_Their Occupations and Trades_.
ON considering the means to which the Gipseys have recourse to maintain
themselves, we shall perceive the reason why poverty and want are so
generally their lot; namely, their excessive indolence, and aversion from
industry. They abhor every kind of employment which is laborious or
requires application; and had rather suffer even hunger and nakedness,
than obviate these privations on such hard terms. They therefore either
choose some profession which requires little exertion, allowing them many
idle hours; or addict themselves to unlawful courses, and vicious habits.
Working in iron, is the most usual occupation of the Gipseys. In Spain,
very few follow any regular business; but among these few, some are
smiths: on the contrary, in Hungary this profession is so common among
them, that there is a proverb—‘So many Gipseys, so many smiths:’ the same
might 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. This occupation seems to have been a favourite with
them from the most distant periods, as appears not only by Bellonius’s
account, but by an older record, of an Hungarian king Uladislaus, in the
year 1496, mentioned by the Abbé Pray, in his Annals, and Friedwaldsky,
in his Mineralogy, wherein it is ordered, _that every officer and
subject_, _of whatever rank or condition_, _do allow to Thomas Polgar_,
_leader of twenty-five tents of wandering Gipseys_, _free residence
everywhere_, _and on no account to molest either him or his people_;
_because they had prepared musket bullets_, _and other military stores_,
_for the Bishop Sigismund_, _at Fünfkirchen_. Another instance occurred
in the year 1565, when Mustapha, Turkish regent of Bosnia, besieged
Crupa; the Turks having expended their powder and cannon balls, Gipseys
were employed to make the latter, part of iron, the rest of stone cased
with lead.
The Gipseys of our time are not willing to undertake heavy work; they
seldom go beyond a pair of light horse-shoes: in general, they confine
themselves to small articles, such as rings, jews-harps, and small nails:
they mend old pots and kettles, make knives, seals, needles, and
sometimes work trifles in tin or brass.
Their materials, tools, apparatus, all are bad, and of the most inferior
kind. Their common method of proceeding is, to collect some pieces of
rusty iron, old nails, broken horse-shoes, and such-like, which they fuse
and shape to their purpose. The anvil is a stone; the other implements
are, a pair of hand-bellows, a pair of pincers, a hammer, a vice, and a
file: these are the tools which a nomadic Gipsey carries 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 purposes remaining a few days,
or perhaps weeks, he takes his beast, loads him with wood, builds a small
kiln, and prepares his own coals. In favourable weather, his work is
carried on in the open air; when it is stormy, or the sun too powerful,
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 sometimes relieved by the
elder children; the little ones sit, naked as they were born, round the
fire. The Gipseys are generally praised for their dexterity and
quickness, notwithstanding the wretched tools they have to operate with.
When any piece of work requires much time to finish, they are apt to lose
their patience, and in that case become indifferent whether it be well
executed or not. They never submit to labour so long as they have got a
dry crust, or any thing else to satisfy their hunger. They frequently
receive orders to fabricate different articles; but if not, no sooner are
a few nails, or some other trifles, manufactured, than man, woman, and
children, dislodge, to convey their merchandise, from house to house, for
sale, in the neighbouring villages: their traffick is carried on
sometimes for ready money, sometimes by barter for eatables or other
necessaries.
Another branch of commerce much followed by the Gipseys is horse dealing,
to which they seem to 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 Gipseys avail themselves of
this circumstance to breed, as well as deal in, those animals; by which
they sometimes not only procure a competence, but grow rich. Instances
have been known on the Continent of Gipseys 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 sold or exchanged, as occasion
offered. But this description of Gipsey horse-dealers is not very
numerous; for the greatest number of them deal only in blind worn-out
jades, which they drive about to different markets, to sell or barter.
