disgusting than the receptacles of swine.'
They were bastinadoed, often in the presence of the master or mistress,
and 'the ladies of quality, however young and beautiful, do not show
much delicate reluctance in similar instances of authority.' Other
punishments, some very inhuman, were inflicted; and although the owners
had no power of life or death over them, if the latter were the result
of too severe beating 'neither the Government nor the public took notice
of the circumstance.' Not only was it 'under the care of these depraved
servants that the boyards were brought up,' but as the women of the
higher classes were not in the habit of nursing their infants, they
placed them in the hands of gipsy wet-nurses, who imparted to them their
diseases, and no doubt influenced the morals of their after-life.[36]
Although the gipsies were nominally freed in 1848, their condition
remained unchanged after the revolution was suppressed, and it was not
until 1854 that they were permanently liberated. To-day there are
nominally 200,000 of them in Roumania, and until recently they were
divided, or divided themselves, into distinct castes following various
occupations. The highest of these were the Laoutari, or musicians, who
generally perform in bands consisting of four or five men each. These
usually play upon one or two violins, a mandoline, and the Pandean
pipes. Their music is wild and plaintive, giving the impression from a
distance that two or three bagpipes are being played. They have the
credit of being very good musicians, and of being able to perform
national airs from the ear alone. Some of them have risen to the
position of acknowledged composers, and indeed, for that matter, many
individuals amongst the gipsy race occupy comparatively high posts in
other departments of human intelligence.

[Illustration: ROUMANIAN GIRL.]

[Illustration: GIPSY.]

Another section are workers in metal, such as tinkers and
brass-founders; a third work in wood, and perform various duties
connected with the building trade; but a large proportion are still
vagabonds and thieves, who infest the country, and are a nuisance to the
honest peasants and labourers. The last-named class profess no religion
and obey no law, excepting the criminal law when they are forced. The
settled part of the gipsy community belong to the national Church; the
women are chaste as against the Roumanians, but their morality is said
to be very lax amongst themselves