A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, & Present State of the Gypsies. John Hoyland
of literature; and probably had there been no Gypsies, with them would have died the belief in chiromancy, as is the case with respect to astrology, necromancy, oneirocritica, and the other offspring of imbecile fancy.
We must not omit to mention the occupation of gold-washing, by which thousands of Gypsies, of both sexes, in the Banat, Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, procure a livelihood in summer; who, in winter, make trays and troughs, which they sell in an honest way.
It is not permitted for every one, without exception, to be a gold-washer; such only can follow the employment as have permission from the office of Mons, where a College was established by the Empress Theresa, in 1748. In the seventh article of instructions granted, the Gypsies were allowed the privilege of washing for gold, for which each person pays a tribute to Government.
The gold-washers in Transylvania and the Banat, pay four guilders annually in gold dust. The tribute collected in Wallachia and Moldavia does not go into the public treasury, but belongs to the Princesses for pin-money.
The consort of the Wallachian Hospodar, Stephen Rakowitza, in the year 1764, received from her Rudars, being two hundred and forty in number, twelve hundred and fifty-four drachms. The gold-washers in the Banat and Transylvania, dispose of their shares at the Royal Redemption-Office, in Zalatuya. The earnings of these people vary with time, and at different places; during heavy rains and floods they are usually most successful. The Transylvanian rivers yield the most gold. It is said, all the rivers and brooks which the rain forms, produce gold; of these the river Aranyasch is the richest; insomuch, that Historians have compared it to the Tagus and Pactolus.
Grellmann.
In Travels through the Banat of Temeswar, Transylvania, and Hungary, in the year 1770, described in a series of letters to Professor Ferber, on the mines and mountains of these different countries, by Baron Inigo Born, Counsellor of the Royal Mines, in Bohemia, page 76, is the following account:
“Observations on the Gold-washings, in the Banat, by Counsellor Koezian. Translated by R. E. Ruspe.
“After the several natural advantages of the Temeswar Banat, some of its rivers are known to yield gold dust; I could not neglect the object when I travelled in these parts.
“The gold-washing in the Banat, is properly the business of the Gypsies, Zigeuner, and left, as it were, to this poor people, as an exclusive trade. This laid me under the necessity of applying to them for instruction.
“The river Nera, in Almash, carries gold dust; and seemed to me the fittest for my purpose; accordingly I caused some Gypsies, reputed to be skilful, to make a washing, near a village called Boshowitz; and I saw with pleasure, that with much dexterity, and in a few minutes time, they cleared in the trough, the value of some groshes of gold: they showed me likewise among their gold dust, some pieces of remarkable bigness.”
It has been stated, that when Gypsies first arrived in Europe, they had leaders and chiefs to conduct their various tribes in their migrations.
Grellmann says, this was necessary, not only to facilitate their progress through different countries and quarters of the globe; but to unite their force, if necessary, and thereby enable them to make a more formidable resistance when opposed; and likewise, to carry any plan they might have formed, more regularly into effect.
We accordingly find in old books, mention made of Knights, Counts, Dukes, and Kings, among this people. Crucius cites a Duke, Michael; Muratorio, a Duke, Andreas: and Arentinus records a King, Zindelo: not to speak of inscriptions on monuments erected in different places to the memories of Duke, Panuel; Count, Johannis; and a Knight, Petrus, in the fifteenth century.
But no comment is necessary to show how improperly these appellations were applied. Though the Gypsey chiefs might be gratified with such titles; and their descendants probably esteemed them persons of rank, it was merely a ridiculous imitation of what they had seen, and perhaps admired, among civilized people. Nevertheless, the custom of having leaders and chiefs over them, prevails to this time, at least in Hungary and Transylvania; probably it may also still exist in Turkey, and other countries, where these people live together in great numbers.
Their chiefs, or waywodes, were formerly of two degrees in Hungary. Each petty tribe had its own leader, beside which, there were four superior waywodes, of their own caste, on both sides the Danube and Teisse; whose residences were at Raab, Lewentz, Szathmar, and Kaschan; and to these the smaller waywodes were accountable. But now, only one superior waywode is appointed in all Transylvania, who has authority over the gold-washers in those parts. The Gypsies, however, still continue the custom among themselves, of choosing certain persons, whom they make heads over them, and call by the exalted Sclavonian title of waywode.
It would appear extraordinary, that any well-regulated state should allow these people a distinct establishment in the heart of the country; did not the Hungarian writers assign as a reason, that in the commotions and troubles occasioned by the Turkish wars, in former centuries, they were, by means of their waywode, more easily summoned when occasion required, and rendered useful to the community.
In Transylvania, the magistrates do interfere with regard to the person whom this or that horde hath elected chief, and impose an obligation on him; but it is only that he should be careful to prevent his subjects from absconding, when the time arrives for them to discharge their annual tribute at the Land Regent’s chamber. He has no right to interfere in disputes or quarrels which the Gypsies have among themselves, or with other people, further than to give notice of them to the regular courts of the district, where they happen to be.
Grellmann.
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