I found them very numerous at
Granada, which in the Gitano language is termed Meligrana. Their
general condition in this place is truly miserable, far exceeding
in wretchedness the state of the tribes of Estremadura. It is
right to state that Granada itself is the poorest city in Spain;
the greatest part of the population, which exceeds sixty thousand,
living in beggary and nakedness, and the Gitanos share in the
general distress.
Many of them reside in caves scooped in the sides of the ravines
which lead to the higher regions of the Alpujarras, on a skirt of
which stands Granada. A common occupation of the Gitanos of
Granada is working in iron, and it is not unfrequent to find these
caves tenanted by Gypsy smiths and their families, who ply the
hammer and forge in the bowels of the earth. To one standing at
the mouth of the cave, especially at night, they afford a
picturesque spectacle. Gathered round the forge, their bronzed and
naked bodies, illuminated by the flame, appear like figures of
demons; while the cave, with its flinty sides and uneven roof,
blackened by the charcoal vapours which hover about it in festoons,
seems to offer no inadequate representation of fabled purgatory.
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