Читать книгу Dissertation on the Gipseys онлайн

29 страница из 36

Nothing pleases Hungarian Gipseys more than a pair of yellow (tschischmen) boots, and spurs: no sooner do the latter glitter on his feet, but he bridles up, and marches consequentially about, often eying his fine boots, at the same time totally regardless of his breeches, which may have lost a portion before or behind, or be in some other respects quite shabby.

The usual dress of the women is no better than that of the men; indeed they have generally been thought rather to go beyond them in filth and nastiness. Their appearance is truly disgusting to any civilised person: their whole covering consists of, either a piece of linen thrown over the head and wound round the thighs, or an old shift hung over them, through which their smoky hides appear in numberless places. Sometimes, in winter, they wrap themselves in a piece of woollen stuff like a cloak. Occasionally, their dress partakes of the other sex; as they do not hesitate to wear breeches, or other male habilament. They use the same covering for the feet as the men;—either a pair of coarse socks, knit with wooden needles, which is commonly done in Moldavia and Wallachia; or they sew them up in rags, which remain on till the stuff perishes and falls off, or till spring arrives, at which season both men and women go barefooted. [29]