pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 226
This data as json
path | page | folder | text |
---|---|---|---|
latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf | 226 | 210 LATEST MAGIC sies are chary of speaking Rommany except among their own people, and the inquisitive strang- ers were frequently told that there was no such language; whereupon, one of them would turn to the other, and in purest Rommany quietly express an opinion that their temporary hosts were not thorough-bred gipsies, but of some inferior stock. This produced Rommany in plenty, and the visi- tors were energetically taken to task for that, being themselves gipsies, they should ape the dress and manners of the Gorgio. A friendly explana- tion made all end happily. Palmer made his first start in life as a clerk in the City of London, where in his spare time he made himself master of French and Italian. A little later he took up the study of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani, and speedily conquered them: In 1867, after taking his degree at the University of Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow by his Col- lege, an honour conferred on him in recognition of his mastery of the Oriental languages. During the years 1868-1870 he was employed on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, to make a survey of Mount Sinai, in the course of which he became upon friendly and indeed almost brotherly terms with many of the wild Arab tribes, among whom he was known as the Sheikh Abdullah. As in Eng- land he had been made free of the gipsy tent, so in Palestine he could drop in upon many a Bedouin encampment, and be sure of a hearty welcome. |