Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/245

 PELAYO PELICAN 235 Epirus, and the Peloponnesus. In Italy the southern tribes, such as the Peucetians, (Eno- trians, and Japygians, were of Pelasgic race; and at one time the population of Etruria was also Pelasgian to a very great extent. Judg- ing alone from these vague allusions to them by the ancient Greeks, it would seem that at the beginning of the history of Greece the Pelasgians of Asia were declining, holding only a few scattered posts, u the last strong- holds," says Eawlinson, " of a people forced everywhere to yield to conquerors. The nat- ural explanation of the historical phenomena is that the Pelasgi were the original popula- tion of western Asia, and that their emigra- tions across the sea into Europe were occa- sioned by the pressure upon them of immi- grants from the east, Lydians, Phrygians, and Carians, who forced them westward, and so caused their occupation of Greece and Italy." They were skilled in fortification, and in every land which they once inhabited their pres- ence can still be traced by numerous works of defence, built of immense polygonal blocks of stone fitted together without mortar or ce- ment, which have outlasted the structures of succeeding ages and races. These works are commonly called Cyclopean, from their gran- deur and antiquity. No historic mention of the Pelasgians occurs in the later writers. Hence it is impossible to determine who they really were, and whatever is advanced in re- gard to them is mere conjecture. In speaking of the origin and relationship of the Greek language, mention has been made of some of the numerous hypotheses recently brought for- ward. (See GEEECE, LANGUAGE AND LITERA- TURE OF.) It is also unknown to what lan- guage the name Pelasgian belongs, some de- claring it Greek, others Semitic, and others Thraco-Illyric. Some connect it with U&oip or lie/lay^, names of equally uncertain origin ; others with Pelishti or Pelashi (Philistine), meaning emigrant, and referring to a supposed expulsion from Egypt; and others adopt the popular tradition of modern Greeks that Shki- petaric, the language of the Albanians, is the modern representative of 'the ancient Pelas- gian. Egyptologists, on the other hand, are confident that they are correct in deciphering from the hieroglyphs fragmentary notices of the Pelasgian as the most powerful seafaring nation at and before the time of the Phoenicians. PELAIO, or Pelagins. See ASTURIAS. PELEW ISLANDS, a chain of islands in the N. Pacific ocean, forming part and situated at the W. extremity of the Caroline archipelago, be- tween lat. 6 50' and 8 20' N., and Ion. 134 and 135 E. The group consists of about 26 prin- cipal islands, nearly encircled by a coral reef, and covers an extent of about 110 by 30 m. Babelthuap, the largest, is about 28 m. long and 14 m. broad, and contains a mountain so high that the whole group may be seen from its summit. The area of the entire group is 346 sq. m., that of Babelthuap 275 sq. m. The population was estimated by Dr. Gulick at 3,000, while according to Dr. Semper, who du- ring the year 1862 lived on these islands, it is fully 10,000. Seen from the sea, some of the islands appear rugged and mountainous; but the soil is rich and well watered. They are well wooaed, and produce breadfruit, cocoa- nuts, bananas, sugar cane, yams, lemons, or- anges, and other tropical fruits and vegetables. Horned cattle, pigs, goats, and fowl are nu- merous ; and turtles, fish, and shell fish abound on the coasts. The inhabitants, of the Malay race, show considerable ingenuity in making canoes, some of which can carry 30 men. The men go entirely naked, and the women almost so. The Pelew islands are said to have been discovered by the Spaniards in 1545, and they were afterward seen several times by ships bound to China by the eastern passage ; but they were first brought to the notice of the civilized world by the wreck of the British ship Antelope, Capt. Wilson, in 1783. The na- tives treated the crew with the greatest kind- ness. Capt. Wilson took the son of the chief to England, where he was placed at school. But a more extended acquaintance with the white man has made them treacherous. An excellent work on these islands has been writ- ten by the German naturalist Semper (Die Palau Inseln im Stillen Ocean, Leipsic, 1873). PELHAM. See NEWCASTLE, OR NEWCASTLE- UNDER-LYME. PELICAN, a genus of large, web-footed birds (pelecanus, Linn.). The bill is very long, nearly straight, and much depressed ; the upper mandible has an elevated ridge, becoming flat toward the end, the tip being strong, hooked, and acute ; the lower mandible is wider at the base than the upper, and its branches are uni- ted only at the tip ; the nostrils are scarcely perceptible, in the lateral groove at the base ; the wings are moderate, the second quill the longest, and the secondaries nearly as long as the primaries ; the tail is broad, short, and round- ed; the tarsi short and stout, covered with reticulated scales ; all four of the toes on the same plane, the hind one turned more or less inward, and all connected by broad webs, the middle toe the longest. The head is moderate and crested, the neck long and slender, and the feet toward the middle of the body ; under the lower jaw, and extending to the throat, is a loose, naked membranous pouch capable of great distention, which is used as a scoop net for fish ; around the eyes and base of the bill are bare spaces. The skeleton is remarkable for the great extent of its air cavities, the bones weighing less than 2 Ibs. ; from these the air penetrates into the areolar tissue under the skin, making the body for its bulk exceeding- ly light ; the oesophagus is very capacious and the stomach small. The species are not numer- ous, but are found in most parts of the world, and most abundantly in tropical regions, fre- quenting both the seacoast and interior lakes and rivers; they are very voracious, feeding