When the panic had
ceased, and it did cease almost as suddenly as it had arisen, the
Gitanos were forthwith accused as the authors of it; it was said
that they intended to steal the best horses during the confusion,
and the keepers of the ground, assisted by a rabble of chalans, who
had their private reasons for hating the Gitanos, drove them off
the field with sticks and cudgels. So much for having a bad name.
These wealthy Gitanos, when they are not ashamed of their blood or
descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or 'barbales,' as
they are called, possess great influence with the rest of their
brethren, almost as much as the rabbins amongst the Jews; their
bidding is considered law, and the other Gitanos are at their
devotion. On the contrary, when they prefer the society of the
Busne to that of their own race, and refuse to assist their less
fortunate brethren in poverty or in prison, they are regarded with
unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the rich Gypsy
of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to destruction: such
characters are mentioned in their couplets:-
'The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead,
Who never gave a straw,
He would destroy, for very greed,
The good Egyptian law.
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