
+Gitanas; they wear not the large red cloaks and immense bonnets of
+coarse beaver which distinguish their sisters of England; they have
+no other headgear than a handkerchief, which is occasionally
+resorted to as a defence against the severity of the weather; their
+hair is sometimes confined by a comb, but more frequently is
+permitted to stray dishevelled down their shoulders; they are fond
+of large ear-rings, whether of gold, silver, or metal, resembling
+in this respect the poissardes of France.  There is little to
+distinguish them from the Spanish women save the absence of the
+mantilla, which they never carry.  Females of fashion not
+unfrequently take pleasure in dressing a la Gitana, as it is
+called; but this female Gypsy fashion, like that of the men, is
+more properly the fashion of Andalusia, the principal
+characteristic of which is the saya, which is exceedingly short,
+with many rows of flounces.
+
+True it is that the original dress of the Gitanos, male and female,
+whatever it was, may have had some share in forming the Andalusian
+fashion, owing to the great number of these wanderers who found
+their way to that province at an early period.  The Andalusians are
+a mixed breed of various nations, Romans, Vandals, Moors; perhaps
+there is a slight sprinkling of Gypsy blood in their veins, and of
+Gypsy fashion in their garb.
+
+The Gitanos are, for the most part, of the middle size, and the
+proportions of their frames convey a powerful idea of strength and
+activity united; a deformed or weakly object is rarely found
+amongst them in persons of either sex; such probably perish in
+their infancy, unable to support the hardships and privations to
+which the race is still subjected from its great poverty, and these
+same privations have given and still give a coarseness and
+harshness to their features, which are all strongly marked and
+expressive.  Their complexion is by no means uniform, save that it
+is invariably darker than the general olive hue of the Spaniards;
+not unfrequently countenances as dark as those of mulattos present
+themselves, and in some few instances of almost negro blackness.
+Like most people of savage ancestry, their teeth are white and
+strong; their mouths are not badly formed, but it is in the eye
+more than in any other feature that they differ from other human
+beings.
+
+There is something remarkable in the eye of the Gitano:  should his
+hair and complexion become fair as those of the Swede or the Finn,
+and his jockey gait as grave and ceremonious as that of the native
+of Old Castile, were he dressed like a king, a priest, or a
+warrior, still would the Gitano be detected by his eye, should it
+continue unchanged.  The Jew is known by his eye, but then in the
+Jew that feature is peculiarly small; the Chinese has a remarkable
+eye, but then the eye of the Chinese is oblong, and even with the
+face, which is flat; but the eye of the Gitano is neither large nor
+small, and exhibits no marked difference in its shape from the eyes
+of the common cast.  Its peculiarity consists chiefly in a strange
+staring expression, which to be understood must be seen, and in a
+thin glaze, which steals over it when in repose, and seems to emit
+phosphoric light.  That the Gypsy eye has sometimes a peculiar
+effect, we learn from the following stanza:-
+
+
+'A Gypsy stripling's glossy eye
+Has pierced my bosom's core,
+A feat no eye beneath the sky
+Could e'er effect before.'
+
+
+The following passages are extracted from a Spanish work, (55) and
+cannot be out of place here, as they relate to those matters to
+which we have devoted this chapter.
+
+'The Gitanos have an olive complexion and very marked physiognomy;
+their cheeks are prominent, their lips thick, their eyes vivid and
+black; their hair is long, black, and coarse, and their teeth very
+white.  The general expression of their physiognomy is a compound
+of pride, slavishness, and cunning.  They are, for the most part,
+of good stature, well formed, and support with facility fatigue and
+every kind of hardship.  When they discuss any matter, or speak
+among themselves, whether in Catalan, in Castilian, or in Germania,
+which is their own peculiar jargon, they always make use of much
+gesticulation, which contributes to give to their conversation and
+to the vivacity of their physiognomy a certain expression, still
+more penetrating and characteristic.
+
+To this work we shall revert on a future occasion.
+
+'When a Gitano has occasion to speak of some business in which his
+interest is involved, he redoubles his gestures in proportion as he
+knows the necessity of convincing those who hear him, and fears
+their impassibility.  If any rancorous idea agitate him in the
+course of his narrative; if he endeavour to infuse into his
+auditors sentiments of jealousy, vengeance, or any violent passion,
+his features become exaggerated, and the vivacity of his glances,
+and the contraction of his lips, show clearly, and in an imposing
+manner, the foreign origin of the Gitanos, and all the customs of
+barbarous people.  Even his very smile has an expression hard and
+disagreeable.  One might almost say that joy in him is a forced
+sentiment, and that, like unto the savage man, sadness is the
+dominant feature of his physiognomy.
+
+'The Gitana is distinguished by the same complexion, and almost the
+same features.  In her frame she is as well formed, and as flexible
+as the Gitano.  Condemned to suffer the same privations and wants,
+her countenance, when her interest does not oblige her to dissemble
+her feelings, presents the same aspect of melancholy, and shows
+besides, with more energy, the rancorous passions of which the
+female heart is susceptible.  Free in her actions, her carriage,
+and her pursuits, she speaks, vociferates, and makes more gestures
+than the Gitano, and, in imitation of him, her arms are in
+continual motion, to give more expression to the imagery with which
+she accompanies her discourse; her whole body contributes to her
+gesture, and to increase its force; endeavouring by these means to
+sharpen the effect of language in itself insufficient; and her
+vivid and disordered imagination is displayed in her appearance and
+attitude.
+
+'When she turns her hand to any species of labour, her hurried
+action, the disorder of her hair, which is scarcely subjected by a
+little comb, and her propensity to irritation, show how little she
+loves toil, and her disgust for any continued occupation.
+
+'In her disputes, the air of menace and high passion, the flow of
+words, and the facility with which she provokes and despises
+danger, indicate manners half barbarous, and ignorance of other
+means of defence.  Finally, both in males and females, their
+physical constitution, colour, agility, and flexibility, reveal to
+us a caste sprung from a burning clime, and devoted to all those
+exercises which contribute to evolve bodily vigour, and certain
+mental faculties.
+
+'The dress of the Gitano varies with the country which he inhabits.
+Both in Rousillon and Catalonia his habiliments generally consist
+of jacket, waistcoat, pantaloons, and a red faja, which covers part
+of his waistcoat; on his feet he wears hempen sandals, with much
+ribbon tied round the leg as high as the calf; he has, moreover,
+either woollen or cotton stockings; round his neck he wears a
+handkerchief, carelessly tied; and in the winter he uses a blanket
+or mantle, with sleeves, cast over the shoulder; his head is
+covered with the indispensable red cap, which appears to be the
+favourite ornament of many nations in the vicinity of the
+Mediterranean and Caspian Sea.
+
+'The neck and the elbows of the jacket are adorned with pieces of
+blue and yellow cloth embroidered with silk, as well as the seams
+of the pantaloons; he wears, moreover, on the jacket or the
+waistcoat, various rows of silver buttons, small and round,
+sustained by rings or chains of the same metal.  The old people,
+and those who by fortune, or some other cause, exercise, in
+appearance, a kind of authority over the rest, are almost always
+dressed in black or dark-blue velvet.  Some of those who affect
+elegance amongst them keep for holidays a complete dress of sky-
+blue velvet, with embroidery at the neck, pocket-holes, arm-pits,
+and in all the seams; in a word, with the exception of the turban,
+this was the fashion of dress of the ancient Moors of Granada, the
+only difference being occasioned by time and misery.
+
+'The dress of the Gitanas is very varied:  the young girls, or
+those who are in tolerably easy circumstances, generally wear a
+black bodice laced up with a string, and adjusted to their figures,
+and contrasting with the scarlet-coloured saya, which only covers a
+part of the leg; their shoes are cut very low, and are adorned with
+little buckles of silver; the breast, and the upper part of the
+bodice, are covered either with a white handkerchief, or one of
+some vivid colour; and on the head is worn another handkerchief,
+tied beneath the chin, one of the ends of which falls on the
+shoulder, in the manner of a hood.  When the cold or the heat
+permit, the Gitana removes the hood, without untying the knots, and
+exhibits her long and shining tresses restrained by a comb.  The
+old women, and the very poor, dress in the same manner, save that
+their habiliments are more coarse and the colours less in harmony.
+Amongst them misery appears beneath the most revolting aspect;
+whilst the poorest Gitano preserves a certain deportment which
+would make his aspect supportable, if his unquiet and ferocious
+glance did not inspire us with aversion.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+WHILST their husbands are engaged in their jockey vocation, or in
+wielding the cachas, the Callees, or Gypsy females, are seldom
+idle, but are endeavouring, by various means, to make all the gain
+they can.  The richest amongst them are generally contrabandistas,
+and in the large towns go from house to house with prohibited
+goods, especially silk and cotton, and occasionally with tobacco.
+They likewise purchase cast-off female wearing-apparel, which, when
+vamped up and embellished, they sometimes contrive to sell as new,
+with no inconsiderable profit.
+
+Gitanas of this description are of the most respectable class; the
+rest, provided they do not sell roasted chestnuts, or esteras,
+which are a species of mat, seek a livelihood by different tricks
+and practices, more or less fraudulent; for example -
+
+LA BAHI, or fortune-telling, which is called in Spanish, BUENA
+VENTURA. - This way of extracting money from the credulity of dupes
+is, of all those practised by the Gypsies, the readiest and most
+easy; promises are the only capital requisite, and the whole art of
+fortune-telling consists in properly adapting these promises to the
+age and condition of the parties who seek for information.  The
+Gitanas are clever enough in the accomplishment of this, and in
+most cases afford perfect satisfaction.  Their practice chiefly
+lies amongst females, the portion of the human race most given to
+curiosity and credulity.  To the young maidens they promise lovers,
+handsome invariably, and sometimes rich; to wives children, and
+perhaps another husband; for their eyes are so penetrating, that
+occasionally they will develop your most secret thoughts and
+wishes; to the old, riches - and nothing but riches; for they have
+sufficient knowledge of the human heart to be aware that avarice is
+the last passion that becomes extinct within it.  These riches are
+to proceed either from the discovery of hidden treasures or from
+across the water; from the Americas, to which the Spaniards still
+look with hope, as there is no individual in Spain, however poor,
+but has some connection in those realms of silver and gold, at
+whose death he considers it probable that he may succeed to a
+brilliant 'herencia.'  The Gitanas, in the exercise of this
+practice, find dupes almost as readily amongst the superior
+classes, as the veriest dregs of the population.  It is their
+boast, that the best houses are open to them; and perhaps in the
+space of one hour, they will spae the bahi to a duchess, or
+countess, in one of the hundred palaces of Madrid, and to half a
+dozen of the lavanderas engaged in purifying the linen of the
+capital, beneath the willows which droop on the banks of the
+murmuring Manzanares.  One great advantage which the Gypsies
+possess over all other people is an utter absence of MAUVAISE
+HONTE; their speech is as fluent, and their eyes as unabashed, in
+the presence of royalty, as before those from whom they have
+nothing to hope or fear; the result being, that most minds quail
+before them.  There were two Gitanas at Madrid, one Pepita by name,
+and the other La Chicharona; the first was a spare, shrewd, witch-
+like female, about fifty, and was the mother-in-law of La
+Chicharona, who was remarkable for her stoutness.  These women
+subsisted entirely by fortune-telling and swindling.  It chanced
+that the son of Pepita, and husband of Chicharona, having spirited
+away a horse, was sent to the presidio of Malaga for ten years of
+hard labour.  This misfortune caused inexpressible affliction to
+his wife and mother, who determined to make every effort to procure
+his liberation.  The readiest way which occurred to them was to
+procure an interview with the Queen Regent Christina, who they
+doubted not would forthwith pardon the culprit, provided they had
+an opportunity of assailing her with their Gypsy discourse; for, to
+use their own words, 'they well knew what to say.'  I at that time
+lived close by the palace, in the street of Santiago, and daily,
+for the space of a month, saw them bending their steps in that
+direction.
+
+One day they came to me in a great hurry, with a strange expression
+on both their countenances.  'We have seen Christina, hijo' (my
+son), said Pepita to me.
+
+'Within the palace?' I inquired.
+
+'Within the palace, O child of my garlochin,' answered the sibyl:
+'Christina at last saw and sent for us, as I knew she would; I told
+her "bahi," and Chicharona danced the Romalis (Gypsy dance) before
+her.'
+
+'What did you tell her?'
+
+'I told her many things,' said the hag, 'many things which I need
+not tell you:  know, however, that amongst other things, I told her
+that the chabori (little queen) would die, and then she would be
+Queen of Spain.  I told her, moreover, that within three years she
+would marry the son of the King of France, and it was her bahi to
+die Queen of France and Spain, and to be loved much, and hated
+much.'
+
+'And did you not dread her anger, when you told her these things?'
+
+'Dread her, the Busnee?' screamed Pepita:  'No, my child, she
+dreaded me far more; I looked at her so - and raised my finger so -
+and Chicharona clapped her hands, and the Busnee believed all I
+said, and was afraid of me; and then I asked for the pardon of my
+son, and she pledged her word to see into the matter, and when we
+came away, she gave me this baria of gold, and to Chicharona this
+other, so at all events we have hokkanoed the queen.  May an evil
+end overtake her body, the Busnee!'
+
+Though some of the Gitanas contrive to subsist by fortune-telling
+alone, the generality of them merely make use of it as an
+instrument towards the accomplishment of greater things.  The
+immediate gains are scanty; a few cuartos being the utmost which
+they receive from the majority of their customers.  But the bahi is
+an excellent passport into houses, and when they spy a convenient
+opportunity, they seldom fail to avail themselves of it.  It is
+necessary to watch them strictly, as articles frequently disappear
+in a mysterious manner whilst Gitanas are telling fortunes.  The
+bahi, moreover, is occasionally the prelude to a device which we
+shall now attempt to describe, and which is called HOKKANO BARO, or
+the great trick, of which we have already said something in the
+former part of this work.  It consists in persuading some credulous
+person to deposit whatever money and valuables the party can muster
+in a particular spot, under the promise that the deposit will
+increase many manifold.  Some of our readers will have difficulty
+in believing that any people can be found sufficiently credulous to
+allow themselves to be duped by a trick of this description, the
+grossness of the intended fraud seeming too palpable.  Experience,
+however, proves the contrary.  The deception is frequently
+practised at the present day, and not only in Spain but in England
+- enlightened England - and in France likewise; an instance being
+given in the memoirs of Vidocq, the late celebrated head of the
+secret police of Paris, though, in that instance, the perpetrator
+of the fraud was not a Gypsy.  The most subtle method of
+accomplishing the hokkano baro is the following:-
+
+When the dupe - a widow we will suppose, for in these cases the
+dupes are generally widows - has been induced to consent to make
+the experiment, the Gitana demands of her whether she has in the
+house some strong chest with a safe lock.  On receiving an
+affirmative answer, she will request to see all the gold and silver
+of any description which she may chance to have in her possession.
+The treasure is shown her; and when the Gitana has carefully
+inspected and counted it, she produces a white handkerchief,
+saying, Lady, I give you this handkerchief, which is blessed.
+Place in it your gold and silver, and tie it with three knots.  I
+am going for three days, during which period you must keep the
+bundle beneath your pillow, permitting no one to go near it, and
+observing the greatest secrecy, otherwise the money will take wings
+and fly away.  Every morning during the three days it will be well
+to open the bundle, for your own satisfaction, to see that no
+misfortune has befallen your treasure; be always careful, however,
+to fasten it again with the three knots.  On my return, we will
+place the bundle, after having inspected it, in the chest, which
+you shall yourself lock, retaining the key in your possession.
+But, thenceforward, for three weeks, you must by no means unlock
+the chest, nor look at the treasure - if you do it will fly away.
+Only follow my directions, and you will gain much, very much,
+baribu.
+
+The Gitana departs, and, during the three days, prepares a bundle
+as similar as possible to the one which contains the money of her
+dupe, save that instead of gold ounces, dollars, and plate, its
+contents consist of copper money and pewter articles of little or
+no value.  With this bundle concealed beneath her cloak, she
+returns at the end of three days to her intended victim.  The
+bundle of real treasure is produced and inspected, and again tied
+up by the Gitana, who then requests the other to open the chest,
+which done, she formally places A BUNDLE in it; but, in the
+meanwhile, she has contrived to substitute the fictitious for the
+real one.  The chest is then locked, the lady retaining the key.
+The Gitana promises to return at the end of three weeks, to open
+the chest, assuring the lady that if it be not unlocked until that
+period, it will be found filled with gold and silver; but
+threatening that in the event of her injunctions being disregarded,
+the money deposited will vanish.  She then walks off with great
+deliberation, bearing away the spoil.  It is needless to say that
+she never returns.
+
+There are other ways of accomplishing the hokkano baro.  The most
+simple, and indeed the one most generally used by the Gitanas, is
+to persuade some simple individual to hide a sum of money in the
+earth, which they afterwards carry away.  A case of this
+description occurred within my own knowledge, at Madrid, towards
+the latter part of the year 1837.  There was a notorious Gitana, of
+the name of Aurora; she was about forty years of age, a Valencian
+by birth, and immensely fat.  This amiable personage, by some
+means, formed the acquaintance of a wealthy widow lady; and was not
+slow in attempting to practise the hokkano baro upon her.  She
+succeeded but too well.  The widow, at the instigation of Aurora,
+buried one hundred ounces of gold beneath a ruined arch in a field,
+at a short distance from the wall of Madrid.  The inhumation was
+effected at night by the widow alone.  Aurora was, however, on the
+watch, and, in less than ten minutes after the widow had departed,
+possessed herself of the treasure; perhaps the largest one ever
+acquired by this kind of deceit.  The next day the widow had
+certain misgivings, and, returning to the spot, found her money
+gone.  About six months after this event, I was imprisoned in the
+Carcel de la Corte, at Madrid, and there I found Aurora, who was in
+durance for defrauding the widow.  She said that it had been her
+intention to depart for Valencia with the 'barias,' as she styled
+her plunder, but the widow had discovered the trick too soon, and
+she had been arrested.  She added, however, that she had contrived
+to conceal the greatest part of the property, and that she expected
+her liberation in a few days, having been prodigal of bribes to the
+'justicia.'  In effect, her liberation took place sooner than my
+own.  Nevertheless, she had little cause to triumph, as before she
+left the prison she had been fleeced of the last cuarto of her ill-
+gotten gain, by alguazils and escribanos, who, she admitted,
+understood hokkano baro much better than herself.
+
+When I next saw Aurora, she informed me that she was once more on
+excellent terms with the widow, whom she had persuaded that the
+loss of the money was caused by her own imprudence, in looking for
+it before the appointed time; the spirit of the earth having
+removed it in anger.  She added that her dupe was quite disposed to
+make another venture, by which she hoped to retrieve her former
+loss.
+
+USTILAR PASTESAS. - Under this head may be placed various kinds of
+theft committed by the Gitanos.  The meaning of the words is
+stealing with the hands; but they are more generally applied to the
+filching of money by dexterity of hand, when giving or receiving
+change.  For example:  a Gitana will enter a shop, and purchase
+some insignificant article, tendering in payment a baria or golden
+ounce.  The change being put down before her on the counter, she
+counts the money, and complains that she has received a dollar and
+several pesetas less than her due.  It seems impossible that there
+can be any fraud on her part, as she has not even taken the pieces
+in her hand, but merely placed her fingers upon them; pushing them
+on one side.  She now asks the merchant what he means by attempting
+to deceive the poor woman.  The merchant, supposing that he has
+made a mistake, takes up the money, counts it, and finds in effect
+that the just sum is not there.  He again hands out the change, but
+there is now a greater deficiency than before, and the merchant is
+convinced that he is dealing with a witch.  The Gitana now pushes
+the money to him, uplifts her voice, and talks of the justicia.
+Should the merchant become frightened, and, emptying a bag of
+dollars, tell her to pay herself, as has sometimes been the case,
+she will have a fine opportunity to exercise her powers, and whilst
+taking the change will contrive to convey secretly into her sleeves
+five or six dollars at least; after which she will depart with much
+vociferation, declaring that she will never again enter the shop of
+so cheating a picaro.
+
+Of all the Gitanas at Madrid, Aurora the fat was, by their own
+confession, the most dexterous at this species of robbery; she
+having been known in many instances, whilst receiving change for an
+ounce, to steal the whole value, which amounts to sixteen dollars.
+It was not without reason that merchants in ancient times were,
+according to Martin Del Rio, advised to sell nothing out of their
+shops to Gitanas, as they possessed an infallible secret for
+attracting to their own purses from the coffers of the former the
+money with which they paid for the articles they purchased.  This
+secret consisted in stealing a pastesas, which they still practise.
+Many accounts of witchcraft and sorcery, which are styled old
+women's tales, are perhaps equally well founded.  Real actions have
+been attributed to wrong causes.
+
+Shoplifting, and other kinds of private larceny, are connected with
+stealing a pastesas, for in all dexterity of hand is required.
+Many of the Gitanas of Madrid are provided with large pockets, or
+rather sacks, beneath their gowns, in which they stow away their
+plunder.  Some of these pockets are capacious enough to hold, at
+one time, a dozen yards of cloth, a Dutch cheese and a bottle of
+wine.  Nothing that she can eat, drink, or sell, comes amiss to a
+veritable Gitana; and sometimes the contents of her pocket would
+afford materials for an inventory far more lengthy and curious than
+the one enumerating the effects found on the person of the man-
+mountain at Lilliput.
+
+CHIVING DRAO. - In former times the Spanish Gypsies of both sexes
+were in the habit of casting a venomous preparation into the
+mangers of the cattle for the purpose of causing sickness.  At
+present this practice has ceased, or nearly so; the Gitanos,
+however, talk of it as universal amongst their ancestors.  They
+were in the habit of visiting the stalls and stables secretly, and
+poisoning the provender of the animals, who almost immediately
+became sick.  After a few days the Gitanos would go to the
+labourers and offer to cure the sick cattle for a certain sum, and
+if their proposal was accepted would in effect perform the cure.
+
+Connected with the cure was a curious piece of double dealing.
+They privately administered an efficacious remedy, but pretended to
+cure the animals not by medicines but by charms, which consisted of
+small variegated beans, called in their language bobis, (56)
+dropped into the mangers.  By this means they fostered the idea,
+already prevalent, that they were people possessed of supernatural
+gifts and powers, who could remove diseases without having recourse
+to medicine.  By means of drao, they likewise procured themselves
+food; poisoning swine, as their brethren in England still do, (57)
+and then feasting on the flesh, which was abandoned as worthless:
+witness one of their own songs:-
+
+
+'By Gypsy drow the Porker died,
+I saw him stiff at evening tide,
+But I saw him not when morning shone,
+For the Gypsies ate him flesh and bone.'
+
+
+By drao also they could avenge themselves on their enemies by
+destroying their cattle, without incurring a shadow of suspicion.
+Revenge for injuries, real or imaginary, is sweet to all
+unconverted minds; to no one more than the Gypsy, who, in all parts
+of the world, is, perhaps, the most revengeful of human beings.
+
+Vidocq in his memoirs states, that having formed a connection with
+an individual whom he subsequently discovered to be the captain of
+a band of Walachian Gypsies, the latter, whose name was Caroun,
+wished Vidocq to assist in scattering certain powders in the
+mangers of the peasants' cattle; Vidocq, from prudential motives,
+refused the employment.  There can be no doubt that these powders
+were, in substance, the drao of the Spanish Gitanos.
+
+LA BAR LACHI, OR THE LOADSTONE. - If the Gitanos in general be
+addicted to any one superstition, it is certainly with respect to
+this stone, to which they attribute all kinds of miraculous powers.
+There can be no doubt, that the singular property which it
+possesses of attracting steel, by filling their untutored minds
+with amazement, first gave rise to this veneration, which is
+carried beyond all reasonable bounds.
+
+They believe that he who is in possession of it has nothing to fear
+from steel or lead, from fire or water, and that death itself has
+no power over him.  The Gypsy contrabandistas are particularly
+anxious to procure this stone, which they carry upon their persons
+in their expeditions; they say, that in the event of being pursued
+by the jaracanallis, or revenue officers, whirlwinds of dust will
+arise, and conceal them from the view of their enemies; the horse-
+stealers say much the same thing, and assert that they are
+uniformly successful, when they bear about them the precious stone.
+But it is said to be able to effect much more.  Extraordinary
+things are related of its power in exciting the amorous passions,
+and, on this account, it is in great request amongst the Gypsy
+hags; all these women are procuresses, and find persons of both
+sexes weak and wicked enough to make use of their pretended
+knowledge in the composition of love-draughts and decoctions.
+
+In the case of the loadstone, however, there is no pretence, the
+Gitanas believing all they say respecting it, and still more; this
+is proved by the eagerness with which they seek to obtain the stone
+in its natural state, which is somewhat difficult to accomplish.
+
+In the museum of natural curiosities at Madrid there is a large
+piece of loadstone originally extracted from the American mines.
+There is scarcely a Gitana in Madrid who is not acquainted with
+this circumstance, and who does not long to obtain the stone, or a
+part of it; its being placed in a royal museum serving to augment,
+in their opinion, its real value.  Several attempts have been made
+to steal it, all of which, however, have been unsuccessful.  The
+Gypsies seem not to be the only people who envy royalty the
+possession of this stone.  Pepita, the old Gitana of whose talent
+at telling fortunes such honourable mention has already been made,
+informed me that a priest, who was muy enamorado (in love),
+proposed to her to steal the loadstone, offering her all his
+sacerdotal garments in the event of success:  whether the singular
+reward that was promised had but slight temptations for her, or
+whether she feared that her dexterity was not equal to the
+accomplishment of the task, we know not, but she appears to have
+declined attempting it.  According to the Gypsy account, the person
+in love, if he wish to excite a corresponding passion in another
+quarter by means of the loadstone, must swallow, IN AGUARDIENTE, a
+small portion of the stone pulverised, at the time of going to
+rest, repeating to himself the following magic rhyme:-
+
+
+'To the Mountain of Olives one morning I hied,
+Three little black goats before me I spied,
+Those three little goats on three cars I laid,
+Black cheeses three from their milk I made;
+The one I bestow on the loadstone of power,
+That save me it may from all ills that lower;
+The second to Mary Padilla I give,
+And to all the witch hags about her that live;
+The third I reserve for Asmodeus lame,
+That fetch me he may whatever I name.'
+
+
+LA RAIZ DEL BUEN BARON, OR THE ROOT OF THE GOOD BARON. - On this
+subject we cannot be very explicit.  It is customary with the
+Gitanas to sell, under this title, various roots and herbs, to
+unfortunate females who are desirous of producing a certain result;
+these roots are boiled in white wine, and the abominable decoction
+is taken fasting.  I was once shown the root of the good baron,
+which, in this instance, appeared to be parsley root.  By the good
+baron is meant his Satanic majesty, on whom the root is very
+appropriately fathered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+IT is impossible to dismiss the subject of the Spanish Gypsies
+without offering some remarks on their marriage festivals.  There
+is nothing which they retain connected with their primitive rites
+and principles, more characteristic perhaps of the sect of the
+Rommany, of the sect of the HUSBANDS AND WIVES, than what relates
+to the marriage ceremony, which gives the female a protector, and
+the man a helpmate, a sharer of his joys and sorrows.  The Gypsies
+are almost entirely ignorant of the grand points of morality; they
+have never had sufficient sense to perceive that to lie, to steal,
+and to shed human blood violently, are crimes which are sure,
+eventually, to yield bitter fruits to those who perpetrate them;
+but on one point, and that one of no little importance as far as
+temporal happiness is concerned, they are in general wiser than
+those who have had far better opportunities than such unfortunate
+outcasts, of regulating their steps, and distinguishing good from
+evil.  They know that chastity is a jewel of high price, and that
+conjugal fidelity is capable of occasionally flinging a sunshine
+even over the dreary hours of a life passed in the contempt of
+almost all laws, whether human or divine.
+
+There is a word in the Gypsy language to which those who speak it
+attach ideas of peculiar reverence, far superior to that connected
+with the name of the Supreme Being, the creator of themselves and
+the universe.  This word is LACHA, which with them is the corporeal
+chastity of the females; we say corporeal chastity, for no other do
+they hold in the slightest esteem; it is lawful amongst them, nay
+praiseworthy, to be obscene in look, gesture, and discourse, to be
+accessories to vice, and to stand by and laugh at the worst
+abominations of the Busne, provided their LACHA YE TRUPOS, or
+corporeal chastity, remains unblemished.  The Gypsy child, from her
+earliest years, is told by her strange mother, that a good Calli
+need only dread one thing in this world, and that is the loss of
+Lacha, in comparison with which that of life is of little
+consequence, as in such an event she will be provided for, but what
+provision is there for a Gypsy who has lost her Lacha?  'Bear this
+in mind, my child,' she will say, 'and now eat this bread, and go
+forth and see what you can steal.'
+
+A Gypsy girl is generally betrothed at the age of fourteen to the
+youth whom her parents deem a suitable match, and who is generally
+a few years older than herself.  Marriage is invariably preceded by
+betrothment; and the couple must then wait two years before their
+union can take place, according to the law of the Cales.  During
+this period it is expected that they treat each other as common
+acquaintance; they are permitted to converse, and even occasionally
+to exchange slight presents.  One thing, however, is strictly
+forbidden, and if in this instance they prove contumacious, the
+betrothment is instantly broken and the pair are never united, and
+thenceforward bear an evil reputation amongst their sect.  This one
+thing is, going into the campo in each other's company, or having
+any rendezvous beyond the gate of the city, town, or village, in
+which they dwell.  Upon this point we can perhaps do no better than
+quote one of their own stanzas:-
+
+
+'Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+Have vowed against us, love!
+The first, first night that from the gate
+We two together rove.'
+
+
+With all the other Gypsies, however, and with the Busne or
+Gentiles, the betrothed female is allowed the freest intercourse,
+going whither she will, and returning at all times and seasons.
+With respect to the Busne, indeed, the parents are invariably less
+cautious than with their own race, as they conceive it next to an
+impossibility that their child should lose her Lacha by any
+intercourse with THE WHITE BLOOD; and true it is that experience
+has proved that their confidence in this respect is not altogether
+idle.  The Gitanas have in general a decided aversion to the white
+men; some few instances, however, to the contrary are said to have
+occurred.
+
+A short time previous to the expiration of the term of the
+betrothment, preparations are made for the Gypsy bridal.  The
+wedding-day is certainly an eventful period in the life of every
+individual, as he takes a partner for better or for worse, whom he
+is bound to cherish through riches and poverty; but to the Gypsy
+particularly the wedding festival is an important affair.  If he is
+rich, he frequently becomes poor before it is terminated; and if he
+is poor, he loses the little which he possesses, and must borrow of
+his brethren; frequently involving himself throughout life, to
+procure the means of giving a festival; for without a festival, he
+could not become a Rom, that is, a husband, and would cease to
+belong to this sect of Rommany.
+
+There is a great deal of what is wild and barbarous attached to
+these festivals.  I shall never forget a particular one at which I
+was present.  After much feasting, drinking, and yelling, in the
+Gypsy house, the bridal train sallied forth - a frantic spectacle.
+First of all marched a villainous jockey-looking fellow, holding in
+his hands, uplifted, a long pole, at the top of which fluttered in
+the morning air a snow-white cambric handkerchief, emblem of the
+bride's purity.  Then came the betrothed pair, followed by their
+nearest friends; then a rabble rout of Gypsies, screaming and
+shouting, and discharging guns and pistols, till all around rang
+with the din, and the village dogs barked.  On arriving at the
+church gate, the fellow who bore the pole stuck it into the ground
+with a loud huzza, and the train, forming two ranks, defiled into
+the church on either side of the pole and its strange ornaments.
+On the conclusion of the ceremony, they returned in the same manner
+in which they had come.
+
+Throughout the day there was nothing going on but singing,
+drinking, feasting, and dancing; but the most singular part of the
+festival was reserved for the dark night.  Nearly a ton weight of
+sweetmeats had been prepared, at an enormous expense, not for the
+gratification of the palate, but for a purpose purely Gypsy.  These
+sweetmeats of all kinds, and of all forms, but principally yemas,
+or yolks of eggs prepared with a crust of sugar (a delicious bonne-
+bouche), were strewn on the floor of a large room, at least to the
+depth of three inches.  Into this room, at a given signal, tripped
+the bride and bridegroom DANCING ROMALIS, followed amain by all the
+Gitanos and Gitanas, DANCING ROMALIS.  To convey a slight idea of
+the scene is almost beyond the power of words.  In a few minutes
+the sweetmeats were reduced to a powder, or rather to a mud, the
+dancers were soiled to the knees with sugar, fruits, and yolks of
+eggs.  Still more terrific became the lunatic merriment.  The men
+sprang high into the air, neighed, brayed, and crowed; whilst the
+Gitanas snapped their fingers in their own fashion, louder than
+castanets, distorting their forms into all kinds of obscene
+attitudes, and uttering words to repeat which were an abomination.
+In a corner of the apartment capered the while Sebastianillo, a
+convict Gypsy from Melilla, strumming the guitar most furiously,
+and producing demoniacal sounds which had some resemblance to
+Malbrun (Malbrouk), and, as he strummed, repeating at intervals the
+Gypsy modification of the song:-
+
+
+'Chala Malbrun chinguerar,
+Birandon, birandon, birandera -
+Chala Malbrun chinguerar,
+No se bus trutera -
+No se bus trutera.
+No se bus trutera.
+La romi que le camela,
+Birandon, birandon,' etc.
+
+
+The festival endures three days, at the end of which the greatest
+part of the property of the bridegroom, even if he were previously
+in easy circumstances, has been wasted in this strange kind of riot
+and dissipation.  Paco, the Gypsy of Badajoz, attributed his ruin
+to the extravagance of his marriage festival; and many other
+Gitanos have confessed the same thing of themselves.  They said
+that throughout the three days they appeared to be under the
+influence of infatuation, having no other wish or thought but to
+make away with their substance; some have gone so far as to cast
+money by handfuls into the street.  Throughout the three days all
+the doors are kept open, and all corners, whether Gypsies or Busne,
+welcomed with a hospitality which knows no bounds.
+
+In nothing do the Jews and Gitanos more resemble each other than in
+their marriages, and what is connected therewith.  In both sects
+there is a betrothment:  amongst the Jews for seven, amongst the
+Gitanos for a period of two years.  In both there is a wedding
+festival, which endures amongst the Jews for fifteen and amongst
+the Gitanos for three days, during which, on both sides, much that
+is singular and barbarous occurs, which, however, has perhaps its
+origin in antiquity the most remote.  But the wedding ceremonies of
+the Jews are far more complex and allegorical than those of the
+Gypsies, a more simple people.  The Nazarene gazes on these
+ceremonies with mute astonishment; the washing of the bride - the
+painting of the face of herself and her companions with chalk and
+carmine - her ensconcing herself within the curtains of the bed
+with her female bevy, whilst the bridegroom hides himself within
+his apartment with the youths his companions - her envelopment in
+the white sheet, in which she appears like a corse, the
+bridegroom's going to sup with her, when he places himself in the
+middle of the apartment with his eyes shut, and without tasting a
+morsel.  His going to the synagogue, and then repairing to
+breakfast with the bride, where he practises the same self-denial -
+the washing of the bridegroom's plate and sending it after him,
+that he may break his fast - the binding his hands behind him - his
+ransom paid by the bride's mother - the visit of the sages to the
+bridegroom - the mulct imposed in case he repent - the killing of
+the bullock at the house of the bridegroom - the present of meat
+and fowls, meal and spices, to the bride - the gold and silver -
+that most imposing part of the ceremony, the walking of the bride
+by torchlight to the house of her betrothed, her eyes fixed in
+vacancy, whilst the youths of her kindred sing their wild songs
+around her - the cup of milk and the spoon presented to her by the
+bridegroom's mother - the arrival of the sages in the morn - the
+reading of the Ketuba - the night - the half-enjoyment - the old
+woman - the tantalising knock at the door - and then the festival
+of fishes which concludes all, and leaves the jaded and wearied
+couple to repose after a fortnight of persecution.
+
+The Jews, like the Gypsies, not unfrequently ruin themselves by the
+riot and waste of their marriage festivals.  Throughout the entire
+fortnight, the houses, both of bride and bridegroom, are flung open
+to all corners; - feasting and song occupy the day - feasting and
+song occupy the hours of the night, and this continued revel is
+only broken by the ceremonies of which we have endeavoured to
+convey a faint idea.  In these festivals the sages or ULEMMA take a
+distinguished part, doing their utmost to ruin the contracted
+parties, by the wonderful despatch which they make of the fowls and
+viands, sweetmeats, AND STRONG WATERS provided for the occasion.
+
+After marriage the Gypsy females generally continue faithful to
+their husbands through life; giving evidence that the exhortations
+of their mothers in early life have not been without effect.  Of
+course licentious females are to be found both amongst the matrons
+and the unmarried; but such instances are rare, and must be
+considered in the light of exceptions to a principle.  The Gypsy
+women (I am speaking of those of Spain), as far as corporeal
+chastity goes, are very paragons; but in other respects, alas! -
+little can be said in praise of their morality.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+WHILST in Spain I devoted as much time as I could spare from my
+grand object, which was to circulate the Gospel through that
+benighted country, to attempt to enlighten the minds of the Gitanos
+on the subject of religion.  I cannot say that I experienced much
+success in my endeavours; indeed, I never expected much, being
+fully acquainted with the stony nature of the ground on which I was
+employed; perhaps some of the seed that I scattered may eventually
+spring up and yield excellent fruit.  Of one thing I am certain:
+if I did the Gitanos no good, I did them no harm.
+
+It has been said that there is a secret monitor, or conscience,
+within every heart, which immediately upbraids the individual on
+the commission of a crime; this may be true, but certainly the
+monitor within the Gitano breast is a very feeble one, for little
+attention is ever paid to its reproofs.  With regard to conscience,
+be it permitted to observe, that it varies much according to
+climate, country, and religion; perhaps nowhere is it so terrible
+and strong as in England; I need not say why.  Amongst the English,
+I have seen many individuals stricken low, and broken-hearted, by
+the force of conscience; but never amongst the Spaniards or
+Italians; and I never yet could observe that the crimes which the
+Gitanos were daily and hourly committing occasioned them the
+slightest uneasiness.
+
+One important discovery I made among them:  it was, that no
+individual, however wicked and hardened, is utterly GODLESS.  Call
+it superstition, if you will, still a certain fear and reverence of
+something sacred and supreme would hang about them.  I have heard
+Gitanos stiffly deny the existence of a Deity, and express the
+utmost contempt for everything holy; yet they subsequently never
+failed to contradict themselves, by permitting some expression to
+escape which belied their assertions, and of this I shall presently
+give a remarkable instance.
+
+I found the women much more disposed to listen to anything I had to
+say than the men, who were in general so taken up with their
+traffic that they could think and talk of nothing else; the women,
+too, had more curiosity and more intelligence; the conversational
+powers of some of them I found to be very great, and yet they were
+destitute of the slightest rudiments of education, and were thieves
+by profession.  At Madrid I had regular conversaziones, or, as they
+are called in Spanish, tertulias, with these women, who generally
+visited me twice a week; they were perfectly unreserved towards me
+with respect to their actions and practices, though their
+behaviour, when present, was invariably strictly proper.  I have
+already had cause to mention Pepa the sibyl, and her daughter-in-
+law, Chicharona; the manners of the first were sometimes almost
+elegant, though, next to Aurora, she was the most notorious she-
+thug in Madrid; Chicharona was good-humoured, like most fat
+personages.  Pepa had likewise two daughters, one of whom, a very
+remarkable female, was called La Tuerta, from the circumstance of
+her having but one eye, and the other, who was a girl of about
+thirteen, La Casdami, or the scorpion, from the malice which she
+occasionally displayed.
+
+Pepa and Chicharona were invariably my most constant visitors.  One
+day in winter they arrived as usual; the One-eyed and the Scorpion
+following behind.
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am glad to see you, Pepa:  what have you been doing
+this morning?'
+
+PEPA. - 'I have been telling baji, and Chicharona has been stealing
+a pastesas; we have had but little success, and have come to warm
+ourselves at the brasero.  As for the One-eyed, she is a very
+sluggard (holgazana), she will neither tell fortunes nor steal.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Hold your peace, mother of the Bengues; I will
+steal, when I see occasion, but it shall not be a pastesas, and I
+will hokkawar (deceive), but it shall not be by telling fortunes.
+If I deceive, it shall be by horses, by jockeying. (58)  If I
+steal, it shall be on the road - I'll rob.  You know already what I
+am capable of, yet knowing that, you would have me tell fortunes
+like yourself, or steal like Chicharona.  Me dinela conche (it
+fills me with fury) to be asked to tell fortunes, and the next
+Busnee that talks to me of bajis, I will knock all her teeth out.'
+
+THE SCORPION. - 'My sister is right; I, too, would sooner be a
+salteadora (highwaywoman), or a chalana (she-jockey), than steal
+with the hands, or tell bajis.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You do not mean to say, O Tuerta, that you are a jockey,
+and that you rob on the highway.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'I am a chalana, brother, and many a time I have
+robbed upon the road, as all our people know.  I dress myself as a
+man, and go forth with some of them.  I have robbed alone, in the
+pass of the Guadarama, with my horse and escopeta.  I alone once
+robbed a cuadrilla of twenty Gallegos, who were returning to their
+own country, after cutting the harvests of Castile; I stripped them
+of their earnings, and could have stripped them of their very
+clothes had I wished, for they were down on their knees like
+cowards.  I love a brave man, be he Busne or Gypsy.  When I was not
+much older than the Scorpion, I went with several others to rob the
+cortijo of an old man; it was more than twenty leagues from here.
+We broke in at midnight, and bound the old man:  we knew he had
+money; but he said no, and would not tell us where it was; so we
+tortured him, pricking him with our knives and burning his hands
+over the lamp; all, however, would not do.  At last I said, "Let us
+try the PIMIENTOS"; so we took the green pepper husks, pulled open
+his eyelids, and rubbed the pupils with the green pepper fruit.
+That was the worst pinch of all.  Would you believe it? the old man
+bore it.  Then our people said, "Let us kill him," but I said, no,
+it were a pity:  so we spared him, though we got nothing.  I have
+loved that old man ever since for his firm heart, and should have
+wished him for a husband.'
+
+THE SCORPION. - 'Ojala, that I had been in that cortijo, to see
+such sport!'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you fear God, O Tuerta?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I fear nothing.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you believe in God, O Tuerta?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I do not; I hate all connected with that
+name; the whole is folly; me dinela conche.  If I go to church, it
+is but to spit at the images.  I spat at the bulto of Maria this
+morning; and I love the Corojai, and the Londone, (59) because they
+are not baptized.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You, of course, never say a prayer.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'No, no; there are three or four old words, taught
+me by some old people, which I sometimes say to myself; I believe
+they have both force and virtue.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I would fain hear; pray tell me them.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, they are words not to be repeated.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Why not?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'They are holy words, brother.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Holy!  You say there is no God; if there be none, there
+can be nothing holy; pray tell me the words, O Tuerta.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I dare not.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Then you do fear something.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED.- 'Not I -
+
+'SABOCA ENRECAR MARIA ERERIA, (60)
+
+and now I wish I had not said them.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You are distracted, O Tuerta:  the words say simply,
+'Dwell within us, blessed Maria.'  You have spitten on her bulto
+this morning in the church, and now you are afraid to repeat four
+words, amongst which is her name.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'I did not understand them; but I wish I had not
+said them.'
+
+. . . . . . .
+
+I repeat that there is no individual, however hardened, who is
+utterly GODLESS.
+
+The reader will have already gathered from the conversations
+reported in this volume, and especially from the last, that there
+is a wide difference between addressing Spanish Gitanos and Gitanas
+and English peasantry:  of a certainty what will do well for the
+latter is calculated to make no impression on these thievish half-
+wild people.  Try them with the Gospel, I hear some one cry, which
+speaks to all:  I did try them with the Gospel, and in their own
+language.  I commenced with Pepa and Chicharona.  Determined that
+they should understand it, I proposed that they themselves should
+translate it.  They could neither read nor write, which, however,
+did not disqualify them from being translators.  I had myself
+previously translated the whole Testament into the Spanish Rommany,
+but I was desirous to circulate amongst the Gitanos a version
+conceived in the exact language in which they express their ideas.
+The women made no objection, they were fond of our tertulias, and
+they likewise reckoned on one small glass of Malaga wine, with
+which I invariably presented them.  Upon the whole, they conducted
+themselves much better than could have been expected.  We commenced
+with Saint Luke:  they rendering into Rommany the sentences which I
+delivered to them in Spanish.  They proceeded as far as the eighth
+chapter, in the middle of which they broke down.  Was that to be
+wondered at?  The only thing which astonished me was, that I had
+induced two such strange beings to advance so far in a task so
+unwonted, and so entirely at variance with their habits, as
+translation.
+
+These chapters I frequently read over to them, explaining the
+subject in the best manner I was able.  They said it was lacho, and
+jucal, and misto, all of which words express approval of the
+quality of a thing.  Were they improved, were their hearts softened
+by these Scripture lectures?  I know not.  Pepa committed a rather
+daring theft shortly afterwards, which compelled her to conceal
+herself for a fortnight; it is quite possible, however, that she
+may remember the contents of those chapters on her death-bed; if
+so, will the attempt have been a futile one?
+
+I completed the translation, supplying deficiencies from my own
+version begun at Badajoz in 1836.  This translation I printed at
+Madrid in 1838; it was the first book which ever appeared in
+Rommany, and was called 'Embeo e Majaro Lucas,' or Gospel of Luke
+the Saint.  I likewise published, simultaneously, the same Gospel
+in Basque, which, however, I had no opportunity of circulating.
+
+The Gitanos of Madrid purchased the Gypsy Luke freely:  many of the
+men understood it, and prized it highly, induced of course more by
+the language than the doctrine; the women were particularly anxious
+to obtain copies, though unable to read; but each wished to have
+one in her pocket, especially when engaged in thieving expeditions,
+for they all looked upon it in the light of a charm, which would
+preserve them from all danger and mischance; some even went so far
+as to say, that in this respect it was equally efficacious as the
+Bar Lachi, or loadstone, which they are in general so desirous of
+possessing.  Of this Gospel (61) five hundred copies were printed,
+of which the greater number I contrived to circulate amongst the
+Gypsies in various parts; I cast the book upon the waters and left
+it to its destiny.
+
+I have counted seventeen Gitanas assembled at one time in my
+apartment in the Calle de Santiago in Madrid; for the first quarter
+of an hour we generally discoursed upon indifferent matters, I then
+by degrees drew their attention to religion and the state of souls.
+I finally became so bold that I ventured to speak against their
+inveterate practices, thieving and lying, telling fortunes, and
+stealing a pastesas; this was touching upon delicate ground, and I
+experienced much opposition and much feminine clamour.  I
+persevered, however, and they finally assented to all I said, not
+that I believe that my words made much impression upon their
+hearts.  In a few months matters were so far advanced that they
+would sing a hymn; I wrote one expressly for them in Rommany, in
+which their own wild couplets were, to a certain extent, imitated.
+
+The people of the street in which I lived, seeing such numbers of
+these strange females continually passing in and out, were struck
+with astonishment, and demanded the reason.  The answers which they
+obtained by no means satisfied them.  'Zeal for the conversion of
+souls, -  the souls too of Gitanas, - disparate! the fellow is a
+scoundrel.  Besides he is an Englishman, and is not baptized; what
+cares he for souls?  They visit him for other purposes.  He makes
+base ounces, which they carry away and circulate.  Madrid is
+already stocked with false money.'  Others were of opinion that we
+met for the purposes of sorcery and abomination.  The Spaniard has
+no conception that other springs of action exist than interest or
+villainy.
+
+My little congregation, if such I may call it, consisted entirely
+of women; the men seldom or never visited me, save they stood in
+need of something which they hoped to obtain from me.  This
+circumstance I little regretted, their manners and conversation
+being the reverse of interesting.  It must not, however, be
+supposed that, even with the women, matters went on invariably in a
+smooth and satisfactory manner.  The following little anecdote will
+show what slight dependence can be placed upon them, and how
+disposed they are at all times to take part in what is grotesque
+and malicious.  One day they arrived, attended by a Gypsy jockey
+whom I had never previously seen.  We had scarcely been seated a
+minute, when this fellow, rising, took me to the window, and
+without any preamble or circumlocution, said - 'Don Jorge, you
+shall lend me two barias' (ounces of gold).   'Not to your whole
+race, my excellent friend,' said I; 'are you frantic?  Sit down and
+be discreet.'  He obeyed me literally, sat down, and when the rest
+departed, followed with them.  We did not invariably meet at my own
+house, but occasionally at one in a street inhabited by Gypsies.
+On the appointed day I went to this house, where I found the women
+assembled; the jockey was also present.  On seeing me he advanced,
+again took me aside, and again said - 'Don Jorge, you shall lend me
+two barias.'  I made him no answer, but at once entered on the
+subject which brought me thither.  I spoke for some time in
+Spanish; I chose for the theme of my discourse the situation of the
+Hebrews in Egypt, and pointed out its similarity to that of the
+Gitanos in Spain.  I spoke of the power of God, manifested in
+preserving both as separate and distinct people amongst the nations
+until the present day.  I warmed with my subject.  I subsequently
+produced a manuscript book, from which I read a portion of
+Scripture, and the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed, in Rommany.
+When I had concluded I looked around me.
+
+The features of the assembly were twisted, and the eyes of all
+turned upon me with a frightful squint; not an individual present
+but squinted, - the genteel Pepa, the good-humoured Chicharona, the
+Casdami, etc. etc.  The Gypsy fellow, the contriver of the jest,
+squinted worst of all.  Such are Gypsies.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI PART III
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+THERE is no nation in the world, however exalted or however
+degraded, but is in possession of some peculiar poetry.  If the
+Chinese, the Hindoos, the Greeks, and the Persians, those splendid
+and renowned races, have their moral lays, their mythological
+epics, their tragedies, and their immortal love songs, so also have
+the wild and barbarous tribes of Soudan, and the wandering
+Esquimaux, their ditties, which, however insignificant in
+comparison with the compositions of the former nations, still are
+entitled in every essential point to the name of poetry; if poetry
+mean metrical compositions intended to soothe and recreate the mind
+fatigued by the cares, distresses, and anxieties to which mortality
+is subject.
+
+The Gypsies too have their poetry.  Of that of the Russian Zigani
+we have already said something.  It has always been our opinion,
+and we believe that in this we are by no means singular, that in
+nothing can the character of a people be read with greater
+certainty and exactness than in its songs.  How truly do the
+warlike ballads of the Northmen and the Danes, their DRAPAS and
+KOEMPE-VISER, depict the character of the Goth; and how equally do
+the songs of the Arabians, replete with homage to the one high,
+uncreated, and eternal God, 'the fountain of blessing,' 'the only
+conqueror,' lay bare to us the mind of the Moslem of the desert,
+whose grand characteristic is religious veneration, and
+uncompromising zeal for the glory of the Creator.
+
+And well and truly do the coplas and gachaplas of the Gitanos
+depict the character of the race.  This poetry, for poetry we will
+call it, is in most respects such as might be expected to originate
+among people of their class; a set of Thugs, subsisting by cheating
+and villainy of every description; hating the rest of the human
+species, and bound to each other by the bonds of common origin,
+language, and pursuits.  The general themes of this poetry are the
+various incidents of Gitano life and the feelings of the Gitanos.
+A Gypsy sees a pig running down a hill, and imagines that it cries
+'Ustilame Caloro!' (62) - a Gypsy reclining sick on the prison
+floor beseeches his wife to intercede with the alcayde for the
+removal of the chain, the weight of which is bursting his body -
+the moon arises, and two Gypsies, who are about to steal a steed,
+perceive a Spaniard, and instantly flee - Juanito Ralli, whilst
+going home on his steed, is stabbed by a Gypsy who hates him -
+Facundo, a Gypsy, runs away at the sight of the burly priest of
+Villa Franca, who hates all Gypsies.  Sometimes a burst of wild
+temper gives occasion to a strain - the swarthy lover threatens to
+slay his betrothed, even AT THE FEET OF JESUS, should she prove
+unfaithful.  It is a general opinion amongst the Gitanos that
+Spanish women are very fond of Rommany chals and Rommany.  There is
+a stanza in which a Gitano hopes to bear away a beauty of Spanish
+race by means of a word of Rommany whispered in her ear at the
+window.
+
+Amongst these effusions are even to be found tender and beautiful
+thoughts; for Thugs and Gitanos have their moments of gentleness.
+True it is that such are few and far between, as a flower or a
+shrub is here and there seen springing up from the interstices of
+the rugged and frightful rocks of which the Spanish sierras are
+composed:  a wicked mother is afraid to pray to the Lord with her
+own lips, and calls on her innocent babe to beseech him to restore
+peace and comfort to her heart - an imprisoned youth appears to
+have no earthly friend on whom he can rely, save his sister, and
+wishes for a messenger to carry unto her the tale of his
+sufferings, confident that she would hasten at once to his
+assistance.  And what can be more touching than the speech of the
+relenting lover to the fair one whom he has outraged?
+
+
+'Extend to me the hand so small,
+Wherein I see thee weep,
+For O thy balmy tear-drops all
+I would collect and keep.'
+
+
+This Gypsy poetry consists of quartets, or rather couplets, but two
+rhymes being discernible, and those generally imperfect, the vowels
+alone agreeing in sound.  Occasionally, however, sixains, or
+stanzas of six lines, are to be found, but this is of rare
+occurrence.  The thought, anecdote or adventure described, is
+seldom carried beyond one stanza, in which everything is expressed
+which the poet wishes to impart.  This feature will appear singular
+to those who are unacquainted with the character of the popular
+poetry of the south, and are accustomed to the redundancy and
+frequently tedious repetition of a more polished muse.  It will be
+well to inform such that the greater part of the poetry sung in the
+south, and especially in Spain, is extemporary.  The musician
+composes it at the stretch of his voice, whilst his fingers are
+tugging at the guitar; which style of composition is by no means
+favourable to a long and connected series of thought.  Of course,
+the greater part of this species of poetry perishes as soon as
+born.  A stanza, however, is sometimes caught up by the bystanders,
+and committed to memory; and being frequently repeated, makes, in
+time, the circuit of the country.  For example, the stanza about
+Coruncho Lopez, which was originally made at the gate of a venta by
+a Miquelet, (63) who was conducting the said Lopez to the galleys
+for a robbery.  It is at present sung through the whole of the
+peninsula, however insignificant it may sound to foreign ears:-
+
+
+'Coruncho Lopez, gallant lad,
+A smuggling he would ride;
+He stole his father's ambling prad,
+And therefore to the galleys sad
+Coruncho now I guide.'
+
+
+The couplets of the Gitanos are composed in the same off-hand
+manner, and exactly resemble in metre the popular ditties of the
+Spaniards.  In spirit, however, as well as language, they are in
+general widely different, as they mostly relate to the Gypsies and
+their affairs, and not unfrequently abound with abuse of the Busne
+or Spaniards.  Many of these creations have, like the stanza of
+Coruncho Lopez, been wafted over Spain amongst the Gypsy tribes,
+and are even frequently repeated by the Spaniards themselves; at
+least, by those who affect to imitate the phraseology of the
+Gitanos.  Those which appear in the present collection consist
+partly of such couplets, and partly of such as we have ourselves
+taken down, as soon as they originated, not unfrequently in the
+midst of a circle of these singular people, dancing and singing to
+their wild music.  In no instance have they been subjected to
+modification; and the English translation is, in general, very
+faithful to the original, as will easily be perceived by referring
+to the lexicon.  To those who may feel disposed to find fault with
+or criticise these songs, we have to observe, that the present work
+has been written with no other view than to depict the Gitanos such
+as they are, and to illustrate their character; and, on that
+account, we have endeavoured, as much as possible, to bring them
+before the reader, and to make them speak for themselves.  They are
+a half-civilised, unlettered people, proverbial for a species of
+knavish acuteness, which serves them in lieu of wisdom.  To place
+in the mouth of such beings the high-flown sentiments of modern
+poetry would not answer our purpose, though several authors have
+not shrunk from such an absurdity.
+
+These couplets have been collected in Estremadura and New Castile,
+in Valencia and Andalusia; the four provinces where the Gitano race
+most abounds.  We wish, however, to remark, that they constitute
+scarcely a tenth part of our original gleanings, from which we have
+selected one hundred of the most remarkable and interesting.
+
+The language of the originals will convey an exact idea of the
+Rommany of Spain, as used at the present day amongst the Gitanos in
+the fairs, when they are buying and selling animals, and wish to
+converse with each other in a way unintelligible to the Spaniards.
+We are free to confess that it is a mere broken jargon, but it
+answers the purpose of those who use it; and it is but just to
+remark that many of its elements are of the most remote antiquity,
+and the most illustrious descent, as will be shown hereafter.  We
+have uniformly placed the original by the side of the translation;
+for though unwilling to make the Gitanos speak in any other manner
+than they are accustomed, we are equally averse to have it supposed
+that many of the thoughts and expressions which occur in these
+songs, and which are highly objectionable, originated with
+ourselves. (64)
+
+
+RHYMES OF THE GITANOS
+
+
+Unto a refuge me they led,
+To save from dungeon drear;
+Then sighing to my wife I said,
+I leave my baby dear.
+
+Back from the refuge soon I sped,
+My child's sweet face to see;
+Then sternly to my wife I said,
+You've seen the last of me.
+
+O when I sit my courser bold,
+My bantling in my rear,
+And in my hand my musket hold,
+O how they quake with fear.
+
+Pray, little baby, pray the Lord,
+Since guiltless still thou art,
+That peace and comfort he afford
+To this poor troubled heart.
+
+The false Juanito, day and night,
+Had best with caution go,
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+Have sworn to lay him low.
+
+There runs a swine down yonder hill,
+As fast as e'er he can,
+And as he runs he crieth still,
+Come, steal me, Gypsy man.
+
+I wash'd not in the limpid flood
+The shirt which binds my frame;
+But in Juanito Ralli's blood
+I bravely wash'd the same.
+
+I sallied forth upon my grey,
+With him my hated foe,
+And when we reach'd the narrow way
+I dealt a dagger blow.
+
+To blessed Jesus' holy feet
+I'd rush to kill and slay
+My plighted lass so fair and sweet,
+Should she the wanton play.
+
+I for a cup of water cried,
+But they refus'd my prayer,
+Then straight into the road I hied,
+And fell to robbing there.
+
+I ask'd for fire to warm my frame,
+But they'd have scorn'd my prayer,
+If I, to pay them for the same,
+Had stripp'd my body bare.
+
+Then came adown the village street,
+With little babes that cry,
+Because they have no crust to eat,
+A Gypsy company;
+And as no charity they meet,
+They curse the Lord on high.
+
+I left my house and walk'd about,
+They seized me fast and bound;
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+The Spaniards here have found.
+
+From out the prison me they led,
+Before the scribe they brought;
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+The Spaniards here have caught.
+
+Throughout the night, the dusky night,
+I prowl in silence round,
+And with my eyes look left and right,
+For him, the Spanish hound,
+That with my knife I him may smite,
+And to the vitals wound.
+
+Will no one to the sister bear
+News of her brother's plight,
+How in this cell of dark despair,
+To cruel death he's dight?
+
+The Lord, as e'en the Gentiles state,
+By Egypt's race was bred,
+And when he came to man's estate,
+His blood the Gentiles shed.
+
+O never with the Gentiles wend,
+Nor deem their speeches true;
+Or else, be certain in the end
+Thy blood will lose its hue.
+
+From out the prison me they bore,
+Upon an ass they placed,
+And scourg'd me till I dripp'd with gore,
+As down the road it paced.
+
+They bore me from the prison nook,
+They bade me rove at large;
+When out I'd come a gun I took,
+And scathed them with its charge.
+
+My mule so bonny I bestrode,
+To Portugal I'd flee,
+And as I o'er the water rode
+A man came suddenly;
+And he his love and kindness show'd
+By setting his dog on me.
+
+Unless within a fortnight's space
+Thy face, O maid, I see;
+Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+My lady love shall be.
+
+Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+If thou wert only mine,
+Within a bonny crystal case
+For life I'd thee enshrine.
+
+Sire nor mother me caress,
+For I have none on earth;
+One little brother I possess,
+And he's a fool by birth.
+
+Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+Have vow'd against me, love!
+The first, first night that from the gate
+We two together rove.
+
+Come to the window, sweet love, do,
+And I will whisper there,
+In Rommany, a word or two,
+And thee far off will bear.
+
+A Gypsy stripling's sparkling eye
+Has pierced my bosom's core,
+A feat no eye beneath the sky
+Could e'er effect before.
+
+Dost bid me from the land begone,
+And thou with child by me?
+Each time I come, the little one,
+I'll greet in Rommany.
+
+With such an ugly, loathly wife
+The Lord has punish'd me;
+I dare not take her for my life
+Where'er the Spaniards be.
+
+O, I am not of gentle clan,
+I'm sprung from Gypsy tree;
+And I will be no gentleman,
+But an Egyptian free.
+
+On high arose the moon so fair,
+The Gypsy 'gan to sing:
+I see a Spaniard coming there,
+I must be on the wing.
+
+This house of harlotry doth smell,
+I flee as from the pest;
+Your mother likes my sire too well;
+To hie me home is best.
+
+The girl I love more dear than life,
+Should other gallant woo,
+I'd straight unsheath my dudgeon knife
+And cut his weasand through;
+Or he, the conqueror in the strife,
+The same to me should do.
+
+Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,
+And thus his ditty ran:
+God send the Gypsy lassie here,
+And not the Gypsy man.
+
+At midnight, when the moon began
+To show her silver flame,
+There came to him no Gypsy man,
+The Gypsy lassie came.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos, abject and vile as they have ever been, have
+nevertheless found admirers in Spain, individuals who have taken
+pleasure in their phraseology, pronunciation, and way of life; but
+above all, in the songs and dances of the females.  This desire for
+cultivating their acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia,
+where, indeed, they most abound; and more especially in the town of
+Seville, the capital of the province, where, in the barrio or
+Faubourg of Triana, a large Gitano colon has long flourished, with
+the denizens of which it is at all times easy to have intercourse,
+especially to those who are free of their money, and are willing to
+purchase such a gratification at the expense of dollars and
+pesetas.
+
+When we consider the character of the Andalusians in general, we
+shall find little to surprise us in this predilection for the
+Gitanos.  They are an indolent frivolous people, fond of dancing
+and song, and sensual amusements.  They live under the most
+glorious sun and benign heaven in Europe, and their country is by
+nature rich and fertile, yet in no province of Spain is there more
+beggary and misery; the greater part of the land being
+uncultivated, and producing nothing but thorns and brushwood,
+affording in itself a striking emblem of the moral state of its
+inhabitants.
+
+Though not destitute of talent, the Andalusians are not much
+addicted to intellectual pursuits, at least in the present day.
+The person in most esteem among them is invariably the greatest
+MAJO, and to acquire that character it is necessary to appear in
+the dress of a Merry Andrew, to bully, swagger, and smoke
+continually, to dance passably, and to strum the guitar.  They are
+fond of obscenity and what they term PICARDIAS.  Amongst them
+learning is at a terrible discount, Greek, Latin, or any of the
+languages generally termed learned, being considered in any light
+but accomplishments, but not so the possession of thieves' slang or
+the dialect of the Gitanos, the knowledge of a few words of which
+invariably creates a certain degree of respect, as indicating that
+the individual is somewhat versed in that kind of life or TRATO for
+which alone the Andalusians have any kind of regard.
+
+In Andalusia the Gitano has been studied by those who, for various
+reasons, have mingled with the Gitanos.  It is tolerably well
+understood by the chalans, or jockeys, who have picked up many
+words in the fairs and market-places which the former frequent.  It
+has, however, been cultivated to a greater degree by other
+individuals, who have sought the society of the Gitanos from a zest
+for their habits, their dances, and their songs; and such
+individuals have belonged to all classes, amongst them have been
+noblemen and members of the priestly order.
+
+Perhaps no people in Andalusia have been more addicted in general
+to the acquaintance of the Gitanos than the friars, and pre-
+eminently amongst these the half-jockey half-religious personages
+of the Cartujan convent at Xeres.  This community, now suppressed,
+was, as is well known, in possession of a celebrated breed of
+horses, which fed in the pastures of the convent, and from which
+they derived no inconsiderable part of their revenue.  These
+reverend gentlemen seem to have been much better versed in the
+points of a horse than in points of theology, and to have
+understood thieves' slang and Gitano far better than the language
+of the Vulgate.  A chalan, who had some knowledge of the Gitano,
+related to me the following singular anecdote in connection with
+this subject.
+
+He had occasion to go to the convent, having been long in treaty
+with the friars for a steed which he had been commissioned by a
+nobleman to buy at any reasonable price.  The friars, however, were
+exorbitant in their demands.  On arriving at the gate, he sang to
+the friar who opened it a couplet which he had composed in the
+Gypsy tongue, in which he stated the highest price which he was
+authorised to give for the animal in question; whereupon the friar
+instantly answered in the same tongue in an extemporary couplet
+full of abuse of him and his employer, and forthwith slammed the
+door in the face of the disconcerted jockey.
+
+An Augustine friar of Seville, called, we believe, Father Manso,
+who lived some twenty years ago, is still remembered for his
+passion for the Gitanos; he seemed to be under the influence of
+fascination, and passed every moment that he could steal from his
+clerical occupations in their company.  His conduct at last became
+so notorious that he fell under the censure of the Inquisition,
+before which he was summoned; whereupon he alleged, in his defence,
+that his sole motive for following the Gitanos was zeal for their
+spiritual conversion.  Whether this plea availed him we know not;
+but it is probable that the Holy Office dealt mildly with him; such
+offenders, indeed, have never had much to fear from it.  Had he
+been accused of liberalism, or searching into the Scriptures,
+instead of connection with the Gitanos, we should, doubtless, have
+heard either of his execution or imprisonment for life in the cells
+of the cathedral of Seville.
+
+Such as are thus addicted to the Gitanos and their language, are
+called, in Andalusia, Los del' Aficion, or those of the
+predilection.  These people have, during the last fifty years,
+composed a spurious kind of Gypsy literature:  we call it spurious
+because it did not originate with the Gitanos, who are, moreover,
+utterly unacquainted with it, and to whom it would be for the most
+part unintelligible.  It is somewhat difficult to conceive the
+reason which induced these individuals to attempt such
+compositions; the only probable one seems to have been a desire to
+display to each other their skill in the language of their
+predilection.  It is right, however, to observe, that most of these
+compositions, with respect to language, are highly absurd, the
+greatest liberties being taken with the words picked up amongst the
+Gitanos, of the true meaning of which the writers, in many
+instances, seem to have been entirely ignorant.  From what we can
+learn, the composers of this literature flourished chiefly at the
+commencement of the present century:  Father Manso is said to have
+been one of the last.  Many of their compositions, which are both
+in poetry and prose, exist in manuscript in a compilation made by
+one Luis Lobo.  It has never been our fortune to see this
+compilation, which, indeed, we scarcely regret, as a rather curious
+circumstance has afforded us a perfect knowledge of its contents.
+
+Whilst at Seville, chance made us acquainted with a highly
+extraordinary individual, a tall, bony, meagre figure, in a
+tattered Andalusian hat, ragged capote, and still more ragged
+pantaloons, and seemingly between forty and fifty years of age.
+The only appellation to which he answered was Manuel.  His
+occupation, at the time we knew him, was selling tickets for the
+lottery, by which he obtained a miserable livelihood in Seville and
+the neighbouring villages.  His appearance was altogether wild and
+uncouth, and there was an insane expression in his eye.  Observing
+us one day in conversation with a Gitana, he addressed us, and we
+soon found that the sound of the Gitano language had struck a chord
+which vibrated through the depths of his soul.  His history was
+remarkable; in his early youth a manuscript copy of the compilation
+of Luis Lobo had fallen into his hands.  This book had so taken
+hold of his imagination, that he studied it night and day until he
+had planted it in his memory from beginning to end; but in so
+doing, his brain, like that of the hero of Cervantes, had become
+dry and heated, so that he was unfitted for any serious or useful
+occupation.  After the death of his parents he wandered about the
+streets in great distress, until at last he fell into the hands of
+certain toreros, or bull-fighters, who kept him about them, in
+order that he might repeat to them the songs of the AFICION.  They
+subsequently carried him to Madrid, where, however, they soon
+deserted him after he had experienced much brutality from their
+hands.  He returned to Seville, and soon became the inmate of a
+madhouse, where he continued several years.  Having partially
+recovered from his malady, he was liberated, and wandered about as
+before.  During the cholera at Seville, when nearly twenty thousand
+human beings perished, he was appointed conductor of one of the
+death-carts, which went through the streets for the purpose of
+picking up the dead bodies.  His perfect inoffensiveness eventually
+procured him friends, and he obtained the situation of vendor of
+lottery tickets.  He frequently visited us, and would then recite
+long passages from the work of Lobo.  He was wont to say that he
+was the only one in Seville, at the present day, acquainted with
+the language of the Aficion; for though there were many pretenders,
+their knowledge was confined to a few words.
+
+From the recitation of this individual, we wrote down the
+Brijindope, or Deluge, and the poem on the plague which broke out
+in Seville in the year 1800.  These and some songs of less
+consequence, constitute the poetical part of the compilation in
+question; the rest, which is in prose, consisting chiefly of
+translations from the Spanish, of proverbs and religious pieces.
+
+
+BRIJINDOPE. - THE DELUGE (65)
+A POEM:  IN TWO PARTS
+PART THE FIRST
+
+
+I with fear and terror quake,
+Whilst the pen to write I take;
+I will utter many a pray'r
+To the heaven's Regent fair,
+That she deign to succour me,
+And I'll humbly bend my knee;
+For but poorly do I know
+With my subject on to go;
+Therefore is my wisest plan
+Not to trust in strength of man.
+I my heavy sins bewail,
+Whilst I view the wo and wail
+Handed down so solemnly
+In the book of times gone by.
+Onward, onward, now I'll move
+In the name of Christ above,
+And his Mother true and dear,
+She who loves the wretch to cheer.
+All I know, and all I've heard
+I will state - how God appear'd
+And to Noah thus did cry:
+Weary with the world am I;
+Let an ark by thee be built,
+For the world is lost in guilt;
+And when thou hast built it well,
+Loud proclaim what now I tell:
+Straight repent ye, for your Lord
+In his hand doth hold a sword.
+And good Noah thus did call:
+Straight repent ye one and all,
+For the world with grief I see
+Lost in vileness utterly.
+God's own mandate I but do,
+He hath sent me unto you.
+Laugh'd the world to bitter scorn,
+I his cruel sufferings mourn;
+Brawny youths with furious air
+Drag the Patriarch by the hair;
+Lewdness governs every one:
+Leaves her convent now the nun,
+And the monk abroad I see
+Practising iniquity.
+Now I'll tell how God, intent
+To avenge, a vapour sent,
+With full many a dreadful sign -
+Mighty, mighty fear is mine:
+As I hear the thunders roll,
+Seems to die my very soul;
+As I see the world o'erspread
+All with darkness thick and dread;
+I the pen can scarcely ply
+For the tears which dim my eye,
+And o'ercome with grievous wo,
+Fear the task I must forego
+I have purposed to perform. -
+Hark, I hear upon the storm
+Thousand, thousand devils fly,
+Who with awful howlings cry:
+Now's the time and now's the hour,
+We have licence, we have power
+To obtain a glorious prey. -
+I with horror turn away;
+Tumbles house and tumbles wall;
+Thousands lose their lives and all,
+Voiding curses, screams and groans,
+For the beams, the bricks and stones
+Bruise and bury all below -
+Nor is that the worst, I trow,
+For the clouds begin to pour
+Floods of water more and more,
+Down upon the world with might,
+Never pausing day or night.
+Now in terrible distress
+All to God their cries address,
+And his Mother dear adore, -
+But the time of grace is o'er,
+For the Almighty in the sky
+Holds his hand upraised on high.
+Now's the time of madden'd rout,
+Hideous cry, despairing shout;
+Whither, whither shall they fly?
+For the danger threat'ningly
+Draweth near on every side,
+And the earth, that's opening wide,
+Swallows thousands in its womb,
+Who would 'scape the dreadful doom.
+Of dear hope exists no gleam,
+Still the water down doth stream;
+Ne'er so little a creeping thing
+But from out its hold doth spring:
+See the mouse, and see its mate
+Scour along, nor stop, nor wait;
+See the serpent and the snake
+For the nearest highlands make;
+The tarantula I view,
+Emmet small and cricket too,
+All unknowing where to fly,
+In the stifling waters die.
+See the goat and bleating sheep,
+See the bull with bellowings deep.
+And the rat with squealings shrill,
+They have mounted on the hill:
+See the stag, and see the doe,
+How together fond they go;
+Lion, tiger-beast, and pard,
+To escape are striving hard:
+Followed by her little ones,
+See the hare how swift she runs:
+Asses, he and she, a pair.
+Mute and mule with bray and blare,
+And the rabbit and the fox,
+Hurry over stones and rocks,
+With the grunting hog and horse,
+Till at last they stop their course -
+On the summit of the hill
+All assembled stand they still;
+In the second part I'll tell
+Unto them what there befell.
+
+
+PART THE SECOND
+
+
+When I last did bid farewell,
+I proposed the world to tell,
+Higher as the Deluge flow'd,
+How the frog and how the toad,
+With the lizard and the eft,
+All their holes and coverts left,
+And assembled on the height;
+Soon I ween appeared in sight
+All that's wings beneath the sky,
+Bat and swallow, wasp and fly,
+Gnat and sparrow, and behind
+Comes the crow of carrion kind;
+Dove and pigeon are descried,
+And the raven fiery-eyed,
+With the beetle and the crane
+Flying on the hurricane:
+See they find no resting-place,
+For the world's terrestrial space
+Is with water cover'd o'er,
+Soon they sink to rise no more:
+'To our father let us flee!'
+Straight the ark-ship openeth he,
+And to everything that lives
+Kindly he admission gives.
+Of all kinds a single pair,
+And the members safely there
+Of his house he doth embark,
+Then at once he shuts the ark;
+Everything therein has pass'd,
+There he keeps them safe and fast.
+O'er the mountain's topmost peak
+Now the raging waters break.
+Till full twenty days are o'er,
+'Midst the elemental roar,
+Up and down the ark forlorn,
+Like some evil thing is borne:
+O what grief it is to see
+Swimming on the enormous sea
+Human corses pale and white,
+More, alas! than I can write:
+O what grief, what grief profound,
+But to think the world is drown'd:
+True a scanty few are left,
+All are not of life bereft,
+So that, when the Lord ordain,
+They may procreate again,
+In a world entirely new,
+Better people and more true,
+To their Maker who shall bow;
+And I humbly beg you now,
+Ye in modern times who wend,
+That your lives ye do amend;
+For no wat'ry punishment,
+But a heavier shall be sent;
+For the blessed saints pretend
+That the latter world shall end
+To tremendous fire a prey,
+And to ashes sink away.
+To the Ark I now go back,
+Which pursues its dreary track,
+Lost and 'wilder'd till the Lord
+In his mercy rest accord.
+Early of a morning tide
+They unclosed a window wide,
+Heaven's beacon to descry,
+And a gentle dove let fly,
+Of the world to seek some trace,
+And in two short hours' space
+It returns with eyes that glow,
+In its beak an olive bough.
+With a loud and mighty sound,
+They exclaim:  'The world we've found.'
+To a mountain nigh they drew,
+And when there themselves they view,
+Bound they swiftly on the shore,
+And their fervent thanks outpour,
+Lowly kneeling to their God;
+Then their way a couple trod,
+Man and woman, hand in hand,
+Bent to populate the land,
+To the Moorish region fair -
+And another two repair
+To the country of the Gaul;
+In this manner wend they all,
+And the seeds of nations lay.
+I beseech ye'll credence pay,
+For our father, high and sage,
+Wrote the tale in sacred page,
+As a record to the world,
+Record sad of vengeance hurl'd.
+I, a low and humble wight,
+Beg permission now to write
+Unto all that in our land
+Tongue Egyptian understand.
+May our Virgin Mother mild
+Grant to me, her erring child,
+Plenteous grace in every way,
+And success.  Amen I say.
+
+
+
+THE PESTILENCE
+
+
+
+I'm resolved now to tell
+In the speech of Gypsy-land
+All the horror that befell
+In this city huge and grand.
+
+In the eighteenth hundred year
+In the midst of summertide,
+God, with man dissatisfied,
+His right hand on high did rear,
+With a rigour most severe;
+Whence we well might understand
+He would strict account demand
+Of our lives and actions here.
+The dread event to render clear
+Now the pen I take in hand.
+
+At the dread event aghast,
+Straight the world reform'd its course;
+Yet is sin in greater force,
+Now the punishment is past;
+For the thought of God is cast
+All and utterly aside,
+As if death itself had died.
+Therefore to the present race
+These memorial lines I trace
+In old Egypt's tongue of pride.
+
+As the streets you wander'd through
+How you quail'd with fear and dread,
+Heaps of dying and of dead
+At the leeches' door to view.
+To the tavern O how few
+To regale on wine repair;
+All a sickly aspect wear.
+Say what heart such sights could brook -
+Wail and woe where'er you look -
+Wail and woe and ghastly care.
+
+Plying fast their rosaries,
+See the people pace the street,
+And for pardon God entreat
+Long and loud with streaming eyes.
+And the carts of various size,
+Piled with corses, high in air,
+To the plain their burden bear.
+O what grief it is to me
+Not a friar or priest to see
+In this city huge and fair.
+
+
+
+ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE GITANOS
+
+
+
+'I am not very willing that any language should be totally
+extinguished; the similitude and derivation of languages afford the
+most indubitable proof of the traduction of nations, and the
+genealogy of mankind; they add often physical certainty to
+historical evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions
+of ages which left no written monuments behind them.' - JOHNSON.
+
+
+THE Gypsy dialect of Spain is at present very much shattered and
+broken, being rather the fragments of the language which the
+Gypsies brought with them from the remote regions of the East than
+the language itself:  it enables, however, in its actual state, the
+Gitanos to hold conversation amongst themselves, the import of
+which is quite dark and mysterious to those who are not of their
+race, or by some means have become acquainted with their
+vocabulary.  The relics of this tongue, singularly curious in
+themselves, must be ever particularly interesting to the
+philological antiquarian, inasmuch as they enable him to arrive at
+a satisfactory conclusion respecting the origin of the Gypsy race.
+During the later part of the last century, the curiosity of some
+learned individuals, particularly Grellmann, Richardson, and
+Marsden, induced them to collect many words of the Romanian
+language, as spoken in Germany, Hungary, and England, which, upon
+analysing, they discovered to be in general either pure Sanscrit or
+Hindustani words, or modifications thereof; these investigations
+have been continued to the present time by men of equal curiosity
+and no less erudition, the result of which has been the
+establishment of the fact, that the Gypsies of those countries are
+the descendants of a tribe of Hindus who for some particular reason
+had abandoned their native country.  In England, of late, the
+Gypsies have excited particular attention; but a desire far more
+noble and laudable than mere antiquarian curiosity has given rise
+to it, namely, the desire of propagating the glory of Christ
+amongst those who know Him not, and of saving souls from the jaws
+of the infernal wolf.  It is, however, with the Gypsies of Spain,
+and not with those of England and other countries, that we are now
+occupied, and we shall merely mention the latter so far as they may
+serve to elucidate the case of the Gitanos, their brethren by blood
+and language.  Spain for many centuries has been the country of
+error; she has mistaken stern and savage tyranny for rational
+government; base, low, and grovelling superstition for clear,
+bright, and soul-ennobling religion; sordid cheating she has
+considered as the path to riches; vexatious persecution as the path
+to power; and the consequence has been, that she is now poor and
+powerless, a pagan amongst the pagans, with a dozen kings, and with
+none.  Can we be surprised, therefore, that, mistaken in policy,
+religion, and moral conduct, she should have fallen into error on
+points so naturally dark and mysterious as the history and origin
+of those remarkable people whom for the last four hundred years she
+has supported under the name of Gitanos?  The idea entertained at
+the present day in Spain respecting this race is, that they are the
+descendants of the Moriscos who remained in Spain, wandering about
+amongst the mountains and wildernesses, after the expulsion of the
+great body of the nation from the country in the time of Philip the
+Third, and that they form a distinct body, entirely unconnected
+with the wandering tribes known in other countries by the names of
+Bohemians, Gypsies, etc.  This, like all unfounded opinions, of
+course originated in ignorance, which is always ready to have
+recourse to conjecture and guesswork, in preference to travelling
+through the long, mountainous, and stony road of patient
+investigation; it is, however, an error far more absurd and more
+destitute of tenable grounds than the ancient belief that the
+Gitanos were Egyptians, which they themselves have always professed
+to be, and which the original written documents which they brought
+with them on their first arrival in Western Europe, and which bore
+the signature of the king of Bohemia, expressly stated them to be.
+The only clue to arrive at any certainty respecting their origin,
+is the language which they still speak amongst themselves; but
+before we can avail ourselves of the evidence of this language, it
+will be necessary to make a few remarks respecting the principal
+languages and dialects of that immense tract of country, peopled by
+at least eighty millions of human beings, generally known by the
+name of Hindustan, two Persian words tantamount to the land of Ind,
+or, the land watered by the river Indus.
+
+The most celebrated of these languages is the Sanskrida, or, as it
+is known in Europe, the Sanscrit, which is the language of religion
+of all those nations amongst whom the faith of Brahma has been
+adopted; but though the language of religion, by which we mean the
+tongue in which the religious books of the Brahmanic sect were
+originally written and are still preserved, it has long since
+ceased to be a spoken language; indeed, history is silent as to any
+period when it was a language in common use amongst any of the
+various tribes of the Hindus; its knowledge, as far as reading and
+writing it went, having been entirely confined to the priests of
+Brahma, or Brahmans, until within the last half-century, when the
+British, having subjugated the whole of Hindustan, caused it to be
+openly taught in the colleges which they established for the
+instruction of their youth in the languages of the country.  Though
+sufficiently difficult to acquire, principally on account of its
+prodigious richness in synonyms, it is no longer a sealed language,
+- its laws, structure, and vocabulary being sufficiently well known
+by means of numerous elementary works, adapted to facilitate its
+study.  It has been considered by famous philologists as the mother
+not only of all the languages of Asia, but of all others in the
+world.  So wild and preposterous an idea, however, only serves to
+prove that a devotion to philology, whose principal object should
+be the expansion of the mind by the various treasures of learning
+and wisdom which it can unlock, sometimes only tends to its
+bewilderment, by causing it to embrace shadows for reality.  The
+most that can be allowed, in reason, to the Sanscrit is that it is
+the mother of a certain class or family of languages, for example,
+those spoken in Hindustan, with which most of the European, whether
+of the Sclavonian, Gothic, or Celtic stock, have some connection.
+True it is that in this case we know not how to dispose of the
+ancient Zend, the mother of the modern Persian, the language in
+which were written those writings generally attributed to
+Zerduscht, or Zoroaster, whose affinity to the said tongues is as
+easily established as that of the Sanscrit, and which, in respect
+to antiquity, may well dispute the palm with its Indian rival.
+Avoiding, however, the discussion of this point, we shall content
+ourselves with observing, that closely connected with the Sanscrit,
+if not derived from it, are the Bengali, the high Hindustani, or
+grand popular language of Hindustan, generally used by the learned
+in their intercourse and writings, the languages of Multan,
+Guzerat, and other provinces, without mentioning the mixed dialect
+called Mongolian Hindustani, a corrupt jargon of Persian, Turkish,
+Arabic, and Hindu words, first used by the Mongols, after the
+conquest, in their intercourse with the natives.  Many of the
+principal languages of Asia are totally unconnected with the
+Sanscrit, both in words and grammatical structure; these are mostly
+of the great Tartar family, at the head of which there is good
+reason for placing the Chinese and Tibetian.
+
+Bearing the same analogy to the Sanscrit tongue as the Indian
+dialects specified above, we find the Rommany, or speech of the
+Roma, or Zincali, as they style themselves, known in England and
+Spain as Gypsies and Gitanos.  This speech, wherever it is spoken,
+is, in all principal points, one and the same, though more or less
+corrupted by foreign words, picked up in the various countries to
+which those who use it have penetrated.  One remarkable feature
+must not be passed over without notice, namely, the very
+considerable number of Sclavonic words, which are to be found
+embedded within it, whether it be spoken in Spain or Germany, in
+England or Italy; from which circumstance we are led to the
+conclusion, that these people, in their way from the East,
+travelled in one large compact body, and that their route lay
+through some region where the Sclavonian language, or a dialect
+thereof, was spoken.  This region I have no hesitation in asserting
+to have been Bulgaria, where they probably tarried for a
+considerable period, as nomad herdsmen, and where numbers of them
+are still to be found at the present day.  Besides the many
+Sclavonian words in the Gypsy tongue, another curious feature
+attracts the attention of the philologist - an equal or still
+greater quantity of terms from the modern Greek; indeed, we have
+full warranty for assuming that at one period the Spanish section,
+if not the rest of the Gypsy nation, understood the Greek language
+well, and that, besides their own Indian dialect, they occasionally
+used it for considerably upwards of a century subsequent to their
+arrival, as amongst the Gitanos there were individuals to whom it
+was intelligible so late as the year 1540.
+
+Where this knowledge was obtained it is difficult to say, - perhaps
+in Bulgaria, where two-thirds of the population profess the Greek
+religion, or rather in Romania, where the Romaic is generally
+understood; that they DID understand the Romaic in 1540, we gather
+from a very remarkable work, called EL ESTUDIOSO CORTESANO, written
+by Lorenzo Palmireno:  this learned and highly extraordinary
+individual was by birth a Valencian, and died about 1580; he was
+professor at various universities - of rhetoric at Valencia, of
+Greek at Zaragossa, where he gave lectures, in which he explained
+the verses of Homer; he was a proficient in Greek, ancient and
+modern, and it should be observed that, in the passage which we are
+about to cite, he means himself by the learned individual who held
+conversation with the Gitanos. (66)  EL ESTUDIOSO CORTESANO was
+reprinted at Alcala in 1587, from which edition we now copy.
