National Republican., 1888-05-27
A GYPSY DANCE,
TIE PICTURESQUE OUTLAWS OF
GRANADA.
A Tumultuous and Innrtistic Tcrp-
sichorcan orgic - A Royal Guitar
Player and Thieving Dancing Girls.

'NaNa
zee the Gitanas dance, and at once visions
Of the wild wood are conjured to his fancy,
with bright logs burning under a gypsy
kettle. and the swarthy skinned people cir
cling around II in the wild undulatons OF
their dance. A moments thought would
tell him that this elusive race do not thus cN-
hibit their spontaneous merry-making to the
eyes of strangers This they reserve for their
own kindred only, and at moments OF Joy
OF victory--joy at having eluded the minions
of the law, or victory In having successfully
plundered the lonely traveller through the
wild mountain passes Of Spain. The gypsy
dance that the tourist may see is not n
spontaneous exhibition of feeling, and is
paid for with money, yet 1t is wild enough
and weird enough to suggest what the real
one might be.
Although the gypses are. known to be
wanderers upon the face of the earth, with
no settled home, yet Granada may In
measure be called the gypsy city. There
are always more of them gathered here at
one time than anywhere in the world. The
mountain opposite the Alhambrai is burrowed
full Of caves, where these lawlcss people
dwell like so many rabbits. They are,
however, more like beasts of prey than rab-
bits, and dart down from their mountain
caverns upon Granada and the neighboring
country, begging, robbing, bullying, and
fortune-telliDg. They swarm the. streets
and follow the travellers carriage, begging
unfortunately for money, or dart from shell
tered hooks and dark courtways to waylay
the victim afOot, never leaving him until
they have gained satisfactory booty, or
until he has taken refuge behind barred
doors. To gaze upon these dark-eyed wo-
men, however, for the begging and fortune
telling arc usually done by women, is some
hnin inn rnhhn1
them are indeed beautiful, especially the
Younger ones, and NIL without exception are
picturesque, weird, uncanny. Under the
low, brown forehcads burn eyes so deep and
smouldering that one carhwell believe that
behind them dwells the knowledge of the
black and evil arts that they claim. The
dancing is done by creatures like this The
men seldom join them in their public ex-
hibitions; they are supposed to be occupied
with their tinkerng and blacksmthing over
In the mountain caves, but to these en-
ployments may safely be added thieving
After their days begging, fortune-telling,
and what petty stealing the women are
able to do, they come down from their dens
in the hillside to dance for the strangers In
the hotels. Their cunning has taught them
to demand good prices from the white
skinned foreigners, who are so curious to
peer into their wild customs, and for money
ihey are quite willing to lay aside their dis
like to having their orgies looked upon.
The performance was given in q long, low
ceiled room near the 'FRed Towers, - In the
woods of the Alhambra, spot
that overlooks the wide plains OF the
Vega, and that is overshadowed by the
snow.capped Sierra Nevada mountains OF
Andalusia. The tribe had already assem-
bled when we reached this spot, and the
king Of the Gitanas had taken his seat and
Hnberan to twang upon the guitar. We had
zen told that a real gypsy king was to
Aay for us, and we gazed with more than
ordinary interest upon this dark skinned
old man, who is supposed ,h, to rule such ,,p,i
atty cannot be disputed, for he has
evpsy kings. / doubted, however, If his
ancestors, who had lived in the fierce old
times, had been so gentle In appearance as
this quiet guitar player. We paid special
attention to the sweet gypsy airs that walled
been told that his majesty, the king Of the
gypses, was one of the best guitar players
in all Spain. This rumor, however, may bC
accepted with modification, relse the Span
ish guitar players are not great. In MI
Characteristic fashion the gypsy chief PLAYED
well: but, apart from his surroundings ant
apart from the fact that he Is gypsy, hi
PLAYING would not be remarkable. His ag'
might be anywhere from so to 10-a fac'
that Is weatherbeaten from long eXposur
10 the suns and winds of heaven does not re
veal the secrets Of age. His eyes were blacl
and almost soft in expression, and his fea
lures revealed refinement that one doe
not expect to see in the leader of such
bold and impudent race. Altogether h
was not an ideal gypsy king. lie was cos
tuned in close-ftting black, with blood
red sash around his waist, dress not yer
different from that of the ordinary spanis
peasant Whether one. sees them at wor
l.. pa11 o,ttti brnppbns In tb
wood, or idling through the streets, th
red sash is always worn, and always, the
say, conceals an ugly knife.
Beside the gypsy king number of girl
sat in a row against the whitewashed wal
At a change In the music they rose and bt
gan to dance kind of clog dance, clatte
ing their heavy heels upon the bare hoo
They began very slowly, but soon grew III
pleasantly energetic, waving their arm
about In wild movements and snappin
castanets in their dark fingers. AT the san
time they set up deafening howl, Kind I
weird chant, without time and without me me
accompanied by kicking Of heels and bans
ing of castanets. These sounds, uttered
a low, bare room that echoed and re-echoe'
quite drowned the soft music I
the guitar, and became at last
dreadful that we were forced to put oil
fingers to our ears. AS the dance advance
at first tritle constrained, seemed to forg
that they were dancing for the money
strangers, and they gave themselves up
II with an energy and an abandon that b
came somewhat alarming to the ladie
They seemed to be. improyising words
their chant, each one trying 10 QUITO
neighbor, and accompany them with no
dings of the head cleaning OF white teet
and impish glances toward the gentlem'
present An ignorance of their languag
however, rendered these shafts harmless.
The old king twanged away bravely at
guitar, making but little headway amid u
din Of the girls shrill voices. He appear
to be quito Indifferent to the noise, b
played on quietly and dreamily, unnoticil
The wild gyrations before him. The girls,
their turn, were quite as indifferent to hi
They had no idea of listening to him,
keeping time to his music; their dancil
was an independent affair altogether. '
began towonder why the two had been CIV
in conjunction, as one was quite spoiled
the other.
The faces of several of these danci
women were very attractive, with dan
witch-like beauty; but we were vexed to
that they had caught the fashion OF
beauty by artifce. Cheap and glaring VIII
toilet powder spoiled the smooth bro
skins OF these children of the woods, a
did violence to all our notions OF the iitn
of things, To deck themselves Tor THIS
caslon they had evidently fshed out
their dirty caves on the side of the moi
tains all the tinery they possessed. o.
garments that were torn and dirty they
drawn skirts of bright colored c
tons, pink, green, red, and yellt
with overskirts of draggIed WI
muslin, Scarfs that resemb
cotton chair tides adorned tn
necks, and in the black braids Of Goa
hot N,,nrn plnnnI nnnnr flowers of Unl
hues. Arms, necks, and ears shone W
tawdrv ieWelry but the effort at ado