The Habits, Occupations, and Polity of Continental Gypsies.
* * * * *
The first of them that came to Europe, appeared ragged and miserable,
unless we allow their leaders to have been an exception. In like manner
their descendants have continued for hundreds of years, and still remain.
This is particularly remarkable in the countries about the mouth of the
Danube, which abound with Gypsies; namely Transylvania, Hungary, and
Turkey, in Europe; where they dress even more negligently than in other
parts.
It is a fact that these people enjoy a good state of health more
uninterruptedly, and perfectly, than persons of the most regular habits,
and who pay the greatest attention to themselves. Neither wet nor dry
weather, heat nor cold, let the extremes follow each other ever so
quickly, seem to have any effect upon them. Any prevailing sickness, or
epidemical disorder, sooner penetrates into ten habitations of civilized
people, than finds its way into a Gypsey's tent.
Though they are fond of a great degree of heat, and to lie so near the
fire, as to be in danger of burning, yet they can bear to travel in the
severest cold, bareheaded, with no other covering than some old rags
carelessly thrown over them.
The causes of these bodily qualities, or at least some of them, evidently
arise from their education, and hardy manner of life.
The pitiless mother takes her three months old child on her back, and
wanders about, in fair and foul weather, in heat or cold; there it sits
winter and summer, in a linen rug, with its head over her shoulder.
Gypsey women never use a cradle, nor even possess such a piece of
furniture. The child sleeps in their arms, or on the ground. When a boy
attains three years of age, his lot becomes still harder. Whilst an
infant, and his age reckoned by weeks and months, he was wrapt in rags,
but now deprived of these, he is equally with his parents, exposed to the
rigour of the elements, for want of covering; he is now put to trial how
far his legs will carry him; and must be content to travel about with, at
most, no other defence for his feet than thin socks.
Thus he acquires a robust constitution by hardships and misery; but
though the children of Gypsies do not partake of what the refinements of
art and of tenderness would account advantages, writers are unanimous in
stating, they are good-looking, well-shaped, lively, clever, and have
fine eyes. The Gypsies, in common with uncivilized people, entertain
unbounded love for their children. This is a source of inexcusable
neglect: Gypsey children never feel the rod, they fly into the most
violent passions, and at the same time hear nothing from their parents
but flattering and coaxing. In return they act with ingratitude, as is
commonly the consequence of such education.
Gypsies would long ago have been divested of their swarthy complexions,
had they discontinued their filthy mode of living. The Laplanders,
Samoieds, as well as the Siberians, likewise, have brown, yellow-coloured
skins, in consequence of living from their childhood, in smoke and dirt,
in the same manner as the Gypsies.
Experience shows that their dark colour, which is continued from
generation to generation, is more the effect of education, and manner of
life, than of descent. Among those who serve in the Imperial army, where
they have learned to pay attention to order and cleanliness, there are
many to be found, whose extraction is not at all discernible in their
colour; though they had, probably, remained to the age of twelve or
fourteen years under the care of their filthy parents.
A Gypsey considers a covering for the head as useless, and if he does not
obtain socks, which the female Gypsies in Moldavia and Wallachia knit
with wooden needles for the feet, he winds rags about them, which are
laid aside in summer. He is not better furnished with linen, as the
women neither spin, sew, nor wash. But this inattention is not from
indifference about dress; on the contrary, they are particularly fond of
clothes, which have been worn by people of distinction. The following,
which appeared in the Imperial Gazette, is very much to the purpose:
"Notwithstanding these people are so wretched, that they have nothing but
rags to cover them, which do not at all fit, and are scarcely sufficient
to hide their nakedness; yet they betray their foolish taste, and vain
ostentation, whenever they have in opportunity." The women are as fond
of dress as the men, and equally expose themselves to the ridicule of the
considerate and reflecting part of mankind.
They are remarkable not only in hanging their ragged clothes about them
instead of garments, according to the Eastern custom; but their whole
arrangement is singular. Several of their leaders have horses, asses, or
mules with them, on which they load their tents and effects, with their
whole family also. They have likewise dogs in their train, with which
Krantz asserts they are used illegally, to destroy game; but probably the
dogs are not kept so much for that purpose, as to take fowls and geese.
One strange peculiarity in the ideas of Gypsies we have hitherto forborn
to mention, but, disgusting as the task of recording it way be, it is so
well authenticated, as to have excited the notice of the Hungarian
Legislature; and as it will be found to have some reference to the origin
of this singular race of human beings, it must not be withheld from
public view. The greatest luxury to them is, when they can procure a
roast of cattle that have died of any distemper: to eat their fill of
such a meal, is to them the height of epicurism. When any person
censures their taste, or shows surprise at it, they say: "The flesh of a
beast which God kills, must be better than that of one killed by the hand
of man." They therefore embrace every opportunity of obtaining such
dainties.
