Journey from Vienna. 



forge?, the minerals which they had prepared. It gave me 

 to see buildings and establishments in ruins, the multiplicity 

 of which attest the inherent riches of the soil. All the im- 

 plements for pounding and stamping with belong to the state ; 

 their number is pretty considerable, and their clattering, in a 

 sort of cadence, helps to break through the solitude of the valley 

 wherein we seem to be secluded from the world, livery where I 

 met with miners reduced to poverty, whose pale figure and 

 particular dress, most commonly covered with mud, strongly 

 attracted my sympathy. From their earliest years they have 

 been habituated to the hardships of a miner's life, but these 

 alone were comparatively overlooked. 



At the extremity of the valley of Eisenbach, I met, for the 

 first time in Hungary, with gypsies, known both in Hungary 

 and Germany by the name of Zigeuners. It was at the village 

 of Bzenicza ; they were in a little hut made of branches and 

 clay, and they were lying together, men, women, and children, 

 on a little straw and dried herbs. In the vicinity of their 

 cabin was a forge where they made hatchets, knives, &c. for 

 sale. One of them was an aged person, had been in Germany 

 and spoke the language ; I entered into discourse with him, but 

 could learn nothing as to the origin of his nation ; all that he 

 knew was, that,he was born in Transylvania, and that his chil- 

 dren and grand children xvere born in different places. When 

 I asked why they did not fix in some village where they might 

 live more comfortably, he made a sign with his head that it 

 was not agreeable to their inclinations. 



The Zigeuners, in general, retain a particular national 

 character, and this has been observed for three centuries, as 

 they never marry but among themselves. They are of low 

 stature, mostly meagre but well made; their complexion is tan- 

 ned, or rather copper coloured, their eyes black and vivid, teeth 

 white ; in fact, their physiognomy has something in it foreign 

 to the European. The women, partly from the negligence of 

 their attire, are disgusting, and reminded me of those old 

 mummies that we find in cabinets of antiquities. It is wretch- 

 ed living that so disfigures them, for the girls are well made, 

 and their figure is far from being disagreeable. 



The general opinion is, that marriage does not take place 

 among this class, but that the women and children are in 

 common. The latter remain entirely naked to an advanced 

 age, and I have sometimes seen girls of their full stature, and 

 well formed, in a state of nudity; I remarked, however, that 

 they always shunned the presence of strangers. A set of naked 

 children, with their dark skin, ill combed hair, &c. seemed to 



