caravans with their families, there would be, at a rough calculation,
not less than 3,000 children; taking these things along with others, and
the number given in the Census, it may be fairly assumed that I am under
the mark when I state that there are not less than 4,000 Gipsy men and
women, and 15,000 to 20,000 Gipsy and other children moving about the
country outside the educational laws and the pale of civilisation.

"Some few Gipsies who have arrived at what they consider the highest
state of a respectable and civilised life, reside in houses which, in 99
cases out of 100, are in the lowest and most degraded part of the towns,
among the scum and offscouring of all nations, and like locusts they
leave a blight behind them wherever they have been. Others have their
tents and vans, and there are many others who I have tents only. A tent
as a rule is about 7ft. 6in. wide, 16ft. long, and 4ft. 6in. high at the
top. They are covered with pieces of old cloth, sacking, &c., to keep
the rain and snow out; the opening to allow the Gipsies to go in and out
of their tent is covered with a kind of coverlet. The fire by which they
cook their meals is placed in a kind of tin bucket pierced with holes,
and stands on the damp ground. Some of the smoke or sulphur arising from
the sticks or coke finds its way through an opening at the top of the
tent about 2ft. in diameter. The other part of the smoke helps to keep
their faces and hands the proper Gipsy colour. Their beds consist of a
layer of straw upon the damp ground, covered with a sack or sheet, as the
case may be. An old soapbox or tea-chest serves as a chest of drawers,
drawing-room table, and clothes-box. In these places children are born,
live, and die; men, women, grown-up sons and daughters, lie huddled
together in such a state as would shock the modesty of South African
savages, to whom we send missionaries to show them the blessings of
Christianity. As in other cases where idleness and filth abounds, what
little washing they do is generally done on the Saturday afternoons; but
this is a business they do not indulge in too often. They are not
overdone with cooking utensils, and the knives and forks they principally
use are of the kind Adam used, and sensitive when applied to hot water.
They take their meals and do their washing squatting upon the ground like
tailors and Zulus. Lying, begging, thieving, cheating, and every other
abominable, low, cunning craft th