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 35 of 74 (47%)
page 35 of 74 (47%)
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The Language and Customs of the Indians, will be noticed hereafter. To these Evidences must be added what the Authors of the universal History, and Dr. Campbell, in his Naval History of Great Britain, have said. "That the Welsh contributed towards the peopleing of America is intimated by some good Authors, and ought to be considered as a Notion supported by something more than bare Conjectures. Powel, in his History of Wales informs us that a War happening in that Country for the Succession, upon the death of Owen Gwyneth. A. D. 1170, and a Bastard having carried it from his lawful Sons, one of the latter, called, Madog, put to Sea for new Discoveries, and sailing West from Spain, he discovered a New World of wonderful Beauty and Fertility. But finding this uninhabited, upon his return, he carried thither a great Number of People from Wales. To this delightful Country he made three Voyages, according to Hakluyt. The Places he discovered seem to be Virginia, New England, and the adjacent Countries. In Confirmation of this, Peter Martyr says that the Natives of Virginia and Guatimala celebrated the Memory of one Madoc as a great and ancient Hero, and hence it came to pass that Modern Travellers have found several Old British Words among the Inhabitants of North America; _Matec Zunga_ and _Mat Inga_ as being in use among the Guatimallians, in which there is a plain allusion to Madoc, and that with the D softened into T, according to the Welsh manner of pronunciation. Nay, Bishop Nicolson seems to believe that the Welsh Language makes a considerable part of several of the American Tongues. According to a famous British |
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