forth, are now to be found in the greatest numbers. Most of these people
live, or rather wander hither and thither, in the southern and eastern
provinces of Spain, in Andalusia, and Estramadura, in the kingdom
of Murcia. There are a great many of them in Catalonia. These last
frequently cross over into France and are to be seen at all our
southern fairs. The men generally call themselves grooms, horse doctors,
mule-clippers; to these trades they add the mending of saucepans and
brass utensils, not to mention smuggling and other illicit practices.
The women tell fortunes, beg, and sell all sorts of drugs, some of which
are innocent, while some are not. The physical characteristics of the
gipsies are more easily distinguished then described, and when you have
known one, you should be able to recognise a member of the race among
a thousand other men. It is by their physiognomy and expression,
especially, that they differ from the other inhabitants of the same
country. Their complexion is exceedingly swarthy, always darker than
that of the race among whom they live. Hence the name of _cale_ (blacks)
which they frequently apply to themselves.* Their eyes, set with a
decided slant, are large, very black, and shaded by long and heavy
lashes. Their glance can only be compared to that of a wild creature. It
is full at once of boldness and shyness, and in this respect their eyes
are a fair indication of their national character, which is cunning,
bold, but with "the natural fear of blows," like Panurge. Most of the
men are strapping fellows, slight and active. I don't think I ever saw
a gipsy who had grown fat. In Germany the gipsy women are often very
pretty; but beauty is very uncommon among the Spanish gitanas. When very
young, they may pass as being attractive in their ugliness, but once
they have reached motherhood, they become absolutely repulsive. The
filthiness of both sexes is incredible, and no one who has not seen a
gipsy matron's hair can form any conception of what it is, not even
if he conjures up the roughest, the greasiest, and the dustiest heads