“But, beside these solemn fasts, the Gipseys of the Banat observe a degree of temperance, and a choice in their diet, even on those days when all kinds of food are permitted. They abstain from frogs and tortoises; wherein they accord with the Wallachians, Räizes, and other Christians of the Greek church. Moreover, they refrain from some kinds of river fish, viz. the red-scaled bream, perch, and lampreys; of which it is known that, among the Egyptians, the race of Likopolis and Tagaroriopolis refused to taste. The Gipseys are adverse to all feathered game, and particularly to birds of prey. The stork, when he deigns to build on their wretched huts, is highly esteemed by them:—one of these birds, like its relation ibis, was an object of worship, with other symbolical Egyptian deities. “Of four-footed animals, the Gipseys are most fond of swine’s flesh, particularly salted.—The Egyptians likewise consumed a great number of these creatures, though they looked upon their herds and keepers to be unclean. “The Gipseys hang up large onions in their dwellings, but do not eat them.—Besides that the Egyptians honoured them, as well as many other vegetables, we are informed by Diodorus Siculus, that by the regulations relating to diet, observed in the different Egyptian provinces, onions were prohibited in some, but allowed in others. “Like the old Egyptians, the Gipseys cannot bear the smell of beans; although their neighbours, the Wallachians, eat them with pleasure. “When I was at Denta, in the district of Csakowa, curiosity led me into a Gipsey hut. The first object which arrested my attention was a young man covered with the itch, whose mother was feeding him with the boiled flesh of a small snake, on a dirty earthen plate.—In the same manner the Egyptians used the flesh of snakes, as the mildest and most effectual remedy for the elephantiasis. “It is well known that, even to this day, fowls and others of the feathered tribe are hatched by art in Egypt.—I must confess I was not a little surprised when, in July, 1775, I went into a Gipsey hut before Karansebes, to find an old woman engaged in hatching geese and ducks eggs, in horse-dung. This was exactly the method of the old Egyptians.