+
+'Who are the Gitanos?  I answer; these vile people first began to
+show themselves in Germany, in the year 1417, where they call them
+Tartars or Gentiles; in Italy they are termed Ciani.  They pretend
+that they come from Lower Egypt, and that they wander about as a
+penance, and to prove this, they show letters from the king of
+Poland.  They lie, however, for they do not lead the life of
+penitents, but of dogs and thieves.  A learned person, in the year
+1540, prevailed with them, by dint of much persuasion, to show him
+the king's letter, and he gathered from it that the time of their
+penance was already expired; he spoke to them in the Egyptian
+tongue; they said, however, as it was a long time since their
+departure from Egypt, they did not understand it; he then spoke to
+them in the vulgar Greek, such as is used at present in the Morea
+and Archipelago; SOME UNDERSTOOD IT, others did not; so that as all
+did not understand it, we may conclude that the language which they
+use is a feigned one, (67) got up by thieves for the purpose of
+concealing their robberies, like the jargon of blind beggars.'
+
+Still more abundant, however, than the mixture of Greek, still more
+abundant than the mixture of Sclavonian, is the alloy in the Gypsy
+language, wherever spoken, of modern Persian words, which
+circumstance will compel us to offer a few remarks on the share
+which the Persian has had in the formation of the dialects of
+India, as at present spoken.
+
+The modern Persian, as has been already observed, is a daughter of
+the ancient Zend, and, as such, is entitled to claim affinity with
+the Sanscrit, and its dialects.  With this language none in the
+world would be able to vie in simplicity and beauty, had not the
+Persians, in adopting the religion of Mahomet, unfortunately
+introduces into their speech an infinity of words of the rude
+coarse language used by the barbaric Arab tribes, the immediate
+followers of the warlike Prophet.  With the rise of Islam the
+modern Persian was doomed to be carried into India.  This country,
+from the time of Alexander, had enjoyed repose from external
+aggression, had been ruled by its native princes, and been
+permitted by Providence to exercise, without control or reproof,
+the degrading superstitions, and the unnatural and bloody rites of
+a religion at the formation of which the fiends of cruelty and lust
+seem to have presided; but reckoning was now about to be demanded
+of the accursed ministers of this system for the pain, torture, and
+misery which they had been instrumental in inflicting on their
+countrymen for the gratification of their avarice, filthy passions,
+and pride; the new Mahometans were at hand - Arab, Persian, and
+Afghan, with the glittering scimitar upraised, full of zeal for the
+glory and adoration of the one high God, and the relentless
+persecutors of the idol-worshippers.  Already, in the four hundred
+and twenty-sixth year of the Hegeira, we read of the destruction of
+the great Butkhan, or image-house of Sumnaut, by the armies of the
+far-conquering Mahmoud, when the dissevered heads of the Brahmans
+rolled down the steps of the gigantic and Babel-like temple of the
+great image -
+
+[Text which cannot be reproduced - Arabic?]
+
+(This image grim, whose name was Laut,
+Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut.)
+
+It is not our intention to follow the conquests of the Mahometans
+from the days of Walid and Mahmoud to those of Timour and Nadir;
+sufficient to observe, that the greatest part of India was subdued,
+new monarchies established, and the old religion, though far too
+powerful and widely spread to be extirpated, was to a considerable
+extent abashed and humbled before the bright rising sun of Islam.
+The Persian language, which the conquerors (68) of whatever
+denomination introduced with them to Hindustan, and which their
+descendants at the present day still retain, though not lords of
+the ascendant, speedily became widely extended in these regions,
+where it had previously been unknown.  As the language of the
+court, it was of course studied and acquired by all those natives
+whose wealth, rank, and influence necessarily brought them into
+connection with the ruling powers; and as the language of the camp,
+it was carried into every part of the country where the duties of
+the soldiery sooner or later conducted them; the result of which
+relations between the conquerors and conquered was the adoption
+into the popular dialects of India of an infinity of modern Persian
+words, not merely those of science, such as it exists in the East,
+and of luxury and refinement, but even those which serve to express
+many of the most common objects, necessities, and ideas, so that at
+the present day a knowledge of the Persian is essential for the
+thorough understanding of the principal dialects of Hindustan, on
+which account, as well as for the assistance which it affords in
+communication with the Mahometans, it is cultivated with peculiar
+care by the present possessors of the land.
+
+No surprise, therefore, can be entertained that the speech of the
+Gitanos in general, who, in all probability, departed from
+Hindustan long subsequent to the first Mahometan invasions,
+abounds, like other Indian dialects, with words either purely
+Persian, or slightly modified to accommodate them to the genius of
+the language.  Whether the Rommany originally constituted part of
+the natives of Multan or Guzerat, and abandoned their native land
+to escape from the torch and sword of Tamerlane and his Mongols, as
+Grellmann and others have supposed, or whether, as is much more
+probable, they were a thievish caste, like some others still to be
+found in Hindustan, who fled westward, either from the vengeance of
+justice, or in pursuit of plunder, their speaking Persian is alike
+satisfactorily accounted for.  With the view of exhibiting how
+closely their language is connected with the Sanscrit and Persian,
+we subjoin the first ten numerals in the three tongues, those of
+the Gypsy according to the Hungarian dialect. (69)
+
+
+   Gypsy.     Persian.    Sanscrit. (70)
+
+1  Jek        Ek          Ega
+2  Dui        Du          Dvaya
+3  Trin       Se          Treya
+4  Schtar     Chehar      Tschatvar
+5  Pansch     Pansch      Pantscha
+6  Tschov     Schesche    Schasda
+7  Efta       Heft        Sapta
+8  Ochto      Hescht      Aschta
+9  Enija      Nu          Nava
+10 Dosch      De          Dascha
+
+
+It would be easy for us to adduce a thousand instances, as striking
+as the above, of the affinity of the Gypsy tongue to the Persian,
+Sanscrit, and the Indian dialects, but we have not space for
+further observation on a point which long since has been
+sufficiently discussed by others endowed with abler pens than our
+own; but having made these preliminary remarks, which we deemed
+necessary for the elucidation of the subject, we now hasten to
+speak of the Gitano language as used in Spain, and to determine, by
+its evidence (and we again repeat, that the language is the only
+criterion by which the question can be determined), how far the
+Gitanos of Spain are entitled to claim connection with the tribes
+who, under the names of Zingani, etc., are to be found in various
+parts of Europe, following, in general, a life of wandering
+adventure, and practising the same kind of thievish arts which
+enable those in Spain to obtain a livelihood at the expense of the
+more honest and industrious of the community.
+
+The Gitanos of Spain, as already stated, are generally believed to
+be the descendants of the Moriscos, and have been asserted to be
+such in printed books. (71)  Now they are known to speak a language
+or jargon amongst themselves which the other natives of Spain do
+not understand; of course, then, supposing them to be of Morisco
+origin, the words of this tongue or jargon, which are not Spanish,
+are the relics of the Arabic or Moorish tongue once spoken in
+Spain, which they have inherited from their Moorish ancestors.  Now
+it is well known, that the Moorish of Spain was the same tongue as
+that spoken at present by the Moors of Barbary, from which country
+Spain was invaded by the Arabs, and to which they again retired
+when unable to maintain their ground against the armies of the
+Christians.  We will, therefore, collate the numerals of the
+Spanish Gitano with those of the Moorish tongue, preceding both
+with those of the Hungarian Gypsy, of which we have already made
+use, for the purpose of making clear the affinity of that language
+to the Sanscrit and Persian.  By this collation we shall at once
+perceive whether the Gitano of Spain bears most resemblance to the
+Arabic, or the Rommany of other lands.
+
+
+   Hungarian Spanish           Moorish
+   Gypsy.    Gitano.           Arabic.
+
+1  Jek       Yeque             Wahud
+2  Dui       Dui               Snain
+3  Trin      Trin              Slatza
+4  Schtar    Estar             Arba
+5  Pansch    Pansche           Khamsa
+6  Tschov    Job. Zoi          Seta
+7  Efta      Hefta             Sebea
+8  Ochto     Otor              Sminia
+9  Enija     Esnia (Nu. PERS.) Tussa
+10 Dosch     Deque             Aschra
+
+We believe the above specimens will go very far to change the
+opinion of those who have imbibed the idea that the Gitanos of
+Spain are the descendants of Moors, and are of an origin different
+from that of the wandering tribes of Rommany in other parts of the
+world, the specimens of the two dialects of the Gypsy, as far as
+they go, being so strikingly similar, as to leave no doubt of their
+original identity, whilst, on the contrary, with the Moorish
+neither the one nor the other exhibits the slightest point of
+similarity or connection.  But with these specimens we shall not
+content ourselves, but proceed to give the names of the most common
+things and objects in the Hungarian and Spanish Gitano,
+collaterally, with their equivalents in the Moorish Arabic; from
+which it will appear that whilst the former are one and the same
+language, they are in every respect at variance with the latter.
+When we consider that the Persian has adopted so many words and
+phrases from the Arabic, we are at first disposed to wonder that a
+considerable portion of these words are not to be discovered in
+every dialect of the Gypsy tongue, since the Persian has lent it so
+much of its vocabulary.  Yet such is by no means the case, as it is
+very uncommon, in any one of these dialects, to discover words
+derived from the Arabic.  Perhaps, however, the following
+consideration will help to solve this point.  The Gitanos, even
+before they left India, were probably much the same rude, thievish,
+and ignorant people as they are at the present day.  Now the words
+adopted by the Persian from the Arabic, and which it subsequently
+introduced into the dialects of India, are sounds representing
+objects and ideas with which such a people as the Gitanos could
+necessarily be but scantily acquainted, a people whose circle of
+ideas only embraces physical objects, and who never commune with
+their own minds, nor exert them but in devising low and vulgar
+schemes of pillage and deceit.  Whatever is visible and common is
+seldom or never represented by the Persians, even in their books,
+by the help of Arabic words:  the sun and stars, the sea and river,
+the earth, its trees, its fruits, its flowers, and all that it
+produces and supports, are seldom named by them by other terms than
+those which their own language is capable of affording; but in
+expressing the abstract thoughts of their minds, and they are a
+people who think much and well, they borrow largely from the
+language of their religion - the Arabic.  We therefore, perhaps,
+ought not to be surprised that in the scanty phraseology of the
+Gitanos, amongst so much Persian, we find so little that is Arabic;
+had their pursuits been less vile, their desires less animal, and
+their thoughts less circumscribed, it would probably have been
+otherwise; but from time immemorial they have shown themselves a
+nation of petty thieves, horse-traffickers, and the like, without a
+thought of the morrow, being content to provide against the evil of
+the passing day.
+
+The following is a comparison of words in the three languages:-
+
+
+           Hungarian  Spanish      Moorish
+           Gypsy.(72) Gitano.      Arabic.
+
+Bone       Cokalos    Cocal        Adorn
+City       Forjus     Foros        Beled
+Day        Dives      Chibes       Youm
+Drink (to) Piava      Piyar        Yeschrab
+Ear        Kan        Can          Oothin
+Eye        Jakh       Aquia        Ein
+Feather    Por        Porumia      Risch
+Fire       Vag        Yaque        Afia
+Fish       Maczo      Macho        Hutz
+Foot       Pir        Piro, pindro Rjil
+Gold       Sonkai     Sonacai      Dahab
+Great      Baro       Baro         Quibir
+Hair       Bala       Bal          Schar
+He, pron.  Wow        O            Hu
+Head       Tschero    Jero         Ras
+House      Ker        Quer         Dar
+Husband    Rom        Ron          Zooje
+Lightning  Molnija    Maluno       Brak
+Love (to)  Camaba     Camelar      Yehib
+Man        Manusch    Manu         Rajil
+Milk       Tud        Chuti        Helib
+Mountain   Bar        Bur          Djibil
+Mouth      Mui        Mui          Fum
+Name       Nao        Nao          Ism
+Night      Rat        Rachi        Lila
+Nose       Nakh       Naqui        Munghar
+Old        Puro       Puro         Shaive
+Red        Lal        Lalo         Hamr
+Salt       Lon        Lon          Mela
+Sing       Gjuwawa    Gilyabar     Iganni
+Sun        Cam        Can          Schems
+Thief      Tschor     Choro        Haram
+Thou       Tu         Tucue        Antsin
+Tongue     Tschib     Chipe        Lsan
+Tooth      Dant       Dani         Sinn
+Tree       Karscht    Caste        Schizara
+Water      Pani       Pani         Ma
+Wind       Barbar     Barban       Ruhk
+
+
+We shall offer no further observations respecting the affinity of
+the Spanish Gitano to the other dialects, as we conceive we have
+already afforded sufficient proof of its original identity with
+them, and consequently shaken to the ground the absurd opinion that
+the Gitanos of Spain are the descendants of the Arabs and Moriscos.
+We shall now conclude with a few remarks on the present state of
+the Gitano language in Spain, where, perhaps, within the course of
+a few years, it will have perished, without leaving a vestige of
+its having once existed; and where, perhaps, the singular people
+who speak it are likewise doomed to disappear, becoming sooner or
+later engulfed and absorbed in the great body of the nation,
+amongst whom they have so long existed a separate and peculiar
+class.
+
+Though the words or a part of the words of the original tongue
+still remain, preserved by memory amongst the Gitanos, its
+grammatical peculiarities have disappeared, the entire language
+having been modified and subjected to the rules of Spanish grammar,
+with which it now coincides in syntax, in the conjugation of verbs,
+and in the declension of its nouns.  Were it possible or necessary
+to collect all the relics of this speech, they would probably
+amount to four or five thousand words; but to effect such an
+achievement, it would be necessary to hold close and long
+intercourse with almost every Gitano in Spain, and to extract, by
+various means, the peculiar information which he might be capable
+of affording; for it is necessary to state here, that though such
+an amount of words may still exist amongst the Gitanos in general,
+no single individual of their sect is in possession of one-third
+part thereof, nor indeed, we may add, those of any single city or
+province of Spain; nevertheless all are in possession, more or
+less, of the language, so that, though of different provinces, they
+are enabled to understand each other tolerably well, when
+discoursing in this their characteristic speech.  Those who travel
+most are of course best versed in it, as, independent of the words
+of their own village or town, they acquire others by intermingling
+with their race in various places.  Perhaps there is no part of
+Spain where it is spoken better than in Madrid, which is easily
+accounted for by the fact, that Madrid, as the capital, has always
+been the point of union of the Gitanos, from all those provinces of
+Spain where they are to be found.  It is least of all preserved in
+Seville, notwithstanding that its Gitano population is very
+considerable, consisting, however, almost entirely of natives of
+the place.  As may well be supposed, it is in all places best
+preserved amongst the old people, their children being
+comparatively ignorant of it, as perhaps they themselves are in
+comparison with their own parents.  We are persuaded that the
+Gitano language of Spain is nearly at its last stage of existence,
+which persuasion has been our main instigator to the present
+attempt to collect its scanty remains, and by the assistance of the
+press, rescue it in some degree from destruction.  It will not be
+amiss to state here, that it is only by listening attentively to
+the speech of the Gitanos, whilst discoursing amongst themselves,
+that an acquaintance with their dialect can be formed, and by
+seizing upon all unknown words as they fall in succession from
+their lips.  Nothing can be more useless and hopeless than the
+attempt to obtain possession of their vocabulary by inquiring of
+them how particular objects and ideas are styled; for with the
+exception of the names of the most common things, they are totally
+incapable, as a Spanish writer has observed, of yielding the
+required information, owing to their great ignorance, the shortness
+of their memories, or rather the state of bewilderment to which
+their minds are brought by any question which tends to bring their
+reasoning faculties into action, though not unfrequently the very
+words which have been in vain required of them will, a minute
+subsequently, proceed inadvertently from their mouths.
+
+We now take leave of their language.  When wishing to praise the
+proficiency of any individual in their tongue, they are in the
+habit of saying, 'He understands the seven jargons.'  In the Gospel
+which we have printed in this language, and in the dictionary which
+we have compiled, we have endeavoured, to the utmost of our
+ability, to deserve that compliment; and at all times it will
+afford us sincere and heartfelt pleasure to be informed that any
+Gitano, capable of appreciating the said little works, has
+observed, whilst reading them or hearing them read:  It is clear
+that the writer of these books understood
+
+
+THE SEVEN JARGONS.
+
+
+
+ON ROBBER LANGUAGE; OR, AS IT IS CALLED IN SPAIN, GERMANIA
+
+
+'So I went with them to a music booth, where they made me almost
+drunk with gin, and began to talk their FLASH LANGUAGE, which I did
+not understand.' - Narrative of the Exploits of Henry Simms,
+executed at Tyburn, 1746.
+
+'Hablaronse los dos en Germania, de lo qual resulto darme un
+abraco, y ofrecerseme.' - QUEVEDO. Vida dal gran Tacano.
+
+
+HAVING in the preceding article endeavoured to afford all necessary
+information concerning the Rommany, or language used by the Gypsies
+amongst themselves, we now propose to turn our attention to a
+subject of no less interest, but which has hitherto never been
+treated in a manner calculated to lead to any satisfactory result
+or conclusion; on the contrary, though philosophic minds have been
+engaged in its consideration, and learned pens have not disdained
+to occupy themselves with its details, it still remains a singular
+proof of the errors into which the most acute and laborious writers
+are apt to fall, when they take upon themselves the task of writing
+on matters which cannot be studied in the closet, and on which no
+information can be received by mixing in the society of the wise,
+the lettered, and the respectable, but which must be investigated
+in the fields, and on the borders of the highways, in prisons, and
+amongst the dregs of society.  Had the latter system been pursued
+in the matter now before us, much clearer, more rational, and more
+just ideas would long since have been entertained respecting the
+Germania, or language of thieves.
+
+In most countries of Europe there exists, amongst those who obtain
+their existence by the breach of the law, and by preying upon the
+fruits of the labours of the quiet and orderly portion of society,
+a particular jargon or dialect, in which the former discuss their
+schemes and plans of plunder, without being in general understood
+by those to whom they are obnoxious.  The name of this jargon
+varies with the country in which it is spoken.  In Spain it is
+called 'Germania'; in France, 'Argot'; in Germany, 'Rothwelsch,' or
+Red Italian; in Italy, 'Gergo'; whilst in England it is known by
+many names; for example, 'cant, slang, thieves' Latin,' etc.  The
+most remarkable circumstance connected with the history of this
+jargon is, that in all the countries in which it is spoken, it has
+invariably, by the authors who have treated of it, and who are
+numerous, been confounded with the Gypsy language, and asserted to
+be the speech of those wanderers who have so long infested Europe
+under the name of Gitanos, etc.  How far this belief is founded in
+justice we shall now endeavour to show, with the premise that
+whatever we advance is derived, not from the assertions or opinions
+of others, but from our own observation; the point in question
+being one which no person is capable of solving, save him who has
+mixed with Gitanos and thieves, - not with the former merely or the
+latter, but with both.
+
+We have already stated what is the Rommany or language of the
+Gypsies.  We have proved that when properly spoken it is to all
+intents and purposes entitled to the appellation of a language, and
+that wherever it exists it is virtually the same; that its origin
+is illustrious, it being a daughter of the Sanscrit, and in
+consequence in close connection with some of the most celebrated
+languages of the East, although it at present is only used by the
+most unfortunate and degraded of beings, wanderers without home and
+almost without country, as wherever they are found they are
+considered in the light of foreigners and interlopers.  We shall
+now state what the language of thieves is, as it is generally
+spoken in Europe; after which we shall proceed to analyse it
+according to the various countries in which it is used.
+
+The dialect used for their own peculiar purposes amongst thieves is
+by no means entitled to the appellation of a language, but in every
+sense to that of a jargon or gibberish, it being for the most part
+composed of words of the native language of those who use it,
+according to the particular country, though invariably in a meaning
+differing more or less from the usual and received one, and for the
+most part in a metaphorical sense.  Metaphor and allegory, indeed,
+seem to form the nucleus of this speech, notwithstanding that other
+elements are to be distinguished; for it is certain that in every
+country where it is spoken, it contains many words differing from
+the language of that country, and which may either be traced to
+foreign tongues, or are of an origin at which, in many instances,
+it is impossible to arrive.  That which is most calculated to
+strike the philosophic mind when considering this dialect, is
+doubtless the fact of its being formed everywhere upon the same
+principle - that of metaphor, in which point all the branches
+agree, though in others they differ as much from each other as the
+languages on which they are founded; for example, as the English
+and German from the Spanish and Italian.  This circumstance
+naturally leads to the conclusion that the robber language has not
+arisen fortuitously in the various countries where it is at present
+spoken, but that its origin is one and the same, it being probably
+invented by the outlaws of one particular country; by individuals
+of which it was, in course of time, carried to others, where its
+principles, if not its words, were adopted; for upon no other
+supposition can we account for its general metaphorical character
+in regions various and distant.  It is, of course, impossible to
+state with certainty the country in which this jargon first arose,
+yet there is cogent reason for supposing that it may have been
+Italy.  The Germans call it Rothwelsch, which signifies 'Red
+Italian,' a name which appears to point out Italy as its
+birthplace; and which, though by no means of sufficient importance
+to determine the question, is strongly corroborative of the
+supposition, when coupled with the following fact.  We have already
+intimated, that wherever it is spoken, this speech, though composed
+for the most part of words of the language of the particular
+country, applied in a metaphorical sense, exhibits a considerable
+sprinkling of foreign words; now of these words no slight number
+are Italian or bastard Latin, whether in Germany, whether in Spain,
+or in other countries more or less remote from Italy.  When we
+consider the ignorance of thieves in general, their total want of
+education, the slight knowledge which they possess even of their
+mother tongue, it is hardly reasonable to suppose that in any
+country they were ever capable of having recourse to foreign
+languages, for the purpose of enriching any peculiar vocabulary or
+phraseology which they might deem convenient to use among
+themselves; nevertheless, by associating with foreign thieves, who
+had either left their native country for their crimes, or from a
+hope of reaping a rich harvest of plunder in other lands, it would
+be easy for them to adopt a considerable number of words belonging
+to the languages of their foreign associates, from whom perhaps
+they derived an increase of knowledge in thievish arts of every
+description.  At the commencement of the fifteenth century no
+nation in Europe was at all calculated to vie with the Italian in
+arts of any kind, whether those whose tendency was the benefit or
+improvement of society, or those the practice of which serves to
+injure and undermine it.  The artists and artisans of Italy were to
+be found in all the countries of Europe, from Madrid to Moscow, and
+so were its charlatans, its jugglers, and multitudes of its
+children, who lived by fraud and cunning.  Therefore, when a
+comprehensive view of the subject is taken, there appears to be
+little improbability in supposing, that not only were the Italians
+the originators of the metaphorical robber jargon, which has been
+termed 'Red Italian,' but that they were mainly instrumental in
+causing it to be adopted by the thievish race in various countries
+of Europe.
+
+It is here, however, necessary to state, that in the robber jargon
+of Europe, elements of another language are to be discovered, and
+perhaps in greater number than the Italian words.  The language
+which we allude to is the Rommany; this language has been, in
+general, confounded with the vocabulary used among thieves, which,
+however, is a gross error, so gross, indeed, that it is almost
+impossible to conceive the manner in which it originated:  the
+speech of the Gypsies being a genuine language of Oriental origin,
+and the former little more than a phraseology of convenience,
+founded upon particular European tongues.  It will be sufficient
+here to remark, that the Gypsies do not understand the jargon of
+the thieves, whilst the latter, with perhaps a few exceptions, are
+ignorant of the language of the former.  Certain words, however, of
+the Rommany have found admission into the said jargon, which may be
+accounted for by the supposition that the Gypsies, being themselves
+by birth, education, and profession, thieves of the first water,
+have, on various occasions, formed alliances with the outlaws of
+the various countries in which they are at present to be found,
+which association may have produced the result above alluded to;
+but it will be as well here to state, that in no country of Europe
+have the Gypsies forsaken or forgotten their native tongue, and in
+its stead adopted the 'Germania,' 'Red Italian,' or robber jargon,
+although in some they preserve their native language in a state of
+less purity than in others.  We are induced to make this statement
+from an assertion of the celebrated Lorenzo Hervas, who, in the
+third volume of his CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, trat. 3, cap. vi., p.
+311, expresses himself to the following effect:- 'The proper
+language of the Gitanos neither is nor can be found amongst those
+who scattered themselves through the western kingdoms of Europe,
+but only amongst those who remained in the eastern, where they are
+still to be found.  The former were notably divided and disunited,
+receiving into their body a great number of European outlaws, on
+which account the language in question was easily adulterated and
+soon perished.  In Spain, and also in Italy, the Gitanos have
+totally forgotten and lost their native language; yet still wishing
+to converse with each other in a language unknown to the Spaniards
+and Italians, they have invented some words, and have transformed
+many others by changing the signification which properly belongs to
+them in Spanish and Italian.'  In proof of which assertion he then
+exhibits a small number of words of the 'Red Italian,' or
+allegorical tongue of the thieves of Italy.
+
+It is much to be lamented that a man like Hervas, so learned, of
+such knowledge, and upon the whole well-earned celebrity, should
+have helped to propagate three such flagrant errors as are
+contained in the passages above quoted:  1st.  That the Gypsy
+language, within a very short period after the arrival of those who
+spoke it in the western kingdoms of Europe, became corrupted, and
+perished by the admission of outlaws into the Gypsy fraternity.
+2ndly.  That the Gypsies, in order to supply the loss of their
+native tongue, invented some words, and modified others, from the
+Spanish and Italian.  3rdly.  That the Gypsies of the present day
+in Spain and Italy speak the allegorical robber dialect.
+Concerning the first assertion, namely, that the Gypsies of the
+west lost their language shortly after their arrival, by mixing
+with the outlaws of those parts, we believe that its erroneousness
+will be sufficiently established by the publication of the present
+volume, which contains a dictionary of the Spanish Gitano, which we
+have proved to be the same language in most points as that spoken
+by the eastern tribes.  There can be no doubt that the Gypsies have
+at various times formed alliances with the robbers of particular
+countries, but that they ever received them in considerable numbers
+into their fraternity, as Hervas has stated, so as to become
+confounded with them, the evidence of our eyesight precludes the
+possibility of believing.  If such were the fact, why do the
+Italian and Spanish Gypsies of the present day still present
+themselves as a distinct race, differing from the other inhabitants
+of the west of Europe in feature, colour, and constitution?  Why
+are they, in whatever situation and under whatever circumstances,
+to be distinguished, like Jews, from the other children of the
+Creator?  But it is scarcely necessary to ask such a question, or
+indeed to state that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy have kept
+themselves as much apart as, or at least have as little mingled
+their blood with the Spaniards and Italians as their brethren in
+Hungaria and Transylvania with the inhabitants of those countries,
+on which account they still strikingly resemble them in manners,
+customs, and appearance.  The most extraordinary assertion of
+Hervas is perhaps his second, namely, that the Gypsies have
+invented particular words to supply the place of others which they
+had lost.  The absurdity of this supposition nearly induces us to
+believe that Hervas, who has written so much and so laboriously on
+language, was totally ignorant of the philosophy of his subject.
+There can be no doubt, as we have before admitted, that in the
+robber jargon, whether spoken in Spain, Italy, or England, there
+are many words at whose etymology it is very difficult to arrive;
+yet such a fact is no excuse for the adoption of the opinion that
+these words are of pure invention.  A knowledge of the Rommany
+proves satisfactorily that many have been borrowed from that
+language, whilst many others may be traced to foreign tongues,
+especially the Latin and Italian.  Perhaps one of the strongest
+grounds for concluding that the origin of language was divine is
+the fact that no instance can be adduced of the invention, we will
+not say of a language, but even of a single word that is in use in
+society of any kind.  Although new dialects are continually being
+formed, it is only by a system of modification, by which roots
+almost coeval with time itself are continually being reproduced
+under a fresh appearance, and under new circumstances.  The third
+assertion of Hervas, as to the Gitanos speaking the allegorical
+language of which he exhibits specimens, is entitled to about equal
+credence as the two former.  The truth is, that the entire store of
+erudition of the learned Jesuit, and he doubtless was learned to a
+remarkable degree, was derived from books, either printed or
+manuscript.  He compared the Gypsy words in the publication of
+Grellmann with various vocabularies, which had long been in
+existence, of the robber jargons of Spain and Italy, which jargons
+by a strange fatuity had ever been considered as belonging to the
+Gypsies.  Finding that the Gypsy words of Grellmann did not at all
+correspond with the thieves' slang, he concluded that the Gypsies
+of Spain and Italy had forgotten their own language, and to supply
+its place had invented the jargons aforesaid, but he never gave
+himself the trouble to try whether the Gypsies really understood
+the contents of his slang vocabularies; had he done so, he would
+have found that the slang was about as unintelligible to the
+Gypsies as he would have found the specimens of Grellmann
+unintelligible to the thieves had he quoted those specimens to
+them.  The Gypsies of Spain, it will be sufficient to observe,
+speak the language of which a vocabulary is given in the present
+work, and those of Italy who are generally to be found existing in
+a half-savage state in the various ruined castles, relics of the
+feudal times, with which Italy abounds, a dialect very similar, and
+about as much corrupted.  There are, however, to be continually
+found in Italy roving bands of Rommany, not natives of the country,
+who make excursions from Moldavia and Hungaria to France and Italy,
+for the purpose of plunder; and who, if they escape the hand of
+justice, return at the expiration of two or three years to their
+native regions, with the booty they have amassed by the practice of
+those thievish arts, perhaps at one period peculiar to their race,
+but at present, for the most part, known and practised by thieves
+in general.  These bands, however, speak the pure Gypsy language,
+with all its grammatical peculiarities.  It is evident, however,
+that amongst neither of these classes had Hervas pushed his
+researches, which had he done, it is probable that his
+investigations would have resulted in a work of a far different
+character from the confused, unsatisfactory, and incorrect details
+of which is formed his essay on the language of the Gypsies.
+
+Having said thus much concerning the robber language in general, we
+shall now proceed to offer some specimens of it, in order that our
+readers may be better able to understand its principles.  We shall
+commence with the Italian dialect, which there is reason for
+supposing to be the prototype of the rest.  To show what it is, we
+avail ourselves of some of the words adduced by Hervas, as
+specimens of the language of the Gitanos of Italy.  'I place them,'
+he observes, 'with the signification which the greater number
+properly have in Italian.'
+
+         Robber jargon    Proper signification of
+         of Italy.        the words.
+
+Arm      { Ale            Wings
+         { Barbacane      Barbican
+Belly      Fagiana        Pheasant
+Devil      Rabuino        Perhaps RABBIN, which,
+                          in Hebrew, is Master
+Earth      Calcosa        Street, road
+Eye        Balco          Balcony
+Father     Grimo          Old, wrinkled
+Fire       Presto         Quick
+God        Anticrotto     Probably ANTICHRIST
+Hair       Prusa (73)
+         { Elmo           Helmet
+Head     { Borella (74)
+         { Chiurla (75)
+Heart      Salsa          Sauce
+Man        Osmo           From the Italian UOMO,
+                          which is man
+Moon       Mocoloso di    Wick of the firmament
+             Sant' Alto
+Night      Brunamaterna   Mother-brown
+Nose       Gambaro        Crab
+Sun        Ruffo di Sant' Red one of the firmament
+              Alto
+Tongue   { Serpentina     Serpent-like
+         { Danosa         Hurtful
+Water    { Lenza          Fishing-net
+         { Vetta (76)     Top, bud
+
+The Germania of Spain may be said to divide itself into two
+dialects, the ancient and modern.  Of the former there exists a
+vocabulary, published first by Juan Hidalgo, in the year 1609, at
+Barcelona, and reprinted in Madrid, 1773.  Before noticing this
+work, it will perhaps be advisable to endeavour to ascertain the
+true etymology of the word Germania, which signifies the slang
+vocabulary, or robber language of Spain.  We have no intention to
+embarrass our readers by offering various conjectures respecting
+its origin; its sound, coupled with its signification, affording
+sufficient evidence that it is but a corruption of Rommany, which
+properly denotes the speech of the Roma or Gitanos.  The thieves
+who from time to time associated with this wandering people, and
+acquired more or less of their language, doubtless adopted this
+term amongst others, and, after modifying it, applied it to the
+peculiar phraseology which, in the course of time, became prevalent
+amongst them.  The dictionary of Hidalgo is appended to six
+ballads, or romances, by the same author, written in the Germanian
+dialect, in which he describes the robber life at Seville at the
+period in which he lived.  All of these romances possess their
+peculiar merit, and will doubtless always be considered valuable,
+and be read as faithful pictures of scenes and habits which now no
+longer exist.  In the prologue, the author states that his
+principal motive for publishing a work written in so strange a
+language was his observing the damage which resulted from an
+ignorance of the Germania, especially to the judges and ministers
+of justice, whose charge it is to cleanse the public from the
+pernicious gentry who use it.  By far the greatest part of the
+vocabulary consists of Spanish words used allegorically, which are,
+however, intermingled with many others, most of which may be traced
+to the Latin and Italian, others to the Sanscrit or Gitano,
+Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and German languages. (77)  The
+circumstances of words belonging to some of the languages last
+enumerated being found in the Gitano, which at first may strike the
+reader as singular, and almost incredible, will afford but slight
+surprise, when he takes into consideration the peculiar
+circumstances of Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries.  Spain was at that period the most powerful monarchy in
+Europe; her foot reposed upon the Low Countries, whilst her
+gigantic arms embraced a considerable portion of Italy.
+Maintaining always a standing army in Flanders and in Italy, it
+followed as a natural consequence, that her Miquelets and soldiers
+became tolerably conversant with the languages of those countries;
+and, in course of time, returning to their native land, not a few,
+especially of the former class, a brave and intrepid, but always a
+lawless and dissolute species of soldiery, either fell in or
+returned to evil society, and introduced words which they had
+learnt abroad into the robber phraseology; whilst returned galley-
+slaves from Algiers, Tunis, and Tetuan, added to its motley variety
+of words from the relics of the broken Arabic and Turkish, which
+they had acquired during their captivity.  The greater part of the
+Germania, however, remained strictly metaphorical, and we are aware
+of no better means of conveying an idea of the principle on which
+it is formed, than by quoting from the first romance of Hidalgo,
+where particular mention is made of this jargon:-
+
+
+'A la cama llama Blanda
+Donde Sornan en poblado
+A la Fresada Vellosa,
+Que mucho vello ha criado.
+Dice a la sabana Alba
+Porque es alba en sumo grado,
+A la camisa Carona,
+Al jubon llama apretado:
+Dice al Sayo Tapador
+Porque le lleva tapado.
+Llama a los zapatos Duros,
+Que las piedras van pisando.
+A la capa llama nuve,
+Dice al Sombrero Texado.
+Respeto llama a la Espada,
+Que por ella es respetado,' etc. etc.
+
+HIDALGO, p. 22-3.
+
+
+After these few remarks on the ancient Germania of Spain, we now
+proceed to the modern, which differs considerably from the former.
+The principal cause of this difference is to be attributed to the
+adoption by the Spanish outlaws, in latter years, of a considerable
+number of words belonging to, or modified from, the Rommany, or
+language of the Gitanos.  The Gitanos of Spain, during the last
+half-century, having, in a great degree, abandoned the wandering
+habit of life which once constituted one of their most remarkable
+peculiarities, and residing, at present, more in the cities than in
+the fields, have come into closer contact with the great body of
+the Spanish nation than was in former days their practice.  From
+their living thus in towns, their language has not only undergone
+much corruption, but has become, to a slight degree, known to the
+dregs of society, amongst whom they reside.  The thieves' dialect
+of the present day exhibits, therefore, less of the allegorical
+language preserved in the pages of Hidalgo than of the Gypsy
+tongue.  It must be remarked, however, that it is very scanty, and
+that the whole robber phraseology at present used in Spain barely
+amounts to two hundred words, which are utterly insufficient to
+express the very limited ideas of the outcasts who avail themselves
+of it.
+
+Concerning the Germania of France, or 'Argot,' as it is called, it
+is unnecessary to make many observations, as what has been said of
+the language of Hidalgo and the Red Italian is almost in every
+respect applicable to it.  As early as the middle of the sixteenth
+century a vocabulary of this jargon was published under the title
+of LANGUE DES ESCROCS, at Paris.  Those who wish to study it as it
+at present exists can do no better than consult LES MEMOIRES DE
+VIDOCQ, where a multitude of words in Argot are to be found, and
+also several songs, the subjects of which are thievish adventures.
+
+The first vocabulary of the 'Cant Language,' or English Germania,
+appeared in the year 1680, appended to the life of THE ENGLISH
+ROGUE, a work which, in many respects, resembles the HISTORY OF
+GUZMAN D'ALFARACHE, though it is written with considerably more
+genius than the Spanish novel, every chapter abounding with
+remarkable adventures of the robber whose life it pretends to
+narrate, and which are described with a kind of ferocious energy,
+which, if it do not charm the attention of the reader, at least
+enslaves it, holding it captive with a chain of iron.  Amongst his
+other adventures, the hero falls in with a Gypsy encampment, is
+enrolled amongst the fraternity, and is allotted a 'mort,' or
+concubine; a barbarous festival ensues, at the conclusion of which
+an epithalamium is sung in the Gypsy language, as it is called in
+the work in question.  Neither the epithalamium, however, nor the
+vocabulary, are written in the language of the English Gypsies, but
+in the 'Cant,' or allegorical robber dialect, which is sufficient
+proof that the writer, however well acquainted with thieves in
+general, their customs and manners of life, was in respect to the
+Gypsies profoundly ignorant.  His vocabulary, however, has been
+always accepted as the speech of the English Gypsies, whereas it is
+at most entitled to be considered as the peculiar speech of the
+thieves and vagabonds of his time.  The cant of the present day,
+which, though it differs in some respects from the vocabulary
+already mentioned, is radically the same, is used not only by the
+thieves in town and country, but by the jockeys of the racecourse
+and the pugilists of the 'ring.' As a specimen of the cant of
+England, we shall take the liberty of quoting the epithalamium to
+which we have above alluded:-
+
+
+'Bing out, bien morts, and tour and tour
+Bing out, bien morts and tour;
+For all your duds are bing'd awast,
+The bien cove hath the loure. (78)
+
+'I met a dell, I viewed her well,
+She was benship to my watch:
+So she and I did stall and cloy
+Whatever we could catch.
+
+'This doxy dell can cut ben whids,
+And wap well for a win,
+And prig and cloy so benshiply,
+All daisy-ville within.
+
+'The hoyle was up, we had good luck,
+In frost for and in snow;
+Men they did seek, then we did creep
+And plant the roughman's low.'
+
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say anything more upon the Germania in
+general or in particular; we believe that we have achieved the task
+which we marked out for ourselves, and have conveyed to our readers
+a clear and distinct idea of what it is.  We have shown that it has
+been erroneously confounded with the Rommany, or Gitano language,
+with which it has nevertheless some points of similarity.  The two
+languages are, at the present day, used for the same purpose,
+namely, to enable habitual breakers of the law to carry on their
+consultations with more secrecy and privacy than by the ordinary
+means.  Yet it must not be forgotten that the thieves' jargon was
+invented for that purpose, whilst the Rommany, originally the
+proper and only speech of a particular nation, has been preserved
+from falling into entire disuse and oblivion, because adapted to
+answer the same end.  It was impossible to treat of the Rommany in
+a manner calculated to exhaust the subject, and to leave no ground
+for future cavilling, without devoting a considerable space to the
+consideration of the robber dialect, on which account we hope we
+shall be excused many of the dry details which we have introduced
+into the present essay.  There is a link of connection between the
+history of the Roma, or wanderers from Hindustan, who first made
+their appearance in Europe at the commencement of the fifteenth
+century, and that of modern roguery.  Many of the arts which the
+Gypsies proudly call their own, and which were perhaps at one
+period peculiar to them, have become divulged, and are now
+practised by the thievish gentry who infest the various European
+states, a result which, we may assert with confidence, was brought
+about by the alliance of the Gypsies being eagerly sought on their
+first arrival by the thieves, who, at one period, were less skilful
+than the former in the ways of deceit and plunder; which kind of
+association continued and held good until the thieves had acquired
+all they wished to learn, when they left the Gypsies in the fields
+and plains, so dear to them from their vagabond and nomad habits,
+and returned to the towns and cities.  Yet from this temporary
+association were produced two results; European fraud became
+sharpened by coming into contact with Asiatic craft, whilst
+European tongues, by imperceptible degrees, became recruited with
+various words (some of them wonderfully expressive), many of which
+have long been stumbling-stocks to the philologist, who, whilst
+stigmatising them as words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown
+origin, has been far from dreaming that by a little more research
+he might have traced them to the Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, or
+perhaps to the mysterious object of his veneration, the Sanscrit,
+the sacred tongue of the palm-covered regions of Ind; words
+originally introduced into Europe by objects too miserable to
+occupy for a moment his lettered attention - the despised denizens
+of the tents of Roma.
+
+
+ON THE TERM 'BUSNO'
+
+
+Those who have done me the honour to peruse this strange wandering
+book of mine, must frequently have noticed the word 'Busno,' a term
+bestowed by the Spanish Gypsy on his good friend the Spaniard.  As
+the present will probably be the last occasion which I shall have
+to speak of the Gitanos or anything relating to them, it will
+perhaps be advisable to explain the meaning of this word.  In the
+vocabulary appended to former editions I have translated Busno by
+such words as Gentile, savage, person who is not a Gypsy, and have
+stated that it is probably connected with a certain Sanscrit noun
+signifying an impure person.  It is, however, derived immediately
+from a Hungarian term, exceedingly common amongst the lower orders
+of the Magyars, to their disgrace be it spoken.  The Hungarian
+Gypsies themselves not unfrequently style the Hungarians Busnoes,
+in ridicule of their unceasing use of the word in question.  The
+first Gypsies who entered Spain doubtless brought with them the
+term from Hungary, the language of which country they probably
+understood to a certain extent.  That it was not ill applied by
+them in Spain no one will be disposed to deny when told that it
+exactly corresponds with the Shibboleth of the Spaniards, 'Carajo,'
+an oath equally common in Spain as its equivalent in Hungary.
+Busno, therefore, in Spanish means EL DEL CARAJO, or he who has
+that term continually in his mouth.  The Hungarian words in Spanish
+Gypsy may amount to ten or twelve, a very inconsiderable number;
+but the Hungarian Gypsy tongue itself, as spoken at the present
+day, exhibits only a slight sprinkling of Hungarian words, whilst
+it contains many words borrowed from the Wallachian, some of which
+have found their way into Spain, and are in common use amongst the
+Gitanos.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIMENS OF GYPSY DIALECTS
+
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+
+'TACHIPEN if I jaw 'doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch:  N'etist
+I shan't puch kekomi wafu gorgies.'
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at
+my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus (79), 1842:  he
+stayed with me during the greater part of the morning, discoursing
+on the affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was
+becoming daily worse and worse.  'There is no living for the poor
+people, brother,' said he, 'the chokengres (police) pursue us from
+place to place, and the gorgios are become either so poor or
+miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass by the
+wayside, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire upon.
+Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no probability,
+unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro (justice
+of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons will
+have to give up wandering altogether, and then what will become of
+them?'
+
+'However, brother,' he continued, in a more cheerful tone, 'I am no
+hindity mush, (80) as you well know.  I suppose you have not forgot
+how, fifteen years ago, when you made horseshoes in the little
+dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty
+cottors (81) to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the
+innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you
+sold for two hundred.
+
+'Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred instead of the
+fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I
+knew you would not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush,
+brother, no Irishman; I laid out the other day twenty pounds in
+buying ruponoe peamengries; (82) and in the Chonggav, (83) have a
+house of my own with a yard behind it.
+
+'AND, FORSOOTH, IF I GO THITHER, I CAN CHOOSE A PLACE TO LIGHT
+AFIRE UPON, AND SHALL HAVE NO NECESSITY TO ASK LEAVE OF THESE HERE
+GENTILES.'
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the
+English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in
+which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy
+dialect holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken:
+yet the English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the
+Spanish, and still retains its original syntax to a certain extent,
+its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and
+pronouns.
+
+
+ENGLISH DIALECT
+
+
+Moro Dad, savo djives oteh drey o charos, te caumen Gorgio ta
+Romany Chal tiro nav, te awel tiro tem, te kairen tiro lav aukko
+prey puv, sar kairdios oteh drey o charos.  Dey men to-divvus moro
+divvuskoe moro, ta for-dey men pazorrhus tukey sar men for-denna
+len pazorrhus amande; ma muk te petrenna drey caik temptacionos;
+ley men abri sor doschder.  Tiro se o tem, Mi-duvel, tiro o zoozlu
+vast, tiro sor koskopen drey sor cheros.  Avali.  Ta-chipen.
+
+
+SPANISH DIALECT
+
+
+Batu monro sos socabas ote enre ye char, que camele Gacho ta Romani
+Cha tiro nao, qu'abillele tiro chim, querese tiro lao acoi opre ye
+puve sarta se querela ote enre ye char.  Dinanos sejonia monro
+manro de cata chibes, ta estormenanos monrias bisauras sasta mu
+estormenamos a monrias bisabadores; na nos meques petrar enre
+cayque pajandia, lillanos abri de saro chungalipen.  Persos tiro
+sinela o chim, Undevel, tiro ye silna bast, tiro saro lachipen enre
+saro chiros.  Unga.  Chachipe.
+
+
+ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ABOVE
+
+
+OUR Father who dwellest there in heaven, may Gentile and Gypsy love
+thy name, thy kingdom come, may they do thy word here on earth as
+it is done there in heaven.  Give us to-day our daily bread, (84)
+and forgive us indebted to thee as we forgive them indebted to us,
+(85) suffer not that we fall into NO temptation, take us out from
+all evil. (86)  Thine (87) is the kingdom my God, thine the strong
+hand, thine all goodness in all time.  Aye.  Truth.
+
+
+HUNGARIAN DIALECT
+
+
+The following short sentences in Hungarian Gypsy, in addition to
+the prayer to the Virgin given in the Introduction, will perhaps
+not prove unacceptable to the reader.  In no part of the world is
+the Gypsy tongue at the present day spoken with more purity than in
+Hungary, (88) where it is used by the Gypsies not only when they
+wish to be unintelligible to the Hungarians, but in their common
+conversation amongst themselves.
+
+From these sentences the reader, by the help of the translations
+which accompany them, may form a tolerable idea not only of what
+the Gypsy tongue is, but of the manner in which the Hungarian
+Gypsies think and express themselves.  They are specimens of
+genuine Gypsy talk - sentences which I have myself heard proceed
+from the mouths of the Czigany; they are not Busno thoughts done
+into gentle Rommany.  Some of them are given here as they were
+written down by me at the time, others as I have preserved them in
+my memory up to the present moment.  It is not improbable that at
+some future time I may return to the subject of the Hungarian
+Gypsies.
+
+Vare tava soskei me puchelas cai soskei avillara catari.
+Mango le gulo Devlas vas o erai, hodj o erai te pirel misto, te
+n'avel pascotia l'eras, ta na avel o erai nasvalo.
+Cana cames aves pale.
+Ki'som dhes keral avel o rai catari? (89)
+Kit somu berschengro hal tu? (90)
+Cade abri mai lachi e mol sar ando foro.
+Sin o mas balichano, ta i gorkhe garasheskri; (91) sin o manro
+parno, cai te felo do garashangro.
+Yeck quartalli mol ando lende.
+Ande mol ote mestchibo.
+Khava piava - dui shel, tri shel predinava.
+Damen Devla saschipo ando mure cocala.
+Te rosarow labio tarraco le Mujeskey miro pralesco, ta vela mi anao
+tukey le Mujeskey miro pralesky.
+Llundun baro foro, bishwar mai baro sar Cosvaro.
+Nani yag, mullas.
+Nasiliom cai purdiom but; besh te pansch bersch mi homas slugadhis
+pa Baron Splini regimentos.
+Saro chiro cado Del; cavo o puro dinas o Del.
+Me camov te jav ando Buka-resti - cado Bukaresti lachico tem dur
+drom jin keri.
+Mi hom nasvallo.
+Soskei nai jas ke baro ful-cheri?
+Wei mangue ke nani man love nastis jav.
+Belgra sho mille pu cado Cosvarri; hin oter miro chabo.
+Te vas Del l'erangue ke meclan man abri ando a pan-dibo.
+Opre rukh sarkhi ye chiriclo, ca kerel anre e chiricli.
+Ca hin tiro ker?
+Ando calo berkho, oter bin miro ker, av prala mensar; jas mengue
+keri.
+Ando bersch dui chiro, ye ven, ta nilei.
+O felhegos del o breschino, te purdel o barbal.
+Hir mi Devlis camo but cavo erai - lacho manus o, Anglus, tama
+rakarel Ungarica; avel catari ando urdon le trin gras-tensas -
+beshel cate abri po buklo tan; le poivasis ando bas irinel ando
+lel.  Bo zedun stadji ta bari barba.
+
+Much I ponder why you ask me (questions), and why you should come
+hither.
+I pray the sweet Goddess for the gentleman, that the gentleman may
+journey well, that misfortune come not to the gentleman, and that
+the gentleman fall not sick.
+When you please come back.
+How many days did the gentleman take to come hither?
+How many years old are you?
+Here out better (is) the wine than in the city.
+The meat is of pig, and the gherkins cost a grosh - the bread is
+white, and the lard costs two groshen.
+One quart of wine amongst us.
+In wine there (is) happiness.
+I will eat, I will drink - two hundred, three hundred I will place
+before.
+Give us Goddess health in our bones.
+I will seek a waistcoat, which I have, for Moses my brother, and I
+will change names with Moses my brother. (92)
+London (is) a big city, twenty times more big than Colosvar.
+There is no fire, it is dead.
+I have suffered and toiled much:  twenty and five years I was
+serving in Baron Splini's regiment.
+Every time (cometh) from God; that old (age) God gave.
+I wish to go unto Bukarest - from Bukarest, the good country, (it
+is) a far way unto (my) house.
+I am sick.
+Why do you not go to the great physician
+Because I have no money I can't go
+Belgrade (is) six miles of land from Colosvar; there is my son.
+May God help the gentlemen that they let me out (from) in the
+prison.
+On the tree (is) the nest of the bird, where makes eggs the female
+bird.
+Where is your house?
+In the black mountain, there is my house; come brother with me; let
+us go to my house.
+In the year (are) two seasons, the winter and summer.
+The cloud gives the rain, and puffs (forth) the wind.
+By my God I love much that gentleman - a good man he, an
+Englishman, but he speaks Hungarian; he came (93) hither in a
+waggon with three horses, he sits here out in the wilderness; (94)
+with a pencil in his hand he writes in a book.  He has a green hat
+and a big beard.
+
+
+
+VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE
+
+
+[This section of the book could not be transcribed as it contained
+many non-european languages]
+
+
+
+APPENDIX - MISCELLANIES IN THE GITANO LANGUAGE
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT
+
+
+
+IT is with the view of preserving as many as possible of the
+monuments of the Spanish Gypsy tongue that the author inserts the
+following pieces; they are for the most part, whether original or
+translated, the productions of the 'Aficion' of Seville, of whom
+something has been said in the Preface to the Spurious Gypsy Poetry
+of Andalusia; not the least remarkable, however, of these pieces is
+a genuine Gypsy composition, the translation of the Apostles' Creed
+by the Gypsies of Cordova, made under the circumstances detailed in
+the second part of the first volume.  To all have been affixed
+translations, more or less literal, to assist those who may wish to
+form some acquaintance with the Gitano language.
+
+
+COTORRES ON CHIPE CALLI / MISCELLANIES
+
+
+BATO Nonrro sos socabas on o tarpe, manjirificado quejesa tute
+acnao; abillanos or tute sichen, y querese tute orependola andial
+on la chen sata on o tarpe; or manrro nonrro de cata chibel
+dinanoslo sejonia, y estormenanos nonrrias bisauras andial sata
+gaberes estormenamos a nonrros bisaraores; y nasti nes muques
+petrar on la bajanbo, bus listrabanos de chorre. - Anarania.
+
+FATHER Our, who dwellest in the heaven, sanctified become thy name;
+come-to-us the thy kingdom, and be-done thy will so in the earth as
+in the heaven; the bread our of every day give-us-it to-day, and
+pardon-us our debts so as we-others pardon (to) our debtors; and
+not let us fall in the temptation, but deliver-us from wickedness.
+- Amen.
+
+Panchabo on Ostebe Bato saro-asisilable, Perbaraor de o tarpe y la
+chen, y on Gresone desquero Beyio Chabal nonrrio Erano, sos guillo
+sar-trujatapucherido per troecane y sardana de or Chanispero
+Manjaro, y purelo de Manjari ostelinda debla; Bricholo ostele de or
+asislar de Brono Alienicato; guillo trejuficao, mule y cabanao; y
+sundilo a los casinobes, (95) y a or brodelo chibel repurelo de
+enrre los mules, y encalomo a los otarpes, y soscabela bestique a
+la tabastorre de Ostebe Bato saro-asisilable, ende aoter a de
+abillar a sarplar a los Apucheris y mules.  Panchabo on or
+Chanispero Manjaro, la Manjari Cangari Pebuldorica y Rebuldorica,
+la Erunon de los Manjaros, or Estormen de los crejetes, la repurelo
+de la mansenquere y la chibiben verable. - Anarania, Tebleque.
+
+I believe in God, Father all-powerful, creator of the heaven and
+the earth, and in Christ his only Son our Lord, who went conceived
+by deed and favour of the Spirit Holy, and born of blessed goddess
+divine; suffered under (of) the might of Bronos Alienicatos; (96)
+went crucified, dead and buried; and descended to the
+conflagrations, and on the third day revived (97) from among the
+dead, and ascended to the heavens, and dwells seated at the right-
+hand of God, Father all-powerful, from there he-has to come to
+impeach (to) the living and dead.  I believe in the Spirit Holy,
+the Holy Church Catholic and Apostolic, the communion of the
+saints, the remission of the sins, the re-birth of the flesh, and
+the life everlasting. - Amen, Jesus.
+
+
+OCANAJIMIA A LA DEBLA / PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN
+
+
+O Debla quirindia, Day de saros los Bordeles on coin panchabo:  per
+los duquipenes sos naquelastes a or pindre de la trejul de tute
+Chaborro majarolisimo te manguelo, Debla, me alcorabises de tute
+chaborro or estormen de sares las dojis y crejetes sos menda
+udicare aquerao on andoba surdete. - Anarania, Tebleque.
+
+Ostebe te berarbe Ostelinda! perdoripe sirles de sardana; or Erano
+sin sartute; bresban tute sirles enrre sares las rumiles, y bresban
+sin or frujero de tute po. - Tebleque.
+
+Manjari Ostelinda, day de Ostebe, brichardila per gaberes
+crejetaores aocana y on la ocana de nonrra beriben! - Anarania,
+Tebleque.
+
+Chimuclani or Bato, or Chabal, or Chanispero manjaro; sata sia on
+or presimelo, aocana, y gajeres:  on los sicles de los sicles. -
+Anarania.
+
+O most holy Virgin, Mother of all the Christians in whom I believe;
+for the agony which thou didst endure at the foot of the cross of
+thy most blessed Son, I entreat thee, Virgin, that thou wilt obtain
+for me, from thy Son, the remission of all the crimes and sins
+which I may have committed in this world. - Amen, Jesus.
+
+God save thee, Maria! full art thou of grace; the Lord is with
+thee; blessed art thou amongst all women, and blessed is the fruit
+of thy womb. - Jesus.
+
+Holy Maria, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour
+of our death! - Amen, Jesus.
+
+Glory (to) the Father, the Son, (and) the Holy Ghost; as was in the
+beginning, now, and for ever:  in the ages of the ages. - Amen.
+
+
+OR CREDO / THE CREED
+SARTA LO CHIBELARON LOS CALES DE CORDOVATI / TRANSLATED BY THE
+GYSPIES OF CORDOVA
+
+
+Pachabelo en Un-debel batu tosaro-baro, que ha querdi el char y la
+chique; y en Un-debel chinoro su unico chaboro erano de amangue,
+que chalo en el trupo de la Majari por el Duquende Majoro, y abio
+del veo de la Majari; guillo curado debajo de la sila de Pontio
+Pilato el chinobaro; guillo mulo y garabado; se chale a las
+jacharis; al trin chibe se ha sicobado de los mules al char; sinela
+bejado a las baste de Un-debel barrea; y de ote abiara a juzgar a
+los mules y a los que no lo sinelan; pachabelo en el Majaro; la
+Cangri Majari barea; el jalar de los Majaries; lo meco de los
+grecos; la resureccion de la maas, y la ochi que no marela.
+
+
+I believe in God the Father all-great, who has made the heaven and
+the earth; and in God the young, his only Son, the Lord of us, who
+went into the body of the blessed (maid) by (means of) the Holy
+Ghost, and came out of the womb of the blessed; he was tormented
+beneath the power of Pontius Pilate, the great Alguazil; was dead
+and buried; he went (down) to the fires; on the third day he raised
+himself from the dead unto the heaven; he is seated at the major
+hand of God; and from thence he shall come to judge the dead and
+those who are not (dead).  I believe in the blessed one; in the
+church holy and great; the banquet of the saints; the remission of
+sins; the resurrection of the flesh, and the life which does not
+die.
+
+
+REJELENDRES / PROVERBS
+
+
+Or soscabela juco y terable garipe no le sin perfine anelar
+relichi.
+Bus yes manupe cha machagarno le pendan chuchipon los brochabos.
+Sacais sos ne dicobelan calochin ne bridaquelan.
+Coin terelare trasardos e dinastes nasti le buchare berrandanas a
+desquero contique.
+On sares las cachimanes de Sersen abillen reches.
+Bus mola yes chirriclo on la ba sos gres balogando.
+A Ostebe brichardilando y sar or mochique dinelando.
+Bus mola quesar jero de gabuno sos manpori de bombardo.
+Dicar y panchabar, sata penda Manjaro Lillar.
+Or esorjie de or narsichisle sin chismar lachinguel.
+Las queles mistos grobelas:  per macara chibel la piri y de rachi
+la operisa.
+Aunsos me dicas vriardao de jorpoy ne sirlo braco.
+Chachipe con jujana - Calzones de buchi y medias de lana.
+Chuquel sos pirela cocal terela.
+Len sos sonsi bela pani o reblandani terela.
+
+He who is lean and has scabs needs not carry a net. (98)
+When a man goes drunk the boys say to him 'suet.' (99)
+Eyes which see not break no heart.
+He who has a roof of glass let him not fling stones at his
+neighbour.
+Into all the taverns of Spain may reeds come.
+A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying.
+To God (be) praying and with the flail plying.
+It is worth more to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.
+To see and to believe, as Saint Thomas says.
+The extreme (100) of a dwarf is to spit largely.
+Houses well managed:- at mid-day the stew-pan, (101) and at night
+salad.
+Although thou seest me dressed in wool I am no sheep.
+Truth with falsehood-Breeches of silk and stockings of Wool. (102)
+The dog who walks finds a bone.
+The river which makes a noise (103) has either water or stones.
+
+
+ODORES YE TILICHE / THE LOVER'S JEALOUSY
+
+
+Dica Calli sos linastes terelas, plasarandote misto men calochin
+desquinao de trinchas punis y canrrias, sata anjella terelaba
+dicando on los chorres naquelos sos me tesumiaste, y andial reutila
+a men Jeli, dinela gao a sos menda orobibele; men puni sin trincha
+per la quimbila nevel de yes manu barbalo; sos saro se muca per or
+jandorro.  Lo sos bus prejeno Calli de los Bengorros sin sos nu
+muqueis per yes manu barbalo. . . . On tute orchiri nu chismo,
+tramisto on coin te araquera, sos menda terela men nostus pa avel
+sos me camela bus sos tute.
+
+Reflect, O Callee! (104) what motives hast thou (now that my heart
+is doting on thee, having rested awhile from so many cares and
+griefs which formerly it endured, beholding the evil passages which
+thou preparedst for me;) to recede thus from my love, giving
+occasion to me to weep.  My agony is great on account of thy recent
+acquaintance with a rich man; for every thing is abandoned for
+money's sake.  What I most feel, O Callee, of the devils is, that
+thou abandonest me for a rich man . . . I spit upon thy beauty, and
+also upon him who converses with thee, for I keep my money for
+another who loves me more than thou.
+
+
+OR PERSIBARARSE SIN CHORO / THE EVILS OF CONCUBINAGE
+
+
+Gajeres sin corbo rifian soscabar yes manu persibarao, per sos saro
+se linbidian odoros y beslli, y per esegriton apuchelan on sardana
+de saros los Benjes, techescando grejos y olajais - de sustiri sos
+lo resaronomo niquilla murmo; y andial lo fendi sos terelamos de
+querar sin techescarle yes sulibari a or Jeli, y ne panchabar on
+caute manusardi, persos trutan a yesque lili.
+
+It is always a strange danger for a man to live in concubinage,
+because all turns to jealousy and quarrelling, and at last they
+live in the favour of all the devils, voiding oaths and curses:  so
+that what is cheap turns out dear.  So the best we can do, is to
+cast a bridle on love, and trust to no woman, for they (105) make a
+man mad.
+
+
+LOS CHORES / THE ROBBERS
+
+
+On grejelo chiro begoreo yesque berbanilla de chores a la burda de
+yes mostipelo a oleba rachi - Andial sos la prejenaron los cambrais
+presimelaron a cobadrar; sar andoba linaste changano or lanbro, se
+sustino de la charipe de lapa, utilo la pusca, y niquillo
+platanando per or platesquero de or mostipelo a la burda sos
+socabelaba pandi, y per or jobi de la clichi chibelo or jundro de
+la pusca, le dino pesquibo a or langute, y le sumuquelo yes
+bruchasno on la tesquera a or Jojerian de los ostilaores y lo
+techesco de or grate a ostele.  Andial sos los debus quimbilos
+dicobelaron a desquero Jojerian on chen sar las canrriales de la
+Beriben, lo chibelaron espusifias a los grastes, y niquillaron
+chapescando, trutando la romuy apala, per bausale de las machas o
+almedalles de liripio.
+
+On a certain time arrived a band of thieves at the gate of a farm-
+house at midnight.  So soon as the dogs heard them they began to
+bark, which causing (106) the labourer to awake, he raised himself
+from his bed with a start, took his musket, and went running to the
+court-yard of the farm-house to the gate, which was shut, placed
+the barrel of his musket to the keyhole, gave his finger its
+desire, (107) and sent a bullet into the forehead of the captain of
+the robbers, casting him down from his horse.  Soon as the other
+fellows saw their captain on the ground in the agonies of death,
+they clapped spurs to their horses, and galloped off fleeing,
+turning their faces back on account of the flies (108) or almonds
+of lead.
+
+
+COTOR YE GABICOTE MAJARO / SPECIMEN OF THE GOSPEL
+OR SOS SARO LO HA CHIBADO EN CHIPE CALLI OR RANDADOR DE OCONOS
+PAPIRIS AUNSOS NARDIAN LO HA DINADO AL SURDETE.
+FROM THE AUTHOR'S UNPUBLISHED TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
+
+
+Y soscabando dicando dico los Barbalos sos techescaban desqueros
+mansis on or Gazofilacio; y dico tramisto yesque pispiricha
+chorrorita, sos techescaba duis chinorris saraballis, y penelo:  en
+chachipe os penelo, sos caba chorrorri pispiricha a techescao bus
+sos sares los aveles:  persos saros ondobas han techescao per los
+mansis de Ostebe, de lo sos les costuna; bus caba e desquero
+chorrorri a techescao saro or susalo sos terelaba.  Y pendo a
+cormunis, sos pendaban del cangaripe, soscabelaba uriardao de
+orchiris berrandanas, y de denes:  Cabas buchis sos dicais,
+abillaran chibeles, bus ne muquelara berrandana costune berrandana,
+sos ne quesesa demarabea.  Y le prucharon y pendaron:  Docurdo, bus
+quesa ondoba?  Y sos simachi abicara bus ondoba presimare?  Ondole
+penclo:  Dicad, sos nasti queseis jonjabaos; persos butes abillaran
+on men acnao, pendando:  man sirlo, y or chiro soscabela pajes:
+Garabaos de guillelar apala, de ondolayos:  y bus junureis barganas
+y sustines, ne os espajueis; persos sin perfine sos ondoba chundee
+brotobo, bus nasti quesa escotria or egresiton.  Oclinde les
+pendaba:  se sustinara sueste sartra sueste, y sichen sartra
+sichen, y abicara bareles dajiros de chenes per los gaos, y
+retreques y bocatas, y abicara buchengeres espajuis, y bareles
+simachis de otarpe:  bus anjella de saro ondoba os sinastraran y
+preguillaran, enregandoos a la Socreteria, y los ostardos, y os
+legeraran a los Oclayes, y a los Baquedunis, per men acnao:  y
+ondoba os chundeara on chachipe.  Terelad pus seraji on bros
+garlochines de ne orobrar anjella sata abicais de brudilar, persos
+man os dinare rotuni y chanar, la sos ne asislaran resistir ne
+sartra pendar satos bros enormes.  Y quesareis enregaos de bros
+batos, y opranos, y sastris, y monrrores, y queraran merar a
+cormuni de averes; y os cangelaran saros per men acnao; bus ne
+carjibara ies bal de bros jeros.  Sar bras opachirima avelareis
+bras orchis:  pus bus dicareis a Jerusalen relli, oclinde chanad
+sos, desquero petra soscabela pajes; oclinde los soscabelan on la
+Chutea, chapesguen a los tober-jelis; y los que on macara de
+ondolaya, niquillense; y lo sos on los oltariques, nasti enrren on
+ondolaya; persos ondoba sen chibeles de Abillaza, pa sos chundeen
+sares las buchis soscabelan libanas; bus isna de las araris, y de
+las sos dinan de oropielar on asirios chibeles; persos abicara bare
+quichartura costune la chen, e guillara pa andoba Gao; y petraran a
+surabi de janrro; y quesan legeraos sinastros a sares las chenes, y
+Jerusalen quesa omana de los suestiles, sasta sos quejesen los
+chiros de las sichenes; y abicara simaches on or orcan, y on la
+chimutia, y on las uchurganis; y on la chen chalabeo on la suete
+per or dan sos bausalara la loria y des-queros gulas; muquelando
+los romares bifaos per dajiralo de las buchis sos costune abillaran
+a saro or surdete; persos los solares de los otarpes quesan sar-
+chalabeaos; y oclinde dicaran a or Chaboro e Manu abillar costune
+yesque minrricla sar baro asislar y Chimusolano:  bus presimelaren
+a chundear caba buchis, dicad, y sustinad bros jeros, persos pajes
+soscabela bras redencion.
+
+And whilst looking he saw the rich who cast their treasures into
+the treasury; and he saw also a poor widow, who cast two small
+coins, and he said:  In truth I tell you, that this poor widow has
+cast more than all the others; because all those have cast, as
+offerings to God, from that which to them abounded; but she from
+her poverty has cast all the substance which she had.  And he said
+to some, who said of the temple, that it was adorned with fair
+stones, and with gifts:  These things which ye see, days shall
+come, when stone shall not remain upon stone, which shall not be
+demolished.  And they asked him and said:  Master, when shall this
+be? and what sign shall there be when this begins?  He said:  See,
+that ye be not deceived, because many shall come in my name,
+saying:  I am (he), and the time is near:  beware ye of going after
+them:  and when ye shall hear (of) wars and revolts do not fear,
+because it is needful that this happen first, for the end shall not
+be immediately.  Then he said to them:  Nation shall rise against
+nation, and country against country, and there shall be great
+tremblings of earth among the towns, and pestilences and famines;
+and there shall be frightful things, and great signs in the heaven:
+but before all this they shall make ye captive, and shall
+persecute, delivering ye over to the synagogue, and prisons; and
+they shall carry ye to the kings, and the governors, on account of
+my name:  and this shall happen to you for truth.  Keep then firm
+in your hearts, not to think before how ye have to answer, for I
+will give you mouth and wisdom, which all your enemies shall not be
+able to resist, or contradict.  And ye shall be delivered over by
+your fathers, and brothers, and relations, and friends, and they
+shall put to death some of you; and all shall hate you for my name;
+but not one hair of your heads shall perish.  With your patience ye
+shall possess your souls:  but when ye shall see Jerusalem
+surrounded, then know that its fall is near; then those who are in
+Judea, let them escape to the mountains; and those who are in the
+midst of her, let them go out; and those who are in the fields, let
+them not enter into her; because those are days of vengeance, that
+all the things which are written may happen; but alas to the
+pregnant and those who give suck in those days, for there shall be
+great distress upon the earth, and it shall move onward against
+this people; and they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and they
+shall be carried captive to all the countries, and Jerusalem shall
+be trodden by the nations, until are accomplished the times of the
+nations; and there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and
+in the stars; and in the earth trouble of nations from the fear
+which the sea and its billows shall cause; leaving men frozen with
+terror of the things which shall come upon all the world; because
+the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then they shall see
+the Son of Man coming upon a cloud with great power and glory:
+when these things begin to happen, look ye, and raise your heads,
+for your redemption is near.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+
+'TACHIPEN if I jaw 'doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch:  N'etist
+I shan't puch kekomi wafu gorgies.'
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr.
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at
+my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus, (109) 1842:  he
+stayed with me during the greatest part of the morning, discoursing
+on the affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was
+becoming daily worse and worse.  'There is no living for the poor
+people, brother,' said he, 'the chok-engres (police) pursue us from
+place to place, and the gorgios are become either so poor or
+miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass by the way
+side, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire upon.  Unless
+times alter, brother, and of that I see no probability, unless you
+are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro (justice of the peace
+or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons will have to give
+up wandering altogether, and then what will become of them?
+
+'However, brother,' he continued, in a more cheerful tone, 'I am no
+hindity mush, (110) as you well know.  I suppose you have not
+forgot how, fifteen years ago, when you made horse-shoes in the
+little dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty
+cottors (111) to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the
+innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you
+sold for two hundred.
+
+'Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred, instead of the
+fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I
+knew you would not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush,
+brother, no Irishman; I laid out the other day twenty pounds in
+buying rupenoe peam-engries; (112) and in the Chong-gav, (113) have
+a house of my own with a yard behind it.
+
+'AND, FORSOOTH, IF I GO THITHER, I CAN CHOOSE A PLACE TO LIGHT A
+FIRE UPON, AND SHALL HAVE NO NECESSITY TO ASK LEAVE OF THESE HERE
+GENTILES.'
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the
+English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in
+which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy
+dialect holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken:
+yet the English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the
+Spanish, and still retains its original syntax to a certain extent,
+its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and
+pronouns.  I must, however, qualify this last assertion, by
+observing that in the genuine Rommany there are no prepositions,
+but, on the contrary, post-positions; now, in the case of the
+English dialect, these post-positions have been lost, and their
+want, with the exception of the genitive, has been supplied with
+English prepositions, as may be seen by a short example:-
+
+
+Hungarian Gypsy.(114) English Gypsy.    English.
+Job                   Yow               He
+Leste                 Leste             Of him
+Las                   Las               To him
+Les                   Los               Him
+Lester                From leste        From him
+Leha                  With leste        With him
+
+PLURAL.
+
+Hungarian Gypsy     English Gypsy.    English
+Jole                Yaun              They
+Lente               Lente             Of them
+Len                 Len               To them
+Len                 Len               Them
+Lender              From Lende        From them
+
+The following comparison of words selected at random from the
+English and Spanish dialects of the Rommany will, perhaps, not be
+uninteresting to the philologist or even to the general reader.
+Could a doubt be at present entertained that the Gypsy language is
+virtually the same in all parts of the world where it is spoken, I
+conceive that such a vocabulary would at once remove it.
+
+
+          English Gypsy.       Spanish Gypsy.
+Ant       Cria                 Crianse
+Bread     Morro                Manro
+City      Forus                Foros
+Dead      Mulo                 Mulo
+Enough    Dosta                Dosta
+Fish      Matcho               Macho
+Great     Boro                 Baro
+House     Ker                  Quer
+Iron      Saster               Sas
+King      Krallis              Cralis
+Love(I)   Camova               Camelo
+Moon      Tchun                Chimutra
+Night     Rarde                Rati
+Onion     Purrum               Porumia
+Poison    Drav                 Drao
+Quick     Sig                  Sigo
+Rain      Brishindo            Brejindal
+Sunday    Koorokey             Curque
+Teeth     Danor                Dani
+Village   Gav                  Gao
+White     Pauno                Parno
+Yes       Avali                Ungale
+
+As specimens of how the English dialect maybe written, the
+following translations of the Lord's Prayer and Belief will perhaps
+suffice.
+
+
+THE LORD'S PRAYER
+
+
+Miry dad, odoi oprey adrey tiro tatcho tan; Medeveleskoe si tiro
+nav; awel tiro tem, be kairdo tiro lav acoi drey pov sa odoi adrey
+kosgo tan:  dey mande ke-divvus miry diry morro, ta fordel man sor
+so me pazzorrus tute, sa me fordel sor so wavior mushor pazzorrus
+amande; ma riggur man adrey kek dosch, ley man abri sor wafodu;
+tiro se o tem, tiro or zoozli-wast, tiro or corauni, kanaw ta ever-
+komi.  Avali.  Tatchipen.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+My Father, yonder up within thy good place; god-like be thy name;
+come thy kingdom, be done thy word here in earth as yonder in good
+place.  Give to me to-day my dear bread, and forgive me all that I
+am indebted to thee, as I forgive all that other men are indebted
+to me; not lead me into any ill; take me out (of) all evil; thine
+is the kingdom, thine the strong hand, thine the crown, now and
+evermore.  Yea.  Truth.
+
+
+THE BELIEF
+
+
+Me apasavenna drey mi-dovvel, Dad soro-ruslo, savo kedas charvus ta
+pov:  apasavenna drey olescro yeck chavo moro arauno Christos, lias
+medeveleskoe Baval-engro, beano of wendror of medeveleskoe gairy
+Mary:  kurredo tuley me-cralliskoe geiro Pontius Pilaten wast;
+nasko pre rukh, moreno, chivios adrey o hev; jas yov tuley o kalo
+dron ke wafudo tan, bengeskoe stariben; jongorasa o trito divvus,
+atchasa opre to tatcho tan, Mi-dovvels kair; bestela kanaw odoi pre
+Mi-dovvels tacho wast Dad soro-boro; ava sig to lel shoonaben opre
+mestepen and merripen.  Apasa-venna en develeskoe Baval-engro; Boro
+develeskoe congri, develeskoe pios of sore tacho foky ketteney,
+soror wafudu-penes fordias, soror mulor jongorella, kek merella
+apopli.  Avali, palor.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+I believe in my God, Father all powerful, who made heaven and
+earth; I believe in his one Son our Lord Christ, conceived by Holy
+Ghost, (117) born of bowels of Holy Virgin Mary, beaten under the
+royal governor Pontius Pilate's hand; hung on a tree, slain, put
+into the grave; went he down the black road to bad place, the
+devil's prison; he awaked the third day, ascended up to good place,
+my God's house; sits now there on my God's right hand Father-all-
+powerful; shall come soon to hold judgment over life and death.  I
+believe in Holy Ghost; Great Holy Church, Holy festival of all good
+people together, all sins forgiveness, that all dead arise, no more
+die again.  Yea, brothers.
+
+
+SPECIMEN OF A SONG IN THE VULGAR OR BROKEN ROMMANY
+
+
+As I was a jawing to the gav yeck divvus,
+I met on the dron miro Rommany chi:
+I puch'd yoi whether she com sar mande;
+And she penn'd:  tu si wafo Rommany,
+
+And I penn'd, I shall ker tu miro tacho Rommany,
+Fornigh tute but dui chave:
+Methinks I'll cam tute for miro merripen,
+If tu but pen, thou wilt commo sar mande.
+
+
+TRANSLATION
+
+
+One day as I was going to the village,
+I met on the road my Rommany lass:
+I ask'd her whether she would come with me,
+And she said thou hast another wife.
+
+I said, I will make thee my lawful wife,
+Because thou hast but two children;
+Methinks I will love thee until my death,
+If thou but say thou wilt come with me.
+
+Many other specimens of the English Gypsy muse might be here
+adduced; it is probable, however, that the above will have fully
+satisfied the curiosity of the reader.  It has been inserted here
+for the purpose of showing that the Gypsies have songs in their own
+language, a fact which has been denied.  In its metre it resembles
+the ancient Sclavonian ballads, with which it has another feature
+in common - the absence of rhyme.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+(1) QUARTERLY REVIEW, Dec. 1842
+
+(2) EDINBURGH REVIEW, Feb. 1843.
+
+(3) EXAMINER, Dec. 17, 1842.
+
+(4) SPECTATOR, Dec. 7, 1842.
+
+(5) Thou speakest well, brother!
+
+(6) This is quite a mistake:  I know very little of what has been
+written concerning these people:  even the work of Grellmann had
+not come beneath my perusal at the time of the publication of the
+first edition OF THE ZINCALI, which I certainly do not regret:  for
+though I believe the learned German to be quite right in his theory
+with respect to the origin of the Gypsies, his acquaintance with
+their character, habits, and peculiarities, seems to have been
+extremely limited.
+
+(7) Good day.
+
+(8) Glandered horse.
+
+(9) Two brothers.
+
+(10) The edition here referred to has long since been out of print.
+
+(11) It may not be amiss to give the etymology of the word engro,
+which so frequently occurs in compound words in the English Gypsy
+tongue:- the EN properly belongs to the preceding noun, being one
+of the forms of the genitive case; for example, Elik-EN boro
+congry, the great Church or Cathedral of Ely; the GRO or GEIRO
+(Spanish GUERO), is the Sanscrit KAR, a particle much used in that
+language in the formation of compounds; I need scarcely add that
+MONGER in the English words Costermonger, Ironmonger, etc., is
+derived from the same root.
+
+(12) For the knowledge of this fact I am indebted to the well-known
+and enterprising traveller, Mr. Vigne, whose highly interesting
+work on Cashmire and the Panjab requires no recommendation from me.
+
+(13) Gorgio (Spanish GACHO), a man who is not a Gypsy:  the Spanish
+Gypsies term the Gentiles Busne, the meaning of which word will be
+explained farther on.
+
+(14) An Eastern image tantamount to the taking away of life.
+
+(15) Gentes non multum morigeratae, sed quasi bruta animalia et
+furentes.  See vol. xxii. of the Supplement to the works of
+Muratori, p. 890.
+
+(16) As quoted by Hervas:  CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, vol. iii. p.
+306.
+
+(17) We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and
+Spanish; it runs thus in the former language:-
+
+'LAS MUCHIS.  (The Sparks.)
+
+'Bus de gres chabalas orchiris man dique a yes chiro purelar
+sistilias sata rujias, y or sisli carjibal dinando trutas
+discandas.
+
+(18) In the above little tale the writer confesses that there are
+many things purely imaginary; the most material point, however, the
+attempt to sack the town during the pestilence, which was defeated
+by the courage and activity of an individual, rests on historical
+evidence the most satisfactory.  It is thus mentioned in the work
+of Francisco de Cordova (he was surnamed Cordova from having been
+for many years canon in that city):-
+
+'Annis praeteritis Iuliobrigam urbem, vulgo Logrono, pestilenti
+laborantem morbo, et hominibus vacuam invadere hi ac diripere
+tentarunt, perfecissentque ni Dens O. M. cuiusdam BIBLIOPOLAE
+opera, in corum, capita, quam urbi moliebantur perniciem
+avertisset.'  DIDASCALIA, Lugduni, 1615, I vol. 8VO. p. 405, cap.
+50.
+
+(19) Yet notwithstanding that we refuse credit to these particular
+narrations of Quinones and Fajardo, acts of cannibalism may
+certainly have been perpetrated by the Gitanos of Spain in ancient
+times, when they were for the most part semi-savages living amongst
+mountains and deserts, where food was hard to be procured:  famine
+may have occasionally compelled them to prey on human flesh, as it
+has in modern times compelled people far more civilised than
+wandering Gypsies.
+
+(20) England.
+
+(21) Spain.
+
+(22) MITHRIDATES:  erster Theil, s. 241.
+
+(23) Torreblanca:  DE MAGIA, 1678.
+
+(24) Exodus, chap. xiii. v. 9.  'And it shall be for a sign unto
+thee upon thy hand.' Eng.  Trans.
+
+(25) No chapter in the book of Job contains any such verse.
+
+(26) 'And the children of Israel went out with an high hand.'
+Exodus, chap. xiv. v. 8. Eng.  Trans.
+
+(27) No such verse is to be found in the book mentioned.
+
+(28) Prov., chap. vii. vers. 11, 12.  'She is loud and stubborn;
+her feet abide not in her house.  Now is she without, now in the
+streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.'  Eng. Trans.
+
+(29) HISTORIA DE ALONSO, MOZO DE MUCHOS AMOS:  or, the story of
+Alonso, servant of many masters; an entertaining novel, written in
+the seventeenth century, by Geronimo of Alcala, from which some
+extracts were given in the first edition of the present work.
+
+(30) O Ali! O Mahomet! - God is God! - A Turkish war-cry.
+
+(31) Gen. xlix. 22.
+
+(32) In the original there is a play on words. - It is not
+necessary to enter into particulars farther than to observe that in
+the Hebrew language 'ain' means a well, and likewise an eye.
+
+(33) Gen. xlviii. 16.  In the English version the exact sense of
+the inspired original is not conveyed.  The descendants of Joseph
+are to increase like fish.
+
+(34) Exodus, chap. xii. v. 37, 38.
+
+(35) Quinones, p. 11.
+
+(36) The writer will by no means answer for the truth of these
+statements respecting Gypsy marriages.
+
+(37) This statement is incorrect.
+
+(38) The Torlaquis (idle vagabonds), Hadgies (saints), and
+Dervishes (mendicant friars) of the East, are Gypsies neither by
+origin nor habits, but are in general people who support themselves
+in idleness by practising upon the credulity and superstition of
+the Moslems.
+
+(39) In the Moorish Arabic, [Arabic text which cannot be
+reproduced] - or reus al haramin, the literal meaning being, 'heads
+or captains of thieves.'
+
+(40) A favourite saying amongst this class of people is the
+following:  'Es preciso que cada uno coma de su oficio'; I.E. every
+one must live by his trade.
+
+(41) For the above well-drawn character of Charles the Third I am
+indebted to the pen of Louis de Usoz y Rio, my coadjutor in the
+editing of the New Testament in Spanish (Madrid, 1837).  For a
+further account of this gentleman, the reader is referred to THE
+BIBLE IN SPAIN, preface, p. xxii.
+
+(42) Steal a horse.
+
+(43) The lame devil:  Asmodeus.
+
+(44) Rinconete and Cortadillo.
+
+(45) The great river, or Guadalquiver.
+
+(46) A fountain in Paradise.
+
+(47) A Gypsy word signifying 'exceeding much.'
+
+(48) 'Lengua muy cerrada.'
+
+(49) 'No camelo ser eray, es Calo mi nacimiento;
+No camelo ser eray, eon ser Cale me contento.'
+
+(50) Armed partisans, or guerillas on horseback:  they waged a war
+of extermination against the French, but at the same time plundered
+their countrymen without scruple.
+
+(51) The Basques speak a Tartar dialect which strikingly resembles
+the Mongolian and the Mandchou.
+
+(52) A small nation or rather sect of contrabandistas, who inhabit
+the valley of Pas amidst the mountains of Santander; they carry
+long sticks, in the handling of which they are unequalled.  Armed
+with one of these sticks, a smuggler of Pas has been known to beat
+off two mounted dragoons.
+
+(53) The hostess, Maria Diaz, and her son Joan Jose Lopez, were
+present when the outcast uttered these prophetic words.
+
+(54) Eodem anno precipue fuit pestis seu mortalitas Forlivio.
+
+(55) This work is styled HISTORIA DE LOS GITANOS, by J. M-,
+published at Barcelona in the year 1832; it consists of ninety-
+three very small and scantily furnished pages.  Its chief, we might
+say its only merit, is the style, which is fluent and easy.  The
+writer is a theorist, and sacrifices truth and probability to the
+shrine of one idea, and that one of the most absurd that ever
+entered the head of an individual.  He endeavours to persuade his
+readers that the Gitanos are the descendants of the Moors, and the
+greatest part of his work is a history of those Africans, from the
+time of their arrival in the Peninsula till their expatriation by
+Philip the Third.  The Gitanos he supposes to be various tribes of
+wandering Moors, who baffled pursuit amidst the fastnesses of the
+hills; he denies that they are of the same origin as the Gypsies,
+Bohemians, etc., of other lands, though he does not back his denial
+by any proofs, and is confessedly ignorant of the Gitano language,
+the grand criterion.
+
+(56) A Russian word signifying beans.
+
+(57) The term for poisoning swine in English Gypsy is DRABBING
+BAWLOR.
+
+(58) Por medio de chalanerias.
+
+(59) The English.
+
+(60) These words are very ancient, and were, perhaps, used by the
+earliest Spanish Gypsies; they differ much from the language of the
+present day, and are quite unintelligible to the modern Gitanos.
+
+(61) It was speedily prohibited, together with the Basque gospel;
+by a royal ordonnance, however, which appeared in the Gazette of
+Madrid, in August 1838, every public library in the kingdom was
+empowered to purchase two copies in both languages, as the works in
+question were allowed to possess some merit IN A LITERARY POINT OF
+VIEW.  For a particular account of the Basque translation, and also
+some remarks on the Euscarra language, the reader is referred to
+THE BIBLE IN SPAIN, vol. ii. p. 385-398.
+
+(62) Steal me, Gypsy.
+
+(63) A species of gendarme or armed policeman.  The Miquelets have
+existed in Spain for upwards of two hundred years.  They are called
+Miquelets, from the name of their original leader.  They are
+generally Aragonese by nation, and reclaimed robbers.
+
+(64) Those who may be desirous of perusing the originals of the
+following rhymes should consult former editions of this work.
+
+(65) For the original, see other editions.
+
+(66) For this information concerning Palmireno, and also for a
+sight of the somewhat rare volume written by him, the author was
+indebted to a kind friend, a native of Spain.
+
+(67) A very unfair inference; that some of the Gypsies did not
+understand the author when he spoke Romaic, was no proof that their
+own private language was a feigned one, invented for thievish
+purposes.
