“From all which has hitherto been produced, as well as that the Gipseys of the Banat, and others dispersed over the rest of Europe, declare themselves to be from Egypt, it is highly probable that they are of Egyptian origin. But see a nearer resemblance. So long ago as in Ælian’s time, the Egyptians were famous for their patience in enduring all kinds of torture; and would rather expire on the rack, than be brought to confession; which is a striking trait in the character of the Gipseys. When this equivocal means of learning the truth, the torture, was practised in the imperial royal hereditary dominions, several instances may be remembered of the Gipseys suffering themselves to be torn to pieces sooner than acknowledge crimes, even when the magistrates had the most indisputable proofs of them.” Thus far has been to prove the Egyptian descent of the Gipseys. What follows is against it; and, from the similarity of their condition, is to convince us that they are of Æthiopian and Troglodytish origin. “According to the most authentic writers, the Egyptians were solicitous to build themselves convenient habitations. They lived decently; and their attention to cleanliness, in the observance of certain rules of health, was so general, that even the peasants, and the lowest classes of people in the nation, were no exception to it.—The residences of the Gipseys in the Banat present a very different picture. . . . Miserable dwellings, consisting, partly of thorns and straw packed together, and partly of holes, ten or twelve feet deep, dug in the earth. Taken in this point of view, the Gipseys have more the appearance of being related to the hordes of Æthiopians and Troglodytes. “Among the ancient Egyptians, agriculture was in high esteem; as it still is among the present Copts, their true descendants.—The Gipseys, on the contrary, are the worst, and most careless farmers: another argument for their being Ethiopians and Troglodytes. “These and other African hordes, employ themselves in collecting gold out of the river sand;—in like manner, the Marosch, Nera, and other streams, have induced the Gipseys to become goldwashers. “An inclination for strolling, to which the Egyptians were so very adverse, is the particular propensity of the Gipseys in general; nor are those of the Banat exempt from it. “The more artful, particularly of the other sex, go about from house to house, where they tell fortunes, cast nativities, discover thefts, and pretend they possess remedies, to which they ascribe wonders and infallible cures. These nostrums consist, chiefly, of roots, amulets, certain small stones . . . mostly a kind of scoriæ.—Among the Egyptians, likewise, such impostors rambled up and down. These were Ethiopians by descent, who carried on a similar trade.