llO * GYPSIES. 



Gypsy word for horse is grai, the Hungarian Gypsies 

 gave me grast. Borrow compares the word with Hindu 

 ghora. We would like to suggest the Persian gur or 

 gour, the wild ass. 



From the very first the Gypsies have been horse 

 dealers. The Jats were horse breeders and horsemen, 

 and, to this day, breed horses and camels, and if the 

 Romany is in part descended from the Jat, he shows it 

 in his love for the horse. Approach a Gypsy camp 

 when you will, before you sight the black tents and the 

 fires, you will meet a drove of horses nibbling the grass 

 along the road, and you will know by that token the 

 camp is near. 



His horse dealing is the chief source of wealth to the 

 Gypsy, the only honest source, so far as I know, to the 

 male Gypsy. The women, however, make nearly as 

 much by dukerin, or telling fortunes, as the men do by 

 horse dealing. I have sat by the hour beside a dark son 

 of Egypt while he bargained with a Oorjio for the sale 

 of some horse he very much wanted to sell, and looked 

 all the time the most unconcerned and independent of 

 mortals. 



" It's as gentle as a kitten, sir ; lesW s a duller " (she's 

 a kicker), this last intended for me. " That there horse 

 "is just the animal you want, sir ;" and then to me, 

 ^''Jcuo'oa si bul grai ! " (that's a broken-winded horse !) 

 How he would crack up the animal, put him through 

 his paces, and even jump on him and ride him, without 

 a saddle, up and down the road, for Gypsies are all 

 horsemen. I can see Henry Wells now, his powerful 

 form, in big, great coat and heavy boots, seated blanket- 

 back on a big horse and trotting toward us down a wild 

 country lane — us being the prospective purchaser, 

 myself and a crowd of youngsters come out from town 

 to see the Gypsies. 



After an hour or so at talking the horse over and 



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