making converts to their doctrine and discipline, whilst the
Russians possess better maps of its vast regions than of their own

country, and lately, owing to the persevering labour and searching
eye of my friend Hyacinth, Archimandrite of Saint John Nefsky, are

acquainted with the number of its military force to a man, and also
with the names and places of residence of its civil servants. Yet

who possesses a map of Fez and Morocco, or would venture to form a
conjecture as to how many fiery horsemen Abderrahman, the mulatto

emperor, could lead to the field, were his sandy dominions
threatened by the Nazarene? Yet Fez is scarcely two hundred

leagues distant from Madrid, whilst Maraks, the other great city of
the Moors, and which also has given its name to an empire, is

scarcely farther removed from Paris, the capital of civilisation:
in a word, we scarcely know anything of Barbary, the scanty

information which we possess being confined to a few towns on the
sea-coast; the zeal of the Jesuit himself being insufficient to

induce him to confront the perils of the interior, in the hopeless
endeavour of making one single proselyte from amongst the wildest

fanatics of the creed of the Prophet Camel-driver.
Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary? This is a

question which I have frequently asked myself. Several respectable
authors have, I believe, asserted the fact, amongst whom Adelung,

who, speaking of the Gypsies, says: 'Four hundred years have
passed away since they departed from their native land. During

this time, they have spread themselves through the whole of Western
Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa.' (22) But it is one thing to

make an assertion" target="_blank" title="n.断言；主张；论述">assertion, and another to produce the grounds for making
it. I believe it would require a far greater stock of information

than has hitherto been possessed by any one who has written on the
subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in asserting positively that

after traversing the west of Europe, they spread themselves over
Northern Africa, though true it is that to those who take a

superficial view of the matter, nothing appears easier and more
natural than to come to such a conclusion.

Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is opposite
to Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running between, less wide

than many rivers. Bands, therefore, of these wanderers, of course,
on reaching Tarifa, passed over into Africa, even as thousands

crossed the channel from France to England. They have at all times
shown themselves extravagantly fond of a roving life. What land is

better adapted for such a life than Africa and its wilds? What
land, therefore, more likely to entice them?

All this is very plausible. It was easy enough for the Gitanos to
pass over to Tangier and Tetuan from the Spanish towns of Tarifa

and Algeziras. In the last chapter I have stated my belief of the
fact, and that moreover they formed certain connections with the

Moors of the coast, to whom it is likely that they occasionally
sold children stolen in Spain; yet such connection would by no

means have opened them a passage into the interior of Barbary,
which is inhabited by wild and fierce people, in comparison with

whom the Moors of the coast, bad as they always have been, are
gentle and civilised.

To penetrate into Africa, the Gitanos would have been compelled to
pass through the tribes who speak the Shilha language, and who are

the descendants of the ancient Numidians. These tribes are the
most untamable and warlike of mankind, and at the same time the

most suspicious, and those who entertain the greatest aversion to
foreigners. They are dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have

always remained, to a certain degree, independent of the emperors
of Morocco. They are the most terrible of robbers and murderers,

and entertain far more reluctance to spill water than the blood of
their fellow-creatures: the Bedouins, also, of the Arabian race,

are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would not have failed
instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever they found

them, and in all probability would have exterminated them. Now the
Gitanos, such as they arrived in Barbary, could not have defended

themselves against such enemies, had they even arrived in large
divisions, instead of bands of twenties and thirties, as is their

custom to travel. They are not by nature nor by habit a warlike
race, and would have quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most

other people, engage in wars from what appears to be an innate love
of the cruel and bloody scenes attendant on war.

It may be said, that if the Gitanos were able to make their way
from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the province

which the learned consider to be the original dwelling-place of the
race, to such an immense distance as the western part of Spain,

passing necessarily through many wild lands and tribes, why might
they not have penetrated into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore

may not their descendants be still there, following the same kind
of life as the European Gypsies, that is, wandering about from

place to place, and maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?
But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of

Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for
a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from

the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.
True it is, that, from their intercourse with the Moors of Spain,

the Gypsies might have become acquainted with the Arabic language,
and might even have adopted the Moorish dress, ere entering

Barbary; and, moreover, might have professed belief in the religion
of Mahomet; still they would have been known as foreigners, and, on

that account, would have been assuredly attacked by the people of
the interior, had they gone amongst them, who, according to the

usual practice, would either have massacred them or made them
slaves; and as slaves, they would have been separated. The mulatto

hue of their countenances would probably have insured them the
latter fate, as all blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the

Moor are properly slaves, and can be bought and sold, unless by
some means or other they become free, in which event their colour

is no obstacle to their elevation to the highest employments and
dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and provinces, or

even to their ascending the throne. Several emperors of Morocco
have been mulattos.

Above I have pointed out all the difficulties and dangers which
must have attended the path of the Gitanos, had they passed from

Spain into Barbary, and attempted to spread themselves over that
region, as over Europe and many parts of Asia. To these

observations I have been led by the assertion" target="_blank" title="n.断言；主张；论述">assertion that they
accomplished this, and no proof of the fact having, as I am aware,

ever been adduced; for who amongst those who have made such a
statement has seen or conversed with the Egyptians of Barbary, or

had sufficient intercourse with them to justify him in the
assertion" target="_blank" title="n.断言；主张；论述">assertion that they are one and the same people as those of Europe,

from whom they differ about as much as the various tribes which
inhabit various European countries differ from each other? At the

same time, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am far from
denying the existence of Gypsies in various parts of the interior

of Barbary. Indeed, I almost believe the fact, though the
information which I possess is by no means of a description which

would justify me in speaking with full certainty; I having myself
never come in contact with any sect or caste of people amongst the

Moors, who not only tallied in their pursuits with the Rommany, but
who likewise spoke amongst themselves a dialect of the language of

Roma; nor am I aware that any individual worthy of credit has ever
presumed to say that he has been more fortunate in these respects.

Nevertheless, I repeat that I am inclined to believe that Gypsies
virtually exist in Barbary, and my reasons I shall presently

adduce; but I will here observe, that if these strange outcasts did
indeed contrive to penetrate into the heart of that savage and

inhospitable region, they could only have succeeded after having
become well acquainted with the Moorish language, and when, after a

considerable sojourn on the coast, they had raised for themselves a
name, and were regarded with superstitious fear; in a word, if they

walked this land of peril untouched and unscathed, it was not that
they were considered as harmless and inoffensive people, which,

indeed, would not have protected them, and which assuredly they
were not; it was not that they were mistaken for wandering Moors