Against Mr. Johnstone's impressions, I
may set the straightforward and simple result of the experiences of Mr.
W. R. Ralston. "The gypsies of Moscow," he says, "are justly celebrated
for their picturesqueness and for their wonderful capacity for music.
All who have heard their women sing are enthusiastic about the weird
witchery of the performance."

When I arrived in St. Petersburg, one of my first inquiries was for
gypsies. To my astonishment, they were hard to find. They are not
allowed to live in the city; and I was told that the correct and proper
way to see them would be to go at night to certain _cafes_, half an
hour's sleigh-ride from the town, and listen to their concerts. What I
wanted, however, was not a concert, but a conversation; not gypsies on
exhibition, but gypsies at home,--and everybody seemed to be of the
opinion that those of "Samarcand" and "Dorot" were entirely got up for
effect. In fact, I heard the opinion hazarded that, even if they spoke
Romany, I might depend upon it they had acquired it simply to deceive.
One gentleman, who had, however, been much with them in other days,
assured me that they were of pure blood, and had an inherited language of
their own. "But," he added, "I am sure you will not understand it. You
may be able to talk with those in England, but not with ours, because
there is not a single word in their language which resembles anything in
English, German, French, Latin, Greek, or Italian. I can only recall,"
he added, "one phrase. I don't know what it means, and I think it will
puzzle you. It is _me kamava tut_."

If I experienced internal laughter at hearing this it was for a good
reason, which I can illustrate by an anecdote: "I have often observed,
when I lived in China," said Mr. Hoffman Atkinson, author of "A
Vocabulary of the Yokohama Dialect," "that most young men, particularly
the gay and handsome ones, generally asked me, about the third day after
their arrival in the country, the meaning of the Pidgin-English phrase,
'You makee too muchee lov-lov-pidgin.' Investigation always established
the fact that the inquirer had heard it from 'a pretty China girl.' Now
_lov-pidgin_ means love, and _me kamava tut_ is perfectly good gypsy
anywhere for 'I love you;' and a very soft expression it is, recalling
_kama-deva_, the Indian Cupid, whose bow is strung with bees, and whose
name has two strings to it, since it means, both in gypsy and Sanskrit,
Love-God, or the