In various parts of Spain I have found
the Gitanos retaining their primitive language and customs better
than in Seville, where they most abound: indeed, it is not plain
that their number has operated at all favourably in this respect.
At Cordova, a town at the distance of twenty leagues from Seville,
which scarcely contains a dozen Gitano families, I found them
living in much more brotherly amity, and cherishing in a greater
degree the observances of their forefathers.
I shall long remember these Cordovese Gitanos, by whom I was very
well received, but always on the supposition that I was one of
their own race. They said that they never admitted strangers to
their houses save at their marriage festivals, when they flung
their doors open to all, and save occasionally people of influence
and distinction, who wished to hear their songs and converse with
their women; but they assured me, at the same time, that these they
invariably deceived, and merely made use of as instruments to serve
their own purposes. As for myself, I was admitted without scruple
to their private meetings, and was made a participator of their
most secret thoughts.
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