When the dealer is not fortunate enough to find a chap for his nag, he
leads him to the collar-maker, who values the hide, and takes him off his
hands for a few groschens. In order to prevent being reduced to this
necessity, the slyest tricks are practised to conceal the animal’s
defects. In Spain, therefore, _Gitano_ and _Gitaneria_ (Gipsey and
Gipseyism) are become familiar expressions to imply a cheater in horses,
with the deceptions he makes use of. In the year 1727 they had become so
infamous in Sweden, that the subject was thought of sufficient
consequence for the consideration of the diet, and their total expulsion
was voted to be a necessary measure. The following trick is frequently
played in Hungary, and the adjacent country, to make a horse appear brisk
and active:—the rider alights at a small distance from the place where he
means to offer his horse for sale, and belabours him till he has put the
whole muscular system in motion with fright; he then mounts again, and
proceeds. The poor beast remembering the blows he has received, jumps
about, or sets out full speed, at the least signal; the buyer, entirely
ignorant of the preparatory discipline the animal has undergone, supposes
this to be natural vivacity, and in hopes that good feeding, with care,
will render him still more lively, strikes a bargain: but the next day he
has the mortification to discover that he has bought a jade, on which all
his care will be thrown away, as the beast has not a leg to stand upon.
In Suabia, and on the Rhine, they have another device:—they make an
incision in some hidden part of the skin, through which they blow the
creature up, till he looks fleshy and plump; they then apply a strong
sticking-plaster, to prevent the air from returning. If what Wolfgang
Franz assures us be true, they sometimes make use of a trick with a live
eel, to this blown-up horse, that he may not only appear in good
condition, but spirited and lively. It might be thought, that, on
account of these and such-like roguish proceedings, nobody would ever
venture to deal with a Gipsey for a horse, were not the possibility
proved by the fact itself. But we see instances of this infatuation in
other transactions: it is well known that every Jew will cheat, whenever
he has an opportunity; yet these people have lived by trade, ever since
their dispersion from Babel. Then, these frauds do not always happen:
the Gipseys too sell their horses cheap; and as poor people cannot afford
to pay dear for them, they must buy where they can; and thus the Gipseys
are enabled to continue their traffick.
To the two professions before mentioned as commonly followed by the men,
may be added, those of carpenters and turners: the former make
watering-troughs and chests; the latter turn trenchers, dishes, make
spoons and other trifling articles, which they hawk about. There are
others who make sieves, or maintain themselves by cobbling shoes. Many
of these, as well as the blacksmiths and whitesmiths, 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 or villages: when any one calls, they throw down the bundle, and
prepare the apparatus for work, before the door of their employer.
The Gipseys have a fixed dislike to agriculture; and had rather suffer
hunger, or any privation, than follow the plough, to earn a decent
livelihood. But, as there is no general rule without an exception, so,
beside the slaves to the bojars in Moldavia and Wallachia, who are
constrained to apply to it, there are some in Hungary who are cultivators
by choice. Since the year 1768, the Empress Theresa has commanded that
the Hungarian and Transylvanian Gipseys 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; though in Spain, and other European countries,
they are still more scarce, as it would be difficult to find one who had
ever made a furrow in his life.
Formerly, Gipseys were commonly employed in Hungary, and in Transylvania
almost universally, for hangmen and executioners. They still perform the
business of flayers in Hungary, and of executioners in different parts of
Transylvania. Their assiduity in torturing, their cruel invention in
tormenting, are described by Toppeltin to be so shocking, that the
Gipseys seem eminently calculated for works of barbarity. They do not
follow flaying as a regular profession any-where; it is merely a casual
occupation, in addition to their usual employment. Whenever a beast dies
near where they happen to be, it is a fortunate circumstance if there be
no skinner in the place; not because they can make much of the skin,
which they always leave with the owner for a trifling consideration, but
they are thus enabled to procure a plentiful provision of flesh for the
family.
Such are the employments of the men. We shall now proceed to shew the
particular methods the women have of obtaining support. It was formerly,
and still is, the custom, among the wandering Gipseys, especially in
winter, not for the man to maintain the wife, but the wife the husband.
This is not precisely the fact in summer, when the men have the
before-recited occupations; nor among those who have a regular
settlement; but the women always endeavour to contribute their share
towards the maintenance of the family: some deal in old clothes; others
frequent brothels, which is commonly the case in Spain, and still more so
in Constantinople, and all over Turkey. There are others, in
Constantinople, who make and sell brooms; but this trade is followed by
those chiefly who are too old to get a livelihood by their debauchery.