+
+(68) Of all these, the most terrible, and whose sway endured for
+the longest period, were the Mongols, as they were called:  few,
+however, of his original Mongolian warriors followed Timour in the
+invasion of India.  His armies latterly appear to have consisted
+chiefly of Turcomans and Persians.  It was to obtain popularity
+amongst these soldiery that he abandoned his old religion, a kind
+of fetish, or sorcery, and became a Mahometan.
+
+(69) As quoted by Adelung, MITHRIDATES, vol. i.
+
+(70) Mithridates.
+
+(70) For example, in the HISTORIA DE LOS GITANOS, of which we have
+had occasion to speak in the first part of the present work:
+amongst other things the author says, p. 95, 'If there exist any
+similitude of customs between the Gitanos and the Gypsies, the
+Zigeuners, the Zingari, and the Bohemians, they (the Gitanos)
+cannot, however, be confounded with these nomad castes, nor the
+same origin be attributed to them; . . . all that we shall find in
+common between these people will be, that the one (the Gypsies,
+etc.) arrived fugitives from the heart of Asia by the steppes of
+Tartary, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, while the
+Gitanos, descended from the Arab or Morisco tribes, came from the
+coast of Africa as conquerors at the beginning of the eighth.'
+
+He gets rid of any evidence with respect to the origin of the
+Gitanos which their language might be capable of affording in the
+following summary manner:  'As to the particular jargon which they
+use, any investigation which people might pretend to make would be
+quite useless; in the first place, on account of the reserve which
+they exhibit on this point; and secondly, because, in the event of
+some being found sufficiently communicative, the information which
+they could impart would lead to no advantageous result, owing to
+their extreme ignorance.'
+
+It is scarcely worth while to offer a remark on reasoning which
+could only emanate from an understanding of the very lowest order,
+- so the Gitanos are so extremely ignorant, that however frank they
+might wish to be, they would be unable to tell the curious inquirer
+the names for bread and water, meat and salt, in their own peculiar
+tongue - for, assuredly, had they sense enough to afford that
+slight quantum of information, it would lead to two very
+advantageous results, by proving, first, that they spoke the same
+language as the Gypsies, etc., and were consequently the same
+people - and secondly, that they came not from the coast of
+Northern Africa, where only Arabic and Shillah are spoken, but from
+the heart of Asia, three words of the four being pure Sanscrit.
+
+(72) As given in the MITHRIDATES of Adelung.
+
+(73) Possibly from the Russian BOLOSS, which has the same
+signification.
+
+(74) Basque, BURUA.
+
+(75) Sanscrit, SCHIRRA.
+
+(76) These two words, which Hervas supposes to be Italian used in
+an improper sense, are probably of quite another origin.  LEN, in
+Gitano, signifies 'river,' whilst VADI in Russian is equivalent to
+water.
+
+(77) It is not our intention to weary the reader with prolix
+specimens; nevertheless, in corroboration of what we have asserted,
+we shall take the liberty of offering a few.  Piar, to drink, (p.
+188,) is Sanscrit, PIAVA.  Basilea, gallows, (p. 158,) is Russian,
+BECILITZ.  Caramo, wine, and gurapo, galley, (pp. 162, 176,)
+Arabic, HARAM (which literally signifies that which is forbidden)
+and GRAB.  Iza, (p. 179,) harlot, Turkish, KIZE.  Harton, bread,
+(p. 177,) Greek, ARTOS.  Guido, good, and hurgamandera, harlot,
+(pp. 177, 178,) German, GUT and HURE.  Tiple, wine, (p. 197,) is
+the same as the English word tipple, Gypsy, TAPILLAR.
+
+(78) This word is pure Wallachian ([Greek text which cannot be
+reproduced]), and was brought by the Gypsies into England; it means
+'booty,' or what is called in the present cant language, 'swag.'
+The Gypsies call booty 'louripen.'
+
+(79) Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+(80) Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+(81) Guineas.
+
+(82) Silver teapots.
+
+(83) The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+(84) In the Spanish Gypsy version, 'our bread of each day.'
+
+(85) Span., 'forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.'
+
+(86) Eng., 'all evil FROM'; Span., 'from all ugliness.'
+
+(87) Span., 'for thine.'
+
+(88) By Hungary is here meant not only Hungary proper, but
+Transylvania.
+
+(89) How many days made come the gentleman hither.
+
+(90) How many-year fellow are you.
+
+(91) Of a grosh.
+
+(92) My name shall be to you for Moses my brother.
+
+(93) Comes.
+
+(94) Empty place.
+
+(95) V. CASINOBEN in Lexicon.
+
+(96) By these two words, Pontius Pilate is represented, but whence
+they are derived I know not.
+
+(97) Reborn.
+
+(98) Poverty is always avoided.
+
+(99) A drunkard reduces himself to the condition of a hog.
+
+(100) The most he can do.
+
+(101) The puchero, or pan of glazed earth, in which bacon, beef,
+and garbanzos are stewed.
+
+(102) Truth contrasts strangely with falsehood; this is a genuine
+Gypsy proverb, as are the two which follow; it is repeated
+throughout Spain WITHOUT BEING UNDERSTOOD.
+
+(103) In the original WEARS A MOUTH; the meaning is, ask nothing,
+gain nothing.
+
+(104) Female Gypsy,
+
+(105) Women UNDERSTOOD.
+
+(106) With that motive awoke the labourer.  ORIG.
+
+(107) Gave its pleasure to the finger, I.E. his finger was itching
+to draw the trigger, and he humoured it.
+
+(108) They feared the shot and slugs, which are compared, and not
+badly, to flies and almonds.
+
+(109) Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+(110) Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+(111) Guineas.
+
+(114) Silver tea-pots.
+
+(115) The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+(116) As given by Grellmann.
+
+(117) The English Gypsies having, in their dialect, no other term
+for ghost than mulo, which simply means a dead person, I have been
+obliged to substitute a compound word.  Bavalengro signifies
+literally a wind thing, or FORM OF AIR.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Zincali -- An Account of the
+Gypsies of Spain, by George Borrow
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+**The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Zincali by George Borrow**
+The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
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+
+
+The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain by George Borrow
+Scanned and proofed by David Price
+ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+
+The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+
+IT is with some diffidence that the author ventures to offer the 
+present work to the public.
+
+The greater part of it has been written under very peculiar 
+circumstances, such as are not in general deemed at all favourable 
+for literary composition:  at considerable intervals, during a 
+period of nearly five years passed in Spain - in moments snatched 
+from more important pursuits - chiefly in ventas and posadas, 
+whilst wandering through the country in the arduous and unthankful 
+task of distributing the Gospel among its children.
+
+Owing to the causes above stated, he is aware that his work must 
+not unfrequently appear somewhat disjointed and unconnected, and 
+the style rude and unpolished:  he has, nevertheless, permitted the 
+tree to remain where he felled it, having, indeed, subsequently 
+enjoyed too little leisure to make much effectual alteration.
+
+At the same time he flatters himself that the work is not destitute 
+of certain qualifications to entitle it to approbation.  The 
+author's acquaintance with the Gypsy race in general dates from a 
+very early period of his life, which considerably facilitated his 
+intercourse with the Peninsular portion, to the elucidation of 
+whose history and character the present volumes are more 
+particularly devoted.  Whatever he has asserted, is less the result 
+of reading than of close observation, he having long since come to 
+the conclusion that the Gypsies are not a people to be studied in 
+books, or at least in such books as he believes have hitherto been 
+written concerning them.
+
+Throughout he has dealt more in facts than in theories, of which he 
+is in general no friend.  True it is, that no race in the world 
+affords, in many points, a more extensive field for theory and 
+conjecture than the Gypsies, who are certainly a very mysterious 
+people come from some distant land, no mortal knows why, and who 
+made their first appearance in Europe at a dark period, when events 
+were not so accurately recorded as at the present time.
+
+But if he has avoided as much as possible touching upon subjects 
+which must always, to a certain extent, remain shrouded in 
+obscurity; for example, the, original state and condition of the 
+Gypsies, and the causes which first brought them into Europe; he 
+has stated what they are at the present day, what he knows them to 
+be from a close scrutiny of their ways and habits, for which, 
+perhaps, no one ever enjoyed better opportunities; and he has, 
+moreover, given - not a few words culled expressly for the purpose 
+of supporting a theory, but one entire dialect of their language, 
+collected with much trouble and difficulty; and to this he humbly 
+calls the attention of the learned, who, by comparing it with 
+certain languages, may decide as to the countries in which the 
+Gypsies have lived or travelled.
+
+With respect to the Gypsy rhymes in the second volume, he wishes to 
+make one observation which cannot be too frequently repeated, and 
+which he entreats the reader to bear in mind:  they are GYPSY 
+COMPOSITIONS, and have little merit save so far as they throw light 
+on the manner of thinking and speaking of the Gypsy people, or 
+rather a portion of them, and as to what they are capable of 
+effecting in the way of poetry.  It will, doubtless, be said that 
+the rhymes are TRASH; - even were it so, they are original, and on 
+that account, in a philosophic point of view, are more valuable 
+than the most brilliant compositions pretending to describe Gypsy 
+life, but written by persons who are not of the Gypsy sect.  Such 
+compositions, however replete with fiery sentiments, and allusions 
+to freedom and independence, are certain to be tainted with 
+affectation.  Now in the Gypsy rhymes there is no affectation, and 
+on that very account they are different in every respect from the 
+poetry of those interesting personages who figure, under the names 
+of Gypsies, Gitanos, Bohemians, etc., in novels and on the boards 
+of the theatre.
+
+It will, perhaps, be objected to the present work, that it contains 
+little that is edifying in a moral or Christian point of view:  to 
+such an objection the author would reply, that the Gypsies are not 
+a Christian people, and that their morality is of a peculiar kind, 
+not calculated to afford much edification to what is generally 
+termed the respectable portion of society.  Should it be urged that 
+certain individuals have found them very different from what they 
+are represented in these volumes, he would frankly say that he 
+yields no credit to the presumed fact, and at the same time he 
+would refer to the vocabulary contained in the second volume, 
+whence it will appear that the words HOAX and HOCUS have been 
+immediately derived from the language of the Gypsies, who, there is 
+good reason to believe, first introduced the system into Europe, to 
+which those words belong.
+
+The author entertains no ill-will towards the Gypsies; why should 
+he, were he a mere carnal reasoner?  He has known them for upwards 
+of twenty years, in various countries, and they never injured a 
+hair of his head, or deprived him of a shred of his raiment; but he 
+is not deceived as to the motive of their forbearance:  they 
+thought him a ROM, and on this supposition they hurt him not, their 
+love of 'the blood' being their most distinguishing characteristic.  
+He derived considerable assistance from them in Spain, as in 
+various instances they officiated as colporteurs in the 
+distribution of the Gospel:  but on that account he is not prepared 
+to say that they entertained any love for the Gospel or that they 
+circulated it for the honour of Tebleque the Saviour.  Whatever 
+they did for the Gospel in Spain, was done in the hope that he whom 
+they conceived to be their brother had some purpose in view which 
+was to contribute to the profit of the Cales, or Gypsies, and to 
+terminate in the confusion and plunder of the Busne, or Gentiles.  
+Convinced of this, he is too little of an enthusiast to rear, on 
+such a foundation, any fantastic edifice of hope which would soon 
+tumble to the ground.
+
+The cause of truth can scarcely be forwarded by enthusiasm, which 
+is almost invariably the child of ignorance and error.  The author 
+is anxious to direct the attention of the public towards the 
+Gypsies; but he hopes to be able to do so without any romantic 
+appeals in their behalf, by concealing the truth, or by warping the 
+truth until it becomes falsehood.  In the following pages he has 
+depicted the Gypsies as he has found them, neither aggravating 
+their crimes nor gilding them with imaginary virtues.  He has not 
+expatiated on 'their gratitude towards good people, who treat them 
+kindly and take an interest in their welfare'; for he believes that 
+of all beings in the world they are the least susceptible of such a 
+feeling.  Nor has he ever done them injustice by attributing to 
+them licentious habits, from which they are, perhaps, more free 
+than any race in the creation.
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
+
+
+
+I CANNOT permit the second edition of this work to go to press 
+without premising it with a few words.
+
+When some two years ago I first gave THE ZINCALI to the world, it 
+was, as I stated at the time, with considerable hesitation and 
+diffidence:  the composition of it and the collecting of Gypsy 
+words had served as a kind of relaxation to me whilst engaged in 
+the circulation of the Gospel in Spain.  After the completion of 
+the work, I had not the slightest idea that it possessed any 
+peculiar merit, or was calculated to make the slightest impression 
+upon the reading world.  Nevertheless, as every one who writes 
+feels a kind of affection, greater or less, for the productions of 
+his pen, I was averse, since the book was written, to suffer it to 
+perish of damp in a lumber closet, or by friction in my travelling 
+wallet.  I committed it therefore to the press, with a friendly 
+'Farewell, little book; I have done for you all I can, and much 
+more than you deserve.'
+
+My expectations at this time were widely different from those of my 
+namesake George in the VICAR OF WAKEFIELD when he published his 
+paradoxes.  I took it as a matter of course that the world, whether 
+learned or unlearned, would say to my book what they said to his 
+paradoxes, as the event showed, - nothing at all.  To my utter 
+astonishment, however, I had no sooner returned to my humble 
+retreat, where I hoped to find the repose of which I was very much 
+in need, than I was followed by the voice not only of England but 
+of the greater part of Europe, informing me that I had achieved a 
+feat - a work in the nineteenth century with some pretensions to 
+originality.  The book was speedily reprinted in America, portions 
+of it were translated into French and Russian, and a fresh edition 
+demanded.
+
+In the midst of all this there sounded upon my ears a voice which I 
+recognised as that of the Maecenas of British literature:  
+'Borromeo, don't believe all you hear, nor think that you have 
+accomplished anything so very extraordinary:  a great portion of 
+your book is very sorry trash indeed - Gypsy poetry, dry laws, and 
+compilations from dull Spanish authors:  it has good points, 
+however, which show that you are capable of something much better:  
+try your hand again - avoid your besetting sins; and when you have 
+accomplished something which will really do credit to - Street, it 
+will be time enough to think of another delivery of these GYPSIES.'
+
+Mistos amande:  'I am content,' I replied; and sitting down I 
+commenced the BIBLE IN SPAIN.  At first I proceeded slowly - 
+sickness was in the land, and the face of nature was overcast - 
+heavy rain-clouds swam in the heavens, - the blast howled amid the 
+pines which nearly surround my lonely dwelling, and the waters of 
+the lake which lies before it, so quiet in general and tranquil, 
+were fearfully agitated.  'Bring lights hither, O Hayim Ben Attar, 
+son of the miracle! ' And the Jew of Fez brought in the lights, for 
+though it was midday I could scarcely see in the little room where 
+I was writing. . . .
+
+A dreary summer and autumn passed by, and were succeeded by as 
+gloomy a winter.  I still proceeded with the BIBLE IN SPAIN.  The 
+winter passed, and spring came with cold dry winds and occasional 
+sunshine, whereupon I arose, shouted, and mounting my horse, even 
+Sidi Habismilk, I scoured all the surrounding district, and thought 
+but little of the BIBLE IN SPAIN.
+
+So I rode about the country, over the heaths, and through the green 
+lanes of my native land, occasionally visiting friends at a 
+distance, and sometimes, for variety's sake, I stayed at home and 
+amused myself by catching huge pike, which lie perdue in certain 
+deep ponds skirted with lofty reeds, upon my land, and to which 
+there is a communication from the lagoon by a deep and narrow 
+watercourse. - I had almost forgotten the BIBLE IN SPAIN.
+
+Then came the summer with much heat and sunshine, and then I would 
+lie for hours in the sun and recall the sunny days I had spent in 
+Andalusia, and my thoughts were continually reverting to Spain, and 
+at last I remembered that the BIBLE IN SPAIN was still unfinished; 
+whereupon I arose and said:  'This loitering profiteth nothing' - 
+and I hastened to my summer-house by the side of the lake, and 
+there I thought and wrote, and every day I repaired to the same 
+place, and thought and wrote until I had finished the BIBLE IN 
+SPAIN.
+
+And at the proper season the BIBLE IN SPAIN was given to the world; 
+and the world, both learned and unlearned, was delighted with the 
+BIBLE IN SPAIN, and the highest authority (1) said, 'This is a much 
+better book than the GYPSIES'; and the next great authority (2) 
+said, 'something betwixt Le Sage and Bunyan.'  'A far more 
+entertaining work than DON QUIXOTE,' exclaimed a literary lady.  
+'Another GIL BLAS,' said the cleverest writer in Europe. (3)  
+'Yes,' exclaimed the cool sensible SPECTATOR, (4) 'a GIL BLAS in 
+water-colours.'
+
+And when I heard the last sentence, I laughed, and shouted, 'KOSKO 
+PENNESE PAL!' (5)  It pleased me better than all the rest.  Is 
+there not a text in a certain old book which says:  Woe unto you 
+when all men shall speak well of you!  Those are awful words, 
+brothers; woe is me!
+
+'Revenons a nos Bohemiens!'  Now the BIBLE IN SPAIN is off my 
+hands, I return to 'these GYPSIES'; and here you have, most kind, 
+lenient, and courteous public, a fresh delivery of them.  In the 
+present edition, I have attended as much as possible to the 
+suggestions of certain individuals, for whose opinion I cannot but 
+entertain the highest respect.  I have omitted various passages 
+from Spanish authors, which the world has objected to as being 
+quite out of place, and serving for no other purpose than to swell 
+out the work.  In lieu thereof, I have introduced some original 
+matter relative to the Gypsies, which is, perhaps, more calculated 
+to fling light over their peculiar habits than anything which has 
+yet appeared.  To remodel the work, however, I have neither time 
+nor inclination, and must therefore again commend it, with all the 
+imperfections which still cling to it, to the generosity of the 
+public.
+
+A few words in conclusion.  Since the publication of the first 
+edition, I have received more than one letter, in which the writers 
+complain that I, who seem to know so much of what has been written 
+concerning the Gypsies, (6) should have taken no notice of a theory 
+entertained by many, namely, that they are of Jewish origin, and 
+that they are neither more nor less than the descendants of the two 
+lost tribes of Israel.  Now I am not going to enter into a 
+discussion upon this point, for I know by experience, that the 
+public cares nothing for discussions, however learned and edifying, 
+but will take the present opportunity to relate a little adventure 
+of mine, which bears not a little upon this matter.
+
+So it came to pass, that one day I was scampering over a heath, at 
+some distance from my present home:  I was mounted upon the good 
+horse Sidi Habismilk, and the Jew of Fez, swifter than the wind, 
+ran by the side of the good horse Habismilk, when what should I see 
+at a corner of the heath but the encampment of certain friends of 
+mine; and the chief of that camp, even Mr. Petulengro, stood before 
+the encampment, and his adopted daughter, Miss Pinfold, stood 
+beside him.
+
+MYSELF. - 'Kosko divvus (7), Mr. Petulengro!  I am glad to see you:  
+how are you getting on?'
+
+MR. PETULENGRO. - 'How am I getting on? as well as I can.  What 
+will you have for that nokengro (8)?'
+
+Thereupon I dismounted, and delivering the reins of the good horse 
+to Miss Pinfold, I took the Jew of Fez, even Hayim Ben Attar, by 
+the hand, and went up to Mr. Petulengro, exclaiming, 'Sure ye are 
+two brothers.'  Anon the Gypsy passed his hand over the Jew's face, 
+and stared him in the eyes:  then turning to me he said, 'We are 
+not dui palor (9); this man is no Roman; I believe him to be a Jew; 
+he has the face of one; besides, if he were a Rom, even from 
+Jericho, he could rokra a few words in Rommany.'
+
+Now the Gypsy had been in the habit of seeing German and English 
+Jews, who must have been separated from their African brethren for 
+a term of at least 1700 years; yet he recognised the Jew of Fez for 
+what he was - a Jew, and without hesitation declared that he was 
+'no Roman.'  The Jews, therefore, and the Gypsies have each their 
+peculiar and distinctive countenance, which, to say nothing of the 
+difference of language, precludes the possibility of their having 
+ever been the same people.
+
+MARCH 1, 1843.
+
+
+
+NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
+
+
+
+THIS edition has been carefully revised by the author, and some few 
+insertions have been made.  In order, however, to give to the work 
+a more popular character, the elaborate vocabulary of the Gypsy 
+tongue, and other parts relating to the Gypsy language and 
+literature, have been omitted.  Those who take an interest in these 
+subjects are referred to the larger edition in two vols. (10)
+
+
+
+THE GYPSIES - INTRODUCTION
+
+
+
+THROUGHOUT my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar 
+interest for me.  Indeed I can remember no period when the mere 
+mention of the name of Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard 
+to be described.  I cannot account for this - I merely state a 
+fact.
+
+Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have 
+accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present 
+animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of 
+their people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis, 
+and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by 
+passing through an infinite number of bodies, attain at length 
+sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of perfect rest and 
+quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they can form.
+
+Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy 
+with these people, I have come to the following conclusions 
+respecting them:  that wherever they are found, their manners and 
+customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by 
+circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves, 
+and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in 
+ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been 
+subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their 
+countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker 
+or fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but 
+invariably darker, at least in Europe, than those of the natives of 
+the countries in which they dwell, for example, England and Russia, 
+Germany and Spain.
+
+The names by which they are known differ with the country, though, 
+with one or two exceptions, not materially for example, they are 
+styled in Russia, Zigani; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in 
+Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently spring from the same 
+etymon, which there is no improbability in supposing to be 
+'Zincali,' a term by which these people, especially those of Spain, 
+sometimes designate themselves, and the meaning of which is 
+believed to be, THE BLACK MEN OF ZEND OR IND.  In England and Spain 
+they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitanos, from a general 
+belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words 
+are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance 
+that Bohemia was one of the first countries in civilised Europe 
+where they made their appearance.
+
+But they generally style themselves and the language which they 
+speak, Rommany.  This word, of which I shall ultimately have more 
+to say, is of Sanscrit origin, and signifies, The Husbands, or that 
+which pertaineth unto them.  From whatever motive this appellation 
+may have originated, it is perhaps more applicable than any other 
+to a sect or caste like them, who have no love and no affection 
+beyond their own race; who are capable of making great sacrifices 
+for each other, and who gladly prey upon all the rest of the human 
+species, whom they detest, and by whom they are hated and despised.  
+It will perhaps not be out of place to observe here, that there is 
+no reason for supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is derived 
+from the Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some 
+people not much acquainted with the language of the race in 
+question have imagined.
+
+I have no intention at present to say anything about their origin.  
+Scholars have asserted that the language which they speak proves 
+them to be of Indian stock, and undoubtedly a great number of their 
+words are Sanscrit.  My own opinion upon this subject will be found 
+in a subsequent article.  I shall here content myself with 
+observing that from whatever country they come, whether from India 
+or Egypt, there can be no doubt that they are human beings and have 
+immortal souls; and it is in the humble hope of drawing the 
+attention of the Christian philanthropist towards them, especially 
+that degraded and unhappy portion of them, the Gitanos of Spain, 
+that the present little work has been undertaken.  But before 
+proceeding to speak of the latter, it will perhaps not be amiss to 
+afford some account of the Rommany as I have seen them in other 
+countries; for there is scarcely a part of the habitable world 
+where they are not to be found:  their tents are alike pitched on 
+the heaths of Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and 
+their language is heard at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of 
+London and Stamboul.
+
+
+THE ZIGANI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES
+
+
+They are found in all parts of Russia, with the exception of the 
+government of St. Petersburg, from which they have been banished.  
+In most of the provincial towns they are to be found in a state of 
+half-civilisation, supporting themselves by trafficking in horses, 
+or by curing the disorders incidental to those animals; but the 
+vast majority reject this manner of life, and traverse the country 
+in bands, like the ancient Hamaxobioi; the immense grassy plains of 
+Russia affording pasturage for their herds of cattle, on which, and 
+the produce of the chase, they chiefly depend for subsistence.  
+They are, however, not destitute of money, which they obtain by 
+various means, but principally by curing diseases amongst the 
+cattle of the mujiks or peasantry, and by telling fortunes, and not 
+unfrequently by theft and brigandage.
+
+Their power of resisting cold is truly wonderful, as it is not 
+uncommon to find them encamped in the midst of the snow, in slight 
+canvas tents, when the temperature is twenty-five or thirty degrees 
+below the freezing-point according to Reaumur; but in the winter 
+they generally seek the shelter of the forests, which afford fuel 
+for their fires, and abound in game.
+
+The race of the Rommany is by nature perhaps the most beautiful in 
+the world; and amongst the children of the Russian Zigani are 
+frequently to be found countenances to do justice to which would 
+require the pencil of a second Murillo; but exposure to the rays of 
+the burning sun, the biting of the frost, and the pelting of the 
+pitiless sleet and snow, destroys their beauty at a very early age; 
+and if in infancy their personal advantages are remarkable, their 
+ugliness at an advanced age is no less so, for then it is 
+loathsome, and even appalling.
+
+A hundred years, could I live so long, would not efface from my 
+mind the appearance of an aged Ziganskie Attaman, or Captain of 
+Zigani, and his grandson, who approached me on the meadow before 
+Novo Gorod, where stood the encampment of a numerous horde.  The 
+boy was of a form and face which might have entitled him to 
+represent Astyanax, and Hector of Troy might have pressed him to 
+his bosom, and called him his pride; but the old man was, perhaps, 
+such a shape as Milton has alluded to, but could only describe as 
+execrable - he wanted but the dart and kingly crown to have 
+represented the monster who opposed the progress of Lucifer, whilst 
+careering in burning arms and infernal glory to the outlet of his 
+hellish prison.
+
+But in speaking of the Russian Gypsies, those of Moscow must not be 
+passed over in silence.  The station to which they have attained in 
+society in that most remarkable of cities is so far above the 
+sphere in which the remainder of their race pass their lives, that 
+it may be considered as a phenomenon in Gypsy history, and on that 
+account is entitled to particular notice.
+
+Those who have been accustomed to consider the Gypsy as a wandering 
+outcast, incapable of appreciating the blessings of a settled and 
+civilised life, or - if abandoning vagabond propensities, and 
+becoming stationary - as one who never ascends higher than the 
+condition of a low trafficker, will be surprised to learn, that 
+amongst the Gypsies of Moscow there are not a few who inhabit 
+stately houses, go abroad in elegant equipages, and are behind the 
+higher orders of the Russians neither in appearance nor mental 
+acquirements.  To the power of song alone this phenomenon is to be 
+attributed.  From time immemorial the female Gypsies of Moscow have 
+been much addicted to the vocal art, and bands or quires of them 
+have sung for pay in the halls of the nobility or upon the boards 
+of the theatre.  Some first-rate songsters have been produced among 
+them, whose merits have been acknowledged, not only by the Russian 
+public, but by the most fastidious foreign critics.  Perhaps the 
+highest compliment ever paid to a songster was paid by Catalani 
+herself to one of these daughters of Roma.  It is well known 
+throughout Russia that the celebrated Italian was so enchanted with 
+the voice of a Moscow Gypsy (who, after the former had displayed 
+her noble talent before a splendid audience in the old Russian 
+capital, stepped forward and poured forth one of her national 
+strains), that she tore from her own shoulders a shawl of cashmire, 
+which had been presented to her by the Pope, and, embracing the 
+Gypsy, insisted on her acceptance of the splendid gift, saying, 
+that it had been intended for the matchless songster, which she now 
+perceived she herself was not.
+
+The sums obtained by many of these females by the exercise of their 
+art enable them to support their relatives in affluence and luxury:  
+some are married to Russians, and no one who has visited Russia can 
+but be aware that a lovely and accomplished countess, of the noble 
+and numerous family of Tolstoy, is by birth a Zigana, and was 
+originally one of the principal attractions of a Rommany choir at 
+Moscow.
+
+But it is not to be supposed that the whole of the Gypsy females at 
+Moscow are of this high and talented description; the majority of 
+them are of far lower quality, and obtain their livelihood by 
+singing and dancing at taverns, whilst their husbands in general 
+follow the occupation of horse-dealing.
+
+Their favourite place of resort in the summer time is Marina Rotze, 
+a species of sylvan garden about two versts from Moscow, and 
+thither, tempted by curiosity, I drove one fine evening.  On my 
+arrival the Ziganas came flocking out from their little tents, and 
+from the tractir or inn which has been erected for the 
+accommodation of the public.  Standing on the seat of the calash, I 
+addressed them in a loud voice in the English dialect of the 
+Rommany, of which I have some knowledge.  A shrill scream of wonder 
+was instantly raised, and welcomes and blessings were poured forth 
+in floods of musical Rommany, above all of which predominated the 
+cry of KAK CAMENNA TUTE PRALA - or, How we love you, brother! - for 
+at first they mistook me for one of their wandering brethren from 
+the distant lands, come over the great panee or ocean to visit 
+them.
+
+After some conversation they commenced singing, and favoured me 
+with many songs, both in Russian and Rommany:  the former were 
+modern popular pieces, such as are accustomed to be sung on the 
+boards of the theatre; but the latter were evidently of great 
+antiquity, exhibiting the strongest marks of originality, the 
+metaphors bold and sublime, and the metre differing from anything 
+of the kind which it has been my fortune to observe in Oriental or 
+European prosody.
+
+One of the most remarkable, and which commences thus:
+
+
+'Za mateia rosherroro odolata
+Bravintata,'
+
+
+(or, Her head is aching with grief, as if she had tasted wine) 
+describes the anguish of a maiden separated from her lover, and who 
+calls for her steed:
+
+
+'Tedjav manga gurraoro' -
+
+
+that she may depart in quest of the lord of her bosom, and share 
+his joys and pleasures.
+
+A collection of these songs, with a translation and vocabulary, 
+would be no slight accession to literature, and would probably 
+throw more light on the history of this race than anything which 
+has yet appeared; and, as there is no want of zeal and talent in 
+Russia amongst the cultivators of every branch of literature, and 
+especially philology, it is only surprising that such a collection 
+still remains a desideratum.
+
+The religion which these singular females externally professed was 
+the Greek, and they mostly wore crosses of copper or gold; but when 
+I questioned them on this subject in their native language, they 
+laughed, and said it was only to please the Russians.  Their names 
+for God and his adversary are Deval and Bengel, which differ little 
+from the Spanish Un-debel and Bengi, which signify the same.  I 
+will now say something of
+
+
+THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIGANY
+
+
+Hungary, though a country not a tenth part so extensive as the huge 
+colossus of the Russian empire, whose tzar reigns over a hundred 
+lands, contains perhaps as many Gypsies, it not being uncommon to 
+find whole villages inhabited by this race; they likewise abound in 
+the suburbs of the towns.  In Hungary the feudal system still 
+exists in all its pristine barbarity; in no country does the hard 
+hand of this oppression bear so heavy upon the lower classes - not 
+even in Russia.  The peasants of Russia are serfs, it is true, but 
+their condition is enviable compared with that of the same class in 
+the other country; they have certain rights and privileges, and 
+are, upon the whole, happy and contented, whilst the Hungarians are 
+ground to powder.  Two classes are free in Hungary to do almost 
+what they please - the nobility and - the Gypsies; the former are 
+above the law - the latter below it:  a toll is wrung from the 
+hands of the hard-working labourers, that most meritorious class, 
+in passing over a bridge, for example at Pesth, which is not 
+demanded from a well-dressed person - nor from the Czigany, who 
+have frequently no dress at all - and whose insouciance stands in 
+striking contrast with the trembling submission of the peasants.  
+The Gypsy, wherever you find him, is an incomprehensible being, but 
+nowhere more than in Hungary, where, in the midst of slavery, he is 
+free, though apparently one step lower than the lowest slave.  The 
+habits of the Hungarian Gypsies are abominable; their hovels appear 
+sinks of the vilest poverty and filth, their dress is at best rags, 
+their food frequently the vilest carrion, and occasionally, if 
+report be true, still worse - on which point, when speaking of the 
+Spanish Gitanos, we shall have subsequently more to say:  thus they 
+live in filth, in rags, in nakedness, and in merriness of heart, 
+for nowhere is there more of song and dance than in an Hungarian 
+Gypsy village.  They are very fond of music, and some of them are 
+heard to touch the violin in a manner wild, but of peculiar 
+excellence.  Parties of them have been known to exhibit even at 
+Paris.
+
+In Hungary, as in all parts, they are addicted to horse-dealing; 
+they are likewise tinkers, and smiths in a small way.  The women 
+are fortune-tellers, of course - both sexes thieves of the first 
+water.  They roam where they list - in a country where all other 
+people are held under strict surveillance, no one seems to care 
+about these Parias.  The most remarkable feature, however, 
+connected with the habits of the Czigany, consists in their foreign 
+excursions, having plunder in view, which frequently endure for 
+three or four years, when, if no mischance has befallen them, they 
+return to their native land - rich; where they squander the 
+proceeds of their dexterity in mad festivals.  They wander in bands 
+of twelve and fourteen through France, even to Rome.  Once, during 
+my own wanderings in Italy, I rested at nightfall by the side of a 
+kiln, the air being piercingly cold; it was about four leagues from 
+Genoa.  Presently arrived three individuals to take advantage of 
+the warmth - a man, a woman, and a lad.  They soon began to 
+discourse - and I found that they were Hungarian Gypsies; they 
+spoke of what they had been doing, and what they had amassed - I 
+think they mentioned nine hundred crowns.  They had companions in 
+the neighbourhood, some of whom they were expecting; they took no 
+notice of me, and conversed in their own dialect; I did not approve 
+of their propinquity, and rising, hastened away.
+
+When Napoleon invaded Spain there were not a few Hungarian Gypsies 
+in his armies; some strange encounters occurred on the field of 
+battle between these people and the Spanish Gitanos, one of which 
+is related in the second part of the present work.  When quartered 
+in the Spanish towns, the Czigany invariably sought out their 
+peninsular brethren, to whom they revealed themselves, kissing and 
+embracing most affectionately; the Gitanos were astonished at the 
+proficiency of the strangers in thievish arts, and looked upon them 
+almost in the light of superior beings:  'They knew the whole 
+reckoning,' is still a common expression amongst them.  There was a 
+Cziganian soldier for some time at Cordoba, of whom the Gitanos of 
+the place still frequently discourse, whilst smoking their cigars 
+during winter nights over their braseros.
+
+The Hungarian Gypsies have a peculiar accent when speaking the 
+language of the country, by which they can be instantly 
+distinguished; the same thing is applicable to the Gitanos of Spain 
+when speaking Spanish.  In no part of the world is the Gypsy 
+language preserved better than in Hungary.
+
+The following short prayer to the Virgin, which I have frequently 
+heard amongst the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania, will serve 
+as a specimen of their language.-
+
+
+Gula Devla, da me saschipo.  Swuntuna Devla, da me bacht t' 
+aldaschis cari me jav; te ferin man, Devla, sila ta niapaschiata, 
+chungale manuschendar, ke me jav ande drom ca hin man traba; ferin 
+man, Devia; ma mek man Devla, ke manga man tre Devies-key.
+
+Sweet Goddess, give me health.  Holy Goddess, give me luck and 
+grace wherever I go; and help me, Goddess, powerful and immaculate, 
+from ugly men, that I may go in the road to the place I purpose:  
+help me, Goddess; forsake me not, Goddess, for I pray for God's 
+sake.
+
+
+
+WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA
+
+
+
+In Wallachia and Moldavia, two of the eastern-most regions of 
+Europe, are to be found seven millions of people calling themselves 
+Roumouni, and speaking a dialect of the Latin tongue much corrupted 
+by barbarous terms, so called.  They are supposed to be in part 
+descendants of Roman soldiers, Rome in the days of her grandeur 
+having established immense military colonies in these parts.  In 
+the midst of these people exist vast numbers of Gypsies, amounting, 
+I am disposed to think, to at least two hundred thousand.  The land 
+of the Roumouni, indeed, seems to have been the hive from which the 
+West of Europe derived the Gypsy part of its population.  Far be it 
+from me to say that the Gypsies sprang originally from Roumouni-
+land.  All I mean is, that it was their grand resting-place after 
+crossing the Danube.  They entered Roumouni-land from Bulgaria, 
+crossing the great river, and from thence some went to the north-
+east, overrunning Russia, others to the west of Europe, as far as 
+Spain and England.  That the early Gypsies of the West, and also 
+those of Russia, came from Roumouni-land, is easily proved, as in 
+all the western Gypsy dialects, and also in the Russian, are to be 
+found words belonging to the Roumouni speech; for example, 
+primavera, spring; cheros, heaven; chorab, stocking; chismey, 
+boots; - Roum - primivari, cherul, chorapul, chisme.  One might 
+almost be tempted to suppose that the term Rommany, by which the 
+Gypsies of Russia and the West call themselves, was derived from 
+Roumouni, were it not for one fact, which is, that Romanus in the 
+Latin tongue merely means a native of Rome, whilst the specific 
+meaning of Rome still remains in the dark; whereas in Gypsy Rom 
+means a husband, Rommany the sect of the husbands; Romanesti if 
+married.  Whether both words were derived originally from the same 
+source, as I believe some people have supposed, is a question 
+which, with my present lights, I cannot pretend to determine.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+
+No country appears less adapted for that wandering life, which 
+seems so natural to these people, than England.  Those wildernesses 
+and forests, which they are so attached to, are not to be found 
+there; every inch of land is cultivated, and its produce watched 
+with a jealous eye; and as the laws against trampers, without the 
+visible means of supporting themselves, are exceedingly severe, the 
+possibility of the Gypsies existing as a distinct race, and 
+retaining their original free and independent habits, might 
+naturally be called in question by those who had not satisfactorily 
+verified the fact.  Yet it is a truth that, amidst all these 
+seeming disadvantages, they not only exist there, but in no part of 
+the world is their life more in accordance with the general idea 
+that the Gypsy is like Cain, a wanderer of the earth; for in 
+England the covered cart and the little tent are the houses of the 
+Gypsy, and he seldom remains more than three days in the same 
+place.
+
+At present they are considered in some degree as a privileged 
+people; for, though their way of life is unlawful, it is connived 
+at; the law of England having discovered by experience, that its 
+utmost fury is inefficient to reclaim them from their inveterate 
+habits.
+
+Shortly after their first arrival in England, which is upwards of 
+three centuries since, a dreadful persecution was raised against 
+them, the aim of which was their utter extermination; the being a 
+Gypsy was esteemed a crime worthy of death, and the gibbets of 
+England groaned and creaked beneath the weight of Gypsy carcases, 
+and the miserable survivors were literally obliged to creep into 
+the earth in order to preserve their lives.  But these days passed 
+by; their persecutors became weary of pursuing them; they showed 
+their heads from the holes and caves where they had hidden 
+themselves, they ventured forth, increased in numbers, and, each 
+tribe or family choosing a particular circuit, they fairly divided 
+the land amongst them.
+
+In England, the male Gypsies are all dealers in horses, and 
+sometimes employ their idle time in mending the tin and copper 
+utensils of the peasantry; the females tell fortunes.  They 
+generally pitch their tents in the vicinity of a village or small 
+town by the road side, under the shelter of the hedges and trees.  
+The climate of England is well known to be favourable to beauty, 
+and in no part of the world is the appearance of the Gypsies so 
+prepossessing as in that country; their complexion is dark, but not 
+disagreeably so; their faces are oval, their features regular, 
+their foreheads rather low, and their hands and feet small.  The 
+men are taller than the English peasantry, and far more active.  
+They all speak the English language with fluency, and in their gait 
+and demeanour are easy and graceful; in both points standing in 
+striking contrast with the peasantry, who in speech are slow and 
+uncouth, and in manner dogged and brutal.
+
+The dialect of the Rommany, which they speak, though mixed with 
+English words, may be considered as tolerably pure, from the fact 
+that it is intelligible to the Gypsy race in the heart of Russia.  
+Whatever crimes they may commit, their vices are few, for the men 
+are not drunkards, nor are the women harlots; there are no two 
+characters which they hold in so much abhorrence, nor do any words 
+when applied by them convey so much execration as these two.
+
+The crimes of which these people were originally accused were 
+various, but the principal were theft, sorcery, and causing disease 
+among the cattle; and there is every reason for supposing that in 
+none of these points they were altogether guiltless.
+
+With respect to sorcery, a thing in itself impossible, not only the 
+English Gypsies, but the whole race, have ever professed it; 
+therefore, whatever misery they may have suffered on that account, 
+they may be considered as having called it down upon their own 
+heads.
+
+Dabbling in sorcery is in some degree the province of the female 
+Gypsy.  She affects to tell the future, and to prepare philtres by 
+means of which love can be awakened in any individual towards any 
+particular object; and such is the credulity of the human race, 
+even in the most enlightened countries, that the profits arising 
+from these practices are great.  The following is a case in point:  
+two females, neighbours and friends, were tried some years since, 
+in England, for the murder of their husbands.  It appeared that 
+they were in love with the same individual, and had conjointly, at 
+various times, paid sums of money to a Gypsy woman to work charms 
+to captivate his affections.  Whatever little effect the charms 
+might produce, they were successful in their principal object, for 
+the person in question carried on for some time a criminal 
+intercourse with both.  The matter came to the knowledge of the 
+husbands, who, taking means to break off this connection, were 
+respectively poisoned by their wives.  Till the moment of 
+conviction these wretched females betrayed neither emotion nor 
+fear, but then their consternation was indescribable; and they 
+afterwards confessed that the Gypsy, who had visited them in 
+prison, had promised to shield them from conviction by means of her 
+art.  It is therefore not surprising that in the fifteenth and 
+sixteenth centuries, when a belief in sorcery was supported by the 
+laws of all Europe, these people were regarded as practisers of 
+sorcery, and punished as such, when, even in the nineteenth, they 
+still find people weak enough to place confidence in their claims 
+to supernatural power.
+
+The accusation of producing disease and death amongst the cattle 
+was far from groundless.  Indeed, however strange and incredible it 
+may sound in the present day to those who are unacquainted with 
+this caste, and the peculiar habits of the Rommanees, the practice 
+is still occasionally pursued in England and many other countries 
+where they are found.  From this practice, when they are not 
+detected, they derive considerable advantage.  Poisoning cattle is 
+exercised by them in two ways:  by one, they merely cause disease 
+in the animals, with the view of receiving money for curing them 
+upon offering their services; the poison is generally administered 
+by powders cast at night into the mangers of the animals:  this way 
+is only practised upon the larger cattle, such as horses and cows.  
+By the other, which they practise chiefly on swine, speedy death is 
+almost invariably produced, the drug administered being of a highly 
+intoxicating nature, and affecting the brain.  They then apply at 
+the house or farm where the disaster has occurred for the carcase 
+of the animal, which is generally given them without suspicion, and 
+then they feast on the flesh, which is not injured by the poison, 
+which only affects the head.
+
+The English Gypsies are constant attendants at the racecourse; what 
+jockey is not?  Perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even 
+racing, at least in England.  Jockeyism properly implies THE 
+MANAGEMENT OF A WHIP, and the word jockey is neither more nor less 
+than the term slightly modified, by which they designate the 
+formidable whips which they usually carry, and which are at present 
+in general use amongst horse-traffickers, under the title of jockey 
+whips.  They are likewise fond of resorting to the prize-ring, and 
+have occasionally even attained some eminence, as principals, in 
+those disgraceful and brutalising exhibitions called pugilistic 
+combats.  I believe a great deal has been written on the subject of 
+the English Gypsies, but the writers have dwelt too much in 
+generalities; they have been afraid to take the Gypsy by the hand, 
+lead him forth from the crowd, and exhibit him in the area; he is 
+well worth observing.  When a boy of fourteen, I was present at a 
+prize-fight; why should I hide the truth?  It took place on a green 
+meadow, beside a running stream, close by the old church of E-, and 
+within a league of the ancient town of N-, the capital of one of 
+the eastern counties.  The terrible Thurtell was present, lord of 
+the concourse; for wherever he moved he was master, and whenever he 
+spoke, even when in chains, every other voice was silent.  He stood 
+on the mead, grim and pale as usual, with his bruisers around.  He 
+it was, indeed, who GOT UP the fight, as he had previously done 
+twenty others; it being his frequent boast that he had first 
+introduced bruising and bloodshed amidst rural scenes, and 
+transformed a quiet slumbering town into a den of Jews and 
+metropolitan thieves.  Some time before the commencement of the 
+combat, three men, mounted on wild-looking horses, came dashing 
+down the road in the direction of the meadow, in the midst of which 
+they presently showed themselves, their horses clearing the deep 
+ditches with wonderful alacrity.  'That's Gypsy Will and his gang,' 
+lisped a Hebrew pickpocket; 'we shall have another fight.'  The 
+word Gypsy was always sufficient to excite my curiosity, and I 
+looked attentively at the newcomers.
+
+I have seen Gypsies of various lands, Russian, Hungarian, and 
+Turkish; and I have also seen the legitimate children of most 
+countries of the world; but I never saw, upon the whole, three more 
+remarkable individuals, as far as personal appearance was 
+concerned, than the three English Gypsies who now presented 
+themselves to my eyes on that spot.  Two of them had dismounted, 
+and were holding their horses by the reins.  The tallest, and, at 
+the first glance, the most interesting of the two, was almost a 
+giant, for his height could not have been less than six feet three.  
+It is impossible for the imagination to conceive anything more 
+perfectly beautiful than were the features of this man, and the 
+most skilful sculptor of Greece might have taken them as his model 
+for a hero and a god.  The forehead was exceedingly lofty, - a rare 
+thing in a Gypsy; the nose less Roman than Grecian, - fine yet 
+delicate; the eyes large, overhung with long drooping lashes, 
+giving them almost a melancholy expression; it was only when the 
+lashes were elevated that the Gypsy glance was seen, if that can be 
+called a glance which is a strange stare, like nothing else in this 
+world.  His complexion was a beautiful olive; and his teeth were of 
+a brilliancy uncommon even amongst these people, who have all fine 
+teeth.  He was dressed in a coarse waggoner's slop, which, however, 
+was unable to conceal altogether the proportions of his noble and 
+Herculean figure.  He might be about twenty-eight.  His companion 
+and his captain, Gypsy Will, was, I think, fifty when he was 
+hanged, ten years subsequently (for I never afterwards lost sight 
+of him), in the front of the jail of Bury St. Edmunds.  I have 
+still present before me his bushy black hair, his black face, and 
+his big black eyes fixed and staring.  His dress consisted of a 
+loose blue jockey coat, jockey boots and breeches; in his hand was 
+a huge jockey whip, and on his head (it struck me at the time for 
+its singularity) a broad-brimmed, high-peaked Andalusian hat, or at 
+least one very much resembling those generally worn in that 
+province.  In stature he was shorter than his more youthful 
+companion, yet he must have measured six feet at least, and was 
+stronger built, if possible.  What brawn! - what bone! - what legs! 
+- what thighs!  The third Gypsy, who remained on horseback, looked 
+more like a phantom than any thing human.  His complexion was the 
+colour of pale dust, and of that same colour was all that pertained 
+to him, hat and clothes.  His boots were dusty of course, for it 
+was midsummer, and his very horse was of a dusty dun.  His features 
+were whimsically ugly, most of his teeth were gone, and as to his 
+age, he might be thirty or sixty.  He was somewhat lame and halt, 
+but an unequalled rider when once upon his steed, which he was 
+naturally not very solicitous to quit.  I subsequently discovered 
+that he was considered the wizard of the gang.
+
+I have been already prolix with respect to these Gypsies, but I 
+will not leave them quite yet.  The intended combatants at length 
+arrived; it was necessary to clear the ring, - always a troublesome 
+and difficult task.  Thurtell went up to the two Gypsies, with whom 
+he seemed to be acquainted, and with his surly smile, said two or 
+three words, which I, who was standing by, did not understand.  The 
+Gypsies smiled in return, and giving the reins of their animals to 
+their mounted companion, immediately set about the task which the 
+king of the flash-men had, as I conjecture, imposed upon them; this 
+they soon accomplished.  Who could stand against such fellows and 
+such whips?  The fight was soon over - then there was a pause.  
+Once more Thurtell came up to the Gypsies and said something - the 
+Gypsies looked at each other and conversed; but their words then 
+had no meaning for my ears.  The tall Gypsy shook his head - 'Very 
+well,' said the other, in English.  'I will - that's all.'
+
+Then pushing the people aside, he strode to the ropes, over which 
+he bounded into the ring, flinging his Spanish hat high into the 
+air.
+
+GYPSY WILL. - 'The best man in England for twenty pounds!'
+
+'THURTELL. - 'I am backer!'
+
+Twenty pounds is a tempting sum, and there men that day upon the 
+green meadow who would have shed the blood of their own fathers for 
+the fifth of the price.  But the Gypsy was not an unknown man, his 
+prowess and strength were notorious, and no one cared to encounter 
+him.  Some of the Jews looked eager for a moment; but their sharp 
+eyes quailed quickly before his savage glances, as he towered in 
+the ring, his huge form dilating, and his black features convulsed 
+with excitement.  The Westminster bravoes eyed the Gypsy askance; 
+but the comparison, if they made any, seemed by no means favourable 
+to themselves.  'Gypsy! rum chap. - Ugly customer, - always in 
+training.'  Such were the exclamations which I heard, some of which 
+at that period of my life I did not understand.
+
+No man would fight the Gypsy. - Yes! a strong country fellow wished 
+to win the stakes, and was about to fling up his hat in defiance, 
+but he was prevented by his friends, with - 'Fool! he'll kill you!'
+
+As the Gypsies were mounting their horses, I heard the dusty 
+phantom exclaim -
+
+'Brother, you are an arrant ring-maker and a horse-breaker; you'll 
+make a hempen ring to break your own neck of a horse one of these 
+days.'
+
+They pressed their horses' flanks, again leaped over the ditches, 
+and speedily vanished, amidst the whirlwinds of dust which they 
+raised upon the road.
+
+The words of the phantom Gypsy were ominous.  Gypsy Will was 
+eventually executed for a murder committed in his early youth, in 
+company with two English labourers, one of whom confessed the fact 
+on his death-bed.  He was the head of the clan Young, which, with 
+the clan Smith, still haunts two of the eastern counties.
+
+
+SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
+
+
+It is difficult to say at what period the Gypsies or Rommany made 
+their first appearance in England.  They had become, however, such 
+a nuisance in the time of Henry the Eighth, Philip and Mary, and 
+Elizabeth, that Gypsyism was denounced by various royal statutes, 
+and, if persisted in, was to be punished as felony without benefit 
+of clergy; it is probable, however, that they had overrun England 
+long before the period of the earliest of these monarchs.  The 
+Gypsies penetrate into all countries, save poor ones, and it is 
+hardly to be supposed that a few leagues of intervening salt water 
+would have kept a race so enterprising any considerable length of 
+time, after their arrival on the continent of Europe, from 
+obtaining a footing in the fairest and richest country of the West.
+
+It is easy enough to conceive the manner in which the Gypsies lived 
+in England for a long time subsequent to their arrival:  doubtless 
+in a half-savage state, wandering about from place to place, 
+encamping on the uninhabited spots, of which there were then so 
+many in England, feared and hated by the population, who looked 
+upon them as thieves and foreign sorcerers, occasionally committing 
+acts of brigandage, but depending chiefly for subsistence on the 
+practice of the 'arts of Egypt,' in which cunning and dexterity 
+were far more necessary than courage or strength of hand.
+
+It would appear that they were always divided into clans or tribes, 
+each bearing a particular name, and to which a particular district 
+more especially belonged, though occasionally they would exchange 
+districts for a period, and, incited by their characteristic love 
+of wandering, would travel far and wide.  Of these families each 
+had a sher-engro, or head man, but that they were ever united under 
+one Rommany Krallis, or Gypsy King, as some people have insisted, 
+there is not the slightest ground for supposing.
+
+It is possible that many of the original Gypsy tribes are no longer 
+in existence:  disease or the law may have made sad havoc among 
+them, and the few survivors have incorporated themselves with other 
+families, whose name they have adopted.  Two or three instances of 
+this description have occurred within the sphere of my own 
+knowledge:  the heads of small families have been cut off, and the 
+subordinate members, too young and inexperienced to continue 
+Gypsying as independent wanderers, have been adopted by other 
+tribes.
+
+The principal Gypsy tribes at present in existence are the 
+Stanleys, whose grand haunt is the New Forest; the Lovells, who are 
+fond of London and its vicinity; the Coopers, who call Windsor 
+Castle their home; the Hernes, to whom the north country, more 
+especially Yorkshire, belongeth; and lastly, my brethren, the 
+Smiths, - to whom East Anglia appears to have been allotted from 
+the beginning.
+
+All these families have Gypsy names, which seem, however, to be 
+little more than attempts at translation of the English ones:- thus 
+the Stanleys are called Bar-engres (11), which means stony-fellows, 
+or stony-hearts; the Coopers, Wardo-engres, or wheelwrights; the 
+Lovells, Camo-mescres, or amorous fellows the Hernes (German 
+Haaren) Balors, hairs, or hairy men; while the Smiths are called 
+Petul-engres, signifying horseshoe fellows, or blacksmiths.
+
+It is not very easy to determine how the Gypsies became possessed 
+of some of these names:  the reader, however, will have observed 
+that two of them, Stanley and Lovell, are the names of two highly 
+aristocratic English families; the Gypsies who bear them perhaps 
+adopted them from having, at their first arrival, established 
+themselves on the estates of those great people; or it is possible 
+that they translated their original Gypsy appellations by these 
+names, which they deemed synonymous.  Much the same may be said 
+with respect to Herne, an ancient English name; they probably 
+sometimes officiated as coopers or wheelwrights, whence the 
+cognomination.  Of the term Petul-engro, or Smith, however, I wish 
+to say something in particular.
+
+There is every reason for believing that this last is a genuine 
+Gypsy name, brought with them from the country from which they 
+originally came; it is compounded of two words, signifying, as has 
+been already observed, horseshoe fellows, or people whose trade is 
+to manufacture horseshoes, a trade which the Gypsies ply in various 
+parts of the world, - for example, in Russia and Hungary, and more 
+particularly about Granada in Spain, as will subsequently be shown.  
+True it is, that at present there are none amongst the English 
+Gypsies who manufacture horseshoes; all the men, however, are 
+tinkers more or less, and the word Petul-engro is applied to the 
+tinker also, though the proper meaning of it is undoubtedly what I 
+have already stated above.  In other dialects of the Gypsy tongue, 
+this cognomen exists, though not exactly with the same 
+signification; for example, in the Hungarian dialect, PINDORO, 
+which is evidently a modification of Petul-engro, is applied to a 
+Gypsy in general, whilst in Spanish Pepindorio is the Gypsy word 
+for Antonio.  In some parts of Northern Asia, the Gypsies call 
+themselves Wattul (12), which seems to be one and the same as 
+Petul.
+
+Besides the above-named Gypsy clans, there are other smaller ones, 
+some of which do not comprise more than a dozen individuals, 
+children included.  For example, the Bosviles, the Browns, the 
+Chilcotts, the Grays, Lees, Taylors, and Whites; of these the 
+principal is the Bosvile tribe.
+
+After the days of the great persecution in England against the 
+Gypsies, there can be little doubt that they lived a right merry 
+and tranquil life, wandering about and pitching their tents 
+wherever inclination led them:  indeed, I can scarcely conceive any 
+human condition more enviable than Gypsy life must have been in 
+England during the latter part of the seventeenth, and the whole of 
+the eighteenth century, which were likewise the happy days for 
+Englishmen in general; there was peace and plenty in the land, a 
+contented population, and everything went well.  Yes, those were 
+brave times for the Rommany chals, to which the old people often 
+revert with a sigh:  the poor Gypsies, say they, were then allowed 
+to SOVE ABRI (sleep abroad) where they listed, to heat their 
+kettles at the foot of the oaks, and no people grudged the poor 
+persons one night's use of a meadow to feed their cattle in.  
+TUGNIS AMANDE, our heart is heavy, brother, - there is no longer 
+Gypsy law in the land, - our people have become negligent, - they 
+are but half Rommany, - they are divided and care for nothing, - 
+they do not even fear Pazorrhus, brother.
+
+Much the same complaints are at present made by the Spanish 
+Gypsies.  Gypsyism is certainly on the decline in both countries.  
+In England, a superabundant population, and, of late, a very 
+vigilant police, have done much to modify Gypsy life; whilst in 
+Spain, causes widely different have produced a still greater 
+change, as will be seen further on.
+
+Gypsy law does not flourish at present in England, and still less 
+in Spain, nor does Gypsyism.  I need not explain here what Gypsyism 
+is, but the reader may be excused for asking what is Gypsy law.  
+Gypsy law divides itself into the three following heads or 
+precepts:-
+
+
+Separate not from THE HUSBANDS.
+Be faithful to THE HUSBANDS.
+Pay your debts to THE HUSBANDS.
+
+
+By the first section the Rom or Gypsy is enjoined to live with his 
+brethren, the husbands, and not with the gorgios (13) or gentiles; 
+he is to live in a tent, as is befitting a Rom and a wanderer, and 
+not in a house, which ties him to one spot; in a word, he is in 
+every respect to conform to the ways of his own people, and to 
+eschew those of gorgios, with whom he is not to mix, save to tell 
+them HOQUEPENES (lies), and to chore them.
+
+The second section, in which fidelity is enjoined, was more 
+particularly intended for the women:  be faithful to the ROMS, ye 
+JUWAS, and take not up with the gorgios, whether they be RAIOR or 
+BAUOR (gentlemen or fellows).  This was a very important 
+injunction, so much so, indeed, that upon the observance of it 
+depended the very existence of the Rommany sect, - for if the 
+female Gypsy admitted the gorgio to the privilege of the Rom, the 
+race of the Rommany would quickly disappear.  How well this 
+injunction has been observed needs scarcely be said; for the 
+Rommany have been roving about England for three centuries at 
+least, and are still to be distinguished from the gorgios in 
+feature and complexion, which assuredly would not have been the 
+case if the juwas had not been faithful to the Roms.  The gorgio 
+says that the juwa is at his disposal in all things, because she 
+tells him fortunes and endures his free discourse; but the Rom, 
+when he hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and whispers to 
+himself, LET HIM TRY.
+
+The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is highly 
+curious.  In the Gypsy language, the state of being in debt is 
+called PAZORRHUS, and the Rom who did not seek to extricate himself 
+from that state was deemed infamous, and eventually turned out of 
+the society.  It has been asserted, I believe, by various gorgio 
+writers, that the Roms have everything in common, and that there is 
+a common stock out of which every one takes what he needs; this is 
+quite a mistake, however:  a Gypsy tribe is an epitome of the 
+world; every one keeps his own purse and maintains himself and 
+children to the best of his ability, and every tent is independent 
+of the other.  True it is that one Gypsy will lend to another in 
+the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the borrower 
+is pazorrhus, or indebted.  Even at the present time, a Gypsy will 
+make the greatest sacrifices rather than remain pazorrhus to one of 
+his brethren, even though he be of another clan; though perhaps the 
+feeling is not so strong as of old, for time modifies everything; 
+even Jews and Gypsies are affected by it.  In the old time, indeed, 
+the Gypsy law was so strong against the debtor, that provided he 
+could not repay his brother husband, he was delivered over to him 
+as his slave for a year and a day, and compelled to serve him as a 
+hewer of wood, a drawer of water, or a beast of burden; but those 
+times are past, the Gypsies are no longer the independent people 
+they were of yore, - dark, mysterious, and dreaded wanderers, 
+living apart in the deserts and heaths with which England at one 
+time abounded.  Gypsy law has given place to common law; but the 
+principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and base 
+indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus because Gypsy 
+law has become too weak to force him to liquidate a debt by money 
+or by service.
+
+Such was Gypsy law in England, and there is every probability that 
+it is much the same in all parts of the world where the Gypsy race 
+is to be found.  About the peculiar practices of the Gypsies I need 
+not say much here; the reader will find in the account of the 
+Spanish Gypsies much that will afford him an idea of Gypsy arts in 
+England.  I have already alluded to CHIVING DRAV, or poisoning, 
+which is still much practised by the English Gypsies, though it has 
+almost entirely ceased in Spain; then there is CHIVING LUVVU ADREY 
+PUVO, or putting money within the earth, a trick by which the 
+females deceive the gorgios, and which will be more particularly 
+described in the affairs of Spain:  the men are adepts at cheating 
+the gorgios by means of NOK-ENGROES and POGGADO-BAVENGROES 
+(glandered and broken-winded horses).  But, leaving the subject of 
+their tricks and Rommany arts, by no means an agreeable one, I will 
+take the present opportunity of saying a few words about a practice 
+of theirs, highly characteristic of a wandering people, and which 
+is only extant amongst those of the race who still continue to 
+wander much; for example, the Russian Gypsies and those of the 
+Hungarian family, who stroll through Italy on plundering 
+expeditions:  I allude to the PATTERAN or TRAIL.
+
+It is very possible that the reader during his country walks or 
+rides has observed, on coming to four cross-roads, two or three 
+handfuls of grass lying at a small distance from each other down 
+one of these roads; perhaps he may have supposed that this grass 
+was recently plucked from the roadside by frolicsome children, and 
+flung upon the ground in sport, and this may possibly have been the 
+case; it is ten chances to one, however, that no children's hands 
+plucked them, but that they were strewed in this manner by Gypsies, 
+for the purpose of informing any of their companions, who might be 
+straggling behind, the route which they had taken; this is one form 
+of the patteran or trail.  It is likely, too, that the gorgio 
+reader may have seen a cross drawn at the entrance of a road, the 
+long part or stem of it pointing down that particular road, and he 
+may have thought nothing of it, or have supposed that some 
+sauntering individual like himself had made the mark with his 
+stick:  not so, courteous gorgio; ley tiro solloholomus opre lesti, 
+YOU MAY TAKE YOUR OATH UPON IT that it was drawn by a Gypsy finger, 
+for that mark is another of the Rommany trails; there is no mistake 
+in this.  Once in the south of France, when I was weary, hungry, 
+and penniless, I observed one of these last patterans, and 
+following the direction pointed out, arrived at the resting-place 
+of 'certain Bohemians,' by whom I was received with kindness and 
+hospitality, on the faith of no other word of recommendation than 
+patteran.  There is also another kind of patteran, which is more 
+particularly adapted for the night; it is a cleft stick stuck at 
+the side of the road, close by the hedge, with a little arm in the 
+cleft pointing down the road which the band have taken, in the 
+manner of a signpost; any stragglers who may arrive at night where 
+cross-roads occur search for this patteran on the left-hand side, 
+and speedily rejoin their companions.
+
+By following these patterans, or trails, the first Gypsies on their 
+way to Europe never lost each other, though wandering amidst horrid 
+wildernesses and dreary defiles.  Rommany matters have always had a 
+peculiar interest for me; nothing, however, connected with Gypsy 
+life ever more captivated my imagination than this patteran system:  
+many thanks to the Gypsies for it; it has more than once been of 
+service to me.
+
+The English Gypsies at the present day are far from being a 
+numerous race; I consider their aggregate number, from the 
+opportunities which I have had of judging, to be considerably under 
+ten thousand:  it is probable that, ere the conclusion of the 
+present century, they will have entirely disappeared.  They are in 
+general quite strangers to the commonest rudiments of education; 
+few even of the most wealthy can either read or write.  With 
+respect to religion, they call themselves members of the 
+Established Church, and are generally anxious to have their 
+children baptized, and to obtain a copy of the register.  Some of 
+their baptismal papers, which they carry about with them, are 
+highly curious, going back for a period of upwards of two hundred 
+years.  With respect to the essential points of religion, they are 
+quite careless and ignorant; if they believe in a future state they 
+dread it not, and if they manifest when dying any anxiety, it is 
+not for the soul, but the body:  a handsome coffin, and a grave in 
+a quiet country churchyard, are invariably the objects of their 
+last thoughts; and it is probable that, in their observance of the 
+rite of baptism, they are principally influenced by a desire to 
+enjoy the privilege of burial in consecrated ground.  A Gypsy 
+family never speak of their dead save with regret and affection, 
+and any request of the dying individual is attended to, especially 
+with regard to interment; so much so, that I have known a corpse 
+conveyed a distance of nearly one hundred miles, because the 
+deceased expressed a wish to be buried in a particular spot.
+
+Of the language of the English Gypsies, some specimens will be 
+given in the sequel; it is much more pure and copious than the 
+Spanish dialect.  It has been asserted that the English Gypsies are 
+not possessed of any poetry in their own tongue; but this is a 
+gross error; they possess a great many songs and ballads upon 
+ordinary subjects, without any particular merit, however, and 
+seemingly of a very modern date.
+
+
+THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI
+
+
+What has been said of the Gypsies of Europe is, to a considerable 
+extent, applicable to their brethren in the East, or, as they are 
+called, Zingarri; they are either found wandering amongst the 
+deserts or mountains, or settled in towns, supporting themselves by 
+horse-dealing or jugglery, by music and song.  In no part of the 
+East are they more numerous than in Turkey, especially in 
+Constantinople, where the females frequently enter the harems of 
+the great, pretending to cure children of 'the evil eye,' and to 
+interpret the dreams of the women.  They are not unfrequently seen 
+in the coffee-houses, exhibiting their figures in lascivious dances 
+to the tune of various instruments; yet these females are by no 
+means unchaste, however their manners and appearance may denote the 
+contrary, and either Turk or Christian who, stimulated by their 
+songs and voluptuous movements, should address them with proposals 
+of a dishonourable nature, would, in all probability, meet with a 
+decided repulse.
+
+Among the Zingarri are not a few who deal in precious stones, and 
+some who vend poisons; and the most remarkable individual whom it 
+has been my fortune to encounter amongst the Gypsies, whether of 
+the Eastern or Western world, was a person who dealt in both these 
+articles.  He was a native of Constantinople, and in the pursuit of 
+his trade had visited the most remote and remarkable portions of 
+the world.  He had traversed alone and on foot the greatest part of 
+India; he spoke several dialects of the Malay, and understood the 
+original language of Java, that isle more fertile in poisons than 
+even 'far Iolchos and Spain.' From what I could learn from him, it 
+appeared that his jewels were in less request than his drugs, 
+though he assured me that there was scarcely a Bey or Satrap in 
+Persia or Turkey whom he had not supplied with both.  I have seen 
+this individual in more countries than one, for he flits over the 
+world like the shadow of a cloud; the last time at Granada in 
+Spain, whither he had come after paying a visit to his Gitano 
+brethren in the presidio of Ceuta.
+
+Few Eastern authors have spoken of the Zingarri, notwithstanding 
+they have been known in the East for many centuries; amongst the 
+few, none has made more curious mention of them than Arabschah, in 
+a chapter of his life of Timour or Tamerlane, which is deservedly 
+considered as one of the three classic works of Arabian literature.  
+This passage, which, while it serves to illustrate the craft, if 
+not the valour of the conqueror of half the world, offers some 
+curious particulars as to Gypsy life in the East at a remote 
+period, will scarcely be considered out of place if reproduced 
+here, and the following is as close a translation of it as the 
+metaphorical style of the original will allow.
+
+'There were in Samarcand numerous families of Zingarri of various 
+descriptions:  some were wrestlers, others gladiators, others 
+pugilists.  These people were much at variance, so that hostilities 
+and battling were continually arising amongst them.  Each band had 
+its chief and subordinate officers; and it came to pass that Timour 
+and the power which he possessed filled them with dread, for they 
+knew that he was aware of their crimes and disorderly way of life.  
+Now it was the custom of Timour, on departing upon his expeditions, 
+to leave a viceroy in Samarcand; but no sooner had he left the 
+city, than forth marched these bands, and giving battle to the 
+viceroy, deposed him and took possession of the government, so that 
+on the return of Timour he found order broken, confusion reigning, 
+and his throne overturned, and then he had much to do in restoring 
+things to their former state, and in punishing or pardoning the 
+guilty; but no sooner did he depart again to his wars, and to his 
+various other concerns, than they broke out into the same excesses, 
+and this they repeated no less than three times, and he at length 
+laid a plan for their utter extermination, and it was the 
+following:- He commenced building a wall, and he summoned unto him 
+the people small and great, and he allotted to every man his place, 
+and to every workman his duty, and he stationed the Zingarri and 
+their chieftains apart; and in one particular spot he placed a band 
+of soldiers, and he commanded them to kill whomsoever he should 
+send to them; and having done so, he called to him the heads of the 
+people, and he filled the cup for them and clothed them in splendid 
+vests; and when the turn came to the Zingarri, he likewise pledged 
+one of them, and bestowed a vest upon him, and sent him with a 
+message to the soldiers, who, as soon as he arrived, tore from him 
+his vest, and stabbed him, pouring forth the gold of his heart into 
+the pan of destruction, (14) and in this way they continued until 
+the last of them was destroyed; and by that blow he exterminated 
+their race, and their traces, and from that time forward there were 
+no more rebellions in Samarcand.'
+
+It has of late years been one of the favourite theories of the 
+learned, that Timour's invasion of Hindostan, and the cruelties 
+committed by his savage hordes in that part of the world, caused a 
+vast number of Hindoos to abandon their native land, and that the 
+Gypsies of the present day are the descendants of those exiles who 
+wended their weary way to the West.  Now, provided the above 
+passage in the work of Arabschah be entitled to credence, the 
+opinion that Timour was the cause of the expatriation and 
+subsequent wandering life of these people, must be abandoned as 
+untenable.  At the time he is stated by the Arabian writer to have 
+annihilated the Gypsy hordes of Samarcand, he had but just 
+commenced his career of conquest and devastation, and had not even 
+directed his thoughts to the invasion of India; yet at this early 
+period of the history of his life, we find families of Zingarri 
+established at Samarcand, living much in the same manner as others 
+of the race have subsequently done in various towns of Europe and 
+the East; but supposing the event here narrated to be a fable, or 
+at best a floating legend, it appears singular that, if they left 
+their native land to escape from Timour, they should never have 
+mentioned in the Western world the name of that scourge of the 
+human race, nor detailed the history of their flight and 
+sufferings, which assuredly would have procured them sympathy; the 
+ravages of Timour being already but too well known in Europe.  That 
+they came from India is much easier to prove than that they fled 
+before the fierce Mongol.
+
+Such people as the Gypsies, whom the Bishop of Forli in the year 
+1422, only sixteen years subsequent to the invasion of India, 
+describes as a 'raging rabble, of brutal and animal propensities,' 
+(15) are not such as generally abandon their country on foreign 
+invasion.
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES OF SPAIN - PART I
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+GITANOS, or Egyptians, is the name by which the Gypsies have been 
+most generally known in Spain, in the ancient as well as in the 
+modern period, but various other names have been and still are 
+applied to them; for example, New Castilians, Germans, and 
+Flemings; the first of which titles probably originated after the 
+name of Gitano had begun to be considered a term of reproach and 
+infamy.  They may have thus designated themselves from an 
+unwillingness to utter, when speaking of themselves, the detested 
+expression 'Gitano,' a word which seldom escapes their mouths; or 
+it may have been applied to them first by the Spaniards, in their 
+mutual dealings and communication, as a term less calculated to 
+wound their feelings and to beget a spirit of animosity than the 
+other; but, however it might have originated, New Castilian, in 
+course of time, became a term of little less infamy than Gitano; 
+for, by the law of Philip the Fourth, both terms are forbidden to 
+be applied to them under severe penalties.
+
+That they were called Germans, may be accounted for, either by the 
+supposition that their generic name of Rommany was misunderstood 
+and mispronounced by the Spaniards amongst whom they came, or from 
+the fact of their having passed through Germany in their way to the 
+south, and bearing passports and letters of safety from the various 
+German states.  The title of Flemings, by which at the present day 
+they are known in various parts of Spain, would probably never have 
+been bestowed upon them but from the circumstance of their having 
+been designated or believed to be Germans, - as German and Fleming 
+are considered by the ignorant as synonymous terms.
+
+Amongst themselves they have three words to distinguish them and 
+their race in general:  Zincalo, Romano, and Chai; of the first two 
+of which something has been already said.
+
+They likewise call themselves 'Cales,' by which appellation indeed 
+they are tolerably well known by the Spaniards, and which is merely 
+the plural termination of the compound word Zincalo, and signifies, 
+The black men.  Chai is a modification of the word Chal, which, by 
+the Gitanos of Estremadura, is applied to Egypt, and in many parts 
+of Spain is equivalent to 'Heaven,' and which is perhaps a 
+modification of 'Cheros,' the word for heaven in other dialects of 
+the Gypsy language.  Thus Chai may denote, The men of Egypt, or, 
+The sons of Heaven.  It is, however, right to observe, that amongst 
+the Gitanos, the word Chai has frequently no other signification 
+than the simple one of 'children.'
+
+It is impossible to state for certainty the exact year of their 
+first appearance in Spain; but it is reasonable to presume that it 
+was early in the fifteenth century; as in the year 1417 numerous 
+bands entered France from the north-east of Europe, and speedily 
+spread themselves over the greatest part of that country.  Of these 
+wanderers a French author has left the following graphic 
+description:  (16)
+
+'On the 17th of April 1427, appeared in Paris twelve penitents of 
+Egypt, driven from thence by the Saracens; they brought in their 
+company one hundred and twenty persons; they took up their quarters 
+in La Chapelle, whither the people flocked in crowds to visit them.  
+They had their ears pierced, from which depended a ring of silver; 
+their hair was black and crispy, and their women were filthy to a 
+degree, and were sorceresses who told fortunes.'
+
+Such were the people who, after traversing France and scaling the 
+sides of the Pyrenees, poured down in various bands upon the 
+sunburnt plains of Spain.  Wherever they had appeared they had been 
+looked upon as a curse and a pestilence, and with much reason.  
+Either unwilling or unable to devote themselves to any laborious or 
+useful occupation, they came like flights of wasps to prey upon the 
+fruits which their more industrious fellow-beings amassed by the 
+toil of their hands and the sweat of their foreheads; the natural 
+result being, that wherever they arrived, their fellow-creatures 
+banded themselves against them.  Terrible laws were enacted soon 
+after their appearance in France, calculated to put a stop to their 
+frauds and dishonest propensities; wherever their hordes were 
+found, they were attacked by the incensed rustics or by the armed 
+hand of justice, and those who were not massacred on the spot, or 
+could not escape by flight, were, without a shadow of a trial, 
+either hanged on the next tree, or sent to serve for life in the 
+galleys; or if females or children, either scourged or mutilated.
+
+The consequence of this severity, which, considering the manners 
+and spirit of the time, is scarcely to be wondered at, was the 
+speedy disappearance of the Gypsies from the soil of France.
+
+Many returned by the way they came, to Germany, Hungary, and the 
+woods and forests of Bohemia; but there is little doubt that by far 
+the greater portion found a refuge in the Peninsula, a country 
+which, though by no means so rich and fertile as the one they had 
+quitted, nor offering so wide and ready a field for the exercise of 
+those fraudulent arts for which their race had become so infamously 
+notorious, was, nevertheless, in many respects, suitable and 
+congenial to them.  If there were less gold and silver in the 
+purses of the citizens to reward the dexterous handler of the knife 
+and scissors amidst the crowd in the market-place; if fewer sides 
+of fatted swine graced the ample chimney of the labourer in Spain 
+than in the neighbouring country; if fewer beeves bellowed in the 
+plains, and fewer sheep bleated upon the hills, there were far 
+better opportunities afforded of indulging in wild independence.  
+Should the halberded bands of the city be ordered out to quell, 
+seize, or exterminate them; should the alcalde of the village cause 
+the tocsin to be rung, gathering together the villanos for a 
+similar purpose, the wild sierra was generally at hand, which, with 
+its winding paths, its caves, its frowning precipices, and ragged 
+thickets, would offer to them a secure refuge where they might 
+laugh to scorn the rage of their baffled pursuers, and from which 
+they might emerge either to fresh districts or to those which they 
+had left, to repeat their ravages when opportunity served.
+
+After crossing the Pyrenees, a very short time elapsed before the 
+Gypsy hordes had bivouacked in the principal provinces of Spain.  
+There can indeed be little doubt, that shortly after their arrival 
+they made themselves perfectly acquainted with all the secrets of 
+the land, and that there was scarcely a nook or retired corner 
+within Spain, from which the smoke of their fires had not arisen, 
+or where their cattle had not grazed.  People, however, so acute as 
+they have always proverbially been, would scarcely be slow in 
+distinguishing the provinces most adapted to their manner of life, 
+and most calculated to afford them opportunities of practising 
+those arts to which they were mainly indebted for their 
+subsistence; the savage hills of Biscay, of Galicia, and the 
+Asturias, whose inhabitants were almost as poor as themselves, 
+which possessed no superior breed of horses or mules from amongst 
+which they might pick and purloin many a gallant beast, and having 
+transformed by their dexterous scissors, impose him again upon his 
+rightful master for a high price, - such provinces, where, 
+moreover, provisions were hard to be obtained, even by pilfering 
+hands, could scarcely be supposed to offer strong temptations to 
+these roving visitors to settle down in, or to vex and harass by a 
+long sojourn.
+
+Valencia and Murcia found far more favour in their eyes; a far more 
+fertile soil, and wealthier inhabitants, were better calculated to 
+entice them; there was a prospect of plunder, and likewise a 
+prospect of safety and refuge, should the dogs of justice be roused 
+against them.  If there were the populous town and village in those 
+lands, there was likewise the lone waste, and uncultivated spot, to 
+which they could retire when danger threatened them.  Still more 
+suitable to them must have been La Mancha, a land of tillage, of 
+horses, and of mules, skirted by its brown sierra, ever eager to 
+afford its shelter to their dusky race.  Equally suitable, 
+Estremadura and New Castile; but far, far more, Andalusia, with its 
+three kingdoms, Jaen, Granada, and Seville, one of which was still 
+possessed by the swarthy Moor, - Andalusia, the land of the proud 
+steed and the stubborn mule, the land of the savage sierra and the 
+fruitful and cultivated plain:  to Andalusia they hied, in bands of 
+thirties and sixties; the hoofs of their asses might be heard 
+clattering in the passes of the stony hills; the girls might be 
+seen bounding in lascivious dance in the streets of many a town, 
+and the beldames standing beneath the eaves telling the 'buena 
+ventura' to many a credulous female dupe; the men the while 
+chaffered in the fair and market-place with the labourers and 
+chalanes, casting significant glances on each other, or exchanging 
+a word or two in Rommany, whilst they placed some uncouth animal in 
+a particular posture which served to conceal its ugliness from the 
+eyes of the chapman.  Yes, of all provinces of Spain, Andalusia was 
+the most frequented by the Gitano race, and in Andalusia they most 
+abound at the present day, though no longer as restless independent 
+wanderers of the fields and hills, but as residents in villages and 
+towns, especially in Seville.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+HAVING already stated to the reader at what period and by what 
+means these wanderers introduced themselves into Spain, we shall 
+now say something concerning their manner of life.
+
+It would appear that, for many years after their arrival in the 
+Peninsula, their manners and habits underwent no change; they were 
+wanderers, in the strictest sense of the word, and lived much in 
+the same way as their brethren exist in the present day in England, 
+Russia, and Bessarabia, with the exception perhaps of being more 
+reckless, mischievous, and having less respect for the laws; it is 
+true that their superiority in wickedness in these points may have 
+been more the effect of the moral state of the country in which 
+they were, than of any other operating cause.
+
+Arriving in Spain with a predisposition to every species of crime 
+and villainy, they were not likely to be improved or reclaimed by 
+the example of the people with whom they were about to mix; nor was 
+it probable that they would entertain much respect for laws which, 
+from time immemorial, have principally served, not to protect the 
+honest and useful members of society, but to enrich those entrusted 
+with the administration of them.  Thus, if  they came thieves, it 
+is not probable that they would become ashamed of the title of 
+thief in Spain, where the officers of justice were ever willing to 
+shield an offender on receiving the largest portion of the booty 
+obtained.  If on their arrival they held the lives of others in 
+very low estimation, could it be expected that they would become 
+gentle as lambs in a land where blood had its price, and the 
+shedder was seldom executed unless he was poor and friendless, and 
+unable to cram with ounces of yellow gold the greedy hands of the 
+pursuers of blood, - the alguazil and escribano? therefore, if the 
+Spanish Gypsies have been more bloody and more wolfishly eager in 
+the pursuit of booty than those of their race in most other 
+regions, the cause must be attributed to their residence in a 
+country unsound in every branch of its civil polity, where right 
+has ever been in less esteem, and wrong in less disrepute, than in 
+any other part of the world.
+
+However, if the moral state of Spain was not calculated to have a 
+favourable effect on the habits and pursuits of the Gypsies, their 
+manners were as little calculated to operate beneficially, in any 
+point of view, on the country where they had lately arrived.  
+Divided into numerous bodies, frequently formidable in point of 
+number, their presence was an evil and a curse in whatever quarter 
+they directed their steps.  As might be expected, the labourers, 
+who in all countries are the most honest, most useful, and 
+meritorious class, were the principal sufferers; their mules and 
+horses were stolen, carried away to distant fairs, and there 
+disposed of, perhaps, to individuals destined to be deprived of 
+them in a similar manner; whilst their flocks of sheep and goats 
+were laid under requisition to assuage the hungry cravings of these 
+thievish cormorants.
+
+It was not uncommon for a large band or tribe to encamp in the 
+vicinity of a remote village scantily peopled, and to remain there 
+until, like a flight of locusts, they had consumed everything which 
+the inhabitants possessed for their support; or until they were 
+scared away by the approach of justice, or by an army of rustics 
+assembled from the surrounding country.  Then would ensue the 
+hurried march; the women and children, mounted on lean but spirited 
+asses, would scour along the plains fleeter than the wind; ragged 
+and savage-looking men, wielding the scourge and goad, would 
+scamper by their side or close behind, whilst perhaps a small party 
+on strong horses, armed with rusty matchlocks or sabres, would 
+bring up the rear, threatening the distant foe, and now and then 
+saluting them with a hoarse blast from the Gypsy horn:-
+
+
+'O, when I sit my courser bold,
+My bantling in my rear,
+And in my hand my musket hold -
+O how they quake with fear!'
+
+
+Let us for a moment suppose some unfortunate traveller, mounted on 
+a handsome mule or beast of some value, meeting, unarmed and alone, 
+such a rabble rout at the close of eve, in the wildest part, for 
+example, of La Mancha; we will suppose that he is journeying from 
+Seville to Madrid, and that he has left at a considerable distance 
+behind him the gloomy and horrible passes of the Sierra Morena; his 
+bosom, which for some time past has been contracted with dreadful 
+forebodings, is beginning to expand; his blood, which has been 
+congealed in his veins, is beginning to circulate warmly and 
+freely; he is fondly anticipating the still distant posada and 
+savoury omelet.  The sun is sinking rapidly behind the savage and 
+uncouth hills in his rear; he has reached the bottom of a small 
+valley, where runs a rivulet at which he allows his tired animal to 
+drink; he is about to ascend the side of the hill; his eyes are 
+turned upwards; suddenly he beholds strange and uncouth forms at 
+the top of the ascent - the sun descending slants its rays upon red 
+cloaks, with here and there a turbaned head, or long streaming 
+hair.  The traveller hesitates, but reflecting that he is no longer 
+in the mountains, and that in the open road there is no danger of 
+banditti, he advances.  In a moment he is in the midst of the Gypsy 
+group, in a moment there is a general halt; fiery eyes are turned 
+upon him replete with an expression which only the eyes of the Roma 
+possess, then ensues a jabber in a language or jargon which is 
+strange to the ears of the traveller; at last an ugly urchin 
+springs from the crupper of a halting mule, and in a lisping accent 
+entreats charity in the name of the Virgin and the Majoro.  The 
+traveller, with a faltering hand, produces his purse, and is 
+proceeding to loosen its strings, but he accomplishes not his 
+purpose, for, struck violently by a huge knotted club in an unseen 
+hand, he tumbles headlong from his mule.  Next morning a naked 
+corse, besmeared with brains and blood, is found by an arriero; and 
+within a week a simple cross records the event, according to the 
+custom of Spain.
+
+
+'Below there in the dusky pass
+Was wrought a murder dread;
+The murdered fell upon the grass,
+Away the murderer fled.'
+
+
+To many, such a scene, as above described, will appear purely 
+imaginary, or at least a mass of exaggeration, but many such 
+anecdotes are related by old Spanish writers of these people; they 
+traversed the country in gangs; they were what the Spanish law has 
+styled Abigeos and Salteadores de Camino, cattle-stealers and 
+highwaymen; though, in the latter character, they never rose to any 
+considerable eminence.  True it is that they would not hesitate to 
+attack or even murder the unarmed and defenceless traveller, when 
+they felt assured of obtaining booty with little or no risk to 
+themselves; but they were not by constitution adapted to rival 
+those bold and daring banditti of whom so many terrible anecdotes 
+are related in Spain and Italy, and who have acquired their renown 
+by the dauntless daring which they have invariably displayed in the 
+pursuit of plunder.
+
+Besides trafficking in horses and mules, and now and then attacking 
+and plundering travellers upon the highway, the Gypsies of Spain 
+appear, from a very early period, to have plied occasionally the 
+trade of the blacksmith, and to have worked in iron, forming rude 
+implements of domestic and agricultural use, which they disposed 
+of, either for provisions or money, in the neighbourhood of those 
+places where they had taken up their temporary residence.  As their 
+bands were composed of numerous individuals, there is no 
+improbability in assuming that to every member was allotted that 
+branch of labour in which he was most calculated to excel.  The 
+most important, and that which required the greatest share of 
+cunning and address, was undoubtedly that of the chalan or jockey, 
+who frequented the fairs with the beasts which he had obtained by 
+various means, but generally by theft.  Highway robbery, though 
+occasionally committed by all jointly or severally, was probably 
+the peculiar department of the boldest spirits of the gang; whilst 
+wielding the hammer and tongs was abandoned to those who, though 
+possessed of athletic forms, were perhaps, like Vulcan, lame, or 
+from some particular cause, moral or physical, unsuited for the 
+other two very respectable avocations.  The forge was generally 
+placed in the heart of some mountain abounding in wood; the gaunt 
+smiths felled a tree, perhaps with the very axes which their own 
+sturdy hands had hammered at a former period; with the wood thus 
+procured they prepared the charcoal which their labour demanded.  
+Everything is in readiness; the bellows puff until the coal is 
+excited to a furious glow; the metal, hot, pliant, and ductile, is 
+laid on the anvil, round which stands the Cyclop group, their 
+hammers upraised; down they descend successively, one, two, three, 
+the sparks are scattered on every side.  The sparks -
+
+
+'More than a hundred lovely daughters I see produced at one time, 
+fiery as roses:  in one moment they expire gracefully 
+circumvolving.' (17)
+
+
+The anvil rings beneath the thundering stroke, hour succeeds hour, 
+and still endures the hard sullen toil.
