o them. And that is real
Rommany (custom), and they would not be decent Rommany fellows who would
not do that for people in sorrow and distress."

Precisely the same custom prevails in India, where it is characterised by
a phrase strikingly identical with the English Gipsy term for it. In
England it is to _kair habben_, in Hindustani (Brice, Hin. Dict.) "karwa
khana is the food that is sent for three days from relations to a family
in which one of the members has died." The Hindu karwana, to make or to
cause to do, and kara, to do, are the origin of the English Gipsy _kair_
(to make or cook), while from khana, or 'hana, to eat, comes _haw_ and
_habben_, or food.

The reader who is familiar with the religious observances of India is
probably aware of the extraordinary regard in which the cup is held by
many sects. In Germany, as Mr Liebich declares, drinking-cups are kept
by the Gipsies with superstitious regard, the utmost care being taken
that they never fall to the ground. "Should this happen, the cup is
_never_ used again. By touching the ground it becomes sacred, and should
no more be used. When a Gipsy cares for nothing else, he keeps his
drinking-cup under every circumstance." I have not been able to
ascertain whether this species of regard for the cup ever existed in
England, but I know of many who could not be induced to drink from a
white cup or bowl, the reason alleged being the very frivolous and
insufficient one, that it reminded them of a blood-basin. It is almost
needless to say that this could never have been the origin of the
antipathy. No such consideration deters English peasants from using
white crockery drinking-vessels.

In Germany, among the Gipsies, if a woman has trodden on any object, or
if the skirt of her dress has swept over or touched it, it is either
destroyed, or if of value, is disposed of or never used again. I found
on inquiry that the same custom still prevails among the old Gipsy
families in England, and that if the object be a crockery plate or cup,
it is at once broken. For this reason, even more than for convenience,
real Gipsies are accustomed to hang every cooking utensil, and all that
pertains to the table, high up in their waggons. It is almost needless
to point out how closely these ideas agree with those of many Hindus. The
Gipsy eats every and any thing except horseflesh. Among themselves,
while talking Rommany, they will boast of having eaten _mullo baulor