language), her history and traditions; so that when I entered Spain
for the first time I felt more at home than I should otherwise have
done." {164a}


Whilst standing at the door of the Inn of the Three Nations on the
day following his arrival at Badajos, meditating upon the deplorable
state of the country he had just entered, Borrow recognised in the
face of one of two men who were about to pass him the unmistakable
lineaments of Egypt. Uttering "a certain word," he received the
reply he expected and forthwith engaged in conversation with the two
men, who both proved to be gypsies. These men spread the news abroad
that staying at the Inn of the Three Nations was a man who spoke
Romany. "In less than half an hour the street before the inn was
filled with the men, women, and children of Egypt." Borrow went out
amongst them, and confesses that "so much vileness, dirt, and misery
I had never seen among a similar number of human beings; but worst of
all was the evil expression of their countenances." {164b} He soon
discovered that their faces were an accurate index to their hearts,
which were capable of every species of villainy. The gypsies
clustered round him, fingering his hands, face and clothes, as if he
were a holy man.

Gypsies had always held for Borrow a strange attraction, {164c} and
he determined to prolong his stay at Badajos in order that he might
have an opportunity of becoming "better acquainted with their
condition and manners, and above all to speak to them of Christ and
His Word; for I was convinced, that should I travel to the end of the
universe, I should meet with no people more in need of a little
Christian exhortation." {165a}