34 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



have a wild beauty and are very jealous 

 of their genealogy. They marry only 

 among their own people. 



These nomad tribes live away from civ- 

 ilization, always wandering, proud and 

 free. They never settle down and their 

 house is the moving "roulotte." Horse- 

 dealing is their usual vocation, and they 

 are excellent judges of horseflesh. 



At least once in their lifetime these 

 raggle-taggle Gypsies, scattered all over 

 Europe, proceed toward this wild section 

 of France to worship a Christian saint, 

 their patron, Saint Sara, the Egyptian. 



The Gitanos take no interest in the 

 Christian ceremonies. During the pil- 

 grimage they remain in the crypt of the 

 church, which is specially reserved for 

 them. There they sit, holding huge wax 

 tapers in their hands, worshiping and 

 singing. No stranger is allowed to be 

 present at their mysterious ceremonies, 

 which are followed by the coronation of 

 the Gypsy king and queen. 



On the 25th of May in the pilgrim pro- 

 cession, the Gitanos are accustomed to 

 carry on their shoulders a little flowered 

 boat containing the wooden statue of 

 Saint Sara, which they crown on the 

 sandv beach, shouting "Vive, Sainte 

 Sara" ! 



Then these nomad tribes leave, to re- 

 sume their lonely wanderings. 



THEIR' ORIGIN IS A FASCINATING MYSTERY 



The mysterious origin of this people 

 has ever been a fascinating problem and 

 has also been the favorite study of many 

 scientists and writers, but unfortunately 

 not all the explanatory theories pro- 

 pounded are substantiated by scientific 

 data. 



Some say the Gitanos may be the last 

 survivors of a forgotten Egyptian or 

 Assyrian civilization. Others, struck by 



certain similarities which they have in 

 common with the Basque people, think 

 they were the first Iberians. Others at- 

 tribute to (hem an Indian origin, picture 

 them driven westward by ( )riental irrup- 

 tions and identify the Gitan language 

 with that of an Indian tribe of Siridh. 



But the boldest and most curious the- 

 ory is one which has been advanced after 

 careful consideration and numerous ob- 

 servations of their customs, language, and 

 ethnical characteristics. 



According to Gitan legends and tra- 

 ditions that have been handed down from 

 father to son and from tribe to tribe, 

 there was a large land without a shore 

 which was inhabited ages ago by the first 

 Gitan people, but which disappeared one 

 day in an overwhelming disaster. 



Are these legendary lands the lost At- 

 lantis? And did any of its inhabitants 

 outlive the cataclysm? Was this fabulous 

 country the birthplace of the first Basques, 

 Gitans, and American Indians? 



Marquis de Baroncelli, who has long 

 studied the vexing question, has noted 

 the strange likeness of the ethnical char- 

 acteristics of the Red Skin and the Gitan. 

 He has also been much surprised by some 

 customs common to both races, such as 

 the simple action of inspecting the teeth 

 of a horse. 



He noticed the curious answers to the 

 question, "Whence did your people 

 come?" 



"From where the sun rises," says the 

 Indian. "From the sunset land," say the 

 Gitanos. 



These speculations are strengthened by 

 sayings of Gitanos who take part in the 

 pilgrimage to "Li Santo." 



A snowy-bearded Gypsy patriarch said : 

 "We are to the human race what the Ca- 

 margue horse is to his — the sole survivors 

 of a vanished world." 



O 



n April 26, Mr. A. W. Cutler, of Rose Hill House, Worcester, England, 

 died in Cava dei Tirreni, southern Italy, while making for the National 

 Geographic Magazine a photographic survey of the scenery and peasant types of 

 Calabria. Many of Mr. Cutler's superb photographic studies have appeared in The 

 Geographic during the last nine years, and only a few months ago he completed 

 for it a remarkable collection of pictures in Portugal. He had expected to make 

 similar photographic series in Greece, Morocco, and Japan upon the conclusion of 

 his labors in Italy. The members of the National Geographic Society will learn 

 with profound appreciation that this gifted photographic artist has left as a bequest 

 to The Society his entire collection of negatives, the result of a life work in many 

 parts of the world— a truly notable gift toward the humanizing of geography. 