Dancing is another means they have of obtaining contributions: they
generally practise this when begging, particularly of men, in the
streets; or when they enter houses, to ask charity. Their dancing is the
most disgusting that can be conceived, always ending with fulsome
grimaces, or the most lascivious attitudes and gestures: nor is this
indecency confined to the married women, but is rather more practised by
young girls, travelling with their fathers, who are also musicians, and
who, for a trifling acknowledgement, will exhibit their dexterity to any
body who is pleased with these unseemly dances. They are trained up to
this impudence from their earliest years, never suffering a passenger to
pass their parents’ hut, without endeavouring to obtain something by
frisking about naked before him.
Respecting fortune telling, with which the female Gipseys impose on
people’s credulity, in every district and corner of Europe, little need
be said. Yet it is extraordinary, that _women_, generally too not till
they become old, should be so sharpsighted as to discover, in every
person’s hand they are permitted to inspect, the events of futurity!
There are some instances of men being thus gifted; but so few, that they
are only exceptions to a general rule. It is, therefore, to be ascribed
to the Gipsey women alone, that faith in divination still exists in the
minds of millions of people. It is true, Europe was not originally
beholden to the Gipseys for this faith, it being deeply rooted in the
ignorance of the middle age, when they arrived and brought it with them
also. The science of divination here, was already brought to a much
greater degree of perfection than among them: rules were invented to tell
lies from the inspection of the hand; whereas these poor wretches were
esteemed mere bunglers. During the seventeenth and beginning of the
eighteenth century the Gipseys were considered as only a supernumerary
party; there being men of great learning, who not only read lectures in
college on the divine art of chiromancy, but wrote many books, vilifying
these people, and endeavouring to spoil their market by exposing their
ignorance. But those enlightened men are no more; their knowledge is
deposited in the dead archives of literature: and probably, if there were
no Gipseys, with them would also have died the belief in chiromancy, as
has happened in regard to astrology, necromancy, oneirocritica, and the
other offsprings of imbecile fancy. By the Gipseys alone will this
deceit be kept alive, till every Gipsey is constrained to acknowledge
some country, and to have some ostensible mode of gaining a livelihood.
We can only pity the poor weak deluded beings, who pay their groschen or
kreutzer, their shilling or sixpence, for a few unmeaning words!—as if it
were possible for people to instruct us concerning our future fortune in
life, who are ignorant of their own; being unable to determine whether a
day or two hence, they may still be telling fortunes, or be taken before
the magistrates, and hanged for theft.
In addition to the chiromantic deception of the Gipsey women, they
also—though not exclusively, as the men likewise often profess the same
talent—cure bewitched cattle, discover thefts, and possess nostrums of
various kinds, to which they ascribe great virtues. These nostrums
consist principally of roots, and amulets made of unfermented dough,
marked with strange figures, and dried in the air. Griselini says, that,
in the Banat of Temeswar, they sell certain small stones, chiefly a kind
of scoriæ, which they say possess the quality of rendering the wearer
fortunate in love, play, &c. Were that true, why deliver to others what
they have so much occasion for themselves? Why do they beg and steal,
when, with the assistance of these stones, they might honourably acquire
riches, and good fortune? Yet these stones are purchased with avidity,
not only in the Banat, but in Germany. People use their quack medicines;
call the Gipsey woman into the stable, to exorcise their bewitched
cattle, without suspecting any trick or deception. So the open-hearted
farmer, in Suabia and Bavaria, has recourse to the Gipseys on many
occasions, employing them as doctors for man and beast; and constantly,
in cases of supposed enchantment, flies to the Gipsey: this circumstance
happens most frequently among those of the common people who pretend to
have the least belief in witches and witchcraft. Whenever a cow does not
feed kindly, something is immediately suspected; and the Gipsey woman is
called, who is often so successful as to remove the impediment. She goes
into the stable, orders the cow to be shewn to her, and, after desiring
every one else to go out, remains a few minutes alone with it: having
finished her operations, she calls in the master, acquaints him with the
beast’s recovery, and behold it eats heartily! How happens this? Was it
not a piece of enchantment, wherein the Gipsey really acted the magician?
