108 GYPSIES. 



you to rare old words and customs of which the old 

 women are repositories. 



Amelia Wells, the hori dai of the Wells family, sat 

 on a box, with a blanket thrown over it, at the door of 

 her tent. She was a very Gypsy-looking woman, large 

 framed, very dark, with strong, impressive features (she 

 must have been a handsome girl) and black hair. She 

 was smoking a clay pipe and her bright, black eyes 

 twinkled greeting, as she took it out of her mouth, and 

 answered my sarishan (how are you). I sat down beside 

 her and the whole family gathered around, curious to 

 see the Romany rai. 



The tent before which we were sitting was quite large, 

 and may have been ten by twelve feet or bigger. Its 

 floor of boards was overspread by a carpet and the 

 boxes, baskets, and piles of bedding and clothing were 

 neatly arranged around the sides. The stove stood in 

 the front beside the tent pole, and we were grouped 

 around it. I remarked that I had never seen the tradi- 

 tional Gypsy kettle in use. "It's all made up, a 

 " hukaben (lie). Mamanis never used them at all. 

 " Most Bamanis, now-a-days, has stoves, but them as 

 " don't has kam-sastersy 



The ham-saster^ or kettle iron, is an iron rod, perhaps 

 three or four feet long, one extremity of which curves 

 over and is then hooked at the end. The straight end 

 is driven into the ground obliquely, and the hook thus 

 hangs over the fire, made of sticks, on the ground, and 

 a kettle may be hung from it. The JceJcamslcro sasters 

 (kettle irons) are still used, but where, as in most cases, 

 she can afford it, the Ramani dai (Gypsy woman) has a 

 small cook stove. 



We spent a pleasant morning in the camp, and I went 

 away with an addition to my Romany vocabulary and 

 with the remembrance of a quaint scene of Gypsy life in 

 America, 



•^6 



