The tinkler-gypsies . more cauti(jusly asked— Romanes. 239 Well, what is the Romanes for a chair or aseat ? Well, what is it yourself? she againenquired. Stammen I replied. You are wrong again, she laughinglytwitted me. What is it, then ? I asked. Skamnien, she answered, and I remem-bered that I had difficulty in making out theword, as pronounced by Mrs C—?—-, butobserved the similarity of that given by herdaughter. My friend emerged from the tent and pro-ceeded to give me a number of words which hesaid undoubtedly bore a similarity to Hindu-stani— Romanes. Hindustani. English, grye. gorah. a
The tinkler-gypsies . more cauti(jusly asked— Romanes. 239 Well, what is the Romanes for a chair or aseat ? Well, what is it yourself? she againenquired. Stammen I replied. You are wrong again, she laughinglytwitted me. What is it, then ? I asked. Skamnien, she answered, and I remem-bered that I had difficulty in making out theword, as pronounced by Mrs C—?—-, butobserved the similarity of that given by herdaughter. My friend emerged from the tent and pro-ceeded to give me a number of words which hesaid undoubtedly bore a similarity to Hindu-stani— Romanes. Hindustani. English, grye. gorah. a horse. pani. paunie. water. riea. rajah. a king. Ijoro. burrah. great. churi. choree. a knife. Moreover, he said, apart from similarity oflanguages, he agreed—(with Leland, Borrow,Groome, Watts-Dunton, and others)—in tracingthe Romani race back to Hindustan, because, hesaid, there is an unmistakable resemblance be-tween several of the Chumomisto Gypsies and theoffspring of Mohammedan-Christian Romanies averse to being Photogt-aphed. 241 When we were standing conversing; at the tentdoor, it suddenly occurred to my friend to askMrs C : Am I a married man ? and she at onceanswered : ^ou have tied a knot with your tongue thatyou dare nut cut with your teeth. She had spoken truly. Then said my friend,pointing to me : Is he married, then? but laughingly shetold him : Ue never tell tales out of school ! Next morning I thought it would be interesting to contrast the appearance of Romanieswith those of Tinklers, and I again—this timewith camera in hand—visited the Chumoinistosliving-waggon. Raising my hat, I enquired at Mrs C if they were in the habit of distributing photosof themselves. No, sir, she replied, and we resent anyattempts to snapshot us ; and whenever we seeanyone attempting it we at once conceal ourfaces. But, sir, we have some photos of our-selves, and I shall be most happy to show themto you. My friend and I greatly admired thephotos, and I la
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