and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by
passing through an infinite number of bodies, attain at length
sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of perfect rest and
quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they can form.

Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy
with these people, I have come to the following conclusions
respecting them: that wherever they are found, their manners and
customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by
circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves,
and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in
ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been
subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their
countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker
or fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but
invariably darker, at least in Europe, than those of the natives of
the countries in which they dwell, for example, England and Russia,
Germany and Spain.

The names by which they are known differ with the country, though,
with one or two exceptions, not materially for example, they are
styled in Russia, Zigani; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in
Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently spring from the same
etymon, which there is no improbability in supposing to be
'Zincali,' a term by which these people, especially those of Spain,
sometimes designate themselves, and the meaning of which is
believed to be, THE BLACK MEN OF ZEND OR IND. In England and Spain
they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitanos, from a general
belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words
are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance