They are dreaded by the Moors themselves, and have
always remained, to a certain degree, independent of the emperors
of Morocco. They are the most terrible of robbers and murderers,
and entertain far more reluctance to spill water than the blood of
their fellow-creatures: the Bedouins, also, of the Arabian race,
are warlike, suspicious, and cruel; and would not have failed
instantly to attack bands of foreign wanderers, wherever they found
them, and in all probability would have exterminated them. Now the
Gitanos, such as they arrived in Barbary, could not have defended
themselves against such enemies, had they even arrived in large
divisions, instead of bands of twenties and thirties, as is their
custom to travel. They are not by nature nor by habit a warlike
race, and would have quailed before the Africans, who, unlike most
other people, engage in wars from what appears to be an innate love
of the cruel and bloody scenes attendant on war.
It may be said, that if the Gitanos were able to make their way
from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the province
which the learned consider to be the original dwelling-place of the
race, to such an immense distance as the western part of Spain,
passing necessarily through many wild lands and tribes, why might
they not have penetrated into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore
may not their descendants be still there, following the same kind
of life as the European Gypsies, that is, wandering about from
place to place, and maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?
But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of
Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for
a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from
the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.
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