induce him to confront the perils of the interior, in the hopeless
endeavour of making one single proselyte from amongst the wildest
fanatics of the creed of the Prophet Camel-driver.

Are wanderers of the Gypsy race to be found in Barbary? This is a
question which I have frequently asked myself. Several respectable
authors have, I believe, asserted the fact, amongst whom Adelung,
who, speaking of the Gypsies, says: 'Four hundred years have
passed away since they departed from their native land. During
this time, they have spread themselves through the whole of Western
Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa.' (22) But it is one thing to
make an assertion, and another to produce the grounds for making
it. I believe it would require a far greater stock of information
than has hitherto been possessed by any one who has written on the
subject of the Gypsies, to justify him in asserting positively that
after traversing the west of Europe, they spread themselves over
Northern Africa, though true it is that to those who take a
superficial view of the matter, nothing appears easier and more
natural than to come to such a conclusion.

Tarifa, they will say, the most western part of Spain, is opposite
to Tangier, in Africa, a narrow sea only running between, less wide
than many rivers. Bands, therefore, of these wanderers, of course,
on reaching Tarifa, passed over into Africa, even as thousands
crossed the channel from France to England. They have at all times
shown themselves extravagantly fond of a roving life. What land is
better adapted for such a life than Africa and its wilds? What
land, therefore, more likely to entice them?

All this is very plausible. It was easy enough for the Gitanos to