every van was edged with
faces, and forth from the strange kraals there crept child and woman,
youth and dog, to say a kindly word, or bark a welcome to the visitors.
But for the Gipsies' welcome we might have had an unpleasant reception
from the dogs. They were evidently dubious as to our character, their
training inclining them to bite, if they get a chance, any leg wearing
black cloth, but to give the ragged-trousered visitors a fawning welcome;
so they sniffed again and again, and growled, until driven away by the
voices of their owners. Perchance, during the remainder of the day, they
were revolving in their intelligent minds how it had come to pass that
the black cloth legs were received with evident marks of favour. Nor
were they able to settle the point easily, for whenever we happened to
look round the encampment during the afternoon, from the raised door-way
of a kraal where we happened to be couched, we noticed the eyes of one or
other of the four-footed guardians fixed intently on us. There were
about twenty vans and tents in all; and each paid one shilling a week to
the ground landlord. That money, with whatever else was required for
food, was obtained by hawking at this season of the year, and trade was
very bad. Winter must be a fearful experience for these children of the
air, and the field, the summer sun, the wild flowers, and the fruits of
harvest. Such rains as have descended, such snows as have been falling,
such cold winds as have been blowing, must discount fearfully the joys of
the three happier seasons of the year.

"Invitations to stoop and enter any 'tent' were freely tendered, and
'peeps' were indulged in with regard to a few. In one, a closed cauldron
covered the brazier fire, and two men and a dog watched with unceasing
vigilance. We tried to make friends here, but failed. There was a
steamy exudation from the cauldron which filled the air with fragrance,
and our curiosity overcame our prudence, but with no satisfactory result.
'A stew,' we suggested. 'Yes! it was summut stewing.' 'Couldn't we
guess what it was?' 'Not soon,' was the reply; 'a few bones and a potato
or two; perhaps a bit of something green. At such hard times they were
mostly glad to get anything.' But nothing more could be gleaned, and the
two men and the dog never lost sight of the cauldron while the visitors
remained. In a few cases the tents were pegged down all round, and
across the top, upon a stout lin