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The Zincali-Part30_George Borrow(1803-1881)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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spatterdash, either of cloth or leather; stout high-lows complete



the equipment.

Such is the dress of the Gitanos of most parts of Spain. But it is



necessary to remark that such also is the dress of the chalans, and

of the muleteers, except that the latter are in the habit of



wearing broad sombreros as preservatives from the sun. This dress

appears to be rather Andalusian than Gitano; and yet it certainly



beseems the Gitano better than the chalan or muleteer. He wears it

with more easy negligence or jauntiness, by which he may be



recognised at some distance, even from behind.

It is still more difficult to say what is the peculiar dress of the



Gitanas; they wear not the large red cloaks and immense bonnets of

coarsebeaver which distinguish their sisters of England; they have



no other headgear than a handkerchief, which is occasionally

resorted to as a defence against the severity of the weather; their



hair is sometimes confined by a comb, but more frequently is

permitted to stray dishevelled down their shoulders; they are fond



of large ear-rings, whether of gold, silver, or metal, resembling

in this respect the poissardes of France. There is little to



distinguish them from the Spanish women save the absence of the

mantilla, which they never carry. Females of fashion not



unfrequently take pleasure in dressing a la Gitana, as it is

called; but this female Gypsy fashion, like that of the men, is



more properly the fashion of Andalusia, the principal

characteristic of which is the saya, which is exceedingly short,



with many rows of flounces.

True it is that the original dress of the Gitanos, male and female,



whatever it was, may have had some share in forming the Andalusian

fashion, owing to the great number of these wanderers who found



their way to that province at an early period. The Andalusians are

a mixed breed of various nations, Romans, Vandals, Moors; perhaps



there is a slight sprinkling of Gypsy blood in their veins, and of

Gypsy fashion in their garb.



The Gitanos are, for the most part, of the middle size, and the

proportions of their frames convey a powerful idea of strength and



activity united; a deformed or weakly object is rarely found

amongst them in persons of either sex; such probably perish in



their infancy, unable to support the hardships and privations to

which the race is still subjected from its great poverty, and these



same privations have given and still give a coarseness and

harshness to their features, which are all strongly marked and



expressive. Their complexion is by no means uniform, save that it

is invariably darker than the general olive hue of the Spaniards;



not unfrequently countenances as dark as those of mulattos present

themselves, and in some few instances of almost negro blackness.



Like most people of savage ancestry, their teeth are white and

strong; their mouths are not badly formed, but it is in the eye



more than in any other feature that they differ from other human

beings.



There is something remarkable in the eye of the Gitano: should his

hair and complexion become fair as those of the Swede or the Finn,



and his jockey gait as grave and ceremonious as that of the native

of Old Castile, were he dressed like a king, a priest, or a



warrior, still would the Gitano be detected by his eye, should it

continue unchanged. The Jew is known by his eye, but then in the



Jew that feature is peculiarly small; the Chinese has a remarkable

eye, but then the eye of the Chinese is oblong, and even with the



face, which is flat; but the eye of the Gitano is neither large nor

small, and exhibits no marked difference in its shape from the eyes



of the common cast. Its peculiarity consists chiefly in a strange

staring expression, which to be understood must be seen, and in a



thin glaze, which steals over it when in repose, and seems to emit

phosphoric light. That the Gypsy eye has sometimes a peculiar



effect, we learn from the following stanza:-

'A Gypsy stripling's glossy eye



Has pierced my bosom's core,




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