These wealthy Gitános, when they are not ashamed of their blood or descent, and are not addicted to proud fancies, or ‘barbales,’ as they are called, possess great influence with the rest of their brethren, almost as much as the rabbins amongst the Jews; their bidding is considered law, and the other Gitános are at their devotion. On the contrary, when they prefer the society of the Busné to that of their own race, and refuse to assist their less fortunate brethren in poverty or in prison, they are regarded with unbounded contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the rich Gypsy of Badajoz, and are not unfrequently doomed to destruction: such characters are mentioned in their couplets:— ‘The Gypsy fiend of Manga mead, Who never gave a straw, He would destroy, for very greed, The good Egyptian law. ‘The false Juanito day and night Had best with caution go; The Gypsy carles of Yeira height Have sworn to lay him low.’ However some of the Gitános may complain that there is no longer union to be found amongst them, there is still much of that fellow-feeling which springs from a consciousness of proceeding from one common origin, or, as they love to term it, ‘blood.’ At present their system exhibits less of a commonwealth than when they roamed in bands amongst the wilds, and principally subsisted by foraging, each individual contributing to the common stock, according to his success. The interests of individuals are now more distinct, and that close connection is of course dissolved which existed when they wandered about, and their dangers, gains, and losses were felt in common; and it can never be too often repeated that they are no longer a proscribed race, with no rights nor safety save what they gained by a close and intimate union. Nevertheless, the Gitáno, though he naturally prefers his own interest to that of his brother, and envies him his gain when he does not expect to share in it, is at all times ready to side with him against the Busno, because the latter is not a Gitáno, but of a different blood, and for no other reason. When one Gitáno confides his plans to another, he is in no fear that they will be betrayed to the Busno, for whom there is no sympathy, and when a plan is to be executed which requires co-operation, they seek not the fellowship of the Busné, but of each other, and if successful, share the gain like brothers.