New-York tribune., 1920-09-26
gypsy OF Romance Escapes Wars Ravages Ancient Hal
Picturesque Tribes Still Seen Among Bulgarian
One-Eyed Bandit
Shows How to
Make Money

in great profusion. If the row con-
tinues, they will tear down their own
tent, never that Of the enemy, the
inmates having already cleared OUT
anticipating the event. The ridge
pole is then used as q weapon with
which to strike the earth in token
Of rage, or 70 hurl at, and Fortunate
ly miss, the enemy, during which
proceeding It is frequently badly
damaged, so that when the tent is
again pitched it will have lost q
little more OF its already doubtful
symmetry.
Marry Early
The Zagund;is marry early, gem
orally several years before the girlg
are old enough to bear children.
The husband buys his wife, or his
parents do for him, and this aca
counts for the many divorces. In
buying wife q certain sum Is paid
down and the remainder is supposed
to be paid off in installments on fixed
dates. frequently the husbands
parents are not able to meet the in.
stallment payments and the parents
Of the girl reclaim her and sell her
to another husband. When once the
wife Is old enough to have children
babies come in rapid succession and
then divorce is rare. No doctor In
called in at childbirth among the
Zagundjis, but mother rarely dies
In giving birth to a child, though
at least half the children fail to sur
vive the first six weeks. If they do
live, they will be very strong and
rarely sick the rest Of their lives.
The Zagundjis provide the majority
OF the gypsy professional wrestlers,
though the men are too lazy to do
stroke Of honest labor.
Contrasted with the Zagundjis,
who, il they are beggars rarely
steal, ars the Grebenaris, or comb
makers, who are described as the
most criminal tribe in Bulgaria.
They are chiefly horse thieves along
the Rumanian frontier, but while
the men are engaged in stealing
horses the women are robbing hen
roosts and shoplifting. No we'll
trained Grebenari woman would
think Of going into a shop without
stealing keepsake. They consider
it disgrace to enter shop with
out stealing something. The women
never kill the chickens they steal, as
according to tribal belief the flesh
of bird or animal killed by
woman may not be eaten.
Tribe of Combmakers
The members of this tribe are
combmakers by trade, but the trade
is merely blind to cover their real
operations. There is scarcely man
among them who has not been in
prison at some time in his life for
horse stealing. They practice this,
their real trade, along the Ruma-
nian frontier, stealing the horses on
the Bulgarian side and driving them
over the border, where they are de-
livered to Rumanian gypsies, to be
painted and disguised and sold. The
peasants are at open war with the
Grebenaris and the authorities are
no more lenient than the peasants,
A whole camp is often arrested and
punished on the slightest of charges.
Men, women, horses and dogs are
taken to the nearest town, where the
men are thrown into prison, whils
the women and children camp in tho
market place surrounded by polica.
So frequently are the Grebenaric I'm
prisoned that che prisons at Ceseauk.
sa, in Rumania, and Warns, R1ss
grad and Shun1la, in Bulgaria. ara
used by them as their permanent
postofice addresses for correspond
ence. Prison life in Bulgaria Is
tedious but not harsh. A visitor 20
some Grebenaris held at Razgrad
for horse stealing found them In q
pleasant courtyard bright with roses
and the jailer serving them with
Turkish coffee while they smoked
cigarettes.
In Rumania the Grebenar;s ass
} much more desperate criminals than
; are their Bulgarian brethren. They