Part 22 (1/2)
At the fairs the wealthier gypsies also trade in precious stones and jewellery; the poorer in hardware, ”tinkery,” and the like. The _gitanas_, gaudily arrayed in colours of startling hues, and blazing with heavy golden ornaments, deal in divinations and tell the _buena ventura_ as of old, the younger girls ever ready to engage in their lissom dances and in the wild suggestive singing characteristic of the Rommany race.
In towns and cities some of the gypsy women have a large and varied _clientele_: they are admitted to the best houses, and the proudest senoras deign to inspect the ancient lace, the bric-a-brac and jewellery that they bring for sale. Of antique lace, elaborately wrought, and of painted fans and such-like relics, the supply in Spain seems inexhaustible: and eventually the glib tongue of the gitana may probably obtain about half the price originally asked.
Despite certain changes--hereafter described--the Spanish gypsy remains exotic to Hispania, distinct in type both of form and feature; the restless, suspicious eye of the hunted animal, the lithe build, and straight supple limbs, even among the _svelte_ and graceful Andalucians, still distinguish these swarthy sons of the wilderness.[57] The true-bred gypsy remains a distinct species. Though amenable to the same laws, and recognized as a Spanish subject, he is distinguishable at a glance. The youths undergo their allotted period of army service, but remain not an hour beyond the stipulated time with the colours.
Their normal occupations to-day are chiefly those of butchers--all the shambles of Spain are in their hands--tinkers, horse-breakers, mule and donkey-dealers, and basket-makers. But, at a pinch, the gitano now condescends to engage on the lighter work of the land--hoeing, weeding, &c. Like the Jew, the gypsy has ever hitherto been conspicuous by his absence from every field of manual labour: both prefer the lighter barters of life; and that the gitano should now--even casually--take to such honest work, is perhaps a sign of the times.
One great change has, however, been wrought by the century of equal laws--a change perhaps of vital import to the villain crew. The once sacred _errate_ is contaminated. Marriages between the two races--with or without the sanction of the church--are now frequent, though the Spaniard who contracts such ill-savoured union loses caste among his or her own people, and the children of these mixed marriages never lose the taint.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate x.x.xIV.
DANCERS AT GRANADA--THE BOLERO.
Page 289.]
By this means there has sprung into existence, during late years, an intermediate cla.s.s, neither pure Gitano nor Spanish, which is daily increasing, and, being free from all the traditionary observances of the gypsy, mingles more and more with the national life, carrying with it much of the ready wit and piquancy of the latter.
The result of this grafting of an element of gitanismo upon the original Castilian stock is the _Flamenco_ of to-day, and it is a curious satire on Spanish society that the style and attire, even the language, of this wanton half-caste breed have become a fas.h.i.+onable craze--have been by some paradoxical freak adopted by a section of even the higher Madrilenian circles who revel in copying the garb, the manners, and the jargon of the once loathed gypsy. Flamencos are found in every grade--well known among the gilded youth of Madrid or Seville--but the bull-ring appears to provide the most approved models for this school.
Nor is the mania confined to the men: the bright gala-dress of the gitana has become fas.h.i.+onable among high-placed senoras who appear at dance or salon sporting the gaudy Manila shawl with its flowing fringe, short frock, and with hair coiffeured _a la Flamenca_. To prefer the raciest and most highly-flavoured Spanish dishes, to quaff freely the Manzanilla, to smoke cigarettes, to prefer olives to bonbons, to know the bull-fighters by their pet names, to be loud if not witty, smart in repartee and slang--this is to be _Flamenca_.
Both s.e.xes of the Flamencos proper retain the dress and manner of the original gypsy. The brazen beauty of the young Flamencas has the same seductive charms for the _Busne_; and it is from the half-caste that the dancing girls of the cities and light-fingered gentry of many accomplishments are mostly recruited.
A considerable admixture of gypsy-blood is found among the lower strata of the bull-fighting profession, though its higher ranks are comparatively free from it. His intensely superst.i.tious nature unfits the true-bred gypsy from real success in this or any pursuit where nerve and decision are required. The only gitano _espadas_ of note are Chicorro and El Gallo. The former has latterly lost nerve and prestige through a curious practical joke played upon his superst.i.tious nature by a ventriloquial member of his _cuadrilla_. As he stood, sword and _muleta_ in hand, facing a black bull of the Duke of Veragua's breed in the Plaza of Madrid, suddenly the beast addressed him in low sepulchral tones, ”_Te voy a coger!_”--I am going to catch you! Such was the effect on Chicorro's nerves that his life was only saved by his attendant _chulos_, who drew off the brute's attack, nor has Chicorro ever since dared to face a _black_ bull.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GYPSY LAD.]
