ORIGIN AND ETHNIC TRAITS. Of their own origin the gypsies can give no sensible account. They are apt, at least those of Western Europe, to follow the popular belief that they came orig inally from Egypt. Among the many authors that have written about them from the fifteenth century to recent times the most diverse and ab surd theories have been advanced. A fanciful resemblance in their German name Zigeuner led early writers to trace them to Zetigitania (Tu nis), or to Singara. in Mesopotamia. Others have sought to trace them to the Saracens. the Jews, the Amorites. the Canaanites. the Lost Tribes of Israel. or the 'mixed multitude' that followed Moses out of Egypt. it was the com parison of their language that gave the first clue to their real origin. As early as 1776 a certain Captain Szkkely published a letter in a Viennese review, in which he mentioned that an Hungarian clergyman named VSlyi, during his student days at the University of Leyden, had become acquaint. ed with some fellow students from Malabar, in India, and had acquired from them a small vo cabulary of Malabar words. On his return to Hungary he read his list to some gypsies, who understood almost every word. In 1783 two Ger mans, Rtidiger and Grellmann, writing on the gypsies, arrived independently at the conclusion of their Indian origin. The growing study of Sanskrit and the modern Indian languages drew further attention to that of the gypsies, and in 1844-45 Pott published a monumental work, Die Zigeuner in Europa and Asia, in which was fully set forth the Hindu origin of `romanif There can be no further question of the fact that the gypsies are an Indian race, and every step in the study of their language and racial type tends still more to confirm the fact. It is un
necessary here to treat in detail the many inves tigations of Bataillard, MacRitchie, De Goeje, Miklosich, and others, that seek to connect them closely with one or another of the wild tribes of Northwestern India. A few words taken at random will serve sufficiently to show the Hindu origin of their language: In appearance, the full-blooded gypsy is rather undersized, with swarthy complexion, oval face, and regular features, often very handsome. He has very black hair, piercing dark eyes, white teeth, a lithe figure, and small hands and feet. Kopernicki studied twenty gypsy crania in a hospital at Budapest, and found a very striking resemblance to the Hindu crania of low caste. The gypsy marries early. The young girls are often very beautiful, but their beauty soon fades. As a race the gypsies are long-lived; it is not unusual to find very aged men and women, exceedingly wrinkled, hut robust and active. They retain their 'deep-black hair until a great age.