old and disputed claim to the title of œcumenic patriarch, elicited a vigorous protest from Pelagius, but the decretal which professes to convey the exact words of the document is now known to be false. He died in January 590, and was succeeded by Gregory I.
PELARGONIUM. See Geranium, vol. x. p. 439, and Horticulture, vol. xii. pp. 263-4.
PELEW, Pellew, PALAU, or PALAO, ISLANDS, a group in the western Pacific at the intersection of 134 30 E. long, by 7, 8, and 9 N. lat., which, as it is often con sidered part of the Caroline Archipelago, has been described in the article CAROLINE ISLANDS, vol. v. pp. 125, 126. The name Islas Palaos, by which the islands are first designated, is of doubtful but certainly not of native origin, and was originally applied by the Spaniards in an indefinite way to all the islands east of Mindanao (Philippines). The English form " Pelew " may be a corruption either of Palao or of Peleliu (Pellelew), the proper name of one of the southern islands. According to Miklukho-Maklay (Izvyest- iya of the Imp. Russian Geogr. Soc., 1878, pp. 257-297 ; cf. Zeitschr. f. EthnoL, Berlin, 1878) the ordinary nomen clature on our maps is often erroneous, the correct forms being Babeltop, Kayangel (not Yanguel or Kiangle), N yaur (not Angaur or Angour), Arkledeu (not Korph), Namalakal (not Amanakal), &c. The men vary in height from 5 feet to 5 feet 7 inches, the women from 4 feet 9 to 5 feet 2. The character of the hair differs greatly in different indi viduals; both sexes wear it wound up in a back -knot. Tattooing (but not of a very elaborate type) is in vogue, especially among the women, by whom the operation is always performed. The skull shows a strong tendency to brachycephalism. Adults of both sexes have their teeth carefully blackened by teldalek (a kind of earth). Sir John Lubbock (The Origin of Civilisation] places the Pelew Islanders among the peoples destitute of religion ; but Miklukho-Maklay found among them a well-developed Shamanism, every village having a kalit, or shaman, and the group containing five high kalits with an extensive jurisdiction. The ornithology of the Pelew Islands has been investigated by Dr Otto Finsch (Journal des Museum Godeffroy, 1875), who enumerates fifty-six species, of which twelve are peculiar to the group. The occurrence of Callus bankiva and the Nicobar pigeon and the absence of parrots and finches are points of interest.
PELHAM, Sir Henry (1696-1754), prime minister of England, was the younger brother of Thomas Holies Pel- ham, duke of Newcastle, and was born in 1696. He was educated by a private tutor and at Christ Church, Oxford, which he entered in July 1710. As a volunteer he served in Dormer s regiment at the battle of Preston in 1715; subsequently he spent some time on the Continent, and in 1718 entered parliament for Seaford, Sussex. Through strong family influence and the recommendation of Walpole he was chosen in 1721 a lord of the treasury. The follow ing year he was returned for Sussex county. In 1724 he entered the cabinet as secretary of war, but this office he exchanged in 1730 for the more lucrative one of paymaster of the forces. He made himself conspicuous by his support of Walpole on the question of the excise, and during the subsequent attacks, which ultimately led to his resignation in 1742. In the following year a union of parties resulted in the formation of the administration of which Pelham was prime minister, with the additional office of chancellor of the exchequer. Being strongly in favour of peace, he carried on the war with languor and indifferent success, but the country, wearied of the interminable struggle, was disposed to acquiesce in his foreign policy almost without a murmur. The king, thwarted in his favourite schemes, made overtures in 1746 to Lord Bath, but his purpose was upset by the sudden resignation of the Pelhams, who, how ever, at the king s request, immediately resumed office. His very defects were, in the peculiar condition of parties, among the chief elements of Pelham s success, for one with a strong personality, moderate self-respect, or high concep tions of statesmanship could not have restrained the dis cordant elements of the cabinet for any length of time. Moreover, he undoubtedly possessed the important re quisites of considerable practical tact and a thorough acquaintance with the details of business and the forms of the House. Whatever quarrels or insubordination might exist within the cabinet, they never broke out into open revolt, and during his administration there was seemingly a complete lull in the strife of parties. Nor can a high degree of praise be denied to his financial policy, especially his plans for the reduction of the national debt and the simplification and consolidation of its different branches. He died 6th March 1754.
See Coxe, Memoirs of the Pelham Administration, 2 vols., 1829.
PELIAS, PELIADES. Pelias, a celebrated character in Greek fable, was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus. Because Tyro afterwards married her father s brother Cretheus, king of lolcus in Thessaly, to whom she bore ^Eson, Pheres, and Amythaon, Pelias was by some thought to be the son of Cretheus. He and his twin-brother Neleus were exposed by their mother, but were found and nurtured by a herdsman, who called one of them Pelias, because his face was discoloured by a blow from the hoof of a mare, and the other Neleus, because a bitch had out of pity suckled him. When grown to man hood they discovered their mother, and Pelias slew Sidero, Tyro s stepmother, on the altar of Hera, whither she had fled, because she had ill-used their mother. On the death of Cretheus Pelias made himself master of the kingdom of lolcus. (According to others, after the death of his half-brother ^Eson, he ruled as regent for JEson s son Jason.) He had previously quarrelled with his brother Neleus, who went to Messenia, where he founded Pylus. Pelias married Anaxiboea, daughter of Bias, or, according to others, Philomache, daughter of Amphion, and became the father of a son, Acastus, and of daughters, Pisidice, Pelopea, Hippothoe, and Alcestis ; to these daughters (called Peliades after their father) others add Amphinome, Evadne, Asteropasa, and Antinoe. In order to rid himself of Jason Pelias sent him to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece, and he availed himself of the absence of the son in order to put to death his father ^Eson together with his mother and brother. When Jason returned with the golden fleece he cast about how he should avenge the death of his parents. In this he was helped by Medea, who persuaded the Peliades to cut in pieces and boil their father Pelias, assuring them that he would thus be restored to youth. Acastus drove out Medea and celebrated far- famed funeral games in honour of his father. The Peliades fled to Mantinea in Arcadia, where their graves were shown in the time of Pausanias.
The tragic death of Pelias was the subject of Sophocles s drama Rhizotomoi (Root-cutters), and in the Tyro he treated another portion of the legend. Peliades was the name of Euripides s first play.
