'
SECOND COUPLET
'If thou a pair of cachas grant, that I my babes may feed,
I'll pray to the Almighty God, that thee he ever speed.'
It is by no means my intention to describe the exact state and
condition of the Gitanos in every town and province where they are
to be found; perhaps, indeed, it will be considered that I have
already been more circumstantial and particular than the case
required. The other districts which they inhabit are principally
those of Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia; and they are likewise to
be met with in the Basque provinces, where they are called
Egipcioac, or Egyptians. What I next purpose to occupy myself with
are some general observations on the habits, and the physical and
moral state of the Gitanos throughout Spain, and of the position
which they hold in society.
CHAPTER III
ALREADY, from the two preceding chapters, it will have been
perceived that the condition of the Gitanos in Spain has been
subjected of late to considerable modification. The words of the
Gypsy of Badajoz are indeed, in some respects, true; they are no
longer the people that they were; the roads and 'despoblados' have
ceased to be infested by them, and the traveller is no longer
exposed to much danger on their account; they at present confine
themselves, for the most part, to towns and villages, and if they
occasionally wander abroad, it is no longer in armed bands,
formidable for their numbers, and carrying terror and devastation
in all directions, bivouacking near solitary villages, and
devouring the substance of the unfortunate inhabitants, or
occasionally threatening even large towns, as in the singular case
of Logrono, mentioned by Francisco de Cordova.
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