Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 106

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WANDERING TRIBES
as their means of transport.
As soon as they have sold
or bartered this commodity, they reload the asses with
different kinds of grain, for which there is a ready sale on
the coast, and start off again at once. Thus their whole
lives are spent in hurrying from one country to another
without settling down in any place.
The occupation of the second branch of these Kuravers
is to make baskets and mats of osier and bamboo, and other
similar utensils which are used in Hindu households. They
are obliged to be perpetually moving from one place to
another to find work, and are without any fixed abode.
The Kuravers are also the fortune-tellers of the country.
They speak a language peculiar to themselves, which is
unintelligible to any other Hindu.
Their manners and
customs have much
common
with those of the wandering
in France
as Egyptians, or Bohemians.
Their women tell the fortunes
of those who consult them and are willing to pay them.
The person who wishes to learn his fate seats himself in
front of the soothsayer and holds out his hand, while she
beats a little drum, invokes all her gods or evil spirits,
and gabbles aloud a succession of fantastic words. These
preliminaries over, she studies with the most scrupulous
attention the lines on the hand of the simple-minded
person who is consulting her, and finally predicts the good
or evil fortune that is in store for him.
Many attempts
have been made to trace the origin of these wandering
tribes, who are to be found telling fortunes all over the
world.
The general opinion appears to be that they origin-
ally came from Egypt, but this view might possibly be
changed if these Kuravers of India were to be closely
examined, and their language, manners, and customs com-
pared with those of the Gypsies and Bohemians.
The Kuraver women also tattoo the designs of flowers
and animals which decorate the arms of most young Hindu
tribes that are
in
known
in
England as Gypsies, and
women.
The tattooing is done by first delicately tracing
the desired objects on the skin, then pricking the outline
gently with a needle, and immediately after rubbing in
the juice of certain plants, whereby the design becomes
indelible.
The Kurumarus are much addicted
to stealing,
and from