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 _Phœnicians_ 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 Cæsar_'s days: and yet the _Europeans_ had been cutting down their woods, to make room for mankind, ever since the invention of iron tools, in the days of _Asterius_ and _Minos_.