532 
GIPSEYS. 
The sword that ye feared, shall overtake you; and the famine 
whereof you were afraid, shall follow close after you in the land 
of Egypt; and there ye shall die. Yet a small number that 
escape the sword, shall return out of the land of Egypt.” (Je¬ 
remiah.) 
This threatened invasion, and ravage of Egypt by the king 
of Babylon, happened a few years afterwards; when Pharaoh 
Hophra was slain, and most of the Mizpathites who had sought 
his protection either put to the sword or carried away captive ; 
but a remnant made their escape. Most probably it would be 
of the lower order: those, neither numbered in “ the men of 
valour,” to fall in the field; nor counted amongst the rich in 
ingenuity and talents, to be preserved as useful servants in the 
victor’s land ; and these, as was the custom in those countries? 
would be left as a refuse people, to wander where they listed. 
Hence, I deem it possible, that part, if not all the descendants 
from this miserable remnant, may hereafter be found in the now 
poor outcast race who, under the vagabond name of Gipsey, we 
every day see at our doors, whether in Europe or in Asia, beg¬ 
ging to mend a kettle or a pot, for a morsel of bread! Perhaps 
the bone of the sheep, over which they mumble their fortune¬ 
telling, may be some trace of the sacrificial victim over which 
their seers of old used to pronounce prediction ! 
Plaving taken leave of the Kara Shee encampment, and also 
passed through Binaub, we kept on in nearly a due south direc¬ 
tion till, pretty far on the plain, we halted at the village of 
Ilkoonly. Our march had been six hours and a half, called six 
farsangs. 
August 25th. — On leaving our menzil, we ascended the hills 
to the south-east, keeping a course rather to the eastward of 
