the great trick, of which we have already said something in the
former part of this work. It consists in persuading some credulous

person to depositwhatever money and valuables the party can muster
in a particular spot, under the promise that the deposit will

increase many manifold. Some of our readers will have difficulty
in believing that any people can be found sufficientlycredulous to

allow themselves to be duped by a trick of this description, the
grossness of the intended fraud seeming too palpable. Experience,

however, proves the contrary. The deception is frequently
practised at the present day, and not only in Spain but in England

- enlightened England - and in France likewise; an instance being
given in the memoirs of Vidocq, the late celebrated head of the

secret police of Paris, though, in that instance, the perpetrator
of the fraud was not a Gypsy. The most subtle method of

accomplishing the hokkano baro is the following:-
When the dupe - a widow we will suppose, for in these cases the

dupes are generally widows - has been induced to consent to make
the experiment, the Gitana demands of her whether she has in the

house some strong chest with a safe lock. On receiving an
affirmative answer, she will request to see all the gold and silver

of any description which she may chance to have in her possession.
The treasure is shown her; and when the Gitana has carefully

inspected and counted it, she produces a white handkerchief,
saying, Lady, I give you this handkerchief, which is blessed.

Place in it your gold and silver, and tie it with three knots. I
am going for three days, during which period you must keep the

bundle beneath your pillow, permitting no one to go near it, and
observing the greatest secrecy, otherwise the money will take wings

and fly away. Every morning during the three days it will be well
to open the bundle, for your own satisfaction, to see that no

misfortune has befallen your treasure; be always careful, however,
to fasten it again with the three knots. On my return, we will

place the bundle, after having inspected it, in the chest, which
you shall yourself lock, retaining the key in your possession.

But, thenceforward, for three weeks, you must by no means unlock
the chest, nor look at the treasure - if you do it will fly away.

Only follow my directions, and you will gain much, very much,
baribu.

The Gitana departs, and, during the three days, prepares a bundle
as similar as possible to the one which contains the money of her

dupe, save that instead of gold ounces, dollars, and plate, its
contents consist of copper money and pewter articles of little or

no value. With this bundleconcealed beneath her cloak, she
returns at the end of three days to her intended victim. The

bundle of real treasure is produced and inspected, and again tied
up by the Gitana, who then requests the other to open the chest,

which done, she formally places A BUNDLE in it; but, in the
meanwhile, she has contrived to substitute the fictitious for the

real one. The chest is then locked, the lady retaining the key.
The Gitana promises to return at the end of three weeks, to open

the chest, assuring the lady that if it be not unlocked until that
period, it will be found filled with gold and silver; but

threatening that in the event of her injunctions being disregarded,
the money deposited will vanish. She then walks off with great

deliberation, bearing away the spoil. It is needless to say that
she never returns.

There are other ways of accomplishing the hokkano baro. The most
simple, and indeed the one most generally used by the Gitanas, is

to persuade some simple individual to hide a sum of money in the
earth, which they afterwards carry away. A case of this

description occurred within my own knowledge, at Madrid, towards
the latter part of the year 1837. There was a notorious Gitana, of

the name of Aurora; she was about forty years of age, a Valencian
by birth, and immensely fat. This amiablepersonage, by some

means, formed the acquaintance of a wealthy widow lady; and was not
slow in attempting to practise the hokkano baro upon her. She

succeeded but too well. The widow, at the instigation of Aurora,
buried one hundred ounces of gold beneath a ruined arch in a field,

at a short distance from the wall of Madrid. The inhumation was
effected at night by the widow alone. Aurora was, however, on the

watch, and, in less than ten minutes after the widow had departed,
possessed herself of the treasure; perhaps the largest one ever

acquired by this kind of deceit. The next day the widow had
certain misgivings, and, returning to the spot, found her money

gone. About six months after this event, I was imprisoned in the
Carcel de la Corte, at Madrid, and there I found Aurora, who was in

durance for defrauding the widow. She said that it had been her
intention to depart for Valencia with the 'barias,' as she styled

her plunder, but the widow had discovered the trick too soon, and
she had been arrested. She added, however, that she had contrived

to conceal the greatest part of the property, and that she expected
her liberation in a few days, having been prodigal of bribes to the

'justicia.' In effect, her liberation took place sooner than my
own. Nevertheless, she had little cause to triumph, as before she

left the prison she had been fleeced of the last cuarto of her ill-
gotten gain, by alguazils and escribanos, who, she admitted,

understood hokkano baro much better than herself.
When I next saw Aurora, she informed me that she was once more on

excellent terms with the widow, whom she had persuaded that the
loss of the money was caused by her own imprudence, in looking for

it before the appointed time; the spirit of the earth having
removed it in anger. She added that her dupe was quite disposed to

make another venture, by which she hoped to retrieve her former
loss.

USTILAR PASTESAS. - Under this head may be placed various kinds of
theft committed by the Gitanos. The meaning of the words is

stealing with the hands; but they are more generally applied to the
filching of money by dexterity of hand, when giving or receiving

change. For example: a Gitana will enter a shop, and purchase
some insignificant article, tendering in payment a baria or golden

ounce. The change being put down before her on the counter, she
counts the money, and complains that she has received a dollar and

several pesetas less than her due. It seems impossible that there
can be any fraud on her part, as she has not even taken the pieces

in her hand, but merely placed her fingers upon them; pushing them
on one side. She now asks the merchant what he means by attempting

to deceive the poor woman. The merchant, supposing that he has
made a mistake, takes up the money, counts it, and finds in effect

that the just sum is not there. He again hands out the change, but
there is now a greater deficiency than before, and the merchant is

convinced that he is dealing with a witch. The Gitana now pushes
the money to him, uplifts her voice, and talks of the justicia.

Should the merchant become frightened, and, emptying a bag of
dollars, tell her to pay herself, as has sometimes been the case,

she will have a fine opportunity to exercise her powers, and whilst
taking the change will contrive to conveysecretly into her sleeves

five or six dollars at least; after which she will depart with much
vociferation, declaring that she will never again enter the shop of

so cheating a picaro.
Of all the Gitanas at Madrid, Aurora the fat was, by their own

confession, the most dexterous at this species of robbery; she
having been known in many instances, whilst receiving change for an

ounce, to steal the whole value, which amounts to sixteen dollars.
It was not without reason that merchants in ancient times were,

according to Martin Del Rio, advised to sell nothing out of their
shops to Gitanas, as they possessed an infallible secret for

attracting to their own purses from the coffers of the former the
money with which they paid for the articles they purchased. This

secret consisted in stealing a pastesas, which they still practise.
Many accounts of witchcraft and sorcery, which are styled old

women's tales, are perhaps equally well founded. Real actions have
been attributed to wrong causes.