Certainly not. The fraud is this:—When the cattle are feeding abroad,
the Gipsey woman takes advantage of the keepers absence to entice some of
them, with a handful of fodder, to follow her; she then smears them, over
the nose and mouth, with some filthy composition, which she has ready in
the other hand. From that moment the creature loaths all kinds of food
and drink. When the Gipsey is called in to apply a remedy, the whole
skill required, is to cleanse the animal’s nose and mouth from the stuff
she had put on a day or two before: by this means the true smell is
restored, and the cow being hungry, it is not surprising she should
fall-to greedily. From this single instance, a judgment may be formed of
other cases.
The more common Gipsey occupations, wherein the men and women take an
equal share, are—in Spain, keeping inns; principally music in Hungary and
Turkey; and gold-washing in Transylvania, the Banat, Moldavia, and
Wallachia. The Gipseys, formerly, were concerned in smuggling; and
probably still are, although it is not mentioned by late writers.
Both male and female Gipseys attend at entertainments with their music,
and often shew great proficiency in the art: besides some wind
instrument, they have generally a violin; and many of them have attained
so great perfection on that instrument, as to be employed in the chapels
of the nobility, and admired as great masters. _Barna Mihaly_, in the
country of Zips, who distinguished himself, about the middle of the last
century, in the chapel of the cardinal Count _Emerick von Cschaky_, was
an Orpheus of this kind. The cardinal, who was a judge of music himself,
had so great a regard for him, that he had his likeness taken by one of
the most capital painters. Instances of the kind are not wanting in the
other sex: it is well known that a Gipsey girl, at fourteen years of age,
was so famous as a fidler, that the greatest and most fashionable people
in Hungary were accustomed to send twenty or thirty miles for her, to
play at their balls. There are likewise very many _scrapers_; these are
generally such as have learned of other scrapers, at their own expense.
This kind of musicians travel about, with the dancers before mentioned;
or play to the peasants, who, not having much taste, always make them
welcome at their weddings, or dances. They scratch away on an old
patched violin, or rumble on a broken base, neither caring about better
instruments, nor minding to stop in tune; being what they are, more for
want of application than capacity. Others practise vocal music; and some
have acquired considerable fortunes, particularly in Spain, by singing.
Goldwashing, in the rivers, is another occupation, by which many thousand
Gipseys, of both sexes, procure a livelihood, in the Banat, Transylvania,
Wallachia, and Moldavia. As this is only a summer employment, they are
under the necessity of finding some other means of supporting themselves
during the winter. It is not permitted for every one, without exception,
to be a goldwasher: in Transylvania, such only can follow the employment,
who have leave from the office of Mons; {51} and these only enjoy the
privilege under certain restrictions. In Wallachia and Moldavia, none of
the bojars’ slaves, thence called _bojaresk_ (bojar Gipseys), are
suffered to meddle with goldwashing; that being a liberty granted only to
those who, like other subjects, are immediately under the prince,
denominated _domnesk_ (princely Gipseys): which are also subdivided into
three classes; the first named _Rudar_; the second _Ursar_; and the third
_Lajaschen_. The _Radars_ alone have the licence above mentioned; the
others are obliged to seek a different means of obtaining support. Each
person is forced to pay a certain tribute to government. The goldwashers
in Transylvania and the Banat pay four guilders annually, which is
discharged in gold-dust: the same sum is due from every Gipsey, though
many evade the contribution. When the time for payment approaches; they
contrive to keep out of the way, particularly the Hungarian Gipseys. The
tribute collected in Wallachia and Moldavia does not go into the public
treasury, but belongs to the princesses for pin-money. In Cantemir’s
time, that in Moldavia produced yearly one thousand six hundred drachms:
and the consort of the Wallachian hospodar Stephen Rakowitza, in the year
1764, received from her Rudars, two hundred and forty in number, twelve
hundred and fifty-four drachms;—a sum, according to General von Bauer and
Sulzer, amounting to one thousand and three drachms, fine gold. What the
Gipseys in Wallachia and Moldavia get more than their head-money, goes to
the grand armasch, at two lion-guilders the drachm: this he afterwards
sells again, at a higher price, according with its real value; as General
von Bauer believes, for his own profit, not for that of the prince. The
