'Los Gitanos son muy malos; llevan ninos hurtados a Berberia. The
Gypsies are very bad people; they steal children and carry them to
Barbary, where they sell them to the Moors' - so said the Spaniards
in old times. There can be little doubt that even before the fall
of the kingdom of Granada, which occurred in the year 1492, the
Gitanos had intercourse with the Moors of Spain. Andalusia, which
has ever been the province where the Gitano race has most abounded
since its arrival, was, until the edict of Philip the Third, which
banished more than a million of Moriscos from Spain, principally
peopled by Moors, who differed from the Spaniards both in language
and religion. By living even as wanderers amongst these people,
the Gitanos naturally became acquainted with their tongue, and with
many of their customs, which of course much facilitated any
connection which they might subsequently form with the
Barbaresques. Between the Moors of Barbary and the Spaniards a
deadly and continued war raged for centuries, both before and after
the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain. The Gitanos, who cared
probably as little for one nation as the other, and who have no
sympathy and affection beyond the pale of their own sect, doubtless
sided with either as their interest dictated, officiating as spies
for both parties and betraying both.
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