Both sexes are slovenly and dirty: the filth and vermin with which their bodies are infected, seem to form a necessary part of their existence, as no consideration can induce them to be cleanly. Most of them are clothed with a few rags, and their children go naked at almost all seasons.
They acknowledge no particular religion as their own; neither do they think of following the precepts of any, unless, acting as domestic slaves, they are ordered so to do by their masters. Among themselves they dispense with the religious ceremony of marriage, and although many live together as husbands and wives, they are only bound by the ties of nature.
The women are of the most depraved character: none of them follow the regular line of public prostitutes, but at the same time none refuse their favours when the slightest offer of money is made.
In both principalities the gypsies are divided into two distinct classes of slaves; the one is composed of those who are the property of government, and the other, of those who belong to private individuals. No regular traffic of them is carried on in the country, neither is it customary to expose to public inspection any who are to be disposed of. Both sales and purchases are conducted in private, and the usual price for one of either sex, is from five to six hundred piasters.
The number of gypsies belonging to the two governments, altogether amounts to eighty thousand, including women and children. They are suffered to stroll about the country, provided they bind themselves never to leave it, and to pay an annual tribute of the value of forty piasters each man, above the age of fifteen. We have mentioned on the subject of the gold and silver mines, how those of Wallachia pay their share of it.
They are dispersed in different parts of the principalities, living in separate companies of ten or fifteen families, under tents; they frequently change the place of their abode, keeping always in the neighbourhood of towns and villages, or near the high roads. A passenger coming in sight of their tents is always assailed for charity by a quantity of naked children belonging to them, and does not easily get rid of their importunities without throwing a few paras to them.
The chief occupation, both of the men and women, leading this vagrant life, consists in making common iron tools, baskets, and other wood-work of the kind for sale. But their industry and gain are confined to what is absolutely necessary for procuring them the means of subsistence. They possess a natural facility and quickness in acquiring the knowledge of arts; but a small number, however, devote themselves to any, and musical performance seems to be that to which they give the preference: those who profess it attend the wine-houses every day, for a trifling remuneration, and from thence they are frequently called to the houses of the first Boyars, on occasions when a band of music is requisite. Some few become masons, and receive one piaster for a whole day’s work. They are always employed, with a number of their less experienced companions, in public buildings, and they are then allowed no other reward but their daily food, and a proportionable deduction from their tribute.
The other class of gypsies is divided into families belonging to Boyars and others, who select from among them the greater part of their household servants. The remainder are either employed at the vineyards of their masters, suffered to follow common trades, or allowed to wander about the country, upon the same conditions as those of the government.
The practice of employing gypsy slaves in various departments of the household, particularly in the kitchen, is universal in both principalities; but although the expense saved by it is considerable in houses where a great number of servants must be kept, the inconvenience is much greater, though not felt. The kitchens of the Boyars are, from the filthy habits of the cooks, and the inattention of the masters, not less disgusting than the common receptacles of swine. The incurable propensity to vice, and the laziness of these servants, occasion incessant trouble and vexation. Almost at every house punishments are instituted for them, the most severe of which is the bastinado applied to the naked soles of the feet: it is performed by another gypsy, under the inspection of the superintendent, and frequently under that of the master or mistress. The ladies of quality, however young and beautiful, do not show much delicate reluctance in similar instances of authority.
The secondary punishment consists in passing the culprit’s head through a kind of iron helmet, with two immense horns of the same metal, and locking it under the chin in such a manner as to render it extremely troublesome to the bearer, and to prevent him from eating or drinking, as long as he keeps it on.