It may be said, that if the Gitanos were able to make their way
from the north of India, from Multan, for example, the province
which the learned consider to be the original dwelling-place of the
race, to such an immense distance as the western part of Spain,
passing necessarily through many wild lands and tribes, why might
they not have penetrated into the heart of Barbary, and wherefore
may not their descendants be still there, following the same kind
of life as the European Gypsies, that is, wandering about from
place to place, and maintaining themselves by deceit and robbery?

But those who are acquainted but slightly with the condition of
Barbary are aware that it would be less difficult and dangerous for
a company of foreigners to proceed from Spain to Multan, than from
the nearest seaport in Barbary to Fez, an insignificant distance.
True it is, that, from their intercourse with the Moors of Spain,
the Gypsies might have become acquainted with the Arabic language,
and might even have adopted the Moorish dress, ere entering
Barbary; and, moreover, might have professed belief in the religion
of Mahomet; still they would have been known as foreigners, and, on
that account, would have been assuredly attacked by the people of
the interior, had they gone amongst them, who, according to the
usual practice, would either have massacred them or made them
slaves; and as slaves, they would have been separated. The mulatto
hue of their countenances would probably have insured them the
latter fate, as all blacks and mulattos in the dominions of the
Moor are properly slaves, and can be bought and sold, unless by
some means or other they become free, in which event their colour
is no obstacle to their elevation to the highest employments and
dignities, to their becoming pashas of cities and provinces, or