They are very fond of music, and some of them are
heard to touch the violin in a manner wild, but of peculiar
excellence. Parties of them have been known to exhibit even at
Paris.
In Hungary, as in all parts, they are addicted to horse-dealing;
they are likewise tinkers, and smiths in a small way. The women
are fortune-tellers, of course - both sexes thieves of the first
water. They roam where they list - in a country where all other
people are held under strict surveillance, no one seems to care
about these Parias. The most remarkable feature, however,
connected with the habits of the Czigany, consists in their foreign
excursions, having plunder in view, which frequently endure for
three or four years, when, if no mischance has befallen them, they
return to their native land - rich; where they squander the
proceeds of their dexterity in mad festivals. They wander in bands
of twelve and fourteen through France, even to Rome. Once, during
my own wanderings in Italy, I rested at nightfall by the side of a
kiln, the air being piercingly cold; it was about four leagues from
Genoa. Presently arrived three individuals to take advantage of
the warmth - a man, a woman, and a lad.
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