These, occasionally, visit
the most distant fairs, traversing the greatest part of Spain.
There is a celebrated cattle-fair held at Leon on St. John's or
Midsummer Day, and on one of these occasions, being present, I
observed a small family of Gitanos, consisting of a man of about
fifty, a female of the same age, and a handsome young Gypsy, who
was their son; they were richly dressed after the Gypsy fashion,
the men wearing zamarras with massy clasps and knobs of silver, and
the woman a species of riding-dress with much gold embroidery, and
having immense gold rings attached to her ears. They came from
Murcia, a distance of one hundred leagues and upwards. Some
merchants, to whom I was recommended, informed me that they had
credit on their house to the amount of twenty thousand dollars.
They experienced rough treatment in the fair, and on a very
singular account: immediately on their appearing on the ground,
the horses in the fair, which, perhaps, amounted to three thousand,
were seized with a sudden and universal panic; it was one of those
strange incidents for which it is difficult to assign a rational
cause; but a panic there was amongst the brutes, and a mighty one;
the horses neighed, screamed, and plunged, endeavouring to escape
in all directions; some appeared absolutely possessed, stamping and
tearing, their manes and tails stiffly erect, like the bristles of
the wild boar - many a rider lost his seat.
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