408 NATURAL HISTORY OP 



THE PELASGIAN, DORIAN, AND HELLENIC 

 TRIBES. 



ALTHOUGH Ionia or Asia Minor was visited from the 

 most early period by nations coming from the east, some 

 by a northern and others by a southern route, we may 

 regard the population in general as emanating from 

 the foregoing, and in particular the Pelasgian and the 

 Dorian tribes, which, however, may have been mixed 

 with a proportion of Getic clans, such as the Phrygian 

 undoubtedly were. 



It is likely that the Carians were similarly of a 

 mixed origin of the same source, as they were remark- 

 able for the hoarse guttural language they spoke, and 

 the resolute determination they evinced in the defence 

 of their country. As colonists they had brought with 

 them elements of civilization more advanced than the 

 Grecian of the same era, and science in the art of war 

 that made them more than respected by the Egyptian 

 power, which, indeed, had warred with them, but ap- 

 pears to have preferred to have them as allies. They 

 seem to have possessed the whole valley of the Meander 

 long after the adjoining tribes had been driven on- 

 wards, probably because the volcanic territory at the 

 sources of the river aiforded sites for strongholds which 

 guarded the passes. They and the Lycians had con- 

 nections with the Leuco Syri, as well as with the Greek 

 Pelasgians ; and some such remote affinity may have 

 been the basis of the claim to consanguinity, which, 