They are particularly fond of animals that have died by fire; therefore,
whenever a conflagration has happened, the next day, the Gypsies from
every neighbouring quarter assemble, and draw the suffocated,
half-consumed beasts out of the ashes; men, women, and children, in
troops, joyfully carrying the flesh home to their dwellings.
The Gypsies in Hungary, who have settled habitations, are very partial to
gold and silver plate, particularly silver cups, which is a disposition
they have in common with the wandering tribes. They let slip no
opportunity of acquiring something of this kind; and will even starve
themselves to procure it. Though they seem little anxious to heap up
riches for their children, yet these frequently inherit a treasure of
this sort; and are obliged in their turn to preserve it as a sacred
inheritance. This inclination to deprive themselves of necessaries that
they may possess a superfluity, as well as many others of their customs,
is curious, yet appears to be ancient; and it was probably inherent in
them when they were first seen by Europeans.
Historians assert, that of all the different people who have migrated
into foreign countries, a single instance is not to be found, which
accords with that of the Gypsies. The religious rites and observances of
the Jews were calculated to prevent their imbibing the customs and habits
of other nations. But it is universally admitted, that Gypsies did not
bring any particular religion with them from their native country, by
which they could be distinguished among other people; being as inconstant
and unsettled respecting religion, as they are to place of residence.
Indeed it is asserted, that no Gypsey has any idea of submission to any
fixed profession of faith; that patents suffering their children to grow
up as themselves, without education or instruction, they acquire little
knowledge either of morality or justice; that few of them wilt attend to
any discourse on religion, but they hear it with indifference, if not
with impatience and repugnance. Despising all remonstrance; they
endeavour to live without the least solicitude concerning a future state
of being.
The Turks are so fully convinced of the little religious sincerity
possessed by Gypsies, that although a Jew, by becoming a Mahometan, is
freed from the payment of the _Charadsch_, the Gypsies are not; at least
in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, they are compelled to pay the
poll-tax, even though their ancestors for centuries had been Mahometans,
or though they should actually have been a pilgrimage to Mecca. The
privilege of wearing a white turban, is the only advantage their
conversion gives them, over unbelieving Jews and Gypsies.
Among warlike nations, many instances have occurred, in which the people
subdued, being more enlightened than their conquerors, the latter have
adopted the manners of the former. After the conquest of Greece, the
Romans assumed the manners of the Greeks; and the Turks in like manner
assumed those of the Gauls. The Mancheans vanquished the Chinese, but
Chinese customs prevailed over those of the Mancheans.
_Grellmann_.
Our countryman Dr. Clarke, page 4, of part the second of his Travels in
Greece, says: "There is every reason to believe that the Turks
themselves, at the conquest of Constantinople, adopted many of the
customs, and embraced many of the refinements of a people they had
subdued.
"Their former habits had been those of nomad tribes, their dwellings were
principally tents, and the camp, rather than the city, distinguished
their abode."
But Grellmann observes, Gypsies who have not established themselves by
force in any country, nor obtained toleration from any Government, remain
unchanged. Though they behold fixed dwellings on every side of them,
with settled inhabitants, they nevertheless, proceed in their own way,
and continue, for the most part, unsocial, houseless wanderers.
To their excessive indolence and aversion to industry, may be attributed
the poverty and want which are generally their lots. They dislike every
kind of employment which requires application; and had rather suffer
hunger and nakedness, than provide against these privations, on the
conditions of labour. They therefore practise music and palmistry, which
allows them many idle hours; or addict themselves to vicious habits and
unlawful courses. Though no one of them marries a person who is not of
Gypsey extraction, there is not any people among whom marriage is
contracted with less consideration, or accomplished with less solemnity.
Some Gypsies, who are stationary, have regular habitations, according to
their situation in life. To this class belong those who keep
public-houses in Spain; and others in Transylvania and Hungary, who
follow some regular business; which latter have their own miserable huts
near Hermanstadt, Cronstadt, Beatritz, Grosswaradein, Debrezin, Eperies,
Karchan, and other places. But by far the greater number of these
people, lead a very different kind of life; ignorant of the comforts
attending a fixed place of residence, they rove from one district to
another in hordes; having no habitation, but tents, holes in the rocks,
or caves: the former shade them in summer, the latter screen them in
winter.
Many of these people, particularly in Germany and Spain, do not even
carry tents with them, but shelter themselves from the heat of the sun,
in forests shaded by the rocks, or behind hedges. They are very partial
to willows, under which they erect their sleeping places at the close of
the evening. Some live in their tents, in their language called
_Tschater_, during both summer and winter; which latter indeed the
Gypsies generally prefer.
In Hungary, those who have discontinued their rambling way of life, and
built houses for themselves, seldom let a spring pass without taking
advantage of the first settled weather, to set up a tent for their summer
residence. Under this, each enjoys himself with his family, nor thinks
of his house till winter returns, and the frost and snow drive him back
to it.
