THE SPANISH GYPSY. 283 



Eommany had become a serious danger in rural Spain, 

 and their abihty to act daringly in concert was demon- 

 strated by their attempt to massacre the whole populace 

 and sack the town of Logroiio. That town at the moment 

 was stricken down by a pestilence, which it was more 

 than suspected had been caused b}' the Zincales them- 

 selves having poisoned with their drao the springs 

 whence Logroho was supplied with water. Already, before 

 the gypsy assault, the greater part of the populace had 

 perished of the disease, and the annihilation of the 

 survivors was only averted by the singular foresight and 

 energy of one man — Francisco Alvarez, This Alvarez in 

 his early life was said to have been admitted to the com- 

 munity of a gitano tribe, to have married a daughter of 

 its chief, and eventually to have become the chief himself. 

 Around the details of the affair hangs some uncertainty ; 

 but the historic fact that the gitanos actually attempted 

 the massacre and plunder of a considerable Spanish town 

 has been well attested, among others l)y Francisco de 

 Cordova on his " Didascalia " (Lugduni, 1(315). 



The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the evil 

 still on the increase, despite repressive measures. Bands 

 of these human fiends, many hundreds strong, roamed 

 over the higlilands of Castile and Arragon, and were only 

 dispersed, after plundering and devastating the country, 

 Avhen sufficient military force had at length been col- 

 lected. The gypsies speedily searched out the richest 

 provinces of the land — New Castile, La Mancha, Estre- 

 madura, Murcia, Valencia and Andalucia, and troubled 

 but little the poor, wild, mountain-regions of the Asturias, 

 Galicia, and the hill-country of Biscay. 



The impunity with which these people set at nought 

 during hundreds of years the successive laws which were 

 enacted for their repression, is a curious point in connec- 

 tion with their history. As early as 1499, Ferdinand and 

 Isabella, at Medina del Campo, interdicted, under heavy 

 penalties, their vagrant propensities ; ordered them to find 

 fixed occupations, and to settle in the different towns and 

 villages within a short specified period. In default they 



