157 and 207,
states that one hundred and fifty Gypsies were imprisoned charged
with this practice; and that the Empress Teresa sent commissioners
to inquire into the facts of the accusation, who discovered that
they were true; whereupon the empress published a law to oblige all
the Gypsies in her dominions to become stationary, which, however,
had no effect.
Upon this matter we can state nothing on our own knowledge.
After the above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a
few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet. I believe that it
has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are
perfectly indifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they
can appease their hunger; and that they have no objection to
partake of the carcasses of animals which have died a natural
death, and have been left to putrefy by the roadside; moreover,
that they use for food all kinds of reptiles and vermin which they
can lay their hands upon.
In this there is a vast deal of exaggeration, but at the same time
it must be confessed that, in some instances, the habits of the
Gypsies in regard to food would seem, at the first glance, to
favour the supposition.
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