e ancient _Gauls_ called _Ogmius_,
and by _Egyptians_ [220] _Nilus_: for _Erythra_ and the country of _Geryon_
were without the _Straits_. _Dionysius_ [221] represents this _Hercules_
contemporary to _Evander_.

The first inhabitants of _Crete_, according to _Diodorus_ [222] were called
_Eteocretans_; but whence they were, and how they came thither, is not said
in history: then sailed thither a Colony of _Pelasgians_ from _Greece_; and
soon after _Teutamus_, the grandfather of _Minos_, carried thither a Colony
of _Dorians_ from _Laconia_, and from the territory of _Olympia_ in
_Peloponnesus_: and these several Colonies spake several languages, and fed
on the spontaeous fruits of the earth, and lived quietly in caves and huts,
'till the invention of iron tools, in the days of _Asterius_ the son of
_Teutamus_; and at length were reduced into one Kingdom, and one People, by
_Minos_, who was their first law-giver, and built many towns and ships, and
introduced plowing and sowing, and in whose days the _Curetes_ conquered
his father's friends in _Crete_ and _Peloponnesus_. The _Curetes_ [223]
sacrificed children to _Saturn_ and according to _Bochart_ [224] were
_Philistims_; and _Eusebius_ faith that _Crete_ had its name from _Cres_,
one of the _Curetes_ who nursed up _Jupiter_: but whatever was the original
of the island, it seems to have been peopled by Colonies which spake
different languages, 'till the days of _Asterius_ and _Minos_; and might
come thither two or three Generations before, and not above, for want of
navigation in those seas.

The island _Cyprus_ was discovered by the _Phoenicians_ not long before;
for _Eratosthenes_ [225] tells us, _that _Cyprus_ was at first so overgrown
with wood that it could not be tilled, and that they first cut down the
wood for the melting of copper and silver, and afterwards when they began
to sail safely upon the _Mediterranean__, that is, presently after the
_Trojan_ war, _they built ships and even navies of it: and when they could
not thus destroy the wood, they gave every man leave to cut down what wood
he pleased, and to possess all the ground which he cleared of wood_. So
also _Europe_ at first abounded very much with woods, one of which, called
the _Hercinian_, took up a great part of _Germany_, being full nine days
journey broad, and above forty long, in _Julius Caesar_'s days: and yet the
_Europeans_ had been cutting down their woods, to make room for mankind,
ever since