Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/337

 Ceretuonial Citstojus of the Bi'itish Gipsies. 3 1

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extracted, chiefly by Mr. E. O. Winstedt, from the more reliable writings on the Gipsies in other countries have been added in many cases. The mass of material thus collected would have proved well-nigh unmanageable had it not been for the assistance in classification afforded by Miss C. S. I-5urne, to whose suggestions also some of the theories proposed are due.

Lastly, I have to acknowledge the services of the Honorary Secretary of the Gypsy Lore Society, who advised and helped me when I was in difficulty, en- couraged me when I was despondent, and poured iced water down my back when I was enthusiastically straying into dcMigerous paths.

The C "osies are a slightly dolichocephalic, or long-headed, race, and the average height is 5 ft. 4-9 in. Their limbs are wiry, their movements vivacious, and their hands and feet small. Their features are regular and, in youth, often very beautiful ; the mouth neither large nor small, the teeth good and white, and the nose straight, with a slight tendency to be hooked. They are deeply pigmented, the skin of pure Gipsies being olive, or even darker, and the hair straight and black with the peculiar kind of blackness known as " blue-black." The iris is dark, especially among the women, and the eyes have an indescribable lustre.

Their language is undoubtedly Indian, but their origin and early history are alike shrouded in mystery. It is impossible, however, to conceive of them as anything but a wandering race. From linguistic evidence it is probable that they all left India before the Mohammedan invasion, passing through countries where Persian, and possibly Armenian, were spoken, and avoiding those where Arabic was the language of the inhabitants. In Asia Minor and Eastern Europe a halt was called, but in the fifteenth century they spread over Western Europe by way of Germany. At the present time they are found in Western