, 1890-03-06

conv "tttuTucient succorcrs. And
90 when 1 had been among the
Madrid gipsies an hour, l was In
possession, without tho asking, Of
information where I should find
one who, when found, could truly
tell more In another hour of gipsies
la spain than can be found within
tho lids Of all books ever written
upon the Romany race. This man
was Franclsco or Pancho Tomas;
and after n hasty trip through Sar.
agossa, ut whose capital city the fair
maid, Augustlna, won immortality
Of faine for her bravery by her dead
lovers eide In defense of her people
against the French, passed along the
noble Ebro into Catalonia, to the
Sierra dc Ia LENA, where, In asunny
mountain valley near tho quaint old
hilI-town of Granadclla, found
the most important and interesting
gipsy encampment / had ever any
where beheld.
Strictly speaking, II could not be
called an encampment, for while a
number OF patched tents and rude
wooden cabins could he seen, the
Ripsy village with oil It's uucouth
scenes occupied the site of an abnn-
doned pueblo, In which perhaps 200
ruinOun structures were still stand
Ing. These were very ancient.
Many were utterly uninhabitable,
roofs or portions of tho walls having
fallen In; but against the remaining
walls OF such, most comfortable tenn
porary huts had been built. Some
ofthese were curious indeed. Loose
nfAnom hal t..lA
walls running at a sharp angle from
the ground up against the old side
wells still standing. The roof was
composed of skins, or coarse cloth,
running from the ground to the
>peaks OF the temporary walls; and
the entrances 20 such were invaria-
bly, from within the ruined olden
hnbitation. Others were formed
by the stones and mortar
Of ruin falling down ON
all sides, thus snugly protecting
some single apartment. Most
curious and suggestive Of all, limiting
to ones fancy acommon instinct be-
tween these wanderers from Hindoo-
stan and the earliest housebuilders
nm0pg the Celts Of Western Europe,
were seven huts, exact duplicates of
the beehive-cells of Brittany, Corn
wall and Ireland. of such extra
ordinary interest TO archeoIogists.
These had been built Of the lighter
and thinner stones, In horizontal
layers, each one slightly inwardly
overlapping the lower one, and
forming dome-shaped structure
with hole In the top and small
door, which Invariably faced the
cast. The latter Is custom with all
gipstes, for which they will, or can,
give no reason, though IL undoubted-
ly IL q lingering proof Of their earlier
worship of the sun. Some Of the
more Important members of the
band, the "prominent citizens" as 1t
were, occupied structures which
were still habitable, to gip-
sizes, after slight pothcr-
ing and mending; but the
chief Of the tribe, Pan cho Tomas,
and three or four of his sons and
daughters families were residing in
much composure and comfort In the
still firmly-standing range of clois-
tors from which the once capacious
church of the mountain town had AS
completely fallen away and disap-
existed. The secret of the desertion
ofthe pueblo by its native inhabitants
my In the met that sometime within
,ne pas. cyn,uryor .y .wo .he piace hhu
~" - a'oaosy ,iy nIn Up ~
and then thunder along the Riviera
thnt the simple souls who lived
within II had incontinently fled,
Tim hv fron, aoo w snb vS ~ ,ha 1siup ni,,pns
w,as s}mniv m an cxanonio ~ of nlevnr
thrift nndcr the new nrder of thinSs