ut his life
at best requires great strength and endurance, and this must, of course,
be supported by a generous diet. In fact, he lives well, much better
than the agricultural labourer. Let me explain how this is generally
done. The Gipsy year may be said to begin with the races. Thither the
dark children of Chun-Gwin, whether pure blood, _posh an' posh_
(half-and-half), or _churedis_, with hardly a drop of the _kalo-ratt_,
flock with their cocoa-nuts and the balls, which have of late taken the
place of the _koshter_, or sticks. With them go the sorceresses, old and
young, who pick up money by occasional _dukkerin_, or fortune-telling.
Other small callings they also have, not by any means generally
dishonest. Wherever there is an open pic-nic on the Thames, or a country
fair, or a regatta at this season, there are Romanys. Sometimes they
appear looking like petty farmers, with a bad, or even a good, horse or
two for sale. While summer lasts this is the life of the poorer sort.

"This merry time over, they go to the _Livinengro tem_, or
hop-land--_i.e._, Kent. Here they work hard, not neglecting the
beer-pot, which goes about gaily. In this life they have great
advantages over the tramps and London poor. Hopping over, they go,
almost _en masse_, or within a few days, to London to buy French and
German baskets, which they get in Houndsditch. Of late years they send
more for the baskets to be delivered at certain stations. Some of them
make baskets themselves very well, but, as a rule, they prefer to buy
them. While the weather is good they live by selling baskets, brooms,
clothes-lines, and other small wares. Most families have their regular
'beats' or rounds, and confine themselves to certain districts. In
winter the men begin to _chiv the kosh_, or cut wood--_i.e._, they make
butchers' skewers and clothes-pegs. Even this is not unprofitable, as a
family, what between manufacturing and selling them, can earn from twelve
to eighteen shillings a week. With this and begging, and occasional jobs
of honest hard work which they pick up here and there, they contrive to
feed well, find themselves in beer, and pay, as they now often must, for
permission to camp in fields. Altogether they work hard and retire
early.

"Considering the lives they lead, Gipsies are not dishonest. If a Gipsy
is camped anywhere, and a hen is missing for miles around, the theft is
always at once attributed to him. The result is tha