§ 6. The Gypsies of Damascus.
Consul E. T. Rogers, my predecessor at Damascus, made the following brief notes, and obliged me with permission to publish them. His long period of residence led him to study subjects which escaped the passing traveller.
“I remember quite distinctly that the Gypsies of Syria, or people resembling them, were divided into three distinct families, not supposed to intermarry, and, as I was told, supplying two distinct languages:
“(1) The Nawar[166] follow the ordinary Gypsy vocations, stealing, fortune-telling, tinkering, attending fêtes and marriages as itinerant musicians, jugglers, etc.;
“(2) The Zutt were generally seen with trained animals, goats, donkeys, etc., performing in the streets; and
“(3) The Barámaki, who give more attention to horse-dealing. They are farriers and blacksmiths, and are generally found on the outskirts of isolated villages, or near the camps of small Arab tribes, where they let out stallions for breeding purposes. They buy broken-down horses and mares of good breed, and are very clever at doctoring them up and rendering them fit for sale.”
Mr. Consul Rogers also showed me a sketch he had made of a Zutti boy with a performing goat borne upon sections of bamboo—a common sight in India.
FOOTNOTES:
[156] Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Officer, etc. (London: Hatchard.)
[157] Colonel Sleeman, however, fails to identify his “Jâts” with the Gypsies.