+
+One of the most remarkable features in the history of Gypsies is 
+the striking similarity of their pursuits in every region of the 
+globe to which they have penetrated; they are not merely alike in 
+limb and in feature, in the cast and expression of the eye, in the 
+colour of the hair, in their walk and gait, but everywhere they 
+seem to exhibit the same tendencies, and to hunt for their bread by 
+the same means, as if they were not of the human but rather of the 
+animal species, and in lieu of reason were endowed with a kind of 
+instinct which assists them to a very limited extent and no 
+farther.
+
+In no part of the world are they found engaged in the cultivation 
+of the earth, or in the service of a regular master; but in all 
+lands they are jockeys, or thieves, or cheats; and if ever they 
+devote themselves to any toil or trade, it is assuredly in every 
+material point one and the same.  We have found them above, in the 
+heart of a wild mountain, hammering iron, and manufacturing from it 
+instruments either for their own use or that of the neighbouring 
+towns and villages.  They may be seen employed in a similar manner 
+in the plains of Russia, or in the bosom of its eternal forests; 
+and whoever inspects the site where a horde of Gypsies has 
+encamped, in the grassy lanes beneath the hazel bushes of merry 
+England, is generally sure to find relics of tin and other metal, 
+avouching that they have there been exercising the arts of the 
+tinker or smith.  Perhaps nothing speaks more forcibly for the 
+antiquity of this sect or caste than the tenacity with which they 
+have uniformly preserved their peculiar customs since the period of 
+their becoming generally known; for, unless their habits had become 
+a part of their nature, which could only have been effected by a 
+strict devotion to them through a long succession of generations, 
+it is not to be supposed that after their arrival in civilised 
+Europe they would have retained and cherished them precisely in the 
+same manner in the various countries where they found an asylum.
+
+Each band or family of the Spanish Gypsies had its Captain, or, as 
+he was generally designated, its Count.  Don Juan de Quinones, who, 
+in a small volume published in 1632, has written some details 
+respecting their way of life, says:  'They roam about, divided into 
+families and troops, each of which has its head or Count; and to 
+fill this office they choose the most valiant and courageous 
+individual amongst them, and the one endowed with the greatest 
+strength.  He must at the same time be crafty and sagacious, and 
+adapted in every respect to govern them.  It is he who settles 
+their differences and disputes, even when they are residing in a 
+place where there is a regular justice.  He heads them at night 
+when they go out to plunder the flocks, or to rob travellers on the 
+highway; and whatever they steal or plunder they divide amongst 
+them, always allowing the captain a third part of the whole.'
+
+These Counts, being elected for such qualities as promised to be 
+useful to their troop or family, were consequently liable to be 
+deposed if at any time their conduct was not calculated to afford 
+satisfaction to their subjects.  The office was not hereditary, and 
+though it carried along with it partial privileges, was both 
+toilsome and dangerous.  Should the plans for plunder, which it was 
+the duty of the Count to form, miscarry in the attempt to execute 
+them; should individuals of the gang fall into the hand of justice, 
+and the Count be unable to devise a method to save their lives or 
+obtain their liberty, the blame was cast at the Count's door, and 
+he was in considerable danger of being deprived of his insignia of 
+authority, which consisted not so much in ornaments or in dress, as 
+in hawks and hounds with which the Senor Count took the diversion 
+of hunting when he thought proper.  As the ground which he hunted 
+over was not his own, he incurred some danger of coming in contact 
+with the lord of the soil, attended, perhaps, by his armed 
+followers.  There is a tradition (rather apocryphal, it is true), 
+that a Gitano chief, once pursuing this amusement, was encountered 
+by a real Count, who is styled Count Pepe.  An engagement ensued 
+between the two parties, which ended in the Gypsies being worsted, 
+and their chief left dying on the field.  The slain chief leaves a 
+son, who, at the instigation of his mother, steals the infant heir 
+of his father's enemy, who, reared up amongst the Gypsies, becomes 
+a chief, and, in process of time, hunting over the same ground, 
+slays Count Pepe in the very spot where the blood of the Gypsy had 
+been poured out.  This tradition is alluded to in the following 
+stanza:-
+
+
+'I have a gallant mare in stall;
+My mother gave that mare
+That I might seek Count Pepe's hall
+And steal his son and heir.'
+
+
+Martin Del Rio, in his TRACTATUS DE MAGIA, speaks of the Gypsies 
+and their Counts to the following effect:  'When, in the year 1584, 
+I was marching in Spain with the regiment, a multitude of these 
+wretches were infesting the fields.  It happened that the feast of 
+Corpus Domini was being celebrated, and they requested to be 
+admitted into the town, that they might dance in honour of the 
+sacrifice, as was customary; they did so, but about midday a great 
+tumult arose owing to the many thefts which the women committed, 
+whereupon they fled out of the suburbs, and assembled about St. 
+Mark's, the magnificent mansion and hospital of the knights of St. 
+James, where the ministers of justice attempting to seize them were 
+repulsed by force of arms; nevertheless, all of a sudden, and I 
+know not how, everything was hushed up.  At this time they had a 
+Count, a fellow who spoke the Castilian idiom with as much purity 
+as if he had been a native of Toledo; he was acquainted with all 
+the ports of Spain, and all the difficult and broken ground of the 
+provinces.  He knew the exact strength of every city, and who were 
+the principal people in each, and the exact amount of their 
+property; there was nothing relating to the state, however secret, 
+that he was not acquainted with; nor did he make a mystery of his 
+knowledge, but publicly boasted of it.'
+
+From the passage quoted above, we learn that the Gitanos in the 
+ancient times were considered as foreigners who prowled about the 
+country; indeed, in many of the laws which at various times have 
+been promulgated against them, they are spoken of as Egyptians, and 
+as such commanded to leave Spain, and return to their native 
+country; at one time they undoubtedly were foreigners in Spain, 
+foreigners by birth, foreigners by language but at the time they 
+are mentioned by the worthy Del Rio, they were certainly not 
+entitled to the appellation.  True it is that they spoke a language 
+amongst themselves, unintelligible to the rest of the Spaniards, 
+from whom they differed considerably in feature and complexion, as 
+they still do; but if being born in a country, and being bred 
+there, constitute a right to be considered a native of that 
+country, they had as much claim to the appellation of Spaniards as 
+the worthy author himself.  Del Rio mentions, as a remarkable 
+circumstance, the fact of the Gypsy Count speaking Castilian with 
+as much purity as a native of Toledo, whereas it is by no means 
+improbable that the individual in question was a native of that 
+town; but the truth is, at the time we are speaking of, they were 
+generally believed to be not only foreigners, but by means of 
+sorcery to have acquired the power of speaking all languages with 
+equal facility; and Del Rio, who was a believer in magic, and wrote 
+one of the most curious and erudite treatises on the subject ever 
+penned, had perhaps adopted that idea, which possibly originated 
+from their speaking most of the languages and dialects of the 
+Peninsula, which they picked up in their wanderings.  That the 
+Gypsy chief was so well acquainted with every town of Spain, and 
+the broken and difficult ground, can cause but little surprise, 
+when we reflect that the life which the Gypsies led was one above 
+all others calculated to afford them that knowledge.  They were 
+continually at variance with justice; they were frequently obliged 
+to seek shelter in the inmost recesses of the hills; and when their 
+thievish pursuits led them to the cities, they naturally made 
+themselves acquainted with the names of the principal individuals, 
+in hopes of plundering them.  Doubtless the chief possessed all 
+this species of knowledge in a superior degree, as it was his 
+courage, acuteness, and experience alone which placed him at the 
+head of his tribe, though Del Rio from this circumstance wishes to 
+infer that the Gitanos were spies sent by foreign foes, and with 
+some simplicity inquires, 'Quo ant cui rei haec curiosa exploratio? 
+nonne compescenda vagamundorum haec curiositas, etiam si solum 
+peregrini et inculpatae vitae.'
+
+With the Counts rested the management and direction of these 
+remarkable societies; it was they who determined their marches, 
+counter-marches, advances, and retreats; what was to be attempted 
+or avoided; what individuals were to be admitted into the 
+fellowship and privileges of the Gitanos, or who were to be 
+excluded from their society; they settled disputes and sat in 
+judgment over offences.  The greatest crimes, according to the 
+Gypsy code, were a quarrelsome disposition, and revealing the 
+secrets of the brotherhood.  By this code the members were 
+forbidden to eat, drink, or sleep in the house of a Busno, which 
+signifies any person who is not of the sect of the Gypsies, or to 
+marry out of that sect; they were likewise not to teach the 
+language of Roma to any but those who, by birth or inauguration, 
+belonged to that sect; they were enjoined to relieve their brethren 
+in distress at any expense or peril; they were to use a peculiar 
+dress, which is frequently alluded to in the Spanish laws, but the 
+particulars of which are not stated; and they were to cultivate the 
+gift of speech to the utmost possible extent, and never to lose 
+anything which might be obtained by a loose and deceiving tongue, 
+to encourage which they had many excellent proverbs, for example -
+
+'The poor fool who closes his mouth never winneth a dollar.'
+
+'The river which runneth with sound bears along with it stones and 
+water.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos not unfrequently made their appearance in considerable 
+numbers, so as to be able to bid defiance to any force which could 
+be assembled against them on a sudden; whole districts thus became 
+a prey to them, and were plundered and devastated.
+
+It is said that, in the year 1618, more than eight hundred of these 
+wretches scoured the country between Castile and Aragon, committing 
+the most enormous crimes.  The royal council despatched regular 
+troops against them, who experienced some difficulty in dispersing 
+them.
+
+But we now proceed to touch upon an event which forms an era in the 
+history of the Gitanos of Spain, and which for wildness and 
+singularity throws all other events connected with them and their 
+race, wherever found, entirely into the shade.
+
+
+THE BOOKSELLER OF LOGRONO
+
+
+About the middle of the sixteenth century, there resided one 
+Francisco Alvarez in the city of Logrono, the chief town of Rioja, 
+a province which borders on Aragon.  He was a man above the middle 
+age, sober, reserved, and in general absorbed in thought; he lived 
+near the great church, and obtained a livelihood by selling printed 
+books and manuscripts in a small shop.  He was a very learned man, 
+and was continually reading in the books which he was in the habit 
+of selling, and some of these books were in foreign tongues and 
+characters, so foreign, indeed, that none but himself and some of 
+his friends, the canons, could understand them; he was much visited 
+by the clergy, who were his principal customers, and took much 
+pleasure in listening to his discourse.
+
+He had been a considerable traveller in his youth, and had wandered 
+through all Spain, visiting the various provinces and the most 
+remarkable cities.  It was likewise said that he had visited Italy 
+and Barbary.  He was, however, invariably silent with respect to 
+his travels, and whenever the subject was mentioned to him, the 
+gloom and melancholy increased which usually clouded his features.
+
+One day, in the commencement of autumn, he was visited by a priest 
+with whom he had long been intimate, and for whom he had always 
+displayed a greater respect and liking than for any other 
+acquaintance.  The ecclesiastic found him even more sad than usual, 
+and there was a haggard paleness upon his countenance which alarmed 
+his visitor.  The good priest made affectionate inquiries 
+respecting the health of his friend, and whether anything had of 
+late occurred to give him uneasiness; adding at the same time, that 
+he had long suspected that some secret lay heavy upon his mind, 
+which he now conjured him to reveal, as life was uncertain, and it 
+was very possible that he might be quickly summoned from earth into 
+the presence of his Maker.
+
+The bookseller continued for some time in gloomy meditation, till 
+at last he broke silence in these words:- 'It is true I have a 
+secret which weighs heavy upon my mind, and which I am still loth 
+to reveal; but I have a presentiment that my end is approaching, 
+and that a heavy misfortune is about to fall upon this city:  I 
+will therefore unburden myself, for it were now a sin to remain 
+silent.
+
+'I am, as you are aware, a native of this town, which I first left 
+when I went to acquire an education at Salamanca; I continued there 
+until I became a licentiate, when I quitted the university and 
+strolled through Spain, supporting myself in general by touching 
+the guitar, according to the practice of penniless students; my 
+adventures were numerous, and I frequently experienced great 
+poverty.  Once, whilst making my way from Toledo to Andalusia 
+through the wild mountains, I fell in with and was made captive by 
+a band of the people called Gitanos, or wandering Egyptians; they 
+in general lived amongst these wilds, and plundered or murdered 
+every person whom they met.  I should probably have been 
+assassinated by them, but my skill in music perhaps saved my life.  
+I continued with them a considerable time, till at last they 
+persuaded me to become one of them, whereupon I was inaugurated 
+into their society with many strange and horrid ceremonies, and 
+having thus become a Gitano, I went with them to plunder and 
+assassinate upon the roads.
+
+'The Count or head man of these Gitanos had an only daughter, about 
+my own age; she was very beautiful, but, at the same time, 
+exceedingly strong and robust; this Gitana was given to me as a 
+wife or cadjee, and I lived with her several years, and she bore me 
+children.
+
+'My wife was an arrant Gitana, and in her all the wickedness of her 
+race seemed to be concentrated.  At last her father was killed in 
+an affray with the troopers of the Hermandad, whereupon my wife and 
+myself succeeded to the authority which he had formerly exercised 
+in the tribe.  We had at first loved each other, but at last the 
+Gitano life, with its accompanying wickedness, becoming hateful to 
+my eyes, my wife, who was not slow in perceiving my altered 
+disposition, conceived for me the most deadly hatred; apprehending 
+that I meditated withdrawing myself from the society, and perhaps 
+betraying the secrets of the band, she formed a conspiracy against 
+me, and, at one time, being opposite the Moorish coast, I was 
+seized and bound by the other Gitanos, conveyed across the sea, and 
+delivered as a slave into the hands of the Moors.
+
+'I continued for a long time in slavery in various parts of Morocco 
+and Fez, until I was at length redeemed from my state of bondage by 
+a missionary friar who paid my ransom.  With him I shortly after 
+departed for Italy, of which he was a native.  In that country I 
+remained some years, until a longing to revisit my native land 
+seized me, when I returned to Spain and established myself here, 
+where I have since lived by vending books, many of which I brought 
+from the strange lands which I visited.  I kept my history, 
+however, a profound secret, being afraid of exposing myself to the 
+laws in force against the Gitanos, to which I should instantly 
+become amenable, were it once known that I had at any time been a 
+member of this detestable sect.
+
+'My present wretchedness, of which you have demanded the cause, 
+dates from yesterday; I had been on a short journey to the 
+Augustine convent, which stands on the plain in the direction of 
+Saragossa, carrying with me an Arabian book, which a learned monk 
+was desirous of seeing.  Night overtook me ere I could return.  I 
+speedily lost my way, and wandered about until I came near a 
+dilapidated edifice with which I was acquainted; I was about to 
+proceed in the direction of the town, when I heard voices within 
+the ruined walls; I listened, and recognised the language of the 
+abhorred Gitanos; I was about to fly, when a word arrested me.  It 
+was Drao, which in their tongue signifies the horrid poison with 
+which this race are in the habit of destroying the cattle; they now 
+said that the men of Logrono should rue the Drao which they had 
+been casting.  I heard no more, but fled.  What increased my fear 
+was, that in the words spoken, I thought I recognised the peculiar 
+jargon of my own tribe; I repeat, that I believe some horrible 
+misfortune is overhanging this city, and that my own days are 
+numbered.'
+
+The priest, having conversed with him for some time upon particular 
+points of the history that he had related, took his leave, advising 
+him to compose his spirits, as he saw no reason why he should 
+indulge in such gloomy forebodings.
+
+The very next day a sickness broke out in the town of Logrono.  It 
+was one of a peculiar kind; unlike most others, it did not arise by 
+slow and gradual degrees, but at once appeared in full violence, in 
+the shape of a terrific epidemic.  Dizziness in the head was the 
+first symptom:  then convulsive retchings, followed by a dreadful 
+struggle between life and death, which generally terminated in 
+favour of the grim destroyer.  The bodies, after the spirit which 
+animated them had taken flight, were frightfully swollen, and 
+exhibited a dark blue colour, checkered with crimson spots.  
+Nothing was heard within the houses or the streets, but groans of 
+agony; no remedy was at hand, and the powers of medicine were 
+exhausted in vain upon this terrible pest; so that within a few 
+days the greatest part of the inhabitants of Logrono had perished.  
+The bookseller had not been seen since the commencement of this 
+frightful visitation.
+
+Once, at the dead of night, a knock was heard at the door of the 
+priest, of whom we have already spoken; the priest himself 
+staggered to the door, and opened it, - he was the only one who 
+remained alive in the house, and was himself slowly recovering from 
+the malady which had destroyed all the other inmates; a wild 
+spectral-looking figure presented itself to his eye - it was his 
+friend Alvarez.  Both went into the house, when the bookseller, 
+glancing gloomily on the wasted features of the priest, exclaimed, 
+'You too, I see, amongst others, have cause to rue the Drao which 
+the Gitanos have cast.  Know,' he continued, 'that in order to 
+accomplish a detestable plan, the fountains of Logrono have been 
+poisoned by emissaries of the roving bands, who are now assembled 
+in the neighbourhood.  On the first appearance of the disorder, 
+from which I happily escaped by tasting the water of a private 
+fountain, which I possess in my own house, I instantly recognised 
+the effects of the poison of the Gitanos, brought by their 
+ancestors from the isles of the Indian sea; and suspecting their 
+intentions, I disguised myself as a Gitano, and went forth in the 
+hope of being able to act as a spy upon their actions.  I have been 
+successful, and am at present thoroughly acquainted with their 
+designs.  They intended, from the first, to sack the town, as soon 
+as it should have been emptied of its defenders.
+
+'Midday, to-morrow, is the hour in which they have determined to 
+make the attempt.  There is no time to be lost; let us, therefore, 
+warn those of our townsmen who still survive, in order that they 
+may make preparations for their defence.'
+
+Whereupon the two friends proceeded to the chief magistrate, who 
+had been but slightly affected by the disorder; he heard the tale 
+of the bookseller with horror and astonishment, and instantly took 
+the best measures possible for frustrating the designs of the 
+Gitanos; all the men capable of bearing arms in Logrono were 
+assembled, and weapons of every description put in their hands.  By 
+the advice of the bookseller all the gates of the town were shut, 
+with the exception of the principal one; and the little band of 
+defenders, which barely amounted to sixty men, was stationed in the 
+great square, to which, he said, it was the intention of the 
+Gitanos to penetrate in the first instance, and then, dividing 
+themselves into various parties, to sack the place.  The bookseller 
+was, by general desire, constituted leader of the guardians of the 
+town.
+
+It was considerably past noon; the sky was overcast, and tempest 
+clouds, fraught with lightning and thunder, were hanging black and 
+horrid over the town of Logrono.  The little troop, resting on 
+their arms, stood awaiting the arrival of their unnatural enemies; 
+rage fired their minds as they thought of the deaths of their 
+fathers, their sons, and their dearest relatives, who had perished, 
+not by the hand of God, but, like infected cattle, by the hellish 
+arts of Egyptian sorcerers.  They longed for their appearance, 
+determined to wreak upon them a bloody revenge; not a word was 
+uttered, and profound silence reigned around, only interrupted by 
+the occasional muttering of the thunder-clouds.  Suddenly, Alvarez, 
+who had been intently listening, raised his hand with a significant 
+gesture; presently, a sound was heard - a rustling like the waving 
+of trees, or the rushing of distant water; it gradually increased, 
+and seemed to proceed from the narrow street which led from the 
+principal gate into the square.  All eyes were turned in that 
+direction. . . .
+
+That night there was repique or ringing of bells in the towers of 
+Logrono, and the few priests who had escaped from the pestilence 
+sang litanies to God and the Virgin for the salvation of the town 
+from the hands of the heathen.  The attempt of the Gitanos had been 
+most signally defeated, and the great square and the street were 
+strewn with their corpses.  Oh! what frightful objects:  there lay 
+grim men more black than mulattos, with fury and rage in their 
+stiffened features; wild women in extraordinary dresses, their 
+hair, black and long as the tail of the horse, spread all 
+dishevelled upon the ground; and gaunt and naked children grasping 
+knives and daggers in their tiny hands.  Of the patriotic troop not 
+one appeared to have fallen; and when, after their enemies had 
+retreated with howlings of fiendish despair, they told their 
+numbers, only one man was missing, who was never seen again, and 
+that man was Alvarez.
+
+In the midst of the combat, the tempest, which had for a long time 
+been gathering, burst over Logrono, in lightning, thunder, 
+darkness, and vehement hail.
+
+A man of the town asserted that the last time he had seen Alvarez, 
+the latter was far in advance of his companions, defending himself 
+desperately against three powerful young heathen, who seemed to be 
+acting under the direction of a tall woman who stood nigh, covered 
+with barbaric ornaments, and wearing on her head a rude silver 
+crown. (18)
+
+Such is the tale of the Bookseller of Logrono, and such is the 
+narrative of the attempt of the Gitanos to sack the town in the 
+time of pestilence, which is alluded to by many Spanish authors, 
+but more particularly by the learned Francisco de Cordova, in his 
+DIDASCALIA, one of the most curious and instructive books within 
+the circle of universal literature.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+THE Moors, after their subjugation, and previous to their expulsion 
+from Spain, generally resided apart, principally in the suburbs of 
+the towns, where they kept each other in countenance, being hated 
+and despised by the Spaniards, and persecuted on all occasions.  By 
+this means they preserved, to a certain extent, the Arabic 
+language, though the use of it was strictly forbidden, and 
+encouraged each other in the secret exercise of the rites of the 
+Mohammedan religion, so that, until the moment of their final 
+expulsion, they continued Moors in almost every sense of the word.  
+Such places were called Morerias, or quarters of the Moors.
+
+In like manner there were Gitanerias, or quarters of the Gitanos, 
+in many of the towns of Spain; and in more than one instance 
+particular barrios or districts are still known by this name, 
+though the Gitanos themselves have long since disappeared.  Even in 
+the town of Oviedo, in the heart of the Asturias, a province never 
+famous for Gitanos, there is a place called the Gitaneria, though 
+no Gitano has been known to reside in the town within the memory of 
+man, nor indeed been seen, save, perhaps, as a chance visitor at a 
+fair.
+
+The exact period when the Gitanos first formed these colonies 
+within the towns is not known; the laws, however, which commanded 
+them to abandon their wandering life under penalty of banishment 
+and death, and to become stationary in towns, may have induced them 
+first to take such a step.  By the first of these laws, which was 
+made by Ferdinand and Isabella as far back as the year 1499, they 
+are commanded to seek out for themselves masters.  This injunction 
+they utterly disregarded.  Some of them for fear of the law, or 
+from the hope of bettering their condition, may have settled down 
+in the towns, cities, and villages for a time, but to expect that a 
+people, in whose bosoms was so deeply rooted the love of lawless 
+independence, would subject themselves to the yoke of servitude, 
+from any motive whatever, was going too far; as well might it have 
+been expected, according to the words of the great poet of Persia, 
+THAT THEY WOULD HAVE WASHED THEIR SKINS WHITE.
+
+In these Gitanerias, therefore, many Gypsy families resided, but 
+ever in the Gypsy fashion, in filth and in misery, with little of 
+the fear of man, and nothing of the fear of God before their eyes.  
+Here the swarthy children basked naked in the sun before the doors; 
+here the women prepared love draughts, or told the buena ventura; 
+and here the men plied the trade of the blacksmith, a forbidden 
+occupation, or prepared for sale, by disguising them, animals 
+stolen by themselves or their accomplices.  In these places were 
+harboured the strange Gitanos on their arrival, and here were 
+discussed in the Rommany language, which, like the Arabic, was 
+forbidden under severe penalties, plans of fraud and plunder, which 
+were perhaps intended to be carried into effect in a distant 
+province and a distant city.
+
+The great body, however, of the Gypsy race in Spain continued 
+independent wanderers of the plains and the mountains, and indeed 
+the denizens of the Gitanerias were continually sallying forth, 
+either for the purpose of reuniting themselves with the wandering 
+tribes, or of strolling about from town to town, and from fair to 
+fair.  Hence the continual complaints in the Spanish laws against 
+the Gitanos who have left their places of domicile, from doing 
+which they were interdicted, even as they were interdicted from 
+speaking their language and following the occupations of the 
+blacksmith and horse-dealer, in which they still persist even at 
+the present day.
+
+The Gitanerias at evening fall were frequently resorted to by 
+individuals widely differing in station from the inmates of these 
+places - we allude to the young and dissolute nobility and hidalgos 
+of Spain.  This was generally the time of mirth and festival, and 
+the Gitanos, male and female, danced and sang in the Gypsy fashion 
+beneath the smile of the moon.  The Gypsy women and girls were the 
+principal attractions to these visitors; wild and singular as these 
+females are in their appearance, there can be no doubt, for the 
+fact has been frequently proved, that they are capable of exciting 
+passion of the most ardent description, particularly in the bosoms 
+of those who are not of their race, which passion of course becomes 
+the more violent when the almost utter impossibility of gratifying 
+it is known.  No females in the world can be more licentious in 
+word and gesture, in dance and in song, than the Gitanas; but there 
+they stop:  and so of old, if their titled visitors presumed to 
+seek for more, an unsheathed dagger or gleaming knife speedily 
+repulsed those who expected that the gem most dear amongst the sect 
+of the Roma was within the reach of a Busno.
+
+Such visitors, however, were always encouraged to a certain point, 
+and by this and various other means the Gitanos acquired 
+connections which frequently stood them in good stead in the hour 
+of need.  What availed it to the honest labourers of the 
+neighbourhood, or the citizens of the town, to make complaints to 
+the corregidor concerning the thefts and frauds committed by the 
+Gitanos, when perhaps the sons of that very corregidor frequented 
+the nightly dances at the Gitaneria, and were deeply enamoured with 
+some of the dark-eyed singing-girls?  What availed making 
+complaints, when perhaps a Gypsy sibyl, the mother of those very 
+girls, had free admission to the house of the corregidor at all 
+times and seasons, and spaed the good fortune to his daughters, 
+promising them counts and dukes, and Andalusian knights in 
+marriage, or prepared philtres for his lady by which she was always 
+to reign supreme in the affections of her husband?  And, above all, 
+what availed it to the plundered party to complain that his mule or 
+horse had been stolen, when the Gitano robber, perhaps the husband 
+of the sibyl and the father of the black-eyed Gitanillas, was at 
+that moment actually in treaty with my lord the corregidor himself 
+for supplying him with some splendid thick-maned, long-tailed steed 
+at a small price, to be obtained, as the reader may well suppose, 
+by an infraction of the laws?  The favour and protection which the 
+Gitanos experienced from people of high rank is alluded to in the 
+Spanish laws, and can only be accounted for by the motives above 
+detailed.
+
+The Gitanerias were soon considered as public nuisances, on which 
+account the Gitanos were forbidden to live together in particular 
+parts of the town, to hold meetings, and even to intermarry with 
+each other; yet it does not appear that the Gitanerias were ever 
+suppressed by the arm of the law, as many still exist where these 
+singular beings 'marry and are given in marriage,' and meet 
+together to discuss their affairs, which, in their opinion, never 
+flourish unless those of their fellow-creatures suffer.  So much 
+for the Gitanerias, or Gypsy colonies in the towns of Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+'LOS Gitanos son muy malos! - the Gypsies are very bad people,' 
+said the Spaniards of old times.  They are cheats; they are 
+highwaymen; they practise sorcery; and, lest the catalogue of their 
+offences should be incomplete, a formal charge of cannibalism was 
+brought against them.  Cheats they have always been, and 
+highwaymen, and if not sorcerers, they have always done their best 
+to merit that appellation, by arrogating to themselves supernatural 
+powers; but that they were addicted to cannibalism is a matter not 
+so easily proved.
+
+Their principal accuser was Don Juan de Quinones, who, in the work 
+from which we have already had occasion to quote, gives several 
+anecdotes illustrative of their cannibal propensities.  Most of 
+these anecdotes, however, are so highly absurd, that none but the 
+very credulous could ever have vouchsafed them the slightest 
+credit.  This author is particularly fond of speaking of a certain 
+juez, or judge, called Don Martin Fajardo, who seems to have been 
+an arrant Gypsy-hunter, and was probably a member of the ancient 
+family of the Fajardos, which still flourishes in Estremadura, and 
+with individuals of which we are acquainted.  So it came to pass 
+that this personage was, in the year 1629, at Jaraicejo, in 
+Estremadura, or, as it is written in the little book in question, 
+Zaraizejo, in the capacity of judge; a zealous one he undoubtedly 
+was.
+
+A very strange place is this same Jaraicejo, a small ruinous town 
+or village, situated on a rising ground, with a very wild country 
+all about it.  The road from Badajoz to Madrid passes through it; 
+and about two leagues distant, in the direction of Madrid, is the 
+famous mountain pass of Mirabete, from the top of which you enjoy a 
+most picturesque view across the Tagus, which flows below, as far 
+as the huge mountains of Plasencia, the tops of which are generally 
+covered with snow.
+
+So this Don Martin Fajardo, judge, being at Jaraicejo, laid his 
+claw upon four Gitanos, and having nothing, as it appears, to 
+accuse them of, except being Gitanos, put them to the torture, and 
+made them accuse themselves, which they did; for, on the first 
+appeal which was made to the rack, they confessed that they had 
+murdered a female Gypsy in the forest of Las Gamas, and had there 
+eaten her. . . .
+
+I am myself well acquainted with this same forest of Las Gamas, 
+which lies between Jaraicejo and Trujillo; it abounds with chestnut 
+and cork trees, and is a place very well suited either for the 
+purpose of murder or cannibalism.  It will be as well to observe 
+that I visited it in company with a band of Gitanos, who bivouacked 
+there, and cooked their supper, which however did not consist of 
+human flesh, but of a puchera, the ingredients of which were beef, 
+bacon, garbanzos, and berdolaga, or field-pease and purslain, - 
+therefore I myself can bear testimony that there is such a forest 
+as Las Gamas, and that it is frequented occasionally by Gypsies, by 
+which two points are established by far the most important to the 
+history in question, or so at least it would be thought in Spain, 
+for being sure of the forest and the Gypsies, few would be 
+incredulous enough to doubt the facts of the murder and 
+cannibalism. . . .
+
+On being put to the rack a second time, the Gitanos confessed that 
+they had likewise murdered and eaten a female pilgrim in the forest 
+aforesaid; and on being tortured yet again, that they had served in 
+the same manner, and in the same forest, a friar of the order of 
+San Francisco, whereupon they were released from the rack and 
+executed.  This is one of the anecdotes of Quinones.
+
+And it came to pass, moreover, that the said Fajardo, being in the 
+town of Montijo, was told by the alcalde, that a certain inhabitant 
+of that place had some time previous lost a mare; and wandering 
+about the plains in quest of her, he arrived at a place called 
+Arroyo el Puerco, where stood a ruined house, on entering which he 
+found various Gitanos employed in preparing their dinner, which 
+consisted of a quarter of a human body, which was being roasted 
+before a huge fire:  the result, however, we are not told; whether 
+the Gypsies were angry at being disturbed in their cookery, or 
+whether the man of the mare departed unobserved.
+
+Quinones, in continuation, states in his book that he learned (he 
+does not say from whom, but probably from Fajardo) that there was a 
+shepherd of the city of Gaudix, who once lost his way in the wild 
+sierra of Gadol:  night came on, and the wind blew cold:  he 
+wandered about until he descried a light in the distance, towards 
+which he bent his way, supposing it to be a fire kindled by 
+shepherds:  on arriving at the spot, however, he found a whole 
+tribe of Gypsies, who were roasting the half of a man, the other 
+half being hung on a cork-tree:  the Gypsies welcomed him very 
+heartily, and requested him to be seated at the fire and to sup 
+with them; but he presently heard them whisper to each other, 'this 
+is a fine fat fellow,' from which he suspected that they were 
+meditating a design upon his body:  whereupon, feeling himself 
+sleepy, he made as if he were seeking a spot where to lie, and 
+suddenly darted headlong down the mountain-side, and escaped from 
+their hands without breaking his neck.
+
+These anecdotes scarcely deserve comment; first we have the 
+statement of Fajardo, the fool or knave who tortures wretches, and 
+then puts them to death for the crimes with which they have taxed 
+themselves whilst undergoing the agony of the rack, probably with 
+the hope of obtaining a moment's respite; last comes the tale of 
+the shepherd, who is invited by Gypsies on a mountain at night to 
+partake of a supper of human flesh, and who runs away from them on 
+hearing them talk of the fatness of his own body, as if cannibal 
+robbers detected in their orgies by a single interloper would have 
+afforded him a chance of escaping.  Such tales cannot be true. (19)
+
+Cases of cannibalism are said to have occurred in Hungary amongst 
+the Gypsies; indeed, the whole race, in that country, has been 
+accused of cannibalism, to which we have alluded whilst speaking of 
+the Chingany:  it is very probable, however, that they were quite 
+innocent of this odious practice, and that the accusation had its 
+origin in popular prejudice, or in the fact of their foul feeding, 
+and their seldom rejecting carrion or offal of any description.
+
+The Gazette of Frankfort for the year 1782, Nos. 157 and 207, 
+states that one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged 
+with this practice; and that the Empress Teresa sent commissioners 
+to inquire into the facts of the accusation, who discovered that 
+they were true; whereupon the empress published a law to oblige all 
+the Gypsies in her dominions to become stationary, which, however, 
+had no effect.
+
+Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own knowledge.
+
+After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a 
+few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet.  I believe that it 
+has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are 
+perfectly indifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they 
+can appease their hunger; and that they have no objection to 
+partake of the carcasses of animals which have died a natural 
+death, and have been left to putrefy by the roadside; moreover, 
+that they use for food all kinds of reptiles and vermin which they 
+can lay their hands upon.
+
+In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same time 
+it must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of the 
+Gypsies in regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to 
+favour the supposition.  This observation chiefly holds good with 
+respect to those of the Gypsy race who still continue in a 
+wandering state, and who, doubtless, retain more of the ways and 
+customs of their forefathers than those who have adopted a 
+stationary life.  There can be no doubt that the wanderers amongst 
+the Gypsy race are occasionally seen to feast upon carcasses of 
+cattle which have been abandoned to the birds of the air, yet it 
+would be wrong, from this fact, to conclude that the Gypsies were 
+habitual devourers of carrion.  Carrion it is true they may 
+occasionally devour, from want of better food, but many of these 
+carcasses are not in reality the carrion which they appear, but are 
+the bodies of animals which the Gypsies have themselves killed by 
+casting drao, in hope that the flesh may eventually be abandoned to 
+them.  It is utterly useless to write about the habits of the 
+Gypsies, especially of the wandering tribes, unless you have lived 
+long and intimately with them; and unhappily, up to the present 
+time, all the books which have been published concerning them have 
+been written by those who have introduced themselves into their 
+society for a few hours, and from what they have seen or heard 
+consider themselves competent to give the world an idea of the 
+manners and customs of the mysterious Rommany:  thus, because they 
+have been known to beg the carcass of a hog which they themselves 
+have poisoned, it has been asserted that they prefer carrion which 
+has perished of sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because 
+they have been seen to make a ragout of boror (SNAILS), and to 
+roast a hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that 
+reptiles of every description form a part of their cuisine.  It is 
+high time to undeceive the Gentiles on these points.  Know, then, O 
+Gentile, whether thou be from the land of the Gorgios (20) or the 
+Busne (21), that the very Gypsies who consider a ragout of snails a 
+delicious dish will not touch an eel, because it bears resemblance 
+to a SNAKE; and that those who will feast on a roasted hedgehog 
+could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel, a delicious and 
+wholesome species of game, living on the purest and most nutritious 
+food which the fields and forests can supply.  I myself, while 
+living among the Roms of England, have been regarded almost in the 
+light of a cannibal for cooking the latter animal and preferring it 
+to hotchiwitchu barbecued, or ragout of boror.  'You are but half 
+Rommany, brother,' they would say, 'and you feed gorgiko-nes (LIKE 
+A GENTILE), even as you talk.  Tchachipen (IN TRUTH), if we did not 
+know you to be of the Mecralliskoe rat (ROYAL BLOOD) of Pharaoh, we 
+should be justified in driving you forth as a juggel-mush (DOG 
+MAN), one more fitted to keep company with wild beasts and Gorgios 
+than gentle Rommanys.'
+
+No person can read the present volume without perceiving, at a 
+glance, that the Romas are in most points an anomalous people; in 
+their morality there is much of anomaly, and certainly not less in 
+their cuisine.
+
+'Los Gitanos son muy malos; llevan ninos hurtados a Berberia.  The 
+Gypsies are very bad people; they steal children and carry them to 
+Barbary, where they sell them to the Moors' - so said the Spaniards 
+in old times.  There can be little doubt that even before the fall 
+of the kingdom of Granada, which occurred in the year 1492, the 
+Gitanos had intercourse with the Moors of Spain.  Andalusia, which 
+has ever been the province where the Gitano race has most abounded 
+since its arrival, was, until the edict of Philip the Third, which 
+banished more than a million of Moriscos from Spain, principally 
+peopled by Moors, who differed from the Spaniards both in language 
+and religion.  By living even as wanderers amongst these people, 
+the Gitanos naturally became acquainted with their tongue, and with 
+many of their customs, which of course much facilitated any 
+connection which they might subsequently form with the 
+Barbaresques.  Between the Moors of Barbary and the Spaniards a 
+deadly and continued war raged for centuries, both before and after 
+the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain.  The Gitanos, who cared 
+probably as little for one nation as the other, and who have no 
+sympathy and affection beyond the pale of their own sect, doubtless 
+sided with either as their interest dictated, officiating as spies 
+for both parties and betraying both.
+
+It is likely enough that they frequently passed over to Barbary 
+with stolen children of both sexes, whom they sold to the Moors, 
+who traffic in slaves, whether white or black, even at the present 
+day; and perhaps this kidnapping trade gave occasion to other 
+relations.  As they were perfectly acquainted, from their wandering 
+life, with the shores of the Spanish Mediterranean, they must have 
+been of considerable assistance to the Barbary pirates in their 
+marauding trips to the Spanish coasts, both as guides and advisers; 
+and as it was a far easier matter, and afforded a better prospect 
+of gain, to plunder the Spaniards than the Moors, a people almost 
+as wild as themselves, they were, on that account, and that only, 
+more Moors than Christians, and ever willing to assist the former 
+in their forays on the latter.
+
+Quinones observes:  'The Moors, with whom they hold correspondence, 
+let them go and come without any let or obstacle:  an instance of 
+this was seen in the year 1627, when two galleys from Spain were 
+carrying assistance to Marmora, which was then besieged by the 
+Moors.  These galleys struck on a shoal, when the Moors seized all 
+the people on board, making captives of the Christians and setting 
+at liberty all the Moors, who were chained to the oar; as for the 
+Gypsy galley-slaves whom they found amongst these last, they did 
+not make them slaves, but received them as people friendly to them, 
+and at their devotion; which matter was public and notorious.'
+
+Of the Moors and the Gitanos we shall have occasion to say 
+something in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+THERE is no portion of the world so little known as Africa in 
+general; and perhaps of all Africa there is no corner with which 
+Europeans are so little acquainted as Barbary, which nevertheless 
+is only separated from the continent of Europe by a narrow strait 
+of four leagues across.
+
+China itself has, for upwards of a century, ceased to be a land of 
+mystery to the civilised portion of the world; the enterprising 
+children of Loyola having wandered about it in every direction 
+making converts to their doctrine and discipline, whilst the 
+Russians possess better maps of its vast regions than of their own 
+country, and lately, owing to the persevering labour and searching 
+eye of my friend Hyacinth, Archimandrite of Saint John Nefsky, are 
+acquainted with the number of its military force to a man, and also 
+with the names and places of residence of its civil servants.  Yet 
+who possesses a map of Fez and Morocco, or would venture to form a 
+conjecture as to how many fiery horsemen Abderrahman, the mulatto 
+emperor, could lead to the field, were his sandy dominions 
+threatened by the Nazarene?  Yet Fez is scarcely two hundred 
+leagues distant from Madrid, whilst Maraks, the other great city of 
+the Moors, and which also has given its name to an empire, is 
+scarcely farther removed from Paris, the capital of civilisation:  
+in a word, we scarcely know anything of Barbary, the scanty 
+information which we possess being confined to a few towns on the 
+sea-coast; the zeal of the Jesuit himself being insufficient to 
+induce him to confront the perils of the interior, in the hopeless 
+endeavour of making one single proselyte from amongst the wildest 
+fanatics of the creed of the Prophet Camel-driver.
+
+Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary?  This is a 
+question which I have frequently asked myself.  Several respectable 
+authors have, I believe, asserted the fact, amongst whom Adelung, 
+who, speaking of the Gypsies, says:  'Four hundred years have 
+passed away since they departed from their native land.  During 
+this time, they have spread themselves through the whole of Western 
+Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa.' (22)  But it is one thing to 
+make an assertion, and another to produce the grounds for making 
+it.  I believe it would require a far greater stock of information 
+than has hitherto been possessed by any one who has written on the 
+subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in asserting positively that 
+after traversing the west of Europe, they spread themselves over 
+Northern Africa, though true it is that to those who take a 
+superficial view of the matter, nothing appears easier and more 
+natural than to come to such a conclusion.
+
+Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is opposite 
+to Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running between, less wide 
+than many rivers.  Bands, therefore, of these wanderers, of course, 
+on reaching Tarifa, passed over into Africa, even as thousands 
+crossed the channel from France to England.  They have at all times 
+shown themselves extravagantly fond of a roving life.  What land is 
+better adapted for such a life than Africa and its wilds?  What 
+land, therefore, more likely to entice them?
+
+All this is very plausible.  It was easy enough for the Gitanos to 
+pass over to Tangier and Tetuan from the Spanish towns of Tarifa 
+and Algeziras.  In the last chapter I have stated my belief of the 
+fact, and that moreover they formed certain connections with the 
+Moors of the coast, to whom it is likely that they occasionally 
+sold children stolen in Spain; yet such connection would by no 
+means have opened them a passage into the interior of Barbary, 
+which is inhabited by wild and fierce people, in comparison with 
+whom the Moors of the coast, bad as they always have been, are 
+gentle and civilised.
+
+To penetrate into Africa, the Gitanos would have been compelled to 
+pass through the tribes who speak the Shilha language, and who are 
+the descendants of the ancient Numidians.  These tribes are the 
+most untamable and warlike of mankind, and at the same time the 
+most suspicious, and those who entertain the greatest aversion to 
+foreigners.  They are dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have 
+always remained, to a certain degree, independent of the emperors 
+of Morocco.  They are the most terrible of robbers and murderers, 
+and entertain far more reluctance to spill water than the blood of 
+their fellow-creatures:  the Bedouins, also, of the Arabian race, 
+are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would not have failed 
+instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever they found 
+them, and in all probability would have exterminated them.  Now the 
+Gitanos, such as they arrived in Barbary, could not have defended 
+themselves against such enemies, had they even arrived in large 
+divisions, instead of bands of twenties and thirties, as is their 
+custom to travel.  They are not by nature nor by habit a warlike 
+race, and would have quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most 
+other people, engage in wars from what appears to be an innate love 
+of the cruel and bloody scenes attendant on war.
+
+It may be said, that if the Gitanos were able to make their way 
+from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the province 
+which the learned consider to be the original dwelling-place of the 
+race, to such an immense distance as the western part of Spain, 
+passing necessarily through many wild lands and tribes, why might 
+they not have penetrated into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore 
+may not their descendants be still there, following the same kind 
+of life as the European Gypsies, that is, wandering about from 
+place to place, and maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?
+
+But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of 
+Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for 
+a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from 
+the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.  
+True it is, that, from their intercourse with the Moors of Spain, 
+the Gypsies might have become acquainted with the Arabic language, 
+and might even have adopted the Moorish dress, ere entering 
+Barbary; and, moreover, might have professed belief in the religion 
+of Mahomet; still they would have been known as foreigners, and, on 
+that account, would have been assuredly attacked by the people of 
+the interior, had they gone amongst them, who, according to the 
+usual practice, would either have massacred them or made them 
+slaves; and as slaves, they would have been separated.  The mulatto 
+hue of their countenances would probably have insured them the 
+latter fate, as all blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the 
+Moor are properly slaves, and can be bought and sold, unless by 
+some means or other they become free, in which event their colour 
+is no obstacle to their elevation to the highest employments and 
+dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and provinces, or 
+even to their ascending the throne.  Several emperors of Morocco 
+have been mulattos.
+
+Above I have pointed out all the difficulties and dangers which 
+must have attended the path of the Gitanos, had they passed from 
+Spain into Barbary, and attempted to spread themselves over that 
+region, as over Europe and many parts of Asia.  To these 
+observations I have been led by the assertion that they 
+accomplished this, and no proof of the fact having, as I am aware, 
+ever been adduced; for who amongst those who have made such a 
+statement has seen or conversed with the Egyptians of Barbary, or 
+had sufficient intercourse with them to justify him in the 
+assertion that they are one and the same people as those of Europe, 
+from whom they differ about as much as the various tribes which 
+inhabit various European countries differ from each other?  At the 
+same time, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am far from 
+denying the existence of Gypsies in various parts of the interior 
+of Barbary.  Indeed, I almost believe the fact, though the 
+information which I possess is by no means of a description which 
+would justify me in speaking with full certainty; I having myself 
+never come in contact with any sect or caste of people amongst the 
+Moors, who not only tallied in their pursuits with the Rommany, but 
+who likewise spoke amongst themselves a dialect of the language of 
+Roma; nor am I aware that any individual worthy of credit has ever 
+presumed to say that he has been more fortunate in these respects.
+
+Nevertheless, I repeat that I am inclined to believe that Gypsies 
+virtually exist in Barbary, and my reasons I shall presently 
+adduce; but I will here observe, that if these strange outcasts did 
+indeed contrive to penetrate into the heart of that savage and 
+inhospitable region, they could only have succeeded after having 
+become well acquainted with the Moorish language, and when, after a 
+considerable sojourn on the coast, they had raised for themselves a 
+name, and were regarded with superstitious fear; in a word, if they 
+walked this land of peril untouched and unscathed, it was not that 
+they were considered as harmless and inoffensive people, which, 
+indeed, would not have protected them, and which assuredly they 
+were not; it was not that they were mistaken for wandering Moors 
+and Bedouins, from whom they differed in feature and complexion, 
+but because, wherever they went, they were dreaded as the 
+possessors of supernatural powers, and as mighty sorcerers.
+
+There is in Barbary more than one sect of wanderers, which, to the 
+cursory observer, might easily appear, and perhaps have appeared, 
+in the right of legitimate Gypsies.  For example, there are the 
+Beni Aros.  The proper home of these people is in certain high 
+mountains in the neighbourhood of Tetuan, but they are to be found 
+roving about the whole kingdom of Fez.  Perhaps it would be 
+impossible to find, in the whole of Northern Africa, a more 
+detestable caste.  They are beggars by profession, but are 
+exceedingly addicted to robbery and murder; they are notorious 
+drunkards, and are infamous, even in Barbary, for their unnatural 
+lusts.  They are, for the most part, well made and of comely 
+features.  I have occasionally spoken with them; they are Moors, 
+and speak no language but the Arabic.
+
+Then there is the sect of Sidi Hamed au Muza, a very roving people, 
+companies of whom are generally to be found in all the principal 
+towns of Barbary.  The men are expert vaulters and tumblers, and 
+perform wonderful feats of address with swords and daggers, to the 
+sound of wild music, which the women, seated on the ground, produce 
+from uncouth instruments; by these means they obtain a livelihood.  
+Their dress is picturesque, scarlet vest and white drawers.  In 
+many respects they not a little resemble the Gypsies; but they are 
+not an evil people, and are looked upon with much respect by the 
+Moors, who call them Santons.  Their patron saint is Hamed au Muza, 
+and from him they derive their name.  Their country is on the 
+confines of the Sahara, or great desert, and their language is the 
+Shilhah, or a dialect thereof.  They speak but little Arabic.  When 
+I saw them for the first time, I believed them to be of the Gypsy 
+caste, but was soon undeceived.  A more wandering race does not 
+exist than the children of Sidi Hamed au Muza.  They have even 
+visited France, and exhibited their dexterity and agility at Paris 
+and Marseilles.
+
+I will now say a few words concerning another sect which exists in 
+Barbary, and will here premise, that if those who compose it are 
+not Gypsies, such people are not to be found in North Africa, and 
+the assertion, hitherto believed, that they abound there, is devoid 
+of foundation.  I allude to certain men and women, generally termed 
+by the Moors 'Those of the Dar-bushi-fal,' which word is equivalent 
+to prophesying or fortune-telling.  They are great wanderers, but 
+have also their fixed dwellings or villages, and such a place is 
+called 'Char Seharra,' or witch-hamlet.  Their manner of life, in 
+every respect, resembles that of the Gypsies of other countries; 
+they are wanderers during the greatest part of the year, and 
+subsist principally by pilfering and fortune-telling.  They deal 
+much in mules and donkeys, and it is believed, in Barbary, that 
+they can change the colour of any animal by means of sorcery, and 
+so disguise him as to sell him to his very proprietor, without fear 
+of his being recognised.  This latter trait is quite characteristic 
+of the Gypsy race, by whom the same thing is practised in most 
+parts of the world.  But the Moors assert, that the children of the 
+Dar-bushi-fal can not only change the colour of a horse or a mule, 
+but likewise of a human being, in one night, transforming a white 
+into a black, after which they sell him for a slave; on which 
+account the superstitious Moors regard them with the utmost dread, 
+and in general prefer passing the night in the open fields to 
+sleeping in their hamlets.  They are said to possess a particular 
+language, which is neither Shilhah nor Arabic, and which none but 
+themselves understand; from all which circumstances I am led to 
+believe, that the children of the Dar-bushi-fal are legitimate 
+Gypsies, descendants of those who passed over to Barbary from 
+Spain.  Nevertheless, as it has never been my fortune to meet or to 
+converse with any of this caste, though they are tolerably numerous 
+in Barbary, I am far from asserting that they are of Gypsy race.  
+More enterprising individuals than myself may, perhaps, establish 
+the fact.  Any particular language or jargon which they speak 
+amongst themselves will be the best criterion.  The word which they 
+employ for 'water' would decide the point; for the Dar-bushi-fal 
+are not Gypsies, if, in their peculiar speech, they designate that 
+blessed element and article most necessary to human existence by 
+aught else than the Sanscrit term 'Pani,' a word brought by the 
+race from sunny Ind, and esteemed so holy that they have never even 
+presumed to modify it.
+
+The following is an account of the Dar-bushi-fal, given me by a Jew 
+of Fez, who had travelled much in Barbary, and which I insert 
+almost literally as I heard it from his mouth.  Various other 
+individuals, Moors, have spoken of them in much the same manner.
+
+'In one of my journeys I passed the night in a place called Mulai-
+Jacub Munsur.
+
+'Not far from this place is a Char Seharra, or witch-hamlet, where 
+dwell those of the Dar-bushi-fal.  These are very evil people, and 
+powerful enchanters; for it is well known that if any traveller 
+stop to sleep in their Char, they will with their sorceries, if he 
+be a white man, turn him as black as a coal, and will afterwards 
+sell him as a negro.  Horses and mules they serve in the same 
+manner, for if they are black, they will turn them red, or any 
+other colour which best may please them; and although the owners 
+demand justice of the authorities, the sorcerers always come off 
+best.  They have a language which they use among themselves, very 
+different from all other languages, so much so that it is 
+impossible to understand them.  They are very swarthy, quite as 
+much so as mulattos, and their faces are exceedingly lean.  As for 
+their legs, they are like reeds; and when they run, the devil 
+himself cannot overtake them.  They tell Dar-bushi-fal with flour; 
+they fill a plate, and then they are able to tell you anything you 
+ask them.  They likewise tell it with a shoe; they put it in their 
+mouth, and then they will recall to your memory every action of 
+your life.  They likewise tell Dar-bushi-fal with oil; and indeed 
+are, in every respect, most powerful sorcerers.
+
+'Two women, once on a time, came to Fez, bringing with them an 
+exceedingly white donkey, which they placed in the middle of the 
+square called Faz el Bali; they then killed it, and cut it into 
+upwards of thirty pieces.  Upon the ground there was much of the 
+donkey's filth and dung; some of this they took in their hands, 
+when it straight assumed the appearance of fresh dates.  There were 
+some people who were greedy enough to put these dates into their 
+mouths, and then they found that it was dung.  These women deceived 
+me amongst the rest with a date; when I put it into my mouth, lo 
+and behold it was the donkey's dung.  After they had collected much 
+money from the spectators, one of them took a needle, and ran it 
+into the tail of the donkey, crying "Arrhe li dar" (Get home), 
+whereupon the donkey instantly rose up, and set off running, 
+kicking every now and then most furiously; and it was remarked, 
+that not one single trace of blood remained upon the ground, just 
+as if they had done nothing to it.  Both these women were of the 
+very same Char Seharra which I have already mentioned.  They 
+likewise took paper, and cut it into the shape of a peseta, and a 
+dollar, and a half-dollar, until they had made many pesetas and 
+dollars, and then they put them into an earthen pan over a fire, 
+and when they took them out, they appeared just fresh from the 
+stamp, and with such money these people buy all they want.
+
+'There was a friend of my grandfather, who came frequently to our 
+house, who was in the habit of making this money.  One day he took 
+me with him to buy white silk; and when they had shown him some, he 
+took the silk in his hand, and pressed it to his mouth, and then I 
+saw that the silk, which was before white, had become green, even 
+as grass.  The master of the shop said, "Pay me for my silk."  "Of 
+what colour was your silk?" he demanded.  "White," said the man; 
+whereupon, turning round, he cried, "Good people, behold, the white 
+silk is green"; and so he got a pound of silk for nothing; and he 
+also was of the Char Seharra.
+
+'They are very evil people indeed, and the emperor himself is 
+afraid of them.  The poor wretch who falls into their hands has 
+cause to rue; they always go badly dressed, and exhibit every 
+appearance of misery, though they are far from being miserable.  
+Such is the life they lead.'
+
+There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of the 
+Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there is a 
+foundation of truth in all the facts stated.  The belief that they 
+are enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into a black man had its 
+origin in the great skill which they possess in altering the 
+appearance of a horse or a mule, and giving it another colour.  
+Their changing white into green silk is a very simple trick, and is 
+accomplished by dexterously substituting one thing for another.  
+Had the man of the Dar-bushi-fal been searched, the white silk 
+would have been found upon him.  The Gypsies, wherever they are 
+found, are fond of this species of fraud.  In Germany, for example, 
+they go to the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly similar, one in 
+their hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks filled with 
+water; when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they pretend to 
+be dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but contrive 
+to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the wine-
+seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the contents back, 
+as he thinks, into the butt - but it is not wine but water which he 
+pours.  With respect to the donkey, which APPEARED to be cut in 
+pieces, but which afterwards, being pricked in the tail, got up and 
+ran home, I have little to say, but that I have myself seen almost 
+as strange things without believing in sorcery.
+
+As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere feats 
+of legerdemain.
+
+I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary, they 
+are the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+CHIROMANCY, or the divination of the hand, is, according to the 
+orthodox theory, the determining from certain lines upon the hand 
+the quality of the physical and intellectual powers of the 
+possessor.
+
+The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in the 
+hand, and the triangle which they form in the palm.  These lines, 
+which have all their particular and appropriate names, and the 
+principal of which is called 'the line of life,' are, if we may 
+believe those who have written on the subject, connected with the 
+heart, with the genitals, with the brain, with the liver or 
+stomach, and the head.  Torreblanca, (23) in his curious and 
+learned book on magic, observes:  'In judging these lines you must 
+pay attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together 
+with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the line 
+be well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour, without 
+being intermitted or PUNCTURIS INFECTA, it denotes the good 
+complexion and virtue of its member, according to Aristotle.
+
+'So that if the line of the heart be found sufficiently long and 
+reasonably deep, and not crossed by other accidental lines, it is 
+an infallible sign of the health of the heart and the great virtue 
+of the heart, and the abundance of spirits and good blood in the 
+heart, and accordingly denotes boldness and liberal genius for 
+every work.'
+
+In like manner, by means of the hepatal line, it is easy to form an 
+accurate judgment as to the state of a person's liver, and of his 
+powers of digestion, and so on with respect to all the other organs 
+of the body.
+
+After having laid down all the rules of chiromancy with the utmost 
+possible clearness, the sage Torreblanca exclaims:  'And with these 
+terminate the canons of true and catholic chiromancy; for as for 
+the other species by which people pretend to divine concerning the 
+affairs of life, either past or to come, dignities, fortunes, 
+children, events, chances, dangers, etc., such chiromancy is not 
+only reprobated by theologians, but by men of law and physic, as a 
+foolish, false, vain, scandalous, futile, superstitious practice, 
+smelling much of divinery and a pact with the devil.'
+
+Then, after mentioning a number of erudite and enlightened men of 
+the three learned professions, who have written against such absurd 
+superstitions, amongst whom he cites Martin Del Rio, he falls foul 
+of the Gypsy wives in this manner:  'A practice turned to profit by 
+the wives of that rabble of abandoned miscreants whom the Italians 
+call Cingari, the Latins Egyptians, and we Gitanos, who, 
+notwithstanding that they are sent by the Turks into Spain for the 
+purpose of acting as spies upon the Christian religion, pretend 
+that they are wandering over the world in fulfilment of a penance 
+enjoined upon them, part of which penance seems to be the living by 
+fraud and imposition.'  And shortly afterwards he remarks:  'Nor do 
+they derive any authority for such a practice from those words in 
+Exodus, (24) "et quasi signum in manu tua," as that passage does 
+not treat of chiromancy, but of the festival of unleavened bread; 
+the observance of which, in order that it might be memorable to the 
+Hebrews, the sacred historian said should be as a sign upon the 
+hand; a metaphor derived from those who, when they wish to remember 
+anything, tie a thread round their finger, or put a ring upon it; 
+and still less I ween does that chapter of Job (25) speak in their 
+favour, where is written, "Qui in manu hominis signat, ut norint 
+omnes opera sua," because the divine power is meant thereby which 
+is preached to those here below:  for the hand is intended for 
+power and magnitude, Exod. chap. xiv., (26) or stands for free 
+will, which is placed in a man's hand, that is, in his power.  
+Wisdom, chap. xxxvi. "In manibus abscondit lucem," (27) etc. etc. 
+etc.
+
+No, no, good Torreblanca, we know perfectly well that the witch-
+wives of Multan, who for the last four hundred years have been 
+running about Spain and other countries, telling fortunes by the 
+hand, and deriving good profit from the same, are not countenanced 
+in such a practice by the sacred volume; we yield as little credit 
+to their chiromancy as we do to that which you call the true and 
+catholic, and believe that the lines of the hand have as little 
+connection with the events of life as with the liver and stomach, 
+notwithstanding Aristotle, who you forget was a heathen, and knew 
+as little and cared as little for the Scriptures as the Gitanos, 
+whether male or female, who little reck what sanction any of their 
+practices may receive from authority, whether divine or human, if 
+the pursuit enable them to provide sufficient for the existence, 
+however poor and miserable, of their families and themselves.
+
+A very singular kind of women are the Gitanas, far more remarkable 
+in most points than their husbands, in whose pursuits of low 
+cheating and petty robbery there is little capable of exciting much 
+interest; but if there be one being in the world who, more than 
+another, deserves the title of sorceress (and where do you find a 
+word of greater romance and more thrilling interest?), it is the 
+Gypsy female in the prime and vigour of her age and ripeness of her 
+understanding - the Gypsy wife, the mother of two or three 
+children.  Mention to me a point of devilry with which that woman 
+is not acquainted.  She can at any time, when it suits her, show 
+herself as expert a jockey as her husband, and he appears to 
+advantage in no other character, and is only eloquent when 
+descanting on the merits of some particular animal; but she can do 
+much more:  she is a prophetess, though she believes not in 
+prophecy; she is a physician, though she will not taste her own 
+philtres; she is a procuress, though she is not to be procured; she 
+is a singer of obscene songs, though she will suffer no obscene 
+hand to touch her; and though no one is more tenacious of the 
+little she possesses, she is a cutpurse and a shop-lifter whenever 
+opportunity shall offer.
+
+In all times, since we have known anything of these women, they 
+have been addicted to and famous for fortune-telling; indeed, it is 
+their only ostensible means of livelihood, though they have various 
+others which they pursue more secretly.  Where and how they first 
+learned the practice we know not; they may have brought it with 
+them from the East, or they may have adopted it, which is less 
+likely, after their arrival in Europe.  Chiromancy, from the most 
+remote periods, has been practised in all countries.  Neither do we 
+know, whether in this practice they were ever guided by fixed and 
+certain rules; the probability, however, is, that they were not, 
+and that they never followed it but as a means of fraud and 
+robbery; certainly, amongst all the professors of this art that 
+ever existed, no people are more adapted by nature to turn it to 
+account than these females, call them by whatever name you will, 
+Gitanas, Ziganas, Gypsies, or Bohemians; their forms, their 
+features, the expression of their countenances are ever wild and 
+Sibylline, frequently beautiful, but never vulgar.  Observe, for 
+example, the Gitana, even her of Seville.  She is standing before 
+the portal of a large house in one of the narrow Moorish streets of 
+the capital of Andalusia; through the grated iron door, she looks 
+in upon the court; it is paved with small marble slabs of almost 
+snowy whiteness; in the middle is a fountain distilling limpid 
+water, and all around there is a profusion of macetas, in which 
+flowering plants and aromatic shrubs are growing, and at each 
+corner there is an orange tree, and the perfume of the azahar may 
+be distinguished; you hear the melody of birds from a small aviary 
+beneath the piazza which surrounds the court, which is surmounted 
+by a toldo or linen awning, for it is the commencement of May, and 
+the glorious sun of Andalusia is burning with a splendour too 
+intense for his rays to be borne with impunity.  It is a fairy 
+scene such as nowhere meets the eye but at Seville, or perhaps at 
+Fez and Shiraz, in the palaces of the Sultan and the Shah.  The 
+Gypsy looks through the iron-grated door, and beholds, seated near 
+the fountain, a richly dressed dame and two lovely delicate 
+maidens; they are busied at their morning's occupation, 
+intertwining with their sharp needles the gold and silk on the 
+tambour; several female attendants are seated behind.  The Gypsy 
+pulls the bell, when is heard the soft cry of 'Quien es'; the door, 
+unlocked by means of a string, recedes upon its hinges, when in 
+walks the Gitana, the witch-wife of Multan, with a look such as the 
+tiger-cat casts when she stealeth from her jungle into the plain.
+
+Yes, well may you exclaim 'Ave Maria purissima,' ye dames and 
+maidens of Seville, as she advances towards you; she is not of 
+yourselves, she is not of your blood, she or her fathers have 
+walked to your climate from a distance of three thousand leagues.  
+She has come from the far East, like the three enchanted kings, to 
+Cologne; but, unlike them, she and her race have come with hate and 
+not with love.  She comes to flatter, and to deceive, and to rob, 
+for she is a lying prophetess, and a she-Thug; she will greet you 
+with blessings which will make your hearts rejoice, but your 
+hearts' blood would freeze, could you hear the curses which to 
+herself she murmurs against you; for she says, that in her 
+children's veins flows the dark blood of the 'husbands,' whilst in 
+those of yours flows the pale tide of the 'savages,' and therefore 
+she would gladly set her foot on all your corses first poisoned by 
+her hands.  For all her love - and she can love - is for the Romas; 
+and all her hate - and who can hate like her? - is for the Busnees; 
+for she says that the world would be a fair world if there were no 
+Busnees, and if the Romamiks could heat their kettles undisturbed 
+at the foot of the olive-trees; and therefore she would kill them 
+all if she could and if she dared.  She never seeks the houses of 
+the Busnees but for the purpose of prey; for the wild animals of 
+the sierra do not more abhor the sight of man than she abhors the 
+countenances of the Busnees.  She now comes to prey upon you and to 
+scoff at you.  Will you believe her words?  Fools! do you think 
+that the being before ye has any sympathy for the like of you?
+
+She is of the middle stature, neither strongly nor slightly built, 
+and yet her every movement denotes agility and vigour.  As she 
+stands erect before you, she appears like a falcon about to soar, 
+and you are almost tempted to believe that the power of volition is 
+hers; and were you to stretch forth your hand to seize her, she 
+would spring above the house-tops like a bird.  Her face is oval, 
+and her features are regular but somewhat hard and coarse, for she 
+was born amongst rocks in a thicket, and she has been wind-beaten 
+and sun-scorched for many a year, even like her parents before her; 
+there is many a speck upon her cheek, and perhaps a scar, but no 
+dimples of love; and her brow is wrinkled over, though she is yet 
+young.  Her complexion is more than dark, for it is almost that of 
+a mulatto; and her hair, which hangs in long locks on either side 
+of her face, is black as coal, and coarse as the tail of a horse, 
+from which it seems to have been gathered.
+
+There is no female eye in Seville can support the glance of hers, - 
+so fierce and penetrating, and yet so artful and sly, is the 
+expression of their dark orbs; her mouth is fine and almost 
+delicate, and there is not a queen on the proudest throne between 
+Madrid and Moscow who might not and would not envy the white and 
+even rows of teeth which adorn it, which seem not of pearl but of 
+the purest elephant's bone of Multan.  She comes not alone; a 
+swarthy two-year-old bantling clasps her neck with one arm, its 
+naked body half extant from the coarse blanket which, drawn round 
+her shoulders, is secured at her bosom by a skewer.  Though tender 
+of age, it looks wicked and sly, like a veritable imp of Roma.  
+Huge rings of false gold dangle from wide slits in the lobes of her 
+ears; her nether garments are rags, and her feet are cased in 
+hempen sandals.  Such is the wandering Gitana, such is the witch-
+wife of Multan, who has come to spae the fortune of the Sevillian 
+countess and her daughters.
+
+'O may the blessing of Egypt light upon your head, you high-born 
+lady!  (May an evil end overtake your body, daughter of a Busnee 
+harlot!) and may the same blessing await the two fair roses of the 
+Nile here flowering by your side!  (May evil Moors seize them and 
+carry them across the water!)  O listen to the words of the poor 
+woman who is come from a distant country; she is of a wise people, 
+though it has pleased the God of the sky to punish them for their 
+sins by sending them to wander through the world.  They denied 
+shelter to the Majari, whom you call the queen of heaven, and to 
+the Son of God, when they flew to the land of Egypt before the 
+wrath of the wicked king; it is said that they even refused them a 
+draught of the sweet waters of the great river when the blessed two 
+were athirst.  O you will say that it was a heavy crime; and truly 
+so it was, and heavily has the Lord punished the Egyptians.  He has 
+sent us a-wandering, poor as you see, with scarcely a blanket to 
+cover us.  O blessed lady, (Accursed be thy dead, as many as thou 
+mayest have,) we have no money to buy us bread; we have only our 
+wisdom with which to support ourselves and our poor hungry babes; 
+when God took away their silks from the Egyptians, and their gold 
+from the Egyptians, he left them their wisdom as a resource that 
+they might not starve.  O who can read the stars like the 
+Egyptians? and who can read the lines of the palm like the 
+Egyptians?  The poor woman read in the stars that there was a rich 
+ventura for all of this goodly house, so she followed the bidding 
+of the stars and came to declare it.  O blessed lady, (I defile thy 
+dead corse,) your husband is at Granada, fighting with king 
+Ferdinand against the wild Corahai!  (May an evil ball smite him 
+and split his head!)  Within three months he shall return with 
+twenty captive Moors, round the neck of each a chain of gold.  (God 
+grant that when he enter the house a beam may fall upon him and 
+crush him!)  And within nine months after his return God shall 
+bless you with a fair chabo, the pledge for which you have sighed 
+so long.  (Accursed be the salt placed in its mouth in the church 
+when it is baptized!)  Your palm, blessed lady, your palm, and the 
+palms of all I see here, that I may tell you all the rich ventura 
+which is hanging over this good house; (May evil lightning fall 
+upon it and consume it!) but first let me sing you a song of Egypt, 
+that the spirit of the Chowahanee may descend more plenteously upon 
+the poor woman.'
+
+Her demeanour now instantly undergoes a change.  Hitherto she has 
+been pouring forth a lying and wild harangue without much flurry or 
+agitation of manner.  Her speech, it is true, has been rapid, but 
+her voice has never been raised to a very high key; but she now 
+stamps on the ground, and placing her hands on her hips, she moves 
+quickly to the right and left, advancing and retreating in a 
+sidelong direction.  Her glances become more fierce and fiery, and 
+her coarse hair stands erect on her head, stiff as the prickles of 
+the hedgehog; and now she commences clapping her hands, and 
+uttering words of an unknown tongue, to a strange and uncouth tune.  
+The tawny bantling seems inspired with the same fiend, and, foaming 
+at the mouth, utters wild sounds, in imitation of its dam.  Still 
+more rapid become the sidelong movements of the Gitana.  Movement! 
+she springs, she bounds, and at every bound she is a yard above the 
+ground.  She no longer bears the child in her bosom; she plucks it 
+from thence, and fiercely brandishes it aloft, till at last, with a 
+yell she tosses it high into the air, like a ball, and then, with 
+neck and head thrown back, receives it, as it falls, on her hands 
+and breast, extracting a cry from the terrified beholders.  Is it 
+possible she can be singing?  Yes, in the wildest style of her 
+people; and here is a snatch of the song, in the language of Roma, 
+which she occasionally screams -
+
+
+'En los sastos de yesque plai me diquelo,
+Doscusanas de sonacai terelo, -
+Corojai diquelo abillar,
+Y ne asislo chapescar, chapescar.'
+
+'On the top of a mountain I stand,
+With a crown of red gold in my hand, -
+Wild Moors came trooping o'er the lea,
+O how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?
+O how from their fury shall I flee?'
+
+
+Such was the Gitana in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, and much 
+the same is she now in the days of Isabel and Christina.
+
+Of the Gitanas and their practices I shall have much to say on a 
+future occasion, when speaking of those of the present time, with 
+many of whom I have had no little intercourse.  All the ancient 
+Spanish authors who mention these women speak of them in unmeasured 
+terms of abhorrence, employing against them every abusive word 
+contained in the language in which they wrote.  Amongst other vile 
+names, they have been called harlots, though perhaps no females on 
+earth are, and have ever been, more chaste in their own persons, 
+though at all times willing to encourage licentiousness in others, 
+from a hope of gain.  It is one thing to be a procuress, and 
+another to be a harlot, though the former has assuredly no reason 
+to complain if she be confounded with the latter.  'The Gitanas,' 
+says Doctor Sancho de Moncada, in his discourse concerning the 
+Gypsies, which I shall presently lay before the reader, 'are public 
+harlots, common, as it is said, to all the Gitanos, and with 
+dances, demeanour, and filthy songs, are the cause of infinite harm 
+to the souls of the vassals of your Majesty (Philip III.), as it is 
+notorious what infinite harm they have caused in many honourable 
+houses.  The married women whom they have separated from their 
+husbands, and the maidens whom they have perverted; and finally, in 
+the best of these Gitanas, any one may recognise all the signs of a 
+harlot given by the wise king:  "they are gadders about, 
+whisperers, always unquiet in the places and corners."' (28)
+
+The author of Alonso, (29) he who of all the old Spanish writers 
+has written most graphically concerning the Gitanos, and I believe 
+with most correctness, puts the following account of the Gitanas, 
+and their fortune-telling practices, into the entertaining mouth of 
+his hero:-
+
+'O how many times did these Gitanas carry me along with them, for 
+being, after all, women, even they have their fears, and were glad 
+of me as a protector:  and so they went through the neighbouring 
+villages, and entered the houses a-begging, giving to understand 
+thereby their poverty and necessity, and then they would call aside 
+the girls, in order to tell them the buena ventura, and the young 
+fellows the good luck which they were to enjoy, never failing in 
+the first place to ask for a cuarto or real, in order to make the 
+sign of the cross; and with these flattering words, they got as 
+much as they could, although, it is true, not much in money, as 
+their harvest in that article was generally slight; but enough in 
+bacon to afford subsistence to their husbands and bantlings.  I 
+looked on and laughed at the simplicity of those foolish people, 
+who, especially such as wished to be married, were as satisfied and 
+content with what the Gitana told them, as if an apostle had spoken 
+it.'
+
+The above description of Gitanas telling fortunes amongst the 
+villages of Navarre, and which was written by a Spanish author at 
+the commencement of the seventeenth century, is, in every respect, 
+applicable, as the reader will not fail to have observed, to the 
+English Gypsy women of the present day, engaged in the same 
+occupation in the rural districts of England, where the first 
+demand of the sibyls is invariably a sixpence, in order that they 
+may cross their hands with silver, and where the same promises are 
+made, and as easily believed; all which, if it serves to confirm 
+the opinion that in all times the practices and habits of the 
+Egyptian race have been, in almost all respects, the same as at the 
+present day, brings us also to the following mortifying conclusion, 
+- that mental illumination, amongst the generality of mankind, has 
+made no progress at all; as we observe in the nineteenth century 
+the same gross credulity manifested as in the seventeenth, and the 
+inhabitants of one of the countries most celebrated for the arts of 
+civilisation, imposed upon by the same stale tricks which served to 
+deceive two centuries before in Spain, a country whose name has 
+long and justly been considered as synonymous with every species of 
+ignorance and barbarism.
+
+The same author, whilst speaking of these female Thugs, relates an 
+anecdote very characteristic of them; a device at which they are 
+adepts, which they love to employ, and which is generally attended 
+with success.  It is the more deserving attention, as an instance 
+of the same description, attended with very similar circumstances, 
+occurred within the sphere of my own knowledge in my own country.  
+This species of deceit is styled, in the peculiar language of the 
+Rommany, HOKKANO BARO, or the 'great trick'; it being considered by 
+the women as their most fruitful source of plunder.  The story, as 
+related by Alonso, runs as follows:-
+
+'A band of Gitanos being in the neighbourhood of a village, one of 
+the women went to a house where lived a lady alone.  This lady was 
+a young widow, rich, without children, and of very handsome person.  
+After having saluted her, the Gypsy repeated the harangue which she 
+had already studied, to the effect that there was neither bachelor, 
+widower, nor married man, nobleman, nor gallant, endowed with a 
+thousand graces, who was not dying for love of her; and then 
+continued:  "Lady, I have contracted a great affection for you, and 
+since I know that you well merit the riches you possess, 
+notwithstanding you live heedless of your good fortune, I wish to 
+reveal to you a secret.  You must know, then, that in your cellar 
+you have a vast treasure; nevertheless you will experience great 
+difficulty in arriving at it, as it is enchanted, and to remove it 
+is impossible, save alone on the eve of Saint John.  We are now at 
+the eighteenth of June, and it wants five days to the twenty-third; 
+therefore, in the meanwhile, collect some jewels of gold and 
+silver, and likewise some money, whatever you please, provided it 
+be not copper, and provide six tapers, of white or yellow wax, for 
+at the time appointed I will come with a sister of mine, when we 
+will extract from the cellar such abundance of riches, that you 
+will be able to live in a style which will excite the envy of the 
+whole country."  The ignorant widow, hearing these words, put 
+implicit confidence in the deceiver, and imagined that she already 
+possessed all the gold of Arabia and the silver of Potosi.
+
+'The appointed day arrived, and not more punctual were the two 
+Gypsies, than anxiously expected by the lady.  Being asked whether 
+she had prepared all as she had been desired, she replied in the 
+affirmative, when the Gypsy thus addressed her:  "You must know, 
+good lady, that gold calls forth gold, and silver calls forth 
+silver; let us light these tapers, and descend to the cellar before 
+it grows late, in order that we may have time for our 
+conjurations."  Thereupon the trio, the widow and the two Gypsies, 
+went down, and having lighted the tapers and placed them in 
+candlesticks in the shape of a circle, they deposited in the midst 
+a silver tankard, with some pieces of eight, and some corals tipped 
+with gold, and other jewels of small value.  They then told the 
+lady, that it was necessary for them all to return to the staircase 
+by which they had descended to the cellar, and there they uplifted 
+their hands, and remained for a short time as if engaged in prayer.
+
+'The two Gypsies then bade the widow wait for them, and descended 
+again, when they commenced holding a conversation, speaking and 
+answering alternately, and altering their voices in such a manner 
+that five or six people appeared to be in the cellar.  "Blessed 
+little Saint John," said one, "will it be possible to remove the 
+treasure which you keep hidden here?"  "O yes, and with a little 
+more trouble it will be yours," replied the Gypsy sister, altering 
+her voice to a thin treble, as if it proceeded from a child four or 
+five years old.  In the meantime, the lady remained astonished, 
+expecting the promised riches, and the two Gitanas presently coming 
+to her, said, "Come up, lady, for our desire is upon the point of 
+being gratified.  Bring down the best petticoat, gown, and mantle 
+which you have in your chest, that I may dress myself, and appear 
+in other guise to what I do now."  The simple woman, not perceiving 
+the trick they were playing upon her, ascended with them to the 
+doorway, and leaving them alone, went to fetch the things which 
+they demanded.  Thereupon the two Gypsies, seeing themselves at 
+liberty, and having already pocketed the gold and silver which had 
+been deposited for their conjuration, opened the street door, and 
+escaped with all the speed they could.
+
+'The beguiled widow returned laden with the clothes, and not 
+finding those whom she had left waiting, descended into the cellar, 
+when, perceiving the trick which they had played her, and the 
+robbery which they had committed in stealing her jewels, she began 
+to cry and weep, but all in vain.  All the neighbours hastened to 
+her, and to them she related her misfortune, which served more to 
+raise laughter and jeers at her expense than to excite pity; though 
+the subtlety of the two she-thieves was universally praised.  These 
+latter, as soon as they had got out of the door, knew well how to 
+conceal themselves, for having once reached the mountain it was not 
+possible to find them.  So much for their divination, their 
+foreseeing things to come, their power over the secrets of nature, 
+and their knowledge of the stars.'
+
+The Gitanas in the olden time appear to have not unfrequently been 
+subjected to punishment as sorceresses, and with great justice, as 
+the abominable trade which they drove in philtres and decoctions 
+certainly entitled them to that appellation, and to the pains and 
+penalties reserved for those who practised what was termed 
+'witchcraft.'
+
+Amongst the crimes laid to their charge, connected with the 
+exercise of occult powers, there is one, however, of which they 
+were certainly not capable, as it is a purely imaginary one, though 
+if they were punished for it, they had assuredly little right to 
+complain, as the chastisement they met was fully merited by 
+practices equally malefic as the crime imputed to them, provided 
+that were possible.  IT WAS CASTING THE EVIL EYE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+IN the Gitano language, casting the evil eye is called QUERELAR 
+NASULA, which simply means making sick, and which, according to the 
+common superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at 
+people, especially children, who, from the tenderness of their 
+constitution, are supposed to be more easily blighted than those of 
+a more mature age.  After receiving the evil glance, they fall 
+sick, and die in a few hours.
+
+The Spaniards have very little to say respecting the evil eye, 
+though the belief in it is very prevalent, especially in Andalusia 
+amongst the lower orders.  A stag's horn is considered a good 
+safeguard, and on that account a small horn, tipped with silver, is 
+frequently attached to the children's necks by means of a cord 
+braided from the hair of a black mare's tail.  Should the evil 
+glance be cast, it is imagined that the horn receives it, and 
+instantly snaps asunder.  Such horns may be purchased in some of 
+the silversmiths' shops at Seville.
+
+The Gitanos have nothing more to say on this species of sorcery 
+than the Spaniards, which can cause but little surprise, when we 
+consider that they have no traditions, and can give no rational 
+account of themselves, nor of the country from which they come.
+
+Some of the women, however, pretend to have the power of casting 
+it, though if questioned how they accomplish it, they can return no 
+answer.  They will likewise sell remedies for the evil eye, which 
+need not be particularised, as they consist of any drugs which they 
+happen to possess or be acquainted with; the prescribers being 
+perfectly reckless as to the effect produced on the patient, 
+provided they receive their paltry reward.
+
+I have known these beings offer to cure the glanders in a horse (an 
+incurable disorder) with the very same powders which they offer as 
+a specific for the evil eye.
+
+Leaving, therefore, for a time, the Spaniards and Gitanos, whose 
+ideas on this subject are very scanty and indistinct, let us turn 
+to other nations amongst whom this superstition exists, and 
+endeavour to ascertain on what it is founded, and in what it 
+consists.  The fear of the evil eye is common amongst all oriental 
+people, whether Turks, Arabs, or Hindoos.  It is dangerous in some 
+parts to survey a person with a fixed glance, as he instantly 
+concludes that you are casting the evil eye upon him.  Children, 
+particularly, are afraid of the evil eye from the superstitious 
+fear inculcated in their minds in the nursery.  Parents in the East 
+feel no delight when strangers look at their children in admiration 
+of their loveliness; they consider that you merely look at them in 
+order to blight them.  The attendants on the children of the great 
+are enjoined never to permit strangers to fix their glance upon 
+them.  I was once in the shop of an Armenian at Constantinople, 
+waiting to see a procession which was expected to pass by; there 
+was a Janisary there, holding by the hand a little boy about six 
+years of age, the son of some Bey; they also had come to see the 
+procession.  I was struck with the remarkable loveliness of the 
+child, and fixed my glance upon it:  presently it became uneasy, 
+and turning to the Janisary, said:  'There are evil eyes upon me; 
+drive them away.'  'Take your eyes off the child, Frank,' said the 
+Janisary, who had a long white beard, and wore a hanjar.  'What 
+harm can they do to the child, efendijem?' said I.  'Are they not 
+the eyes of a Frank?' replied the Janisary; 'but were they the eyes 
+of Omar, they should not rest on the child.'  'Omar,' said I, 'and 
+why not Ali?  Don't you love Ali?'  'What matters it to you whom I 
+love,' said the Turk in a rage; 'look at the child again with your 
+chesm fanar and I will smite you.'  'Bad as my eyes are,' said I, 
+'they can see that you do not love Ali.'  'Ya Ali, ya Mahoma, 
+Alahhu!' (30) said the Turk, drawing his hanjar.  All Franks, by 
+which are meant Christians, are considered as casters of the evil 
+eye.  I was lately at Janina in Albania, where a friend of mine, a 
+Greek gentleman, is established as physician.  'I have been 
+visiting the child of a Jew that is sick,' said he to me one day; 
+'scarcely, however, had I left the house, when the father came 
+running after me.  "You have cast the evil eye on my child," said 
+he; "come back and spit in its face."  And I assure you,' continued 
+my friend, 'that notwithstanding all I could say, he compelled me 
+to go back and spit in the face of his child.'
+
+Perhaps there is no nation in the world amongst whom this belief is 
+so firmly rooted and from so ancient a period as the Jews; it being 
+a subject treated of, and in the gravest manner, by the old 
+Rabbinical writers themselves, which induces the conclusion that 
+the superstition of the evil eye is of an antiquity almost as 
+remote as the origin of the Hebrew race; (and can we go farther 
+back?) as the oral traditions of the Jews, contained and commented 
+upon in what is called the Talmud, are certainly not less ancient 
+than the inspired writings of the Old Testament, and have unhappily 
+been at all times regarded by them with equal if not greater 
+reverence.
+
+The evil eye is mentioned in Scripture, but of course not in the 
+false and superstitious sense; evil in the eye, which occurs in 
+Prov. xxiii. v. 6, merely denoting niggardness and illiberality.  
+The Hebrew words are AIN RA, and stand in contradistinction to AIN 
+TOUB, or the benignant in eye, which denotes an inclination to 
+bounty and liberality.
+
+It is imagined that this blight is most easily inflicted when a 
+person is enjoying himself with little or no care for the future, 
+when he is reclining in the sun before the door, or when he is full 
+of health and spirits:  it may be cast designedly or not; and the 
+same effect may be produced by an inadvertent word.  It is deemed 
+partially unlucky to say to any person, 'How well you look'; as the 
+probabilities are that such an individual will receive a sudden 
+blight and pine away.  We have however no occasion to go to 
+Hindoos, Turks, and Jews for this idea; we shall find it nearer 
+home, or something akin to it.  Is there one of ourselves, however 
+enlightened and free from prejudice, who would not shrink, even in 
+the midst of his highest glee and enjoyment, from saying, 'How 
+happy I am!' or if the words inadvertently escaped him, would he 
+not consider them as ominous of approaching evil, and would he not 
+endeavour to qualify them by saying, 'God preserve me!' - Ay, God 
+preserve you, brother!  Who knows what the morrow will bring forth?
+
+The common remedy for the evil eye, in the East, is the spittle of 
+the person who has cast it, provided it can be obtained.  'Spit in 
+the face of my child,' said the Jew of Janina to the Greek 
+physician:  recourse is had to the same means in Barbary, where the 
+superstition is universal.  In that country both Jews and Moors 
+carry papers about with them scrawled with hieroglyphics, which are 
+prepared by their respective priests, and sold.  These papers, 
+placed in a little bag, and hung about the person, are deemed 
+infallible preservatives from the 'evil eye.'
+
+Let us now see what the TALMUD itself says about the evil eye.  The 
+passage which we are about to quote is curious, not so much from 
+the subject which it treats of, as in affording an example of the 
+manner in which the Rabbins are wont to interpret the Scripture, 
+and the strange and wonderful deductions which they draw from words 
+and phrases apparently of the greatest simplicity.
+
+'Whosoever when about to enter into a city is afraid of evil eyes, 
+let him grasp the thumb of his right hand with his left hand, and 
+his left-hand thumb with his right hand, and let him cry in this 
+manner:  "I am such a one, son of such a one, sprung from the seed 
+of Joseph"; and the evil eyes shall not prevail against him.  
+JOSEPH IS A FRUITFUL BOUGH, A FRUITFUL BOUGH BY A WELL, (31) etc.  
+Now you should not say BY A WELL, but OVER AN EYE. (32)  Rabbi 
+Joseph Bar Henina makes the following deduction:  AND THEY SHALL 
+BECOME (the seed of Joseph) LIKE FISHES IN MULTITUDE IN THE MIDST 
+OF THE EARTH. (33)  Now the fishes of the sea are covered by the 
+waters, and the evil eye has no power over them; and so over those 
+of the seed of Joseph the evil eye has no power.'
