Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-18
TRAITS OF THE GIPsIRs.
Archduke Joseph Says They Cam,
 Originally From HindusIanf.

From the New York Sun.
 Archduke Joseph belongs to the royal
 family of Austria, is commander of the
 Hungarian Honved army, and is known
 for his writings upon anthropological top ics. He has long made the language, tra- ditions and habits of the gipsies his spec ial study. The literature relating to this
 strange and interesting people is already extensive, but Arehduke Joseph has
 brought to light several unknown features, and has corrected many existing errors in regard to the gipsies. He has had unusual opportunities for making & study of this people. No fewer than eighty thousand gypsies live in Hungary, and about two | hundred thousand of them are found in Roumania. The srchduke has spent many months visiting their settlements one after another. It is well known that the gip- sies have deliberately deceived not few savants, but owing to the fact that Arch duke Joseph is thoroughly acquainted with their language, and also, perhaps, on ac- count of his high rank, they have revealed some of their secrets to him without hesi- tation.
 Some time ago he published the first re-
  plete grammar and dictionary of the eip-
 sy language that has yet appeared. Later
 he wrote paper which was read before
 the Ethnographical society of Budapest
 on the origin and habits of the gipsies The archduke supports the theory of Grellman, that all gipsies are of Hindu
 stani origin. He bases this theory upon a
 comparison of the two languages. As in
 stances of the remarkably large number of
 laA,. ro..
 be mentioned the word for snow, which in
 Hindustani is "hims," and in the gipsy
 language is ''him;" the word for carrier in
 the one language is 'laya," and in the oth- CT is ''lel" and 'leva." So that in both
 languages Himalsya means the bearer of snow. He gives many other instances of
 the sape sort, and 1t is no longer doubted
 that the slopes of the Himalays Noun
 tains were the homes of all the gipsies at
 present in Europe, where their first ap-
 pearance is traced to the year 1417. In their opinion the earth has existed
 from eternity, and is the origin of every
 thing that is good. God they call "Dev-
 il, !" and the devil they call Beng" The
 archduke says they fear both, and curse
 both when they are in bad luck or in the
 case of the death of one of their number.
 They believe also in evil spirits, which can
 be chased away by throwing brandy or
 water upon the body or upon the grave
 whenever they pass it. They do not be-
 lieve in a life after death. They have no
 word for paradise and none for heaven.
 They often profess religion either for con-
 venience sake or under compulsion, but it
 has no real hold upon them. They em-
 brace the religion of the people who allow
 them to settle among them, and they call
 themselves Christians, though they remain
 in reality heathen, cherishing the tradi-
 tions of the fire worshipers, which they
 seem once to have been.
 The archduke says that the baptism of a child, as performed by the priest, has no real value for them till the eldest of the clan has held the babe over a large open fire. This is the babes real reception into the community, whatever outward religion they may profess. The archduke says that of the gipsies in Hungary there are twen- ty-four thousand orthodox, twenty-three thousand Greek Catholics, twenty thou
 sand Roman Catholics, and nine thousand Protestants of the Helvetian confession, which corresponds pretty well with the proportion os creeds in the districts which tolerate them. The Protestants are least disposed to permit them to remain in their vicinity.
 Gipsies are generally held up all over the world as examples of superstition, witchcraft and similar failings In this | respect the archduks says that they are wronged, and that their accusers are the superstitious ones, and the gipsies laugh at them after tieecing them. One day the archduke asked several gipsy women to tell him his fortune, which they readily did. As soon, however, ss he addressed them in their own language they declared they would not cheat ''one of their own," and, being explicitly asked whether they believed in cards as a means of telling for
 tunes they said: ''No; that is good enough for non-gipsies."
 Each of their colonies is ruled by an el-
 der, who in Hungary, Roumania and Bo- hemia is called vejvadu. The elder has l the power of punishing, and he usually uses the stick for more serious crimes; re- sorting, for lesser ones, to boxing the ears | of the culprit. His authority is supreme, l and it need not be the eldest man who is raised to the dignity of a vejvadu, but, in Hungary at least, it must be one who can
 read and write, in order to defend his peo- pie before the authorities. The vejvadu
 baptizes after the gipsy fashion, as already | mentioned, and, of course, he performs | the marriage ceremony and the burial rites l Family life is very simple, and as a rule, very happy. The father is absolute mas ter of his house, and where communistic | ideas prevail, namely, where several fami lief live together, the magistrate they elect
 has the same absolute authority over each
 member of the community. He is called the yajda, and sometimes the "uncle" or | the first friend, |" and his insignia are | dolman, with big silver buttons, and a
 staff with silver knob. He, too, must
 be able to read and write, and he must
 keep to the traditions and ceremonies of | old