G I P 



tions, and charaAer, and of the treatment they Tiare under- 

 gone in feveral countries in which they have appeared. We 

 fhall h?re add, that Muratori, in !iis " Antichita Italiane,'' 

 fuggefts, that it was not before the year 14S0 that this 

 fingular race of people iflued from their conceahnents, pre- 

 tending that Egypt was tlieir native country, and that they 

 ■were deprived ot their fettlements by a king of Hungary. 

 Nothwithftanding the geographical abfurdity of this afler- 

 tion, it was readily credited by the ignorant vulgar. It 

 appears probable, according to this writer, that they drew 

 their origin from Walacliia, or tlie neighbouring countries, 

 as they are ftill found in great nuuibers in Hungary, Servia, 

 Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Whether tiiey were expelled from 

 their native dens, or left them fpontaneoufly, and we mav 

 add, whatever was the country from which they migrated, 

 it is certain that about this period they began to appear in 

 the weftern provinces, and by their fraudulent arts were 

 able to gain a footing there, though by nature ever addicted 

 to a vagabond life. They were neither cultivators of the 

 foil, nor artifans, but found an inexliauilible fupply of their 

 neceffities in theft, rapine, and deceit. Although their 

 mode of life v>-as not unknown to the Italians, their infamous 

 praftices were tolerated, becaufe they made the fimple 

 people believe, that a penance was impofed upon them of 

 wandering about for feven years ; and ftill more, becaufe 

 they pretended to the gift of divination and foretelling 

 future events. An opinion long prevailed, that they were 

 forbidden to remain longer than three days in one place, and 

 that they had a privilege from the pone of providing them- 

 felves with neceffary food wherever they flioiild be. The 

 time in v.hich thefe "Zingani," or "Zingari," as they were 

 called, firll made their appearance in Italy, may be coUefted 

 from the " Mifcella Bolognefe,'' publiflied in the i8th 

 volume of the " Rerum Italicarum." Hence we learn, 

 *' that on July the 1 8th, 1422, there came to Bologna a 

 duke of Eg)'pt, named duke Aiidrew, together with men, 

 ■women, and children of his country, in number about 100. 

 They had a decree from the king o"^ Hungary, who was 

 emperor, authorizing them to rob wb.erever they flioidd go 

 for the fpace of feven years, without being amenable to 

 juftice. When they arrived at Bologna, they lodged within 

 and without the Porta di Galliera, and flept under porticoes, 

 except the duke, who was lodged at the king's hotel. 

 They remained here ij days, during wiiich time many per- 

 fons vifited them, on account of the duke's wife, who uuder- 

 ftood divination, and could tell what was to be a perfon's 

 fortune, what was his prefent condition, how many children 

 he was to have, if a woman was good or bad, and the like. 

 In many things Ihe fpoke the truth ; and when people went 

 to have their fortunes told, few efcaped without having their 

 packets picked, or, if women, their cloaths ftripped of 

 their ornaments. Their women went, by fix or eight toge- 

 ther, through the city, entering the houfes of the citizens 

 and prating with them, at the fame time filching what tl'.cy 

 could lav their hands on. They alfo went into the {hops, 

 pretending to buy fometliing, whilil fome of the party were 

 employed in-pilfering." Italy did not fuffice for this crew, 

 which was gradually augmented by acceilions from the men 

 and women of the countries through which they pafled. 

 Krantz, in his hiftory of Saxony, writes, that they began 

 to be feen in that country in the year 141 7, a-.id he gives a 

 Lvely defcription of their cuftoms and cheats, under the 

 name of "Zigeni,'' or " Zigeuni.'" Aventine alfo men- 

 tions their arrival in Bavaria, and their mal-praclices in 1 41 1. 

 They fpread in like manner through Flanders and France, in 

 which country they were called " Egyptians" ai|d " Bolie- 

 wiians,'' and in Spain the* were named '• Gittanos.-''- They 

 Vol. XVI, 



G I R 



are alfo found in the Turki(h dominions. Altliongh their 

 have been frequently banifhed from various didricti, and 

 fevere edids have been ifl'ued againft them, ihcy ftill coti- 

 trive to keep up the race, and carry on their trade of petty 

 pillage and deception. 