+
+I have been thus diffuse upon the evil eye, because of late years 
+it has been a common practice of writers to speak of it without 
+apparently possessing any farther knowledge of the subject than 
+what may be gathered from the words themselves.
+
+Like most other superstitions, it is, perhaps, founded on a 
+physical reality.
+
+I have observed, that only in hot countries, where the sun and moon 
+are particularly dazzling, the belief in the evil eye is prevalent.  
+If we turn to Scripture, the wonderful book which is capable of 
+resolving every mystery, I believe that we shall presently come to 
+the solution of the evil eye.  'The sun shall not smite thee by 
+day, nor the moon by night.' Ps. cxxi. v. 6.
+
+Those who wish to avoid the evil eye, instead of trusting in 
+charms, scrawls, and Rabbinical antidotes, let them never loiter in 
+the sunshine before the king of day has nearly reached his bourn in 
+the west; for the sun has an evil eye, and his glance produces 
+brain fevers; and let them not sleep uncovered beneath the smile of 
+the moon, for her glance is poisonous, and produces insupportable 
+itching in the eye, and not unfrequently blindness.
+
+The northern nations have a superstition which bears some 
+resemblance to the evil eye, when allowance is made for 
+circumstances.  They have no brilliant sun and moon to addle the 
+brain and poison the eye, but the grey north has its marshes, and 
+fenny ground, and fetid mists, which produce agues, low fevers, and 
+moping madness, and are as fatal to cattle as to man.  Such 
+disorders are attributed to elves and fairies.  This superstition 
+still lingers in some parts of England under the name of elf-shot, 
+whilst, throughout the north, it is called elle-skiod, and elle-
+vild (fairy wild).  It is particularly prevalent amongst shepherds 
+and cow-herds, the people who, from their manner of life, are most 
+exposed to the effects of the elf-shot.  Those who wish to know 
+more of this superstition are referred to Thiele's - DANSKE 
+FOLKESAGN, and to the notes of the KOEMPE-VISER, or popular Danish 
+Ballads.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+
+WHEN the six hundred thousand men, (34) and the mixed multitude of 
+women and children, went forth from the land of Egypt, the God whom 
+they worshipped, the only true God, went before them by day in a 
+pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of 
+fire to give them light; this God who rescued them from slavery, 
+who guided them through the wilderness, who was their captain in 
+battle, and who cast down before them the strong walls which 
+encompassed the towns of their enemies, this God they still 
+remember, after the lapse of more than three thousand years, and 
+still worship with adoration the most unbounded.  If there be one 
+event in the eventful history of the Hebrews which awakens in their 
+minds deeper feelings of gratitude than another, it is the exodus; 
+and that wonderful manifestation of olden mercy still serves them 
+as an assurance that the Lord will yet one day redeem and gather 
+together his scattered and oppressed people.  'Art thou not the God 
+who brought us out of the land of bondage?' they exclaim in the 
+days of their heaviest trouble and affliction.  He who redeemed 
+Israel from the hand of Pharaoh is yet capable of restoring the 
+kingdom and sceptre to Israel.
+
+If the Rommany trusted in any God at the period of THEIR exodus, 
+they must speedily have forgotten him.  Coming from Ind, as they 
+most assuredly did, it was impossible for them to have known the 
+true, and they must have been followers (if they followed any) 
+either of Buddh, or Brahmah, those tremendous phantoms which have 
+led, and are likely still to lead, the souls of hundreds of 
+millions to destruction; yet they are now ignorant of such names, 
+nor does it appear that such were ever current amongst them 
+subsequent to their arrival in Europe, if indeed they ever were.  
+They brought with them no Indian idols, as far as we are able to 
+judge at the present time, nor indeed Indian rites or observances, 
+for no traces of such are to be discovered amongst them.
+
+All, therefore, which relates to their original religion is 
+shrouded in mystery, and is likely so to remain.  They may have 
+been idolaters, or atheists, or what they now are, totally 
+neglectful of worship of any kind; and though not exactly prepared 
+to deny the existence of a Supreme Being, as regardless of him as 
+if he existed not, and never mentioning his name, save in oaths and 
+blasphemy, or in moments of pain or sudden surprise, as they have 
+heard other people do, but always without any fixed belief, trust, 
+or hope.
+
+There are certainly some points of resemblance between the children 
+of Roma and those of Israel.  Both have had an exodus, both are 
+exiles and dispersed amongst the Gentiles, by whom they are hated 
+and despised, and whom they hate and despise, under the names of 
+Busnees and Goyim; both, though speaking the language of the 
+Gentiles, possess a peculiar tongue, which the latter do not 
+understand, and both possess a peculiar cast of countenance, by 
+which they may, without difficulty, be distinguished from all other 
+nations; but with these points the similarity terminates.  The 
+Israelites have a peculiar religion, to which they are fanatically 
+attached; the Romas have none, as they invariably adopt, though 
+only in appearance, that of the people with whom they chance to 
+sojourn; the Israelites possess the most authentic history of any 
+people in the world, and are acquainted with and delight to 
+recapitulate all that has befallen their race, from ages the most 
+remote; the Romas have no history, they do not even know the name 
+of their original country; and the only tradition which they 
+possess, that of their Egyptian origin, is a false one, whether 
+invented by themselves or others; the Israelites are of all people 
+the most wealthy, the Romas the most poor - poor as a Gypsy being 
+proverbial amongst some nations, though both are equally greedy of 
+gain; and finally, though both are noted for peculiar craft and 
+cunning, no people are more ignorant than the Romas, whilst the 
+Jews have always been a learned people, being in possession of the 
+oldest literature in the world, and certainly the most important 
+and interesting.
+
+Sad and weary must have been the path of the mixed rabble of the 
+Romas, when they left India's sunny land and wended their way to 
+the West, in comparison with the glorious exodus of the Israelites 
+from Egypt, whose God went before them in cloud and in fire, 
+working miracles and astonishing the hearts of their foes.
+
+Even supposing that they worshipped Buddh or Brahmah, neither of 
+these false deities could have accomplished for them what God 
+effected for his chosen people, although it is true that the idea 
+that a Supreme Being was watching over them, in return for the 
+reverence paid to his image, might have cheered them 'midst storm 
+and lightning, 'midst mountains and wildernesses, 'midst hunger and 
+drought; for it is assuredly better to trust even in an idol, in a 
+tree, or a stone, than to be entirely godless; and the most 
+superstitious hind of the Himalayan hills, who trusts in the Grand 
+Foutsa in the hour of peril and danger, is more wise than the most 
+enlightened atheist, who cherishes no consoling delusion to relieve 
+his mind, oppressed by the terrible ideas of reality.
+
+But it is evident that they arrived at the confines of Europe 
+without any certain or rooted faith.  Knowing, as we do, with what 
+tenacity they retain their primitive habits and customs, their sect 
+being, in all points, the same as it was four hundred years ago, it 
+appears impossible that they should have forgotten their peculiar 
+god, if in any peculiar god they trusted.
+
+Though cloudy ideas of the Indian deities might be occasionally 
+floating in their minds, these ideas, doubtless, quickly passed 
+away when they ceased to behold the pagodas and temples of Indian 
+worship, and were no longer in contact with the enthusiastic 
+adorers of the idols of the East; they passed away even as the dim 
+and cloudy ideas which they subsequently adopted of the Eternal and 
+His Son, Mary and the saints, would pass away when they ceased to 
+be nourished by the sight of churches and crosses; for should it 
+please the Almighty to reconduct the Romas to Indian climes, who 
+can doubt that within half a century they would entirely forget all 
+connected with the religion of the West!  Any poor shreds of that 
+faith which they bore with them they would drop by degrees as they 
+would relinquish their European garments when they became old, and 
+as they relinquished their Asiatic ones to adopt those of Europe; 
+no particular dress makes a part of the things essential to the 
+sect of Roma, so likewise no particular god and no particular 
+religion.
+
+Where these people first assumed the name of Egyptians, or where 
+that title was first bestowed upon them, it is difficult to 
+determine; perhaps, however, in the eastern parts of Europe, where 
+it should seem the grand body of this nation of wanderers made a 
+halt for a considerable time, and where they are still to be found 
+in greater numbers than in any other part.  One thing is certain, 
+that when they first entered Germany, which they speedily overran, 
+they appeared under the character of Egyptians, doing penance for 
+the sin of having refused hospitality to the Virgin and her Son, 
+and, of course, as believers in the Christian faith, 
+notwithstanding that they subsisted by the perpetration of every 
+kind of robbery and imposition; Aventinus (ANNALES BOIORUM, 826) 
+speaking of them says:  'Adeo tamen vana superstitio hominum 
+mentes, velut lethargus invasit, ut eos violari nefas putet, atque 
+grassari, furari, imponere passim sinant.'
+
+This singular story of banishment from Egypt, and Wandering through 
+the world for a period of seven years, for inhospitality displayed 
+to the Virgin, and which I find much difficulty in attributing to 
+the invention of people so ignorant as the Romas, tallies strangely 
+with the fate foretold to the ancient Egyptians in certain chapters 
+of Ezekiel, so much so, indeed, that it seems to be derived from 
+that source.  The Lord is angry with Egypt because its inhabitants 
+have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, and thus he 
+threatens them by the mouth of his prophet.
+
+'I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the 
+countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that 
+are laid waste shall be desolate forty years:  and I will scatter 
+the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the 
+countries.'  Ezek., chap. xxix. v. 12.  'Yet thus saith the Lord 
+God; at the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the 
+people whither they were scattered.' v. 13.
+
+'Thus saith the Lord; I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease, 
+by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.'  Chap. xxx. v. 10.
+
+'And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse 
+them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord.' 
+Chap.  xxx. v. 26.
+
+The reader will at once observe that the apocryphal tale which the 
+Romas brought into Germany, concerning their origin and wanderings, 
+agrees in every material point with the sacred prophecy.  The 
+ancient Egyptians were to be driven from their country and 
+dispersed amongst the nations, for a period of forty years, for 
+having been the cause of Israel's backsliding, and for not having 
+known the Lord, - the modern pseudo-Egyptians are to be dispersed 
+among the nations for seven years, for having denied hospitality to 
+the Virgin and her child.  The prophecy seems only to have been 
+remodelled for the purpose of suiting the taste of the time; as no 
+legend possessed much interest in which the Virgin did not figure, 
+she and her child are here introduced instead of the Israelites, 
+and the Lord of Heaven offended with the Egyptians; and this legend 
+appears to have been very well received in Germany, for a time at 
+least, for, as Aventinus observes, it was esteemed a crime of the 
+first magnitude to offer any violence to the Egyptian pilgrims, who 
+were permitted to rob on the highway, to commit larceny, and to 
+practise every species of imposition with impunity.
+
+The tale, however, of the Romas could hardly have been invented by 
+themselves, as they were, and still are, utterly unacquainted with 
+the Scripture; it probably originated amongst the priests and 
+learned men of the east of Europe, who, startled by the sudden 
+apparition of bands of people foreign in appearance and language, 
+skilled in divination and the occult arts, endeavoured to find in 
+Scripture a clue to such a phenomenon; the result of which was, 
+that the Romas of Hindustan were suddenly transformed into Egyptian 
+penitents, a title which they have ever since borne in various 
+parts of Europe.  There are no means of ascertaining whether they 
+themselves believed from the first in this story; they most 
+probably took it on credit, more especially as they could give no 
+account of themselves, there being every reason for supposing that 
+from time immemorial they had existed in the East as a thievish 
+wandering sect, as they at present do in Europe, without history or 
+traditions, and unable to look back for a period of eighty years.  
+The tale moreover answered their purpose, as beneath the garb of 
+penitence they could rob and cheat with impunity, for a time at 
+least.  One thing is certain, that in whatever manner the tale of 
+their Egyptian descent originated, many branches of the sect place 
+implicit confidence in it at the present day, more especially those 
+of England and Spain.
+
+Even at the present time there are writers who contend that the 
+Romas are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who were 
+scattered amongst the nations by the Assyrians.  This belief they 
+principally found upon particular parts of the prophecy from which 
+we have already quoted, and there is no lack of plausibility in the 
+arguments which they deduce therefrom.  The Egyptians, say they, 
+were to fall upon the open fields, they were not to be brought 
+together nor gathered; they were to be dispersed through the 
+countries, their idols were to be destroyed, and their images were 
+to cease out of Noph!  In what people in the world do these 
+denunciations appear to be verified save the Gypsies? - a people 
+who pass their lives in the open fields, who are not gathered 
+together, who are dispersed through the countries, who have no 
+idols, no images, nor any fixed or certain religion.
+
+In Spain, the want of religion amongst the Gitanos was speedily 
+observed, and became quite as notorious as their want of honesty; 
+they have been styled atheists, heathen idolaters, and Moors.  In 
+the little book of Quinones', we find the subject noticed in the 
+following manner:-
+
+'They do not understand what kind of thing the church is, and never 
+enter it but for the purpose of committing sacrilege.  They do not 
+know the prayers; for I examined them myself, males and females, 
+and they knew them not, or if any, very imperfectly.  They never 
+partake of the Holy Sacraments, and though they marry relations 
+they procure no dispensations. (35)  No one knows whether they are 
+baptized.  One of the five whom I caused to be hung a few days ago 
+was baptized in the prison, being at the time upwards of thirty 
+years of age.  Don Martin Fajardo says that two Gitanos and a 
+Gitana, whom he hanged in the village of Torre Perojil, were 
+baptized at the foot of the gallows, and declared themselves Moors.
+
+'They invariably look out, when they marry, if we can call theirs 
+marrying, for the woman most dexterous in pilfering and deceiving, 
+caring nothing whether she is akin to them or married already, (36) 
+for it is only necessary to keep her company and to call her wife.  
+Sometimes they purchase them from their husbands, or receive them 
+as pledges:  so says, at least, Doctor Salazar de Mendoza.
+
+'Friar Melchior of Guelama states that he heard asserted of two 
+Gitanos what was never yet heard of any barbarous nation, namely, 
+that they exchanged their wives, and that as one was more comely 
+looking than the other, he who took the handsome woman gave a 
+certain sum of money to him who took the ugly one.  The licentiate 
+Alonzo Duran has certified to me, that in the year 1623-4, one 
+Simon Ramirez, captain of a band of Gitanos, repudiated Teresa 
+because she was old, and married one called Melchora, who was young 
+and handsome, and that on the day when the repudiation took place 
+and the bridal was celebrated he was journeying along the road, and 
+perceived a company feasting and revelling beneath some trees in a 
+plain within the jurisdiction of the village of Deleitosa, and that 
+on demanding the cause he was told that it was on account of Simon 
+Ramirez marrying one Gitana and casting off another; and that the 
+repudiated woman told him, with an agony of tears, that he 
+abandoned her because she was old, and married another because she 
+was young.  Certainly Gitanos and Gitanas confessed before Don 
+Martin Fajardo that they did not really marry, but that in their 
+banquets and festivals they selected the woman whom they liked, and 
+that it was lawful for them to have as many as three mistresses, 
+and on that account they begat so many children.  They never keep 
+fasts nor any ecclesiastical command.  They always eat meat, Friday 
+and Lent not excepted; the morning when I seized those whom I 
+afterwards executed, which was in Lent, they had three lambs which 
+they intended to eat for their dinner that day. - Quinones, page 
+13.
+
+Although what is stated in the above extracts, respecting the 
+marriages of the Gitanos and their licentious manner of living, is, 
+for the most part, incorrect, there is no reason to conclude the 
+same with respect to their want of religion in the olden time, and 
+their slight regard for the forms and observances of the church, as 
+their behaviour at the present day serves to confirm what is said 
+on those points.  From the whole, we may form a tolerably correct 
+idea of the opinions of the time respecting the Gitanos in matters 
+of morality and religion.  A very natural question now seems to 
+present itself, namely, what steps did the government of Spain, 
+civil and ecclesiastical, which has so often trumpeted its zeal in 
+the cause of what it calls the Christian religion, which has so 
+often been the scourge of the Jew, of the Mahometan, and of the 
+professors of the reformed faith; what steps did it take towards 
+converting, punishing, and rooting out from Spain, a sect of demi-
+atheists, who, besides being cheats and robbers, displayed the most 
+marked indifference for the forms of the Catholic religion, and 
+presumed to eat flesh every day, and to intermarry with their 
+relations, without paying the vicegerent of Christ here on earth 
+for permission so to do?
+
+The Gitanos have at all times, since their first appearance in 
+Spain, been notorious for their contempt of religious observances; 
+yet there is no proof that they were subjected to persecution on 
+that account.  The men have been punished as robbers and murderers, 
+with the gallows and the galleys; the women, as thieves and 
+sorceresses, with imprisonment, flagellation, and sometimes death; 
+but as a rabble, living without fear of God, and, by so doing, 
+affording an evil example to the nation at large, few people gave 
+themselves much trouble about them, though they may have 
+occasionally been designated as such in a royal edict, intended to 
+check their robberies, or by some priest from the pulpit, from 
+whose stable they had perhaps contrived to extract the mule which 
+previously had the honour of ambling beneath his portly person.
+
+The Inquisition, which burnt so many Jews and Moors, and 
+conscientious Christians, at Seville and Madrid, and in other parts 
+of Spain, seems to have exhibited the greatest clemency and 
+forbearance to the Gitanos.  Indeed, we cannot find one instance of 
+its having interfered with them.  The charge of restraining the 
+excesses of the Gitanos was abandoned entirely to the secular 
+authorities, and more particularly to the Santa Hermandad, a kind 
+of police instituted for the purpose of clearing the roads of 
+robbers.  Whilst I resided at Cordova, I was acquainted with an 
+aged ecclesiastic, who was priest of a village called Puente, at 
+about two leagues' distance from the city.  He was detained in 
+Cordova on account of his political opinions, though he was 
+otherwise at liberty.  We lived together at the same house; and he 
+frequently visited me in my apartment.
+
+This person, who was upwards of eighty years of age, had formerly 
+been inquisitor at Cordova.  One night, whilst we were seated 
+together, three Gitanos entered to pay me a visit, and on observing 
+the old ecclesiastic, exhibited every mark of dissatisfaction, and 
+speaking in their own idiom, called him a BALICHOW, and abused 
+priests in general in most unmeasured terms.  On their departing, I 
+inquired of the old man whether he, who having been an inquisitor, 
+was doubtless versed in the annals of the holy office, could inform 
+me whether the Inquisition had ever taken any active measures for 
+the suppression and punishment of the sect of the Gitanos:  
+whereupon he replied, 'that he was not aware of one case of a 
+Gitano having been tried or punished by the Inquisition'; adding 
+these remarkable words:  'The Inquisition always looked upon them 
+with too much contempt to give itself the slightest trouble 
+concerning them; for as no danger either to the state, or the 
+church of Rome, could proceed from the Gitanos, it was a matter of 
+perfect indifference to the holy office whether they lived without 
+religion or not.  The holy office has always reserved its anger for 
+people very different; the Gitanos having at all times been GENTE 
+BARATA Y DESPRECIABLE.
+
+Indeed, most of the persecutions which have arisen in Spain against 
+Jews, Moors, and Protestants, sprang from motives with which 
+fanaticism and bigotry, of which it is true the Spaniards have 
+their full share, had very little connection.  Religion was assumed 
+as a mask to conceal the vilest and most detestable motives which 
+ever yet led to the commission of crying injustice; the Jews were 
+doomed to persecution and destruction on two accounts, - their 
+great riches, and their high superiority over the Spaniards in 
+learning and intellect.  Avarice has always been the dominant 
+passion in Spanish minds, their rage for money being only to be 
+compared to the wild hunger of wolves for horse-flesh in the time 
+of winter:  next to avarice, envy of superior talent and 
+accomplishment is the prevailing passion.  These two detestable 
+feelings united, proved the ruin of the Jews in Spain, who were, 
+for a long time, an eyesore, both to the clergy and laity, for 
+their great riches and learning.  Much the same causes insured the 
+expulsion of the Moriscos, who were abhorred for their superior 
+industry, which the Spaniards would not imitate; whilst the 
+reformation was kept down by the gaunt arm of the Inquisition, lest 
+the property of the church should pass into other and more 
+deserving hands.  The faggot piles in the squares of Seville and 
+Madrid, which consumed the bodies of the Hebrew, the Morisco, and 
+the Protestant, were lighted by avarice and envy, and those same 
+piles would likewise have consumed the mulatto carcass of the 
+Gitano, had he been learned and wealthy enough to become obnoxious 
+to the two master passions of the Spaniards.
+
+Of all the Spanish writers who have written concerning the Gitanos, 
+the one who appears to have been most scandalised at the want of 
+religion observable amongst them, and their contempt for things 
+sacred, was a certain Doctor Sancho De Moncada.
+
+This worthy, whom we have already had occasion to mention, was 
+Professor of Theology at the University of Toledo, and shortly 
+after the expulsion of the Moriscos had been brought about by the 
+intrigues of the monks and robbers who thronged the court of Philip 
+the Third, he endeavoured to get up a cry against the Gitanos 
+similar to that with which for the last half-century Spain had 
+resounded against the unfortunate and oppressed Africans, and to 
+effect this he published a discourse, entitled 'The Expulsion of 
+the Gitanos,' addressed to Philip the Third, in which he conjures 
+that monarch, for the sake of morality and everything sacred, to 
+complete the good work he had commenced, and to send the Gitanos 
+packing after the Moriscos.
+
+Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author, we have 
+no means of ascertaining.  One thing is certain, that it did no 
+harm to the Gitanos, who still continue in Spain.
+
+If he had other expectations, he must have understood very little 
+of the genius of his countrymen, or of King Philip and his court.  
+It would have been easier to get up a crusade against the wild cats 
+of the sierra, than against the Gitanos, as the former have skins 
+to reward those who slay them.  His discourse, however, is well 
+worthy of perusal, as it exhibits some learning, and comprises many 
+curious details respecting the Gitanos, their habits, and their 
+practices.  As it is not very lengthy, we here subjoin it, hoping 
+that the reader will excuse its many absurdities, for the sake of 
+its many valuable facts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+
+'SIRE,
+
+'The people of God were always afflicted by the Egyptians, but the 
+Supreme King delivered them from their hands by means of many 
+miracles, which are related in the Holy Scriptures; and now, 
+without having recourse to so many, but only by means of the 
+miraculous talent which your Majesty possesses for expelling such 
+reprobates, he will, doubtless, free this kingdom from them, which 
+is what is supplicated in this discourse, and it behoves us, in the 
+first place, to consider
+
+
+'WHO ARE THE GITANOS?
+
+
+'Writers generally agree that the first time the Gitanos were seen 
+in Europe was the year 1417, which was in the time of Pope Martinus 
+the Fifth and King Don John the Second; others say that Tamerlane 
+had them in his camp in 1401, and that their captain was Cingo, 
+from whence it is said that they call themselves Cingary.  But the 
+opinions concerning their origin are infinite.
+
+'The first is that they are foreigners, though authors differ much 
+with respect to the country from whence they came.  The majority 
+say that they are from Africa, and that they came with the Moors 
+when Spain was lost; others that they are Tartars, Persians, 
+Cilicians, Nubians, from Lower Egypt, from Syria, or from other 
+parts of Asia and Africa, and others consider them to be 
+descendants of Chus, son of Cain; others say that they are of 
+European origin, Bohemians, Germans, or outcasts from other nations 
+of this quarter of the world.
+
+'The second and sure opinion is, that those who prowl about Spain 
+are not Egyptians, but swarms of wasps and atheistical wretches, 
+without any kind of law or religion, Spaniards, who have introduced 
+this Gypsy life or sect, and who admit into it every day all the 
+idle and broken people of Spain.  There are some foreigners who 
+would make Spain the origin and fountain of all the Gypsies of 
+Europe, as they say that they proceeded from a river in Spain 
+called Cija, of which Lucan makes mention; an opinion, however, not 
+much adopted amongst the learned.  In the opinion of respectable 
+authors, they are called Cingary or Cinli, because they in every 
+respect resemble the bird cinclo, which we call in Spanish 
+Motacilla, or aguzanieve (wagtail), which is a vagrant bird and 
+builds no nest, (37) but broods in those of other birds, a bird 
+restless and poor of plumage, as AElian writes.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS ARE VERY HURTFUL TO SPAIN
+
+
+'There is not a nation which does not consider them as a most 
+pernicious rabble; even the Turks and Moors abominate them, amongst 
+whom this sect is found under the names of Torlaquis, (38) 
+Hugiemalars, and Dervislars, of whom some historians make mention, 
+and all agree that they are most evil people, and highly 
+detrimental to the country where they are found.
+
+'In the first place, because in all parts they are considered as 
+enemies of the states where they wander, and as spies and traitors 
+to the crown; which was proven by the emperors Maximilian and 
+Albert, who declared them to be such in public edicts; a fact easy 
+to be believed, when we consider that they enter with ease into the 
+enemies' country, and know the languages of all nations.
+
+'Secondly, because they are idle vagabond people, who are in no 
+respect useful to the kingdom; without commerce, occupation, or 
+trade of any description; and if they have any it is making 
+picklocks and pothooks for appearance sake, being wasps, who only 
+live by sucking and impoverishing the country, sustaining 
+themselves by the sweat of the miserable labourers, as a German 
+poet has said of them:-
+
+
+"Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare molestum,
+Fastidit patrium non nisi nosse solum."
+
+
+They are much more useless than the Moriscos, as these last were of 
+some service to the state and the royal revenues, but the Gitanos 
+are neither labourers, gardeners, mechanics, nor merchants, and 
+only serve, like the wolves, to plunder and to flee.
+
+'Thirdly, because the Gitanas are public harlots, common, as it is 
+said, to all the Gitanos, and with dances, demeanour, and filthy 
+songs, are the cause of continual detriment to the souls of the 
+vassals of your Majesty, it being notorious that they have done 
+infinite harm in many honourable houses by separating the married 
+women from their husbands, and perverting the maidens:  and 
+finally, in the best of these Gitanas any one may recognise all the 
+signs of a harlot given by the wise king; they are gadders about, 
+whisperers, always unquiet in places and corners.
+
+'Fourthly, because in all parts they are accounted famous thieves, 
+about which authors write wonderful things; we ourselves have 
+continual experience of this fact in Spain, where there is scarcely 
+a corner where they have not committed some heavy offence.
+
+'Father Martin Del Rio says they were notorious when he was in Leon 
+in the year 1584; as they even attempted to sack the town of 
+Logrono in the time of the pest, as Don Francisco De Cordoba writes 
+in his DIDASCALIA.  Enormous cases of their excesses we see in 
+infinite processes in all the tribunals, and particularly in that 
+of the Holy Brotherhood; their wickedness ascending to such a 
+pitch, that they steal children, and carry them for sale to 
+Barbary; the reason why the Moors call them in Arabic, RASO 
+CHERANY, (39) which, as Andreas Tebetus writes, means MASTER 
+THIEVES.  Although they are addicted to every species of robbery, 
+they mostly practise horse and cattle stealing, on which account 
+they are called in law ABIGEOS, and in Spanish QUATREROS, from 
+which practice great evils result to the poor labourers.  When they 
+cannot steal cattle, they endeavour to deceive by means of them, 
+acting as TERCEROS, in fairs and markets.
+
+'Fifthly, because they are enchanters, diviners, magicians, 
+chiromancers, who tell the future by the lines of the hand, which 
+is what they call BUENA VENTURA, and are in general addicted to all 
+kind of superstition.
+
+'This is the opinion entertained of them universally, and which is 
+confirmed every day by experience; and some think that they are 
+caller Cingary, from the great Magian Cineus, from whom it is said 
+they learned their sorceries, and from which result in Spain 
+(especially amongst the vulgar) great errors, and superstitious 
+credulity, mighty witchcrafts, and heavy evils, both spiritual and 
+corporeal.
+
+'Sixthly, because very devout men consider them as heretics, and 
+many as Gentile idolaters, or atheists, without any religion, 
+although they exteriorly accommodate themselves to the religion of 
+the country in which they wander, being Turks with the Turks, 
+heretics with the heretics, and, amongst the Christians, baptizing 
+now and then a child for form's sake.  Friar Jayme Bleda produces a 
+hundred signs, from which he concludes that the Moriscos were not 
+Christians, all which are visible in the Gitanos; very few are 
+known to baptize their children; they are not married, but it is 
+believed that they keep the women in common; they do not use 
+dispensations, nor receive the sacraments; they pay no respect to 
+images, rosaries, bulls, neither do they hear mass, nor divine 
+services; they never enter the churches, nor observe fasts, Lent, 
+nor any ecclesiastical precept; which enormities have been attested 
+by long experience, as every person says.
+
+'Finally, they practise every kind of wickedness in safety, by 
+discoursing amongst themselves in a language with which they 
+understand each other without being understood, which in Spain is 
+called Gerigonza, which, as some think, ought to be called 
+Cingerionza, or language of Cingary.  The king our lord saw the 
+evil of such a practice in the law which he enacted at Madrid, in 
+the year 1566, in which he forbade the Arabic to the Moriscos, as 
+the use of different languages amongst the natives of one kingdom 
+opens a door to treason, and is a source of heavy inconvenience; 
+and this is exemplified more in the case of the Gitanos than of any 
+other people.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS OUGHT TO BE SEIZED WHEREVER FOUND
+
+
+'The civil law ordains that vagrants be seized wherever they are 
+found, without any favour being shown to them; in conformity with 
+which, the Gitanos in the Greek empire were given as slaves to 
+those who should capture them; as respectable authors write.  
+Moreover, the emperor, our lord, has decreed by a law made in 
+Toledo, in the year 1525, THAT THE THIRD TIME THEY BE FOUND 
+WANDERING THEY SHALL SERVE AS SLAVES DURING THEIR WHOLE LIFE TO 
+THOSE WHO CAPTURE THEM.  Which can be easily justified, inasmuch as 
+there is no shepherd who does not place barriers against the 
+wolves, and does not endeavour to save his flock, and I have 
+already exposed to your Majesty the damage which the Gitanos 
+perpetrate in Spain.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS OUGHT TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+
+
+'The reasons are many.  The first, for being spies, and traitors to 
+the crown; the second as idlers and vagabonds.
+
+'It ought always to be considered, that no sooner did the race of 
+man begin, after the creation of the world, than the important 
+point of civil policy arose of condemning vagrants to death; for 
+Cain was certain that he should meet his destruction in wandering 
+as a vagabond for the murder of Abel.  ERO VAGUS ET PROFUGUS IN 
+TERRA:  OMNIS IGITUR QUI INVENERIT ME, OCCIDET ME.  Now, the IGITUR 
+stands here as the natural consequence of VAGUS ERO; as it is 
+evident, that whoever shall see me must kill me, because he sees me 
+a wanderer.  And it must always be remembered, that at that time 
+there were no people in the world but the parents and brothers of 
+Cain, as St. Ambrose has remarked.  Moreover, God, by the mouth of 
+Jeremias, menaced his people, that all should devour them whilst 
+they went wandering amongst the mountains.  And it is a doctrine 
+entertained by theologians, that the mere act of wandering, without 
+anything else, carries with it a vehement suspicion of capital 
+crime.  Nature herself demonstrates it in the curious political 
+system of the bees, in whose well-governed republic the drones are 
+killed in April, when they commence working.
+
+'The third, because they are stealers of four-footed beasts, who 
+are condemned to death by the laws of Spain, in the wise code of 
+the famous King Don Alonso; which enactment became a part of the 
+common law.
+
+'The fourth, for wizards, diviners, and for practising arts which 
+are prohibited under pain of death by the divine law itself.  And 
+Saul is praised for having caused this law to be put in execution 
+in the beginning of his reign; and the Holy Scripture attributes to 
+the breach of it (namely, his consulting the witch) his disastrous 
+death, and the transfer of the kingdom to David.  The Emperor 
+Constantine the Great, and other emperors who founded the civil 
+law, condemned to death those who should practise such 
+facinorousness, - as the President of Tolosa has written.
+
+'The last and most urgent cause is, that they are heretics, if what 
+is said be truth; and it is the practice of the law in Spain to 
+burn such.
+
+
+'THE GITANOS ARE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNTRY BY THE LAWS OF SPAIN
+
+
+'Firstly, they are comprehended as hale beggars in the law of the 
+wise king, Don Alonso, by which he expelled all sturdy beggars, as 
+being idle and useless.
+
+'Secondly, the law expels public harlots from the city; and of this 
+matter I have already said something in my second chapter.
+
+'Thirdly, as people who cause scandal, and who, as is visible at 
+the first glance, are prejudicial to morals and common decency.  
+Now, it is established by the statute law of these kingdoms, that 
+such people be expelled therefrom; it is said so in the well-
+pondered words of the edict for the expulsion of the Moors:  "And 
+forasmuch as the sense of good and Christian government makes it a 
+matter of conscience to expel from the kingdoms the things which 
+cause scandal, injury to honest subjects, danger to the state, and 
+above all, disloyalty to the Lord our God."  Therefore, considering 
+the incorrigibility of the Gitanos, the Spanish kings made many 
+holy laws in order to deliver their subjects from such pernicious 
+people.
+
+'Fourthly, the Catholic princes, Ferdinand and Isabella, by a law 
+which they made in Medina del Campo, in the year 1494, and which 
+the emperor our lord renewed in Toledo in 1523, and in Madrid in 
+1528 and 1534, and the late king our lord, in 1560, banished them 
+perpetually from Spain, and gave them as slaves to whomsoever 
+should find them, after the expiration of the term specified in the 
+edict - laws which are notorious even amongst strangers.  The words 
+are:- "We declare to be vagabonds, and subject to the aforesaid 
+penalty, the Egyptians and foreign tinkers, who by laws and 
+statutes of these kingdoms are commanded to depart therefrom; and 
+the poor sturdy beggars, who contrary to the order given in the new 
+edict, beg for alms and wander about."
+
+
+'THE LAWS ARE VERY JUST WHICH EXPEL THE GITANOS FROM THE STATES
+
+
+All the doctors, who are of opinion that the Gitanos may be 
+condemned to death, would consider it as an act of mercy in your 
+Majesty to banish them perpetually from Spain, and at the same time 
+as exceedingly just.  Many and learned men not only consider that 
+it is just to expel them, but cannot sufficiently wonder that they 
+are tolerated in Christian states, and even consider that such 
+toleration is an insult to the kingdoms.
+
+'Whilst engaged in writing this, I have seen a very learned 
+memorial, in which Doctor Salazar de Mendoza makes the same 
+supplication to your Majesty which is made in this discourse, 
+holding it to be the imperious duty of every good government.
+
+'It stands in reason that the prince is bound to watch for the 
+welfare of his subjects, and the wrongs which those of your Majesty 
+receive from the Gitanos I have already exposed in my second 
+chapter; it being a point worthy of great consideration that the 
+wrongs caused by the Moriscos moved your royal and merciful bosom 
+to drive them out, although they were many, and their departure 
+would be felt as a loss to the population, the commerce, the royal 
+revenues, and agriculture.  Now, with respect to the Gitanos, as 
+they are few, and perfectly useless for everything, it appears more 
+necessary to drive them forth, the injuries which they cause being 
+so numerous.
+
+'Secondly, because the Gitanos, as I have already said, are 
+Spaniards; and as others profess the sacred orders of religion, 
+even so do these fellows profess gypsying, which is robbery and all 
+the other vices enumerated in chapter the second.  And whereas it 
+is just to banish from the kingdom those who have committed any 
+heavy delinquency, it is still more so to banish those who profess 
+to be injurious to all.
+
+'Thirdly, because all the kings and rulers have always endeavoured 
+to eject from their kingdoms the idle and useless.  And it is very 
+remarkable, that the law invariably commands them to be expelled, 
+and the republics of Athens and Corinth were accustomed to do so - 
+casting them forth like dung, even as Athenaeus writes:  NOS GENUS 
+HOC MORTALIUM EJICIMUS EX HAC URBE VELUT PURGAMINA.  Now the 
+profession of the Gypsy is idleness.
+
+'Fourthly, because the Gitanos are diviners, enchanters, and 
+mischievous wretches, and the law commands us to expel such from 
+the state.
+
+'In the fifth place, because your Majesty, in the Cortes at present 
+assembled, has obliged your royal conscience to fulfil all the 
+articles voted for the public service, and the forty-ninth says:  
+"One of the things at present most necessary to be done in these 
+kingdoms, is to afford a remedy for the robberies, plundering and 
+murders committed by the Gitanos, who go wandering about the 
+country, stealing the cattle of the poor, and committing a thousand 
+outrages, living without any fear of God, and being Christians only 
+in name.  It is therefore deemed expedient, that your Majesty 
+command them to quit these kingdoms within six months, to be 
+reckoned from the day of the ratification of these presents, and 
+that they do not return to the same under pain of death."
+
+'Against this, two things may possibly be urged:-
+
+'The first, that the laws of Spain give unto the Gitanos the 
+alternative of residing in large towns, which, it appears, would be 
+better than expelling them.  But experience, recognised by grave 
+and respectable men, has shown that it is not well to harbour these 
+people; for their houses are dens of thieves, from whence they 
+prowl abroad to rob the land.
+
+'The second, that it appears a pity to banish the women and 
+children.  But to this can be opposed that holy act of your Majesty 
+which expelled the Moriscos, and the children of the Moriscos, for 
+the reason given in the royal edict.  WHENEVER ANY DETESTABLE CRIME 
+IS COMMITTED BY ANY UNIVERSITY, IT IS WELL TO PUNISH ALL.  And the 
+most detestable crimes of all are those which the Gitanos commit, 
+since it is notorious that they subsist on what they steal; and as 
+to the children, there is no law which obliges us to bring up wolf-
+whelps, to cause here-after certain damage to the flock.
+
+
+'IT HAS EVER BEEN THE PRACTICE OF PRINCES TO EXPEL THE GITANOS
+
+
+'Every one who considers the manner of your Majesty's government as 
+the truly Christian pattern must entertain fervent hope that the 
+advice proffered in this discourse will be attended to; more 
+especially on reflecting that not only the good, but even the most 
+barbarous kings have acted up to it in their respective dominions.
+
+'Pharaoh was bad enough, nevertheless he judged that the children 
+of Israel were dangerous to the state, because they appeared to him 
+to be living without any certain occupation; and for this very 
+reason the Chaldeans cast them out of Babylon.  Amasis, king of 
+Egypt, drove all the vagrants from his kingdom, forbidding them to 
+return under pain of death.  The Soldan of Egypt expelled the 
+Torlaquis.  The Moors did the same; and Bajazet cast them out of 
+all the Ottoman empire, according to Leo Clavius.
+
+'In the second place, the Christian princes have deemed it an 
+important measure of state.
+
+'The emperor our Lord, in the German Diets of the year 1548, 
+expelled the Gitanos from all his empire, and these were the words 
+of the decree:  "Zigeuner quos compertum est proditores esse, et 
+exploratores hostium nusquam in imperio locum inveniunto.  In 
+deprehensos vis et injuria sine fraude esto.  Fides publica 
+Zigeuners ne dator, nec data servator."
+
+'The King of France, Francis, expelled them from thence; and the 
+Duke of Terranova, when Governor of Milan for our lord the king, 
+obliged them to depart from that territory under pain of death.
+
+'Thirdly, there is one grand reason which ought to be conclusive in 
+moving him who so much values himself in being a faithful son of 
+the church, - I mean the example which Pope Pius the Fifth gave to 
+all the princes; for he drove the Gitanos from all his domains, and 
+in the year 1568, he expelled the Jews, assigning as reasons for 
+their expulsion those which are more closely applicable to the 
+Gitanos; - namely, that they sucked the vitals of the state, 
+without being of any utility whatever; that they were thieves 
+themselves, and harbourers of others; that they were wizards, 
+diviners, and wretches who induced people to believe that they knew 
+the future, which is what the Gitanos at present do by telling 
+fortunes.
+
+'Your Majesty has already freed us from greater and more dangerous 
+enemies; finish, therefore, the enterprise begun, whence will 
+result universal joy and security, and by which your Majesty will 
+earn immortal honour.  Amen.
+
+'O Regum summe, horum plura ne temnas (absit) ne forte tempsisse 
+Hispaniae periculosum existat.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+
+PERHAPS there is no country in which more laws have been framed, 
+having in view the extinction and suppression of the Gypsy name, 
+race, and manner of life, than Spain.  Every monarch, during a 
+period of three hundred years, appears at his accession to the 
+throne to have considered that one of his first and most imperative 
+duties consisted in suppressing or checking the robberies, frauds, 
+and other enormities of the Gitanos, with which the whole country 
+seems to have resounded since the time of their first appearance.
+
+They have, by royal edicts, been repeatedly banished from Spain, 
+under terrible penalties, unless they renounced their inveterate 
+habits; and for the purpose of eventually confounding them with the 
+residue of the population, they have been forbidden, even when 
+stationary, to reside together, every family being enjoined to live 
+apart, and neither to seek nor to hold communication with others of 
+the race.
+
+We shall say nothing at present as to the wisdom which dictated 
+these provisions, nor whether others might not have been devised, 
+better calculated to produce the end desired.  Certain it is, that 
+the laws were never, or very imperfectly, put in force, and for 
+reasons with which their expediency or equity (which no one at the 
+time impugned) had no connection whatever.
+
+It is true that, in a country like Spain, abounding in wildernesses 
+and almost inaccessible mountains, the task of hunting down and 
+exterminating or banishing the roving bands would have been found 
+one of no slight difficulty, even if such had ever been attempted; 
+but it must be remembered, that from an early period colonies of 
+Gitanos have existed in the principal towns of Spain, where the men 
+have plied the trades of jockeys and blacksmiths, and the women 
+subsisted by divination, and all kinds of fraud.  These colonies 
+were, of course, always within the reach of the hand of justice, 
+yet it does not appear that they were more interfered with than the 
+roving and independent bands, and that any serious attempts were 
+made to break them up, though notorious as nurseries and refuges of 
+crime.
+
+It is a lamentable fact, that pure and uncorrupt justice has never 
+existed in Spain, as far at least as record will allow us to judge; 
+not that the principles of justice have been less understood there 
+than in other countries, but because the entire system of 
+justiciary administration has ever been shamelessly profligate and 
+vile.
+
+Spanish justice has invariably been a mockery, a thing to be bought 
+and sold, terrible only to the feeble and innocent, and an 
+instrument of cruelty and avarice.
+
+The tremendous satires of Le Sage upon Spanish corregidors and 
+alguazils are true, even at the present day, and the most notorious 
+offenders can generally escape, if able to administer sufficient 
+bribes to the ministers (40) of what is misnamed justice.
+
+The reader, whilst perusing the following extracts from the laws 
+framed against the Gitanos, will be filled with wonder that the 
+Gypsy sect still exists in Spain, contrary to the declared will of 
+the sovereign and the nation, so often repeated during a period of 
+three hundred years; yet such is the fact, and it can only be 
+accounted for on the ground of corruption.
+
+It was notorious that the Gitanos had powerful friends and 
+favourers in every district, who sanctioned and encouraged them in 
+their Gypsy practices.  These their fautors were of all ranks and 
+grades, from the corregidor of noble blood to the low and obscure 
+escribano; and from the viceroy of the province to the archer of 
+the Hermandad.
+
+To the high and noble, they were known as Chalanes, and to the 
+plebeian functionaries, as people who, notwithstanding their 
+general poverty, could pay for protection.
+
+A law was even enacted against these protectors of the Gitanos, 
+which of course failed, as the execution of the law was confided to 
+the very delinquents against whom it was directed.  Thus, the 
+Gitano bought, sold, and exchanged animals openly, though he 
+subjected himself to the penalty of death by so doing, or left his 
+habitation when he thought fit, though such an act, by the law of 
+the land, was punishable with the galleys.
+
+In one of their songs they have commemorated the impunity with 
+which they wandered about.  The escribano, to whom the Gitanos of 
+the neighbourhood pay contribution, on a strange Gypsy being 
+brought before him, instantly orders him to be liberated, assigning 
+as a reason that he is no Gitano, but a legitimate Spaniard:-
+
+
+'I left my house, and walked about
+They seized me fast, and bound:
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+The Spaniards here have found.
+
+'From out the prison me they led,
+Before the scribe they brought;
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+The Spaniards here have caught.'
+
+
+In a word, nothing was to be gained by interfering with the 
+Gitanos, by those in whose hands the power was vested; but, on the 
+contrary, something was to be lost.  The chief sufferers were the 
+labourers, and they had no power to right themselves, though their 
+wrongs were universally admitted, and laws for their protection 
+continually being made, which their enemies contrived to set at 
+nought; as will presently be seen.
+
+The first law issued against the Gypsies appears to have been that 
+of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Medina del Campo, in 1499.  In this 
+edict they were commanded, under certain penalties, to become 
+stationary in towns and villages, and to provide themselves with 
+masters whom they might serve for their maintenance, or in default 
+thereof, to quit the kingdom at the end of sixty days.  No mention 
+is made of the country to which they were expected to betake 
+themselves in the event of their quitting Spain.  Perhaps, as they 
+are called Egyptians, it was concluded that they would forthwith 
+return to Egypt; but the framers of the law never seem to have 
+considered what means these Egyptians possessed of transporting 
+their families and themselves across the sea to such a distance, or 
+if they betook themselves to other countries, what reception a host 
+of people, confessedly thieves and vagabonds, were likely to meet 
+with, or whether it was fair in the TWO CHRISTIAN PRINCES to get 
+rid of such a nuisance at the expense of their neighbours.  Such 
+matters were of course left for the Gypsies themselves to settle.
+
+In this edict, a class of individuals is mentioned in conjunction 
+with the Gitanos, or Gypsies, but distinguished from them by the 
+name of foreign tinkers, or Calderos estrangeros.  By these, we 
+presume, were meant the Calabrians, who are still to be seen upon 
+the roads of Spain, wandering about from town to town, in much the 
+same way as the itinerant tinkers of England at the present day.  A 
+man, half a savage, a haggard woman, who is generally a Spaniard, a 
+wretched child, and still more miserable donkey, compose the group; 
+the gains are of course exceedingly scanty, nevertheless this life, 
+seemingly so wretched, has its charms for these outcasts, who live 
+without care and anxiety, without a thought beyond the present 
+hour, and who sleep as sound in ruined posadas and ventas, or in 
+ravines amongst rocks and pines, as the proudest grandee in his 
+palace at Seville or Madrid.
+
+Don Carlos and Donna Juanna, at Toledo, 1539, confirmed the edict 
+of Medina del Campo against the Egyptians, with the addition, that 
+if any Egyptian, after the expiration of the sixty days, should be 
+found wandering about, he should be sent to the galleys for six 
+years, if above the age of twenty and under that of fifty, and if 
+under or above those years, punished as the preceding law provides.
+
+Philip the Second, at Madrid, 1586, after commanding that all the 
+laws and edicts be observed, by which the Gypsies are forbidden to 
+wander about, and commanded to establish themselves, ordains, with 
+the view of restraining their thievish and cheating practices, that 
+none of them be permitted to sell anything, either within or 
+without fairs or markets, if not provided with a testimony signed 
+by the notary public, to prove that they have a settled residence, 
+and where it may be; which testimony must also specify and describe 
+the horses, cattle, linen, and other things, which they carry forth 
+for sale; otherwise they are to be punished as thieves, and what 
+they attempt to sell considered as stolen property.
+
+Philip the Third, at Belem, in Portugal, 1619, commands all the 
+Gypsies of the kingdom to quit the same within the term of six 
+months, and never to return, under pain of death; those who should 
+wish to remain are to establish themselves in cities, towns, and 
+villages, of one thousand families and upwards, and are not to be 
+allowed the use of the dress, name, and language of Gypsies, IN 
+ORDER THAT, FORASMUCH AS THEY ARE NOT SUCH BY NATION, THIS NAME AND 
+MANNER OF LIFE MAY BE FOR EVERMORE CONFOUNDED AND FORGOTTEN.  They 
+are moreover forbidden, under the same penalty, to have anything to 
+do with the buying or selling of cattle, whether great or small.
+
+The most curious portion of the above law is the passage in which 
+these people are declared not to be Gypsies by nation.  If they are 
+not Gypsies, who are they then?  Spaniards?  If so, what right had 
+the King of Spain to send the refuse of his subjects abroad, to 
+corrupt other lands, over which he had no jurisdiction?
+
+The Moors were sent back to Africa, under some colour of justice, 
+as they came originally from that part of the world; but what would 
+have been said to such a measure, if the edict which banished them 
+had declared that they were not Moors, but Spaniards?
+
+The law, moreover, in stating that they are not Gypsies by nation, 
+seems to have forgotten that in that case it would be impossible to 
+distinguish them from other Spaniards, so soon as they should have 
+dropped the name, language, and dress of Gypsies.  How, provided 
+they were like other Spaniards, and did not carry the mark of 
+another nation on their countenances, could it be known whether or 
+not they obeyed the law, which commanded them to live only in 
+populous towns or villages, or how could they be detected in the 
+buying or selling of cattle, which the law forbids them under pain 
+of death?
+
+The attempt to abolish the Gypsy name and manner of life might have 
+been made without the assertion of a palpable absurdity.
+
+Philip the Fourth, May 8, 1633, after reference to the evil lives 
+and want of religion of the Gypsies, and the complaints made 
+against them by prelates and others, declares 'that the laws 
+hitherto adopted since the year 1499, have been inefficient to 
+restrain their excesses; that they are not Gypsies by origin or 
+nature, but have adopted this form of life'; and then, after 
+forbidding them, according to custom, the dress and language of 
+Gypsies, under the usual severe penalties, he ordains:-
+
+'1st.  That under the same penalties, the aforesaid people shall, 
+within two months, leave the quarters (barrios) where they now live 
+with the denomination of Gitanos, and that they shall separate from 
+each other, and mingle with the other inhabitants, and that they 
+shall hold no more meetings, neither in public nor in secret; that 
+the ministers of justice are to observe, with particular diligence, 
+how they fulfil these commands, and whether they hold communication 
+with each other, or marry amongst themselves; and how they fulfil 
+the obligations of Christians by assisting at sacred worship in the 
+churches; upon which latter point they are to procure information 
+with all possible secrecy from the curates and clergy of the 
+parishes where the Gitanos reside.
+
+'2ndly.  And in order to extirpate, in every way, the name of 
+Gitanos, we ordain that they be not called so, and that no one 
+venture to call them so, and that such shall be esteemed a very 
+heavy injury, and shall be punished as such, if proved, and that 
+nought pertaining to the Gypsies, their name, dress, or actions, be 
+represented, either in dances or in any other performance, under 
+the penalty of two years' banishment, and a mulct of fifty thousand 
+maravedis to whomsoever shall offend for the first time, and double 
+punishment for the second.'
+
+The above two articles seem to have in view the suppression and 
+breaking up of the Gypsy colonies established in the large towns, 
+more especially the suburbs; farther on, mention is made of the 
+wandering bands.
+
+'4thly.  And forasmuch as we have understood that numerous Gitanos 
+rove in bands through various parts of the kingdom, committing 
+robberies in uninhabited places, and even invading some small 
+villages, to the great terror and danger of the inhabitants, we 
+give by this our law a general commission to all ministers of 
+justice, whether appertaining to royal domains, lordships, or 
+abbatial territories, that every one may, in his district, proceed 
+to the imprisonment and chastisement of the delinquents, and may 
+pass beyond his own jurisdiction in pursuit of them; and we also 
+command all the ministers of justice aforesaid, that on receiving 
+information that Gitanos or highwaymen are prowling in their 
+districts, they do assemble at an appointed day, and with the 
+necessary preparation of men and arms they do hunt down, take, and 
+deliver them under a good guard to the nearest officer holding the 
+royal commission.'
+
+Carlos the Second followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, 
+with respect to the Gitanos.  By a law of the 20th of November 
+1692, he inhibits the Gitanos from living in towns of less than one 
+thousand heads of families (vecinos), and pursuing any trade or 
+employment, save the cultivation of the ground; from going in the 
+dress of Gypsies, or speaking the language or gibberish which they 
+use; from living apart in any particular quarter of the town; from 
+visiting fairs with cattle, great or small, or even selling or 
+exchanging such at any time, unless with the testimonial of the 
+public notary, that they were bred within their own houses.  By 
+this law they are also forbidden to have firearms in their 
+possession.
+
+So far from being abashed by this law, or the preceding one, the 
+Gitanos seem to have increased in excesses of every kind.  Only 
+three years after (12th June 1695), the same monarch deemed it 
+necessary to publish a new law for their persecution and 
+chastisement.  This law, which is exceedingly severe, consists of 
+twenty-nine articles.  By the fourth they are forbidden any other 
+exercise or manner of life than that of the cultivation of the 
+fields, in which their wives and children, if of competent age, are 
+to assist them.
+
+Of every other office, employment, or commerce, they are declared 
+incapable, and especially of being BLACKSMITHS.
+
+By the fifth, they are forbidden to keep horses or mares, either 
+within or without their houses, or to make use of them in any way 
+whatever, under the penalty of two months' imprisonment and the 
+forfeiture of such animals; and any one lending them a horse or a 
+mare is to forfeit the same, if it be found in their possession.  
+They are declared only capable of keeping a mule, or some lesser 
+beast, to assist them in their labour, or for the use of their 
+families.
+
+By the twelfth, they are to be punished with six years in the 
+galleys, if they leave the towns or villages in which they are 
+located, and pass to others, or wander in the fields or roads; and 
+they are only to be permitted to go out, in order to exercise the 
+pursuit of husbandry.  In this edict, particular mention is made of 
+the favour and protection shown to the Gitanos, by people of 
+various descriptions, by means of which they had been enabled to 
+follow their manner of life undisturbed, and to baffle the severity 
+of the laws:-
+
+'Article 16. - And because we understand that the continuance in 
+these kingdoms of those who are called Gitanos has depended on the 
+favour, protection, and assistance which they have experienced from 
+persons of different stations, we do ordain, that whosoever, 
+against whom shall be proved the fact of having, since the day of 
+the publication hereof, favoured, received, or assisted the said 
+Gitanos, in any manner whatever, whether within their houses or 
+without, the said person, provided he is noble, shall be subjected 
+to the fine of six thousand ducats, the half of which shall be 
+applied to our treasury, and the other half to the expenses of the 
+prosecution; and, if a plebeian, to a punishment of ten years in 
+the galleys.  And we declare, that in order to proceed to the 
+infliction of such fine and punishment, the evidence of two 
+respectable witnesses, without stain or suspicion, shall be 
+esteemed legitimate and conclusive, although they depose to 
+separate acts, or three depositions of the Gitanos themselves, MADE 
+UPON THE RACK, although they relate to separate and different acts 
+of abetting and harbouring.'
+
+The following article is curious, as it bears evidence to Gypsy 
+craft and cunning:-
+
+'Article 18. - And whereas it is very difficult to prove against 
+the Gitanos the robberies and delinquencies which they commit, 
+partly because they happen in uninhabited places, but more 
+especially on account of the MALICE and CUNNING with which they 
+execute them; we do ordain, in order that they may receive the 
+merited chastisement, that to convict, in these cases, those who 
+are called Gitanos, the depositions of the persons whom they have 
+robbed in uninhabited places shall be sufficient, provided there 
+are at least two witnesses to one and the same fact, and these of 
+good fame and reputation; and we also declare, that the CORPUS 
+DELICTI may be proved in the same manner in these cases, in order 
+that the culprits may be proceeded against, and condemned to the 
+corresponding pains and punishments.'
+
+The council of Madrid published a schedule, 18th of August 1705, 
+from which it appears that the villages and roads were so much 
+infested by the Gitano race, that there was neither peace nor 
+safety for labourers and travellers; the corregidors and justices 
+are therefore exhorted to use their utmost endeavour to apprehend 
+these outlaws, and to execute upon them the punishments enjoined by 
+the preceding law.  The ministers of justice are empowered to fire 
+upon them as public enemies, wherever they meet them, in case of 
+resistance or refusal to deliver up the arms they carry about them.
+
+Philip the Fifth, by schedule, October 1st, 1726, forbade any 
+complaints which the Gitanos might have to make against the 
+inferior justices being heard in the higher tribunals, and, on that 
+account, banished all the Gypsy women from Madrid, and, indeed, 
+from all towns where royal audiences were held, it being the custom 
+of the women to flock up to the capital from the small towns and 
+villages, under pretence of claiming satisfaction for wrongs 
+inflicted upon their husbands and relations, and when there to 
+practise the art of divination, and to sing obscene songs through 
+the streets; by this law, also, the justices are particularly 
+commanded not to permit the Gitanos to leave their places of 
+domicile, except in cases of very urgent necessity.
+
+This law was attended with the same success as the others; the 
+Gitanos left their places of domicile whenever they thought proper, 
+frequented the various fairs, and played off their jockey tricks as 
+usual, or traversed the country in armed gangs, plundering the 
+small villages, and assaulting travellers.
+
+The same monarch, in October, published another law against them, 
+from St. Lorenzo, of the Escurial.  From the words of this edict, 
+and the measures resolved upon, the reader may form some idea of 
+the excesses of the Gitanos at this period.  They are to be hunted 
+down with fire and sword, and even the sanctity of the temples is 
+to be invaded in their pursuit, and the Gitanos dragged from the 
+horns of the altar, should they flee thither for refuge.  It was 
+impossible, in Spain, to carry the severity of persecution farther, 
+as the very parricide was in perfect safety, could he escape to the 
+church.  Here follows part of this law:-
+
+'I have resolved that all the lord-lieutenants, intendants, and 
+corregidors shall publish proclamations, and fix edicts, to the 
+effect that all the Gitanos who are domiciled in the cities and 
+towns of their jurisdiction shall return within the space of 
+fifteen days to their places of domicile, under penalty of being 
+declared, at the expiration of that term, as public banditti, 
+subject to be fired at in the event of being found with arms, or 
+without them, beyond the limits of their places of domicile; and at 
+the expiration of the term aforesaid, the lord-lieutenants, 
+intendants, and corregidors are strictly commanded, that either 
+they themselves, or suitable persons deputed by them, march out 
+with armed soldiery, or if there be none at hand, with the 
+militias, and their officers, accompanied by the horse rangers, 
+destined for the protection of the revenue, for the purpose of 
+scouring the whole district within their jurisdiction, making use 
+of all possible diligence to apprehend such Gitanos as are to be 
+found on the public roads and other places beyond their domiciliary 
+bounds, and to inflict upon them the penalty of death, for the mere 
+act of being found.
+
+'And in the event of their taking refuge in sacred places, they are 
+empowered to drag them forth, and conduct them to the neighbouring 
+prisons and fortresses, and provided the ecclesiastical judges 
+proceed against the secular, in order that they be restored to the 
+church, they are at liberty to avail themselves of the recourse to 
+force, countenanced by laws declaring, even as I now declare, that 
+all the Gitanos who shall leave their allotted places of abode, are 
+to be held as incorrigible rebels, and enemies of the public 
+peace.'
+
+From this period, until the year 1780, various other laws and 
+schedules were directed against the Gitanos, which, as they contain 
+nothing very new or remarkable, we may be well excused from 
+particularising.  In 1783, a law was passed by the government, 
+widely differing in character from any which had hitherto been 
+enacted in connection with the Gitano caste or religion in Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+
+CARLOS TERCERO, or Charles the Third, ascended the throne of Spain 
+in the year 1759, and died in 1788.  No Spanish monarch has left 
+behind a more favourable impression on the minds of the generality 
+of his countrymen; indeed, he is the only one who is remembered at 
+all by all ranks and conditions; - perhaps he took the surest means 
+for preventing his name being forgotten, by erecting a durable 
+monument in every large town, - we do not mean a pillar surmounted 
+by a statue, or a colossal figure on horseback, but some useful and 
+stately public edifice.  All the magnificent modern buildings which 
+attract the eye of the traveller in Spain, sprang up during the 
+reign of Carlos Tercero, - for example, the museum at Madrid, the 
+gigantic tobacco fabric at Seville, - half fortress, half 
+manufactory, - and the Farol, at Coruna.  We suspect that these 
+erections, which speak to the eye, have gained him far greater 
+credit amongst Spaniards than the support which he afforded to 
+liberal opinions, which served to fan the flame of insurrection in 
+the new world, and eventually lost for Spain her transatlantic 
+empire.
+
+We have said that he left behind him a favourable impression 
+amongst the generality of his countrymen; by which we mean the 
+great body found in every nation, who neither think nor reason, - 
+for there are amongst the Spaniards not a few who deny that any of 
+his actions entitle him to the gratitude of the nation.  'All his 
+thoughts,' say they, 'were directed to hunting - and hunting alone; 
+and all the days of the year he employed himself either in hunting 
+or in preparation for the sport.  In one expedition, in the parks 
+of the Pardo, he spent several millions of reals.  The noble 
+edifices which adorn Spain, though built by his orders, are less 
+due to his reign than to the anterior one, - to the reign of 
+Ferdinand the Sixth, who left immense treasures, a small portion of 
+which Carlos Tercero devoted to these purposes, squandering away 
+the remainder.  It is said that Carlos Tercero was no friend to 
+superstition; yet how little did Spain during his time gain in 
+religious liberty!  The great part of the nation remained 
+intolerant and theocratic as before, the other and smaller section 
+turned philosophic, but after the insane manner of the French 
+revolutionists, intolerant in its incredulity, and believing more 
+in the ENCYCLOPEDIE than in the Gospel of the Nazarene.' (41)
+
+We should not have said thus much of Carlos Tercero, whose 
+character has been extravagantly praised by the multitude, and 
+severely criticised by the discerning few who look deeper than the 
+surface of things, if a law passed during his reign did not connect 
+him intimately with the history of the Gitanos, whose condition to 
+a certain extent it has already altered, and over whose future 
+destinies there can be no doubt that it will exert considerable 
+influence.  Whether Carlos Tercero had anything farther to do with 
+its enactment than subscribing it with his own hand, is a point 
+difficult to determine; the chances are that he had not; there is 
+damning evidence to prove that in many respects he was a mere 
+Nimrod, and it is not probable that such a character would occupy 
+his thoughts much with plans for the welfare of his people, 
+especially such a class as the Gitanos, however willing to build 
+public edifices, gratifying to his vanity, with the money which a 
+provident predecessor had amassed.
+
+The law in question is dated 19th September 1783.  It is entitled, 
+'Rules for repressing and chastising the vagrant mode of life, and 
+other excesses, of those who are called Gitanos.'  It is in many 
+respects widely different from all the preceding laws, and on that 
+account we have separated it from them, deeming it worthy of 
+particular notice.  It is evidently the production of a 
+comparatively enlightened spirit, for Spain had already begun to 
+emerge from the dreary night of monachism and bigotry, though the 
+light which beamed upon her was not that of the Gospel, but of 
+modern philosophy.  The spirit, however, of the writers of the 
+ENCYCLOPEDIE is to be preferred to that of TORQUEMADA AND MONCADA, 
+and however deeply we may lament the many grievous omissions in the 
+law of Carlos Tercero (for no provision was made for the spiritual 
+instruction of the Gitanos), we prefer it in all points to that of 
+Philip the Third, and to the law passed during the reign of that 
+unhappy victim of monkish fraud, perfidy, and poison, Charles the 
+Second.
+
+Whoever framed the law of Carlos Tercero with respect to the 
+Gitanos, had sense enough to see that it would be impossible to 
+reclaim and bring them within the pale of civilised society by 
+pursuing the course invariably adopted on former occasions - to see 
+that all the menacing edicts for the last three hundred years, 
+breathing a spirit of blood and persecution, had been unable to 
+eradicate Gitanismo from Spain; but on the contrary, had rather 
+served to extend it.  Whoever framed this law was, moreover, well 
+acquainted with the manner of administering justice in Spain, and 
+saw the folly of making statutes which were never put into effect.  
+Instead, therefore, of relying on corregidors and alguazils for the 
+extinction of the Gypsy sect, the statute addresses itself more 
+particularly to the Gitanos themselves, and endeavours to convince 
+them that it would be for their interest to renounce their much 
+cherished Gitanismo.  Those who framed the former laws had 
+invariably done their best to brand this race with infamy, and had 
+marked out for its members, in the event of abandoning their Gypsy 
+habits, a life to which death itself must have been preferable in 
+every respect.  They were not to speak to each other, nor to 
+intermarry, though, as they were considered of an impure caste, it 
+was scarcely to be expected that the other Spaniards would form 
+with them relations of love or amity, and they were debarred the 
+exercise of any trade or occupation but hard labour, for which 
+neither by nature nor habit they were at all adapted.  The law of 
+Carlos Tercero, on the contrary, flung open to them the whole 
+career of arts and sciences, and declared them capable of following 
+any trade or profession to which they might please to addict 
+themselves.  Here follow extracts from the above-mentioned law:-
+
+'Art. 1.  I declare that those who go by the name of Gitanos are 
+not so by origin or nature, nor do they proceed from any infected 
+root.
+
+'2.  I therefore command that neither they, nor any one of them 
+shall use the language, dress, or vagrant kind of life which they 
+have followed unto the present time, under the penalties here below 
+contained.
+
+'3.  I forbid all my vassals, of whatever state, class, and 
+condition they may be, to call or name the above-mentioned people 
+by the names of Gitanos, or new Castilians, under the same 
+penalties to which those are subject who injure others by word or 
+writing.
+
+'5.  It is my will that those who abandon the said mode of life, 
+dress, language, or jargon, be admitted to whatever offices or 
+employments to which they may apply themselves, and likewise to any 
+guilds or communities, without any obstacle or contradiction being 
+offered to them, or admitted under this pretext within or without 
+courts of law.
+
+'6.  Those who shall oppose and refuse the admission of this class 
+of reclaimed people to their trades and guilds shall be mulcted ten 
+ducats for the first time, twenty for the second, and a double 
+quantity for the third; and during the time they continue in their 
+opposition they shall be prohibited from exercising the same trade, 
+for a certain period, to be determined by the judge, and 
+proportioned to the opposition which they display.
+
+'7.  I grant the term of ninety days, to be reckoned from the 
+publication of this law in the principal town of every district, in 
+order that all the vagabonds of this and any other class may retire 
+to the towns and villages where they may choose to locate 
+themselves, with the exception, for the present, of the capital and 
+the royal residences, in order that, abandoning the dress, 
+language, and behaviour of those who are called Gitanos, they may 
+devote themselves to some honest office, trade, or occupation, it 
+being a matter of indifference whether the same be connected with 
+labour or the arts.
+
+'8.  It will not be sufficient for those who have been formerly 
+known to follow this manner of life to devote themselves solely to 
+the occupation of shearing and clipping animals, nor to the traffic 
+of markets and fairs, nor still less to the occupation of keepers 
+of inns and ventas in uninhabited places, although they may be 
+innkeepers within towns, which employment shall be considered as 
+sufficient, provided always there be no well-founded indications of 
+their being delinquents themselves, or harbourers of such people.
+
+'9.  At the expiration of ninety days, the justices shall proceed 
+against the disobedient in the following manner:- Those who, having 
+abandoned the dress, name, language or jargon, association, and 
+manners of Gitanos, and shall have moreover chosen and established 
+a domicile, but shall not have devoted themselves to any office or 
+employment, though it be only that of day-labourers, shall be 
+considered as vagrants, and be apprehended and punished according 
+to the laws in force against such people without any distinction 
+being made between them and the other vassals.
+
+'10.  Those who henceforth shall commit any crimes, having 
+abandoned the language, dress, and manners of Gitanos, chosen a 
+domicile, and applied themselves to any office, shall be prosecuted 
+and chastised like others guilty of the same crimes, without any 
+difference being made between them.
+
+'11.  But those who shall have abandoned the aforesaid dress, 
+language and behaviour, and those who, pretending to speak and 
+dress like the other vassals, and even to choose a domiciliary 
+residence, shall continue to go forth, wandering about the roads 
+and uninhabited places, although it be with the pretext of visiting 
+markets and fairs, such people shall be pursued and taken by the 
+justices, and a list of them formed, with their names and 
+appellations, age, description, with the places where they say they 
+reside and were born.
+
+'16.   I, however, except from punishment the children and young 
+people of both sexes who are not above sixteen years of age.
+
+'17.  Such, although they may belong to a family, shall be 
+separated from their parents who wander about and have no 
+employment, and shall be destined to learn something, or shall be 
+placed out in hospices or houses of instruction.
+
+'20.  When the register of the Gitanos who have proved disobedient 
+shall have taken place, it shall be notified and made known to 
+them, that in case of another relapse, the punishment of death 
+shall be executed upon them without remission, on the examination 
+of the register, and proof being adduced that they have returned to 
+their former life.'
+
+What effect was produced by this law, and whether its results at 
+all corresponded to the views of those who enacted it, will be 
+gathered from the following chapters of this work, in which an 
+attempt will be made to delineate briefly the present condition of 
+the Gypsies in Spain.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI - PART II
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+ABOUT twelve in the afternoon of the 6th of January 1836, I crossed 
+the bridge of the Guadiana, a boundary river between Portugal and 
+Spain, and entered Badajoz, a strong town in the latter kingdom, 
+containing about eight thousand inhabitants, supposed to have been 
+founded by the Romans.  I instantly returned thanks to God for 
+having preserved me in a journey of five days through the wilds of 
+the Alemtejo, the province of Portugal the most infested by robbers 
+and desperate characters, which I had traversed with no other human 
+companion than a lad, almost an idiot, who was to convey back the 
+mules which had brought me from Aldea Gallega.  I intended to make 
+but a short stay, and as a diligence would set out for Madrid the 
+day next but one to my arrival, I purposed departing therein for 
+the capital of Spain.
+
+I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken up my 
+temporary abode; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at 
+hand; I was thinking on the state of the country I had just 
+entered, which was involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and 
+where the ministers of a religion falsely styled Catholic and 
+Christian were blowing the trump of war, instead of preaching the 
+love-engendering words of the blessed Gospel.
+
+Suddenly two men, wrapped in long cloaks, came down the narrow and 
+almost deserted street; they were about to pass, and the face of 
+the nearest was turned full towards me; I knew to whom the 
+countenance which he displayed must belong, and I touched him on 
+the arm.  The man stopped, and likewise his companion; I said a 
+certain word, to which, after an exclamation of surprise, he 
+responded in the manner I expected.  The men were Gitanos or 
+Gypsies, members of that singular family or race which has diffused 
+itself over the face of the civilised globe, and which, in all 
+lands, has preserved more or less its original customs and its own 
+peculiar language.
+
+We instantly commenced discoursing in the Spanish dialect of this 
+language, with which I was tolerably well acquainted.  I asked my 
+two newly-made acquaintances whether there were many of their race 
+in Badajoz and the vicinity:  they informed me that there were 
+eight or ten families in the town, and that there were others at 
+Merida, a town about six leagues distant.  I inquired by what means 
+they lived, and they replied that they and their brethren 
+principally gained a livelihood by trafficking in mules and asses, 
+but that all those in Badajoz were very poor, with the exception of 
+one man, who was exceedingly BALBALO, or rich, as he was in 
+possession of many mules and other cattle.  They removed their 
+cloaks for a moment, and I found that their under-garments were 
+rags.
+
+They left me in haste, and went about the town informing the rest 
+that a stranger had arrived who spoke Rommany as well as 
+themselves, who had the face of a Gitano, and seemed to be of the 
+'errate,' or blood.  In less than half an hour the street before 
+the inn was filled with the men, women, and children of Egypt.  I 
+went out amongst them, and my heart sank within me as I surveyed 
+them:  so much vileness, dirt, and misery I had never seen amongst 
+a similar number of human beings; but worst of all was the evil 
+expression of their countenances, which spoke plainly that they 
+were conversant with every species of crime, and it was not long 
+before I found that their countenances did not belie them.  After 
+they had asked me an infinity of questions, and felt my hands, 
+face, and clothes, they retired to their own homes.
+
+That same night the two men of whom I have already particularly 
+spoken came to see me.  They sat down by the brasero in the middle 
+of the apartment, and began to smoke small paper cigars.  We 
+continued for a considerable time in silence surveying each other.  
+Of the two Gitanos one was an elderly man, tall and bony, with 
+lean, skinny, and whimsical features, though perfectly those of a 
+Gypsy; he spoke little, and his expressions were generally singular 
+and grotesque.  His companion, who was the man whom I had first 
+noticed in the street, differed from him in many respects; he could 
+be scarcely thirty, and his figure, which was about the middle 
+height, was of Herculean proportions; shaggy black hair, like that 
+of a wild beast, covered the greatest part of his immense head; his 
+face was frightfully seamed with the small-pox, and his eyes, which 
+glared like those of ferrets, peered from beneath bushy eyebrows; 
+he wore immense moustaches, and his wide mouth was garnished with 
+teeth exceedingly large and white.  There was one peculiarity about 
+him which must not be forgotten:  his right arm was withered, and 
+hung down from his shoulder a thin sapless stick, which contrasted 
+strangely with the huge brawn of the left.  A figure so perfectly 
+wild and uncouth I had scarcely ever before seen.  He had now flung 
+aside his cloak, and sat before me gaunt in his rags and nakedness.  
+In spite of his appearance, however, he seemed to be much the most 
+sensible of the two; and the conversation which ensued was carried 
+on chiefly between him and myself.  This man, whom I shall call the 
+first Gypsy, was the first to break silence; and he thus addressed 
+me, speaking in Spanish, broken with words of the Gypsy tongue:-
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Arromali (in truth), I little thought when I saw 
+the errano standing by the door of the posada that I was about to 
+meet a brother - one too who, though well dressed, was not ashamed 
+to speak to a poor Gitano; but tell me, I beg you, brother, from 
+whence you come; I have heard that you have just arrived from 
+Laloro, but I am sure you are no Portuguese; the Portuguese are 
+very different from you; I know it, for I have been in Laloro; I 
+rather take you to be one of the Corahai, for I have heard say that 
+there is much of our blood there.  You are a Corahano, are you 
+not?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am no Moor, though I have been in the country.  I was 
+born in an island in the West Sea, called England, which I suppose 
+you have heard spoken of.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Yes, yes, I have a right to know something of the 
+English.  I was born in this foros, and remember the day when the 
+English hundunares clambered over the walls, and took the town from 
+the Gabine:  well do I remember that day, though I was but a child; 
+the streets ran red with blood and wine!  Are there Gitanos then 
+amongst the English?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'There are numbers, and so there are amongst most nations 
+of the world.'
+
+SECOND GYPSY. - 'Vaya!  And do the English Calore gain their bread 
+in the same way as those of Spain?  Do they shear and trim?  Do 
+they buy and change beasts, and (lowering his voice) do they now 
+and then chore a gras?' (42)
+
+MYSELF. - 'They do most of these things:  the men frequent fairs 
+and markets with horses, many of which they steal; and the women 
+tell fortunes and perform all kinds of tricks, by which they gain 
+more money than their husbands.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'They would not be callees if they did not:  I have 
+known a Gitana gain twenty ounces of gold, by means of the hokkano 
+baro, in a few hours, whilst the silly Gypsy, her husband, would be 
+toiling with his shears for a fortnight, trimming the horses of the 
+Busne, and yet not be a dollar richer at the end of the time.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You seem wretchedly poor.  Are you married?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'I am, and to the best-looking and cleverest callee 
+in Badajoz; nevertheless we have never thriven since the day of our 
+marriage, and a curse seems to rest upon us both.  Perhaps I have 
+only to thank myself; I was once rich, and had never less than six 
+borricos to sell or exchange, but the day before my marriage I sold 
+all I possessed, in order to have a grand fiesta.  For three days 
+we were merry enough; I entertained every one who chose to come in, 
+and flung away my money by handfuls, so that when the affair was 
+over I had not a cuarto in the world; and the very people who had 
+feasted at my expense refused me a dollar to begin again, so we 
+were soon reduced to the greatest misery.  True it is, that I now 
+and then shear a mule, and my wife tells the bahi (fortune) to the 
+servant-girls, but these things stand us in little stead:  the 
+people are now very much on the alert, and my wife, with all her 
+knowledge, has been unable to perform any grand trick which would 
+set us up at once.  She wished to come to see you, brother, this 
+night, but was ashamed, as she has no more clothes than myself.  
+Last summer our distress was so great that we crossed the frontier 
+into Portugal:  my wife sung, and I played the guitar, for though I 
+have but one arm, and that a left one, I have never felt the want 
+of the other.  At Estremoz I was cast into prison as a thief and 
+vagabond, and there I might have remained till I starved with 
+hunger.  My wife, however, soon got me out:  she went to the lady 
+of the corregidor, to whom she told a most wonderful bahi, 
+promising treasures and titles, and I wot not what; so I was set at 
+liberty, and returned to Spain as quick as I could.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Is it not the custom of the Gypsies of Spain to relieve 
+each other in distress? - it is the rule in other countries.'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'El krallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales - (The 
+king has destroyed the law of the Gypsies); we are no longer the 
+people we were once, when we lived amongst the sierras and deserts, 
+and kept aloof from the Busne; we have lived amongst the Busne till 
+we are become almost like them, and we are no longer united, ready 
+to assist each other at all times and seasons, and very frequently 
+the Gitano is the worst enemy of his brother.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'The Gitanos, then, no longer wander about, but have 
+fixed residences in the towns and villages?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'In the summer time a few of us assemble together, 
+and live about amongst the plains and hills, and by doing so we 
+frequently contrive to pick up a horse or a mule for nothing, and 
+sometimes we knock down a Busne, and strip him, but it is seldom we 
+venture so far.  We are much looked after by the Busne, who hold us 
+in great dread, and abhor us.  Sometimes, when wandering about, we 
+are attacked by the labourers, and then we defend ourselves as well 
+as we can.  There is no better weapon in the hands of a Gitano than 
+his "cachas," or shears, with which he trims the mules.  I once 
+snipped off the nose of a Busne, and opened the greater part of his 
+cheek in an affray up the country near Trujillo.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have you travelled much about Spain?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Very little; I have never been out of this province 
+of Estremadura, except last year, as I told you, into Portugal.  
+When we wander we do not go far, and it is very rare that we are 
+visited by our brethren of other parts.  I have never been in 
+Andalusia, but I have heard say that the Gitanos are many in 
+Andalusia, and are more wealthy than those here, and that they 
+follow better the Gypsy law.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'What do you mean by the Gypsy law?'
+
+FIRST GYPSY. - 'Wherefore do you ask, brother?  You know what is 
+meant by the law of the Cales better even than ourselves.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I know what it is in England and in Hungary, but I can 
+only give a guess as to what it is in Spain.'
+
+BOTH GYPSIES. - 'What do you consider it to be in Spain?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Cheating and choring the Busne on all occasions, and 
+being true to the errate in life and in death.'
+
+At these words both the Gitanos sprang simultaneously from their 
+seats, and exclaimed with a boisterous shout - 'Chachipe.'
+
+This meeting with the Gitanos was the occasion of my remaining at 
+Badajoz a much longer time than I originally intended.  I wished to 
+become better acquainted with their condition and manners, and 
+above all to speak to them of Christ and His Word; for I was 
+convinced, that should I travel to the end of the universe, I 
+should meet with no people more in need of a little Christian 
+exhortation, and I accordingly continued at Badajoz for nearly 
+three weeks.
+
+During this time I was almost constantly amongst them, and as I 
+spoke their language, and was considered by them as one of 
+themselves, I had better opportunity of arriving at a fair 
+conclusion respecting their character than any other person could 
+have had, whether Spanish or foreigner, without such an advantage.  
+I found that their ways and pursuits were in almost every respect 
+similar to those of their brethren in other countries.  By cheating 
+and swindling they gained their daily bread; the men principally by 
+the arts of the jockey, - by buying, selling, and exchanging 
+animals, at which they are wonderfully expert; and the women by 
+telling fortunes, selling goods smuggled from Portugal, and dealing 
+in love-draughts and diablerie.  The most innocent occupation which 
+I observed amongst them was trimming and shearing horses and mules, 
+which in their language is called 'monrabar,' and in Spanish 
+'esquilar'; and even whilst exercising this art, they not 
+unfrequently have recourse to foul play, doing the animal some 
+covert injury, in hope that the proprietor will dispose of it to 
+themselves at an inconsiderable price, in which event they soon 
+restore it to health; for knowing how to inflict the harm, they 
+know likewise how to remove it.
+
+Religion they have none; they never attend mass, nor did I ever 
+hear them employ the names of God, Christ, and the Virgin, but in 
+execration and blasphemy.  From what I could learn, it appeared 
+that their fathers had entertained some belief in metempsychosis; 
+but they themselves laughed at the idea, and were of opinion that 
+the soul perished when the body ceased to breathe; and the argument 
+which they used was rational enough, so far as it impugned 
+metempsychosis:  'We have been wicked and miserable enough in this 
+life,' they said; 'why should we live again?'
+
+I translated certain portions of Scripture into their dialect, 
+which I frequently read to them; especially the parable of Lazarus 
+and the Prodigal Son, and told them that the latter had been as 
+wicked as themselves, and both had suffered as much or more; but 
+that the sufferings of the former, who always looked forward to a 
+blessed resurrection, were recompensed by admission, in the life to 
+come, to the society of Abraham and the Prophets, and that the 
+latter, when he repented of his sins, was forgiven, and received 
+into as much favour as the just son.
+
+They listened with admiration; but, alas! not of the truths, the 
+eternal truths, I was telling them, but to find that their broken 
+jargon could be written and read.  The only words denoting anything 
+like assent to my doctrine which I ever obtained, were the 
+following from the mouth of a woman:  'Brother, you tell us strange 
+things, though perhaps you do not lie; a month since I would sooner 
+have believed these tales, than that this day I should see one who 
+could write Rommany.'
+
+Two or three days after my arrival, I was again visited by the 
+Gypsy of the withered arm, who I found was generally termed Paco, 
+which is the diminutive of Francisco; he was accompanied by his 
+wife, a rather good-looking young woman with sharp intelligent 
+features, and who appeared in every respect to be what her husband 
+had represented her on the former visit.  She was very poorly clad, 
+and notwithstanding the extreme sharpness of the weather, carried 
+no mantle to protect herself from its inclemency, - her raven black 
+hair depended behind as far down as her hips.  Another Gypsy came 
+with them, but not the old fellow whom I had before seen.  This was 
+a man about forty-five, dressed in a zamarra of sheep-skin, with a 
+high-crowned Andalusian hat; his complexion was dark as pepper, and 
+his eyes were full of sullen fire.  In his appearance he exhibited 
+a goodly compound of Gypsy and bandit.
+
+PACO. - 'Laches chibeses te dinele Undebel (May God grant you good 
+days, brother).  This is my wife, and this is my wife's father.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am glad to see them.  What are their names?'
+
+PACO. - 'Maria and Antonio; their other name is Lopez.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have they no Gypsy names?'
+
+PACO. - 'They have no other names than these.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Then in this respect the Gitanos of Spain are unlike 
+those of my country.  Every family there has two names; one by 
+which they are known to the Busne, and another which they use 
+amongst themselves.'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'Give me your hand, brother!  I should have come to see 
+you before, but I have been to Olivenzas in search of a horse.  
+What I have heard of you has filled me with much desire to know 
+you, and I now see that you can tell me many things which I am 
+ignorant of.  I am Zincalo by the four sides - I love our blood, 
+and I hate that of the Busne.  Had I my will I would wash my face 
+every day in the blood of the Busne, for the Busne are made only to 
+be robbed and to be slaughtered; but I love the Calore, and I love 
+to hear of things of the Calore, especially from those of foreign 
+lands; for the Calore of foreign lands know more than we of Spain, 
+and more resemble our fathers of old.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Have you ever met before with Calore who were not 
+Spaniards?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'I will tell you, brother.  I served as a soldier in the 
+war of the independence against the French.  War, it is true, is 
+not the proper occupation of a Gitano, but those were strange 
+times, and all those who could bear arms were compelled to go forth 
+to fight:  so I went with the English armies, and we chased the 
+Gabine unto the frontier of France; and it happened once that we 
+joined in desperate battle, and there was a confusion, and the two 
+parties became intermingled and fought sword to sword and bayonet 
+to bayonet, and a French soldier singled me out, and we fought for 
+a long time, cutting, goring, and cursing each other, till at last 
+we flung down our arms and grappled; long we wrestled, body to 
+body, but I found that I was the weaker, and I fell.  The French 
+soldier's knee was on my breast, and his grasp was on my throat, 
+and he seized his bayonet, and he raised it to thrust me through 
+the jaws; and his cap had fallen off, and I lifted up my eyes 
+wildly to his face, and our eyes met, and I gave a loud shriek, and 
+cried Zincalo, Zincalo! and I felt him shudder, and he relaxed his 
+grasp and started up, and he smote his forehead and wept, and then 
+he came to me and knelt down by my side, for I was almost dead, and 
+he took my hand and called me Brother and Zincalo, and he produced 
+his flask and poured wine into my mouth, and I revived, and he 
+raised me up, and led me from the concourse, and we sat down on a 
+knoll, and the two parties were fighting all around, and he said, 
+"Let the dogs fight, and tear each others' throats till they are 
+all destroyed, what matters it to the Zincali? they are not of our 
+blood, and shall that be shed for them?"  So we sat for hours on 
+the knoll and discoursed on matters pertaining to our people; and I 
+could have listened for years, for he told me secrets which made my 
+ears tingle, and I soon found that I knew nothing, though I had 
+before considered myself quite Zincalo; but as for him, he knew the 
+whole cuenta; the Bengui Lango (43) himself could have told him 
+nothing but what he knew.  So we sat till the sun went down and the 
+battle was over, and he proposed that we should both flee to his 
+own country and live there with the Zincali; but my heart failed 
+me; so we embraced, and he departed to the Gabine, whilst I 
+returned to our own battalions.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you know from what country he came?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'He told me that he was a Mayoro.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You mean a Magyar or Hungarian.'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'Just so; and I have repented ever since that I did not 
+follow him.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Why so?'
+
+ANTONIO. - 'I will tell you:  the king has destroyed the law of the 
+Cales, and has put disunion amongst us.  There was a time when the 
+house of every Zincalo, however rich, was open to his brother, 
+though he came to him naked; and it was then the custom to boast of 
+the "errate."  It is no longer so now:  those who are rich keep 
+aloof from the rest, will not speak in Calo, and will have no 
+dealings but with the Busne.  Is there not a false brother in this 
+foros, the only rich man among us, the swine, the balichow? he is 
+married to a Busnee and he would fain appear as a Busno!  Tell me 
+one thing, has he been to see you?  The white blood, I know he has 
+not; he was afraid to see you, for he knew that by Gypsy law he was 
+bound to take you to his house and feast you, whilst you remained, 
+like a prince, like a crallis of the Cales, as I believe you are, 
+even though he sold the last gras from the stall.  Who have come to 
+see you, brother?  Have they not been such as Paco and his wife, 
+wretches without a house, or, at best, one filled with cold and 
+poverty; so that you have had to stay at a mesuna, at a posada of 
+the Busne; and, moreover, what have the Cales given you since you 
+have been residing here?  Nothing, I trow, better than this 
+rubbish, which is all I can offer you, this Meligrana de los 
+Bengues.'
