The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-27

effemInate PAlentininn Jew OF Bephardim stock.
II accosted ~fercely. the former will reply In
kind n struck. they will return tho blow and
they do not fear to mount q horse. unlike their
southern brethren. who prefer an ass. The
will travel by night over difficult and danger
GUS paths. whereas their sephardic conReners
tremble to quit the walls OF, towns; they can
endure extremes OF heat and cold and OF hun
ger and thirst which might be fatal to any soft
native OF Israel's land. According to Burton's
observations, the Ashkenazim are "aating up"
the sephardim wherever they meet in Syria.
few details should be added concerning the
so-called unorthodox seets OF Jews in the Holy
Land. Tho Karaites. which should be trans
lated Readers. p that lie. rTextualists." Pssign
q literal sense to all Holy Writ. and reject
every book posterior TO the law and tho
prophets: they are. therefore. denounced by
both sephardim and Ashkenazim as p~estflent
h%eretics. These Israelite Puritans. claiming
descent from the ten tribes who took no part
in the crucinxion. are scattered throughout
Arabia and have Bagdad for q centre; there
are a good many OF them In Russia and Poland.
whore they boast that for four centuries
none OF their number has ever been
found guilty of q serious crime. Henderson,
the traveller. numbered some four thou
sand OF them In the CEimea. There is
still q large colony at Alden. whore the
English authorities nnd them orderly
and law-abiding subjects. Formerly there were
many at Damascus. but this city they have left
en- ndsse. At present In Syria they are mostly
confined TO Jerusalem. where at the time when
Burton collected his materials t1569-71) they
numbered but seven families. or thirty-fve
souls. Early in 1872. however. they were REIN
forced by forty emigrants from Bagdad. who
reported that many more were on the way.
Their single poor synagogue at Jerusalem. a
small. cellar-like chamber which dates back, 1t
is said. for many centuries. lies opposite the big
new building OF the orthodox Jews. Its sole OBJ
Ject OF attraction is an old manuscript OF the
Pentateuch. In 1969-71 the Samnritans were
to be found only at Nablus. the classical Ne
apolis. They claim descent from Ephraim
and Manasseh. while their Cohens. are.
OF course. Levites. The orthodox o%pprobri-
ously call them Kuphim. or Babylonians. and.
despite physical evidence. repudiate their con-
sanguinity. Contact with them 10 as defling rs
though they were Gentiles. AT the date mem
toned the Samaritans numbered forty fami-
lies, or 135 souls; contrary to what might be
expected, the male births o~utnumbered the
females In the proportion OF 80 to 55;
consequently, the "undying doRmatism +" is
threatened with extinction. The little sect
owes its fame in Europe to the three we'll
known codices. which every stranger bastens to
inspect. The Samaritans keep their Passover by
solar computation. and not by lunar. as the
Hebrews do. Moreover. they stfli sacrifice and
eat their paschal lamb upon Mount Gertzim.
Jerusalem is sometimes visited by so-called
black Jews" from Malibar and western In
dia. The origin Of the appellation is explained
as follows: The white jews Of India have q
tradition according to which their forefathers,
numbering 10000 souls. emigrated eastward
about A.. d. 70. and settled near Cranganore. on
the Malibar coast Here they remained till A.
D. 1885. when they were driven into the inte-
rior by the Portuguese. As no synagogue can
be founded without q minimum congregation
Of ten free and adult males. the white Jews,
when there were too few OF them. bought Hindu
slaves. manumitted them. circumcised and
bathed them. and thus secured the necessary
number. -r .r
The conclusions to which Burton was led
by his prolonged study Of the Gypsies may
be set forth in a few sentences. In the first
place. the Gypsies OF medieval Europe rep
resented the last wave Of Aryan emigration
which flowed westward during the early part
Of the fifteenth century; this wave may have
been preceded possibly by moro than one SINH
lar exodus. It IL next asserted that the media-
val Gypsies show family resemblance, physical
and moral. chronological and linguistic, to the
modern Jats. a highly important race which
extends from the mouth Of the Indus to the
head of the great valley Of that river. thence
ramifying over Turkestan and the far north.
Burton holds. indeed. that there are solid rea-
sons for. believing the Jaes and the, Jin-tchi
OF Tartary to be the modern representa-
tives Of the classical Get@ and the
Goths OF later days. The language of both Jats
and Gypsies is of Indo-P Persian type. the Indian
Ingredient not being so much ~decomposed as
in the modern varieties Of Prakrit. The abso-
lutte isolation Of their speech, due to the fact
that it is never written. but Is exclusively oral.
has preserved its purity among the Gypsies,
the language Of the Jats, on the other hand.
having been long in close contact with alien
tongues. has experienced such linguistic
changes as are exempliied In English and
French. The most ancient name of the Gypsy
race Is Chinganeh. q term still used in Persia
and Turkey. and necessarily corrupted by the
Arabs. who have no Oh. to Jinganeh.
In q historical survey OF the Gypsies in Eu-
rope Burton shows that their latest movement
toward the West set out. not from Bohemia.
but from hungary and the adjacent countries.
including Roumelia and Moldavfa. In A. D.
1417 some three thousand OF them settled in
Moldavia. and later in the same year hordes of
Tatars, as they were then called. appeared be-
fore the gates OF the Hanseatio towns on the
Baltic coast, first Luneburg and then Hamburg.
Lnbeck. Wismar. Rostock and Stralsund. Next
year they migrated to middle Germany. to
Meissen. Leipzig and Hesse; presently they
turned their steps toward Switzerland. enter
ing Zurich on Aug. l, 14l9. There they divide
their course. One detachment crossed the
Votzberg and suddenly appeared as Sara
Gems before the ProvenSai town OF sisteron.
The main body. led by dukes. earls and a bevy
OF knights" turned toward Alsace. Burton does
not find it easy to determine the date Of their ar
rival in Spain. where they may have dwelt in
far more ancient times indeed. during the If
teenth century, the Iberian Peninsula was pop
ularly supposed to be their birthplace. On the
other hand. many Spaniards believed them to
be Germans and called their tongue Ger
MANIA" Gypsy German. 1t is certain that In
1888 they invaded Bavaria. and thence spread
over Germany. Denmark. and Sweden. Their