GIR, or GiiiR, in Geography, a river of Africa, which 

 Ptolemy delineates as equal in length to the Nigir, the 

 courfe of each being probably about looo Britilh irWci ; 

 but running from call to weft, till it be loft in the fame lake/ 

 marlli, or dcfcrt, as the Ni;i; v.hich fee. The Arabian 

 geographer Edrifi feems to indicate the Gir, when he fpeaks 

 of the Nile of the Negroes, as running to the weft, and 

 loft in an inland fca, in which was the ifle Ulil. Some have 

 fuppcfed the Gir of Ptolemy to be the river of Bornou, or 

 V\'^ed-al-Gazel, which joining another confidcrable river, 

 flowing from Kuku, difcharges itfelf into the Kubia Pilus, 

 or Kauga, and it is fo delineated in Ri iiiiell's map ; but 

 others apprehend, feemingly vrith better rcafon, lliat the 

 Gir of Ptolemy is the Br,!ir KuUa of Browne, in his liiftory 

 of Africa. This river, the Nilus Nigrorum, as well as the 

 Nile of Egypt, have their fource in the mountains of Kuinii, 

 which Brov.ne lays down i;i N. lat. 7 . Tiie banks of thi 

 river Kulla, according to this ingenious traveller's infortr.a- 

 tion, abound with pimento trees, and the ferry-boats rre 

 partly managed by pi.lcs, partly by a double oar. The 

 trees are fo vigorous, from the quantity of water and deep 

 clay, that canoes are hollov.cd fo Large as to contain trn 

 perfons. Ptolemy feems to have confounded the Nigir with 

 the Gir, which laft river he clearly deduces from mourtaii.» 

 in the S.E , fo as to coiTcfpond v.itii tiie Balir Ivuli?., 

 though he be a ftianger to its remote fource. This river i* rc- 

 prefented by Ptolemy as receiving two tributary ftrearc* 

 from tv.n lakes ; and among other cities on its bank is a 

 metropolis called Gira. The termination of the Gir is not 

 a little ohfcuie, but it feems to be delineated, as paiTing 

 under a chain of hills, on the N. of tlie I.ybia Falus, or 

 central Like cf Africa, and afterw.ards joirung the Nigir ii» 

 its courfe to t!ie weft. The Panagra of Ptolemy, hctwjea - 

 the Gir and the Nig'r, n-.ay be the Wangara of ».he Awib.-: ; 

 and his Lybia Paluf, which f>'rms the termination <>f tl-.e 

 Nigir eaftward, fccn-.s to be meant, as R',nnell tilfervesj 

 cither for the hirgeft of the lakes, or for the lake? of that 

 country (of which there are feveral) coUeclively. From a« 

 accurate examination of Edrifi, who wrote in Sicily in the 

 1 2th century, and who, from his minute attention tooaltWa 

 Africa, has been called the Nubian geographer, it wJ! aj.- 

 pear, that while the Nile of the Negroes, which he fayi 

 runs to the weft, has been rcillakcn for the Nigir, he really 

 knew nothing of that river ; and his Nile of the Negrces i« 

 the Gir of PtrJemy, terminating in an inland lake, in which 

 waj the ifland of ITlil, one days fail from the mouth of 

 the river; and in which iliand another Arabian geographer 

 places the capital city of all Soudan. Beyond this lake and 

 ifland, Edrifi appetrs to have had no knowledge of cenU-al 

 Africa ; all the regions ar.d towns he mentions feeming t« 

 belong to the Gir, his Nile of the Negroes, running to Uic 

 N.W. ; and fixim his account it would iippcar tliat W.iu- 

 gara is the Delta of the Gir. 



Gii;, in Botany, a fpccies of grafs growing p!ejilifu!!y 

 near Ras el Feel, on liie borders of AbyfTmia. It brgim, 

 fays Mr. Bruce, to fiicot in the end of April, and lpei.diljr 

 advances to iis full height cf about tljce f^'Ct four incLeS. 

 It is ripe in the beginning of May, ar.d decays naturally 

 foon aftervvards. Tliis fpta;ics of grafs v.-ns one of the ai- 

 quiiiticns of our a'ulho:-*s t.-avels. It was r.ct btfcre kiictt 1 

 ill Europe, nor whcii hs publiflied liis woik had the fe^'J 

 M ni ;rcdccii 



