It is uncertain how far the waywode’s sway over his subjects extends. A distinction must here be made, whether the state gives him any power, and what he assumes or derives by custom from his caste. It were ridiculous to suppose that the state should, on any occasion, appoint this sort of illustrious personage a judge. In Transylvania, indeed, the magistrates do interfere with regard to the fellow whom this or that horde has elected chief, and impose an obligation on him; but it is only that he should be careful to prevent his nimble subjects from absconding, when the time arrives for them to discharge their annual tribute at the land-regent’s chamber. He has no right to interfere in disputes or quarrels which the Gipseys have among themselves, or with other people, further than to give notice of them to the regular courts of the district where they happen to be. In this point of view, what Toppeltin and others after him assert, that the waywodes have little or no power over their own people, is perfectly correct: but if we attend to their actions, the affair carries a very different appearance. Whenever a complaint is made, that any of their people have been guilty of theft, the waywode not only orders a general search to be made, in every tent or hut, and returns the stolen goods to the owner, if they can be found, but punishes the thief, in presence of the complainant, with his whip. Certainly it is not by any written contract that he acquires his right over the people, for no such thing exists among them, but custom gives him this judicial power. Moreover he does not punish the aggressor from any regard to justice, but rather to quiet the plaintiff, and at the same time to make his people more wary in their thefts, as well as more dextrous in concealing their plunder. These discoveries materially concern him, since by every detection his income suffers; as the whole profit of his office arises from his share of the articles that are stolen. Every time a Gipsey brings in a booty, he is obliged to give information to the arch-Gipsey of his successful enterprise; and then render a just account of what and how much he has stolen, in order that the proper division may be made. In this proceeding the Gipsey considers himself bound to give a fair and true detail; though in every other instance he does not hesitate to commit the grossest perjury. We may therefore judge how precarious success is likely to be, when a waywode is applied to for the recovery of stolen goods. The Gipseys are cunning enough to hide what they have pilfered, in such a manner, that out of a hundred searches the complainer hardly once accomplishes his desire. It does not at all forward the cause, that the waywode knows who the thief is: his interest requires him to dissemble. Thus, though he does not steal himself, the Spanish proverb is a very true one: “The Count and the Gipsey are rogues alike.” For which reason people seldom apply to so suspicious a judge. If a thief is caught in the fact, the owner takes his property, and gives the offender his proper reward, or else delivers him over to the civil power for correction. Here ensues a truly laughable scene: As soon as the officer seizes on, and forces away the culprit, he is surrounded by a swarm of Gipseys, who take unspeakable pains to procure the release of the prisoner. They endeavour to cajole him with kind words, desiring him to consider this, that, and the other, or admonish him not to be so uncivil. When it comes to the infliction of punishment, and the malefactor receives a good number of lashes, well laid on, in the public market-place, an universal lamentation commences among the vile crew; each stretches his throat, to cry over the agony his dear associate is constrained to suffer. This is oftener the fate of the women than of the men; for, as the maintenance of the family depends most upon them, they more frequently go out for plunder.