+
+Here he produced a pomegranate from the pocket of his zamarra, and 
+flung it on the table with such force that the fruit burst, and the 
+red grains were scattered on the floor.
+
+The Gitanos of Estremadura call themselves in general Chai or 
+Chabos, and say that their original country was Chal or Egypt.  I 
+frequently asked them what reason they could assign for calling 
+themselves Egyptians, and whether they could remember the names of 
+any places in their supposed fatherland; but I soon found that, 
+like their brethren in other parts of the world, they were unable 
+to give any rational account of themselves, and preserved no 
+recollection of the places where their forefathers had wandered; 
+their language, however, to a considerable extent, solved the 
+riddle, the bulk of which being Hindui, pointed out India as the 
+birthplace of their race, whilst the number of Persian, Sclavonian, 
+and modern Greek words with which it is checkered, spoke plainly as 
+to the countries through which these singular people had wandered 
+before they arrived in Spain.
+
+They said that they believed themselves to be Egyptians, because 
+their fathers before them believed so, who must know much better 
+than themselves.  They were fond of talking of Egypt and its former 
+greatness, though it was evident that they knew nothing farther of 
+the country and its history than what they derived from spurious 
+biblical legends current amongst the Spaniards; only from such 
+materials could they have composed the following account of the 
+manner of their expulsion from their native land.
+
+'There was a great king in Egypt, and his name was Pharaoh.  He had 
+numerous armies, with which he made war on all countries, and 
+conquered them all.  And when he had conquered the entire world, he 
+became sad and sorrowful; for as he delighted in war, he no longer 
+knew on what to employ himself.  At last he bethought him on making 
+war on God; so he sent a defiance to God, daring him to descend 
+from the sky with his angels, and contend with Pharaoh and his 
+armies; but God said, I will not measure my strength with that of a 
+man.  But God was incensed against Pharaoh, and resolved to punish 
+him; and he opened a hole in the side of an enormous mountain, and 
+he raised a raging wind, and drove before it Pharaoh and his armies 
+to that hole, and the abyss received them, and the mountain closed 
+upon them; but whosoever goes to that mountain on the night of St. 
+John can hear Pharaoh and his armies singing and yelling therein.  
+And it came to pass, that when Pharaoh and his armies had 
+disappeared, all the kings and the nations which had become subject 
+to Egypt revolted against Egypt, which, having lost her king and 
+her armies, was left utterly without defence; and they made war 
+against her, and prevailed against her, and took her people and 
+drove them forth, dispersing them over all the world.'
+
+So that now, say the Chai, 'Our horses drink the water of the 
+Guadiana' - (Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee).
+
+
+'THE STEEDS OF THE EGYPTIANS DRINK THE WATERS OF THE GUADIANA
+
+'The region of Chal was our dear native soil,
+Where in fulness of pleasure we lived without toil;
+Till dispersed through all lands, 'twas our fortune to be -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'Once kings came from far to kneel down at our gate,
+And princes rejoic'd on our meanest to wait;
+But now who so mean but would scorn our degree -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'For the Undebel saw, from his throne in the cloud,
+That our deeds they were foolish, our hearts they were proud;
+And in anger he bade us his presence to flee -
+Our steeds, Guadiana, must now drink of thee.
+
+'Our horses should drink of no river but one;
+It sparkles through Chal, 'neath the smile of the sun,
+But they taste of all streams save that only, and see -
+Apilyela gras Chai la panee Lucalee.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+IN Madrid the Gitanos chiefly reside in the neighbourhood of the 
+'mercado,' or the place where horses and other animals are sold, - 
+in two narrow and dirty lanes, called the Calle de la Comadre and 
+the Callejon de Lavapies.  It is said that at the beginning of last 
+century Madrid abounded with these people, who, by their lawless 
+behaviour and dissolute lives, gave occasion to great scandal; if 
+such were the case, their numbers must have considerably diminished 
+since that period, as it would be difficult at any time to collect 
+fifty throughout Madrid.  These Gitanos seem, for the most part, to 
+be either Valencians or of Valencian origin, as they in general 
+either speak or understand the dialect of Valencia; and whilst 
+speaking their own peculiar jargon, the Rommany, are in the habit 
+of making use of many Valencian words and terms.
+
+The manner of life of the Gitanos of Madrid differs in no material 
+respect from that of their brethren in other places.  The men, 
+every market-day, are to be seen on the skirts of the mercado, 
+generally with some miserable animal - for example, a foundered 
+mule or galled borrico, by means of which they seldom fail to gain 
+a dollar or two, either by sale or exchange.  It must not, however, 
+be supposed that they content themselves with such paltry earnings.  
+Provided they have any valuable animal, which is not unfrequently 
+the case, they invariably keep such at home snug in the stall, 
+conducting thither the chapman, should they find any, and 
+concluding the bargain with the greatest secrecy.  Their general 
+reason for this conduct is an unwillingness to exhibit anything 
+calculated to excite the jealousy of the chalans, or jockeys of 
+Spanish blood, who on the slightest umbrage are in the habit of 
+ejecting them from the fair by force of palos or cudgels, in which 
+violence the chalans are to a certain extent countenanced by law; 
+for though by the edict of Carlos the Third the Gitanos were in 
+other respects placed upon an equality with the rest of the 
+Spaniards, they were still forbidden to obtain their livelihood by 
+the traffic of markets and fairs.
+
+They have occasionally however another excellent reason for not 
+exposing the animal in the public mercado - having obtained him by 
+dishonest means.  The stealing, concealing, and receiving animals 
+when stolen, are inveterate Gypsy habits, and are perhaps the last 
+from which the Gitano will be reclaimed, or will only cease when 
+the race has become extinct.  In the prisons of Madrid, either in 
+that of the Saladero or De la Corte, there are never less than a 
+dozen Gitanos immured for stolen horses or mules being found in 
+their possession, which themselves or their connections have 
+spirited away from the neighbouring villages, or sometimes from a 
+considerable distance.  I say spirited away, for so well do the 
+thieves take their measures, and watch their opportunity, that they 
+are seldom or never taken in the fact.
+
+The Madrilenian Gypsy women are indefatigable in the pursuit of 
+prey, prowling about the town and the suburbs from morning till 
+night, entering houses of all descriptions, from the highest to the 
+lowest; telling fortunes, or attempting to play off various kinds 
+of Gypsy tricks, from which they derive much greater profit, and of 
+which we shall presently have occasion to make particular mention.
+
+From Madrid let us proceed to Andalusia, casting a cursory glance 
+on the Gitanos of that country.  I found them very numerous at 
+Granada, which in the Gitano language is termed Meligrana.  Their 
+general condition in this place is truly miserable, far exceeding 
+in wretchedness the state of the tribes of Estremadura.  It is 
+right to state that Granada itself is the poorest city in Spain; 
+the greatest part of the population, which exceeds sixty thousand, 
+living in beggary and nakedness, and the Gitanos share in the 
+general distress.
+
+Many of them reside in caves scooped in the sides of the ravines 
+which lead to the higher regions of the Alpujarras, on a skirt of 
+which stands Granada.  A common occupation of the Gitanos of 
+Granada is working in iron, and it is not unfrequent to find these 
+caves tenanted by Gypsy smiths and their families, who ply the 
+hammer and forge in the bowels of the earth.  To one standing at 
+the mouth of the cave, especially at night, they afford a 
+picturesque spectacle.  Gathered round the forge, their bronzed and 
+naked bodies, illuminated by the flame, appear like figures of 
+demons; while the cave, with its flinty sides and uneven roof, 
+blackened by the charcoal vapours which hover about it in festoons, 
+seems to offer no inadequate representation of fabled purgatory.  
+Working in iron was an occupation strictly forbidden to the Gitanos 
+by the ancient laws, on what account does not exactly appear; 
+though, perhaps, the trade of the smith was considered as too much 
+akin to that of the chalan to be permitted to them.  The Gypsy 
+smith of Granada is still a chalan, even as his brother in England 
+is a jockey and tinker alternately.
+
+Whilst speaking of the Gitanos of Granada, we cannot pass by in 
+silence a tragedy which occurred in this town amongst them, some 
+fifteen years ago, and the details of which are known to every 
+Gitano in Spain, from Catalonia to Estremadura.  We allude to the 
+murder of Pindamonas by Pepe Conde.  Both these individuals were 
+Gitanos; the latter was a celebrated contrabandista, of whom many 
+remarkable tales are told.  On one occasion, having committed some 
+enormous crime, he fled over to Barbary and turned Moor, and was 
+employed by the Moorish emperor in his wars, in company with the 
+other renegade Spaniards, whose grand depot or presidio is the town 
+of Agurey in the kingdom of Fez.  After the lapse of some years, 
+when his crime was nearly forgotten, he returned to Granada, where 
+he followed his old occupations of contrabandista and chalan.  
+Pindamonas was a Gitano of considerable wealth, and was considered 
+as the most respectable of the race at Granada, amongst whom he 
+possessed considerable influence.  Between this man and Pepe Conde 
+there existed a jealousy, especially on the part of the latter, 
+who, being a man of proud untamable spirit, could not well brook a 
+superior amongst his own people.  It chanced one day that 
+Pindamonas and other Gitanos, amongst whom was Pepe Conde, were in 
+a coffee-house.  After they had all partaken of some refreshment, 
+they called for the reckoning, the amount of which Pindamonas 
+insisted on discharging.  It will be necessary here to observe, 
+that on such occasions in Spain it is considered as a species of 
+privilege to be allowed to pay, which is an honour generally 
+claimed by the principal man of the party.  Pepe Conde did not fail 
+to take umbrage at the attempt of Pindamonas, which he considered 
+as an undue assumption of superiority, and put in his own claim; 
+but Pindamonas insisted, and at last flung down the money on the 
+table, whereupon Pepe Conde instantly unclasped one of those 
+terrible Manchegan knives which are generally carried by the 
+contrabandistas, and with a frightful gash opened the abdomen of 
+Pindamonas, who presently expired.
+
+After this exploit, Pepe Conde fled, and was not seen for some 
+time.  The cave, however, in which he had been in the habit of 
+residing was watched, as a belief was entertained that sooner or 
+later he would return to it, in the hope of being able to remove 
+some of the property contained in it.  This belief was well 
+founded.  Early one morning he was observed to enter it, and a band 
+of soldiers was instantly despatched to seize him.  This 
+circumstance is alluded to in a Gypsy stanza:-
+
+
+'Fly, Pepe Conde, seek the hill;
+To flee's thy only chance;
+With bayonets fixed, thy blood to spill,
+See soldiers four advance.'
+
+
+And before the soldiers could arrive at the cave, Pepe Conde had 
+discovered their approach and fled, endeavouring to make his escape 
+amongst the rocks and barrancos of the Alpujarras.  The soldiers 
+instantly pursued, and the chase continued a considerable time.  
+The fugitive was repeatedly summoned to surrender himself, but 
+refusing, the soldiers at last fired, and four balls entered the 
+heart of the Gypsy contrabandista and murderer.
+
+Once at Madrid I received a letter from the sister's son of 
+Pindamonas, dated from the prison of the Saladero.  In this letter 
+the writer, who it appears was in durance for stealing a pair of 
+mules, craved my charitable assistance and advice; and possibly in 
+the hope of securing my favour, forwarded some uncouth lines 
+commemorative of the death of his relation, and commencing thus:-
+
+
+'The death of Pindamonas fill'd all the world with pain;
+At the coffee-house's portal, by Pepe he was slain.'
+
+
+The faubourg of Triana, in Seville, has from time immemorial been 
+noted as a favourite residence of the Gitanos; and here, at the 
+present day, they are to be found in greater number than in any 
+other town in Spain.  This faubourg is indeed chiefly inhabited by 
+desperate characters, as, besides the Gitanos, the principal part 
+of the robber population of Seville is here congregated.  Perhaps 
+there is no part even of Naples where crime so much abounds, and 
+the law is so little respected, as at Triana, the character of 
+whose inmates was so graphically delineated two centuries and a 
+half back by Cervantes, in one of the most amusing of his tales. 
+(44)
+
+In the vilest lanes of this suburb, amidst dilapidated walls and 
+ruined convents, exists the grand colony of Spanish Gitanos.  Here 
+they may be seen wielding the hammer; here they may be seen 
+trimming the fetlocks of horses, or shearing the backs of mules and 
+borricos with their cachas; and from hence they emerge to ply the 
+same trade in the town, or to officiate as terceros, or to buy, 
+sell, or exchange animals in the mercado, and the women to tell the 
+bahi through the streets, even as in other parts of Spain, 
+generally attended by one or two tawny bantlings in their arms or 
+by their sides; whilst others, with baskets and chafing-pans, 
+proceed to the delightful banks of the Len Baro, (45) by the Golden 
+Tower, where, squatting on the ground and kindling their charcoal, 
+they roast the chestnuts which, when well prepared, are the 
+favourite bonne bouche of the Sevillians; whilst not a few, in 
+league with the contrabandistas, go from door to door offering for 
+sale prohibited goods brought from the English at Gibraltar.  Such 
+is Gitano life at Seville; such it is in the capital of Andalusia.
+
+It is the common belief of the Gitanos of other provinces that in 
+Andalusia the language, customs, habits, and practices peculiar to 
+their race are best preserved.  This opinion, which probably 
+originated from the fact of their being found in greater numbers in 
+this province than in any other, may hold good in some instances, 
+but certainly not in all.  In various parts of Spain I have found 
+the Gitanos retaining their primitive language and customs better 
+than in Seville, where they most abound:  indeed, it is not plain 
+that their number has operated at all favourably in this respect.  
+At Cordova, a town at the distance of twenty leagues from Seville, 
+which scarcely contains a dozen Gitano families, I found them 
+living in much more brotherly amity, and cherishing in a greater 
+degree the observances of their forefathers.
+
+I shall long remember these Cordovese Gitanos, by whom I was very 
+well received, but always on the supposition that I was one of 
+their own race.  They said that they never admitted strangers to 
+their houses save at their marriage festivals, when they flung 
+their doors open to all, and save occasionally people of influence 
+and distinction, who wished to hear their songs and converse with 
+their women; but they assured me, at the same time, that these they 
+invariably deceived, and merely made use of as instruments to serve 
+their own purposes.  As for myself, I was admitted without scruple 
+to their private meetings, and was made a participator of their 
+most secret thoughts.  During our intercourse some remarkable 
+scenes occurred.  One night more than twenty of us, men and women, 
+were assembled in a long low room on the ground floor, in a dark 
+alley or court in the old gloomy town of Cordova.  After the 
+Gitanos had discussed several jockey plans, and settled some 
+private bargains amongst themselves, we all gathered round a huge 
+brasero of flaming charcoal, and began conversing SOBRE LAS COSAS 
+DE EGYPTO, when I proposed that, as we had no better means of 
+amusing ourselves, we should endeavour to turn into the Calo 
+language some pieces of devotion, that we might see whether this 
+language, the gradual decay of which I had frequently heard them 
+lament, was capable of expressing any other matters than those 
+which related to horses, mules, and Gypsy traffic.  It was in this 
+cautious manner that I first endeavoured to divert the attention of 
+these singular people to matters of eternal importance.  My 
+suggestion was received with acclamations, and we forthwith 
+proceeded to the translation of the Apostles' creed.  I first 
+recited in Spanish, in the usual manner and without pausing, this 
+noble confession, and then repeated it again, sentence by sentence, 
+the Gitanos translating as I proceeded.  They exhibited the 
+greatest eagerness and interest in their unwonted occupation, and 
+frequently broke into loud disputes as to the best rendering - many 
+being offered at the same time.  In the meanwhile, I wrote down 
+from their dictation; and at the conclusion I read aloud the 
+translation, the result of the united wisdom of the assembly, 
+whereupon they all raised a shout of exultation, and appeared not a 
+little proud of the composition.
+
+The Cordovese Gitanos are celebrated esquiladors.  Connected with 
+them and the exercise of the ARTE DE ESQUILAR, in Gypsy monrabar, I 
+have a curious anecdote to relate.  In the first place, however, it 
+may not be amiss to say something about the art itself, of all 
+relating to which it is possible that the reader may be quite 
+ignorant.
+
+Nothing is more deserving of remark in Spanish grooming than the 
+care exhibited in clipping and trimming various parts of the horse, 
+where the growth of hair is considered as prejudicial to the 
+perfect health and cleanliness of the animal, particular attention 
+being always paid to the pastern, that part of the foot which lies 
+between the fetlock and the hoof, to guard against the arestin - 
+that cutaneous disorder which is the dread of the Spanish groom, on 
+which account the services of a skilful esquilador are continually 
+in requisition.
+
+The esquilador, when proceeding to the exercise of his vocation, 
+generally carries under his arm a small box containing the 
+instruments necessary, and which consist principally of various 
+pairs of scissors, and the ACIAL, two short sticks tied together 
+with whipcord at the end, by means of which the lower lip of the 
+horse, should he prove restive, is twisted, and the animal reduced 
+to speedy subjection.  In the girdle of the esquilador are stuck 
+the large scissors called in Spanish TIJERAS, and in the Gypsy 
+tongue CACHAS, with which he principally works.  He operates upon 
+the backs, ears, and tails of mules and borricos, which are 
+invariably sheared quite bare, that if the animals are galled, 
+either by their harness or the loads which they carry, the wounds 
+may be less liable to fester, and be more easy to cure.  Whilst 
+engaged with horses, he confines himself to the feet and ears.  The 
+esquiladores in the two Castiles, and in those provinces where the 
+Gitanos do not abound, are for the most part Aragonese; but in the 
+others, and especially in Andalusia, they are of the Gypsy race.  
+The Gitanos are in general very expert in the use of the cachas, 
+which they handle in a manner practised nowhere but in Spain; and 
+with this instrument the poorer class principally obtain their 
+bread.
+
+In one of their couplets allusion is made to this occupation in the 
+following manner:-
+
+
+'I'll rise to-morrow bread to earn,
+For hunger's worn me grim;
+Of all I meet I'll ask in turn,
+If they've no beasts to trim.'
+
+
+Sometimes, whilst shearing the foot of a horse, exceedingly small 
+scissors are necessary for the purpose of removing fine solitary 
+hairs; for a Spanish groom will tell you that a horse's foot behind 
+ought to be kept as clean and smooth as the hand of a senora:  such 
+scissors can only be procured at Madrid.  My sending two pair of 
+this kind to a Cordovese Gypsy, from whom I had experienced much 
+attention whilst in that city, was the occasion of my receiving a 
+singular epistle from another whom I scarcely knew, and which I 
+shall insert as being an original Gypsy composition, and in some 
+points not a little characteristic of the people of whom I am now 
+writing.
+
+
+'Cordova, 20th day of January, 1837.
+'SENOR DON JORGE,
+
+'After saluting you and hoping that you are well, I proceed to tell 
+you that the two pair of scissors arrived at this town of Cordova 
+with him whom you sent them by; but, unfortunately, they were given 
+to another Gypsy, whom you neither knew nor spoke to nor saw in 
+your life; for it chanced that he who brought them was a friend of 
+mine, and he told me that he had brought two pair of scissors which 
+an Englishman had given him for the Gypsies; whereupon I, 
+understanding it was yourself, instantly said to him, "Those 
+scissors are for me"; he told me, however, that he had already 
+given them to another, and he is a Gypsy who was not even in 
+Cordova during the time you were.  Nevertheless, Don Jorge, I am 
+very grateful for your thus remembering me, although I did not 
+receive your present, and in order that you may know who I am, my 
+name is Antonio Salazar, a man pitted with the small-pox, and the 
+very first who spoke to you in Cordova in the posada where you 
+were; and you told me to come and see you next day at eleven, and I 
+went, and we conversed together alone.  Therefore I should wish you 
+to do me the favour to send me scissors for trimming beasts, - good 
+scissors, mind you, - such would be a very great favour, and I 
+should be ever grateful, for here in Cordova there are none, or if 
+there be, they are good for nothing.  Senor Don Jorge, you remember 
+I told you that I was an esquilador by trade, and only by that I 
+got bread for my babes.  Senor Don Jorge, if you do send me the 
+scissors for trimming, pray write and direct to the alley De la 
+Londiga, No. 28, to Antonio Salazar, in Cordova.  This is what I 
+have to tell you, and do you ever command your trusty servant, who 
+kisses your hand and is eager to serve you.
+
+'ANTONIO SALAZAR.'
+
+FIRST COUPLET
+
+'That I may clip and trim the beasts, a pair of cachas grant,
+If not, I fear my luckless babes will perish all of want.'
+
+SECOND COUPLET
+
+'If thou a pair of cachas grant, that I my babes may feed,
+I'll pray to the Almighty God, that thee he ever speed.'
+
+
+It is by no means my intention to describe the exact state and 
+condition of the Gitanos in every town and province where they are 
+to be found; perhaps, indeed, it will be considered that I have 
+already been more circumstantial and particular than the case 
+required.  The other districts which they inhabit are principally 
+those of Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia; and they are likewise to 
+be met with in the Basque provinces, where they are called 
+Egipcioac, or Egyptians.  What I next purpose to occupy myself with 
+are some general observations on the habits, and the physical and 
+moral state of the Gitanos throughout Spain, and of the position 
+which they hold in society.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+ALREADY, from the two preceding chapters, it will have been 
+perceived that the condition of the Gitanos in Spain has been 
+subjected of late to considerable modification.  The words of the 
+Gypsy of Badajoz are indeed, in some respects, true; they are no 
+longer the people that they were; the roads and 'despoblados' have 
+ceased to be infested by them, and the traveller is no longer 
+exposed to much danger on their account; they at present confine 
+themselves, for the most part, to towns and villages, and if they 
+occasionally wander abroad, it is no longer in armed bands, 
+formidable for their numbers, and carrying terror and devastation 
+in all directions, bivouacking near solitary villages, and 
+devouring the substance of the unfortunate inhabitants, or 
+occasionally threatening even large towns, as in the singular case 
+of Logrono, mentioned by Francisco de Cordova.  As the reader will 
+probably wish to know the cause of this change in the lives and 
+habits of these people, we shall, as briefly as possible, afford as 
+much information on the subject as the amount of our knowledge will 
+permit.
+
+One fact has always struck us with particular force in the history 
+of these people, namely, that Gitanismo - which means Gypsy 
+villainy of every description - flourished and knew nothing of 
+decay so long as the laws recommended and enjoined measures the 
+most harsh and severe for the suppression of the Gypsy sect; the 
+palmy days of Gitanismo were those in which the caste was 
+proscribed, and its members, in the event of renouncing their Gypsy 
+habits, had nothing farther to expect than the occupation of 
+tilling the earth, a dull hopeless toil; then it was that the 
+Gitanos paid tribute to the inferior ministers of justice, and were 
+engaged in illicit connection with those of higher station, and by 
+such means baffled the law, whose vengeance rarely fell upon their 
+heads; and then it was that they bid it open defiance, retiring to 
+the deserts and mountains, and living in wild independence by 
+rapine and shedding of blood; for as the law then stood they would 
+lose all by resigning their Gitanismo, whereas by clinging to it 
+they lived either in the independence so dear to them, or beneath 
+the protection of their confederates.  It would appear that in 
+proportion as the law was harsh and severe, so was the Gitano bold 
+and secure.  The fiercest of these laws was the one of Philip the 
+Fifth, passed in the year 1745, which commands that the refractory 
+Gitanos be hunted down with fire and sword; that it was quite 
+inefficient is satisfactorily proved by its being twice reiterated, 
+once in the year '46, and again in '49, which would scarcely have 
+been deemed necessary had it quelled the Gitanos.  This law, with 
+some unimportant modifications, continued in force till the year 
+'83, when the famous edict of Carlos Tercero superseded it.  Will 
+any feel disposed to doubt that the preceding laws had served to 
+foster what they were intended to suppress, when we state the 
+remarkable fact, that since the enactment of that law, as humane as 
+the others were unjust, WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING MORE OF THE GITANOS 
+FROM OFFICIAL QUARTERS; THEY HAVE CEASED TO PLAY A DISTINCT PART IN 
+THE HISTORY OF SPAIN; AND THE LAW NO LONGER SPEAKS OF THEM AS A 
+DISTINCT PEOPLE?  The caste of the Gitano still exists, but it is 
+neither so extensive nor so formidable as a century ago, when the 
+law in denouncing Gitanismo proposed to the Gitanos the 
+alternatives of death for persisting in their profession, or 
+slavery for abandoning it.
+
+There are fierce and discontented spirits amongst them, who regret 
+such times, and say that Gypsy law is now no more, that the Gypsy 
+no longer assists his brother, and that union has ceased among 
+them.  If this be true, can better proof be adduced of the 
+beneficial working of the later law?  A blessing has been conferred 
+on society, and in a manner highly creditable to the spirit of 
+modern times; reform has been accomplished, not by persecution, not 
+by the gibbet and the rack, but by justice and tolerance.  The 
+traveller has flung aside his cloak, not compelled by the angry 
+buffeting of the north wind, but because the mild, benignant 
+weather makes such a defence no longer necessary.  The law no 
+longer compels the Gitanos to stand back to back, on the principal 
+of mutual defence, and to cling to Gitanismo to escape from 
+servitude and thraldom.
+
+Taking everything into consideration, and viewing the subject in 
+all its bearings with an impartial glance, we are compelled to come 
+to the conclusion that the law of Carlos Tercero, the provisions of 
+which were distinguished by justice and clemency, has been the 
+principal if not the only cause of the decline of Gitanismo in 
+Spain.  Some importance ought to be attached to the opinion of the 
+Gitanos themselves on this point.  'El Crallis ha nicobado la liri 
+de los Cales,' is a proverbial saying among them.  By Crallis, or 
+King, they mean Carlos Tercero, so that the saying, the proverbial 
+saying, may be thus translated:  THE LAW OF CARLOS TERCERO HAS 
+SUPERSEDED GYPSY LAW.
+
+By the law the schools are open to them, and there is no art or 
+science which they may not pursue, if they are willing.  Have they 
+availed themselves of the rights which the law has conferred upon 
+them?
+
+Up to the present period but little - they still continue jockeys 
+and blacksmiths; but some of these Gypsy chalans, these bronzed 
+smiths, these wild-looking esquiladors, can read or write in the 
+proportion of one man in three or four; what more can be expected?  
+Would you have the Gypsy bantling, born in filth and misery, 'midst 
+mules and borricos, amidst the mud of a choza or the sand of a 
+barranco, grasp with its swarthy hands the crayon and easel, the 
+compass, or the microscope, or the tube which renders more distinct 
+the heavenly orbs, and essay to become a Murillo, or a Feijoo, or a 
+Lorenzo de Hervas, as soon as the legal disabilities are removed 
+which doomed him to be a thievish jockey or a sullen husbandman?  
+Much will have been accomplished, if, after the lapse of a hundred 
+years, one hundred human beings shall have been evolved from the 
+Gypsy stock, who shall prove sober, honest, and useful members of 
+society, - that stock so degraded, so inveterate in wickedness and 
+evil customs, and so hardened by brutalising laws.  Should so many 
+beings, should so many souls be rescued from temporal misery and 
+eternal woe; should only the half of that number, should only the 
+tenth, nay, should only one poor wretched sheep be saved, there 
+will be joy in heaven, for much will have been accomplished on 
+earth, and those lines will have been in part falsified which 
+filled the stout heart of Mahmoud with dismay:-
+
+
+'For the root that's unclean, hope if you can;
+No washing e'er whitens the black Zigan:
+The tree that's bitter by birth and race,
+If in paradise garden to grow you place,
+And water it free with nectar and wine,
+From streams in paradise meads that shine,
+At the end its nature it still declares,
+For bitter is all the fruit it bears.
+If the egg of the raven of noxious breed
+You place 'neath the paradise bird, and feed
+The splendid fowl upon its nest,
+With immortal figs, the food of the blest,
+And give it to drink from Silisbel, (46)
+Whilst life in the egg breathes Gabriel,
+A raven, a raven, the egg shall bear,
+And the fostering bird shall waste its care.' -
+
+FERDOUSI.
+
+
+The principal evidence which the Gitanos have hitherto given that a 
+partial reformation has been effected in their habits, is the 
+relinquishment, in a great degree, of that wandering life of which 
+the ancient laws were continually complaining, and which was the 
+cause of infinite evils, and tended not a little to make the roads 
+insecure.
+
+Doubtless there are those who will find some difficulty in 
+believing that the mild and conciliatory clauses of the law in 
+question could have much effect in weaning the Gitanos from this 
+inveterate habit, and will be more disposed to think that this 
+relinquishment was effected by energetic measures resorted to by 
+the government, to compel them to remain in their places of 
+location.  It does not appear, however, that such measures were 
+ever resorted to.  Energy, indeed, in the removal of a nuisance, is 
+scarcely to be expected from Spaniards under any circumstances.  
+All we can say on the subject, with certainty, is, that since the 
+repeal of the tyrannical laws, wandering has considerably decreased 
+among the Gitanos.
+
+Since the law has ceased to brand them, they have come nearer to 
+the common standard of humanity, and their general condition has 
+been ameliorated.  At present, only the very poorest, the parias of 
+the race, are to be found wandering about the heaths and mountains, 
+and this only in the summer time, and their principal motive, 
+according to their own confession, is to avoid the expense of house 
+rent; the rest remain at home, following their avocations, unless 
+some immediate prospect of gain, lawful or unlawful, calls them 
+forth; and such is frequently the case.  They attend most fairs, 
+women and men, and on the way frequently bivouac in the fields, but 
+this practice must not be confounded with systematic wandering.
+
+Gitanismo, therefore, has not been extinguished, only modified; but 
+that modification has been effected within the memory of man, 
+whilst previously near four centuries elapsed, during which no 
+reform had been produced amongst them by the various measures 
+devised, all of which were distinguished by an absence not only of 
+true policy, but of common-sense; it is therefore to be hoped, that 
+if the Gitanos are abandoned to themselves, by which we mean no 
+arbitrary laws are again enacted for their extinction, the sect 
+will eventually cease to be, and its members become confounded with 
+the residue of the population; for certainly no Christian nor 
+merely philanthropic heart can desire the continuance of any sect 
+or association of people whose fundamental principle seems to be to 
+hate all the rest of mankind, and to live by deceiving them; and 
+such is the practice of the Gitanos.
+
+During the last five years, owing to the civil wars, the ties which 
+unite society have been considerably relaxed; the law has been 
+trampled under foot, and the greatest part of Spain overrun with 
+robbers and miscreants, who, under pretence of carrying on partisan 
+warfare, and not unfrequently under no pretence at all, have 
+committed the most frightful excesses, plundering and murdering the 
+defenceless.  Such a state of things would have afforded the 
+Gitanos a favourable opportunity to resume their former kind of 
+life, and to levy contributions as formerly, wandering about in 
+bands.  Certain it is, however, that they have not sought to repeat 
+their ancient excesses, taking advantage of the troubles of the 
+country; they have gone on, with a few exceptions, quietly pursuing 
+that part of their system to which they still cling, their 
+jockeyism, which, though based on fraud and robbery, is far 
+preferable to wandering brigandage, which necessarily involves the 
+frequent shedding of blood.  Can better proof be adduced, that 
+Gitanismo owes its decline, in Spain, not to force, not to 
+persecution, not to any want of opportunity of exercising it, but 
+to some other cause? - and we repeat that we consider the principal 
+if not the only cause of the decline of Gitanismo to be the 
+conferring on the Gitanos the rights and privileges of other 
+subjects.
+
+We have said that the Gitanos have not much availed themselves of 
+the permission, which the law grants them, of embarking in various 
+spheres of life.  They remain jockeys, but they have ceased to be 
+wanderers; and the grand object of the law is accomplished.  The 
+law forbids them to be jockeys, or to follow the trade of trimming 
+and shearing animals, without some other visible mode of 
+subsistence.  This provision, except in a few isolated instances, 
+they evade; and the law seeks not, and perhaps wisely, to disturb 
+them, content with having achieved so much.  The chief evils of 
+Gitanismo which still remain consist in the systematic frauds of 
+the Gypsy jockeys and the tricks of the women.  It is incurring 
+considerable risk to purchase a horse or a mule, even from the most 
+respectable Gitano, without a previous knowledge of the animal and 
+his former possessor, the chances being that it is either diseased 
+or stolen from a distance.  Of the practices of the females, 
+something will be said in particular in a future chapter.
+
+The Gitanos in general are very poor, a pair of large cachas and 
+various scissors of a smaller description constituting their whole 
+capital; occasionally a good hit is made, as they call it, but the 
+money does not last long, being quickly squandered in feasting and 
+revelry.  He who has habitually in his house a couple of donkeys is 
+considered a thriving Gitano; there are some, however, who are 
+wealthy in the strict sense of the word, and carry on a very 
+extensive trade in horses and mules.  These, occasionally, visit 
+the most distant fairs, traversing the greatest part of Spain.  
+There is a celebrated cattle-fair held at Leon on St. John's or 
+Midsummer Day, and on one of these occasions, being present, I 
+observed a small family of Gitanos, consisting of a man of about 
+fifty, a female of the same age, and a handsome young Gypsy, who 
+was their son; they were richly dressed after the Gypsy fashion, 
+the men wearing zamarras with massy clasps and knobs of silver, and 
+the woman a species of riding-dress with much gold embroidery, and 
+having immense gold rings attached to her ears.  They came from 
+Murcia, a distance of one hundred leagues and upwards.  Some 
+merchants, to whom I was recommended, informed me that they had 
+credit on their house to the amount of twenty thousand dollars.
+
+They experienced rough treatment in the fair, and on a very 
+singular account:  immediately on their appearing on the ground, 
+the horses in the fair, which, perhaps, amounted to three thousand, 
+were seized with a sudden and universal panic; it was one of those 
+strange incidents for which it is difficult to assign a rational 
+cause; but a panic there was amongst the brutes, and a mighty one; 
+the horses neighed, screamed, and plunged, endeavouring to escape 
+in all directions; some appeared absolutely possessed, stamping and 
+tearing, their manes and tails stiffly erect, like the bristles of 
+the wild boar - many a rider lost his seat.  When the panic had 
+ceased, and it did cease almost as suddenly as it had arisen, the 
+Gitanos were forthwith accused as the authors of it; it was said 
+that they intended to steal the best horses during the confusion, 
+and the keepers of the ground, assisted by a rabble of chalans, who 
+had their private reasons for hating the Gitanos, drove them off 
+the field with sticks and cudgels.  So much for having a bad name.
+
+These wealthy Gitanos, when they are not ashamed of their blood or 
+descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or 'barbales,' as 
+they are called, possess great influence with the rest of their 
+brethren, almost as much as the rabbins amongst the Jews; their 
+bidding is considered law, and the other Gitanos are at their 
+devotion.  On the contrary, when they prefer the society of the 
+Busne to that of their own race, and refuse to assist their less 
+fortunate brethren in poverty or in prison, they are regarded with 
+unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the rich Gypsy 
+of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to destruction:  such 
+characters are mentioned in their couplets:-
+
+
+'The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead,
+Who never gave a straw,
+He would destroy, for very greed,
+The good Egyptian law.
+
+'The false Juanito day and night
+Had best with caution go;
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+Have sworn to lay him low.'
+
+
+However some of the Gitanos may complain that there is no longer 
+union to be found amongst them, there is still much of that fellow-
+feeling which springs from a consciousness of proceeding from one 
+common origin, or, as they love to term it, 'blood.'  At present 
+their system exhibits less of a commonwealth than when they roamed 
+in bands amongst the wilds, and principally subsisted by foraging, 
+each individual contributing to the common stock, according to his 
+success.  The interests of individuals are now more distinct, and 
+that close connection is of course dissolved which existed when 
+they wandered about, and their dangers, gains, and losses were felt 
+in common; and it can never be too often repeated that they are no 
+longer a proscribed race, with no rights nor safety save what they 
+gained by a close and intimate union.  Nevertheless, the Gitano, 
+though he naturally prefers his own interest to that of his 
+brother, and envies him his gain when he does not expect to share 
+in it, is at all times ready to side with him against the Busno, 
+because the latter is not a Gitano, but of a different blood, and 
+for no other reason.  When one Gitano confides his plans to 
+another, he is in no fear that they will be betrayed to the Busno, 
+for whom there is no sympathy, and when a plan is to be executed 
+which requires co-operation, they seek not the fellowship of the 
+Busne, but of each other, and if successful, share the gain like 
+brothers.
+
+As a proof of the fraternal feeling which is not unfrequently 
+displayed amongst the Gitanos, I shall relate a circumstance which 
+occurred at Cordova a year or two before I first visited it.  One 
+of the poorest of the Gitanos murdered a Spaniard with the fatal 
+Manchegan knife; for this crime he was seized, tried, and found 
+guilty.  Blood-shedding in Spain is not looked upon with much 
+abhorrence, and the life of the culprit is seldom taken, provided 
+he can offer a bribe sufficient to induce the notary public to 
+report favourably upon his case; but in this instance money was of 
+no avail; the murdered individual left behind him powerful friends 
+and connections, who were determined that justice should take its 
+course.  It was in vain that the Gitanos exerted all their 
+influence with the authorities in behalf of their comrade, and such 
+influence was not slight; it was in vain that they offered 
+extravagant sums that the punishment of death might be commuted to 
+perpetual slavery in the dreary presidio of Ceuta; I was credibly 
+informed that one of the richest Gitanos, by name Fruto, offered 
+for his own share of the ransom the sum of five thousand crowns, 
+whilst there was not an individual but contributed according to his 
+means - nought availed, and the Gypsy was executed in the Plaza.  
+The day before the execution, the Gitanos, perceiving that the fate 
+of their brother was sealed, one and all quitted Cordova, shutting 
+up their houses and carrying with them their horses, their mules, 
+their borricos, their wives and families, and the greatest part of 
+their household furniture.  No one knew whither they directed their 
+course, nor were they seen in Cordova for some months, when they 
+again suddenly made their appearance; a few, however, never 
+returned.  So great was the horror of the Gitanos at what had 
+occurred, that they were in the habit of saying that the place was 
+cursed for evermore; and when I knew them, there were many amongst 
+them who, on no account, would enter the Plaza which had witnessed 
+the disgraceful end of their unfortunate brother.
+
+The position which the Gitanos hold in society in Spain is the 
+lowest, as might be expected; they are considered at best as 
+thievish chalans, and the women as half sorceresses, and in every 
+respect thieves; there is not a wretch, however vile, the outcast 
+of the prison and the presidio, who calls himself Spaniard, but 
+would feel insulted by being termed Gitano, and would thank God 
+that he is not; and yet, strange to say, there are numbers, and 
+those of the higher classes, who seek their company, and endeavour 
+to imitate their manners and way of speaking.  The connections 
+which they form with the Spaniards are not many; occasionally some 
+wealthy Gitano marries a Spanish female, but to find a Gitana 
+united to a Spaniard is a thing of the rarest occurrence, if it 
+ever takes place.  It is, of course, by intermarriage alone that 
+the two races will ever commingle, and before that event is brought 
+about, much modification must take place amongst the Gitanos, in 
+their manners, in their habits, in their affections, and their 
+dislikes, and, perhaps, even in their physical peculiarities; much 
+must be forgotten on both sides, and everything is forgotten in the 
+course of time.
+
+The number of the Gitano population of Spain at the present day may 
+be estimated at about forty thousand.  At the commencement of the 
+present century it was said to amount to sixty thousand.  There can 
+be no doubt that the sect is by no means so numerous as it was at 
+former periods; witness those barrios in various towns still 
+denominated Gitanerias, but from whence the Gitanos have 
+disappeared even like the Moors from the Morerias.  Whether this 
+diminution in number has been the result of a partial change of 
+habits, of pestilence or sickness, of war or famine, or of all 
+these causes combined, we have no means of determining, and shall 
+abstain from offering conjectures on the subject.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+IN the autumn of the year 1839, I landed at Tarifa, from the coast 
+of Barbary.  I arrived in a small felouk laden with hides for 
+Cadiz, to which place I was myself going.  We stopped at Tarifa in 
+order to perform quarantine, which, however, turned out a mere 
+farce, as we were all permitted to come on shore; the master of the 
+felouk having bribed the port captain with a few fowls.  We formed 
+a motley group.  A rich Moor and his son, a child, with their 
+Jewish servant Yusouf, and myself with my own man Hayim Ben Attar, 
+a Jew.  After passing through the gate, the Moors and their 
+domestics were conducted by the master to the house of one of his 
+acquaintance, where he intended they should lodge; whilst a sailor 
+was despatched with myself and Hayim to the only inn which the 
+place afforded.  I stopped in the street to speak to a person whom 
+I had known at Seville.  Before we had concluded our discourse, 
+Hayim, who had walked forward, returned, saying that the quarters 
+were good, and that we were in high luck, for that he knew the 
+people of the inn were Jews.  'Jews,' said I, 'here in Tarifa, and 
+keeping an inn, I should be glad to see them.'  So I left my 
+acquaintance, and hastened to the house.  We first entered a 
+stable, of which the ground floor of the building consisted, and 
+ascending a flight of stairs entered a very large room, and from 
+thence passed into a kitchen, in which were several people.  One of 
+these was a stout, athletic, burly fellow of about fifty, dressed 
+in a buff jerkin, and dark cloth pantaloons.  His hair was black as 
+a coal and exceedingly bushy, his face much marked from some 
+disorder, and his skin as dark as that of a toad.  A very tall 
+woman stood by the dresser, much resembling him in feature, with 
+the same hair and complexion, but with more intelligence in her 
+eyes than the man, who looked heavy and dogged.  A dark woman, whom 
+I subsequently discovered to be lame, sat in a corner, and two or 
+three swarthy girls, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, were 
+flitting about the room.  I also observed a wicked-looking boy, who 
+might have been called handsome, had not one of his eyes been 
+injured.  'Jews,' said I, in Moorish, to Hayim, as I glanced at 
+these people and about the room; 'these are not Jews, but children 
+of the Dar-bushi-fal.'
+
+'List to the Corahai,' said the tall woman, in broken Gypsy slang, 
+'hear how they jabber (hunelad como chamulian), truly we will make 
+them pay for the noise they raise in the house.'  Then coming up to 
+me, she demanded with a shout, fearing otherwise that I should not 
+understand, whether I would not wish to see the room where I was to 
+sleep.  I nodded:  whereupon she led me out upon a back terrace, 
+and opening the door of a small room, of which there were three, 
+asked me if it would suit.  'Perfectly,' said I, and returned with 
+her to the kitchen.
+
+'O, what a handsome face! what a royal person!' exclaimed the whole 
+family as I returned, in Spanish, but in the whining, canting tones 
+peculiar to the Gypsies, when they are bent on victimising.  'A 
+more ugly Busno it has never been our chance to see,' said the same 
+voices in the next breath, speaking in the jargon of the tribe.  
+'Won't your Moorish Royalty please to eat something?' said the tall 
+hag.  'We have nothing in the house; but I will run out and buy a 
+fowl, which I hope may prove a royal peacock to nourish and 
+strengthen you.'  'I hope it may turn to drow in your entrails,' 
+she muttered to the rest in Gypsy.  She then ran down, and in a 
+minute returned with an old hen, which, on my arrival, I had 
+observed below in the stable.  'See this beautiful fowl,' said she, 
+'I have been running over all Tarifa to procure it for your 
+kingship; trouble enough I have had to obtain it, and dear enough 
+it has cost me.  I will now cut its throat.'  'Before you kill it,' 
+said I, 'I should wish to know what you paid for it, that there may 
+be no dispute about it in the account.'  'Two dollars I paid for 
+it, most valorous and handsome sir; two dollars it cost me, out of 
+my own quisobi - out of my own little purse.'  I saw it was high 
+time to put an end to these zalamerias, and therefore exclaimed in 
+Gitano, 'You mean two brujis (reals), O mother of all the witches, 
+and that is twelve cuartos more than it is worth.'  'Ay Dios mio, 
+whom have we here?' exclaimed the females.  'One,' I replied, 'who 
+knows you well and all your ways.  Speak! am I to have the hen for 
+two reals? if not, I shall leave the house this moment.'  'O yes, 
+to be sure, brother, and for nothing if you wish it,' said the tall 
+woman, in natural and quite altered tones; 'but why did you enter 
+the house speaking in Corahai like a Bengui?  We thought you a 
+Busno, but we now see that you are of our religion; pray sit down 
+and tell us where you have been.' . .
+
+MYSELF. - 'Now, my good people, since I have answered your 
+questions, it is but right that you should answer some of mine; 
+pray who are you? and how happens it that you are keeping this 
+inn?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Verily, brother, we can scarcely tell you who we are.  
+All we know of ourselves is, that we keep this inn, to our trouble 
+and sorrow, and that our parents kept it before us; we were all 
+born in this house, where I suppose we shall die.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Who is the master of the house, and whose are these 
+children?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'The master of the house is the fool, my brother, who 
+stands before you without saying a word; to him belong these 
+children, and the cripple in the chair is his wife, and my cousin.  
+He has also two sons who are grown-up men; one is a chumajarri 
+(shoemaker), and the other serves a tanner.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Is it not contrary to the law of the Cales to follow 
+such trades?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'We know of no law, and little of the Cales 
+themselves.  Ours is the only Calo family in Tarifa, and we never 
+left it in our lives, except occasionally to go on the smuggling 
+lay to Gibraltar.  True it is that the Cales, when they visit 
+Tarifa, put up at our house, sometimes to our cost.  There was one 
+Rafael, son of the rich Fruto of Cordova, here last summer, to buy 
+up horses, and he departed a baria and a half in our debt; however, 
+I do not grudge it him, for he is a handsome and clever Chabo - a 
+fellow of many capacities.  There was more than one Busno had cause 
+to rue his coming to Tarifa.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you live on good terms with the Busne of Tarifa?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Brother, we live on the best terms with the Busne of 
+Tarifa; especially with the errays.  The first people in Tarifa 
+come to this house, to have their baji told by the cripple in the 
+chair and by myself.  I know not how it is, but we are more 
+considered by the grandees than the poor, who hate and loathe us.  
+When my first and only infant died, for I have been married, the 
+child of one of the principal people was put to me to nurse, but I 
+hated it for its white blood, as you may well believe.  It never 
+throve, for I did it a private mischief, and though it grew up and 
+is now a youth, it is - mad.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'With whom will your brother's children marry?  You say 
+there are no Gypsies here.'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Ay de mi, hermano!  It is that which grieves me.  I 
+would rather see them sold to the Moors than married to the Busne.  
+When Rafael was here he wished to persuade the chumajarri to 
+accompany him to Cordova, and promised to provide for him, and to 
+find him a wife among the Callees of that town; but the faint heart 
+would not, though I myself begged him to comply.  As for the 
+curtidor (tanner), he goes every night to the house of a Busnee; 
+and once, when I reproached him with it, he threatened to marry 
+her.  I intend to take my knife, and to wait behind the door in the 
+dark, and when she comes out to gash her over the eyes.  I trow he 
+will have little desire to wed with her then.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do many Busne from the country put up at this house?'
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'Not so many as formerly, brother; the labourers from 
+the Campo say that we are all thieves; and that it is impossible 
+for any one but a Calo to enter this house without having the shirt 
+stripped from his back.  They go to the houses of their 
+acquaintance in the town, for they fear to enter these doors.  I 
+scarcely know why, for my brother is the veriest fool in Tarifa.  
+Were it not for his face, I should say that he is no Chabo, for he 
+cannot speak, and permits every chance to slip through his fingers.  
+Many a good mule and borrico have gone out of the stable below, 
+which he might have secured, had he but tongue enough to have 
+cozened the owners.  But he is a fool, as I said before; he cannot 
+speak, and is no Chabo.'
+
+How far the person in question, who sat all the while smoking his 
+pipe, with the most unperturbed tranquillity, deserved the 
+character bestowed upon him by his sister, will presently appear.  
+It is not my intention to describe here all the strange things I 
+both saw and heard in this Gypsy inn.  Several Gypsies arrived from 
+the country during the six days that I spent within its walls; one 
+of them, a man, from Moron, was received with particular 
+cordiality, he having a son, whom he was thinking of betrothing to 
+one of the Gypsy daughters.  Some females of quality likewise 
+visited the house to gossip, like true Andalusians.  It was 
+singular to observe the behaviour of the Gypsies to these people, 
+especially that of the remarkable woman, some of whose conversation 
+I have given above.  She whined, she canted, she blessed, she 
+talked of beauty of colour, of eyes, of eyebrows, and pestanas 
+(eyelids), and of hearts which were aching for such and such a 
+lady.  Amongst others, came a very fine woman, the widow of a 
+colonel lately slain in battle; she brought with her a beautiful 
+innocent little girl, her daughter, between three and four years of 
+age.  The Gypsy appeared to adore her; she sobbed, she shed tears, 
+she kissed the child, she blessed it, she fondled it.  I had my eye 
+upon her countenance, and it brought to my recollection that of a 
+she-wolf, which I had once seen in Russia, playing with her whelp 
+beneath a birch-tree.  'You seem to love that child very much, O my 
+mother,' said I to her, as the lady was departing.
+
+GYPSY HAG. - 'No lo camelo, hijo!  I do not love it, O my son, I do 
+not love it; I love it so much, that I wish it may break its leg as 
+it goes downstairs, and its mother also.'
+
+On the evening of the fourth day, I was seated on the stone bench 
+at the stable door, taking the fresco; the Gypsy innkeeper sat 
+beside me, smoking his pipe, and silent as usual; presently a man 
+and woman with a borrico, or donkey, entered the portal.  I took 
+little or no notice of a circumstance so slight, but I was 
+presently aroused by hearing the Gypsy's pipe drop upon the ground.  
+I looked at him, and scarcely recognised his face.  It was no 
+longer dull, black, and heavy, but was lighted up with an 
+expression so extremely villainous that I felt uneasy.  His eyes 
+were scanning the recent comers, especially the beast of burden, 
+which was a beautiful female donkey.  He was almost instantly at 
+their side, assisting to remove its housings, and the alforjas, or 
+bags.  His tongue had become unloosed, as if by sorcery; and far 
+from being unable to speak, he proved that, when it suited his 
+purpose, he could discourse with wonderful volubility.  The donkey 
+was soon tied to the manger, and a large measure of barley emptied 
+before it, the greatest part of which the Gypsy boy presently 
+removed, his father having purposely omitted to mix the barley with 
+the straw, with which the Spanish mangers are always kept filled.  
+The guests were hurried upstairs as soon as possible.  I remained 
+below, and subsequently strolled about the town and on the beach.  
+It was about nine o'clock when I returned to the inn to retire to 
+rest; strange things had evidently been going on during my absence.  
+As I passed through the large room on my way to my apartment, lo, 
+the table was set out with much wine, fruits, and viands.  There 
+sat the man from the country, three parts intoxicated; the Gypsy, 
+already provided with another pipe, sat on his knee, with his right 
+arm most affectionately round his neck; on one side sat the 
+chumajarri drinking and smoking, on the other the tanner.  Behold, 
+poor humanity, thought I to myself, in the hands of devils; in this 
+manner are human souls ensnared to destruction by the fiends of the 
+pit.  The females had already taken possession of the woman at the 
+other end of the table, embracing her, and displaying every mark of 
+friendship and affection.  I passed on, but ere I reached my 
+apartment I heard the words mule and donkey.  'Adios,' said I, for 
+I but too well knew what was on the carpet.
+
+In the back stable the Gypsy kept a mule, a most extraordinary 
+animal, which was employed in bringing water to the house, a task 
+which it effected with no slight difficulty; it was reported to be 
+eighteen years of age; one of its eyes had been removed by some 
+accident, it was foundered, and also lame, the result of a broken 
+leg.  This animal was the laughing-stock of all Tarifa; the Gypsy 
+grudged it the very straw on while alone he fed it, and had 
+repeatedly offered it for sale at a dollar, which he could never 
+obtain.  During the night there was much merriment going on, and I 
+could frequently distinguish the voice of the Gypsy raised to a 
+boisterous pitch.  In the morning the Gypsy hag entered my 
+apartment, bearing the breakfast of myself and Hayim.  'What were 
+you about last night?' said I.
+
+'We were bargaining with the Busno, evil overtake him, and he has 
+exchanged us the ass, for the mule and the reckoning,' said the 
+hag, in whose countenance triumph was blended with anxiety.
+
+'Was he drunk when he saw the mule?' I demanded.
+
+'He did not see her at all, O my son, but we told him we had a 
+beautiful mule, worth any money, which we were anxious to dispose 
+of, as a donkey suited our purpose better.  We are afraid that when 
+he sees her he will repent his bargain, and if he calls off within 
+four-and-twenty hours, the exchange is null, and the justicia will 
+cause us to restore the ass; we have, however, already removed her 
+to our huerta out of the town, where we have hid her below the 
+ground.  Dios sabe (God knows) how it will turn out.'
+
+When the man and woman saw the lame, foundered, one-eyed creature, 
+for which and the reckoning they had exchanged their own beautiful 
+borrico, they stood confounded.  It was about ten in the morning, 
+and they had not altogether recovered from the fumes of the wine of 
+the preceding night; at last the man, with a frightful oath, 
+exclaimed to the innkeeper, 'Restore my donkey, you Gypsy villain!'
+
+'It cannot be, brother,' replied the latter, 'your donkey is by 
+this time three leagues from here:  I sold her this morning to a 
+man I do not know, and I am afraid I shall have a hard bargain with 
+her, for he only gave two dollars, as she was unsound.  O, you have 
+taken me in, I am a poor fool as they call me here, and you 
+understand much, very much, baribu.' (47)
+
+'Her value was thirty-five dollars, thou demon,' said the 
+countryman, 'and the justicia will make you pay that.'
+
+'Come, come, brother,' said the Gypsy, 'all this is mere 
+conversation; you have a capital bargain, to-day the mercado is 
+held, and you shall sell the mule; I will go with you myself.  O, 
+you understand baribu; sister, bring the bottle of anise; the senor 
+and the senora must drink a copita.'  After much persuasion, and 
+many oaths, the man and woman were weak enough to comply; when they 
+had drunk several glasses, they departed for the market, the Gypsy 
+leading the mule.  In about two hours they returned with the 
+wretched beast, but not exactly as they went; a numerous crowd 
+followed, laughing and hooting.  The man was now frantic, and the 
+woman yet more so.  They forced their way upstairs to collect their 
+baggage, which they soon effected, and were about to leave the 
+house, vowing revenge.  Now ensued a truly terrific scene, there 
+were no more blandishments; the Gypsy men and women were in arms, 
+uttering the most frightful execrations; as the woman came 
+downstairs, the females assailed her like lunatics; the cripple 
+poked at her with a stick, the tall hag clawed at her hair, whilst 
+the father Gypsy walked close beside the man, his hand on his 
+clasp-knife, looking like nothing in this world:  the man, however, 
+on reaching the door, turned to him and said:  'Gypsy demon, my 
+borrico by three o'clock - or you know the rest, the justicia.'
+
+The Gypsies remained filled with rage and disappointment; the hag 
+vented her spite on her brother.  ''Tis your fault,' said she; 
+'fool! you have no tongue; you a Chabo, you can't speak'; whereas, 
+within a few hours, he had perhaps talked more than an auctioneer 
+during a three days' sale:  but he reserved his words for fitting 
+occasions, and now sat as usual, sullen and silent, smoking his 
+pipe.
+
+The man and woman made their appearance at three o'clock, but they 
+came - intoxicated; the Gypsy's eyes glistened - blandishment was 
+again had recourse to.  'Come and sit down with the cavalier here,' 
+whined the family; 'he is a friend of ours, and will soon arrange 
+matters to your satisfaction.'  I arose, and went into the street; 
+the hag followed me.  'Will you not assist us, brother, or are you 
+no Chabo?' she muttered.
+
+'I will have nothing to do with your matters,' said I.
+
+'I know who will,' said the hag, and hurried down the street.
+
+The man and woman, with much noise, demanded their donkey; the 
+innkeeper made no answer, and proceeded to fill up several glasses 
+with the ANISADO.  In about a quarter of an hour, the Gypsy hag 
+returned with a young man, well dressed, and with a genteel air, 
+but with something wild and singular in his eyes.  He seated 
+himself by the table, smiled, took a glass of liquor, drank part of 
+it, smiled again, and handed it to the countryman.  The latter 
+seeing himself treated in this friendly manner by a caballero, was 
+evidently much flattered, took off his hat to the newcomer, and 
+drank, as did the woman also.  The glass was filled, and refilled, 
+till they became yet more intoxicated.  I did not hear the young 
+man say a word:  he appeared a passive automaton.  The Gypsies, 
+however, spoke for him, and were profuse of compliments.  It was 
+now proposed that the caballero should settle the dispute; a long 
+and noisy conversation ensued, the young man looking vacantly on:  
+the strange people had no money, and had already run up another 
+bill at a wine-house to which they had retired.  At last it was 
+proposed, as if by the young man, that the Gypsy should purchase 
+his own mule for two dollars, and forgive the strangers the 
+reckoning of the preceding night.  To this they agreed, being 
+apparently stultified with the liquor, and the money being paid to 
+them in the presence of witnesses, they thanked the friendly 
+mediator, and reeled away.
+
+Before they left the town that night, they had contrived to spend 
+the entire two dollars, and the woman, who first recovered her 
+senses, was bitterly lamenting that they had permitted themselves 
+to be despoiled so cheaply of a PRENDA TAN PRECIOSA, as was the 
+donkey.  Upon the whole, however, I did not much pity them.  The 
+woman was certainly not the man's wife.  The labourer had probably 
+left his village with some strolling harlot, bringing with him the 
+animal which had previously served to support himself and family.
+
+I believe that the Gypsy read, at the first glance, their history, 
+and arranged matters accordingly.  The donkey was soon once more in 
+the stable, and that night there was much rejoicing in the Gypsy 
+inn.
+
+Who was the singular mediator?  He was neither more nor less than 
+the foster child of the Gypsy hag, the unfortunate being whom she 
+had privately injured in his infancy.  After having thus served 
+them as an instrument in their villainy, he was told to go home. . 
+. .
+
+
+THE GYPSY SOLDIER OF VALDEPENAS
+
+
+It was at Madrid one fine afternoon in the beginning of March 1838, 
+that, as I was sitting behind my table in a cabinete, as it is 
+called, of the third floor of No. 16, in the Calle de Santiago, 
+having just taken my meal, my hostess entered and informed me that 
+a military officer wished to speak to me, adding, in an undertone, 
+that he looked a STRANGE GUEST.  I was acquainted with no military 
+officer in the Spanish service; but as at that time I expected 
+daily to be arrested for having distributed the Bible, I thought 
+that very possibly this officer might have been sent to perform 
+that piece of duty.  I instantly ordered him to be admitted, 
+whereupon a thin active figure, somewhat above the middle height, 
+dressed in a blue uniform, with a long sword hanging at his side, 
+tripped into the room.  Depositing his regimental hat on the 
+ground, he drew a chair to the table, and seating himself, placed 
+his elbows on the board, and supporting his face with his hands, 
+confronted me, gazing steadfastly upon me, without uttering a word.  
+I looked no less wistfully at him, and was of the same opinion as 
+my hostess, as to the strangeness of my guest.  He was about fifty, 
+with thin flaxen hair covering the sides of his head, which at the 
+top was entirely bald.  His eyes were small, and, like ferrets', 
+red and fiery.  His complexion like a brick, a dull red, checkered 
+with spots of purple.  'May I inquire your name and business, sir?' 
+I at length demanded.
+
+STRANGER. - 'My name is Chaleco of Valdepenas; in the time of the 
+French I served as bragante, fighting for Ferdinand VII.  I am now 
+a captain on half-pay in the service of Donna Isabel; as for my 
+business here, it is to speak with you.  Do you know this book?'
+
+MYSELF. - 'This book is Saint Luke's Gospel in the Gypsy language; 
+how can this book concern you?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'No one more.  It is in the language of my people.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You do not pretend to say that you are a Calo?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'I do!  I am Zincalo, by the mother's side.  My father, 
+it is true, was one of the Busne; but I glory in being a Calo, and 
+care not to acknowledge other blood.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'How became you possessed of that book?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'I was this morning in the Prado, where I met two women 
+of our people, and amongst other things they told me that they had 
+a gabicote in our language.  I did not believe them at first, but 
+they pulled it out, and I found their words true.  They then spoke 
+to me of yourself, and told me where you live, so I took the book 
+from them and am come to see you.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Are you able to understand this book?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'Perfectly, though it is written in very crabbed 
+language:  (48) but I learnt to read Calo when very young.  My 
+mother was a good Calli, and early taught me both to speak and read 
+it.  She too had a gabicote, but not printed like this, and it 
+treated of a different matter.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'How came your mother, being a good Calli, to marry one 
+of a different blood?'
+
+STRANGER. - 'It was no fault of hers; there was no remedy.  In her 
+infancy she lost her parents, who were executed; and she was 
+abandoned by all, till my father, taking compassion on her, brought 
+her up and educated her:  at last he made her his wife, though 
+three times her age.  She, however, remembered her blood and hated 
+my father, and taught me to hate him likewise, and avoid him.  When 
+a boy, I used to stroll about the plains, that I might not see my 
+father; and my father would follow me and beg me to look upon him, 
+and would ask me what I wanted; and I would reply, Father, the only 
+thing I want is to see you dead.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'That was strange language from a child to its parent.'
+
+STRANGER. - 'It was - but you know the couplet, (49) which says, "I 
+do not wish to be a lord - I am by birth a Gypsy - I do not wish to 
+be a gentleman - I am content with being a Calo!"'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am anxious to hear more of your history - pray 
+proceed.'
+
+STRANGER. - 'When I was about twelve years old my father became 
+distracted, and died.  I then continued with my mother for some 
+years; she loved me much, and procured a teacher to instruct me in 
+Latin.  At last she died, and then there was a pleyto (law-suit).  
+I took to the sierra and became a highwayman; but the wars broke 
+out.  My cousin Jara, of Valdepenas, raised a troop of brigantes. 
+(50)  I enlisted with him and distinguished myself very much; there 
+is scarcely a man or woman in Spain but has heard of Jara and 
+Chaleco.  I am now captain in the service of Donna Isabel - I am 
+covered with wounds - I am - ugh! ugh! ugh - !'
+
+He had commenced coughing, and in a manner which perfectly 
+astounded me.  I had heard hooping coughs, consumptive coughs, 
+coughs caused by colds, and other accidents, but a cough so 
+horrible and unnatural as that of the Gypsy soldier, I had never 
+witnessed in the course of my travels.  In a moment he was bent 
+double, his frame writhed and laboured, the veins of his forehead 
+were frightfully swollen, and his complexion became black as the 
+blackest blood; he screamed, he snorted, he barked, and appeared to 
+be on the point of suffocation - yet more explosive became the 
+cough; and the people of the house, frightened, came running into 
+the apartment.  I cries, 'The man is perishing, run instantly for a 
+surgeon!'  He heard me, and with a quick movement raised his left 
+hand as if to countermand the order; another struggle, then one 
+mighty throe, which seemed to search his deepest intestines; and he 
+remained motionless, his head on his knee.  The cough had left him, 
+and within a minute or two he again looked up.
+
+'That is a dreadful cough, friend,' said I, when he was somewhat 
+recovered.  'How did you get it?'
+
+GYPSY SOLDIER. - 'I am - shot through the lungs - brother!  Let me 
+but take breath, and I will show you the hole - the agujero.'
+
+He continued with me a considerable time, and showed not the 
+slightest disposition to depart; the cough returned twice, but not 
+so violently; - at length, having an engagement, I arose, and 
+apologising, told him I must leave him.  The next day he came again 
+at the same hour, but he found me not, as I was abroad dining with 
+a friend.  On the third day, however, as I was sitting down to 
+dinner, in he walked, unannounced.  I am rather hospitable than 
+otherwise, so I cordially welcomed him, and requested him to 
+partake of my meal.  'Con mucho gusto,' he replied, and instantly 
+took his place at the table.  I was again astonished, for if his 
+cough was frightful, his appetite was yet more so.  He ate like a 
+wolf of the sierra; - soup, puchero, fowl and bacon disappeared 
+before him in a twinkling.  I ordered in cold meat, which he 
+presently despatched; a large piece of cheese was then produced.  
+We had been drinking water.
+
+'Where is the wine?' said he.
+
+'I never use it,' I replied.
+
+He looked blank.  The hostess, however, who was present waiting, 
+said, 'If the gentleman wish for wine, I have a bota nearly full, 
+which I will instantly fetch.'
+
+The skin bottle, when full, might contain about four quarts.  She 
+filled him a very large glass, and was removing the skin, but he 
+prevented her, saying, 'Leave it, my good woman; my brother here 
+will settle with you for the little I shall use.'
+
+He now lighted his cigar, and it was evident that he had made good 
+his quarters.  On the former occasion I thought his behaviour 
+sufficiently strange, but I liked it still less on the present.  
+Every fifteen minutes he emptied his glass, which contained at 
+least a pint; his conversation became horrible.  He related the 
+atrocities which he had committed when a robber and bragante in La 
+Mancha.  'It was our custom,' said he, 'to tie our prisoners to the 
+olive-trees, and then, putting our horses to full speed, to tilt at 
+them with our spears.'  As he continued to drink he became waspish 
+and quarrelsome:  he had hitherto talked Castilian, but he would 
+now only converse in Gypsy and in Latin, the last of which 
+languages he spoke with great fluency, though ungrammatically.  He 
+told me that he had killed six men in duels; and, drawing his 
+sword, fenced about the room.  I saw by the manner in which he 
+handled it, that he was master of his weapon.  His cough did not 
+return, and he said it seldom afflicted him when he dined well.  He 
+gave me to understand that he had received no pay for two years.  
+'Therefore you visit me,' thought I.  At the end of three hours, 
+perceiving that he exhibited no signs of taking his departure, I 
+arose, and said I must again leave him.  'As you please, brother,' 
+said he; 'use no ceremony with me, I am fatigued, and will wait a 
+little while.'  I did not return till eleven at night, when my 
+hostess informed me that he had just departed, promising to return 
+next day.  He had emptied the bota to the last drop, and the cheese 
+produced being insufficient for him, he sent for an entire Dutch 
+cheese on my account; part of which he had eaten and the rest 
+carried away.  I now saw that I had formed a most troublesome 
+acquaintance, of whom it was highly necessary to rid myself, if 
+possible; I therefore dined out for the next nine days.
+
+For a week he came regularly at the usual hour, at the end of which 
+time he desisted; the hostess was afraid of him, as she said that 
+he was a brujo or wizard, and only spoke to him through the wicket.
+
+On the tenth day I was cast into prison, where I continued several 
+weeks.  Once, during my confinement, he called at the house, and 
+being informed of my mishap, drew his sword, and vowed with 
+horrible imprecations to murder the prime minister of Ofalia, for 
+having dared to imprison his brother.  On my release, I did not 
+revisit my lodgings for some days, but lived at an hotel.  I 
+returned late one afternoon, with my servant Francisco, a Basque of 
+Hernani, who had served me with the utmost fidelity during my 
+imprisonment, which he had voluntarily shared with me.  The first 
+person I saw on entering was the Gypsy soldier, seated by the 
+table, whereon were several bottles of wine which he had ordered 
+from the tavern, of course on my account.  He was smoking, and 
+looked savage and sullen; perhaps he was not much pleased with the 
+reception he had experienced.  He had forced himself in, and the 
+woman of the house sat in a corner looking upon him with dread.  I 
+addressed him, but he would scarcely return an answer.  At last he 
+commenced discoursing with great volubility in Gypsy and Latin.  I 
+did not understand much of what he said.  His words were wild and 
+incoherent, but he repeatedly threatened some person.  The last 
+bottle was now exhausted:  he demanded more.  I told him in a 
+gentle manner that he had drunk enough.  He looked on the ground 
+for some time, then slowly, and somewhat hesitatingly, drew his 
+sword and laid it on the table.  It was become dark.  I was not 
+afraid of the fellow, but I wished to avoid anything unpleasant.  I 
+called to Francisco to bring lights, and obeying a sign which I 
+made him, he sat down at the table.  The Gypsy glared fiercely upon 
+him - Francisco laughed, and began with great glee to talk in 
+Basque, of which the Gypsy understood not a word.  The Basques, 
+like all Tartars, (51) and such they are, are paragons of fidelity 
+and good nature; they are only dangerous when outraged, when they 
+are terrible indeed.  Francisco, to the strength of a giant joined 
+the disposition of a lamb.  He was beloved even in the patio of the 
+prison, where he used to pitch the bar and wrestle with the 
+murderers and felons, always coming off victor.  He continued 
+speaking Basque.  The Gypsy was incensed; and, forgetting the 
+languages in which, for the last hour, he had been speaking, 
+complained to Francisco of his rudeness in speaking any tongue but 
+Castilian.  The Basque replied by a loud carcajada, and slightly 
+touched the Gypsy on the knee.  The latter sprang up like a mine 
+discharged, seized his sword, and, retreating a few steps, made a 
+desperate lunge at Francisco.
+
+The Basques, next to the Pasiegos, (52) are the best cudgel-players 
+in Spain, and in the world.  Francisco held in his hand part of a 
+broomstick, which he had broken in the stable, whence he had just 
+ascended.  With the swiftness of lightning he foiled the stroke of 
+Chaleco, and, in another moment, with a dexterous blow, struck the 
+sword out of his hand, sending it ringing against the wall.
+
+The Gypsy resumed his seat and his cigar.  He occasionally looked 
+at the Basque.  His glances were at first atrocious, but presently 
+changed their expression, and appeared to me to become prying and 
+eagerly curious.  He at last arose, picked up his sword, sheathed 
+it, and walked slowly to the door; when there he stopped, turned 
+round, advanced close to Francisco, and looked him steadfastly in 
+the face.  'My good fellow,' said he, 'I am a Gypsy, and can read 
+baji.  Do you know where you will be at this time to-morrow?' (53)  
+Then, laughing like a hyena, he departed, and I never saw him 
+again.
+
+At that time on the morrow, Francisco was on his death-bed.  He had 
+caught the jail fever, which had long raged in the Carcel de la 
+Corte, where I was imprisoned.  In a few days he was buried, a mass 
+of corruption, in the Campo Santo of Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos, in their habits and manner of life, are much less 
+cleanly than the Spaniards.  The hovels in which they reside 
+exhibit none of the neatness which is observable in the habitations 
+of even the poorest of the other race.  The floors are unswept, and 
+abound with filth and mud, and in their persons they are scarcely 
+less vile.  Inattention to cleanliness is a characteristic of the 
+Gypsies, in all parts of the world.
+
+The Bishop of Forli, as far back as 1422, gives evidence upon this 
+point, and insinuates that they carried the plague with them; as he 
+observes that it raged with peculiar violence the year of their 
+appearance at Forli. (54)
+
+At the present day they are almost equally disgusting, in this 
+respect, in Hungary, England, and Spain.  Amongst the richer 
+Gitanos, habits of greater cleanliness of course exist than amongst 
+the poorer.  An air of sluttishness, however, pervades their 
+dwellings, which, to an experienced eye, would sufficiently attest 
+that the inmates were Gitanos, in the event of their absence.
+
+What can be said of the Gypsy dress, of which such frequent mention 
+is made in the Spanish laws, and which is prohibited together with 
+the Gypsy language and manner of life?  Of whatever it might 
+consist in former days, it is so little to be distinguished from 
+the dress of some classes amongst the Spaniards, that it is almost 
+impossible to describe the difference.  They generally wear a high-
+peaked, narrow-brimmed hat, a zamarra of sheep-skin in winter, and, 
+during summer, a jacket of brown cloth; and beneath this they are 
+fond of exhibiting a red plush waistcoat, something after the 
+fashion of the English jockeys, with numerous buttons and clasps.  
+A faja, or girdle of crimson silk, surrounds the waist, where, not 
+unfrequently, are stuck the cachas which we have already described.  
+Pantaloons of coarse cloth or leather descend to the knee; the legs 
+are protected by woollen stockings, and sometimes by a species of 
+spatterdash, either of cloth or leather; stout high-lows complete 
+the equipment.
+
+Such is the dress of the Gitanos of most parts of Spain.  But it is 
+necessary to remark that such also is the dress of the chalans, and 
+of the muleteers, except that the latter are in the habit of 
+wearing broad sombreros as preservatives from the sun.  This dress 
+appears to be rather Andalusian than Gitano; and yet it certainly 
+beseems the Gitano better than the chalan or muleteer.  He wears it 
+with more easy negligence or jauntiness, by which he may be 
+recognised at some distance, even from behind.
+
+It is still more difficult to say what is the peculiar dress of the 
+Gitanas; they wear not the large red cloaks and immense bonnets of 
+coarse beaver which distinguish their sisters of England; they have 
+no other headgear than a handkerchief, which is occasionally 
+resorted to as a defence against the severity of the weather; their 
+hair is sometimes confined by a comb, but more frequently is 
+permitted to stray dishevelled down their shoulders; they are fond 
+of large ear-rings, whether of gold, silver, or metal, resembling 
+in this respect the poissardes of France.  There is little to 
+distinguish them from the Spanish women save the absence of the 
+mantilla, which they never carry.  Females of fashion not 
+unfrequently take pleasure in dressing a la Gitana, as it is 
+called; but this female Gypsy fashion, like that of the men, is 
+more properly the fashion of Andalusia, the principal 
+characteristic of which is the saya, which is exceedingly short, 
+with many rows of flounces.
+
+True it is that the original dress of the Gitanos, male and female, 
+whatever it was, may have had some share in forming the Andalusian 
+fashion, owing to the great number of these wanderers who found 
+their way to that province at an early period.  The Andalusians are 
+a mixed breed of various nations, Romans, Vandals, Moors; perhaps 
+there is a slight sprinkling of Gypsy blood in their veins, and of 
+Gypsy fashion in their garb.
+
+The Gitanos are, for the most part, of the middle size, and the 
+proportions of their frames convey a powerful idea of strength and 
+activity united; a deformed or weakly object is rarely found 
+amongst them in persons of either sex; such probably perish in 
+their infancy, unable to support the hardships and privations to 
+which the race is still subjected from its great poverty, and these 
+same privations have given and still give a coarseness and 
+harshness to their features, which are all strongly marked and 
+expressive.  Their complexion is by no means uniform, save that it 
+is invariably darker than the general olive hue of the Spaniards; 
+not unfrequently countenances as dark as those of mulattos present 
+themselves, and in some few instances of almost negro blackness.  
+Like most people of savage ancestry, their teeth are white and 
+strong; their mouths are not badly formed, but it is in the eye 
+more than in any other feature that they differ from other human 
+beings.
+
+There is something remarkable in the eye of the Gitano:  should his 
+hair and complexion become fair as those of the Swede or the Finn, 
+and his jockey gait as grave and ceremonious as that of the native 
+of Old Castile, were he dressed like a king, a priest, or a 
+warrior, still would the Gitano be detected by his eye, should it 
+continue unchanged.  The Jew is known by his eye, but then in the 
+Jew that feature is peculiarly small; the Chinese has a remarkable 
+eye, but then the eye of the Chinese is oblong, and even with the 
+face, which is flat; but the eye of the Gitano is neither large nor 
+small, and exhibits no marked difference in its shape from the eyes 
+of the common cast.  Its peculiarity consists chiefly in a strange 
+staring expression, which to be understood must be seen, and in a 
+thin glaze, which steals over it when in repose, and seems to emit 
+phosphoric light.  That the Gypsy eye has sometimes a peculiar 
+effect, we learn from the following stanza:-
+
+
+'A Gypsy stripling's glossy eye
+Has pierced my bosom's core,
+A feat no eye beneath the sky
+Could e'er effect before.'
+
+
+The following passages are extracted from a Spanish work, (55) and 
+cannot be out of place here, as they relate to those matters to 
+which we have devoted this chapter.
+
+'The Gitanos have an olive complexion and very marked physiognomy; 
+their cheeks are prominent, their lips thick, their eyes vivid and 
+black; their hair is long, black, and coarse, and their teeth very 
+white.  The general expression of their physiognomy is a compound 
+of pride, slavishness, and cunning.  They are, for the most part, 
+of good stature, well formed, and support with facility fatigue and 
+every kind of hardship.  When they discuss any matter, or speak 
+among themselves, whether in Catalan, in Castilian, or in Germania, 
+which is their own peculiar jargon, they always make use of much 
+gesticulation, which contributes to give to their conversation and 
+to the vivacity of their physiognomy a certain expression, still 
+more penetrating and characteristic.
+
+To this work we shall revert on a future occasion.
+
+'When a Gitano has occasion to speak of some business in which his 
+interest is involved, he redoubles his gestures in proportion as he 
+knows the necessity of convincing those who hear him, and fears 
+their impassibility.  If any rancorous idea agitate him in the 
+course of his narrative; if he endeavour to infuse into his 
+auditors sentiments of jealousy, vengeance, or any violent passion, 
+his features become exaggerated, and the vivacity of his glances, 
+and the contraction of his lips, show clearly, and in an imposing 
+manner, the foreign origin of the Gitanos, and all the customs of 
+barbarous people.  Even his very smile has an expression hard and 
+disagreeable.  One might almost say that joy in him is a forced 
+sentiment, and that, like unto the savage man, sadness is the 
+dominant feature of his physiognomy.
+
+'The Gitana is distinguished by the same complexion, and almost the 
+same features.  In her frame she is as well formed, and as flexible 
+as the Gitano.  Condemned to suffer the same privations and wants, 
+her countenance, when her interest does not oblige her to dissemble 
+her feelings, presents the same aspect of melancholy, and shows 
+besides, with more energy, the rancorous passions of which the 
+female heart is susceptible.  Free in her actions, her carriage, 
+and her pursuits, she speaks, vociferates, and makes more gestures 
+than the Gitano, and, in imitation of him, her arms are in 
+continual motion, to give more expression to the imagery with which 
+she accompanies her discourse; her whole body contributes to her 
+gesture, and to increase its force; endeavouring by these means to 
+sharpen the effect of language in itself insufficient; and her 
+vivid and disordered imagination is displayed in her appearance and 
+attitude.
+
+'When she turns her hand to any species of labour, her hurried 
+action, the disorder of her hair, which is scarcely subjected by a 
+little comb, and her propensity to irritation, show how little she 
+loves toil, and her disgust for any continued occupation.
+
+'In her disputes, the air of menace and high passion, the flow of 
+words, and the facility with which she provokes and despises 
+danger, indicate manners half barbarous, and ignorance of other 
+means of defence.  Finally, both in males and females, their 
+physical constitution, colour, agility, and flexibility, reveal to 
+us a caste sprung from a burning clime, and devoted to all those 
+exercises which contribute to evolve bodily vigour, and certain 
+mental faculties.
+
+'The dress of the Gitano varies with the country which he inhabits.  
+Both in Rousillon and Catalonia his habiliments generally consist 
+of jacket, waistcoat, pantaloons, and a red faja, which covers part 
+of his waistcoat; on his feet he wears hempen sandals, with much 
+ribbon tied round the leg as high as the calf; he has, moreover, 
+either woollen or cotton stockings; round his neck he wears a 
+handkerchief, carelessly tied; and in the winter he uses a blanket 
+or mantle, with sleeves, cast over the shoulder; his head is 
+covered with the indispensable red cap, which appears to be the 
+favourite ornament of many nations in the vicinity of the 
+Mediterranean and Caspian Sea.
+
+'The neck and the elbows of the jacket are adorned with pieces of 
+blue and yellow cloth embroidered with silk, as well as the seams 
+of the pantaloons; he wears, moreover, on the jacket or the 
+waistcoat, various rows of silver buttons, small and round, 
+sustained by rings or chains of the same metal.  The old people, 
+and those who by fortune, or some other cause, exercise, in 
+appearance, a kind of authority over the rest, are almost always 
+dressed in black or dark-blue velvet.  Some of those who affect 
+elegance amongst them keep for holidays a complete dress of sky-
+blue velvet, with embroidery at the neck, pocket-holes, arm-pits, 
+and in all the seams; in a word, with the exception of the turban, 
+this was the fashion of dress of the ancient Moors of Granada, the 
+only difference being occasioned by time and misery.
+
+'The dress of the Gitanas is very varied:  the young girls, or 
+those who are in tolerably easy circumstances, generally wear a 
+black bodice laced up with a string, and adjusted to their figures, 
+and contrasting with the scarlet-coloured saya, which only covers a 
+part of the leg; their shoes are cut very low, and are adorned with 
+little buckles of silver; the breast, and the upper part of the 
+bodice, are covered either with a white handkerchief, or one of 
+some vivid colour; and on the head is worn another handkerchief, 
+tied beneath the chin, one of the ends of which falls on the 
+shoulder, in the manner of a hood.  When the cold or the heat 
+permit, the Gitana removes the hood, without untying the knots, and 
+exhibits her long and shining tresses restrained by a comb.  The 
+old women, and the very poor, dress in the same manner, save that 
+their habiliments are more coarse and the colours less in harmony.  
+Amongst them misery appears beneath the most revolting aspect; 
+whilst the poorest Gitano preserves a certain deportment which 
+would make his aspect supportable, if his unquiet and ferocious 
+glance did not inspire us with aversion.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+WHILST their husbands are engaged in their jockey vocation, or in 
+wielding the cachas, the Callees, or Gypsy females, are seldom 
+idle, but are endeavouring, by various means, to make all the gain 
+they can.  The richest amongst them are generally contrabandistas, 
+and in the large towns go from house to house with prohibited 
+goods, especially silk and cotton, and occasionally with tobacco.  
+They likewise purchase cast-off female wearing-apparel, which, when 
+vamped up and embellished, they sometimes contrive to sell as new, 
+with no inconsiderable profit.
+
+Gitanas of this description are of the most respectable class; the 
+rest, provided they do not sell roasted chestnuts, or esteras, 
+which are a species of mat, seek a livelihood by different tricks 
+and practices, more or less fraudulent; for example -
+
+LA BAHI, or fortune-telling, which is called in Spanish, BUENA 
+VENTURA. - This way of extracting money from the credulity of dupes 
+is, of all those practised by the Gypsies, the readiest and most 
+easy; promises are the only capital requisite, and the whole art of 
+fortune-telling consists in properly adapting these promises to the 
+age and condition of the parties who seek for information.  The 
+Gitanas are clever enough in the accomplishment of this, and in 
+most cases afford perfect satisfaction.  Their practice chiefly 
+lies amongst females, the portion of the human race most given to 
+curiosity and credulity.  To the young maidens they promise lovers, 
+handsome invariably, and sometimes rich; to wives children, and 
+perhaps another husband; for their eyes are so penetrating, that 
+occasionally they will develop your most secret thoughts and 
+wishes; to the old, riches - and nothing but riches; for they have 
+sufficient knowledge of the human heart to be aware that avarice is 
+the last passion that becomes extinct within it.  These riches are 
+to proceed either from the discovery of hidden treasures or from 
+across the water; from the Americas, to which the Spaniards still 
+look with hope, as there is no individual in Spain, however poor, 
+but has some connection in those realms of silver and gold, at 
+whose death he considers it probable that he may succeed to a 
+brilliant 'herencia.'  The Gitanas, in the exercise of this 
+practice, find dupes almost as readily amongst the superior 
+classes, as the veriest dregs of the population.  It is their 
+boast, that the best houses are open to them; and perhaps in the 
+space of one hour, they will spae the bahi to a duchess, or 
+countess, in one of the hundred palaces of Madrid, and to half a 
+dozen of the lavanderas engaged in purifying the linen of the 
+capital, beneath the willows which droop on the banks of the 
+murmuring Manzanares.  One great advantage which the Gypsies 
+possess over all other people is an utter absence of MAUVAISE 
+HONTE; their speech is as fluent, and their eyes as unabashed, in 
+the presence of royalty, as before those from whom they have 
+nothing to hope or fear; the result being, that most minds quail 
+before them.  There were two Gitanas at Madrid, one Pepita by name, 
+and the other La Chicharona; the first was a spare, shrewd, witch-
+like female, about fifty, and was the mother-in-law of La 
+Chicharona, who was remarkable for her stoutness.  These women 
+subsisted entirely by fortune-telling and swindling.  It chanced 
+that the son of Pepita, and husband of Chicharona, having spirited 
+away a horse, was sent to the presidio of Malaga for ten years of 
+hard labour.  This misfortune caused inexpressible affliction to 
+his wife and mother, who determined to make every effort to procure 
+his liberation.  The readiest way which occurred to them was to 
+procure an interview with the Queen Regent Christina, who they 
+doubted not would forthwith pardon the culprit, provided they had 
+an opportunity of assailing her with their Gypsy discourse; for, to 
+use their own words, 'they well knew what to say.'  I at that time 
+lived close by the palace, in the street of Santiago, and daily, 
+for the space of a month, saw them bending their steps in that 
+direction.
+
+One day they came to me in a great hurry, with a strange expression 
+on both their countenances.  'We have seen Christina, hijo' (my 
+son), said Pepita to me.
+
+'Within the palace?' I inquired.
+
+'Within the palace, O child of my garlochin,' answered the sibyl:  
+'Christina at last saw and sent for us, as I knew she would; I told 
+her "bahi," and Chicharona danced the Romalis (Gypsy dance) before 
+her.'
+
+'What did you tell her?'
+
+'I told her many things,' said the hag, 'many things which I need 
+not tell you:  know, however, that amongst other things, I told her 
+that the chabori (little queen) would die, and then she would be 
+Queen of Spain.  I told her, moreover, that within three years she 
+would marry the son of the King of France, and it was her bahi to 
+die Queen of France and Spain, and to be loved much, and hated 
+much.'
+
+'And did you not dread her anger, when you told her these things?'
