230 WATURAL HISTORY 
very name they brought with them from the Le. 
vant? It would be matter of some curiosity, could 
one meet with an intelligent person among them, 
to inquire whether, in their jargon, they still retain 
any Greek words: the Greek radicals will appear 
in hand, foot, head, water, earth, &c. It is possi- 
ble that, amid their cant and corrupted dialect, 
many mutilated remains of their native language 
might still be discovered. 
With regard to those peculiar people, the gipsies, 
one thing is very remarkable, especially as they 
came from warmer climates; and that is, that while 
other beggars lodge in barns, stables, and cow- 
houses, these sturdy savages seem to pride them. 
selves in braving the severities of winter, and in 
living sub dio the whole year round. Last Septem- 
ber was as wet a month as ever was known; and 
yet, during those deluges, did a young gipsy girl 
lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the 
cold ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a 
blanket extended on a few hazel rods, bent hoop 
fashion and stuck into the earth at each end, in cir- 
cumstances too trying for a cow in the same con- 
dition: yet within this garden there was a large 
hop-kiln, into the chambers of which she might 
have retired had she thought shelter an object wor- 
thy her attention. 
Europe itself, it seems, cannot set bounds to the 
rovings of these vagabonds ; for Mr. Bell, in his 
return from Peking, met a gang of these people on 
the confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to 
penetrate those deserts and try their fortune in 
China.* 
* See Bety’s Travelsin China, 
