afraid of them. The poor wretch who falls into their hands has
cause to rue; they always go badly dressed, and exhibit every
appearance of misery, though they are far from being miserable.
Such is the life they lead.'

There is, of course, some exaggeration in the above account of the
Dar-bushi-fal; yet there is little reason to doubt that there is a
foundation of truth in all the facts stated. The belief that they
are enabled, by sorcery, to change a white into a black man had its
origin in the great skill which they possess in altering the
appearance of a horse or a mule, and giving it another colour.
Their changing white into green silk is a very simple trick, and is
accomplished by dexterously substituting one thing for another.
Had the man of the Dar-bushi-fal been searched, the white silk
would have been found upon him. The Gypsies, wherever they are
found, are fond of this species of fraud. In Germany, for example,
they go to the wine-shop with two pitchers exactly similar, one in
their hand empty, and the other beneath their cloaks filled with
water; when the empty pitcher is filled with wine they pretend to
be dissatisfied with the quality, or to have no money, but contrive
to substitute the pitcher of water in its stead, which the wine-
seller generally snatches up in anger, and pours the contents back,
as he thinks, into the butt - but it is not wine but water which he
pours. With respect to the donkey, which APPEARED to be cut in
pieces, but which afterwards, being pricked in the tail, got up and
ran home, I have little to say, but that I have myself seen almost
as strange things without believing in sorcery.

As for the dates of dung, and the paper money, they are mere feats
of legerdemain.