The Gypsies | Page 7

him as
the very poorest man I had ever seen in England, until his mate came
up, an alter ego, so excellent in antiquity, wrinkles, knobbiness, and
rags that he surpassed the vagabond pictures not only of Callot, Dore,
and Goya, but even the unknown Spanish maker of a picture which I
met with not long since for sale, and which for infinite poverty defied
anything I ever saw on canvas. These poor men, who seemed at first

amazed that I should speak to them at all, when I spoke Romany at
once called me "brother." When I asked the younger his name, he sank
his voice to a whisper, and, with a furtive air, said,--
"Kamlo,--Lovel, you know."
"What do you call yourself in the way of business?" I asked.
"Katsamengro, I suppose."
Now Katsamengro means scissors-master.
"That is a very good word. But chivo is deeper."
"Chivo means a knife-man?"
"Yes. But the deepest of all, master, is Modangarengro. For you see
that the right word for coals isn't wongur, as Romanys generally say,
but Angara."
Now angara, as Pott and Benfey indicate, is pure Sanskrit for coals,
and angarengro is a worker in coals, but what mod means I know not,
and should be glad to be told.
I think it will be found difficult to identify the European gypsy with
any one stock of the wandering races of India. Among those who left
that country were men of different castes and different color, varying
from the pure northern invader to the negro-like southern Indian. In the
Danubian principalities there are at the present day three kinds of
gypsies: one very dark and barbarous, another light brown and more
intelligent, and the third, or elite, of yellow-pine complexion, as
American boys characterize the hue of quadroons. Even in England
there are straight-haired and curly-haired Romanys, the two indicating
not a difference resulting from white admixture, but entirely different
original stocks.
It will, I trust, be admitted, even from these remarks, that Romanology,
or that subdivision of ethnology which treats of gypsies, is both
practical and curious. It deals with the only race except the Jew, which

has penetrated into every village which European civilization has ever
touched. He who speaks Romany need be a stranger in few lands, for
on every road in Europe and America, in Western Asia, and even in
Northern Africa, he will meet those with whom a very few words may
at once establish a peculiar understanding. For, of all things believed in
by this widely spread brotherhood, the chief is this,--that he who knows
the jib, or language, knows the ways, and that no one ever attained
these without treading strange paths, and threading mysteries unknown
to the Gorgios, or Philistines. And if he who speaks wears a good coat,
and appears a gentleman, let him rest assured that he will receive the
greeting which all poor relations in all lands extend to those of their kin
who have risen in life. Some of them, it is true, manifest the winsome
affection which is based on great expectations, a sentiment largely
developed among British gypsies; but others are honestly proud that a
gentleman is not ashamed of them. Of this latter class were the musical
gypsies, whom I met in Russia during the winter of 1876 and 1877, and
some of them again in Paris during the Exposition of 1878.

ST. PETERSBURG.
There are gypsies and gypsies in the world, for there are the wanderers
on the roads and the secret dwellers in towns; but even among the
aficionados, or Romany ryes, by whom I mean those scholars who are
fond of studying life and language from the people themselves, very
few have dreamed that there exist communities of gentlemanly and
lady-like gypsies of art, like the Bohemians of Murger and George
Sand, but differing from them in being real "Bohemians" by race. I
confess that it had never occurred to me that there was anywhere in
Europe, at the present day, least of all in the heart of great and wealthy
cities, a class or caste devoted entirely to art, well-to-do or even rich,
refined in manners, living in comfortable homes, the women dressing
elegantly; and yet with all this obliged to live by law, as did the Jews
once, in Ghettos or in a certain street, and regarded as outcasts and
cagots. I had heard there were gypsies in Russian cities, and expected
to find them like the kerengri of England or Germany,--house-dwellers
somewhat reformed from vagabondage, but still reckless semi-outlaws,

full of tricks and lies; in a word, gypsies, as the world understands the
term. And I certainly anticipated in Russia something queer,--the
gentleman who speaks Romany seldom fails to achieve at least that,
whenever he gets into an unbroken haunt,