medicine—­whether to kill or cure—­is to the Gipsy the art of arts, and those who affect a knowledge of it are always regarded as the most intelligent.  It is, however, remarkable, that the Gipsy, though he lives in fields and woods, is, all the world over, far inferior to the American Indian as regards a knowledge of the properties of herbs or minerals.  One may pick the first fifty plants which he sees in the woods, and show them to the first Indian whom he meets, with the absolute certainty that the latter will give him a name for every one, and describe in detail their qualities and their use as remedies.  The Gipsy seldom has a name for anything of the kind.  The country people in America, and even the farmers’ boys, have probably inherited by tradition much of this knowledge from the aborigines.

BARNEY, a mob or crowd, may be derived from the Gipsy baro, great or many, which sometimes takes the form of barno or barni, and which suggests the Hindustani Bahrna “to increase, proceed, to gain, to be promoted;” and Bharna, “to fill, to satisfy, to be filled, &c.”—­(Brice’s “Hindustani and English Dictionary.”  London, Trubner & Co., 1864).

BEEBEE, which the author of the Slang Dictionary declares means a lady, and is “Anglo-Indian,” is in general use among English Gipsies for aunt.  It is also a respectful form of address to any middle-aged woman, among friends.

CULL or CULLY, meaning a man or boy, in Old English cant, is certainly of Gipsy origin. Chulai signifies man in Spanish Gipsy (Borrow), and Khulai a gentleman, according to Paspati; in Turkish Rommany—­a distinction which the word cully often preserves in England, even when used in a derogatory sense, as of a dupe.

JOMER, a sweetheart or female favourite, has probably some connection in derivation with choomer, a kiss, in Gipsy.

BLOKE, a common coarse word for a man, may be of Gipsy origin; since, as the author of the Slang Dictionary declares, it may be found in Hindustani, as Loke. “Lok, people, a world, region.”—­("Brice’s Hind.  Dictionary.”) Bala’ lok, a gentleman.

A DUFFER, which is an old English cant term, expressive of contempt for a man, may be derived from the Gipsy Adovo, “that,” “that man,” or “that fellow there.” Adovo is frequently pronounced almost like “a duffer,” or “a duvva.”

NIGGLING, which means idling, wasting time, doing anything slowly, may be derived from some other Indo-European source, but in English Gipsy it means to go slowly, “to potter along,” and in fact it is the same as the English word.  That it is pure old Rommany appears from the fact that it is to be found as Niglavava in Turkish Gipsy, meaning “I go,” which is also found in Nikliovava and Nikavava, which are in turn probably derived from the Hindustani Nikalna, “To issue, to go forth or out,” &c. (Brice, Hind.  Dic.) Niggle is one of the English Gipsy words which are used in the East, but which I have not been able to find in the German Rommany, proving that here, as in other countries, certain old forms have been preserved, though they have been lost where the vocabulary is far more copious, and the grammar much more perfect.