Note 139 — Chapter III

The torlaques are Mahometan monks, who, under the pretence of holiness, are guilty of the most flagrant excesses. Bajazet the Second banished them from the Turkish empire in 1494. The kalendars, who are likewise monks, wander about in Heathen, as the Gipsy’s do in Christian, countries. Faquirs are religious fanatics, and rove about in Mahometan and Heathen countries, like the most atrocious robbers and villains. Anquetil says, the Faquirs in India go pilgrimages to Jagrenat, to the amount of several thousand. On their return from Jagrenat they plunder such villages and cities as lie in their way. They form considerable bodies about a mile from Jagrenat, where they choose themselves a leader, to whom they pay all the honours due to a general. With regard to strolling and thieving, the Faquirs and Gipseys agree exactly. But this proves nothing concerning the extraction of the latter.