i Ne 
biay 
He then proceeds to relate how (many of thefe firft inhabitants 
having perifhed) the ifland was in a courfe of ages peopled by 
various colonies from different nations. 
Tuus have we traced a poflible, though very remote fource 
of the ufage in queftion. The diftance of time, to be fure, is 
great; for Triopas, according to Blair, was king of Argos in 
the year 1553 before Chrift, or, according to Diodorus, ftill much 
earlier, as that hiftorian places the colonizing Lefbos by the 
Pelafgi under the fon of this prince feven ages previous to 
the flood of Deucalion, which event took place in the year 
1503 before the Chriftian Era. But in the eye and eftimation 
of a true antiquarian what are thirty or forty centuries? To 
fpeak however ferioufly, though I be far from having the bold- 
nefs to defire that implicit credit fhould be given to an origin 
fo remote as almoft to tranfgrefs the bounds of hiftory, confcious 
as I am that fuch a fpeculation may be liable to ridicule, and 
aware of fome objections not eafy to be anfwered, the coincidence 
will, I believe, notwithftanding, be allowed to be curious and 
very remarkable. The well-known pertinacious adherence to 
ancient manners among the eaftern nations may in fome meafure 
excufe our credulity, and we may ftill add to our authority by 
fuppofing that this fame Xanthus may probably have given his 
name to the Lycian city of that denomination, and confequently 
muft have inhabited that very part of Lycia where, according to 
Plutarch, the cuftom is fuppofed more immediately to have 
flourifhed. It would indeed be whimfically curious if we could 
allow ourfelves to imagine that a fingular cuftom at this day 
fubfifling could be traced back to an origin fo very remote, 
[C] and 
