_pongdishler_, or neckerchief, and a red waistcoat. The
long red cloak of the old Gipsy fortune-teller is, however, truly dear to
her heart; she feels as if there were luck in it--that _bak_ which is
ever on Gipsy lips; for to the wanderers, whose home is the roads, and
whose living is precarious, Luck becomes a real deity. I have known two
old fortune-telling sisters to expend on new red cloaks a sum which
seemed to a lady friend very considerable.

I have spoken in another chapter of the deeply-seated faith of the
English Gipsies in the evil eye. Subsequent inquiry has convinced me
that they believe it to be peculiar to themselves. One said in my
presence, "There was a kauli juva that dicked the evil yack ad mandy the
sala--my chavo's missis--an' a'ter dovo I shooned that my chavo was
naflo. A bongo-yacki mush kairs wafro-luckus. _Avali_, the Gorgios
don't jin it--it's saw Rommany."

_I.e_., "There was a dark woman that looked the evil eye at me this
morning--my son's wife--and after that I heard that my son was ill. A
squint-eyed man makes bad-luck. Yes, the Gorgios don't know it--it's all
Rommany."

The Gipsy is of an eminently social turn, always ready when occasion
occurs to take part in every conversation, and advance his views. One
day my old Rom hearing an artist speak of having rejected some uncalled-
for advice relative to the employment of a certain model, burst out in a
tone of hearty approbation with--

"That's what _I_ say. Every man his own juva (every man his own girl),
an' every painter his own _morals_."

If it was difficult in the beginning for me to accustom the Gipsy mind to
reply clearly and consistently to questions as to his language, the
trouble was tenfold increased when he began to see his way, as he
thought, to my object, and to take a real interest in aiding me. For
instance, I once asked--

"Puro! do you know such a word as _punji_? It's the Hindu for capital."

(Calmly.) "Yes, rya; that's a wery good word for capital."

"But is it Rommany?"

(Decidedly.) "It'll go first-rateus into Rommany."

"But can you make it out? Prove it!"

(Fiercely.) "Of course I can make it out. _Kushto_. Suppose a man
sells 'punge-cake, would'nt that be his capital? _Punje_ must be
capital."

But this was nothing to what I endured after a vague fancy of the meaning
of seeking a derivation of words had dimly dawned on his mind, and he
vigorously attempted to aid me. Possessed