+
+'Dread her, the Busnee?' screamed Pepita:  'No, my child, she 
+dreaded me far more; I looked at her so - and raised my finger so - 
+and Chicharona clapped her hands, and the Busnee believed all I 
+said, and was afraid of me; and then I asked for the pardon of my 
+son, and she pledged her word to see into the matter, and when we 
+came away, she gave me this baria of gold, and to Chicharona this 
+other, so at all events we have hokkanoed the queen.  May an evil 
+end overtake her body, the Busnee!'
+
+Though some of the Gitanas contrive to subsist by fortune-telling 
+alone, the generality of them merely make use of it as an 
+instrument towards the accomplishment of greater things.  The 
+immediate gains are scanty; a few cuartos being the utmost which 
+they receive from the majority of their customers.  But the bahi is 
+an excellent passport into houses, and when they spy a convenient 
+opportunity, they seldom fail to avail themselves of it.  It is 
+necessary to watch them strictly, as articles frequently disappear 
+in a mysterious manner whilst Gitanas are telling fortunes.  The 
+bahi, moreover, is occasionally the prelude to a device which we 
+shall now attempt to describe, and which is called HOKKANO BARO, or 
+the great trick, of which we have already said something in the 
+former part of this work.  It consists in persuading some credulous 
+person to deposit whatever money and valuables the party can muster 
+in a particular spot, under the promise that the deposit will 
+increase many manifold.  Some of our readers will have difficulty 
+in believing that any people can be found sufficiently credulous to 
+allow themselves to be duped by a trick of this description, the 
+grossness of the intended fraud seeming too palpable.  Experience, 
+however, proves the contrary.  The deception is frequently 
+practised at the present day, and not only in Spain but in England 
+- enlightened England - and in France likewise; an instance being 
+given in the memoirs of Vidocq, the late celebrated head of the 
+secret police of Paris, though, in that instance, the perpetrator 
+of the fraud was not a Gypsy.  The most subtle method of 
+accomplishing the hokkano baro is the following:-
+
+When the dupe - a widow we will suppose, for in these cases the 
+dupes are generally widows - has been induced to consent to make 
+the experiment, the Gitana demands of her whether she has in the 
+house some strong chest with a safe lock.  On receiving an 
+affirmative answer, she will request to see all the gold and silver 
+of any description which she may chance to have in her possession.  
+The treasure is shown her; and when the Gitana has carefully 
+inspected and counted it, she produces a white handkerchief, 
+saying, Lady, I give you this handkerchief, which is blessed.  
+Place in it your gold and silver, and tie it with three knots.  I 
+am going for three days, during which period you must keep the 
+bundle beneath your pillow, permitting no one to go near it, and 
+observing the greatest secrecy, otherwise the money will take wings 
+and fly away.  Every morning during the three days it will be well 
+to open the bundle, for your own satisfaction, to see that no 
+misfortune has befallen your treasure; be always careful, however, 
+to fasten it again with the three knots.  On my return, we will 
+place the bundle, after having inspected it, in the chest, which 
+you shall yourself lock, retaining the key in your possession.  
+But, thenceforward, for three weeks, you must by no means unlock 
+the chest, nor look at the treasure - if you do it will fly away.  
+Only follow my directions, and you will gain much, very much, 
+baribu.
+
+The Gitana departs, and, during the three days, prepares a bundle 
+as similar as possible to the one which contains the money of her 
+dupe, save that instead of gold ounces, dollars, and plate, its 
+contents consist of copper money and pewter articles of little or 
+no value.  With this bundle concealed beneath her cloak, she 
+returns at the end of three days to her intended victim.  The 
+bundle of real treasure is produced and inspected, and again tied 
+up by the Gitana, who then requests the other to open the chest, 
+which done, she formally places A BUNDLE in it; but, in the 
+meanwhile, she has contrived to substitute the fictitious for the 
+real one.  The chest is then locked, the lady retaining the key.  
+The Gitana promises to return at the end of three weeks, to open 
+the chest, assuring the lady that if it be not unlocked until that 
+period, it will be found filled with gold and silver; but 
+threatening that in the event of her injunctions being disregarded, 
+the money deposited will vanish.  She then walks off with great 
+deliberation, bearing away the spoil.  It is needless to say that 
+she never returns.
+
+There are other ways of accomplishing the hokkano baro.  The most 
+simple, and indeed the one most generally used by the Gitanas, is 
+to persuade some simple individual to hide a sum of money in the 
+earth, which they afterwards carry away.  A case of this 
+description occurred within my own knowledge, at Madrid, towards 
+the latter part of the year 1837.  There was a notorious Gitana, of 
+the name of Aurora; she was about forty years of age, a Valencian 
+by birth, and immensely fat.  This amiable personage, by some 
+means, formed the acquaintance of a wealthy widow lady; and was not 
+slow in attempting to practise the hokkano baro upon her.  She 
+succeeded but too well.  The widow, at the instigation of Aurora, 
+buried one hundred ounces of gold beneath a ruined arch in a field, 
+at a short distance from the wall of Madrid.  The inhumation was 
+effected at night by the widow alone.  Aurora was, however, on the 
+watch, and, in less than ten minutes after the widow had departed, 
+possessed herself of the treasure; perhaps the largest one ever 
+acquired by this kind of deceit.  The next day the widow had 
+certain misgivings, and, returning to the spot, found her money 
+gone.  About six months after this event, I was imprisoned in the 
+Carcel de la Corte, at Madrid, and there I found Aurora, who was in 
+durance for defrauding the widow.  She said that it had been her 
+intention to depart for Valencia with the 'barias,' as she styled 
+her plunder, but the widow had discovered the trick too soon, and 
+she had been arrested.  She added, however, that she had contrived 
+to conceal the greatest part of the property, and that she expected 
+her liberation in a few days, having been prodigal of bribes to the 
+'justicia.'  In effect, her liberation took place sooner than my 
+own.  Nevertheless, she had little cause to triumph, as before she 
+left the prison she had been fleeced of the last cuarto of her ill-
+gotten gain, by alguazils and escribanos, who, she admitted, 
+understood hokkano baro much better than herself.
+
+When I next saw Aurora, she informed me that she was once more on 
+excellent terms with the widow, whom she had persuaded that the 
+loss of the money was caused by her own imprudence, in looking for 
+it before the appointed time; the spirit of the earth having 
+removed it in anger.  She added that her dupe was quite disposed to 
+make another venture, by which she hoped to retrieve her former 
+loss.
+
+USTILAR PASTESAS. - Under this head may be placed various kinds of 
+theft committed by the Gitanos.  The meaning of the words is 
+stealing with the hands; but they are more generally applied to the 
+filching of money by dexterity of hand, when giving or receiving 
+change.  For example:  a Gitana will enter a shop, and purchase 
+some insignificant article, tendering in payment a baria or golden 
+ounce.  The change being put down before her on the counter, she 
+counts the money, and complains that she has received a dollar and 
+several pesetas less than her due.  It seems impossible that there 
+can be any fraud on her part, as she has not even taken the pieces 
+in her hand, but merely placed her fingers upon them; pushing them 
+on one side.  She now asks the merchant what he means by attempting 
+to deceive the poor woman.  The merchant, supposing that he has 
+made a mistake, takes up the money, counts it, and finds in effect 
+that the just sum is not there.  He again hands out the change, but 
+there is now a greater deficiency than before, and the merchant is 
+convinced that he is dealing with a witch.  The Gitana now pushes 
+the money to him, uplifts her voice, and talks of the justicia.  
+Should the merchant become frightened, and, emptying a bag of 
+dollars, tell her to pay herself, as has sometimes been the case, 
+she will have a fine opportunity to exercise her powers, and whilst 
+taking the change will contrive to convey secretly into her sleeves 
+five or six dollars at least; after which she will depart with much 
+vociferation, declaring that she will never again enter the shop of 
+so cheating a picaro.
+
+Of all the Gitanas at Madrid, Aurora the fat was, by their own 
+confession, the most dexterous at this species of robbery; she 
+having been known in many instances, whilst receiving change for an 
+ounce, to steal the whole value, which amounts to sixteen dollars.  
+It was not without reason that merchants in ancient times were, 
+according to Martin Del Rio, advised to sell nothing out of their 
+shops to Gitanas, as they possessed an infallible secret for 
+attracting to their own purses from the coffers of the former the 
+money with which they paid for the articles they purchased.  This 
+secret consisted in stealing a pastesas, which they still practise.  
+Many accounts of witchcraft and sorcery, which are styled old 
+women's tales, are perhaps equally well founded.  Real actions have 
+been attributed to wrong causes.
+
+Shoplifting, and other kinds of private larceny, are connected with 
+stealing a pastesas, for in all dexterity of hand is required.  
+Many of the Gitanas of Madrid are provided with large pockets, or 
+rather sacks, beneath their gowns, in which they stow away their 
+plunder.  Some of these pockets are capacious enough to hold, at 
+one time, a dozen yards of cloth, a Dutch cheese and a bottle of 
+wine.  Nothing that she can eat, drink, or sell, comes amiss to a 
+veritable Gitana; and sometimes the contents of her pocket would 
+afford materials for an inventory far more lengthy and curious than 
+the one enumerating the effects found on the person of the man-
+mountain at Lilliput.
+
+CHIVING DRAO. - In former times the Spanish Gypsies of both sexes 
+were in the habit of casting a venomous preparation into the 
+mangers of the cattle for the purpose of causing sickness.  At 
+present this practice has ceased, or nearly so; the Gitanos, 
+however, talk of it as universal amongst their ancestors.  They 
+were in the habit of visiting the stalls and stables secretly, and 
+poisoning the provender of the animals, who almost immediately 
+became sick.  After a few days the Gitanos would go to the 
+labourers and offer to cure the sick cattle for a certain sum, and 
+if their proposal was accepted would in effect perform the cure.
+
+Connected with the cure was a curious piece of double dealing.  
+They privately administered an efficacious remedy, but pretended to 
+cure the animals not by medicines but by charms, which consisted of 
+small variegated beans, called in their language bobis, (56) 
+dropped into the mangers.  By this means they fostered the idea, 
+already prevalent, that they were people possessed of supernatural 
+gifts and powers, who could remove diseases without having recourse 
+to medicine.  By means of drao, they likewise procured themselves 
+food; poisoning swine, as their brethren in England still do, (57) 
+and then feasting on the flesh, which was abandoned as worthless:  
+witness one of their own songs:-
+
+
+'By Gypsy drow the Porker died,
+I saw him stiff at evening tide,
+But I saw him not when morning shone,
+For the Gypsies ate him flesh and bone.'
+
+
+By drao also they could avenge themselves on their enemies by 
+destroying their cattle, without incurring a shadow of suspicion.  
+Revenge for injuries, real or imaginary, is sweet to all 
+unconverted minds; to no one more than the Gypsy, who, in all parts 
+of the world, is, perhaps, the most revengeful of human beings.
+
+Vidocq in his memoirs states, that having formed a connection with 
+an individual whom he subsequently discovered to be the captain of 
+a band of Walachian Gypsies, the latter, whose name was Caroun, 
+wished Vidocq to assist in scattering certain powders in the 
+mangers of the peasants' cattle; Vidocq, from prudential motives, 
+refused the employment.  There can be no doubt that these powders 
+were, in substance, the drao of the Spanish Gitanos.
+
+LA BAR LACHI, OR THE LOADSTONE. - If the Gitanos in general be 
+addicted to any one superstition, it is certainly with respect to 
+this stone, to which they attribute all kinds of miraculous powers.  
+There can be no doubt, that the singular property which it 
+possesses of attracting steel, by filling their untutored minds 
+with amazement, first gave rise to this veneration, which is 
+carried beyond all reasonable bounds.
+
+They believe that he who is in possession of it has nothing to fear 
+from steel or lead, from fire or water, and that death itself has 
+no power over him.  The Gypsy contrabandistas are particularly 
+anxious to procure this stone, which they carry upon their persons 
+in their expeditions; they say, that in the event of being pursued 
+by the jaracanallis, or revenue officers, whirlwinds of dust will 
+arise, and conceal them from the view of their enemies; the horse-
+stealers say much the same thing, and assert that they are 
+uniformly successful, when they bear about them the precious stone.  
+But it is said to be able to effect much more.  Extraordinary 
+things are related of its power in exciting the amorous passions, 
+and, on this account, it is in great request amongst the Gypsy 
+hags; all these women are procuresses, and find persons of both 
+sexes weak and wicked enough to make use of their pretended 
+knowledge in the composition of love-draughts and decoctions.
+
+In the case of the loadstone, however, there is no pretence, the 
+Gitanas believing all they say respecting it, and still more; this 
+is proved by the eagerness with which they seek to obtain the stone 
+in its natural state, which is somewhat difficult to accomplish.
+
+In the museum of natural curiosities at Madrid there is a large 
+piece of loadstone originally extracted from the American mines.  
+There is scarcely a Gitana in Madrid who is not acquainted with 
+this circumstance, and who does not long to obtain the stone, or a 
+part of it; its being placed in a royal museum serving to augment, 
+in their opinion, its real value.  Several attempts have been made 
+to steal it, all of which, however, have been unsuccessful.  The 
+Gypsies seem not to be the only people who envy royalty the 
+possession of this stone.  Pepita, the old Gitana of whose talent 
+at telling fortunes such honourable mention has already been made, 
+informed me that a priest, who was muy enamorado (in love), 
+proposed to her to steal the loadstone, offering her all his 
+sacerdotal garments in the event of success:  whether the singular 
+reward that was promised had but slight temptations for her, or 
+whether she feared that her dexterity was not equal to the 
+accomplishment of the task, we know not, but she appears to have 
+declined attempting it.  According to the Gypsy account, the person 
+in love, if he wish to excite a corresponding passion in another 
+quarter by means of the loadstone, must swallow, IN AGUARDIENTE, a 
+small portion of the stone pulverised, at the time of going to 
+rest, repeating to himself the following magic rhyme:-
+
+
+'To the Mountain of Olives one morning I hied,
+Three little black goats before me I spied,
+Those three little goats on three cars I laid,
+Black cheeses three from their milk I made;
+The one I bestow on the loadstone of power,
+That save me it may from all ills that lower;
+The second to Mary Padilla I give,
+And to all the witch hags about her that live;
+The third I reserve for Asmodeus lame,
+That fetch me he may whatever I name.'
+
+
+LA RAIZ DEL BUEN BARON, OR THE ROOT OF THE GOOD BARON. - On this 
+subject we cannot be very explicit.  It is customary with the 
+Gitanas to sell, under this title, various roots and herbs, to 
+unfortunate females who are desirous of producing a certain result; 
+these roots are boiled in white wine, and the abominable decoction 
+is taken fasting.  I was once shown the root of the good baron, 
+which, in this instance, appeared to be parsley root.  By the good 
+baron is meant his Satanic majesty, on whom the root is very 
+appropriately fathered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+IT is impossible to dismiss the subject of the Spanish Gypsies 
+without offering some remarks on their marriage festivals.  There 
+is nothing which they retain connected with their primitive rites 
+and principles, more characteristic perhaps of the sect of the 
+Rommany, of the sect of the HUSBANDS AND WIVES, than what relates 
+to the marriage ceremony, which gives the female a protector, and 
+the man a helpmate, a sharer of his joys and sorrows.  The Gypsies 
+are almost entirely ignorant of the grand points of morality; they 
+have never had sufficient sense to perceive that to lie, to steal, 
+and to shed human blood violently, are crimes which are sure, 
+eventually, to yield bitter fruits to those who perpetrate them; 
+but on one point, and that one of no little importance as far as 
+temporal happiness is concerned, they are in general wiser than 
+those who have had far better opportunities than such unfortunate 
+outcasts, of regulating their steps, and distinguishing good from 
+evil.  They know that chastity is a jewel of high price, and that 
+conjugal fidelity is capable of occasionally flinging a sunshine 
+even over the dreary hours of a life passed in the contempt of 
+almost all laws, whether human or divine.
+
+There is a word in the Gypsy language to which those who speak it 
+attach ideas of peculiar reverence, far superior to that connected 
+with the name of the Supreme Being, the creator of themselves and 
+the universe.  This word is LACHA, which with them is the corporeal 
+chastity of the females; we say corporeal chastity, for no other do 
+they hold in the slightest esteem; it is lawful amongst them, nay 
+praiseworthy, to be obscene in look, gesture, and discourse, to be 
+accessories to vice, and to stand by and laugh at the worst 
+abominations of the Busne, provided their LACHA YE TRUPOS, or 
+corporeal chastity, remains unblemished.  The Gypsy child, from her 
+earliest years, is told by her strange mother, that a good Calli 
+need only dread one thing in this world, and that is the loss of 
+Lacha, in comparison with which that of life is of little 
+consequence, as in such an event she will be provided for, but what 
+provision is there for a Gypsy who has lost her Lacha?  'Bear this 
+in mind, my child,' she will say, 'and now eat this bread, and go 
+forth and see what you can steal.'
+
+A Gypsy girl is generally betrothed at the age of fourteen to the 
+youth whom her parents deem a suitable match, and who is generally 
+a few years older than herself.  Marriage is invariably preceded by 
+betrothment; and the couple must then wait two years before their 
+union can take place, according to the law of the Cales.  During 
+this period it is expected that they treat each other as common 
+acquaintance; they are permitted to converse, and even occasionally 
+to exchange slight presents.  One thing, however, is strictly 
+forbidden, and if in this instance they prove contumacious, the 
+betrothment is instantly broken and the pair are never united, and 
+thenceforward bear an evil reputation amongst their sect.  This one 
+thing is, going into the campo in each other's company, or having 
+any rendezvous beyond the gate of the city, town, or village, in 
+which they dwell.  Upon this point we can perhaps do no better than 
+quote one of their own stanzas:-
+
+
+'Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+Have vowed against us, love!
+The first, first night that from the gate
+We two together rove.'
+
+
+With all the other Gypsies, however, and with the Busne or 
+Gentiles, the betrothed female is allowed the freest intercourse, 
+going whither she will, and returning at all times and seasons.  
+With respect to the Busne, indeed, the parents are invariably less 
+cautious than with their own race, as they conceive it next to an 
+impossibility that their child should lose her Lacha by any 
+intercourse with THE WHITE BLOOD; and true it is that experience 
+has proved that their confidence in this respect is not altogether 
+idle.  The Gitanas have in general a decided aversion to the white 
+men; some few instances, however, to the contrary are said to have 
+occurred.
+
+A short time previous to the expiration of the term of the 
+betrothment, preparations are made for the Gypsy bridal.  The 
+wedding-day is certainly an eventful period in the life of every 
+individual, as he takes a partner for better or for worse, whom he 
+is bound to cherish through riches and poverty; but to the Gypsy 
+particularly the wedding festival is an important affair.  If he is 
+rich, he frequently becomes poor before it is terminated; and if he 
+is poor, he loses the little which he possesses, and must borrow of 
+his brethren; frequently involving himself throughout life, to 
+procure the means of giving a festival; for without a festival, he 
+could not become a Rom, that is, a husband, and would cease to 
+belong to this sect of Rommany.
+
+There is a great deal of what is wild and barbarous attached to 
+these festivals.  I shall never forget a particular one at which I 
+was present.  After much feasting, drinking, and yelling, in the 
+Gypsy house, the bridal train sallied forth - a frantic spectacle.  
+First of all marched a villainous jockey-looking fellow, holding in 
+his hands, uplifted, a long pole, at the top of which fluttered in 
+the morning air a snow-white cambric handkerchief, emblem of the 
+bride's purity.  Then came the betrothed pair, followed by their 
+nearest friends; then a rabble rout of Gypsies, screaming and 
+shouting, and discharging guns and pistols, till all around rang 
+with the din, and the village dogs barked.  On arriving at the 
+church gate, the fellow who bore the pole stuck it into the ground 
+with a loud huzza, and the train, forming two ranks, defiled into 
+the church on either side of the pole and its strange ornaments.  
+On the conclusion of the ceremony, they returned in the same manner 
+in which they had come.
+
+Throughout the day there was nothing going on but singing, 
+drinking, feasting, and dancing; but the most singular part of the 
+festival was reserved for the dark night.  Nearly a ton weight of 
+sweetmeats had been prepared, at an enormous expense, not for the 
+gratification of the palate, but for a purpose purely Gypsy.  These 
+sweetmeats of all kinds, and of all forms, but principally yemas, 
+or yolks of eggs prepared with a crust of sugar (a delicious bonne-
+bouche), were strewn on the floor of a large room, at least to the 
+depth of three inches.  Into this room, at a given signal, tripped 
+the bride and bridegroom DANCING ROMALIS, followed amain by all the 
+Gitanos and Gitanas, DANCING ROMALIS.  To convey a slight idea of 
+the scene is almost beyond the power of words.  In a few minutes 
+the sweetmeats were reduced to a powder, or rather to a mud, the 
+dancers were soiled to the knees with sugar, fruits, and yolks of 
+eggs.  Still more terrific became the lunatic merriment.  The men 
+sprang high into the air, neighed, brayed, and crowed; whilst the 
+Gitanas snapped their fingers in their own fashion, louder than 
+castanets, distorting their forms into all kinds of obscene 
+attitudes, and uttering words to repeat which were an abomination.  
+In a corner of the apartment capered the while Sebastianillo, a 
+convict Gypsy from Melilla, strumming the guitar most furiously, 
+and producing demoniacal sounds which had some resemblance to 
+Malbrun (Malbrouk), and, as he strummed, repeating at intervals the 
+Gypsy modification of the song:-
+
+
+'Chala Malbrun chinguerar,
+Birandon, birandon, birandera -
+Chala Malbrun chinguerar,
+No se bus trutera -
+No se bus trutera.
+No se bus trutera.
+La romi que le camela,
+Birandon, birandon,' etc.
+
+
+The festival endures three days, at the end of which the greatest 
+part of the property of the bridegroom, even if he were previously 
+in easy circumstances, has been wasted in this strange kind of riot 
+and dissipation.  Paco, the Gypsy of Badajoz, attributed his ruin 
+to the extravagance of his marriage festival; and many other 
+Gitanos have confessed the same thing of themselves.  They said 
+that throughout the three days they appeared to be under the 
+influence of infatuation, having no other wish or thought but to 
+make away with their substance; some have gone so far as to cast 
+money by handfuls into the street.  Throughout the three days all 
+the doors are kept open, and all corners, whether Gypsies or Busne, 
+welcomed with a hospitality which knows no bounds.
+
+In nothing do the Jews and Gitanos more resemble each other than in 
+their marriages, and what is connected therewith.  In both sects 
+there is a betrothment:  amongst the Jews for seven, amongst the 
+Gitanos for a period of two years.  In both there is a wedding 
+festival, which endures amongst the Jews for fifteen and amongst 
+the Gitanos for three days, during which, on both sides, much that 
+is singular and barbarous occurs, which, however, has perhaps its 
+origin in antiquity the most remote.  But the wedding ceremonies of 
+the Jews are far more complex and allegorical than those of the 
+Gypsies, a more simple people.  The Nazarene gazes on these 
+ceremonies with mute astonishment; the washing of the bride - the 
+painting of the face of herself and her companions with chalk and 
+carmine - her ensconcing herself within the curtains of the bed 
+with her female bevy, whilst the bridegroom hides himself within 
+his apartment with the youths his companions - her envelopment in 
+the white sheet, in which she appears like a corse, the 
+bridegroom's going to sup with her, when he places himself in the 
+middle of the apartment with his eyes shut, and without tasting a 
+morsel.  His going to the synagogue, and then repairing to 
+breakfast with the bride, where he practises the same self-denial - 
+the washing of the bridegroom's plate and sending it after him, 
+that he may break his fast - the binding his hands behind him - his 
+ransom paid by the bride's mother - the visit of the sages to the 
+bridegroom - the mulct imposed in case he repent - the killing of 
+the bullock at the house of the bridegroom - the present of meat 
+and fowls, meal and spices, to the bride - the gold and silver - 
+that most imposing part of the ceremony, the walking of the bride 
+by torchlight to the house of her betrothed, her eyes fixed in 
+vacancy, whilst the youths of her kindred sing their wild songs 
+around her - the cup of milk and the spoon presented to her by the 
+bridegroom's mother - the arrival of the sages in the morn - the 
+reading of the Ketuba - the night - the half-enjoyment - the old 
+woman - the tantalising knock at the door - and then the festival 
+of fishes which concludes all, and leaves the jaded and wearied 
+couple to repose after a fortnight of persecution.
+
+The Jews, like the Gypsies, not unfrequently ruin themselves by the 
+riot and waste of their marriage festivals.  Throughout the entire 
+fortnight, the houses, both of bride and bridegroom, are flung open 
+to all corners; - feasting and song occupy the day - feasting and 
+song occupy the hours of the night, and this continued revel is 
+only broken by the ceremonies of which we have endeavoured to 
+convey a faint idea.  In these festivals the sages or ULEMMA take a 
+distinguished part, doing their utmost to ruin the contracted 
+parties, by the wonderful despatch which they make of the fowls and 
+viands, sweetmeats, AND STRONG WATERS provided for the occasion.
+
+After marriage the Gypsy females generally continue faithful to 
+their husbands through life; giving evidence that the exhortations 
+of their mothers in early life have not been without effect.  Of 
+course licentious females are to be found both amongst the matrons 
+and the unmarried; but such instances are rare, and must be 
+considered in the light of exceptions to a principle.  The Gypsy 
+women (I am speaking of those of Spain), as far as corporeal 
+chastity goes, are very paragons; but in other respects, alas! - 
+little can be said in praise of their morality.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+WHILST in Spain I devoted as much time as I could spare from my 
+grand object, which was to circulate the Gospel through that 
+benighted country, to attempt to enlighten the minds of the Gitanos 
+on the subject of religion.  I cannot say that I experienced much 
+success in my endeavours; indeed, I never expected much, being 
+fully acquainted with the stony nature of the ground on which I was 
+employed; perhaps some of the seed that I scattered may eventually 
+spring up and yield excellent fruit.  Of one thing I am certain:  
+if I did the Gitanos no good, I did them no harm.
+
+It has been said that there is a secret monitor, or conscience, 
+within every heart, which immediately upbraids the individual on 
+the commission of a crime; this may be true, but certainly the 
+monitor within the Gitano breast is a very feeble one, for little 
+attention is ever paid to its reproofs.  With regard to conscience, 
+be it permitted to observe, that it varies much according to 
+climate, country, and religion; perhaps nowhere is it so terrible 
+and strong as in England; I need not say why.  Amongst the English, 
+I have seen many individuals stricken low, and broken-hearted, by 
+the force of conscience; but never amongst the Spaniards or 
+Italians; and I never yet could observe that the crimes which the 
+Gitanos were daily and hourly committing occasioned them the 
+slightest uneasiness.
+
+One important discovery I made among them:  it was, that no 
+individual, however wicked and hardened, is utterly GODLESS.  Call 
+it superstition, if you will, still a certain fear and reverence of 
+something sacred and supreme would hang about them.  I have heard 
+Gitanos stiffly deny the existence of a Deity, and express the 
+utmost contempt for everything holy; yet they subsequently never 
+failed to contradict themselves, by permitting some expression to 
+escape which belied their assertions, and of this I shall presently 
+give a remarkable instance.
+
+I found the women much more disposed to listen to anything I had to 
+say than the men, who were in general so taken up with their 
+traffic that they could think and talk of nothing else; the women, 
+too, had more curiosity and more intelligence; the conversational 
+powers of some of them I found to be very great, and yet they were 
+destitute of the slightest rudiments of education, and were thieves 
+by profession.  At Madrid I had regular conversaziones, or, as they 
+are called in Spanish, tertulias, with these women, who generally 
+visited me twice a week; they were perfectly unreserved towards me 
+with respect to their actions and practices, though their 
+behaviour, when present, was invariably strictly proper.  I have 
+already had cause to mention Pepa the sibyl, and her daughter-in-
+law, Chicharona; the manners of the first were sometimes almost 
+elegant, though, next to Aurora, she was the most notorious she-
+thug in Madrid; Chicharona was good-humoured, like most fat 
+personages.  Pepa had likewise two daughters, one of whom, a very 
+remarkable female, was called La Tuerta, from the circumstance of 
+her having but one eye, and the other, who was a girl of about 
+thirteen, La Casdami, or the scorpion, from the malice which she 
+occasionally displayed.
+
+Pepa and Chicharona were invariably my most constant visitors.  One 
+day in winter they arrived as usual; the One-eyed and the Scorpion 
+following behind.
+
+MYSELF. - 'I am glad to see you, Pepa:  what have you been doing 
+this morning?'
+
+PEPA. - 'I have been telling baji, and Chicharona has been stealing 
+a pastesas; we have had but little success, and have come to warm 
+ourselves at the brasero.  As for the One-eyed, she is a very 
+sluggard (holgazana), she will neither tell fortunes nor steal.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Hold your peace, mother of the Bengues; I will 
+steal, when I see occasion, but it shall not be a pastesas, and I 
+will hokkawar (deceive), but it shall not be by telling fortunes.  
+If I deceive, it shall be by horses, by jockeying. (58)  If I 
+steal, it shall be on the road - I'll rob.  You know already what I 
+am capable of, yet knowing that, you would have me tell fortunes 
+like yourself, or steal like Chicharona.  Me dinela conche (it 
+fills me with fury) to be asked to tell fortunes, and the next 
+Busnee that talks to me of bajis, I will knock all her teeth out.'
+
+THE SCORPION. - 'My sister is right; I, too, would sooner be a 
+salteadora (highwaywoman), or a chalana (she-jockey), than steal 
+with the hands, or tell bajis.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You do not mean to say, O Tuerta, that you are a jockey, 
+and that you rob on the highway.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'I am a chalana, brother, and many a time I have 
+robbed upon the road, as all our people know.  I dress myself as a 
+man, and go forth with some of them.  I have robbed alone, in the 
+pass of the Guadarama, with my horse and escopeta.  I alone once 
+robbed a cuadrilla of twenty Gallegos, who were returning to their 
+own country, after cutting the harvests of Castile; I stripped them 
+of their earnings, and could have stripped them of their very 
+clothes had I wished, for they were down on their knees like 
+cowards.  I love a brave man, be he Busne or Gypsy.  When I was not 
+much older than the Scorpion, I went with several others to rob the 
+cortijo of an old man; it was more than twenty leagues from here.  
+We broke in at midnight, and bound the old man:  we knew he had 
+money; but he said no, and would not tell us where it was; so we 
+tortured him, pricking him with our knives and burning his hands 
+over the lamp; all, however, would not do.  At last I said, "Let us 
+try the PIMIENTOS"; so we took the green pepper husks, pulled open 
+his eyelids, and rubbed the pupils with the green pepper fruit.  
+That was the worst pinch of all.  Would you believe it? the old man 
+bore it.  Then our people said, "Let us kill him," but I said, no, 
+it were a pity:  so we spared him, though we got nothing.  I have 
+loved that old man ever since for his firm heart, and should have 
+wished him for a husband.'
+
+THE SCORPION. - 'Ojala, that I had been in that cortijo, to see 
+such sport!'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you fear God, O Tuerta?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I fear nothing.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Do you believe in God, O Tuerta?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I do not; I hate all connected with that 
+name; the whole is folly; me dinela conche.  If I go to church, it 
+is but to spit at the images.  I spat at the bulto of Maria this 
+morning; and I love the Corojai, and the Londone, (59) because they 
+are not baptized.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You, of course, never say a prayer.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'No, no; there are three or four old words, taught 
+me by some old people, which I sometimes say to myself; I believe 
+they have both force and virtue.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'I would fain hear; pray tell me them.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, they are words not to be repeated.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Why not?'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'They are holy words, brother.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Holy!  You say there is no God; if there be none, there 
+can be nothing holy; pray tell me the words, O Tuerta.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'Brother, I dare not.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'Then you do fear something.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED.- 'Not I -
+
+'SABOCA ENRECAR MARIA ERERIA, (60)
+
+and now I wish I had not said them.'
+
+MYSELF. - 'You are distracted, O Tuerta:  the words say simply, 
+'Dwell within us, blessed Maria.'  You have spitten on her bulto 
+this morning in the church, and now you are afraid to repeat four 
+words, amongst which is her name.'
+
+THE ONE-EYED. - 'I did not understand them; but I wish I had not 
+said them.'
+
+. . . . . . .
+
+I repeat that there is no individual, however hardened, who is 
+utterly GODLESS.
+
+The reader will have already gathered from the conversations 
+reported in this volume, and especially from the last, that there 
+is a wide difference between addressing Spanish Gitanos and Gitanas 
+and English peasantry:  of a certainty what will do well for the 
+latter is calculated to make no impression on these thievish half-
+wild people.  Try them with the Gospel, I hear some one cry, which 
+speaks to all:  I did try them with the Gospel, and in their own 
+language.  I commenced with Pepa and Chicharona.  Determined that 
+they should understand it, I proposed that they themselves should 
+translate it.  They could neither read nor write, which, however, 
+did not disqualify them from being translators.  I had myself 
+previously translated the whole Testament into the Spanish Rommany, 
+but I was desirous to circulate amongst the Gitanos a version 
+conceived in the exact language in which they express their ideas.  
+The women made no objection, they were fond of our tertulias, and 
+they likewise reckoned on one small glass of Malaga wine, with 
+which I invariably presented them.  Upon the whole, they conducted 
+themselves much better than could have been expected.  We commenced 
+with Saint Luke:  they rendering into Rommany the sentences which I 
+delivered to them in Spanish.  They proceeded as far as the eighth 
+chapter, in the middle of which they broke down.  Was that to be 
+wondered at?  The only thing which astonished me was, that I had 
+induced two such strange beings to advance so far in a task so 
+unwonted, and so entirely at variance with their habits, as 
+translation.
+
+These chapters I frequently read over to them, explaining the 
+subject in the best manner I was able.  They said it was lacho, and 
+jucal, and misto, all of which words express approval of the 
+quality of a thing.  Were they improved, were their hearts softened 
+by these Scripture lectures?  I know not.  Pepa committed a rather 
+daring theft shortly afterwards, which compelled her to conceal 
+herself for a fortnight; it is quite possible, however, that she 
+may remember the contents of those chapters on her death-bed; if 
+so, will the attempt have been a futile one?
+
+I completed the translation, supplying deficiencies from my own 
+version begun at Badajoz in 1836.  This translation I printed at 
+Madrid in 1838; it was the first book which ever appeared in 
+Rommany, and was called 'Embeo e Majaro Lucas,' or Gospel of Luke 
+the Saint.  I likewise published, simultaneously, the same Gospel 
+in Basque, which, however, I had no opportunity of circulating.
+
+The Gitanos of Madrid purchased the Gypsy Luke freely:  many of the 
+men understood it, and prized it highly, induced of course more by 
+the language than the doctrine; the women were particularly anxious 
+to obtain copies, though unable to read; but each wished to have 
+one in her pocket, especially when engaged in thieving expeditions, 
+for they all looked upon it in the light of a charm, which would 
+preserve them from all danger and mischance; some even went so far 
+as to say, that in this respect it was equally efficacious as the 
+Bar Lachi, or loadstone, which they are in general so desirous of 
+possessing.  Of this Gospel (61) five hundred copies were printed, 
+of which the greater number I contrived to circulate amongst the 
+Gypsies in various parts; I cast the book upon the waters and left 
+it to its destiny.
+
+I have counted seventeen Gitanas assembled at one time in my 
+apartment in the Calle de Santiago in Madrid; for the first quarter 
+of an hour we generally discoursed upon indifferent matters, I then 
+by degrees drew their attention to religion and the state of souls.  
+I finally became so bold that I ventured to speak against their 
+inveterate practices, thieving and lying, telling fortunes, and 
+stealing a pastesas; this was touching upon delicate ground, and I 
+experienced much opposition and much feminine clamour.  I 
+persevered, however, and they finally assented to all I said, not 
+that I believe that my words made much impression upon their 
+hearts.  In a few months matters were so far advanced that they 
+would sing a hymn; I wrote one expressly for them in Rommany, in 
+which their own wild couplets were, to a certain extent, imitated.
+
+The people of the street in which I lived, seeing such numbers of 
+these strange females continually passing in and out, were struck 
+with astonishment, and demanded the reason.  The answers which they 
+obtained by no means satisfied them.  'Zeal for the conversion of 
+souls, -  the souls too of Gitanas, - disparate! the fellow is a 
+scoundrel.  Besides he is an Englishman, and is not baptized; what 
+cares he for souls?  They visit him for other purposes.  He makes 
+base ounces, which they carry away and circulate.  Madrid is 
+already stocked with false money.'  Others were of opinion that we 
+met for the purposes of sorcery and abomination.  The Spaniard has 
+no conception that other springs of action exist than interest or 
+villainy.
+
+My little congregation, if such I may call it, consisted entirely 
+of women; the men seldom or never visited me, save they stood in 
+need of something which they hoped to obtain from me.  This 
+circumstance I little regretted, their manners and conversation 
+being the reverse of interesting.  It must not, however, be 
+supposed that, even with the women, matters went on invariably in a 
+smooth and satisfactory manner.  The following little anecdote will 
+show what slight dependence can be placed upon them, and how 
+disposed they are at all times to take part in what is grotesque 
+and malicious.  One day they arrived, attended by a Gypsy jockey 
+whom I had never previously seen.  We had scarcely been seated a 
+minute, when this fellow, rising, took me to the window, and 
+without any preamble or circumlocution, said - 'Don Jorge, you 
+shall lend me two barias' (ounces of gold).   'Not to your whole 
+race, my excellent friend,' said I; 'are you frantic?  Sit down and 
+be discreet.'  He obeyed me literally, sat down, and when the rest 
+departed, followed with them.  We did not invariably meet at my own 
+house, but occasionally at one in a street inhabited by Gypsies.  
+On the appointed day I went to this house, where I found the women 
+assembled; the jockey was also present.  On seeing me he advanced, 
+again took me aside, and again said - 'Don Jorge, you shall lend me 
+two barias.'  I made him no answer, but at once entered on the 
+subject which brought me thither.  I spoke for some time in 
+Spanish; I chose for the theme of my discourse the situation of the 
+Hebrews in Egypt, and pointed out its similarity to that of the 
+Gitanos in Spain.  I spoke of the power of God, manifested in 
+preserving both as separate and distinct people amongst the nations 
+until the present day.  I warmed with my subject.  I subsequently 
+produced a manuscript book, from which I read a portion of 
+Scripture, and the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed, in Rommany.  
+When I had concluded I looked around me.
+
+The features of the assembly were twisted, and the eyes of all 
+turned upon me with a frightful squint; not an individual present 
+but squinted, - the genteel Pepa, the good-humoured Chicharona, the 
+Casdami, etc. etc.  The Gypsy fellow, the contriver of the jest, 
+squinted worst of all.  Such are Gypsies.
+
+
+
+
+THE ZINCALI PART III
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+THERE is no nation in the world, however exalted or however 
+degraded, but is in possession of some peculiar poetry.  If the 
+Chinese, the Hindoos, the Greeks, and the Persians, those splendid 
+and renowned races, have their moral lays, their mythological 
+epics, their tragedies, and their immortal love songs, so also have 
+the wild and barbarous tribes of Soudan, and the wandering 
+Esquimaux, their ditties, which, however insignificant in 
+comparison with the compositions of the former nations, still are 
+entitled in every essential point to the name of poetry; if poetry 
+mean metrical compositions intended to soothe and recreate the mind 
+fatigued by the cares, distresses, and anxieties to which mortality 
+is subject.
+
+The Gypsies too have their poetry.  Of that of the Russian Zigani 
+we have already said something.  It has always been our opinion, 
+and we believe that in this we are by no means singular, that in 
+nothing can the character of a people be read with greater 
+certainty and exactness than in its songs.  How truly do the 
+warlike ballads of the Northmen and the Danes, their DRAPAS and 
+KOEMPE-VISER, depict the character of the Goth; and how equally do 
+the songs of the Arabians, replete with homage to the one high, 
+uncreated, and eternal God, 'the fountain of blessing,' 'the only 
+conqueror,' lay bare to us the mind of the Moslem of the desert, 
+whose grand characteristic is religious veneration, and 
+uncompromising zeal for the glory of the Creator.
+
+And well and truly do the coplas and gachaplas of the Gitanos 
+depict the character of the race.  This poetry, for poetry we will 
+call it, is in most respects such as might be expected to originate 
+among people of their class; a set of Thugs, subsisting by cheating 
+and villainy of every description; hating the rest of the human 
+species, and bound to each other by the bonds of common origin, 
+language, and pursuits.  The general themes of this poetry are the 
+various incidents of Gitano life and the feelings of the Gitanos.  
+A Gypsy sees a pig running down a hill, and imagines that it cries 
+'Ustilame Caloro!' (62) - a Gypsy reclining sick on the prison 
+floor beseeches his wife to intercede with the alcayde for the 
+removal of the chain, the weight of which is bursting his body - 
+the moon arises, and two Gypsies, who are about to steal a steed, 
+perceive a Spaniard, and instantly flee - Juanito Ralli, whilst 
+going home on his steed, is stabbed by a Gypsy who hates him - 
+Facundo, a Gypsy, runs away at the sight of the burly priest of 
+Villa Franca, who hates all Gypsies.  Sometimes a burst of wild 
+temper gives occasion to a strain - the swarthy lover threatens to 
+slay his betrothed, even AT THE FEET OF JESUS, should she prove 
+unfaithful.  It is a general opinion amongst the Gitanos that 
+Spanish women are very fond of Rommany chals and Rommany.  There is 
+a stanza in which a Gitano hopes to bear away a beauty of Spanish 
+race by means of a word of Rommany whispered in her ear at the 
+window.
+
+Amongst these effusions are even to be found tender and beautiful 
+thoughts; for Thugs and Gitanos have their moments of gentleness.  
+True it is that such are few and far between, as a flower or a 
+shrub is here and there seen springing up from the interstices of 
+the rugged and frightful rocks of which the Spanish sierras are 
+composed:  a wicked mother is afraid to pray to the Lord with her 
+own lips, and calls on her innocent babe to beseech him to restore 
+peace and comfort to her heart - an imprisoned youth appears to 
+have no earthly friend on whom he can rely, save his sister, and 
+wishes for a messenger to carry unto her the tale of his 
+sufferings, confident that she would hasten at once to his 
+assistance.  And what can be more touching than the speech of the 
+relenting lover to the fair one whom he has outraged?
+
+
+'Extend to me the hand so small,
+Wherein I see thee weep,
+For O thy balmy tear-drops all
+I would collect and keep.'
+
+
+This Gypsy poetry consists of quartets, or rather couplets, but two 
+rhymes being discernible, and those generally imperfect, the vowels 
+alone agreeing in sound.  Occasionally, however, sixains, or 
+stanzas of six lines, are to be found, but this is of rare 
+occurrence.  The thought, anecdote or adventure described, is 
+seldom carried beyond one stanza, in which everything is expressed 
+which the poet wishes to impart.  This feature will appear singular 
+to those who are unacquainted with the character of the popular 
+poetry of the south, and are accustomed to the redundancy and 
+frequently tedious repetition of a more polished muse.  It will be 
+well to inform such that the greater part of the poetry sung in the 
+south, and especially in Spain, is extemporary.  The musician 
+composes it at the stretch of his voice, whilst his fingers are 
+tugging at the guitar; which style of composition is by no means 
+favourable to a long and connected series of thought.  Of course, 
+the greater part of this species of poetry perishes as soon as 
+born.  A stanza, however, is sometimes caught up by the bystanders, 
+and committed to memory; and being frequently repeated, makes, in 
+time, the circuit of the country.  For example, the stanza about 
+Coruncho Lopez, which was originally made at the gate of a venta by 
+a Miquelet, (63) who was conducting the said Lopez to the galleys 
+for a robbery.  It is at present sung through the whole of the 
+peninsula, however insignificant it may sound to foreign ears:-
+
+
+'Coruncho Lopez, gallant lad,
+A smuggling he would ride;
+He stole his father's ambling prad,
+And therefore to the galleys sad
+Coruncho now I guide.'
+
+
+The couplets of the Gitanos are composed in the same off-hand 
+manner, and exactly resemble in metre the popular ditties of the 
+Spaniards.  In spirit, however, as well as language, they are in 
+general widely different, as they mostly relate to the Gypsies and 
+their affairs, and not unfrequently abound with abuse of the Busne 
+or Spaniards.  Many of these creations have, like the stanza of 
+Coruncho Lopez, been wafted over Spain amongst the Gypsy tribes, 
+and are even frequently repeated by the Spaniards themselves; at 
+least, by those who affect to imitate the phraseology of the 
+Gitanos.  Those which appear in the present collection consist 
+partly of such couplets, and partly of such as we have ourselves 
+taken down, as soon as they originated, not unfrequently in the 
+midst of a circle of these singular people, dancing and singing to 
+their wild music.  In no instance have they been subjected to 
+modification; and the English translation is, in general, very 
+faithful to the original, as will easily be perceived by referring 
+to the lexicon.  To those who may feel disposed to find fault with 
+or criticise these songs, we have to observe, that the present work 
+has been written with no other view than to depict the Gitanos such 
+as they are, and to illustrate their character; and, on that 
+account, we have endeavoured, as much as possible, to bring them 
+before the reader, and to make them speak for themselves.  They are 
+a half-civilised, unlettered people, proverbial for a species of 
+knavish acuteness, which serves them in lieu of wisdom.  To place 
+in the mouth of such beings the high-flown sentiments of modern 
+poetry would not answer our purpose, though several authors have 
+not shrunk from such an absurdity.
+
+These couplets have been collected in Estremadura and New Castile, 
+in Valencia and Andalusia; the four provinces where the Gitano race 
+most abounds.  We wish, however, to remark, that they constitute 
+scarcely a tenth part of our original gleanings, from which we have 
+selected one hundred of the most remarkable and interesting.
+
+The language of the originals will convey an exact idea of the 
+Rommany of Spain, as used at the present day amongst the Gitanos in 
+the fairs, when they are buying and selling animals, and wish to 
+converse with each other in a way unintelligible to the Spaniards.  
+We are free to confess that it is a mere broken jargon, but it 
+answers the purpose of those who use it; and it is but just to 
+remark that many of its elements are of the most remote antiquity, 
+and the most illustrious descent, as will be shown hereafter.  We 
+have uniformly placed the original by the side of the translation; 
+for though unwilling to make the Gitanos speak in any other manner 
+than they are accustomed, we are equally averse to have it supposed 
+that many of the thoughts and expressions which occur in these 
+songs, and which are highly objectionable, originated with 
+ourselves. (64)
+
+
+RHYMES OF THE GITANOS
+
+
+Unto a refuge me they led,
+To save from dungeon drear;
+Then sighing to my wife I said,
+I leave my baby dear.
+
+Back from the refuge soon I sped,
+My child's sweet face to see;
+Then sternly to my wife I said,
+You've seen the last of me.
+
+O when I sit my courser bold,
+My bantling in my rear,
+And in my hand my musket hold,
+O how they quake with fear.
+
+Pray, little baby, pray the Lord,
+Since guiltless still thou art,
+That peace and comfort he afford
+To this poor troubled heart.
+
+The false Juanito, day and night,
+Had best with caution go,
+The Gypsy carles of Yeira height
+Have sworn to lay him low.
+
+There runs a swine down yonder hill,
+As fast as e'er he can,
+And as he runs he crieth still,
+Come, steal me, Gypsy man.
+
+I wash'd not in the limpid flood
+The shirt which binds my frame;
+But in Juanito Ralli's blood
+I bravely wash'd the same.
+
+I sallied forth upon my grey,
+With him my hated foe,
+And when we reach'd the narrow way
+I dealt a dagger blow.
+
+To blessed Jesus' holy feet
+I'd rush to kill and slay
+My plighted lass so fair and sweet,
+Should she the wanton play.
+
+I for a cup of water cried,
+But they refus'd my prayer,
+Then straight into the road I hied,
+And fell to robbing there.
+
+I ask'd for fire to warm my frame,
+But they'd have scorn'd my prayer,
+If I, to pay them for the same,
+Had stripp'd my body bare.
+
+Then came adown the village street,
+With little babes that cry,
+Because they have no crust to eat,
+A Gypsy company;
+And as no charity they meet,
+They curse the Lord on high.
+
+I left my house and walk'd about,
+They seized me fast and bound;
+It is a Gypsy thief, they shout,
+The Spaniards here have found.
+
+From out the prison me they led,
+Before the scribe they brought;
+It is no Gypsy thief, he said,
+The Spaniards here have caught.
+
+Throughout the night, the dusky night,
+I prowl in silence round,
+And with my eyes look left and right,
+For him, the Spanish hound,
+That with my knife I him may smite,
+And to the vitals wound.
+
+Will no one to the sister bear
+News of her brother's plight,
+How in this cell of dark despair,
+To cruel death he's dight?
+
+The Lord, as e'en the Gentiles state,
+By Egypt's race was bred,
+And when he came to man's estate,
+His blood the Gentiles shed.
+
+O never with the Gentiles wend,
+Nor deem their speeches true;
+Or else, be certain in the end
+Thy blood will lose its hue.
+
+From out the prison me they bore,
+Upon an ass they placed,
+And scourg'd me till I dripp'd with gore,
+As down the road it paced.
+
+They bore me from the prison nook,
+They bade me rove at large;
+When out I'd come a gun I took,
+And scathed them with its charge.
+
+My mule so bonny I bestrode,
+To Portugal I'd flee,
+And as I o'er the water rode
+A man came suddenly;
+And he his love and kindness show'd
+By setting his dog on me.
+
+Unless within a fortnight's space
+Thy face, O maid, I see;
+Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+My lady love shall be.
+
+Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
+If thou wert only mine,
+Within a bonny crystal case
+For life I'd thee enshrine.
+
+Sire nor mother me caress,
+For I have none on earth;
+One little brother I possess,
+And he's a fool by birth.
+
+Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
+Have vow'd against me, love!
+The first, first night that from the gate
+We two together rove.
+
+Come to the window, sweet love, do,
+And I will whisper there,
+In Rommany, a word or two,
+And thee far off will bear.
+
+A Gypsy stripling's sparkling eye
+Has pierced my bosom's core,
+A feat no eye beneath the sky
+Could e'er effect before.
+
+Dost bid me from the land begone,
+And thou with child by me?
+Each time I come, the little one,
+I'll greet in Rommany.
+
+With such an ugly, loathly wife
+The Lord has punish'd me;
+I dare not take her for my life
+Where'er the Spaniards be.
+
+O, I am not of gentle clan,
+I'm sprung from Gypsy tree;
+And I will be no gentleman,
+But an Egyptian free.
+
+On high arose the moon so fair,
+The Gypsy 'gan to sing:
+I see a Spaniard coming there,
+I must be on the wing.
+
+This house of harlotry doth smell,
+I flee as from the pest;
+Your mother likes my sire too well;
+To hie me home is best.
+
+The girl I love more dear than life,
+Should other gallant woo,
+I'd straight unsheath my dudgeon knife
+And cut his weasand through;
+Or he, the conqueror in the strife,
+The same to me should do.
+
+Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,
+And thus his ditty ran:
+God send the Gypsy lassie here,
+And not the Gypsy man.
+
+At midnight, when the moon began
+To show her silver flame,
+There came to him no Gypsy man,
+The Gypsy lassie came.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+THE Gitanos, abject and vile as they have ever been, have 
+nevertheless found admirers in Spain, individuals who have taken 
+pleasure in their phraseology, pronunciation, and way of life; but 
+above all, in the songs and dances of the females.  This desire for 
+cultivating their acquaintance is chiefly prevalent in Andalusia, 
+where, indeed, they most abound; and more especially in the town of 
+Seville, the capital of the province, where, in the barrio or 
+Faubourg of Triana, a large Gitano colon has long flourished, with 
+the denizens of which it is at all times easy to have intercourse, 
+especially to those who are free of their money, and are willing to 
+purchase such a gratification at the expense of dollars and 
+pesetas.
+
+When we consider the character of the Andalusians in general, we 
+shall find little to surprise us in this predilection for the 
+Gitanos.  They are an indolent frivolous people, fond of dancing 
+and song, and sensual amusements.  They live under the most 
+glorious sun and benign heaven in Europe, and their country is by 
+nature rich and fertile, yet in no province of Spain is there more 
+beggary and misery; the greater part of the land being 
+uncultivated, and producing nothing but thorns and brushwood, 
+affording in itself a striking emblem of the moral state of its 
+inhabitants.
+
+Though not destitute of talent, the Andalusians are not much 
+addicted to intellectual pursuits, at least in the present day.  
+The person in most esteem among them is invariably the greatest 
+MAJO, and to acquire that character it is necessary to appear in 
+the dress of a Merry Andrew, to bully, swagger, and smoke 
+continually, to dance passably, and to strum the guitar.  They are 
+fond of obscenity and what they term PICARDIAS.  Amongst them 
+learning is at a terrible discount, Greek, Latin, or any of the 
+languages generally termed learned, being considered in any light 
+but accomplishments, but not so the possession of thieves' slang or 
+the dialect of the Gitanos, the knowledge of a few words of which 
+invariably creates a certain degree of respect, as indicating that 
+the individual is somewhat versed in that kind of life or TRATO for 
+which alone the Andalusians have any kind of regard.
+
+In Andalusia the Gitano has been studied by those who, for various 
+reasons, have mingled with the Gitanos.  It is tolerably well 
+understood by the chalans, or jockeys, who have picked up many 
+words in the fairs and market-places which the former frequent.  It 
+has, however, been cultivated to a greater degree by other 
+individuals, who have sought the society of the Gitanos from a zest 
+for their habits, their dances, and their songs; and such 
+individuals have belonged to all classes, amongst them have been 
+noblemen and members of the priestly order.
+
+Perhaps no people in Andalusia have been more addicted in general 
+to the acquaintance of the Gitanos than the friars, and pre-
+eminently amongst these the half-jockey half-religious personages 
+of the Cartujan convent at Xeres.  This community, now suppressed, 
+was, as is well known, in possession of a celebrated breed of 
+horses, which fed in the pastures of the convent, and from which 
+they derived no inconsiderable part of their revenue.  These 
+reverend gentlemen seem to have been much better versed in the 
+points of a horse than in points of theology, and to have 
+understood thieves' slang and Gitano far better than the language 
+of the Vulgate.  A chalan, who had some knowledge of the Gitano, 
+related to me the following singular anecdote in connection with 
+this subject.
+
+He had occasion to go to the convent, having been long in treaty 
+with the friars for a steed which he had been commissioned by a 
+nobleman to buy at any reasonable price.  The friars, however, were 
+exorbitant in their demands.  On arriving at the gate, he sang to 
+the friar who opened it a couplet which he had composed in the 
+Gypsy tongue, in which he stated the highest price which he was 
+authorised to give for the animal in question; whereupon the friar 
+instantly answered in the same tongue in an extemporary couplet 
+full of abuse of him and his employer, and forthwith slammed the 
+door in the face of the disconcerted jockey.
+
+An Augustine friar of Seville, called, we believe, Father Manso, 
+who lived some twenty years ago, is still remembered for his 
+passion for the Gitanos; he seemed to be under the influence of 
+fascination, and passed every moment that he could steal from his 
+clerical occupations in their company.  His conduct at last became 
+so notorious that he fell under the censure of the Inquisition, 
+before which he was summoned; whereupon he alleged, in his defence, 
+that his sole motive for following the Gitanos was zeal for their 
+spiritual conversion.  Whether this plea availed him we know not; 
+but it is probable that the Holy Office dealt mildly with him; such 
+offenders, indeed, have never had much to fear from it.  Had he 
+been accused of liberalism, or searching into the Scriptures, 
+instead of connection with the Gitanos, we should, doubtless, have 
+heard either of his execution or imprisonment for life in the cells 
+of the cathedral of Seville.
+
+Such as are thus addicted to the Gitanos and their language, are 
+called, in Andalusia, Los del' Aficion, or those of the 
+predilection.  These people have, during the last fifty years, 
+composed a spurious kind of Gypsy literature:  we call it spurious 
+because it did not originate with the Gitanos, who are, moreover, 
+utterly unacquainted with it, and to whom it would be for the most 
+part unintelligible.  It is somewhat difficult to conceive the 
+reason which induced these individuals to attempt such 
+compositions; the only probable one seems to have been a desire to 
+display to each other their skill in the language of their 
+predilection.  It is right, however, to observe, that most of these 
+compositions, with respect to language, are highly absurd, the 
+greatest liberties being taken with the words picked up amongst the 
+Gitanos, of the true meaning of which the writers, in many 
+instances, seem to have been entirely ignorant.  From what we can 
+learn, the composers of this literature flourished chiefly at the 
+commencement of the present century:  Father Manso is said to have 
+been one of the last.  Many of their compositions, which are both 
+in poetry and prose, exist in manuscript in a compilation made by 
+one Luis Lobo.  It has never been our fortune to see this 
+compilation, which, indeed, we scarcely regret, as a rather curious 
+circumstance has afforded us a perfect knowledge of its contents.
+
+Whilst at Seville, chance made us acquainted with a highly 
+extraordinary individual, a tall, bony, meagre figure, in a 
+tattered Andalusian hat, ragged capote, and still more ragged 
+pantaloons, and seemingly between forty and fifty years of age.  
+The only appellation to which he answered was Manuel.  His 
+occupation, at the time we knew him, was selling tickets for the 
+lottery, by which he obtained a miserable livelihood in Seville and 
+the neighbouring villages.  His appearance was altogether wild and 
+uncouth, and there was an insane expression in his eye.  Observing 
+us one day in conversation with a Gitana, he addressed us, and we 
+soon found that the sound of the Gitano language had struck a chord 
+which vibrated through the depths of his soul.  His history was 
+remarkable; in his early youth a manuscript copy of the compilation 
+of Luis Lobo had fallen into his hands.  This book had so taken 
+hold of his imagination, that he studied it night and day until he 
+had planted it in his memory from beginning to end; but in so 
+doing, his brain, like that of the hero of Cervantes, had become 
+dry and heated, so that he was unfitted for any serious or useful 
+occupation.  After the death of his parents he wandered about the 
+streets in great distress, until at last he fell into the hands of 
+certain toreros, or bull-fighters, who kept him about them, in 
+order that he might repeat to them the songs of the AFICION.  They 
+subsequently carried him to Madrid, where, however, they soon 
+deserted him after he had experienced much brutality from their 
+hands.  He returned to Seville, and soon became the inmate of a 
+madhouse, where he continued several years.  Having partially 
+recovered from his malady, he was liberated, and wandered about as 
+before.  During the cholera at Seville, when nearly twenty thousand 
+human beings perished, he was appointed conductor of one of the 
+death-carts, which went through the streets for the purpose of 
+picking up the dead bodies.  His perfect inoffensiveness eventually 
+procured him friends, and he obtained the situation of vendor of 
+lottery tickets.  He frequently visited us, and would then recite 
+long passages from the work of Lobo.  He was wont to say that he 
+was the only one in Seville, at the present day, acquainted with 
+the language of the Aficion; for though there were many pretenders, 
+their knowledge was confined to a few words.
+
+From the recitation of this individual, we wrote down the 
+Brijindope, or Deluge, and the poem on the plague which broke out 
+in Seville in the year 1800.  These and some songs of less 
+consequence, constitute the poetical part of the compilation in 
+question; the rest, which is in prose, consisting chiefly of 
+translations from the Spanish, of proverbs and religious pieces.
+
+
+BRIJINDOPE. - THE DELUGE (65)
+A POEM:  IN TWO PARTS
+PART THE FIRST
+
+
+I with fear and terror quake,
+Whilst the pen to write I take;
+I will utter many a pray'r
+To the heaven's Regent fair,
+That she deign to succour me,
+And I'll humbly bend my knee;
+For but poorly do I know
+With my subject on to go;
+Therefore is my wisest plan
+Not to trust in strength of man.
+I my heavy sins bewail,
+Whilst I view the wo and wail
+Handed down so solemnly
+In the book of times gone by.
+Onward, onward, now I'll move
+In the name of Christ above,
+And his Mother true and dear,
+She who loves the wretch to cheer.
+All I know, and all I've heard
+I will state - how God appear'd
+And to Noah thus did cry:
+Weary with the world am I;
+Let an ark by thee be built,
+For the world is lost in guilt;
+And when thou hast built it well,
+Loud proclaim what now I tell:
+Straight repent ye, for your Lord
+In his hand doth hold a sword.
+And good Noah thus did call:
+Straight repent ye one and all,
+For the world with grief I see
+Lost in vileness utterly.
+God's own mandate I but do,
+He hath sent me unto you.
+Laugh'd the world to bitter scorn,
+I his cruel sufferings mourn;
+Brawny youths with furious air
+Drag the Patriarch by the hair;
+Lewdness governs every one:
+Leaves her convent now the nun,
+And the monk abroad I see
+Practising iniquity.
+Now I'll tell how God, intent
+To avenge, a vapour sent,
+With full many a dreadful sign -
+Mighty, mighty fear is mine:
+As I hear the thunders roll,
+Seems to die my very soul;
+As I see the world o'erspread
+All with darkness thick and dread;
+I the pen can scarcely ply
+For the tears which dim my eye,
+And o'ercome with grievous wo,
+Fear the task I must forego
+I have purposed to perform. -
+Hark, I hear upon the storm
+Thousand, thousand devils fly,
+Who with awful howlings cry:
+Now's the time and now's the hour,
+We have licence, we have power
+To obtain a glorious prey. -
+I with horror turn away;
+Tumbles house and tumbles wall;
+Thousands lose their lives and all,
+Voiding curses, screams and groans,
+For the beams, the bricks and stones
+Bruise and bury all below -
+Nor is that the worst, I trow,
+For the clouds begin to pour
+Floods of water more and more,
+Down upon the world with might,
+Never pausing day or night.
+Now in terrible distress
+All to God their cries address,
+And his Mother dear adore, -
+But the time of grace is o'er,
+For the Almighty in the sky
+Holds his hand upraised on high.
+Now's the time of madden'd rout,
+Hideous cry, despairing shout;
+Whither, whither shall they fly?
+For the danger threat'ningly
+Draweth near on every side,
+And the earth, that's opening wide,
+Swallows thousands in its womb,
+Who would 'scape the dreadful doom.
+Of dear hope exists no gleam,
+Still the water down doth stream;
+Ne'er so little a creeping thing
+But from out its hold doth spring:
+See the mouse, and see its mate
+Scour along, nor stop, nor wait;
+See the serpent and the snake
+For the nearest highlands make;
+The tarantula I view,
+Emmet small and cricket too,
+All unknowing where to fly,
+In the stifling waters die.
+See the goat and bleating sheep,
+See the bull with bellowings deep.
+And the rat with squealings shrill,
+They have mounted on the hill:
+See the stag, and see the doe,
+How together fond they go;
+Lion, tiger-beast, and pard,
+To escape are striving hard:
+Followed by her little ones,
+See the hare how swift she runs:
+Asses, he and she, a pair.
+Mute and mule with bray and blare,
+And the rabbit and the fox,
+Hurry over stones and rocks,
+With the grunting hog and horse,
+Till at last they stop their course -
+On the summit of the hill
+All assembled stand they still;
+In the second part I'll tell
+Unto them what there befell.
+
+
+PART THE SECOND
+
+
+When I last did bid farewell,
+I proposed the world to tell,
+Higher as the Deluge flow'd,
+How the frog and how the toad,
+With the lizard and the eft,
+All their holes and coverts left,
+And assembled on the height;
+Soon I ween appeared in sight
+All that's wings beneath the sky,
+Bat and swallow, wasp and fly,
+Gnat and sparrow, and behind
+Comes the crow of carrion kind;
+Dove and pigeon are descried,
+And the raven fiery-eyed,
+With the beetle and the crane
+Flying on the hurricane:
+See they find no resting-place,
+For the world's terrestrial space
+Is with water cover'd o'er,
+Soon they sink to rise no more:
+'To our father let us flee!'
+Straight the ark-ship openeth he,
+And to everything that lives
+Kindly he admission gives.
+Of all kinds a single pair,
+And the members safely there
+Of his house he doth embark,
+Then at once he shuts the ark;
+Everything therein has pass'd,
+There he keeps them safe and fast.
+O'er the mountain's topmost peak
+Now the raging waters break.
+Till full twenty days are o'er,
+'Midst the elemental roar,
+Up and down the ark forlorn,
+Like some evil thing is borne:
+O what grief it is to see
+Swimming on the enormous sea
+Human corses pale and white,
+More, alas! than I can write:
+O what grief, what grief profound,
+But to think the world is drown'd:
+True a scanty few are left,
+All are not of life bereft,
+So that, when the Lord ordain,
+They may procreate again,
+In a world entirely new,
+Better people and more true,
+To their Maker who shall bow;
+And I humbly beg you now,
+Ye in modern times who wend,
+That your lives ye do amend;
+For no wat'ry punishment,
+But a heavier shall be sent;
+For the blessed saints pretend
+That the latter world shall end
+To tremendous fire a prey,
+And to ashes sink away.
+To the Ark I now go back,
+Which pursues its dreary track,
+Lost and 'wilder'd till the Lord
+In his mercy rest accord.
+Early of a morning tide
+They unclosed a window wide,
+Heaven's beacon to descry,
+And a gentle dove let fly,
+Of the world to seek some trace,
+And in two short hours' space
+It returns with eyes that glow,
+In its beak an olive bough.
+With a loud and mighty sound,
+They exclaim:  'The world we've found.'
+To a mountain nigh they drew,
+And when there themselves they view,
+Bound they swiftly on the shore,
+And their fervent thanks outpour,
+Lowly kneeling to their God;
+Then their way a couple trod,
+Man and woman, hand in hand,
+Bent to populate the land,
+To the Moorish region fair -
+And another two repair
+To the country of the Gaul;
+In this manner wend they all,
+And the seeds of nations lay.
+I beseech ye'll credence pay,
+For our father, high and sage,
+Wrote the tale in sacred page,
+As a record to the world,
+Record sad of vengeance hurl'd.
+I, a low and humble wight,
+Beg permission now to write
+Unto all that in our land
+Tongue Egyptian understand.
+May our Virgin Mother mild
+Grant to me, her erring child,
+Plenteous grace in every way,
+And success.  Amen I say.
+
+
+
+THE PESTILENCE
+
+
+
+I'm resolved now to tell
+In the speech of Gypsy-land
+All the horror that befell
+In this city huge and grand.
+
+In the eighteenth hundred year
+In the midst of summertide,
+God, with man dissatisfied,
+His right hand on high did rear,
+With a rigour most severe;
+Whence we well might understand
+He would strict account demand
+Of our lives and actions here.
+The dread event to render clear
+Now the pen I take in hand.
+
+At the dread event aghast,
+Straight the world reform'd its course;
+Yet is sin in greater force,
+Now the punishment is past;
+For the thought of God is cast
+All and utterly aside,
+As if death itself had died.
+Therefore to the present race
+These memorial lines I trace
+In old Egypt's tongue of pride.
+
+As the streets you wander'd through
+How you quail'd with fear and dread,
+Heaps of dying and of dead
+At the leeches' door to view.
+To the tavern O how few
+To regale on wine repair;
+All a sickly aspect wear.
+Say what heart such sights could brook -
+Wail and woe where'er you look -
+Wail and woe and ghastly care.
+
+Plying fast their rosaries,
+See the people pace the street,
+And for pardon God entreat
+Long and loud with streaming eyes.
+And the carts of various size,
+Piled with corses, high in air,
+To the plain their burden bear.
+O what grief it is to me
+Not a friar or priest to see
+In this city huge and fair.
+
+
+
+ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE GITANOS
+
+
+
+'I am not very willing that any language should be totally 
+extinguished; the similitude and derivation of languages afford the 
+most indubitable proof of the traduction of nations, and the 
+genealogy of mankind; they add often physical certainty to 
+historical evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions 
+of ages which left no written monuments behind them.' - JOHNSON.
+
+
+THE Gypsy dialect of Spain is at present very much shattered and 
+broken, being rather the fragments of the language which the 
+Gypsies brought with them from the remote regions of the East than 
+the language itself:  it enables, however, in its actual state, the 
+Gitanos to hold conversation amongst themselves, the import of 
+which is quite dark and mysterious to those who are not of their 
+race, or by some means have become acquainted with their 
+vocabulary.  The relics of this tongue, singularly curious in 
+themselves, must be ever particularly interesting to the 
+philological antiquarian, inasmuch as they enable him to arrive at 
+a satisfactory conclusion respecting the origin of the Gypsy race.  
+During the later part of the last century, the curiosity of some 
+learned individuals, particularly Grellmann, Richardson, and 
+Marsden, induced them to collect many words of the Romanian 
+language, as spoken in Germany, Hungary, and England, which, upon 
+analysing, they discovered to be in general either pure Sanscrit or 
+Hindustani words, or modifications thereof; these investigations 
+have been continued to the present time by men of equal curiosity 
+and no less erudition, the result of which has been the 
+establishment of the fact, that the Gypsies of those countries are 
+the descendants of a tribe of Hindus who for some particular reason 
+had abandoned their native country.  In England, of late, the 
+Gypsies have excited particular attention; but a desire far more 
+noble and laudable than mere antiquarian curiosity has given rise 
+to it, namely, the desire of propagating the glory of Christ 
+amongst those who know Him not, and of saving souls from the jaws 
+of the infernal wolf.  It is, however, with the Gypsies of Spain, 
+and not with those of England and other countries, that we are now 
+occupied, and we shall merely mention the latter so far as they may 
+serve to elucidate the case of the Gitanos, their brethren by blood 
+and language.  Spain for many centuries has been the country of 
+error; she has mistaken stern and savage tyranny for rational 
+government; base, low, and grovelling superstition for clear, 
+bright, and soul-ennobling religion; sordid cheating she has 
+considered as the path to riches; vexatious persecution as the path 
+to power; and the consequence has been, that she is now poor and 
+powerless, a pagan amongst the pagans, with a dozen kings, and with 
+none.  Can we be surprised, therefore, that, mistaken in policy, 
+religion, and moral conduct, she should have fallen into error on 
+points so naturally dark and mysterious as the history and origin 
+of those remarkable people whom for the last four hundred years she 
+has supported under the name of Gitanos?  The idea entertained at 
+the present day in Spain respecting this race is, that they are the 
+descendants of the Moriscos who remained in Spain, wandering about 
+amongst the mountains and wildernesses, after the expulsion of the 
+great body of the nation from the country in the time of Philip the 
+Third, and that they form a distinct body, entirely unconnected 
+with the wandering tribes known in other countries by the names of 
+Bohemians, Gypsies, etc.  This, like all unfounded opinions, of 
+course originated in ignorance, which is always ready to have 
+recourse to conjecture and guesswork, in preference to travelling 
+through the long, mountainous, and stony road of patient 
+investigation; it is, however, an error far more absurd and more 
+destitute of tenable grounds than the ancient belief that the 
+Gitanos were Egyptians, which they themselves have always professed 
+to be, and which the original written documents which they brought 
+with them on their first arrival in Western Europe, and which bore 
+the signature of the king of Bohemia, expressly stated them to be.  
+The only clue to arrive at any certainty respecting their origin, 
+is the language which they still speak amongst themselves; but 
+before we can avail ourselves of the evidence of this language, it 
+will be necessary to make a few remarks respecting the principal 
+languages and dialects of that immense tract of country, peopled by 
+at least eighty millions of human beings, generally known by the 
+name of Hindustan, two Persian words tantamount to the land of Ind, 
+or, the land watered by the river Indus.
+
+The most celebrated of these languages is the Sanskrida, or, as it 
+is known in Europe, the Sanscrit, which is the language of religion 
+of all those nations amongst whom the faith of Brahma has been 
+adopted; but though the language of religion, by which we mean the 
+tongue in which the religious books of the Brahmanic sect were 
+originally written and are still preserved, it has long since 
+ceased to be a spoken language; indeed, history is silent as to any 
+period when it was a language in common use amongst any of the 
+various tribes of the Hindus; its knowledge, as far as reading and 
+writing it went, having been entirely confined to the priests of 
+Brahma, or Brahmans, until within the last half-century, when the 
+British, having subjugated the whole of Hindustan, caused it to be 
+openly taught in the colleges which they established for the 
+instruction of their youth in the languages of the country.  Though 
+sufficiently difficult to acquire, principally on account of its 
+prodigious richness in synonyms, it is no longer a sealed language, 
+- its laws, structure, and vocabulary being sufficiently well known 
+by means of numerous elementary works, adapted to facilitate its 
+study.  It has been considered by famous philologists as the mother 
+not only of all the languages of Asia, but of all others in the 
+world.  So wild and preposterous an idea, however, only serves to 
+prove that a devotion to philology, whose principal object should 
+be the expansion of the mind by the various treasures of learning 
+and wisdom which it can unlock, sometimes only tends to its 
+bewilderment, by causing it to embrace shadows for reality.  The 
+most that can be allowed, in reason, to the Sanscrit is that it is 
+the mother of a certain class or family of languages, for example, 
+those spoken in Hindustan, with which most of the European, whether 
+of the Sclavonian, Gothic, or Celtic stock, have some connection.  
+True it is that in this case we know not how to dispose of the 
+ancient Zend, the mother of the modern Persian, the language in 
+which were written those writings generally attributed to 
+Zerduscht, or Zoroaster, whose affinity to the said tongues is as 
+easily established as that of the Sanscrit, and which, in respect 
+to antiquity, may well dispute the palm with its Indian rival.  
+Avoiding, however, the discussion of this point, we shall content 
+ourselves with observing, that closely connected with the Sanscrit, 
+if not derived from it, are the Bengali, the high Hindustani, or 
+grand popular language of Hindustan, generally used by the learned 
+in their intercourse and writings, the languages of Multan, 
+Guzerat, and other provinces, without mentioning the mixed dialect 
+called Mongolian Hindustani, a corrupt jargon of Persian, Turkish, 
+Arabic, and Hindu words, first used by the Mongols, after the 
+conquest, in their intercourse with the natives.  Many of the 
+principal languages of Asia are totally unconnected with the 
+Sanscrit, both in words and grammatical structure; these are mostly 
+of the great Tartar family, at the head of which there is good 
+reason for placing the Chinese and Tibetian.
+
+Bearing the same analogy to the Sanscrit tongue as the Indian 
+dialects specified above, we find the Rommany, or speech of the 
+Roma, or Zincali, as they style themselves, known in England and 
+Spain as Gypsies and Gitanos.  This speech, wherever it is spoken, 
+is, in all principal points, one and the same, though more or less 
+corrupted by foreign words, picked up in the various countries to 
+which those who use it have penetrated.  One remarkable feature 
+must not be passed over without notice, namely, the very 
+considerable number of Sclavonic words, which are to be found 
+embedded within it, whether it be spoken in Spain or Germany, in 
+England or Italy; from which circumstance we are led to the 
+conclusion, that these people, in their way from the East, 
+travelled in one large compact body, and that their route lay 
+through some region where the Sclavonian language, or a dialect 
+thereof, was spoken.  This region I have no hesitation in asserting 
+to have been Bulgaria, where they probably tarried for a 
+considerable period, as nomad herdsmen, and where numbers of them 
+are still to be found at the present day.  Besides the many 
+Sclavonian words in the Gypsy tongue, another curious feature 
+attracts the attention of the philologist - an equal or still 
+greater quantity of terms from the modern Greek; indeed, we have 
+full warranty for assuming that at one period the Spanish section, 
+if not the rest of the Gypsy nation, understood the Greek language 
+well, and that, besides their own Indian dialect, they occasionally 
+used it for considerably upwards of a century subsequent to their 
+arrival, as amongst the Gitanos there were individuals to whom it 
+was intelligible so late as the year 1540.
+
+Where this knowledge was obtained it is difficult to say, - perhaps 
+in Bulgaria, where two-thirds of the population profess the Greek 
+religion, or rather in Romania, where the Romaic is generally 
+understood; that they DID understand the Romaic in 1540, we gather 
+from a very remarkable work, called EL ESTUDIOSO CORTESANO, written 
+by Lorenzo Palmireno:  this learned and highly extraordinary 
+individual was by birth a Valencian, and died about 1580; he was 
+professor at various universities - of rhetoric at Valencia, of 
+Greek at Zaragossa, where he gave lectures, in which he explained 
+the verses of Homer; he was a proficient in Greek, ancient and 
+modern, and it should be observed that, in the passage which we are 
+about to cite, he means himself by the learned individual who held 
+conversation with the Gitanos. (66)  EL ESTUDIOSO CORTESANO was 
+reprinted at Alcala in 1587, from which edition we now copy.
+
+'Who are the Gitanos?  I answer; these vile people first began to 
+show themselves in Germany, in the year 1417, where they call them 
+Tartars or Gentiles; in Italy they are termed Ciani.  They pretend 
+that they come from Lower Egypt, and that they wander about as a 
+penance, and to prove this, they show letters from the king of 
+Poland.  They lie, however, for they do not lead the life of 
+penitents, but of dogs and thieves.  A learned person, in the year 
+1540, prevailed with them, by dint of much persuasion, to show him 
+the king's letter, and he gathered from it that the time of their 
+penance was already expired; he spoke to them in the Egyptian 
+tongue; they said, however, as it was a long time since their 
+departure from Egypt, they did not understand it; he then spoke to 
+them in the vulgar Greek, such as is used at present in the Morea 
+and Archipelago; SOME UNDERSTOOD IT, others did not; so that as all 
+did not understand it, we may conclude that the language which they 
+use is a feigned one, (67) got up by thieves for the purpose of 
+concealing their robberies, like the jargon of blind beggars.'
+
+Still more abundant, however, than the mixture of Greek, still more 
+abundant than the mixture of Sclavonian, is the alloy in the Gypsy 
+language, wherever spoken, of modern Persian words, which 
+circumstance will compel us to offer a few remarks on the share 
+which the Persian has had in the formation of the dialects of 
+India, as at present spoken.
+
+The modern Persian, as has been already observed, is a daughter of 
+the ancient Zend, and, as such, is entitled to claim affinity with 
+the Sanscrit, and its dialects.  With this language none in the 
+world would be able to vie in simplicity and beauty, had not the 
+Persians, in adopting the religion of Mahomet, unfortunately 
+introduces into their speech an infinity of words of the rude 
+coarse language used by the barbaric Arab tribes, the immediate 
+followers of the warlike Prophet.  With the rise of Islam the 
+modern Persian was doomed to be carried into India.  This country, 
+from the time of Alexander, had enjoyed repose from external 
+aggression, had been ruled by its native princes, and been 
+permitted by Providence to exercise, without control or reproof, 
+the degrading superstitions, and the unnatural and bloody rites of 
+a religion at the formation of which the fiends of cruelty and lust 
+seem to have presided; but reckoning was now about to be demanded 
+of the accursed ministers of this system for the pain, torture, and 
+misery which they had been instrumental in inflicting on their 
+countrymen for the gratification of their avarice, filthy passions, 
+and pride; the new Mahometans were at hand - Arab, Persian, and 
+Afghan, with the glittering scimitar upraised, full of zeal for the 
+glory and adoration of the one high God, and the relentless 
+persecutors of the idol-worshippers.  Already, in the four hundred 
+and twenty-sixth year of the Hegeira, we read of the destruction of 
+the great Butkhan, or image-house of Sumnaut, by the armies of the 
+far-conquering Mahmoud, when the dissevered heads of the Brahmans 
+rolled down the steps of the gigantic and Babel-like temple of the 
+great image -
+
+[Text which cannot be reproduced - Arabic?]
+
+(This image grim, whose name was Laut,
+Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut.)
+
+It is not our intention to follow the conquests of the Mahometans 
+from the days of Walid and Mahmoud to those of Timour and Nadir; 
+sufficient to observe, that the greatest part of India was subdued, 
+new monarchies established, and the old religion, though far too 
+powerful and widely spread to be extirpated, was to a considerable 
+extent abashed and humbled before the bright rising sun of Islam.  
+The Persian language, which the conquerors (68) of whatever 
+denomination introduced with them to Hindustan, and which their 
+descendants at the present day still retain, though not lords of 
+the ascendant, speedily became widely extended in these regions, 
+where it had previously been unknown.  As the language of the 
+court, it was of course studied and acquired by all those natives 
+whose wealth, rank, and influence necessarily brought them into 
+connection with the ruling powers; and as the language of the camp, 
+it was carried into every part of the country where the duties of 
+the soldiery sooner or later conducted them; the result of which 
+relations between the conquerors and conquered was the adoption 
+into the popular dialects of India of an infinity of modern Persian 
+words, not merely those of science, such as it exists in the East, 
+and of luxury and refinement, but even those which serve to express 
+many of the most common objects, necessities, and ideas, so that at 
+the present day a knowledge of the Persian is essential for the 
+thorough understanding of the principal dialects of Hindustan, on 
+which account, as well as for the assistance which it affords in 
+communication with the Mahometans, it is cultivated with peculiar 
+care by the present possessors of the land.
+
+No surprise, therefore, can be entertained that the speech of the 
+Gitanos in general, who, in all probability, departed from 
+Hindustan long subsequent to the first Mahometan invasions, 
+abounds, like other Indian dialects, with words either purely 
+Persian, or slightly modified to accommodate them to the genius of 
+the language.  Whether the Rommany originally constituted part of 
+the natives of Multan or Guzerat, and abandoned their native land 
+to escape from the torch and sword of Tamerlane and his Mongols, as 
+Grellmann and others have supposed, or whether, as is much more 
+probable, they were a thievish caste, like some others still to be 
+found in Hindustan, who fled westward, either from the vengeance of 
+justice, or in pursuit of plunder, their speaking Persian is alike 
+satisfactorily accounted for.  With the view of exhibiting how 
+closely their language is connected with the Sanscrit and Persian, 
+we subjoin the first ten numerals in the three tongues, those of 
+the Gypsy according to the Hungarian dialect. (69)
+
+
+   Gypsy.     Persian.    Sanscrit. (70)
+
+1  Jek        Ek          Ega
+2  Dui        Du          Dvaya
+3  Trin       Se          Treya
+4  Schtar     Chehar      Tschatvar
+5  Pansch     Pansch      Pantscha
+6  Tschov     Schesche    Schasda
+7  Efta       Heft        Sapta
+8  Ochto      Hescht      Aschta
+9  Enija      Nu          Nava
+10 Dosch      De          Dascha
+
+
+It would be easy for us to adduce a thousand instances, as striking 
+as the above, of the affinity of the Gypsy tongue to the Persian, 
+Sanscrit, and the Indian dialects, but we have not space for 
+further observation on a point which long since has been 
+sufficiently discussed by others endowed with abler pens than our 
+own; but having made these preliminary remarks, which we deemed 
+necessary for the elucidation of the subject, we now hasten to 
+speak of the Gitano language as used in Spain, and to determine, by 
+its evidence (and we again repeat, that the language is the only 
+criterion by which the question can be determined), how far the 
+Gitanos of Spain are entitled to claim connection with the tribes 
+who, under the names of Zingani, etc., are to be found in various 
+parts of Europe, following, in general, a life of wandering 
+adventure, and practising the same kind of thievish arts which 
+enable those in Spain to obtain a livelihood at the expense of the 
+more honest and industrious of the community.
+
+The Gitanos of Spain, as already stated, are generally believed to 
+be the descendants of the Moriscos, and have been asserted to be 
+such in printed books. (71)  Now they are known to speak a language 
+or jargon amongst themselves which the other natives of Spain do 
+not understand; of course, then, supposing them to be of Morisco 
+origin, the words of this tongue or jargon, which are not Spanish, 
+are the relics of the Arabic or Moorish tongue once spoken in 
+Spain, which they have inherited from their Moorish ancestors.  Now 
+it is well known, that the Moorish of Spain was the same tongue as 
+that spoken at present by the Moors of Barbary, from which country 
+Spain was invaded by the Arabs, and to which they again retired 
+when unable to maintain their ground against the armies of the 
+Christians.  We will, therefore, collate the numerals of the 
+Spanish Gitano with those of the Moorish tongue, preceding both 
+with those of the Hungarian Gypsy, of which we have already made 
+use, for the purpose of making clear the affinity of that language 
+to the Sanscrit and Persian.  By this collation we shall at once 
+perceive whether the Gitano of Spain bears most resemblance to the 
+Arabic, or the Rommany of other lands.
+
+
+   Hungarian Spanish           Moorish
+   Gypsy.    Gitano.           Arabic.
+
+1  Jek       Yeque             Wahud
+2  Dui       Dui               Snain
+3  Trin      Trin              Slatza
+4  Schtar    Estar             Arba
+5  Pansch    Pansche           Khamsa
+6  Tschov    Job. Zoi          Seta
+7  Efta      Hefta             Sebea
+8  Ochto     Otor              Sminia
+9  Enija     Esnia (Nu. PERS.) Tussa
+10 Dosch     Deque             Aschra
+
+We believe the above specimens will go very far to change the 
+opinion of those who have imbibed the idea that the Gitanos of 
+Spain are the descendants of Moors, and are of an origin different 
+from that of the wandering tribes of Rommany in other parts of the 
+world, the specimens of the two dialects of the Gypsy, as far as 
+they go, being so strikingly similar, as to leave no doubt of their 
+original identity, whilst, on the contrary, with the Moorish 
+neither the one nor the other exhibits the slightest point of 
+similarity or connection.  But with these specimens we shall not 
+content ourselves, but proceed to give the names of the most common 
+things and objects in the Hungarian and Spanish Gitano, 
+collaterally, with their equivalents in the Moorish Arabic; from 
+which it will appear that whilst the former are one and the same 
+language, they are in every respect at variance with the latter.  
+When we consider that the Persian has adopted so many words and 
+phrases from the Arabic, we are at first disposed to wonder that a 
+considerable portion of these words are not to be discovered in 
+every dialect of the Gypsy tongue, since the Persian has lent it so 
+much of its vocabulary.  Yet such is by no means the case, as it is 
+very uncommon, in any one of these dialects, to discover words 
+derived from the Arabic.  Perhaps, however, the following 
+consideration will help to solve this point.  The Gitanos, even 
+before they left India, were probably much the same rude, thievish, 
+and ignorant people as they are at the present day.  Now the words 
+adopted by the Persian from the Arabic, and which it subsequently 
+introduced into the dialects of India, are sounds representing 
+objects and ideas with which such a people as the Gitanos could 
+necessarily be but scantily acquainted, a people whose circle of 
+ideas only embraces physical objects, and who never commune with 
+their own minds, nor exert them but in devising low and vulgar 
+schemes of pillage and deceit.  Whatever is visible and common is 
+seldom or never represented by the Persians, even in their books, 
+by the help of Arabic words:  the sun and stars, the sea and river, 
+the earth, its trees, its fruits, its flowers, and all that it 
+produces and supports, are seldom named by them by other terms than 
+those which their own language is capable of affording; but in 
+expressing the abstract thoughts of their minds, and they are a 
+people who think much and well, they borrow largely from the 
+language of their religion - the Arabic.  We therefore, perhaps, 
+ought not to be surprised that in the scanty phraseology of the 
+Gitanos, amongst so much Persian, we find so little that is Arabic; 
+had their pursuits been less vile, their desires less animal, and 
+their thoughts less circumscribed, it would probably have been 
+otherwise; but from time immemorial they have shown themselves a 
+nation of petty thieves, horse-traffickers, and the like, without a 
+thought of the morrow, being content to provide against the evil of 
+the passing day.
