An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the - Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the Year, 1170 by John Williams
page 14 of 74 (18%)
page 14 of 74 (18%)
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"Of the Voyage and return of this Madoc, there be many fables framed, as the common people do use in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment than to diminish, but sure it is, there he was. And after he had returned home, and declared the pleasant and fruitful Countries that he had seen, without Inhabitants; and upon the contrary, for what barren and wild Ground his Brethren and Nephews did murther one another, he prepared a number of Ships, and got with him such Men and Women as were desirous to live in quietness, and taking leave of his Friends, took his Journey thitherwards again. "Therefore it is supposed that He and his people inhabited part of those Countries; for it appeareth by Francis Lopez de Gomara that in Acuzamil, and other places, the people honoured the Cross. Whereby it may be gathered that Christians had been there before the coming of the Spanyards; but because this people were not many, they followed the manner of the Land which they came to, and the Language they found there. "This Madoc arriving in that Western Countery, unto the which he came in the year 1170, left most of his people there, and returning back for more of his own Nation, Acquaintance and Friends to inhabit that fair and large Countery, went thither again with Ten Sailes, as I find noted by Guttun Owen.[h] I am of opinion that the Land whereunto he came was some part of the West Indies. [Footnote h: Hakluyt, says, that he derived this Account from Guttun Owen: his writings therefore must have been extant in the Days of Hakluyt. He does not refer to Humphry Llwyd or Dr. Powel as his |
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