goldwashers in the Banat and Transylvania dispose of their share at the
royal redemption-office, in Zalatnya. The earnings of these people vary
with time and at different places; during heavy rains and floods they are
usually most successful: besides, their profit is more or less, according
to the quality of the river they wash in. At the most favourable times,
viz. at the floods, Griselini calculates their daily gain not to exceed
three groschens. If we understand, as we certainly ought, that this sum
is not earned by each person, but by a whole family, the statement will
agree, pretty nearly, with Mr. Dembscher’s account: he says, “In the year
1770 there were, in the districts of Uj-Palanka, Orsova, and Caransebes,
upwards of eighty goldwashers, all of whom had families, and followed the
business, with their wives and children; yet this number of hands
delivered in only six or seven hundred ducats worth of gold.” Take half
of the doubtful seventh hundred; deduct three hundred and twenty
guilders, head money, from the gross sum; divide the remainder among
eighty families, and each will receive yearly thirty-two guilders: allot
to each day, in the summer half-year, its proportion, and it will be
found very little more or less than three groschens. As before stated,
the labour of two hundred Rudars produced, in the year 1764, twelve
hundred fifty-four drachms: General von Bauer adds, this sum was exactly
the half of what was collected, over the whole country, in the same year.
Now as these Gipseys were under the necessity of parting with their
twelve or thirteen hundred drachms, which remained after the capitation
tax was paid, to the grand-armasch, at the rate of two lion-guilders per
drachm, they earned still less than those in the Banat; although the
rivers in Wallachia contain a sufficient plenty of gold to have enabled
them to make ten times that advantage, did not their laziness prevent
them. The Transylvanian rivers yield the most gold: there are annually,
from eight to ten hundred weight separated from their sand, which are
brought to Zalatnya, to be disposed of. As this quantity is not obtained
by Gipseys only, but together with the Wallachians, and we have no
account of the gross number of goldwashers, how many of them are Gipseys,
nor what proportion they have of these eight hundred weight, it is
impossible to ascertain the profits of the Transylvanian Gipsey
goldwashers. That they are better off than those in the Banat and other
places, is certain, from the circumstance of the rivers abounding more
with gold, than elsewhere.
It may not be uninteresting in this place to give the process of
goldwashing, in the words of those who, as mineralogists, have
superintended the work. The account communicated by the Councellor von
Kotzian, concerning the goldwashing in the Banat, is as follows: “The
operation consists in, first, providing a board of lime-wood, about one
fathom long, and half a fathom broad; being hollowed at the upper end, in
the form of a dish, from which are cut ten or twelve channels, in an
oblique direction. This board is fixed in an inclined position so as to
form an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon. The sand
containing the gold, being laid in the hollow at the top of the board, a
quantity of water is then poured upon it, which carries off the lighter
parts; such as are more heavy they shove down by hand: what remains in
the channels, or furrows, is discharged into an oblong tray, carried to
the straining-trough, and the gold which remains picked clean out. The
whole of this work is performed in so careless a manner, that much pure
gold is lost: it is, moreover, to be lamented, that the Gipseys get only
the gold which is perfectly separated from the sand, but by no means any
that sticks to the ore, which they throw away, though there is gold in
it.”
As it seems evident, from the foregoing statement, that this method is
very inadequate to the purpose, and that consequently much gold must be
wasted, we are the more surprised when another author, in the following
words, assures us of the contrary:—“So negligent and careless as the work
of the Gipseys appears at first sight, just as effectual it is proved
when put to the test. Daily practice gives to these people a degree of
discernment, without which another person would think they must lose a
great deal. I convinced myself in the following manner: When they had
finished their washing on the board—for which they commonly used from
fifteen to twenty troughs of coarse stuff—I divided the washed stuff into
three parcels; the ten or fifteen uppermost furrows always contained the
most gold, the second division not more than an eighth part as much, but
the last fifteen to twenty furrows scarcely three grains. I have also
narrowly examined the refuse, and very seldom found any traces of gold in
it.”
