ition. Afterwards, Aventin, Krantz, and
Miinster openly contradict it.

Aventin relates that they wished it to be thought they came from that
country, but that, in his time, nothing was known concerning them, but
what came from their own mouths; those who accounted them Egyptians,
rested their belief entirely on the veracity of their informants.

This is collected with greater certainty from Krantz and Miinster, for
they declare expressly, that every thing which could be discovered by any
other means than their own assertions, contradicted, rather than
confirmed their Egyptian descent. But it is not merely that their
Egyptian descent is entirely destitute of proof, the most circumstantial
evidence can be adduced against it.

Their language differs entirely from the Coptic, and their customs, as
Ahasuerus Fritsch has remarked, are diametrically opposite to the
Egyptian; but what is, if possible, of greater weight, they wander about
in Egypt, like strangers, and _there_, as in other countries, form a
distinct people.

The testimony of Bellonius is full and decisive on the point. He states;
"No part of the world, I believe, is free from those banditti, wandering
about in troops; whom we, by mistake, call Gypsies, and Bohemians. When
we were at Cairo, and the villages bordering on the Nile, we found troops
of these strolling thieves sitting under palm-trees; and they are
_esteemed foreigners_ in _Egypt_."

Aventin expressly makes Turkey their original place of rendezvous; and
this furnishes a reason for the south east parts of Europe being the most
crowded with them. If all that came to Europe passed by this route, it
accounts for a greater number remaining in those countries, than in
others to which they would have a much longer travel; and before their
arrival at which, their hordes might be much divided.

It is a just assertion, that one of the most infallible methods of
determining the origin of a people, would be the discovery of a country
in which their language is that of the natives. It is a fact
incontrovertibly established, that besides the Gypsies speaking the
language of the country in which they live, they have a general one of
their own, in which they converse with each other.

Not knowing any speech correspondent with the Gypsies, some have been
ready to pronounce it a mere jargon; not considering how extravagant a
surmise it would be, that a people rude, uncivilized, and separated
hundreds of m