More enterprising individuals than myself may, perhaps, establish

the fact. Any particular language or jargon which they speak
amongst themselves will be the best criterion. The word which they

employ for 'water' would decide the point; for the Dar-bushi-fal
are not Gypsies, if, in their peculiar speech, they designate that

blessed element and article most necessary to human existence by
aught else than the Sanscrit term 'Pani,' a word brought by the

race from sunny Ind, and esteemed so holy that they have never even
presumed to modify it.

The following is an account of the Dar-bushi-fal, given me by a Jew
of Fez, who had travelled much in Barbary, and which I insert

almost literally as I heard it from his mouth. Various other
individuals, Moors, have spoken of them in much the same manner.

'In one of my journeys I passed the night in a place called Mulai-
Jacub Munsur.

'Not far from this place is a Char Seharra, or witch-hamlet, where
dwell those of the Dar-bushi-fal. These are very evil people, and

powerful enchanters; for it is well known that if any traveller
stop to sleep in their Char, they will with their sorceries, if he

be a white man, turn him as black as a coal, and will afterwards
sell him as a negro. Horses and mules they serve in the same

manner, for if they are black, they will turn them red, or any
other colour which best may please them; and although the owners

demand justice of the authorities, the sorcerers always come off
best. They have a language which they use among themselves, very

different from all other languages, so much so that it is
impossible to understand them. They are very swarthy, quite as

much so as mulattos, and their faces are exceedingly lean. As for
their legs, they are like reeds; and when they run, the devil

himself cannot overtake them. They tell Dar-bushi-fal with flour;
they fill a plate, and then they are able to tell you anything you

ask them. They likewise tell it with a shoe; they put it in their
mouth, and then they will recall to your memory every action of

your life. They likewise tell Dar-bushi-fal with oil; and indeed
are, in every respect, most powerful sorcerers.

'Two women, once on a time, came to Fez, bringing with them an
exceedingly white donkey, which they placed in the middle of the

square called Faz el Bali; they then killed it, and cut it into
upwards of thirty pieces. Upon the ground there was much of the

donkey's filth and dung; some of this they took in their hands,
when it straight assumed the appearance of fresh dates. There were

some people who were greedy enough to put these dates into their
mouths, and then they found that it was dung. These women deceived

me amongst the rest with a date; when I put it into my mouth, lo
and behold it was the donkey's dung. After they had collected much

money from the spectators, one of them took a needle, and ran it
into the tail of the donkey, crying "Arrhe li dar" (Get home),

whereupon the donkeyinstantly rose up, and set off running,
kicking every now and then most furiously; and it was remarked,

that not one single trace of blood remained upon the ground, just
as if they had done nothing to it. Both these women were of the

very same Char Seharra which I have already mentioned. They
likewise took paper, and cut it into the shape of a peseta, and a

dollar, and a half-dollar, until they had made many pesetas and
dollars, and then they put them into an earthen pan over a fire,

and when they took them out, they appeared just fresh from the
stamp, and with such money these people buy all they want.

'There was a friend of my grandfather, who came frequently to our
house, who was in the habit of making this money. One day he took

me with him to buy white silk; and when they had shown him some, he
took the silk in his hand, and pressed it to his mouth, and then I

saw that the silk, which was before white, had become green, even
as grass. The master of the shop said, "Pay me for my silk." "Of

what colour was your silk?" he demanded. "White," said the man;
whereupon, turning round, he cried, "Good people, behold, the white

silk is green"; and so he got a pound of silk for nothing; and he
also was of the Char Seharra.

'They are very evil people indeed, and the emperor himself is
afraid of them. The poor wretch who falls into their hands has

cause to rue; they always go badly dressed, and exhibit every
appearance of misery, though they are far from being miserable.

Such is the life they lead.'
There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of the

Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there is a
foundation of truth in all the facts stated. The belief that they

are enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into a black man had its
origin in the great skill which they possess in altering the

appearance of a horse or a mule, and giving it another colour.
Their changing white into green silk is a very simple trick, and is

accomplished by dexterously substituting one thing for another.
Had the man of the Dar-bushi-fal been searched, the white silk

would have been found upon him. The Gypsies, wherever they are
found, are fond of this species of fraud. In Germany, for example,

they go to the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly similar, one in
their hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks filled with

water; when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they pretend to
be dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but contrive

to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the wine-
seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the contents back,

as he thinks, into the butt - but it is not wine but water which he
pours. With respect to the donkey, which APPEARED to be cut in

pieces, but which afterwards, being pricked in the tail, got up and
ran home, I have little to say, but that I have myself seen almost

as strange things without believing in sorcery.
As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere feats

of legerdemain.
I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary, they

are the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.
CHAPTER VII

CHIROMANCY, or the divination of the hand, is, according to the
orthodox theory, the determining from certain lines upon the hand

the quality of the physical and intellectual powers of the
possessor.

The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in the
hand, and the triangle which they form in the palm. These lines,

which have all their particular and appropriate names, and the
principal of which is called 'the line of life,' are, if we may

believe those who have written on the subject, connected with the
heart, with the genitals, with the brain, with the liver or

stomach, and the head. Torreblanca, (23) in his curious and
learned book on magic, observes: 'In judging these lines you must

pay attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together
with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the line

be well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour, without
being intermitted or PUNCTURIS INFECTA, it denotes the good

complexion and virtue of its member, according to Aristotle.
'So that if the line of the heart be found sufficiently long and

reasonably deep, and not crossed by other accidental lines, it is
an infallible sign of the health of the heart and the great virtue

of the heart, and the abundance of spirits and good blood in the
heart, and accordingly denotes boldness and liberalgenius for

every work.'
In like manner, by means of the hepatal line, it is easy to form an

accurate judgment as to the state of a person's liver, and of his
powers of digestion, and so on with respect to all the other organs

of the body.
After having laid down all the rules of chiromancy with the utmost

possible clearness, the sage Torreblanca exclaims: 'And with these
terminate the canons of true and catholic chiromancy; for as for

the other species by which people pretend to divineconcerning the
affairs of life, either past or to come, dignities, fortunes,

children, events, chances, dangers, etc., such chiromancy is not
only reprobated by theologians, but by men of law and physic, as a