Yes, of all provinces of Spain, Andalusia was
the most frequented by the Gitano race, and in Andalusia they most
abound at the present day, though no longer as restless independent
wanderers of the fields and hills, but as residents in villages and
towns, especially in Seville.
CHAPTER II
HAVING already stated to the reader at what period and by what
means these wanderers introduced themselves into Spain, we shall
now say something concerning their manner of life.
It would appear that, for many years after their arrival in the
Peninsula, their manners and habits underwent no change; they were
wanderers, in the strictest sense of the word, and lived much in
the same way as their brethren exist in the present day in England,
Russia, and Bessarabia, with the exception perhaps of being more
reckless, mischievous, and having less respect for the laws; it is
true that their superiority in wickedness in these points may have
been more the effect of the moral state of the country in which
they were, than of any other operating cause.
Arriving in Spain with a predisposition to every species of crime
and villainy, they were not likely to be improved or reclaimed by
the example of the people with whom they were about to mix; nor was
it probable that they would entertain much respect for laws which,
from time immemorial, have principally served, not to protect the
honest and useful members of society, but to enrich those entrusted
with the administration of them.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84