542 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Of this word rom we shall have more to say. It may be observed that 

 there are in the Indian Bom certain distinctly marked and degrading 

 features, characteristic of the Euro^Dean gypsy, which are out of keep- 

 ing with the habits of warriors, and of a daring Aryan race which 

 withstood the Caliphs. Grubbing in filth as if by instinct, handling 

 corpses, making baskets, eating carrion, living for drunkenness, does 

 not agree with anything we can learn of the J fits. Yet the European 

 gypsies are all this, and at the same time " horsey " like the Jats. Is 

 it not extremely probable that during the " out-wandering " the Dom 

 communicated his name and habits to his fellow emigrants ? 



The marked musical talent characteristic of the Slavonian and 

 other European gypsies appears to link them with the Luri of Persia. 

 These are distinctly gypsies ; that is to say, they are wanderers, 

 thieves, fortune-tellers, and minstrels. The " Shah-Nameh " of Firdusi 

 tells us that about the year 420 a. d., Shankal, the Maharajah of India, 

 sent to Behram Gour, a ruler of the Sassanian dynasty in Persia, ten 

 thousand minstrels, male and female, called Luri. Though lands were 

 allotted to them, with corn and cattle, they became from the beginning 

 irreclaimable vagabonds. Of their descendants, as they now exist. Sir 

 Henry Pottinger says ("Travels in Beloochistan and Scinde," p. 

 153) : " They bear a marked affinity to the gypsies of Europe. They 

 speak a dialect peculiar to themselves, have a king to each troupe, and 

 are notorious for kidnapping and pilfering. Their principal pastimes 

 are drinking, dancing, and music. . . . They are invariably attended 

 by half a dozen bears and monkeys that are broke in to perform all 

 manner of grotesque tricks. In each company there are always two 

 or three members who profess .... modes of divining which procure 

 them a ready admission into every society." This account, especially 

 with the mention of trained bears and monkeys, identifies them with 

 the Ricinari, or bear-leading gypsies of Syria (also called Niiri), Tur- 

 key, and Roumania. A party of these lately came to England. We 

 have seen these Syrian Ricinari in Egypt. They are unquestionably 

 gypsies, and it is probable that many of them accompanied the early 

 migration of Jats and Doms. 



The Nats or Nuts are Indian wanderers, who, as Dr. J. Forbes "Wat- 

 son declares, in the " The People of India," " correspond to the Euro- 

 pean gypsy tribes," and were in their origin probably identical with the 

 Luri. They are musicians, dancers, conjurers, acrobats, fortune-tellers, 

 blacksmiths, robbers, and dwellers in tents. They eat everything, ex- 

 cept garlic. There are also in India the Banjari, who are spoken of 

 by travelers as " gypsies." They are traveling merchants or peddlers. 

 Among all of these wanderers there is a current slang of the roads, as 

 in England. This slang extends even into Persia. Each tribe has its 

 own, but the general name for it is Horn. 



It has never been pointed out, however, that there is in Northern 

 and Central India a distinct tribe, which is regarded even by the Nuts 



