THE DESTINY OF THE SPANISH GIPSIES. 



12$ 



an amalgamation with the people than 

 before ? Mr. Borrow continues : " The 

 position which they occupy is the low- 

 est. . . . The outcast of the prison 

 and the presidio, who calls himself Span- 

 iard, would feel insulted by being term- 

 ed Gitano, and would thank God that 

 he is not." He continues : " It is, of 

 course, by intermarriage, alone, that the 

 two races will ever commingle ; and be- 

 fore that event is brought about, much 

 modification must take place amongst 

 the Gitanos, in their manners, in their 

 habits, in their affections and their dis- 

 likes, and perhaps even in their physi- 

 cal peculiarities [yet 'no washing,' as 

 Mr. Borrow approvingly quotes, ' will 

 turn the Gipsy white '] ; much must be 

 forgotten on both sides, and everything 

 is forgotten in course of time." 



Mr. Borrow has not sufficiently ex- 

 amined into Spanish Gipsyism to pass a 

 reliable opinion upon it. He says : "One 

 thing is certain in the history of the Gi- 

 tanos, that the sect flourished and in- 

 creased, so long as the law recommend- 

 ed and enjoined measures the most 

 harsh and severe for its suppression. 

 .... The caste pf the Gitanos still 

 exists, but is neither so extensive, nor 

 so formidable, as a century ago, when 

 the law, in denouncing Gitanismo, pro- 

 posed to the Gitanos the alternatives of 

 death for persisting in their profession, 

 or slavery for abandoning it." These 

 are very singular alternatives. The lat- 

 ter is certainly not to be found in any of 

 the Spanish laws quoted by Mr. Borrow. 

 I am at a loss to perceive the point of 

 his reasoning. There can be no diffi- 



without living in a tent or being a rogue 

 (Ed., p. 383). 



Grellmann evidently alludes to Gipsies 

 of mixed blood, when he writes in the fol- 

 lowing manner : " Experience shows 

 that the dark colour of the Gipsies, which 

 is continued from generation to genera- 

 tion, is more the effect of education and 

 manner of life than descent. Among those 

 who profess music in Hungary, or serve 

 in the imperial army, where they have 

 learned to pay more attention to order 

 and cleanliness, there are many to be 

 found whose extraction is not at all dis- 

 cernible in their colour." For my part, 

 1 cannot say that such language is appli- 

 cable to full-blood Gipsies. Still, the 

 change from tented to settled and tidy 

 Gipsydom is apt to show its effects in 

 modifying the complexion of such Gip- 

 sies, and to a much greater degree in 

 their descendants (Ed., p. 377). 



culty in believing that Gipsies would 

 rather increase in a state of peace, than 

 if they were hunted from place to place, 

 like wild beasts ; and consequently, hav- 

 ing renounced their former mode of 

 life, they would, in Mr. Borrow's own 

 words, " cease to play a distinct part in 

 the history of Spain, and the law would 

 no longer speak of them as a distinct 

 people." And the same might, to a 

 certain extent, be said of the Spanish 

 people. Mr. Borrow again says : " That 

 the Gitanos are not so numerous as in 

 former times, witness those barrios, in 

 various towns, still denominated Gita- 

 nerias, but from whence the Gitanos 

 have disappeared, even like the Moors 

 from the Morerias" But Mr. Borrow 

 himself, in the same work, gives a good 

 reason for the disappearance of the Gip- 

 sies from these Gitanerias ; for he says : 

 " The Gitanerias were soon consider- 

 ed as public nuisances, on which account 

 the Gitanos were forbidden to live toge- 

 ther in particular parts of the town, to 

 hold meetings, and even to intermarry 

 with each other." If the disappearance 

 of the Gipsies from Spain was like that 

 of the Moors, it would appear that they 

 had left, or been expelled from, the coun- 

 try; a theory which Mr. Borrow does 

 not advance. The Gipsies, to a certain 

 extent, may have left these barrios, or 

 been expelled from them, and settled as 

 tradesmen, mechanics, and what not, in 

 other parts of the same or other towns, 

 so as to be in a position the more able 

 to get on in the world. Still, many 

 of them are in the colonies. In Cuba 

 there are many, as soldiers and musi- 

 cians, dealers in mules and red pepper, 

 which businesses they almost monopo- 

 lize, and jobbers and dealers in various 

 wares ; and doubtless there are some of 

 them innkeepers, and others following 

 other occupations. In Mexico there are 

 not a few. I know of a Gitano who has 

 a fine wholesale and retail cigar store in 

 Virginia.* 



Mr. Borrow concludes, in regard to 



* Mr. Borrow mentions in the twenty- 

 second chapter of the Bible in Spain, hav- 

 ing met several cavalry soldiers from 

 Granada, Gipsies incog., who were sur- 

 prised at being discovered to be Gipsies, 

 They had been impressed, but carried on 

 a trade in horses, in league with the cap- 

 tain of their company. They said : " We 

 have been to the wars, but not to fight ; 

 we left that to the Busne. We have kept 

 together, and like true Galore, have stood 



