, exactly the same
as they were before it commenced.

Since the change their numbers have greatly increased, and were they not
always at war with each other, it is possible that they might go far to
sweep the house people from the land. But there are so many tribes, each
with its king, queen, or duke, that their power is divided, and their
force melts away. The ruler of the Bushman families is always a man, but
among the gipsies a woman, and even a young girl, often exercises
supreme authority, but must be of the sacred blood. These kings and
dukes are absolute autocrats within their tribe, and can order by a nod
the destruction of those who offend them. Habits of simplest obedience
being enjoined on the tribe from earliest childhood, such executions are
rare, but the right to command them is not for a moment questioned.

Of the sorcerers, and particularly the sorceresses, among them, all have
heard, and, indeed, the places where they dwell seem full of mystery and
magic. They live in tents, and though they constantly remove from
district to district, one tribe never clashes with or crosses another,
because all have their especial routes, upon which no intrusion is ever
made. Some agriculture is practiced, and flocks and herds are kept, but
the work is entirely done by the women. The men are always on horseback,
or sleeping in their tents.

Each tribe has its central camping-place, to which they return at
intervals after perhaps wandering for months, a certain number of
persons being left at home to defend it. These camps are often situated
in inaccessible positions, and well protected by stockades. The
territory which is acknowledged to belong to such a camp is extremely
limited; its mere environs only are considered the actual property of
the tribe, and a second can pitch its tents with a few hundred yards.
These stockades, in fact, are more like store-houses than residences;
each is a mere rendezvous.

The gipsies are everywhere, but their stockades are most numerous in the
south, along the sides of the green hills and plains, and especially
round Stonehenge, where, on the great open plains, among the huge
boulders, placed ages since in circles, they perform strange ceremonies
and incantations. They attack every traveller, and every caravan or
train of waggons which they feel strong enough to master, but they do
not murder the solitary sleeping hunter or shepherd like the Bushmen.
They will, indeed, steal from hi