TO THE CAPITAL OF THE BANNAT. 317 
half. The Prince begged to continue with us ; 
preferring the expedition with which we tra- 
velled, to the more stately procession of the 
Ambassador and his suite. Lugos is a large ^"«»*- 
town. We saw here one of those solemn pro- 
cessions for rain, accompanied by choristers, 
which are often seen in Catholic countries. 
From Bossar to this place the road had been 
greatly infested by banditti, who had practised Banditti. 
tlie most unheard-of cruelties to extort money ; 
having cut off a woman's tongue, and one of her 
breasts, and roasted the feet of a priest. They 
had also bound chains of red-hot iron round the 
bodies of the poor peasants, to force them to 
confess where they had concealed their money. 
These miscreants were many of them JVala- 
chians, and we were surprised to hear that they 
were principally Gipsies. The alarm, however, 
had nearly subsided, by the apprehension of 
most of their gang. We found one hundred 
and fifty of them imprisoned at Lugos, six of 
whom were already condemned to be executed 
in the course of the week. We went to see the 
chief of the gang; a ferocious looking culprit, 
with long bushy hair. He was chained by the 
neck, arms, feet, and waist; regarding all 
who approached him with the wildness of a 
savage. 
