sitting around the remains of the fires they
have lighted to cook their evening meal, or,
with open doors or traps, by the light of a
candle stuck in the ground, are engaged in
smoking red clay or cherry-wood pipes, and
drinking the harsh wine of the country.

These people are of the most humble and
most unfortunate section of the Wallachian
people, the Zigans, who of old formed a
flourishing little state, paying tribute to the Greek
empire, but who are now reduced to a condition
of abject slavery. Their history is most
obscure, and it is not with certainty known
whence they came or by what steps they
descended to their present level. It seems
certain, however, that they belong to the same
family of wanderers who are known in Egypt
as Gayaras, in Hungary as Zingari, in
Germany as Zigeuner, in Spain as Gitanos, in
France as Bohemians, and in England as
Gipsies. Their own traditions derive them
from Syria, whence they were transported
in the eighth century, by one of the Greek
emperors, to Thrace. On account of some
peculiarities in their manners, perhaps of some
strange forms of doctrine, they seem to have
become detested and despised by neighbouring
nations, and especially by the Mohammedans.
When the Turks penetrated into their
territory, instead of merely requiring tribute
from them, they attacked them with fury,
dispersed them, hunted them down like wild
beasts, and condemned those to perpetual
servitude whose lives they spared. In this
persecution they were encouraged by the
Christians: who shared, indeed, the greater
part of the newly made serfs among
themselves. It is estimated that at present there
are more than twenty-three thousand Zigan
families in Moldo-Wallachia, comprising about
a hundred and fifty thousand souls. A certain
number of these belong to the State, which
employs them in mines and public works;
whilst the others are divided among the
monasteries and the Boyards. Some of these
latter possess as many as five or six thousand,
engaged in part in the most laborious works
connected with their estates, in part let out
upon hire. They sell or exchange them at
certain fixed periods of the year, bringing them
like cattle to market; until lately, they treated
them with such severity that they not
unfrequently drove them to suicide. Many
Boyards of humane character now grant a
semi-liberty to their Zigans, allowing them for
so much a year to go about as they please,
seeking for work, and retaining the produce
of it. Once every spring, the half-enfranchised
slave must make his appearance and pay his
tribute. Sometimes, also, he brings an instalment
of his own price, and thus manages by
degrees to free himself. An industrious man
may earn his liberty in ten years; but this
unfortunate race has been so brutalised by
long suffering, and is so addicted to every
kind of debauchery, that very few succeed in
rescuing themselves from bondage. Amongst
the Boyards of the present day there are
a good many whose copper complexion,
white teeth, and general cast of countenance,
evidently prove them to be descended from
Zigans.

The physical constitution of this unhappy
people is strongly marked. The men are
generally of lofty stature, robust and
sinewy. Their skin is black or copper-coloured;
their hair, thick and woolly; their
lips are of negro heaviness, and their teeth
as white as pearls; the nose is considerably
flattened, and the whole countenance is
illumined, as it were, by lively rolling eyes.
All, without exception, wear beards. Their
dress consists commonly of a piece of tattered
cloth thrown carelessly around them: perhaps
an old bed-curtain given by some master,
or a blanket that has gone through every
degree of fortune, until it has been rejected
by the scullion.

As is the case in many savage tribes, the
women are either extremely ugly or extremely
handsome. Most of the Zigana are beautiful
up to the age of twenty; but, after that time,
they suddenly shrink and shrivel, change
colour, bend, and lose the lightness of their
step, as if an enchanter's wand had changed
them from youth, admired and wooed, to
dishonoured old age. The dress of these women is
peculiar, consisting generally of nothing but a
tight tunic or bodice made of sheepskin, and
scarcely reaching to the knees. It leaves
their legs, their arms, and their necks bare.
Over their heads the most coquettish throw a
white veil, and some few indulge in leather
sandals. As ornaments they wear earrings of
brass filligree, necklaces of paras strung upon
a slender thong, and a variety of metal bracelets.
The children go naked up to the age of
ten or twelve, and whole swarms of girls and
boys may sometimes be seen rolling about
together in the dust or mud in summer, in the
water or snow in winter—like so many black
worms. As you pass by, a dozen heads of
matted hair and a dozen pairs of sharp eyes
are raised towards you, and you are greeted
with a mocking shout, which alone tells you
that the hideous things are your
fellow-creatures.

In fine weather the Zigan is a very independent
being. He sleeps in the open air, in
the forests, in the fields, in the streets of the
towns—anywhere, in fact, where he can find a
place to lay his head. However, it is their
custom, for the summer season, to erect little
sheds of canvas, of straw, of branches, or of
mud; whilst in winter they scratch deep holes
in the earth, which they roof with reeds and
turf. Their furniture is surprisingly simple,
consisting of an old kettle, a few two-pronged
forks, and perhaps a pair of scissors, a
poignard, and a gourd to hold brandy, or
arakee—to the use of which this race is
particularly addicted. When they have
stowed these articles in their holes, or
under a shed, they call the place their home,