I repeat, that if legitimate Gypsies really exist in Barbary, they
are the men and women of the Dar-bushi-fal.



CHAPTER VII



CHIROMANCY, or the divination of the hand, is, according to the
orthodox theory, the determining from certain lines upon the hand
the quality of the physical and intellectual powers of the
possessor.

The whole science is based upon the five principal lines in the
hand, and the triangle which they form in the palm. These lines,
which have all their particular and appropriate names, and the
principal of which is called 'the line of life,' are, if we may
believe those who have written on the subject, connected with the
heart, with the genitals, with the brain, with the liver or
stomach, and the head. Torreblanca, (23) in his curious and
learned book on magic, observes: 'In judging these lines you must
pay attention to their substance, colour, and continuance, together
with the disposition of the correspondent member; for, if the line
be well and clearly described, and is of a vivid colour, without
being intermitted or PUNCTURIS INFECTA, it denotes the good
complexion and virtue of its member, according to Aristotle.

'So that if the line of the heart be found sufficiently long and