The wandering Gypsey in Hungary and Transylvania, endeavours to procure a
horse; in Turkey, an ass serves to carry his wife and a couple of
children, with his tent. When he arrives at a place he likes, near a
village, or a city, he unpacks, pitches his tent, ties his animal to a
stake to graze, and remains some weeks there: or if he do not find his
station convenient, he breaks up in a day or two, loads his beast, and
looks out for a more agreeable situation. His furniture seldom consists
of more than an earthen pot, an iron pan, a spoon, a jug and a knife;
with sometimes the addition of a dish. These serve for the whole family.
Working in iron is the most usual occupation of the Gypsies. In Hungary,
this profession is so common, that there is a proverb: "So many Gypsies
so many smiths."
The same may be said of those in Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia, and
all Turkey in Europe; at least such workers in fire are very numerous in
all those countries. But the Gypsies of our time, are not willing to
work heavy works; they seldom go beyond a pair of light horse shoes. In
general, they confine themselves to small articles, such as rings and
nails; they mend old pots and kettles; make knives, seals, and needles;
and sometimes they work in tin and brass. Their materials, tools, and
apparatus, are of a very inferior kind. The anvil is a stone; the other
implements are a pair of hand bellows, a hammer, a pair of pincers, a
vice, and a file. These ape the tools which a Nomadic Gypsey takes with
him in his perambulations.
Whenever he is disposed to work, he is at no loss for fuel: on his
arrival at a station where he proposes to remain a few days, he takes his
beast, loads him with wood, builds a small kiln, and prepares his own
coal. In favourable weather, his work is carried on in the open air;
when it is stormy, he retires under his tent. He does not stand, but
sits down on the ground cross-legged to his work; which position is
rendered necessary, not only by custom, but by the quality of his tools.
The wife sits by to work the bellows, in which operation she is assisted
by the elder children. The Gypsies are generally praised for their
dexterity and quickness, notwithstanding the bad tools they have to work
with.
Another branch of commerce much followed by Gypsies, is horse-dealing, to
which they have been attached from the earliest period of their history.
In those parts of Hungary, where the climate is so mild, that horses may
lie out all the year, the Gypsies avail themselves of this circumstance
to breed, as well as to deal in horses; by which they sometimes not only
procure a competency, but grew rich. Instances have been known on the
Continent, of gypsies keeping from fifty to seventy horses each; and
those the best bred horses of the country; some of which they let out for
hire, others they exchange or sell. But this description of Gypsey
horse-dealers is not numerous; the greater number of them deal in
inferior kinds.
In addition to the two professions before-mentioned, commonly followed by
the men, some of them employ themselves as carpenters and turners; the
former making watering troughs and chests; the latter turn, trenchers and
dishes; make sieves, spoons, and other trifling articles, which they hawk
about. Many of them, as well as the smiths, find constant employment in
the houses of the better sort of people; for whom they work the year
round. They are not paid in money, but beside other advantages find a
certain subsistence.
Those who are not thus circumstanced, do not wait at home for customers,
but with their implements in a sack thrown over their shoulders, seek
business in the cities and villages. When any one calls, they throw down
the bundle, and prepare the apparatus for work, before the door of their
employer.
The Gypsies have a fixed dislike to agriculture; and had rather suffer
hunger, or any privation, than follow the plough. Since the year 1768,
the Empress Theresa has commanded that the Hungarian, and Transylvanian
Gypsies should be instructed in husbandry; but these orders have been
very little regarded. At this time there are so few of them farmers in
those parts, that they are undeserving of notice. In Spain and other
European countries, it would be difficult to find one who had ever made a
furrow in his life.
Respecting fortune-telling, with which the female Gypsies impose on
people's credulity in every district and corner of Europe, the origin, of
the imposition is not to be attributed to them: the cheat was known and
practised in Europe before their arrival; being deeply rooted in the
ignorance of the middle age. The science of divination here was said to
be already brought to a greater degree of perfection than among them.
Rules were invented to tell lies from the inspection of the hand, in
which the poor Gypsies were accounted mere bunglers. They in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were esteemed supernumeraries; there
being men of great learning, who not only read lectures in Colleges on
the art of chiromancy; but wrote many books, vilifying these people, and
endeavouring to spoil their market. But these wise men are no more;
their knowledge is deposited in the dead archives of literature; and
probably had there been no Gypsies, with them would have died the belief
in chiromancy, as is the case with respect to astrology, necromancy,
oneirocritica, and the other offspring of imbecile fancy.
We must not omit to mention the occupation of gold-washing, by which
thousands of Gypsies, of both sexes, in the Banat, Transylvania,
Wallachia, and Moldavia, procure a livelihood in summer; who, in winter,
make trays and troughs, which they sell in an honest way.
