he great Persian epic, the
'Shah-Nameh'--in 'Book of Kings,' Firdusi--relates an historical
tradition to the following effect. About the year 420 A.D., Behram Gur,
a wise and beneficent ruler of the Sassanian dynasty, finding that his
poorer subjects languished for lack of recreation, bethought himself of
some means by which to divert their spirits amid the oppressive cares of
a laborious life. For this purpose he sent an embassy to Shankal, King
of Canaj and Maharajah of India, with whom he had entered into a strict
bond of amity, requesting him to select from among his subjects and
transmit to the dominions of his Persian ally such persons as could by
their arts help to lighten the burden of existence, and lend a charm to
the monotony of toil. The result was the importation of twelve thousand
minstrels, male and female, to whom the king assigned certain lands, as
well as an ample supply of corn and cattle, to the end that, living
independently, they might provide his people with gratuitous amusement.
But at the end of one year they were found to have neglected agricultural
operations, to have wasted their seed corn, and to be thus destitute of
all means of subsistence. Then Behram Gur, being angry, commanded them
to take their asses and instruments, and roam through the country,
earning a livelihood by their songs. The poet concludes as
follows:--'The Lury, agreeably to this mandate, now wander about the
world in search of employment, associating with dogs and wolves, and
thieving on the road, by day and by night.'" These words were penned
nearly nine centuries ago, and correctly describe the condition of one of
the wandering tribes of Persia at the present day, and they have been
identified by some travellers as members of the Gipsy family.

Dr. Von Bott goes on to say this:--"The tradition of the importation of
the Lury from India is related by no less than five Persian or Arab
writers: first, about the year 940 by Hamza, an Arab historian, born at
Ispahan; next, as we have seen, by Firdusi; in the year 1126 by the
author of the 'Modjmel-al-Yevaryk;' in the fifteenth century by Mirkhoud,
the historian of the Sassanides. The transplanted musicians are called
by Hamza _Zuth_, and in some manuscripts of Mirkhoud's history the same
name occurs, written, according to the Indian orthography, _Djatt_.
These words are undistinguishable when pronounced, and, in fact, may be
looked upon as phonetically equivalent, the A