'
LA RAIZ DEL BUEN BARON, OR THE ROOT OF THE GOOD BARON. - On this
subject we cannot be very explicit. It is customary with the
Gitanas to sell, under this title, various roots and herbs, to
unfortunate females who are desirous of producing a certain result;
these roots are boiled in white wine, and the abominable decoction
is taken fasting. I was once shown the root of the good baron,
which, in this instance, appeared to be parsley root. By the good
baron is meant his Satanic majesty, on whom the root is very
appropriately fathered.
CHAPTER VII
IT is impossible to dismiss the subject of the Spanish Gypsies
without offering some remarks on their marriage festivals. There
is nothing which they retain connected with their primitive rites
and principles, more characteristic perhaps of the sect of the
Rommany, of the sect of the HUSBANDS AND WIVES, than what relates
to the marriage ceremony, which gives the female a protector, and
the man a helpmate, a sharer of his joys and sorrows. The Gypsies
are almost entirely ignorant of the grand points of morality; they
have never had sufficient sense to perceive that to lie, to steal,
and to shed human blood violently, are crimes which are sure,
eventually, to yield bitter fruits to those who perpetrate them;
but on one point, and that one of no little importance as far as
temporal happiness is concerned, they are in general wiser than
those who have had far better opportunities than such unfortunate
outcasts, of regulating their steps, and distinguishing good from
evil.
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