looked upon Borrow with no small amount of curiosity, for they were
unaccustomed to meet with _gorgios_ of his position who took so keen an
interest in their sayings and doings. As a rule, they are exceedingly
suspicious of the approaches of any one outside the Romany pale; and it
must not be assumed that he was popular with them because he usually
succeeded in extracting from them the information he required. There was
something about Borrow that made it hard to evade his questioning; he had
such a masterful way with him, and his keen eyes fixed upon a man as
though they would pierce him through and read his most secret thoughts.
He himself attributes his success with the gipsies to his knowledge of
the Romany tongue and customs, while they firmly believed that he had
gipsy blood in his veins. "He has known them," he says, writing of
himself as the author of "The Zincali," "for upwards of twenty years in
various countries, and they never injured a hair of his head or deprived
him of a shred of his raiment; but he is not deceived as to the motive of
their forbearance: they thought him a _Rom_, and on this supposition they
hurt him not, their love of 'the blood' being their most distinguishing
characteristic." This error on their part served his purpose well, as it
enabled him to obtain from them a great deal of curious knowledge that
would never have come into his possession had it been known he was one of
the despised _gorgios_. He was known amongst them as the Romany Rye; but
that is a name by which, even at the present day, they distinguished any
stranger who can "rokkra Romany" to the extent of a dozen words.

Although Borrow spent so much time amongst the East Anglian gipsies, it
is often difficult to ascertain the exact localities in which he met with
them. He seldom condescends to give the date of any incident, and as
infrequently does he choose to enlighten us as to his precise whereabouts
when it occurred. Then, too, one might conclude that his investigations
were almost wholly confined to two families, those of the Smiths or
Petulengros, and Hernes. As Mr. Watts has aptly remarked, one would
imagine from all that is said about these families in "Lavengro" and "The
Romany Rye" that he knew nothing about the other Romanies of the Eastern
Counties. Yet he must have been familiar also with the Bosviles, Grays,
and Pinfolds, some descendants of whom still haunt the heaths and greens
of Eastern England. Acc