The art of goldwashing is brought to much greater perfection in
Transylvania. In the description of the process adopted in that country,
it is said that all the rivers, brooks, and even the pools which the rain
forms, produce gold: of these the river Aranyosch is the richest,
insomuch that the historians have compared it to the Tagus and Pactolus.
Excepting the Wallachians, who live by the rivers, the goldwashers
consist chiefly of Gipseys. They can judge with the greatest certitude
where to wash to advantage. The apparatus used by them for this work is
a crooked board, four or five feet long, by two or three broad, generally
provided with a wooden rim on each side; over this board they spread a
woollen cloth, and scatter the gold-sand, mixed with water, upon it: the
small grains of the metal remain sticking to the cloth, which they
afterwards wash in a vessel of water, and then separate the gold by means
of the trough. When larger particles of sand are found in their washing,
they make deeper channels in the middle of their crooked boards, to stop
the small pieces as they roll down: they closely examine these small
stones, and some are frequently found to have solid gold fixed in them.
Those we have mentioned are the customary professions and occupations of
Gipseys, in the different countries and states of Europe. But people
must not imagine that their smiths’ shops are continually resounding with
the hammer; nor that those of other professions are so attentive to their
callings, as to provide even a daily subsistence, not to think of a
comfortable maintenance. Their consummate laziness, on the contrary, as
before observed, occasions so many idle hours in the day, that their
family is often reduced to the greatest distress; for which reason,
begging or stealing is by far a more common method, than diligence or
assiduous application to business, for quieting the cravings of hunger.
If we except soldiers, who are kept in order by the discipline of the
corporal, with some of the Transylvanian goldwashers, who apply to
music—and, living separate from their own caste, in constant habits of
intercourse with people of a better sort, have thereby acquired more
civilised manners, and learned the distinction, if not between right and
wrong, at least between social honour and disgrace—the remainder are, in
the most unlimited sense, arrant thieves. In fact, working at any trade,
or employment, seems to be merely a disguise, in order the better to
enable them to carry on their thieving practices; as the articles which
they prepare for sale in the cities and villages, furnish an excellent
excuse for sneaking into houses, to pry where there is any thing which
they may appropriate to themselves. This kind of artifice is
particularly the province of the women, who have always been reckoned
more dextrous than the men in the art of stealing. They commonly take
children with them, who are tutored to remain behind, in the outer part
of the house, to purloin what they can, while the mother is negotiating
in the chamber. It is generally the women’s office to make away with the
boor’s geese and fowls, when they are to be found in a convenient place.
Should the creature make a noise when seized, it is killed and dressed
for the consumption of the family; but if, by chance, it have strayed so
far from the village, that its crying cannot give any alarm, they keep it
alive to sell at the next market town. Winter is the time when the women
generally are most called upon to try their skill in this way: during
that season, many of the men remain in their huts, sending the women
abroad to forage. They go about in the guise of beggars—a character they
well know how to support—and commonly carry with them a couple of
children, miserably exposed to the cold and frost; one of these is led by
the hand, the other tied in a cloth to the woman’s back, in order to
excite compassion in well-disposed people. Whole troops of these Gipsey
beggars are met with in Spain; and the encounter is by no means pleasant,
as they ask alms in a manner, and with such importunity, as if they
thought you could not deny them. They also tell fortunes; and impose on
the credulous with amulets. Besides all this, they seldom return to
their husbands without some pilfered booty. Many writers confine the
thefts of the Gipseys to small maters, and will not allow that they are
ever guilty of violence. This is not only denied by the testimony of
others, but absolutely contradicted by some recent instances. It is true
that, on account of their natural timidity, they do hesitate to commit a
robbery which appears to be attended with great danger, nor do they often
break open houses by night: they rather confine themselves to petty
depredations, than, as they think, rush voluntarily into destruction by a
great and dangerous action. Yet we have more than one proof, that they
make no scruple to murder a traveller, or plunder cities and villages.