238 THEIR MANNER OF LIFE. 



proved his impression of their having come originally from 

 India. 



ESTHER. 



But do not some people suppose them to be really Egyp- 

 tians] 



MRS. F. 



Yes; and those who advocate their Egyptian origin, assert, 

 that when Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, several of the 

 nations refused to submit to the Turkish yoke, and revolted, 

 under one Zinganeus, whence the Turks called them Zinganees, 

 but that being at length surrounded and banished, they dis- 

 persed all over the world. 



MARY. 

 Were they always fortune-tellers? 



Yes, from the very first they derived their subsistence from 

 practising the black art, palmistry, begging, and stealing. 

 Nevertheless, whatever may have been their origin, it is cer- 

 tain that they appeared in great numbers, and, as it were, 

 simultaneously, in almost every country in Europe, in the 

 fifteenth century. In 1560 they were expelled from France; 

 in 1591, from Spain; and from England at an early period; 

 for in 1500, there is a statute of Henry VII against them. 

 The manner in which they have spread is incredible; Europe 

 cannot contain less than 700,000. 



But where do they chiefly reside 1 ? 



MRS. F. 



The southeastern countries, Hungary and Transylvania, 

 are their principal abodes, where, in summer, they reside in 

 tents; in winter, in holes ten or twelve feet deep in the earth. 

 They possess a sort of regular government, and are ruled by 

 a leader or chief. In Turkey, also, they are every where to 



