And now we may turn to the Pelasgians.  Notwithstanding the rebuke of Niebuhr, who, speaking of the historian in general, shows him as hating “the spurious philology, out of which the pretences to knowledge on the subject of such extinct people arise,” the origin of the Pelasgians is conjectured to have been from—­(a) swarthy Asiatics (Pellasici) or from some (b) mariners—­from the Greek Pelagos, the sea; or again to be sought for in the (c) Biblical Peleg!  The only divinity of their Pantheon well known to Western history is Orpheus, also the “swarthy,” the “dark-skinned;” represented for the Pelasgians by Xoanon, their “Divine Image.”  Now if the Pelasgians were Asiatics, they must have been Turanians, Semites or Aryans.  That they could not have been either of the two first, and must have been the last named, is shown on Herodotus’ testimony, who declared them the forefathers of the Greeks—­ though they spoke, as he says, “a most barbarous language.”  Further, unerring philology shows that the vast number of roots common both to Greek and Latin, are easily explained by the assumption of a common Pelasgic linguistic and ethnical stock in both nationalities.  But then how about the Sanskrit roots traced in the Greek and Latin languages?  The same roots must have been present in the Pelasgian tongues?  We who place the origin of the Pelasgian far beyond the Biblical ditch of historic chronology, have reasons to believe that the “barbarous language” mentioned by Herodotus was simply “the primitive and now extinct Aryan tongue” that preceded the Vedic Sanskrit.  Who could they be, these Pelasgians?  They are described generally on the meagre data in hand as a highly intellectual, receptive, active and simple people, chiefly occupied with agriculture; warlike when necessary, though preferring peace.  We are told that they built canals, subterranean water-works, dams, and walls of astounding strength and most excellent construction.  And their religion and worship originally consisted in a mystic service of those natural powers—­the sun, wind, water, and air (our Surya, Maruts, Varuna, and Vayu), whose influence is visible in the growth of the fruits of the earth; moreover, some of their tribes were ruled by priests, while others stood under the patriarchal rule of the head of the clan or family.  All this reminds one of the nomads, the Brahmanic Aryas of old under the sway of their Rishis, to whom were subject every distinct family or clan.  While the Pelasgians were acquainted with the art of writing, and had thus “a vast element of culture in their possession before the dawn of history,” we are told (by the same philologists) that our ancestors knew of no writing until the dawn of Christianity!