It is not permitted for every one, without exception, to be a
gold-washer; such only can follow the employment as have permission from
the office of Mons, where a College was established by the Empress
Theresa, in 1748. In the seventh article of instructions granted, the
Gypsies were allowed the privilege of washing for gold, for which each
person pays a tribute to Government.
The gold-washers in Transylvania and the Banat, pay four guilders
annually in gold dust. The tribute collected in Wallachia and Moldavia
does not go into the public treasury, but belongs to the Princesses for
pin-money.
The consort of the Wallachian Hospodar, Stephen Rakowitza, in the year
1764, received from her Rudars, being two hundred and forty in number,
twelve hundred and fifty-four drachms. The gold-washers in the Banat and
Transylvania, dispose of their shares at the Royal Redemption-Office, in
Zalatuya. The earnings of these people vary with time, and at different
places; during heavy rains and floods they are usually most successful.
The Transylvanian rivers yield the most gold. It is said, all the rivers
and brooks which the rain forms, produce gold; of these the river
Aranyasch is the richest; insomuch, that Historians have compared it to
the Tagus and Pactolus.
_Grellmann_.
In Travels through the Banat of Temeswar, Transylvania, and Hungary, in
the year 1770, described in a series of letters to Professor Ferber, on
the mines and mountains of these different countries, by Baron Inigo
Born, Counsellor of the Royal Mines, in Bohemia, page 76, is the
following account:
"Observations on the Gold-washings, in the Banat, by Counsellor Koezian.
Translated by R. E. Ruspe.
"After the several natural advantages of the _Temeswar Banat_, some of
its rivers are known to yield gold dust; I could not neglect the object
when I travelled in these parts.
"The gold-washing in the Banat, is properly the business of the Gypsies,
_Zigeuner_, and left, as it were, to this poor people, as an exclusive
trade. This laid me under the necessity of applying to them for
instruction.
"The river Nera, in Almash, carries gold dust; and seemed to me the
fittest for my purpose; accordingly I caused some Gypsies, reputed to be
skilful, to make a washing, near a village called Boshowitz; and I saw
with pleasure, that with much dexterity, and in a few minutes time, they
cleared in the trough, the value of some groshes of gold: they showed me
likewise among their gold dust, some pieces of remarkable bigness."
It has been stated, that when Gypsies first arrived in Europe, they had
leaders and chiefs to conduct their various tribes in their migrations.
Grellmann says, this was necessary, not only to facilitate their progress
through different countries and quarters of the globe; but to unite their
force, if necessary, and thereby enable them to make a more formidable
resistance when opposed; and likewise, to carry any plan they might have
formed, more regularly into effect.
We accordingly find in old books, mention made of Knights, Counts, Dukes,
and Kings, among this people. Crucius cites a Duke, _Michael_;
Muratorio, a Duke, _Andreas_: and Arentinus records a King, _Zindelo_:
not to speak of inscriptions on monuments erected in different places to
the memories of Duke, _Panuel_; Count, _Johannis_; and a Knight,
_Petrus_, in the fifteenth century.
But no comment is necessary to show how improperly these appellations
were applied. Though the Gypsey chiefs might be gratified with such
titles; and their descendants probably esteemed them persons of rank, it
was merely a ridiculous imitation of what they had seen, and perhaps
admired, among civilized people. Nevertheless, the custom of having
leaders and chiefs over them, prevails to this time, at least in Hungary
and Transylvania; probably it may also still exist in Turkey, and other
countries, where these people live together in great numbers.
Their chiefs, or waywodes, were formerly of two degrees in Hungary. Each
petty tribe had its own leader, beside which, there were four superior
waywodes, of their own caste, on both sides the Danube and Teisse; whose
residences were at Raab, Lewentz, Szathmar, and Kaschan; and to these the
smaller waywodes were accountable. But now, only one superior waywode is
appointed in all Transylvania, who has authority over the gold-washers in
those parts. The Gypsies, however, still continue the custom among
themselves, of choosing certain persons, whom they make heads over them,
and call by the exalted Sclavonian title of waywode.
It would appear extraordinary, that any well-regulated state should allow
these people a distinct establishment in the heart of the country; did
not the Hungarian writers assign as a reason, that in the commotions and
troubles occasioned by the Turkish wars, in former centuries, they were,
by means of their waywode, more easily summoned when occasion required,
and rendered useful to the community.
In Transylvania, the magistrates do interfere with regard to the person
whom this or that horde hath elected chief, and impose an obligation on
him; but it is only that he should be careful to prevent his subjects
from absconding, when the time arrives for them to discharge their annual
tribute at the Land Regent's chamber. He has no right to interfere in
disputes or quarrels which the Gypsies have among themselves, or with
other people, further than to give notice of them to the regular courts
of the district, where they happen to be.
Grellmann.