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Bessarabia, all Tartary, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, swarm with them; even in Constantinople they are innumerable. In Romania, a large tract of Mount Hæmus, which they inhabit has acquired from them the name Tschenghe Valkan (Gipsey Mountain). This district extends from the city Aydos, quite to Philippopolis, and contains more Gipseys than any other province in the Turkish empire.
From what has been advanced, the reader will be enabled to form some conception, how considerable a class of people the Gipseys are in Europe; independent of their numbers in Egypt, and some parts of Asia.
If we could obtain an exact estimate of them in the different countries, or if the unsettled life of these people did not render it extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to procure such information, the immense number would probably greatly exceed what we have any idea of. At a moderate calculation, without being extravagant, they might be reckoned at between 7 and 800,000. What a serious matter of consideration when we reflect, that the greatest part of these people are idlers, cheats, and thieves! What a field does this open for the contemplation of governments!—But more of this in another place.