or village, situated on a rising ground, with a very wild country

all about it. The road from Badajoz to Madrid passes through it;
and about two leagues distant, in the direction of Madrid, is the

famous mountain pass of Mirabete, from the top of which you enjoy a
most picturesque view across the Tagus, which flows below, as far

as the huge mountains of Plasencia, the tops of which are generally
covered with snow.

So this Don Martin Fajardo, judge, being at Jaraicejo, laid his
claw upon four Gitanos, and having nothing, as it appears, to

accuse them of, except being Gitanos, put them to the torture, and
made them accuse themselves, which they did; for, on the first

appeal which was made to the rack, they confessed that they had
murdered a female Gypsy in the forest of Las Gamas, and had there

eaten her. . . .
I am myself well acquainted with this same forest of Las Gamas,

which lies between Jaraicejo and Trujillo; it abounds with chestnut
and cork trees, and is a place very well suited either for the

purpose of murder or cannibalism. It will be as well to observe
that I visited it in company with a band of Gitanos, who bivouacked

there, and cooked their supper, which however did not consist of
human flesh, but of a puchera, the ingredients of which were beef,

bacon, garbanzos, and berdolaga, or field-pease and purslain, -
therefore I myself can bear testimony that there is such a forest

as Las Gamas, and that it is frequented occasionally by Gypsies, by
which two points are established by far the most important to the

history in question, or so at least it would be thought in Spain,
for being sure of the forest and the Gypsies, few would be

incredulous enough to doubt the facts of the murder and
cannibalism. . . .

On being put to the rack a second time, the Gitanos confessed that
they had likewise murdered and eaten a femalepilgrim in the forest

aforesaid; and on being tortured yet again, that they had served in
the same manner, and in the same forest, a friar of the order of

San Francisco, whereupon they were released from the rack and
executed. This is one of the anecdotes of Quinones.

And it came to pass, moreover, that the said Fajardo, being in the
town of Montijo, was told by the alcalde, that a certain inhabitant

of that place had some time previous lost a mare; and wandering
about the plains in quest of her, he arrived at a place called

Arroyo el Puerco, where stood a ruined house, on entering which he
found various Gitanos employed in preparing their dinner, which

consisted of a quarter of a human body, which was being roasted
before a huge fire: the result, however, we are not told; whether

the Gypsies were angry at being disturbed in their cookery, or
whether the man of the mare departed unobserved.

Quinones, in continuation, states in his book that he learned (he
does not say from whom, but probably from Fajardo) that there was a

shepherd of the city of Gaudix, who once lost his way in the wild
sierra of Gadol: night came on, and the wind blew cold: he

wandered about until he descried a light in the distance, towards
which he bent his way, supposing it to be a fire kindled by

shepherds: on arriving at the spot, however, he found a whole
tribe of Gypsies, who were roasting the half of a man, the other

half being hung on a cork-tree: the Gypsies welcomed him very
heartily, and requested him to be seated at the fire and to sup

with them; but he presently heard them whisper to each other, 'this
is a fine fat fellow,' from which he suspected that they were

meditating a design upon his body: whereupon, feeling himself
sleepy, he made as if he were seeking a spot where to lie, and

suddenly darted headlong down the mountain-side, and escaped from
their hands without breaking his neck.

These anecdotes scarcely deservecomment; first we have the
statement of Fajardo, the fool or knave who tortures wretches, and

then puts them to death for the crimes with which they have taxed
themselves whilst undergoing the agony of the rack, probably with

the hope of obtaining a moment's respite; last comes the tale of
the shepherd, who is invited by Gypsies on a mountain at night to

partake of a supper of human flesh, and who runs away from them on
hearing them talk of the fatness of his own body, as if cannibal

robbers detected in their orgies by a single interloper would have
afforded him a chance of escaping. Such tales cannot be true. (19)

Cases of cannibalism are said to have occurred in Hungary amongst
the Gypsies; indeed, the whole race, in that country, has been

accused of cannibalism, to which we have alluded whilstspeaking of
the Chingany: it is very probable, however, that they were quite

innocent of this odious practice, and that the accusation had its
origin in popular prejudice, or in the fact of their foul feeding,

and their seldom rejecting carrion or offal of any description.
The Gazette of Frankfort for the year 1782, Nos. 157 and 207,

states that one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged
with this practice; and that the Empress Teresa sent commissioners

to inquire into the facts of the accusation, who discovered that
they were true; whereupon the empress published a law to oblige all

the Gypsies in her dominions to become stationary, which, however,
had no effect.

Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own knowledge.
After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a

few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet. I believe that it
has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are

perfectlyindifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they
can appease their hunger; and that they have no objection to

partake of the carcasses of animals which have died a natural
death, and have been left to putrefy by the roadside; moreover,

that they use for food all kinds of reptiles and vermin which they
can lay their hands upon.

In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same time
it must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of the

Gypsies in regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to
favour the supposition. This observationchiefly holds good with

respect to those of the Gypsy race who still continue in a
wandering state, and who, doubtless, retain more of the ways and

customs of their forefathers than those who have adopted a
stationary life. There can be no doubt that the wanderers amongst

the Gypsy race are occasionally seen to feast upon carcasses of
cattle which have been abandoned to the birds of the air, yet it

would be wrong, from this fact, to conclude that the Gypsies were
habitual devourers of carrion. Carrion it is true they may

occasionallydevour, from want of better food, but many of these
carcasses are not in reality the carrion which they appear, but are

the bodies of animals which the Gypsies have themselves killed by
casting drao, in hope that the flesh may eventually be abandoned to

them. It is utterly useless to write about the habits of the
Gypsies, especially of the wandering tribes, unless you have lived

long and intimately with them; and unhappily, up to the present
time, all the books which have been published concerning them have

been written by those who have introduced themselves into their
society for a few hours, and from what they have seen or heard

consider themselves competent to give the world an idea of the
manners and customs of the mysterious Rommany: thus, because they

have been known to beg the carcass of a hog which they themselves
have poisoned, it has been asserted that they prefer carrion which

has perished of sickness to the meat of the shambles; and because
they have been seen to make a ragout of boror (SNAILS), and to

roast a hotchiwitchu or hedgehog, it has been supposed that
reptiles of every description form a part of their cuisine. It is

high time to undeceive the Gentiles on these points. Know, then, O
Gentile, whether thou be from the land of the Gorgios (20) or the

Busne (21), that the very Gypsies who consider a ragout of snails a
delicious dish will not touch an eel, because it bears resemblance

to a SNAKE; and that those who will feast on a roasted hedgehog
could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel, a delicious and