THE WANDERERS. 287 



A substantial covered cart, which stood near, was the storehouse 

 for most of the goods and chattels of the tribe, when engaged in 

 locomotion. The wofully lank shoulders of the jackass were, no 

 doubt, aiding and abetting in all such cases. 



A light travelling apparatus for touching up the Pindaric razors 

 of such luckless boors as sawed off their beards on the sabbath, 

 was the only apparent implement of industry : and this might 

 be considered merely ostensible, for it bore few marks of being- 

 used. 



Horse dealing and thieving are the legitimate avocations of the 

 masculine part of these vagrants . The softer sex does the cookery, 

 washing, and mending; whilst the finances may be, now and 

 then, amended by a little palmistry, and by breaking the eighth 

 commandment in a small way. 



The men were all absent at the time of our visit, pursuing the 

 lawful part of their calling, as we were told; but more probably 

 endeavouring to soothe the boisterous ejaculations of a purloined 

 pig, or to twist off the head of an errant gander, which might well 

 hiss most lustily as the phantom of a bubbling soup-pot cast its 

 shadow before. 



The group consisted of a great-grandmother, grandmother, three 

 or four mothers, and a. numerous litter of young ones. A hun- 

 dred and two summers had deeply bronzed the countenance of 

 the venerable parent, and time had plouged it with as many fur- 

 rows as she could number years : the veins stood out, in strong 

 relief, from her fleshless hands, like blackened whip cord tightly 

 stretched on the leather of an old saddle. Yet she did not seem 

 to be bowed down by the weight of her years, nor to be labouring 

 under any particular infirmity : her carriage was as upright as 

 that of her grand-daughters, and her voice, though neither strong 

 nor musical, was sonorous, clear, and solemn, like the tone of a 

 prophetess. As she poured forth old saws and the proverbs of 

 our ancestors, there was a dignity in her manner and a reverence 

 in her expression which could not fail to fix the attention of her 

 listeners. 



The utmost respect and tenderness were evinced towards this 

 withered old woman. It was a severe comment on civilized so- 

 ciety to see these half savage wanderers exercise that filial affec- 

 tion which is so often lost sight of by their better informed fellow 

 beings. 



The grandmother might have been about sixty, and occupied 

 herself in directing the culinary operations, supplying the fire 

 with fuel, looking after the children, and vigorously smoking her 

 oft-replenished pipe, the stem of which was not more than three 

 inches long; and, by antiquity of usage, had acquired a coal 

 black hue ; one of the girls sm.oked also, but the bowl of her 

 pipe was large, enamelled, and decorated with a silver lid- and 

 numerous tinkling chains, rings, &c. 



The children were healthy in appearance, and seemed abounding 

 in happiness, not a little of which might have resulted from their 