The resident Spanish gypsies cl.u.s.ter together in some separate quarter of the town, or form an isolated mud-built _barrio_ outside its walls.
Dwelling apart, and without the slightest bond of sympathy with their Castilian neighbours, their outward signs of joy or grief--both demonstrative--pa.s.s unheard and ignored. In their religion--adopted perforce of law, as before set forth, and which savours of idolatry simple, with a dash of superst.i.tion and fanaticism--in their curious marriage and funereal customs--both occasions of noisy orgy, the latter resembling an Irish ”wake” with its alternations of wailing by the hour ”to order,” and feasting in turn--the gypsies are left severely alone.
There is no sympathy with them. On the other hand, when civil or political disturbances prevail, and southern fervour is all ablaze, the gypsy _barrio_ remains spectacular and unmoved.
No ”patriotic” dreams or soaring ambitions disturb the gypsy's squalid life--what has he to gain? What can he ever hope to be, but the despised and rejected, under any form of government? No list of misguided peasantry, beguiled and betrayed by base agitator, ever registers his name: the midnight meetings of the ”Black Hand” find no gitano present at their sworn and secret conclaves. The vagabond is too shrewd uselessly to embroil himself in abortive efforts to upset existing order: though there is little doubt what his action would be should the opportunity of pillage with impunity ever present itself.
LOS BOHEMIOS.--There remain to be noticed the bands of nomad gypsies who flock to Spain during the winter months, but whose true home is said to be in Bohemia. These are not in touch with the native tribes, speaking but few words of Spanish or of its gypsy jargon. In summer they infest the roads and by-ways of Austria, travelling southwards, as winter advances, thus resembling in habit their British congeners. Their type of feature is of more Eastern caste, their faces almost black, with long tangled hair, in both s.e.xes, hanging down to the shoulders. Their home is the wigwam or rickety waggon with its load of rags and babies, and its mixed team of mules, donkeys, and ponies. The lurcher-dog and the snare a.s.sist these Zingali to fill their _puchero_. They traverse the wilds of Spain in camps of thirty to fifty, squatting near village or outside city walls, ostensibly to occupy themselves with iron and copper tinkery, kettle-making, and the like. Some of the women of these Bohemians are striking enough in their gypsy-beauty; the same faces are seen in successive years, so their journeyings are to some extent methodical.
One meets these nomad bands all over rural Spain, laboriously ”trekking”
axle-deep, across dusky-brown plain or lonely waste of brushwood and palmetto--picturesque objects--indeed the only element of life and colour amidst these desolate scenes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GYPSY DANCE.]
CHAPTER XXV.
IN SEARCH OF THE LAMMERGEYER.
A WINTER RIDE IN THE SIERRAS.
To the Lammergeyer tradition has a.s.signed some romantic attributes, and a character of wondrous dash and daring. This is the bird that is credited with feats of hurling hunters from perilous positions down crag or creva.s.s, carrying off children to its eyrie, and kidnapping unguarded babes. Even Dr. Bree, in his ”Birds of Europe,” while doubting that it habitually a.s.sails grown-up people, gravely a.s.serts that a pair of these birds will not hesitate to attack a man whom they have caught at a disadvantage; while one will venture, single-handed, an onslaught on two hunters who are asleep. Some naturalists now seem inclined to go to the other extreme, and to regard the Lammergeyer as merely a huge Neophron.
No doubt the great size and weird, dragon-like appearance of the Gypaetus have tended to promote exaggeration, while its rarity and remote haunts have made it no easy subject to study, and few have formed its acquaintance in its own almost inaccessible domains. Our small experiences, narrated in the two following chapters, seem to show that the truth lies between the two extremes.
Towards the end of January we set out for a fortnight's exploration of the mountains beyond Tempul and Algar, a forty-mile ride to the eastward of Jerez. Bitter was the cold as we rode off in the darkness at 5 A.M., only two stars s.h.i.+ning in the eastern firmament; truly the word _recreo_, as Blas explained to the sentry on duty at the old Moorish gateway, that we were only bound on _pleasure_, sounded almost satirical--as some one has said, life would be endurable but for its pleasures. By dawn we were crossing the hungry gravel-ridges beyond Cuartillos, and watched the sun rise from behind the stony pile of San Christobal, bathing the distant mountains, whither we were bound, in glorious golden glow.