Colonel Harriot on the Oriental Origin of the Gypseys. 5Q5 



and sent for them to Kabul, the northernmost province of Hindustan ;* 

 thence they derive their origin and name, with their swarthy features, dark 

 eyes, and ebon hair. From Persia they were subsequently scattered over 

 Syria, and Egypt. 



This account is so ingenious, and at the same time probable, that I 

 cannot but credit the narration, which, from its simplicity, satisfies me 

 much more than the detailed etymology given by the Persian MuUa to Sir 

 John Chardin of the same subject, a hundred and fifty years ago. My rea- 

 son for yielding an assent to the present poet laureate, Fateh Ali-Khan's 

 narrative, is, that the Nat', of India, leads the same wandering life 

 there, which the Kauli does in Persia, and the Gi/psey in Europe. In each 

 of these countries, they had, and still have, the same unsettled, roving, and 

 apparently idle habits ; they practise the same feats of dexterity,t the same 

 arts of music, dancing, and palmistry; and the na.me of Kauli, which some 

 well informed men derive, by an easy change of the labials v and b, from 

 Kabul, and adjectively Kabul!, indicates even the province of India whence 

 their emigration commenced. 



In Belochistan, a province bordering upon the river Indus, and forming 

 the south-east boundary of Persia, there is at present a similar tribe, also 

 called Luri, a corruption of Luli, or rather vice versa. Tiiey are described 

 as being fond of a wandering life, devoid of controul, indolent, and thievish. 



* Sir John Malcolm, in his History of Persia, cites a MS. Persian history, A.D. 420, called 

 Zinatu't Tavanhh, and observes, — it was under Bahram-Gur, that minstrels and musicians 

 were first introduced into that kingdom to the number of twelve thousand. Sir John is of 

 opinion there were always a few of this class in Persia, but that since the days of Bahram 

 they have abounded ; adding, " it is a curious fact, that the dancing and singing girls of Persia 

 are termed Aaou/ee, a corruption of Cabuli, Cabul." Vide Vol. I. p. 117. 



f Juvenal, enumerating the fortune-tellers and astrologers who frequented Italy in the first 

 and second centuries of the Christian era, mentions distinctly the Phrygian and Indian juggler: 



frontemque, manumque 



Praebebit, voti crebrum poppysmo roganti. 



Divitibus responsa dabit Phryx augur et Indus 



Conductus ; dabit astrorum mundique peritus. — Sal. 6. v. 582. 

 The Minstrel, Jungleur, Jogeleur, Juggler of France and of England exercised the same arts, 

 and may possibly have the same eastern origin, although the era is too distant to trace any more 

 immediate connection than the following : — 



Merry is it in hall, to hear the harpe, 



The mynstrelles synge, the jogeleurs carpe.— .4</am i)atiiV, A.D. I3I2. 



A lousy jogeleur can deceive the. 



And parde, yet can I more craft than he Chaucer, Friar's Tales. 



Vol. II. 3 Y 



