Laloro, but I am sure you are no Portuguese; the Portuguese are

very different from you; I know it, for I have been in Laloro; I
rather take you to be one of the Corahai, for I have heard say that

there is much of our blood there. You are a Corahano, are you
not?'

MYSELF. - 'I am no Moor, though I have been in the country. I was
born in an island in the West Sea, called England, which I suppose

you have heard spoken of.'
FIRST GYPSY. - 'Yes, yes, I have a right to know something of the

English. I was born in this foros, and remember the day when the
English hundunares clambered over the walls, and took the town from

the Gabine: well do I remember that day, though I was but a child;
the streets ran red with blood and wine! Are there Gitanos then

amongst the English?'
MYSELF. - 'There are numbers, and so there are amongst most nations

of the world.'
SECOND GYPSY. - 'Vaya! And do the English Calore gain their bread

in the same way as those of Spain? Do they shear and trim? Do
they buy and change beasts, and (lowering his voice) do they now

and then chore a gras?' (42)
MYSELF. - 'They do most of these things: the men frequent fairs

and markets with horses, many of which they steal; and the women
tell fortunes and perform all kinds of tricks, by which they gain

more money than their husbands.'
FIRST GYPSY. - 'They would not be callees if they did not: I have

known a Gitana gain twenty ounces of gold, by means of the hokkano
baro, in a few hours, whilst the silly Gypsy, her husband, would be

toiling with his shears for a fortnight, trimming the horses of the
Busne, and yet not be a dollar richer at the end of the time.'

MYSELF. - 'You seem wretchedly poor. Are you married?'
FIRST GYPSY. - 'I am, and to the best-looking and cleverest callee

in Badajoz; nevertheless we have never thriven since the day of our
marriage, and a curse seems to rest upon us both. Perhaps I have

only to thank myself; I was once rich, and had never less than six
borricos to sell or exchange, but the day before my marriage I sold

all I possessed, in order to have a grand fiesta. For three days
we were merry enough; I entertained every one who chose to come in,

and flung away my money by handfuls, so that when the affair was
over I had not a cuarto in the world; and the very people who had

feasted at my expense refused me a dollar to begin again, so we
were soon reduced to the greatest misery. True it is, that I now

and then shear a mule, and my wife tells the bahi (fortune) to the
servant-girls, but these things stand us in little stead: the

people are now very much on the alert, and my wife, with all her
knowledge, has been unable to perform any grand trick which would

set us up at once. She wished to come to see you, brother, this
night, but was ashamed, as she has no more clothes than myself.

Last summer our distress was so great that we crossed the frontier
into Portugal: my wife sung, and I played the guitar, for though I

have but one arm, and that a left one, I have never felt the want
of the other. At Estremoz I was cast into prison as a thief and

vagabond, and there I might have remained till I starved with
hunger. My wife, however, soon got me out: she went to the lady

of the corregidor, to whom she told a most wonderful bahi,
promising treasures and titles, and I wot not what; so I was set at

liberty, and returned to Spain as quick as I could.'
MYSELF. - 'Is it not the custom of the Gypsies of Spain to relieve

each other in distress? - it is the rule in other countries.'
FIRST GYPSY. - 'El krallis ha nicobado la liri de los Cales - (The

king has destroyed the law of the Gypsies); we are no longer the
people we were once, when we lived amongst the sierras and deserts,

and kept aloof from the Busne; we have lived amongst the Busne till
we are become almost like them, and we are no longer united, ready

to assist each other at all times and seasons, and very frequently
the Gitano is the worst enemy of his brother.'

MYSELF. - 'The Gitanos, then, no longer wander about, but have
fixed residences in the towns and villages?'

FIRST GYPSY. - 'In the summer time a few of us assemble together,
and live about amongst the plains and hills, and by doing so we

frequently contrive to pick up a horse or a mule for nothing, and
sometimes we knock down a Busne, and strip him, but it is seldom we

venture so far. We are much looked after by the Busne, who hold us
in great dread, and abhor us. Sometimes, when wandering about, we

are attacked by the labourers, and then we defend ourselves as well
as we can. There is no better weapon in the hands of a Gitano than

his "cachas," or shears, with which he trims the mules. I once
snipped off the nose of a Busne, and opened the greater part of his

cheek in an affray up the country near Trujillo.'
MYSELF. - 'Have you travelled much about Spain?'

FIRST GYPSY. - 'Very little; I have never been out of this province
of Estremadura, except last year, as I told you, into Portugal.

When we wander we do not go far, and it is very rare that we are
visited by our brethren of other parts. I have never been in

Andalusia, but I have heard say that the Gitanos are many in
Andalusia, and are more wealthy than those here, and that they

follow better the Gypsy law.'
MYSELF. - 'What do you mean by the Gypsy law?'

FIRST GYPSY. - 'Wherefore do you ask, brother? You know what is
meant by the law of the Cales better even than ourselves.'

MYSELF. - 'I know what it is in England and in Hungary, but I can
only give a guess as to what it is in Spain.'

BOTH GYPSIES. - 'What do you consider it to be in Spain?'
MYSELF. - 'Cheating and choring the Busne on all occasions, and

being true to the errate in life and in death.'
At these words both the Gitanos sprangsimultaneously from their

seats, and exclaimed with a boisterous shout - 'Chachipe.'
This meeting with the Gitanos was the occasion of my remaining at

Badajoz a much longer time than I originally intended. I wished to
become better acquainted with their condition and manners, and

above all to speak to them of Christ and His Word; for I was
convinced, that should I travel to the end of the universe, I

should meet with no people more in need of a little Christian
exhortation, and I accordingly continued at Badajoz for nearly

three weeks.
During this time I was almost constantlyamongst them, and as I

spoke their language, and was considered by them as one of
themselves, I had better opportunity of arriving at a fair

conclusion respecting their character than any other person could
have had, whether Spanish or foreigner, without such an advantage.

I found that their ways and pursuits were in almost every respect
similar to those of their brethren in other countries. By cheating

and swindling they gained their daily bread; the men principally by
the arts of the jockey, - by buying, selling, and exchanging

animals, at which they are wonderfullyexpert; and the women by
telling fortunes, selling goods smuggled from Portugal, and dealing

in love-draughts and diablerie. The most innocentoccupation which
I observed amongst them was trimming and shearing horses and mules,

which in their language is called 'monrabar,' and in Spanish
'esquilar'; and even whilst exercising this art, they not

unfrequently have recourse to foul play, doing the animal some
covert injury, in hope that the proprietor will dispose of it to

themselves at an inconsiderable price, in which event they soon
restore it to health; for knowing how to inflict the harm, they

know likewise how to remove it.
Religion they have none; they never attend mass, nor did I ever

hear them employ the names of God, Christ, and the Virgin, but in
execration and blasphemy. From what I could learn, it appeared