_On the Family Economy of the Gipseys_.
THAT these people are still the rude unpolished creatures that nature
formed them, or, at most, have only advanced one degree towards humanity,
is evinced, with other circumstances, by their family economy.
Many of the Gipseys are stationary, having 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, Bistritz, Grosswaradein, Debrezin, Eperies,
Karchau, and other places. There are also many slaves, to particular
bojars, in Moldavia and Wallachia, who do not wander any more than the
others. But by far the greatest 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
habitations but tents, holes in the rocks, or caves; the former shade
them in summer, the latter screen them in winter. Many of these savage
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 place, at the close of the evening. Some
live in their tents (in their language called _tschater_) during both
summer and winter; which indeed the Gipseys generally prefer. In
Hungary, even 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 one enjoys himself, with his family, nor
thinks of his house till the winter returns, and the frost and snow drive
him back to it again.
The wandering Gipsey, in Hungary and Transylvania, endeavours to procure
a horse; in Turkey, an ass serves to carry his wife, a couple of
children, with his tent. When he arrives at a place he likes, near a
village or 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, near some other town. Indeed, it is not
always in his power to determine how long he will remain in the same
place; for the boors are apt to trouble him, on account of fowls and
geese he has made free with: it sometimes happens, when he is very much
at his ease, they sally out with bludgeons or hedge-stakes, making use of
such forcible arguments, that he does not hesitate a moment to set up his
staff a little farther off: though, in general, the Gipseys are cunning
enough, when they have purloined any thing, or done mischief, to make off
in time before the villagers begin to suspect them.
For their winter huts, they dig holes in the ground, ten or twelve feet
deep; the roof is composed of rafters laid across, which are covered with
straw and sods: the stable, for the beast which carried the tent in
summer, is a shed built at the entrance of the hollow, and closed up with
dung and straw. This shed, and a little opening rising above the roof of
their subterranean residence, to let out the smoke, are the only marks by
which a traveller can distinguish their dwellings. Both in summer and
winter, they contrive to have their habitation in the neighbourhood of
some village, or city. Their favourite mode of building is against a
hillock: the holes in the level ground being only used in cases of
necessity, when there is no rising ground near the spot they have chosen
to pass the winter on. A Hungarian writer thus describes their method of
constructing the second sort of huts: “They first dig a hollow, about a
fathom broad, far enough into the hillock to bring their floor on a level
with the rest of the plain, in order to form a firm upright wall, for the
back of the building. Into the wall they fix a beam, about six feet
from, and parallel to, the floor; this beam reaches as far as the
intended depth of the house, seldom exceeding seven or eight feet. One
end being fast in the wall, the other rests on, and is fixed to, a pillar
or post driven into the ground. When that is done, they lay boards,
balks, or such other wood as they can find, against it on each side, in
form of a pointed roof, which, viewed from a distance, exhibits a front
in the shape of an equilateral triangle. The business is finished by
covering the whole building with straw, sods, and earth, to secure its
inhabitants from the rain, snow, and cold. They always contrive, when
they can, to place their edifice so as to front either the rising or
mid-day sun; this being the side where the opening is left for a door to
go in and out at, which is closed at night, either with a coarse woollen
cloth or a few boards.”
Imagination will easily conceive how dismal and horrid the inside of such
Gipsey huts must be to civilised humanity. Air and daylight excluded,
very damp, and full of filth, they have more the appearance of wild
beasts’ dens, that of the habitations of intelligent beings. Rooms or
separate apartments are not even thought of; all is one open space: in
the middle is the fire, serving both for the purpose of cooking and
warmth; the father and mother lie half naked, the children entirely so,
round it. Chairs, tables, beds or bedsteads, find no place here; they
sit, eat, sleep, on the bare ground, or at most spread an old blanket,
or, in the Banat, a sheep-skin, under them. Every fine day the door is
set open for the sun to shine in, which they continue watching so long as
it is above the horizon; when the day closes, they shut their door and
consign themselves over to rest. When the weather is cold, or the snow
prevents them opening the door, they make up the fire, and sit round it
till they fall asleep, without any more light than it affords.
The furniture and property of the Gipseys have been already described;
they consist of an earthen pot, an iron pan, a spoon, a jug, and a knife;
when it happens that every thing is complete, they sometimes add a dish:
these serve for the whole family. When the master of the house is a
smith by trade, as will be hereafter mentioned, he has a pair of bellows
to blow up his fire, a small stone anvil, a pair of tongs, and perhaps a
couple of hammers; add to these a few old tatters in which he dresses
himself, his knapsack, some pieces of torn bed-clothes, his tent, with
his antiquated jade, and you have a complete catalogue of a nomadic
Gipsey’s estate.
Very little can be said respecting the domestic employment of the women.
The care of their children is the most trifling concern: they neither
wash, mend their clothes, nor clean their utensils: they seldom bake: the
whole of their business, then, is reduced to—dressing their food and
eating it, smoking tobacco, prating, and sleeping. They continue during
the whole winter in their hut; but at the first croaking of the frogs,
they pull down their house, and decamp.
Such is the condition of the Gipseys who wander about in Hungary, Turkey,
and other countries; being no-where, or rather every-where, at home. The
remainder of these people who have reconciled themselves to a settled
mode of living, are in much better circumstances, and infinitely more
rational, than those just described. It will be expected, that those
Spanish Gipseys who are innkeepers, and entertain strangers, are more
civilised; and it also holds good with regard to those in Hungary and
Transylvania who have different ways of gaining a livelihood. Their
habitations are conveniently divided into chambers; and are furnished
with tables, benches, decent kitchen furniture, and other necessaries.
The few who farm, or breed cattle, have a plough and other implements of
husbandry; the others, what is necessary for carrying on their trade;
though even here you are not to expect superfluity: habitations, clothes,
every thing, indicate that their owners belong to the class of poor.
They are very partial to gold and silver plate, particularly silver cups;
which is a disposition they have in common with the wandering Gipseys:
they let slip no opportunity of acquiring something of the 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. The ordinary, travelling Gipseys when in possession
of such a piece of plate, commonly bury it under the hearth of their
dwelling, in order to secure it. This inclination to deprive themselves
of necessaries, that they may possess a superfluity, as well as many
other of their customs, is curious, yet appears to be ancient; and it was
probably inherent in them when they were first seen by Europeans.