+
+The following is a comparison of words in the three languages:-
+
+
+           Hungarian  Spanish      Moorish
+           Gypsy.(72) Gitano.      Arabic.
+
+Bone       Cokalos    Cocal        Adorn
+City       Forjus     Foros        Beled
+Day        Dives      Chibes       Youm
+Drink (to) Piava      Piyar        Yeschrab
+Ear        Kan        Can          Oothin
+Eye        Jakh       Aquia        Ein
+Feather    Por        Porumia      Risch
+Fire       Vag        Yaque        Afia
+Fish       Maczo      Macho        Hutz
+Foot       Pir        Piro, pindro Rjil
+Gold       Sonkai     Sonacai      Dahab
+Great      Baro       Baro         Quibir
+Hair       Bala       Bal          Schar
+He, pron.  Wow        O            Hu
+Head       Tschero    Jero         Ras
+House      Ker        Quer         Dar
+Husband    Rom        Ron          Zooje
+Lightning  Molnija    Maluno       Brak
+Love (to)  Camaba     Camelar      Yehib
+Man        Manusch    Manu         Rajil
+Milk       Tud        Chuti        Helib
+Mountain   Bar        Bur          Djibil
+Mouth      Mui        Mui          Fum
+Name       Nao        Nao          Ism
+Night      Rat        Rachi        Lila
+Nose       Nakh       Naqui        Munghar
+Old        Puro       Puro         Shaive
+Red        Lal        Lalo         Hamr
+Salt       Lon        Lon          Mela
+Sing       Gjuwawa    Gilyabar     Iganni
+Sun        Cam        Can          Schems
+Thief      Tschor     Choro        Haram
+Thou       Tu         Tucue        Antsin
+Tongue     Tschib     Chipe        Lsan
+Tooth      Dant       Dani         Sinn
+Tree       Karscht    Caste        Schizara
+Water      Pani       Pani         Ma
+Wind       Barbar     Barban       Ruhk
+
+
+We shall offer no further observations respecting the affinity of 
+the Spanish Gitano to the other dialects, as we conceive we have 
+already afforded sufficient proof of its original identity with 
+them, and consequently shaken to the ground the absurd opinion that 
+the Gitanos of Spain are the descendants of the Arabs and Moriscos.  
+We shall now conclude with a few remarks on the present state of 
+the Gitano language in Spain, where, perhaps, within the course of 
+a few years, it will have perished, without leaving a vestige of 
+its having once existed; and where, perhaps, the singular people 
+who speak it are likewise doomed to disappear, becoming sooner or 
+later engulfed and absorbed in the great body of the nation, 
+amongst whom they have so long existed a separate and peculiar 
+class.
+
+Though the words or a part of the words of the original tongue 
+still remain, preserved by memory amongst the Gitanos, its 
+grammatical peculiarities have disappeared, the entire language 
+having been modified and subjected to the rules of Spanish grammar, 
+with which it now coincides in syntax, in the conjugation of verbs, 
+and in the declension of its nouns.  Were it possible or necessary 
+to collect all the relics of this speech, they would probably 
+amount to four or five thousand words; but to effect such an 
+achievement, it would be necessary to hold close and long 
+intercourse with almost every Gitano in Spain, and to extract, by 
+various means, the peculiar information which he might be capable 
+of affording; for it is necessary to state here, that though such 
+an amount of words may still exist amongst the Gitanos in general, 
+no single individual of their sect is in possession of one-third 
+part thereof, nor indeed, we may add, those of any single city or 
+province of Spain; nevertheless all are in possession, more or 
+less, of the language, so that, though of different provinces, they 
+are enabled to understand each other tolerably well, when 
+discoursing in this their characteristic speech.  Those who travel 
+most are of course best versed in it, as, independent of the words 
+of their own village or town, they acquire others by intermingling 
+with their race in various places.  Perhaps there is no part of 
+Spain where it is spoken better than in Madrid, which is easily 
+accounted for by the fact, that Madrid, as the capital, has always 
+been the point of union of the Gitanos, from all those provinces of 
+Spain where they are to be found.  It is least of all preserved in 
+Seville, notwithstanding that its Gitano population is very 
+considerable, consisting, however, almost entirely of natives of 
+the place.  As may well be supposed, it is in all places best 
+preserved amongst the old people, their children being 
+comparatively ignorant of it, as perhaps they themselves are in 
+comparison with their own parents.  We are persuaded that the 
+Gitano language of Spain is nearly at its last stage of existence, 
+which persuasion has been our main instigator to the present 
+attempt to collect its scanty remains, and by the assistance of the 
+press, rescue it in some degree from destruction.  It will not be 
+amiss to state here, that it is only by listening attentively to 
+the speech of the Gitanos, whilst discoursing amongst themselves, 
+that an acquaintance with their dialect can be formed, and by 
+seizing upon all unknown words as they fall in succession from 
+their lips.  Nothing can be more useless and hopeless than the 
+attempt to obtain possession of their vocabulary by inquiring of 
+them how particular objects and ideas are styled; for with the 
+exception of the names of the most common things, they are totally 
+incapable, as a Spanish writer has observed, of yielding the 
+required information, owing to their great ignorance, the shortness 
+of their memories, or rather the state of bewilderment to which 
+their minds are brought by any question which tends to bring their 
+reasoning faculties into action, though not unfrequently the very 
+words which have been in vain required of them will, a minute 
+subsequently, proceed inadvertently from their mouths.
+
+We now take leave of their language.  When wishing to praise the 
+proficiency of any individual in their tongue, they are in the 
+habit of saying, 'He understands the seven jargons.'  In the Gospel 
+which we have printed in this language, and in the dictionary which 
+we have compiled, we have endeavoured, to the utmost of our 
+ability, to deserve that compliment; and at all times it will 
+afford us sincere and heartfelt pleasure to be informed that any 
+Gitano, capable of appreciating the said little works, has 
+observed, whilst reading them or hearing them read:  It is clear 
+that the writer of these books understood
+
+
+THE SEVEN JARGONS.
+
+
+
+ON ROBBER LANGUAGE; OR, AS IT IS CALLED IN SPAIN, GERMANIA
+
+
+'So I went with them to a music booth, where they made me almost 
+drunk with gin, and began to talk their FLASH LANGUAGE, which I did 
+not understand.' - Narrative of the Exploits of Henry Simms, 
+executed at Tyburn, 1746.
+
+'Hablaronse los dos en Germania, de lo qual resulto darme un 
+abraco, y ofrecerseme.' - QUEVEDO. Vida dal gran Tacano.
+
+
+HAVING in the preceding article endeavoured to afford all necessary 
+information concerning the Rommany, or language used by the Gypsies 
+amongst themselves, we now propose to turn our attention to a 
+subject of no less interest, but which has hitherto never been 
+treated in a manner calculated to lead to any satisfactory result 
+or conclusion; on the contrary, though philosophic minds have been 
+engaged in its consideration, and learned pens have not disdained 
+to occupy themselves with its details, it still remains a singular 
+proof of the errors into which the most acute and laborious writers 
+are apt to fall, when they take upon themselves the task of writing 
+on matters which cannot be studied in the closet, and on which no 
+information can be received by mixing in the society of the wise, 
+the lettered, and the respectable, but which must be investigated 
+in the fields, and on the borders of the highways, in prisons, and 
+amongst the dregs of society.  Had the latter system been pursued 
+in the matter now before us, much clearer, more rational, and more 
+just ideas would long since have been entertained respecting the 
+Germania, or language of thieves.
+
+In most countries of Europe there exists, amongst those who obtain 
+their existence by the breach of the law, and by preying upon the 
+fruits of the labours of the quiet and orderly portion of society, 
+a particular jargon or dialect, in which the former discuss their 
+schemes and plans of plunder, without being in general understood 
+by those to whom they are obnoxious.  The name of this jargon 
+varies with the country in which it is spoken.  In Spain it is 
+called 'Germania'; in France, 'Argot'; in Germany, 'Rothwelsch,' or 
+Red Italian; in Italy, 'Gergo'; whilst in England it is known by 
+many names; for example, 'cant, slang, thieves' Latin,' etc.  The 
+most remarkable circumstance connected with the history of this 
+jargon is, that in all the countries in which it is spoken, it has 
+invariably, by the authors who have treated of it, and who are 
+numerous, been confounded with the Gypsy language, and asserted to 
+be the speech of those wanderers who have so long infested Europe 
+under the name of Gitanos, etc.  How far this belief is founded in 
+justice we shall now endeavour to show, with the premise that 
+whatever we advance is derived, not from the assertions or opinions 
+of others, but from our own observation; the point in question 
+being one which no person is capable of solving, save him who has 
+mixed with Gitanos and thieves, - not with the former merely or the 
+latter, but with both.
+
+We have already stated what is the Rommany or language of the 
+Gypsies.  We have proved that when properly spoken it is to all 
+intents and purposes entitled to the appellation of a language, and 
+that wherever it exists it is virtually the same; that its origin 
+is illustrious, it being a daughter of the Sanscrit, and in 
+consequence in close connection with some of the most celebrated 
+languages of the East, although it at present is only used by the 
+most unfortunate and degraded of beings, wanderers without home and 
+almost without country, as wherever they are found they are 
+considered in the light of foreigners and interlopers.  We shall 
+now state what the language of thieves is, as it is generally 
+spoken in Europe; after which we shall proceed to analyse it 
+according to the various countries in which it is used.
+
+The dialect used for their own peculiar purposes amongst thieves is 
+by no means entitled to the appellation of a language, but in every 
+sense to that of a jargon or gibberish, it being for the most part 
+composed of words of the native language of those who use it, 
+according to the particular country, though invariably in a meaning 
+differing more or less from the usual and received one, and for the 
+most part in a metaphorical sense.  Metaphor and allegory, indeed, 
+seem to form the nucleus of this speech, notwithstanding that other 
+elements are to be distinguished; for it is certain that in every 
+country where it is spoken, it contains many words differing from 
+the language of that country, and which may either be traced to 
+foreign tongues, or are of an origin at which, in many instances, 
+it is impossible to arrive.  That which is most calculated to 
+strike the philosophic mind when considering this dialect, is 
+doubtless the fact of its being formed everywhere upon the same 
+principle - that of metaphor, in which point all the branches 
+agree, though in others they differ as much from each other as the 
+languages on which they are founded; for example, as the English 
+and German from the Spanish and Italian.  This circumstance 
+naturally leads to the conclusion that the robber language has not 
+arisen fortuitously in the various countries where it is at present 
+spoken, but that its origin is one and the same, it being probably 
+invented by the outlaws of one particular country; by individuals 
+of which it was, in course of time, carried to others, where its 
+principles, if not its words, were adopted; for upon no other 
+supposition can we account for its general metaphorical character 
+in regions various and distant.  It is, of course, impossible to 
+state with certainty the country in which this jargon first arose, 
+yet there is cogent reason for supposing that it may have been 
+Italy.  The Germans call it Rothwelsch, which signifies 'Red 
+Italian,' a name which appears to point out Italy as its 
+birthplace; and which, though by no means of sufficient importance 
+to determine the question, is strongly corroborative of the 
+supposition, when coupled with the following fact.  We have already 
+intimated, that wherever it is spoken, this speech, though composed 
+for the most part of words of the language of the particular 
+country, applied in a metaphorical sense, exhibits a considerable 
+sprinkling of foreign words; now of these words no slight number 
+are Italian or bastard Latin, whether in Germany, whether in Spain, 
+or in other countries more or less remote from Italy.  When we 
+consider the ignorance of thieves in general, their total want of 
+education, the slight knowledge which they possess even of their 
+mother tongue, it is hardly reasonable to suppose that in any 
+country they were ever capable of having recourse to foreign 
+languages, for the purpose of enriching any peculiar vocabulary or 
+phraseology which they might deem convenient to use among 
+themselves; nevertheless, by associating with foreign thieves, who 
+had either left their native country for their crimes, or from a 
+hope of reaping a rich harvest of plunder in other lands, it would 
+be easy for them to adopt a considerable number of words belonging 
+to the languages of their foreign associates, from whom perhaps 
+they derived an increase of knowledge in thievish arts of every 
+description.  At the commencement of the fifteenth century no 
+nation in Europe was at all calculated to vie with the Italian in 
+arts of any kind, whether those whose tendency was the benefit or 
+improvement of society, or those the practice of which serves to 
+injure and undermine it.  The artists and artisans of Italy were to 
+be found in all the countries of Europe, from Madrid to Moscow, and 
+so were its charlatans, its jugglers, and multitudes of its 
+children, who lived by fraud and cunning.  Therefore, when a 
+comprehensive view of the subject is taken, there appears to be 
+little improbability in supposing, that not only were the Italians 
+the originators of the metaphorical robber jargon, which has been 
+termed 'Red Italian,' but that they were mainly instrumental in 
+causing it to be adopted by the thievish race in various countries 
+of Europe.
+
+It is here, however, necessary to state, that in the robber jargon 
+of Europe, elements of another language are to be discovered, and 
+perhaps in greater number than the Italian words.  The language 
+which we allude to is the Rommany; this language has been, in 
+general, confounded with the vocabulary used among thieves, which, 
+however, is a gross error, so gross, indeed, that it is almost 
+impossible to conceive the manner in which it originated:  the 
+speech of the Gypsies being a genuine language of Oriental origin, 
+and the former little more than a phraseology of convenience, 
+founded upon particular European tongues.  It will be sufficient 
+here to remark, that the Gypsies do not understand the jargon of 
+the thieves, whilst the latter, with perhaps a few exceptions, are 
+ignorant of the language of the former.  Certain words, however, of 
+the Rommany have found admission into the said jargon, which may be 
+accounted for by the supposition that the Gypsies, being themselves 
+by birth, education, and profession, thieves of the first water, 
+have, on various occasions, formed alliances with the outlaws of 
+the various countries in which they are at present to be found, 
+which association may have produced the result above alluded to; 
+but it will be as well here to state, that in no country of Europe 
+have the Gypsies forsaken or forgotten their native tongue, and in 
+its stead adopted the 'Germania,' 'Red Italian,' or robber jargon, 
+although in some they preserve their native language in a state of 
+less purity than in others.  We are induced to make this statement 
+from an assertion of the celebrated Lorenzo Hervas, who, in the 
+third volume of his CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, trat. 3, cap. vi., p. 
+311, expresses himself to the following effect:- 'The proper 
+language of the Gitanos neither is nor can be found amongst those 
+who scattered themselves through the western kingdoms of Europe, 
+but only amongst those who remained in the eastern, where they are 
+still to be found.  The former were notably divided and disunited, 
+receiving into their body a great number of European outlaws, on 
+which account the language in question was easily adulterated and 
+soon perished.  In Spain, and also in Italy, the Gitanos have 
+totally forgotten and lost their native language; yet still wishing 
+to converse with each other in a language unknown to the Spaniards 
+and Italians, they have invented some words, and have transformed 
+many others by changing the signification which properly belongs to 
+them in Spanish and Italian.'  In proof of which assertion he then 
+exhibits a small number of words of the 'Red Italian,' or 
+allegorical tongue of the thieves of Italy.
+
+It is much to be lamented that a man like Hervas, so learned, of 
+such knowledge, and upon the whole well-earned celebrity, should 
+have helped to propagate three such flagrant errors as are 
+contained in the passages above quoted:  1st.  That the Gypsy 
+language, within a very short period after the arrival of those who 
+spoke it in the western kingdoms of Europe, became corrupted, and 
+perished by the admission of outlaws into the Gypsy fraternity.  
+2ndly.  That the Gypsies, in order to supply the loss of their 
+native tongue, invented some words, and modified others, from the 
+Spanish and Italian.  3rdly.  That the Gypsies of the present day 
+in Spain and Italy speak the allegorical robber dialect.  
+Concerning the first assertion, namely, that the Gypsies of the 
+west lost their language shortly after their arrival, by mixing 
+with the outlaws of those parts, we believe that its erroneousness 
+will be sufficiently established by the publication of the present 
+volume, which contains a dictionary of the Spanish Gitano, which we 
+have proved to be the same language in most points as that spoken 
+by the eastern tribes.  There can be no doubt that the Gypsies have 
+at various times formed alliances with the robbers of particular 
+countries, but that they ever received them in considerable numbers 
+into their fraternity, as Hervas has stated, so as to become 
+confounded with them, the evidence of our eyesight precludes the 
+possibility of believing.  If such were the fact, why do the 
+Italian and Spanish Gypsies of the present day still present 
+themselves as a distinct race, differing from the other inhabitants 
+of the west of Europe in feature, colour, and constitution?  Why 
+are they, in whatever situation and under whatever circumstances, 
+to be distinguished, like Jews, from the other children of the 
+Creator?  But it is scarcely necessary to ask such a question, or 
+indeed to state that the Gypsies of Spain and Italy have kept 
+themselves as much apart as, or at least have as little mingled 
+their blood with the Spaniards and Italians as their brethren in 
+Hungaria and Transylvania with the inhabitants of those countries, 
+on which account they still strikingly resemble them in manners, 
+customs, and appearance.  The most extraordinary assertion of 
+Hervas is perhaps his second, namely, that the Gypsies have 
+invented particular words to supply the place of others which they 
+had lost.  The absurdity of this supposition nearly induces us to 
+believe that Hervas, who has written so much and so laboriously on 
+language, was totally ignorant of the philosophy of his subject.  
+There can be no doubt, as we have before admitted, that in the 
+robber jargon, whether spoken in Spain, Italy, or England, there 
+are many words at whose etymology it is very difficult to arrive; 
+yet such a fact is no excuse for the adoption of the opinion that 
+these words are of pure invention.  A knowledge of the Rommany 
+proves satisfactorily that many have been borrowed from that 
+language, whilst many others may be traced to foreign tongues, 
+especially the Latin and Italian.  Perhaps one of the strongest 
+grounds for concluding that the origin of language was divine is 
+the fact that no instance can be adduced of the invention, we will 
+not say of a language, but even of a single word that is in use in 
+society of any kind.  Although new dialects are continually being 
+formed, it is only by a system of modification, by which roots 
+almost coeval with time itself are continually being reproduced 
+under a fresh appearance, and under new circumstances.  The third 
+assertion of Hervas, as to the Gitanos speaking the allegorical 
+language of which he exhibits specimens, is entitled to about equal 
+credence as the two former.  The truth is, that the entire store of 
+erudition of the learned Jesuit, and he doubtless was learned to a 
+remarkable degree, was derived from books, either printed or 
+manuscript.  He compared the Gypsy words in the publication of 
+Grellmann with various vocabularies, which had long been in 
+existence, of the robber jargons of Spain and Italy, which jargons 
+by a strange fatuity had ever been considered as belonging to the 
+Gypsies.  Finding that the Gypsy words of Grellmann did not at all 
+correspond with the thieves' slang, he concluded that the Gypsies 
+of Spain and Italy had forgotten their own language, and to supply 
+its place had invented the jargons aforesaid, but he never gave 
+himself the trouble to try whether the Gypsies really understood 
+the contents of his slang vocabularies; had he done so, he would 
+have found that the slang was about as unintelligible to the 
+Gypsies as he would have found the specimens of Grellmann 
+unintelligible to the thieves had he quoted those specimens to 
+them.  The Gypsies of Spain, it will be sufficient to observe, 
+speak the language of which a vocabulary is given in the present 
+work, and those of Italy who are generally to be found existing in 
+a half-savage state in the various ruined castles, relics of the 
+feudal times, with which Italy abounds, a dialect very similar, and 
+about as much corrupted.  There are, however, to be continually 
+found in Italy roving bands of Rommany, not natives of the country, 
+who make excursions from Moldavia and Hungaria to France and Italy, 
+for the purpose of plunder; and who, if they escape the hand of 
+justice, return at the expiration of two or three years to their 
+native regions, with the booty they have amassed by the practice of 
+those thievish arts, perhaps at one period peculiar to their race, 
+but at present, for the most part, known and practised by thieves 
+in general.  These bands, however, speak the pure Gypsy language, 
+with all its grammatical peculiarities.  It is evident, however, 
+that amongst neither of these classes had Hervas pushed his 
+researches, which had he done, it is probable that his 
+investigations would have resulted in a work of a far different 
+character from the confused, unsatisfactory, and incorrect details 
+of which is formed his essay on the language of the Gypsies.
+
+Having said thus much concerning the robber language in general, we 
+shall now proceed to offer some specimens of it, in order that our 
+readers may be better able to understand its principles.  We shall 
+commence with the Italian dialect, which there is reason for 
+supposing to be the prototype of the rest.  To show what it is, we 
+avail ourselves of some of the words adduced by Hervas, as 
+specimens of the language of the Gitanos of Italy.  'I place them,' 
+he observes, 'with the signification which the greater number 
+properly have in Italian.'
+
+         Robber jargon    Proper signification of
+         of Italy.        the words.
+
+Arm      { Ale            Wings
+         { Barbacane      Barbican
+Belly      Fagiana        Pheasant
+Devil      Rabuino        Perhaps RABBIN, which,
+                          in Hebrew, is Master
+Earth      Calcosa        Street, road
+Eye        Balco          Balcony
+Father     Grimo          Old, wrinkled
+Fire       Presto         Quick
+God        Anticrotto     Probably ANTICHRIST
+Hair       Prusa (73)
+         { Elmo           Helmet
+Head     { Borella (74)
+         { Chiurla (75)
+Heart      Salsa          Sauce
+Man        Osmo           From the Italian UOMO,
+                          which is man
+Moon       Mocoloso di    Wick of the firmament
+             Sant' Alto
+Night      Brunamaterna   Mother-brown
+Nose       Gambaro        Crab
+Sun        Ruffo di Sant' Red one of the firmament
+              Alto
+Tongue   { Serpentina     Serpent-like
+         { Danosa         Hurtful
+Water    { Lenza          Fishing-net
+         { Vetta (76)     Top, bud
+
+The Germania of Spain may be said to divide itself into two 
+dialects, the ancient and modern.  Of the former there exists a 
+vocabulary, published first by Juan Hidalgo, in the year 1609, at 
+Barcelona, and reprinted in Madrid, 1773.  Before noticing this 
+work, it will perhaps be advisable to endeavour to ascertain the 
+true etymology of the word Germania, which signifies the slang 
+vocabulary, or robber language of Spain.  We have no intention to 
+embarrass our readers by offering various conjectures respecting 
+its origin; its sound, coupled with its signification, affording 
+sufficient evidence that it is but a corruption of Rommany, which 
+properly denotes the speech of the Roma or Gitanos.  The thieves 
+who from time to time associated with this wandering people, and 
+acquired more or less of their language, doubtless adopted this 
+term amongst others, and, after modifying it, applied it to the 
+peculiar phraseology which, in the course of time, became prevalent 
+amongst them.  The dictionary of Hidalgo is appended to six 
+ballads, or romances, by the same author, written in the Germanian 
+dialect, in which he describes the robber life at Seville at the 
+period in which he lived.  All of these romances possess their 
+peculiar merit, and will doubtless always be considered valuable, 
+and be read as faithful pictures of scenes and habits which now no 
+longer exist.  In the prologue, the author states that his 
+principal motive for publishing a work written in so strange a 
+language was his observing the damage which resulted from an 
+ignorance of the Germania, especially to the judges and ministers 
+of justice, whose charge it is to cleanse the public from the 
+pernicious gentry who use it.  By far the greatest part of the 
+vocabulary consists of Spanish words used allegorically, which are, 
+however, intermingled with many others, most of which may be traced 
+to the Latin and Italian, others to the Sanscrit or Gitano, 
+Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and German languages. (77)  The 
+circumstances of words belonging to some of the languages last 
+enumerated being found in the Gitano, which at first may strike the 
+reader as singular, and almost incredible, will afford but slight 
+surprise, when he takes into consideration the peculiar 
+circumstances of Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth 
+centuries.  Spain was at that period the most powerful monarchy in 
+Europe; her foot reposed upon the Low Countries, whilst her 
+gigantic arms embraced a considerable portion of Italy.  
+Maintaining always a standing army in Flanders and in Italy, it 
+followed as a natural consequence, that her Miquelets and soldiers 
+became tolerably conversant with the languages of those countries; 
+and, in course of time, returning to their native land, not a few, 
+especially of the former class, a brave and intrepid, but always a 
+lawless and dissolute species of soldiery, either fell in or 
+returned to evil society, and introduced words which they had 
+learnt abroad into the robber phraseology; whilst returned galley-
+slaves from Algiers, Tunis, and Tetuan, added to its motley variety 
+of words from the relics of the broken Arabic and Turkish, which 
+they had acquired during their captivity.  The greater part of the 
+Germania, however, remained strictly metaphorical, and we are aware 
+of no better means of conveying an idea of the principle on which 
+it is formed, than by quoting from the first romance of Hidalgo, 
+where particular mention is made of this jargon:-
+
+
+'A la cama llama Blanda
+Donde Sornan en poblado
+A la Fresada Vellosa,
+Que mucho vello ha criado.
+Dice a la sabana Alba
+Porque es alba en sumo grado,
+A la camisa Carona,
+Al jubon llama apretado:
+Dice al Sayo Tapador
+Porque le lleva tapado.
+Llama a los zapatos Duros,
+Que las piedras van pisando.
+A la capa llama nuve,
+Dice al Sombrero Texado.
+Respeto llama a la Espada,
+Que por ella es respetado,' etc. etc.
+
+HIDALGO, p. 22-3.
+
+
+After these few remarks on the ancient Germania of Spain, we now 
+proceed to the modern, which differs considerably from the former.  
+The principal cause of this difference is to be attributed to the 
+adoption by the Spanish outlaws, in latter years, of a considerable 
+number of words belonging to, or modified from, the Rommany, or 
+language of the Gitanos.  The Gitanos of Spain, during the last 
+half-century, having, in a great degree, abandoned the wandering 
+habit of life which once constituted one of their most remarkable 
+peculiarities, and residing, at present, more in the cities than in 
+the fields, have come into closer contact with the great body of 
+the Spanish nation than was in former days their practice.  From 
+their living thus in towns, their language has not only undergone 
+much corruption, but has become, to a slight degree, known to the 
+dregs of society, amongst whom they reside.  The thieves' dialect 
+of the present day exhibits, therefore, less of the allegorical 
+language preserved in the pages of Hidalgo than of the Gypsy 
+tongue.  It must be remarked, however, that it is very scanty, and 
+that the whole robber phraseology at present used in Spain barely 
+amounts to two hundred words, which are utterly insufficient to 
+express the very limited ideas of the outcasts who avail themselves 
+of it.
+
+Concerning the Germania of France, or 'Argot,' as it is called, it 
+is unnecessary to make many observations, as what has been said of 
+the language of Hidalgo and the Red Italian is almost in every 
+respect applicable to it.  As early as the middle of the sixteenth 
+century a vocabulary of this jargon was published under the title 
+of LANGUE DES ESCROCS, at Paris.  Those who wish to study it as it 
+at present exists can do no better than consult LES MEMOIRES DE 
+VIDOCQ, where a multitude of words in Argot are to be found, and 
+also several songs, the subjects of which are thievish adventures.
+
+The first vocabulary of the 'Cant Language,' or English Germania, 
+appeared in the year 1680, appended to the life of THE ENGLISH 
+ROGUE, a work which, in many respects, resembles the HISTORY OF 
+GUZMAN D'ALFARACHE, though it is written with considerably more 
+genius than the Spanish novel, every chapter abounding with 
+remarkable adventures of the robber whose life it pretends to 
+narrate, and which are described with a kind of ferocious energy, 
+which, if it do not charm the attention of the reader, at least 
+enslaves it, holding it captive with a chain of iron.  Amongst his 
+other adventures, the hero falls in with a Gypsy encampment, is 
+enrolled amongst the fraternity, and is allotted a 'mort,' or 
+concubine; a barbarous festival ensues, at the conclusion of which 
+an epithalamium is sung in the Gypsy language, as it is called in 
+the work in question.  Neither the epithalamium, however, nor the 
+vocabulary, are written in the language of the English Gypsies, but 
+in the 'Cant,' or allegorical robber dialect, which is sufficient 
+proof that the writer, however well acquainted with thieves in 
+general, their customs and manners of life, was in respect to the 
+Gypsies profoundly ignorant.  His vocabulary, however, has been 
+always accepted as the speech of the English Gypsies, whereas it is 
+at most entitled to be considered as the peculiar speech of the 
+thieves and vagabonds of his time.  The cant of the present day, 
+which, though it differs in some respects from the vocabulary 
+already mentioned, is radically the same, is used not only by the 
+thieves in town and country, but by the jockeys of the racecourse 
+and the pugilists of the 'ring.' As a specimen of the cant of 
+England, we shall take the liberty of quoting the epithalamium to 
+which we have above alluded:-
+
+
+'Bing out, bien morts, and tour and tour
+Bing out, bien morts and tour;
+For all your duds are bing'd awast,
+The bien cove hath the loure. (78)
+
+'I met a dell, I viewed her well,
+She was benship to my watch:
+So she and I did stall and cloy
+Whatever we could catch.
+
+'This doxy dell can cut ben whids,
+And wap well for a win,
+And prig and cloy so benshiply,
+All daisy-ville within.
+
+'The hoyle was up, we had good luck,
+In frost for and in snow;
+Men they did seek, then we did creep
+And plant the roughman's low.'
+
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say anything more upon the Germania in 
+general or in particular; we believe that we have achieved the task 
+which we marked out for ourselves, and have conveyed to our readers 
+a clear and distinct idea of what it is.  We have shown that it has 
+been erroneously confounded with the Rommany, or Gitano language, 
+with which it has nevertheless some points of similarity.  The two 
+languages are, at the present day, used for the same purpose, 
+namely, to enable habitual breakers of the law to carry on their 
+consultations with more secrecy and privacy than by the ordinary 
+means.  Yet it must not be forgotten that the thieves' jargon was 
+invented for that purpose, whilst the Rommany, originally the 
+proper and only speech of a particular nation, has been preserved 
+from falling into entire disuse and oblivion, because adapted to 
+answer the same end.  It was impossible to treat of the Rommany in 
+a manner calculated to exhaust the subject, and to leave no ground 
+for future cavilling, without devoting a considerable space to the 
+consideration of the robber dialect, on which account we hope we 
+shall be excused many of the dry details which we have introduced 
+into the present essay.  There is a link of connection between the 
+history of the Roma, or wanderers from Hindustan, who first made 
+their appearance in Europe at the commencement of the fifteenth 
+century, and that of modern roguery.  Many of the arts which the 
+Gypsies proudly call their own, and which were perhaps at one 
+period peculiar to them, have become divulged, and are now 
+practised by the thievish gentry who infest the various European 
+states, a result which, we may assert with confidence, was brought 
+about by the alliance of the Gypsies being eagerly sought on their 
+first arrival by the thieves, who, at one period, were less skilful 
+than the former in the ways of deceit and plunder; which kind of 
+association continued and held good until the thieves had acquired 
+all they wished to learn, when they left the Gypsies in the fields 
+and plains, so dear to them from their vagabond and nomad habits, 
+and returned to the towns and cities.  Yet from this temporary 
+association were produced two results; European fraud became 
+sharpened by coming into contact with Asiatic craft, whilst 
+European tongues, by imperceptible degrees, became recruited with 
+various words (some of them wonderfully expressive), many of which 
+have long been stumbling-stocks to the philologist, who, whilst 
+stigmatising them as words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown 
+origin, has been far from dreaming that by a little more research 
+he might have traced them to the Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, or 
+perhaps to the mysterious object of his veneration, the Sanscrit, 
+the sacred tongue of the palm-covered regions of Ind; words 
+originally introduced into Europe by objects too miserable to 
+occupy for a moment his lettered attention - the despised denizens 
+of the tents of Roma.
+
+
+ON THE TERM 'BUSNO'
+
+
+Those who have done me the honour to peruse this strange wandering 
+book of mine, must frequently have noticed the word 'Busno,' a term 
+bestowed by the Spanish Gypsy on his good friend the Spaniard.  As 
+the present will probably be the last occasion which I shall have 
+to speak of the Gitanos or anything relating to them, it will 
+perhaps be advisable to explain the meaning of this word.  In the 
+vocabulary appended to former editions I have translated Busno by 
+such words as Gentile, savage, person who is not a Gypsy, and have 
+stated that it is probably connected with a certain Sanscrit noun 
+signifying an impure person.  It is, however, derived immediately 
+from a Hungarian term, exceedingly common amongst the lower orders 
+of the Magyars, to their disgrace be it spoken.  The Hungarian 
+Gypsies themselves not unfrequently style the Hungarians Busnoes, 
+in ridicule of their unceasing use of the word in question.  The 
+first Gypsies who entered Spain doubtless brought with them the 
+term from Hungary, the language of which country they probably 
+understood to a certain extent.  That it was not ill applied by 
+them in Spain no one will be disposed to deny when told that it 
+exactly corresponds with the Shibboleth of the Spaniards, 'Carajo,' 
+an oath equally common in Spain as its equivalent in Hungary.  
+Busno, therefore, in Spanish means EL DEL CARAJO, or he who has 
+that term continually in his mouth.  The Hungarian words in Spanish 
+Gypsy may amount to ten or twelve, a very inconsiderable number; 
+but the Hungarian Gypsy tongue itself, as spoken at the present 
+day, exhibits only a slight sprinkling of Hungarian words, whilst 
+it contains many words borrowed from the Wallachian, some of which 
+have found their way into Spain, and are in common use amongst the 
+Gitanos.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIMENS OF GYPSY DIALECTS
+
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+
+'TACHIPEN if I jaw 'doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch:  N'etist 
+I shan't puch kekomi wafu gorgies.'
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr. 
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at 
+my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus (79), 1842:  he 
+stayed with me during the greater part of the morning, discoursing 
+on the affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was 
+becoming daily worse and worse.  'There is no living for the poor 
+people, brother,' said he, 'the chokengres (police) pursue us from 
+place to place, and the gorgios are become either so poor or 
+miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass by the 
+wayside, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire upon.  
+Unless times alter, brother, and of that I see no probability, 
+unless you are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro (justice 
+of the peace or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons will 
+have to give up wandering altogether, and then what will become of 
+them?'
+
+'However, brother,' he continued, in a more cheerful tone, 'I am no 
+hindity mush, (80) as you well know.  I suppose you have not forgot 
+how, fifteen years ago, when you made horseshoes in the little 
+dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty 
+cottors (81) to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the 
+innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you 
+sold for two hundred.
+
+'Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred instead of the 
+fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I 
+knew you would not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush, 
+brother, no Irishman; I laid out the other day twenty pounds in 
+buying ruponoe peamengries; (82) and in the Chonggav, (83) have a 
+house of my own with a yard behind it.
+
+'AND, FORSOOTH, IF I GO THITHER, I CAN CHOOSE A PLACE TO LIGHT 
+AFIRE UPON, AND SHALL HAVE NO NECESSITY TO ASK LEAVE OF THESE HERE 
+GENTILES.'
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy 
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very 
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the 
+English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in 
+which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be 
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy 
+dialect holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken:  
+yet the English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the 
+Spanish, and still retains its original syntax to a certain extent, 
+its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and 
+pronouns.
+
+
+ENGLISH DIALECT
+
+
+Moro Dad, savo djives oteh drey o charos, te caumen Gorgio ta 
+Romany Chal tiro nav, te awel tiro tem, te kairen tiro lav aukko 
+prey puv, sar kairdios oteh drey o charos.  Dey men to-divvus moro 
+divvuskoe moro, ta for-dey men pazorrhus tukey sar men for-denna 
+len pazorrhus amande; ma muk te petrenna drey caik temptacionos; 
+ley men abri sor doschder.  Tiro se o tem, Mi-duvel, tiro o zoozlu 
+vast, tiro sor koskopen drey sor cheros.  Avali.  Ta-chipen.
+
+
+SPANISH DIALECT
+
+
+Batu monro sos socabas ote enre ye char, que camele Gacho ta Romani 
+Cha tiro nao, qu'abillele tiro chim, querese tiro lao acoi opre ye 
+puve sarta se querela ote enre ye char.  Dinanos sejonia monro 
+manro de cata chibes, ta estormenanos monrias bisauras sasta mu 
+estormenamos a monrias bisabadores; na nos meques petrar enre 
+cayque pajandia, lillanos abri de saro chungalipen.  Persos tiro 
+sinela o chim, Undevel, tiro ye silna bast, tiro saro lachipen enre 
+saro chiros.  Unga.  Chachipe.
+
+
+ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ABOVE
+
+
+OUR Father who dwellest there in heaven, may Gentile and Gypsy love 
+thy name, thy kingdom come, may they do thy word here on earth as 
+it is done there in heaven.  Give us to-day our daily bread, (84) 
+and forgive us indebted to thee as we forgive them indebted to us, 
+(85) suffer not that we fall into NO temptation, take us out from 
+all evil. (86)  Thine (87) is the kingdom my God, thine the strong 
+hand, thine all goodness in all time.  Aye.  Truth.
+
+
+HUNGARIAN DIALECT
+
+
+The following short sentences in Hungarian Gypsy, in addition to 
+the prayer to the Virgin given in the Introduction, will perhaps 
+not prove unacceptable to the reader.  In no part of the world is 
+the Gypsy tongue at the present day spoken with more purity than in 
+Hungary, (88) where it is used by the Gypsies not only when they 
+wish to be unintelligible to the Hungarians, but in their common 
+conversation amongst themselves.
+
+From these sentences the reader, by the help of the translations 
+which accompany them, may form a tolerable idea not only of what 
+the Gypsy tongue is, but of the manner in which the Hungarian 
+Gypsies think and express themselves.  They are specimens of 
+genuine Gypsy talk - sentences which I have myself heard proceed 
+from the mouths of the Czigany; they are not Busno thoughts done 
+into gentle Rommany.  Some of them are given here as they were 
+written down by me at the time, others as I have preserved them in 
+my memory up to the present moment.  It is not improbable that at 
+some future time I may return to the subject of the Hungarian 
+Gypsies.
+
+Vare tava soskei me puchelas cai soskei avillara catari.
+Mango le gulo Devlas vas o erai, hodj o erai te pirel misto, te 
+n'avel pascotia l'eras, ta na avel o erai nasvalo.
+Cana cames aves pale.
+Ki'som dhes keral avel o rai catari? (89)
+Kit somu berschengro hal tu? (90)
+Cade abri mai lachi e mol sar ando foro.
+Sin o mas balichano, ta i gorkhe garasheskri; (91) sin o manro 
+parno, cai te felo do garashangro.
+Yeck quartalli mol ando lende.
+Ande mol ote mestchibo.
+Khava piava - dui shel, tri shel predinava.
+Damen Devla saschipo ando mure cocala.
+Te rosarow labio tarraco le Mujeskey miro pralesco, ta vela mi anao 
+tukey le Mujeskey miro pralesky.
+Llundun baro foro, bishwar mai baro sar Cosvaro.
+Nani yag, mullas.
+Nasiliom cai purdiom but; besh te pansch bersch mi homas slugadhis 
+pa Baron Splini regimentos.
+Saro chiro cado Del; cavo o puro dinas o Del.
+Me camov te jav ando Buka-resti - cado Bukaresti lachico tem dur 
+drom jin keri.
+Mi hom nasvallo.
+Soskei nai jas ke baro ful-cheri?
+Wei mangue ke nani man love nastis jav.
+Belgra sho mille pu cado Cosvarri; hin oter miro chabo.
+Te vas Del l'erangue ke meclan man abri ando a pan-dibo.
+Opre rukh sarkhi ye chiriclo, ca kerel anre e chiricli.
+Ca hin tiro ker?
+Ando calo berkho, oter bin miro ker, av prala mensar; jas mengue 
+keri.
+Ando bersch dui chiro, ye ven, ta nilei.
+O felhegos del o breschino, te purdel o barbal.
+Hir mi Devlis camo but cavo erai - lacho manus o, Anglus, tama 
+rakarel Ungarica; avel catari ando urdon le trin gras-tensas - 
+beshel cate abri po buklo tan; le poivasis ando bas irinel ando 
+lel.  Bo zedun stadji ta bari barba.
+
+Much I ponder why you ask me (questions), and why you should come 
+hither.
+I pray the sweet Goddess for the gentleman, that the gentleman may 
+journey well, that misfortune come not to the gentleman, and that 
+the gentleman fall not sick.
+When you please come back.
+How many days did the gentleman take to come hither?
+How many years old are you?
+Here out better (is) the wine than in the city.
+The meat is of pig, and the gherkins cost a grosh - the bread is 
+white, and the lard costs two groshen.
+One quart of wine amongst us.
+In wine there (is) happiness.
+I will eat, I will drink - two hundred, three hundred I will place 
+before.
+Give us Goddess health in our bones.
+I will seek a waistcoat, which I have, for Moses my brother, and I 
+will change names with Moses my brother. (92)
+London (is) a big city, twenty times more big than Colosvar.
+There is no fire, it is dead.
+I have suffered and toiled much:  twenty and five years I was 
+serving in Baron Splini's regiment.
+Every time (cometh) from God; that old (age) God gave.
+I wish to go unto Bukarest - from Bukarest, the good country, (it 
+is) a far way unto (my) house.
+I am sick.
+Why do you not go to the great physician
+Because I have no money I can't go
+Belgrade (is) six miles of land from Colosvar; there is my son.
+May God help the gentlemen that they let me out (from) in the 
+prison.
+On the tree (is) the nest of the bird, where makes eggs the female 
+bird.
+Where is your house?
+In the black mountain, there is my house; come brother with me; let 
+us go to my house.
+In the year (are) two seasons, the winter and summer.
+The cloud gives the rain, and puffs (forth) the wind.
+By my God I love much that gentleman - a good man he, an 
+Englishman, but he speaks Hungarian; he came (93) hither in a 
+waggon with three horses, he sits here out in the wilderness; (94) 
+with a pencil in his hand he writes in a book.  He has a green hat 
+and a big beard.
+
+
+
+VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE
+
+
+[This section of the book could not be transcribed as it contained 
+many non-european languages]
+
+
+
+APPENDIX - MISCELLANIES IN THE GITANO LANGUAGE
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT
+
+
+
+IT is with the view of preserving as many as possible of the 
+monuments of the Spanish Gypsy tongue that the author inserts the 
+following pieces; they are for the most part, whether original or 
+translated, the productions of the 'Aficion' of Seville, of whom 
+something has been said in the Preface to the Spurious Gypsy Poetry 
+of Andalusia; not the least remarkable, however, of these pieces is 
+a genuine Gypsy composition, the translation of the Apostles' Creed 
+by the Gypsies of Cordova, made under the circumstances detailed in 
+the second part of the first volume.  To all have been affixed 
+translations, more or less literal, to assist those who may wish to 
+form some acquaintance with the Gitano language.
+
+
+COTORRES ON CHIPE CALLI / MISCELLANIES
+
+
+BATO Nonrro sos socabas on o tarpe, manjirificado quejesa tute 
+acnao; abillanos or tute sichen, y querese tute orependola andial 
+on la chen sata on o tarpe; or manrro nonrro de cata chibel 
+dinanoslo sejonia, y estormenanos nonrrias bisauras andial sata 
+gaberes estormenamos a nonrros bisaraores; y nasti nes muques 
+petrar on la bajanbo, bus listrabanos de chorre. - Anarania.
+
+FATHER Our, who dwellest in the heaven, sanctified become thy name; 
+come-to-us the thy kingdom, and be-done thy will so in the earth as 
+in the heaven; the bread our of every day give-us-it to-day, and 
+pardon-us our debts so as we-others pardon (to) our debtors; and 
+not let us fall in the temptation, but deliver-us from wickedness. 
+- Amen.
+
+Panchabo on Ostebe Bato saro-asisilable, Perbaraor de o tarpe y la 
+chen, y on Gresone desquero Beyio Chabal nonrrio Erano, sos guillo 
+sar-trujatapucherido per troecane y sardana de or Chanispero 
+Manjaro, y purelo de Manjari ostelinda debla; Bricholo ostele de or 
+asislar de Brono Alienicato; guillo trejuficao, mule y cabanao; y 
+sundilo a los casinobes, (95) y a or brodelo chibel repurelo de 
+enrre los mules, y encalomo a los otarpes, y soscabela bestique a 
+la tabastorre de Ostebe Bato saro-asisilable, ende aoter a de 
+abillar a sarplar a los Apucheris y mules.  Panchabo on or 
+Chanispero Manjaro, la Manjari Cangari Pebuldorica y Rebuldorica, 
+la Erunon de los Manjaros, or Estormen de los crejetes, la repurelo 
+de la mansenquere y la chibiben verable. - Anarania, Tebleque.
+
+I believe in God, Father all-powerful, creator of the heaven and 
+the earth, and in Christ his only Son our Lord, who went conceived 
+by deed and favour of the Spirit Holy, and born of blessed goddess 
+divine; suffered under (of) the might of Bronos Alienicatos; (96) 
+went crucified, dead and buried; and descended to the 
+conflagrations, and on the third day revived (97) from among the 
+dead, and ascended to the heavens, and dwells seated at the right-
+hand of God, Father all-powerful, from there he-has to come to 
+impeach (to) the living and dead.  I believe in the Spirit Holy, 
+the Holy Church Catholic and Apostolic, the communion of the 
+saints, the remission of the sins, the re-birth of the flesh, and 
+the life everlasting. - Amen, Jesus.
+
+
+OCANAJIMIA A LA DEBLA / PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN
+
+
+O Debla quirindia, Day de saros los Bordeles on coin panchabo:  per 
+los duquipenes sos naquelastes a or pindre de la trejul de tute 
+Chaborro majarolisimo te manguelo, Debla, me alcorabises de tute 
+chaborro or estormen de sares las dojis y crejetes sos menda 
+udicare aquerao on andoba surdete. - Anarania, Tebleque.
+
+Ostebe te berarbe Ostelinda! perdoripe sirles de sardana; or Erano 
+sin sartute; bresban tute sirles enrre sares las rumiles, y bresban 
+sin or frujero de tute po. - Tebleque.
+
+Manjari Ostelinda, day de Ostebe, brichardila per gaberes 
+crejetaores aocana y on la ocana de nonrra beriben! - Anarania, 
+Tebleque.
+
+Chimuclani or Bato, or Chabal, or Chanispero manjaro; sata sia on 
+or presimelo, aocana, y gajeres:  on los sicles de los sicles. - 
+Anarania.
+
+O most holy Virgin, Mother of all the Christians in whom I believe; 
+for the agony which thou didst endure at the foot of the cross of 
+thy most blessed Son, I entreat thee, Virgin, that thou wilt obtain 
+for me, from thy Son, the remission of all the crimes and sins 
+which I may have committed in this world. - Amen, Jesus.
+
+God save thee, Maria! full art thou of grace; the Lord is with 
+thee; blessed art thou amongst all women, and blessed is the fruit 
+of thy womb. - Jesus.
+
+Holy Maria, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour 
+of our death! - Amen, Jesus.
+
+Glory (to) the Father, the Son, (and) the Holy Ghost; as was in the 
+beginning, now, and for ever:  in the ages of the ages. - Amen.
+
+
+OR CREDO / THE CREED
+SARTA LO CHIBELARON LOS CALES DE CORDOVATI / TRANSLATED BY THE 
+GYSPIES OF CORDOVA
+
+
+Pachabelo en Un-debel batu tosaro-baro, que ha querdi el char y la 
+chique; y en Un-debel chinoro su unico chaboro erano de amangue, 
+que chalo en el trupo de la Majari por el Duquende Majoro, y abio 
+del veo de la Majari; guillo curado debajo de la sila de Pontio 
+Pilato el chinobaro; guillo mulo y garabado; se chale a las 
+jacharis; al trin chibe se ha sicobado de los mules al char; sinela 
+bejado a las baste de Un-debel barrea; y de ote abiara a juzgar a 
+los mules y a los que no lo sinelan; pachabelo en el Majaro; la 
+Cangri Majari barea; el jalar de los Majaries; lo meco de los 
+grecos; la resureccion de la maas, y la ochi que no marela.
+
+
+I believe in God the Father all-great, who has made the heaven and 
+the earth; and in God the young, his only Son, the Lord of us, who 
+went into the body of the blessed (maid) by (means of) the Holy 
+Ghost, and came out of the womb of the blessed; he was tormented 
+beneath the power of Pontius Pilate, the great Alguazil; was dead 
+and buried; he went (down) to the fires; on the third day he raised 
+himself from the dead unto the heaven; he is seated at the major 
+hand of God; and from thence he shall come to judge the dead and 
+those who are not (dead).  I believe in the blessed one; in the 
+church holy and great; the banquet of the saints; the remission of 
+sins; the resurrection of the flesh, and the life which does not 
+die.
+
+
+REJELENDRES / PROVERBS
+
+
+Or soscabela juco y terable garipe no le sin perfine anelar 
+relichi.
+Bus yes manupe cha machagarno le pendan chuchipon los brochabos.
+Sacais sos ne dicobelan calochin ne bridaquelan.
+Coin terelare trasardos e dinastes nasti le buchare berrandanas a 
+desquero contique.
+On sares las cachimanes de Sersen abillen reches.
+Bus mola yes chirriclo on la ba sos gres balogando.
+A Ostebe brichardilando y sar or mochique dinelando.
+Bus mola quesar jero de gabuno sos manpori de bombardo.
+Dicar y panchabar, sata penda Manjaro Lillar.
+Or esorjie de or narsichisle sin chismar lachinguel.
+Las queles mistos grobelas:  per macara chibel la piri y de rachi 
+la operisa.
+Aunsos me dicas vriardao de jorpoy ne sirlo braco.
+Chachipe con jujana - Calzones de buchi y medias de lana.
+Chuquel sos pirela cocal terela.
+Len sos sonsi bela pani o reblandani terela.
+
+He who is lean and has scabs needs not carry a net. (98)
+When a man goes drunk the boys say to him 'suet.' (99)
+Eyes which see not break no heart.
+He who has a roof of glass let him not fling stones at his 
+neighbour.
+Into all the taverns of Spain may reeds come.
+A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying.
+To God (be) praying and with the flail plying.
+It is worth more to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.
+To see and to believe, as Saint Thomas says.
+The extreme (100) of a dwarf is to spit largely.
+Houses well managed:- at mid-day the stew-pan, (101) and at night 
+salad.
+Although thou seest me dressed in wool I am no sheep.
+Truth with falsehood-Breeches of silk and stockings of Wool. (102)
+The dog who walks finds a bone.
+The river which makes a noise (103) has either water or stones.
+
+
+ODORES YE TILICHE / THE LOVER'S JEALOUSY
+
+
+Dica Calli sos linastes terelas, plasarandote misto men calochin 
+desquinao de trinchas punis y canrrias, sata anjella terelaba 
+dicando on los chorres naquelos sos me tesumiaste, y andial reutila 
+a men Jeli, dinela gao a sos menda orobibele; men puni sin trincha 
+per la quimbila nevel de yes manu barbalo; sos saro se muca per or 
+jandorro.  Lo sos bus prejeno Calli de los Bengorros sin sos nu 
+muqueis per yes manu barbalo. . . . On tute orchiri nu chismo, 
+tramisto on coin te araquera, sos menda terela men nostus pa avel 
+sos me camela bus sos tute.
+
+Reflect, O Callee! (104) what motives hast thou (now that my heart 
+is doting on thee, having rested awhile from so many cares and 
+griefs which formerly it endured, beholding the evil passages which 
+thou preparedst for me;) to recede thus from my love, giving 
+occasion to me to weep.  My agony is great on account of thy recent 
+acquaintance with a rich man; for every thing is abandoned for 
+money's sake.  What I most feel, O Callee, of the devils is, that 
+thou abandonest me for a rich man . . . I spit upon thy beauty, and 
+also upon him who converses with thee, for I keep my money for 
+another who loves me more than thou.
+
+
+OR PERSIBARARSE SIN CHORO / THE EVILS OF CONCUBINAGE
+
+
+Gajeres sin corbo rifian soscabar yes manu persibarao, per sos saro 
+se linbidian odoros y beslli, y per esegriton apuchelan on sardana 
+de saros los Benjes, techescando grejos y olajais - de sustiri sos 
+lo resaronomo niquilla murmo; y andial lo fendi sos terelamos de 
+querar sin techescarle yes sulibari a or Jeli, y ne panchabar on 
+caute manusardi, persos trutan a yesque lili.
+
+It is always a strange danger for a man to live in concubinage, 
+because all turns to jealousy and quarrelling, and at last they 
+live in the favour of all the devils, voiding oaths and curses:  so 
+that what is cheap turns out dear.  So the best we can do, is to 
+cast a bridle on love, and trust to no woman, for they (105) make a 
+man mad.
+
+
+LOS CHORES / THE ROBBERS
+
+
+On grejelo chiro begoreo yesque berbanilla de chores a la burda de 
+yes mostipelo a oleba rachi - Andial sos la prejenaron los cambrais 
+presimelaron a cobadrar; sar andoba linaste changano or lanbro, se 
+sustino de la charipe de lapa, utilo la pusca, y niquillo 
+platanando per or platesquero de or mostipelo a la burda sos 
+socabelaba pandi, y per or jobi de la clichi chibelo or jundro de 
+la pusca, le dino pesquibo a or langute, y le sumuquelo yes 
+bruchasno on la tesquera a or Jojerian de los ostilaores y lo 
+techesco de or grate a ostele.  Andial sos los debus quimbilos 
+dicobelaron a desquero Jojerian on chen sar las canrriales de la 
+Beriben, lo chibelaron espusifias a los grastes, y niquillaron 
+chapescando, trutando la romuy apala, per bausale de las machas o 
+almedalles de liripio.
+
+On a certain time arrived a band of thieves at the gate of a farm-
+house at midnight.  So soon as the dogs heard them they began to 
+bark, which causing (106) the labourer to awake, he raised himself 
+from his bed with a start, took his musket, and went running to the 
+court-yard of the farm-house to the gate, which was shut, placed 
+the barrel of his musket to the keyhole, gave his finger its 
+desire, (107) and sent a bullet into the forehead of the captain of 
+the robbers, casting him down from his horse.  Soon as the other 
+fellows saw their captain on the ground in the agonies of death, 
+they clapped spurs to their horses, and galloped off fleeing, 
+turning their faces back on account of the flies (108) or almonds 
+of lead.
+
+
+COTOR YE GABICOTE MAJARO / SPECIMEN OF THE GOSPEL
+OR SOS SARO LO HA CHIBADO EN CHIPE CALLI OR RANDADOR DE OCONOS 
+PAPIRIS AUNSOS NARDIAN LO HA DINADO AL SURDETE.
+FROM THE AUTHOR'S UNPUBLISHED TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
+
+
+Y soscabando dicando dico los Barbalos sos techescaban desqueros 
+mansis on or Gazofilacio; y dico tramisto yesque pispiricha 
+chorrorita, sos techescaba duis chinorris saraballis, y penelo:  en 
+chachipe os penelo, sos caba chorrorri pispiricha a techescao bus 
+sos sares los aveles:  persos saros ondobas han techescao per los 
+mansis de Ostebe, de lo sos les costuna; bus caba e desquero 
+chorrorri a techescao saro or susalo sos terelaba.  Y pendo a 
+cormunis, sos pendaban del cangaripe, soscabelaba uriardao de 
+orchiris berrandanas, y de denes:  Cabas buchis sos dicais, 
+abillaran chibeles, bus ne muquelara berrandana costune berrandana, 
+sos ne quesesa demarabea.  Y le prucharon y pendaron:  Docurdo, bus 
+quesa ondoba?  Y sos simachi abicara bus ondoba presimare?  Ondole 
+penclo:  Dicad, sos nasti queseis jonjabaos; persos butes abillaran 
+on men acnao, pendando:  man sirlo, y or chiro soscabela pajes:  
+Garabaos de guillelar apala, de ondolayos:  y bus junureis barganas 
+y sustines, ne os espajueis; persos sin perfine sos ondoba chundee 
+brotobo, bus nasti quesa escotria or egresiton.  Oclinde les 
+pendaba:  se sustinara sueste sartra sueste, y sichen sartra 
+sichen, y abicara bareles dajiros de chenes per los gaos, y 
+retreques y bocatas, y abicara buchengeres espajuis, y bareles 
+simachis de otarpe:  bus anjella de saro ondoba os sinastraran y 
+preguillaran, enregandoos a la Socreteria, y los ostardos, y os 
+legeraran a los Oclayes, y a los Baquedunis, per men acnao:  y 
+ondoba os chundeara on chachipe.  Terelad pus seraji on bros 
+garlochines de ne orobrar anjella sata abicais de brudilar, persos 
+man os dinare rotuni y chanar, la sos ne asislaran resistir ne 
+sartra pendar satos bros enormes.  Y quesareis enregaos de bros 
+batos, y opranos, y sastris, y monrrores, y queraran merar a 
+cormuni de averes; y os cangelaran saros per men acnao; bus ne 
+carjibara ies bal de bros jeros.  Sar bras opachirima avelareis 
+bras orchis:  pus bus dicareis a Jerusalen relli, oclinde chanad 
+sos, desquero petra soscabela pajes; oclinde los soscabelan on la 
+Chutea, chapesguen a los tober-jelis; y los que on macara de 
+ondolaya, niquillense; y lo sos on los oltariques, nasti enrren on 
+ondolaya; persos ondoba sen chibeles de Abillaza, pa sos chundeen 
+sares las buchis soscabelan libanas; bus isna de las araris, y de 
+las sos dinan de oropielar on asirios chibeles; persos abicara bare 
+quichartura costune la chen, e guillara pa andoba Gao; y petraran a 
+surabi de janrro; y quesan legeraos sinastros a sares las chenes, y 
+Jerusalen quesa omana de los suestiles, sasta sos quejesen los 
+chiros de las sichenes; y abicara simaches on or orcan, y on la 
+chimutia, y on las uchurganis; y on la chen chalabeo on la suete 
+per or dan sos bausalara la loria y des-queros gulas; muquelando 
+los romares bifaos per dajiralo de las buchis sos costune abillaran 
+a saro or surdete; persos los solares de los otarpes quesan sar-
+chalabeaos; y oclinde dicaran a or Chaboro e Manu abillar costune 
+yesque minrricla sar baro asislar y Chimusolano:  bus presimelaren 
+a chundear caba buchis, dicad, y sustinad bros jeros, persos pajes 
+soscabela bras redencion.
+
+And whilst looking he saw the rich who cast their treasures into 
+the treasury; and he saw also a poor widow, who cast two small 
+coins, and he said:  In truth I tell you, that this poor widow has 
+cast more than all the others; because all those have cast, as 
+offerings to God, from that which to them abounded; but she from 
+her poverty has cast all the substance which she had.  And he said 
+to some, who said of the temple, that it was adorned with fair 
+stones, and with gifts:  These things which ye see, days shall 
+come, when stone shall not remain upon stone, which shall not be 
+demolished.  And they asked him and said:  Master, when shall this 
+be? and what sign shall there be when this begins?  He said:  See, 
+that ye be not deceived, because many shall come in my name, 
+saying:  I am (he), and the time is near:  beware ye of going after 
+them:  and when ye shall hear (of) wars and revolts do not fear, 
+because it is needful that this happen first, for the end shall not 
+be immediately.  Then he said to them:  Nation shall rise against 
+nation, and country against country, and there shall be great 
+tremblings of earth among the towns, and pestilences and famines; 
+and there shall be frightful things, and great signs in the heaven:  
+but before all this they shall make ye captive, and shall 
+persecute, delivering ye over to the synagogue, and prisons; and 
+they shall carry ye to the kings, and the governors, on account of 
+my name:  and this shall happen to you for truth.  Keep then firm 
+in your hearts, not to think before how ye have to answer, for I 
+will give you mouth and wisdom, which all your enemies shall not be 
+able to resist, or contradict.  And ye shall be delivered over by 
+your fathers, and brothers, and relations, and friends, and they 
+shall put to death some of you; and all shall hate you for my name; 
+but not one hair of your heads shall perish.  With your patience ye 
+shall possess your souls:  but when ye shall see Jerusalem 
+surrounded, then know that its fall is near; then those who are in 
+Judea, let them escape to the mountains; and those who are in the 
+midst of her, let them go out; and those who are in the fields, let 
+them not enter into her; because those are days of vengeance, that 
+all the things which are written may happen; but alas to the 
+pregnant and those who give suck in those days, for there shall be 
+great distress upon the earth, and it shall move onward against 
+this people; and they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and they 
+shall be carried captive to all the countries, and Jerusalem shall 
+be trodden by the nations, until are accomplished the times of the 
+nations; and there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and 
+in the stars; and in the earth trouble of nations from the fear 
+which the sea and its billows shall cause; leaving men frozen with 
+terror of the things which shall come upon all the world; because 
+the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then they shall see 
+the Son of Man coming upon a cloud with great power and glory:  
+when these things begin to happen, look ye, and raise your heads, 
+for your redemption is near.
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
+
+
+
+'TACHIPEN if I jaw 'doi, I can lel a bit of tan to hatch:  N'etist 
+I shan't puch kekomi wafu gorgies.'
+
+The above sentence, dear reader, I heard from the mouth of Mr. 
+Petulengro, the last time that he did me the honour to visit me at 
+my poor house, which was the day after Mol-divvus, (109) 1842:  he 
+stayed with me during the greatest part of the morning, discoursing 
+on the affairs of Egypt, the aspect of which, he assured me, was 
+becoming daily worse and worse.  'There is no living for the poor 
+people, brother,' said he, 'the chok-engres (police) pursue us from 
+place to place, and the gorgios are become either so poor or 
+miserly, that they grudge our cattle a bite of grass by the way 
+side, and ourselves a yard of ground to light a fire upon.  Unless 
+times alter, brother, and of that I see no probability, unless you 
+are made either poknees or mecralliskoe geiro (justice of the peace 
+or prime minister), I am afraid the poor persons will have to give 
+up wandering altogether, and then what will become of them?
+
+'However, brother,' he continued, in a more cheerful tone, 'I am no 
+hindity mush, (110) as you well know.  I suppose you have not 
+forgot how, fifteen years ago, when you made horse-shoes in the 
+little dingle by the side of the great north road, I lent you fifty 
+cottors (111) to purchase the wonderful trotting cob of the 
+innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days after you 
+sold for two hundred.
+
+'Well, brother, if you had wanted the two hundred, instead of the 
+fifty, I could have lent them to you, and would have done so, for I 
+knew you would not be long pazorrhus to me.  I am no hindity mush, 
+brother, no Irishman; I laid out the other day twenty pounds in 
+buying rupenoe peam-engries; (112) and in the Chong-gav, (113) have 
+a house of my own with a yard behind it.
+
+'AND, FORSOOTH, IF I GO THITHER, I CAN CHOOSE A PLACE TO LIGHT A 
+FIRE UPON, AND SHALL HAVE NO NECESSITY TO ASK LEAVE OF THESE HERE 
+GENTILES.'
+
+Well, dear reader, this last is the translation of the Gypsy 
+sentence which heads the chapter, and which is a very 
+characteristic specimen of the general way of speaking of the 
+English Gypsies.
+
+The language, as they generally speak it, is a broken jargon, in 
+which few of the grammatical peculiarities of the Rommany are to be 
+distinguished.  In fact, what has been said of the Spanish Gypsy 
+dialect holds good with respect to the English as commonly spoken:  
+yet the English dialect has in reality suffered much less than the 
+Spanish, and still retains its original syntax to a certain extent, 
+its peculiar manner of conjugating verbs, and declining nouns and 
+pronouns.  I must, however, qualify this last assertion, by 
+observing that in the genuine Rommany there are no prepositions, 
+but, on the contrary, post-positions; now, in the case of the 
+English dialect, these post-positions have been lost, and their 
+want, with the exception of the genitive, has been supplied with 
+English prepositions, as may be seen by a short example:-
+
+
+Hungarian Gypsy.(114) English Gypsy.    English.
+Job                   Yow               He
+Leste                 Leste             Of him
+Las                   Las               To him
+Les                   Los               Him
+Lester                From leste        From him
+Leha                  With leste        With him
+
+PLURAL.
+
+Hungarian Gypsy     English Gypsy.    English
+Jole                Yaun              They
+Lente               Lente             Of them
+Len                 Len               To them
+Len                 Len               Them
+Lender              From Lende        From them
+
+The following comparison of words selected at random from the 
+English and Spanish dialects of the Rommany will, perhaps, not be 
+uninteresting to the philologist or even to the general reader.  
+Could a doubt be at present entertained that the Gypsy language is 
+virtually the same in all parts of the world where it is spoken, I 
+conceive that such a vocabulary would at once remove it.
+
+
+          English Gypsy.       Spanish Gypsy.
+Ant       Cria                 Crianse
+Bread     Morro                Manro
+City      Forus                Foros
+Dead      Mulo                 Mulo
+Enough    Dosta                Dosta
+Fish      Matcho               Macho
+Great     Boro                 Baro
+House     Ker                  Quer
+Iron      Saster               Sas
+King      Krallis              Cralis
+Love(I)   Camova               Camelo
+Moon      Tchun                Chimutra
+Night     Rarde                Rati
+Onion     Purrum               Porumia
+Poison    Drav                 Drao
+Quick     Sig                  Sigo
+Rain      Brishindo            Brejindal
+Sunday    Koorokey             Curque
+Teeth     Danor                Dani
+Village   Gav                  Gao
+White     Pauno                Parno
+Yes       Avali                Ungale
+
+As specimens of how the English dialect maybe written, the 
+following translations of the Lord's Prayer and Belief will perhaps 
+suffice.
+
+
+THE LORD'S PRAYER
+
+
+Miry dad, odoi oprey adrey tiro tatcho tan; Medeveleskoe si tiro 
+nav; awel tiro tem, be kairdo tiro lav acoi drey pov sa odoi adrey 
+kosgo tan:  dey mande ke-divvus miry diry morro, ta fordel man sor 
+so me pazzorrus tute, sa me fordel sor so wavior mushor pazzorrus 
+amande; ma riggur man adrey kek dosch, ley man abri sor wafodu; 
+tiro se o tem, tiro or zoozli-wast, tiro or corauni, kanaw ta ever-
+komi.  Avali.  Tatchipen.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+My Father, yonder up within thy good place; god-like be thy name; 
+come thy kingdom, be done thy word here in earth as yonder in good 
+place.  Give to me to-day my dear bread, and forgive me all that I 
+am indebted to thee, as I forgive all that other men are indebted 
+to me; not lead me into any ill; take me out (of) all evil; thine 
+is the kingdom, thine the strong hand, thine the crown, now and 
+evermore.  Yea.  Truth.
+
+
+THE BELIEF
+
+
+Me apasavenna drey mi-dovvel, Dad soro-ruslo, savo kedas charvus ta 
+pov:  apasavenna drey olescro yeck chavo moro arauno Christos, lias 
+medeveleskoe Baval-engro, beano of wendror of medeveleskoe gairy 
+Mary:  kurredo tuley me-cralliskoe geiro Pontius Pilaten wast; 
+nasko pre rukh, moreno, chivios adrey o hev; jas yov tuley o kalo 
+dron ke wafudo tan, bengeskoe stariben; jongorasa o trito divvus, 
+atchasa opre to tatcho tan, Mi-dovvels kair; bestela kanaw odoi pre 
+Mi-dovvels tacho wast Dad soro-boro; ava sig to lel shoonaben opre 
+mestepen and merripen.  Apasa-venna en develeskoe Baval-engro; Boro 
+develeskoe congri, develeskoe pios of sore tacho foky ketteney, 
+soror wafudu-penes fordias, soror mulor jongorella, kek merella 
+apopli.  Avali, palor.
+
+
+LITERAL TRANSLATION
+
+
+I believe in my God, Father all powerful, who made heaven and 
+earth; I believe in his one Son our Lord Christ, conceived by Holy 
+Ghost, (117) born of bowels of Holy Virgin Mary, beaten under the 
+royal governor Pontius Pilate's hand; hung on a tree, slain, put 
+into the grave; went he down the black road to bad place, the 
+devil's prison; he awaked the third day, ascended up to good place, 
+my God's house; sits now there on my God's right hand Father-all-
+powerful; shall come soon to hold judgment over life and death.  I 
+believe in Holy Ghost; Great Holy Church, Holy festival of all good 
+people together, all sins forgiveness, that all dead arise, no more 
+die again.  Yea, brothers.
+
+
+SPECIMEN OF A SONG IN THE VULGAR OR BROKEN ROMMANY
+
+
+As I was a jawing to the gav yeck divvus,
+I met on the dron miro Rommany chi:
+I puch'd yoi whether she com sar mande;
+And she penn'd:  tu si wafo Rommany,
+
+And I penn'd, I shall ker tu miro tacho Rommany,
+Fornigh tute but dui chave:
+Methinks I'll cam tute for miro merripen,
+If tu but pen, thou wilt commo sar mande.
+
+
+TRANSLATION
+
+
+One day as I was going to the village,
+I met on the road my Rommany lass:
+I ask'd her whether she would come with me,
+And she said thou hast another wife.
+
+I said, I will make thee my lawful wife,
+Because thou hast but two children;
+Methinks I will love thee until my death,
+If thou but say thou wilt come with me.
+
+Many other specimens of the English Gypsy muse might be here 
+adduced; it is probable, however, that the above will have fully 
+satisfied the curiosity of the reader.  It has been inserted here 
+for the purpose of showing that the Gypsies have songs in their own 
+language, a fact which has been denied.  In its metre it resembles 
+the ancient Sclavonian ballads, with which it has another feature 
+in common - the absence of rhyme.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+(1) QUARTERLY REVIEW, Dec. 1842
+
+(2) EDINBURGH REVIEW, Feb. 1843.
+
+(3) EXAMINER, Dec. 17, 1842.
+
+(4) SPECTATOR, Dec. 7, 1842.
+
+(5) Thou speakest well, brother!
+
+(6) This is quite a mistake:  I know very little of what has been 
+written concerning these people:  even the work of Grellmann had 
+not come beneath my perusal at the time of the publication of the 
+first edition OF THE ZINCALI, which I certainly do not regret:  for 
+though I believe the learned German to be quite right in his theory 
+with respect to the origin of the Gypsies, his acquaintance with 
+their character, habits, and peculiarities, seems to have been 
+extremely limited.
+
+(7) Good day.
+
+(8) Glandered horse.
+
+(9) Two brothers.
+
+(10) The edition here referred to has long since been out of print.
+
+(11) It may not be amiss to give the etymology of the word engro, 
+which so frequently occurs in compound words in the English Gypsy 
+tongue:- the EN properly belongs to the preceding noun, being one 
+of the forms of the genitive case; for example, Elik-EN boro 
+congry, the great Church or Cathedral of Ely; the GRO or GEIRO 
+(Spanish GUERO), is the Sanscrit KAR, a particle much used in that 
+language in the formation of compounds; I need scarcely add that 
+MONGER in the English words Costermonger, Ironmonger, etc., is 
+derived from the same root.
+
+(12) For the knowledge of this fact I am indebted to the well-known 
+and enterprising traveller, Mr. Vigne, whose highly interesting 
+work on Cashmire and the Panjab requires no recommendation from me.
+
+(13) Gorgio (Spanish GACHO), a man who is not a Gypsy:  the Spanish 
+Gypsies term the Gentiles Busne, the meaning of which word will be 
+explained farther on.
+
+(14) An Eastern image tantamount to the taking away of life.
+
+(15) Gentes non multum morigeratae, sed quasi bruta animalia et 
+furentes.  See vol. xxii. of the Supplement to the works of 
+Muratori, p. 890.
+
+(16) As quoted by Hervas:  CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, vol. iii. p. 
+306.
+
+(17) We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and 
+Spanish; it runs thus in the former language:-
+
+'LAS MUCHIS.  (The Sparks.)
+
+'Bus de gres chabalas orchiris man dique a yes chiro purelar 
+sistilias sata rujias, y or sisli carjibal dinando trutas 
+discandas.
+
+(18) In the above little tale the writer confesses that there are 
+many things purely imaginary; the most material point, however, the 
+attempt to sack the town during the pestilence, which was defeated 
+by the courage and activity of an individual, rests on historical 
+evidence the most satisfactory.  It is thus mentioned in the work 
+of Francisco de Cordova (he was surnamed Cordova from having been 
+for many years canon in that city):-
+
+'Annis praeteritis Iuliobrigam urbem, vulgo Logrono, pestilenti 
+laborantem morbo, et hominibus vacuam invadere hi ac diripere 
+tentarunt, perfecissentque ni Dens O. M. cuiusdam BIBLIOPOLAE 
+opera, in corum, capita, quam urbi moliebantur perniciem 
+avertisset.'  DIDASCALIA, Lugduni, 1615, I vol. 8VO. p. 405, cap. 
+50.
+
+(19) Yet notwithstanding that we refuse credit to these particular 
+narrations of Quinones and Fajardo, acts of cannibalism may 
+certainly have been perpetrated by the Gitanos of Spain in ancient 
+times, when they were for the most part semi-savages living amongst 
+mountains and deserts, where food was hard to be procured:  famine 
+may have occasionally compelled them to prey on human flesh, as it 
+has in modern times compelled people far more civilised than 
+wandering Gypsies.
+
+(20) England.
+
+(21) Spain.
+
+(22) MITHRIDATES:  erster Theil, s. 241.
+
+(23) Torreblanca:  DE MAGIA, 1678.
+
+(24) Exodus, chap. xiii. v. 9.  'And it shall be for a sign unto 
+thee upon thy hand.' Eng.  Trans.
+
+(25) No chapter in the book of Job contains any such verse.
+
+(26) 'And the children of Israel went out with an high hand.'  
+Exodus, chap. xiv. v. 8. Eng.  Trans.
+
+(27) No such verse is to be found in the book mentioned.
+
+(28) Prov., chap. vii. vers. 11, 12.  'She is loud and stubborn; 
+her feet abide not in her house.  Now is she without, now in the 
+streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.'  Eng. Trans.
+
+(29) HISTORIA DE ALONSO, MOZO DE MUCHOS AMOS:  or, the story of 
+Alonso, servant of many masters; an entertaining novel, written in 
+the seventeenth century, by Geronimo of Alcala, from which some 
+extracts were given in the first edition of the present work.
+
+(30) O Ali! O Mahomet! - God is God! - A Turkish war-cry.
+
+(31) Gen. xlix. 22.
+
+(32) In the original there is a play on words. - It is not 
+necessary to enter into particulars farther than to observe that in 
+the Hebrew language 'ain' means a well, and likewise an eye.
+
+(33) Gen. xlviii. 16.  In the English version the exact sense of 
+the inspired original is not conveyed.  The descendants of Joseph 
+are to increase like fish.
+
+(34) Exodus, chap. xii. v. 37, 38.
+
+(35) Quinones, p. 11.
+
+(36) The writer will by no means answer for the truth of these 
+statements respecting Gypsy marriages.
+
+(37) This statement is incorrect.
+
+(38) The Torlaquis (idle vagabonds), Hadgies (saints), and 
+Dervishes (mendicant friars) of the East, are Gypsies neither by 
+origin nor habits, but are in general people who support themselves 
+in idleness by practising upon the credulity and superstition of 
+the Moslems.
+
+(39) In the Moorish Arabic, [Arabic text which cannot be 
+reproduced] - or reus al haramin, the literal meaning being, 'heads 
+or captains of thieves.'
+
+(40) A favourite saying amongst this class of people is the 
+following:  'Es preciso que cada uno coma de su oficio'; I.E. every 
+one must live by his trade.
+
+(41) For the above well-drawn character of Charles the Third I am 
+indebted to the pen of Louis de Usoz y Rio, my coadjutor in the 
+editing of the New Testament in Spanish (Madrid, 1837).  For a 
+further account of this gentleman, the reader is referred to THE 
+BIBLE IN SPAIN, preface, p. xxii.
+
+(42) Steal a horse.
+
+(43) The lame devil:  Asmodeus.
+
+(44) Rinconete and Cortadillo.
+
+(45) The great river, or Guadalquiver.
+
+(46) A fountain in Paradise.
+
+(47) A Gypsy word signifying 'exceeding much.'
+
+(48) 'Lengua muy cerrada.'
+
+(49) 'No camelo ser eray, es Calo mi nacimiento;
+No camelo ser eray, eon ser Cale me contento.'
+
+(50) Armed partisans, or guerillas on horseback:  they waged a war 
+of extermination against the French, but at the same time plundered 
+their countrymen without scruple.
+
+(51) The Basques speak a Tartar dialect which strikingly resembles 
+the Mongolian and the Mandchou.
+
+(52) A small nation or rather sect of contrabandistas, who inhabit 
+the valley of Pas amidst the mountains of Santander; they carry 
+long sticks, in the handling of which they are unequalled.  Armed 
+with one of these sticks, a smuggler of Pas has been known to beat 
+off two mounted dragoons.
+
+(53) The hostess, Maria Diaz, and her son Joan Jose Lopez, were 
+present when the outcast uttered these prophetic words.
+
+(54) Eodem anno precipue fuit pestis seu mortalitas Forlivio.
+
+(55) This work is styled HISTORIA DE LOS GITANOS, by J. M-, 
+published at Barcelona in the year 1832; it consists of ninety-
+three very small and scantily furnished pages.  Its chief, we might 
+say its only merit, is the style, which is fluent and easy.  The 
+writer is a theorist, and sacrifices truth and probability to the 
+shrine of one idea, and that one of the most absurd that ever 
+entered the head of an individual.  He endeavours to persuade his 
+readers that the Gitanos are the descendants of the Moors, and the 
+greatest part of his work is a history of those Africans, from the 
+time of their arrival in the Peninsula till their expatriation by 
+Philip the Third.  The Gitanos he supposes to be various tribes of 
+wandering Moors, who baffled pursuit amidst the fastnesses of the 
+hills; he denies that they are of the same origin as the Gypsies, 
+Bohemians, etc., of other lands, though he does not back his denial 
+by any proofs, and is confessedly ignorant of the Gitano language, 
+the grand criterion.
+
+(56) A Russian word signifying beans.
+
+(57) The term for poisoning swine in English Gypsy is DRABBING 
+BAWLOR.
+
+(58) Por medio de chalanerias.
+
+(59) The English.
+
+(60) These words are very ancient, and were, perhaps, used by the 
+earliest Spanish Gypsies; they differ much from the language of the 
+present day, and are quite unintelligible to the modern Gitanos.
+
+(61) It was speedily prohibited, together with the Basque gospel; 
+by a royal ordonnance, however, which appeared in the Gazette of 
+Madrid, in August 1838, every public library in the kingdom was 
+empowered to purchase two copies in both languages, as the works in 
+question were allowed to possess some merit IN A LITERARY POINT OF 
+VIEW.  For a particular account of the Basque translation, and also 
+some remarks on the Euscarra language, the reader is referred to 
+THE BIBLE IN SPAIN, vol. ii. p. 385-398.
+
+(62) Steal me, Gypsy.
+
+(63) A species of gendarme or armed policeman.  The Miquelets have 
+existed in Spain for upwards of two hundred years.  They are called 
+Miquelets, from the name of their original leader.  They are 
+generally Aragonese by nation, and reclaimed robbers.
+
+(64) Those who may be desirous of perusing the originals of the 
+following rhymes should consult former editions of this work.
+
+(65) For the original, see other editions.
+
+(66) For this information concerning Palmireno, and also for a 
+sight of the somewhat rare volume written by him, the author was 
+indebted to a kind friend, a native of Spain.
+
+(67) A very unfair inference; that some of the Gypsies did not 
+understand the author when he spoke Romaic, was no proof that their 
+own private language was a feigned one, invented for thievish 
+purposes.
+
+(68) Of all these, the most terrible, and whose sway endured for 
+the longest period, were the Mongols, as they were called:  few, 
+however, of his original Mongolian warriors followed Timour in the 
+invasion of India.  His armies latterly appear to have consisted 
+chiefly of Turcomans and Persians.  It was to obtain popularity 
+amongst these soldiery that he abandoned his old religion, a kind 
+of fetish, or sorcery, and became a Mahometan.
+
+(69) As quoted by Adelung, MITHRIDATES, vol. i.
+
+(70) Mithridates.
+
+(70) For example, in the HISTORIA DE LOS GITANOS, of which we have 
+had occasion to speak in the first part of the present work:  
+amongst other things the author says, p. 95, 'If there exist any 
+similitude of customs between the Gitanos and the Gypsies, the 
+Zigeuners, the Zingari, and the Bohemians, they (the Gitanos) 
+cannot, however, be confounded with these nomad castes, nor the 
+same origin be attributed to them; . . . all that we shall find in 
+common between these people will be, that the one (the Gypsies, 
+etc.) arrived fugitives from the heart of Asia by the steppes of 
+Tartary, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, while the 
+Gitanos, descended from the Arab or Morisco tribes, came from the 
+coast of Africa as conquerors at the beginning of the eighth.'
+
+He gets rid of any evidence with respect to the origin of the 
+Gitanos which their language might be capable of affording in the 
+following summary manner:  'As to the particular jargon which they 
+use, any investigation which people might pretend to make would be 
+quite useless; in the first place, on account of the reserve which 
+they exhibit on this point; and secondly, because, in the event of 
+some being found sufficiently communicative, the information which 
+they could impart would lead to no advantageous result, owing to 
+their extreme ignorance.'
+
+It is scarcely worth while to offer a remark on reasoning which 
+could only emanate from an understanding of the very lowest order, 
+- so the Gitanos are so extremely ignorant, that however frank they 
+might wish to be, they would be unable to tell the curious inquirer 
+the names for bread and water, meat and salt, in their own peculiar 
+tongue - for, assuredly, had they sense enough to afford that 
+slight quantum of information, it would lead to two very 
+advantageous results, by proving, first, that they spoke the same 
+language as the Gypsies, etc., and were consequently the same 
+people - and secondly, that they came not from the coast of 
+Northern Africa, where only Arabic and Shillah are spoken, but from 
+the heart of Asia, three words of the four being pure Sanscrit.
+
+(72) As given in the MITHRIDATES of Adelung.
+
+(73) Possibly from the Russian BOLOSS, which has the same 
+signification.
+
+(74) Basque, BURUA.
+
+(75) Sanscrit, SCHIRRA.
+
+(76) These two words, which Hervas supposes to be Italian used in 
+an improper sense, are probably of quite another origin.  LEN, in 
+Gitano, signifies 'river,' whilst VADI in Russian is equivalent to 
+water.
+
+(77) It is not our intention to weary the reader with prolix 
+specimens; nevertheless, in corroboration of what we have asserted, 
+we shall take the liberty of offering a few.  Piar, to drink, (p. 
+188,) is Sanscrit, PIAVA.  Basilea, gallows, (p. 158,) is Russian, 
+BECILITZ.  Caramo, wine, and gurapo, galley, (pp. 162, 176,) 
+Arabic, HARAM (which literally signifies that which is forbidden) 
+and GRAB.  Iza, (p. 179,) harlot, Turkish, KIZE.  Harton, bread, 
+(p. 177,) Greek, ARTOS.  Guido, good, and hurgamandera, harlot, 
+(pp. 177, 178,) German, GUT and HURE.  Tiple, wine, (p. 197,) is 
+the same as the English word tipple, Gypsy, TAPILLAR.
+
+(78) This word is pure Wallachian ([Greek text which cannot be 
+reproduced]), and was brought by the Gypsies into England; it means 
+'booty,' or what is called in the present cant language, 'swag.'  
+The Gypsies call booty 'louripen.'
+
+(79) Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+(80) Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+(81) Guineas.
+
+(82) Silver teapots.
+
+(83) The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+(84) In the Spanish Gypsy version, 'our bread of each day.'
+
+(85) Span., 'forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.'
+
+(86) Eng., 'all evil FROM'; Span., 'from all ugliness.'
+
+(87) Span., 'for thine.'
+
+(88) By Hungary is here meant not only Hungary proper, but 
+Transylvania.
+
+(89) How many days made come the gentleman hither.
+
+(90) How many-year fellow are you.
+
+(91) Of a grosh.
+
+(92) My name shall be to you for Moses my brother.
+
+(93) Comes.
+
+(94) Empty place.
+
+(95) V. CASINOBEN in Lexicon.
+
+(96) By these two words, Pontius Pilate is represented, but whence 
+they are derived I know not.
+
+(97) Reborn.
+
+(98) Poverty is always avoided.
+
+(99) A drunkard reduces himself to the condition of a hog.
+
+(100) The most he can do.
+
+(101) The puchero, or pan of glazed earth, in which bacon, beef, 
+and garbanzos are stewed.
+
+(102) Truth contrasts strangely with falsehood; this is a genuine 
+Gypsy proverb, as are the two which follow; it is repeated 
+throughout Spain WITHOUT BEING UNDERSTOOD.
+
+(103) In the original WEARS A MOUTH; the meaning is, ask nothing, 
+gain nothing.
+
+(104) Female Gypsy,
+
+(105) Women UNDERSTOOD.
+
+(106) With that motive awoke the labourer.  ORIG.
+
+(107) Gave its pleasure to the finger, I.E. his finger was itching 
+to draw the trigger, and he humoured it.
+
+(108) They feared the shot and slugs, which are compared, and not 
+badly, to flies and almonds.
+
+(109) Christmas, literally Wine-day.
+
+(110) Irishman or beggar, literally a dirty squalid person.
+
+(111) Guineas.
+
+(114) Silver tea-pots.
+
+(115) The Gypsy word for a certain town.
+
+(116) As given by Grellmann.
+
+(117) The English Gypsies having, in their dialect, no other term 
+for ghost than mulo, which simply means a dead person, I have been 
+obliged to substitute a compound word.  Bavalengro signifies 
+literally a wind thing, or FORM OF AIR.
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg eText The Gypsies of Spain
+The Zincali by George Borrow
+
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