FREDERICK S. ARNOLD. 103 



the fact that the RomaQy is necessarily sun-burned 

 makes him look even darker than he really is. 



When I went up and spoke to the black Gypsy in 

 question he sort of chuckled but refused to answer my 

 Romany in anything but English. "Yes, everyone's 

 " gettin' to know the old language now. It used to be a 

 "secret and some good, but now there's lots can speak 

 "it." His behavior was characteristic of the kdlo Ha- 

 mani, and while all that morning I collected Romany 

 words from the Dldikai families of Henry and Leonard 

 Wells, I didn't get one word from their black-Gypsy 

 servant, and he bewailed the decadence of the ancient 

 Egyptian mystery and secret. I have since, however, 

 found my way to the hearts of Icdlo Ramanis and where 

 they are willing they always have more to teach than the 

 Didikai. 



In describing Leonard Wells' s hude-mush I have al- 

 ready described the dark, almost black complexion of the 

 Icdlo Ramanis. As to the purity of their blood, Borrow 

 and Leland would lead us to believe that they are very 

 particular about preserving it and never marry out of 

 their race. Borrow describes, in the "Romany Rye,'' a 

 Gypsy Adonis beloved of a countess who nevertheless 

 preferred to marry a hag of his own tribe, and we have 

 reason to believe that both writers state the truth about 

 their caste feeling on this question. Yet the very ex- 

 istence of the Didikai proves that the kdlo Ramanis 

 have sometimes mixed with the Gorjio^ and I think it 

 probable that in four hundred years in Englishry even 

 the black Gypsies must have some gentile blood in their 

 veins, however little. 



The Didikai with their mixed blood are generally 

 lighter in complexion and I think they are generally 

 larger, taller, and stronger, though the wiry, lithe, black 

 Romany is very muscular. Another name for these 

 half-breed Gypsies is pdsh an^ pdsh (half aud half) and 



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