tionable evidence in support of his
deductions. The first we shall introduce, is contained in the following
letter from William Marsden to Sir Joseph Banks, F.R.S. read to the
Society of Antiquaries in London, 1785.

"It has long been surmised, that the vagrant tribes of people called in
this country Gypsies, and on parts of the Continent of Europe, Cingari,
Zingari, and Chingali, were of eastern origin. The former name has been
supposed a corruption of Egyptian, and some learned men have judged it
not improbable that their language might be traced to the Coptic.

"In the course of researches which I have had occasion to pursue on the
subject of language, I have observed that Ludolfus, in his history of
Ethiopia, makes mention incidentally of the Cingari, vel _Errones
Nubiani_, and gives a specimen of words which he had collected from these
people on his travels, with a view of determining their origin. He
discusses the opinions of various writers concerning them; but forms no
precise sentiment of his own, concluding his observations with these
words: "Eadem vocabula, cum maximam partem reperiam apud Vulcanium a
centum fere annis traditam, non fictitia existimo, ut Megiferus putat nec
corrupta ex aliis linguis, neque Egyptiaca, sive Coptica."--In English,
thus: "Since I find according to Vulcanius, that most of these words have
been continued traditionally for a period of nearly 100 years, I do not
consider them fictitious, as Megiferus supposes, nor corrupted from other
languages, either the Egyptian or Coptic."

"I was surprised to find many of the words familiar to my eye; and I
pointed out to Sir Joseph Banks, in the latter end of the year 1783,
their evident correspondence with terms in the Hindostanie, or as it is
vulgarly termed in India, the Moors' language.

"This similitude appeared to me so extraordinary, that I was inclined to
suspect an error in the publication, which might have arisen from a
confusion of obscure vocabularies in the author's possession. The
circumstance, however, determined me to pay farther attention to the
subject, and to examine, in the first place, whether the language spoken
by the Gypsey tribes in England, and by those in the remoter parts of the
continent of Europe was one, and the same; and then to ascertain, whether
this actually bore the affinity which so forcibly struck me in Ludolfus,
to any of the languages on the Continent of India.

"Through the obliging assistance of