ISg SUPPOSED WELCH INDIANS. 



Traditional ac- It may not be improper (o notice the tale upon wtikh fo 

 count nMnhdb^- aiai> ^ ; perlons j n £ ur0 pe at leaft reft their hopes of proving, 

 fuppoi.oto have '" the moft faiisfaclory manner, that the Welch have con- 

 originated from tributed to the peopling of America. 



David Powel, a Welch hiiiorian, informs us, that on the 

 deceafe of Owen Guyneth, king of North Wales, a difpute 

 arofe among his ions concerning the fucceluon to the crown ; 

 and that Madoc or Madog, one of the fons, ** weary of this 

 contention, betook, him felt' -to fea, in queft of a more quiet 

 fettlement */• We are informed, that '* he fleered due weft, 

 leaving Ireland to the north, and arrived in an unknown 

 country, which appeared to him fo defirable, that he returned 

 to Wales, and carried hither ieveral of his adherents and com- 

 panions. After thisneitber Madog nor his companions were 

 ever heard of more. The voyage of Madog is faid to have 

 been-performed about the year 1 170. 



i have not feeh Bowel's woik, but I learn that this hifto 

 rian, who lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and confe- 

 quently at a great diftance of time from the event which he 

 records, adduces no better authority in fupport of the voyage 

 than a quotation from a Welch poet, '* which proves no more 

 than that he (Madog) had diftinguiftied himfelf by fea and 

 land f /' Some few Welch words, fuch as gu-randa, to hearken 

 or liften, &c. are- very feebly or unfortunately adduced by 

 Powel, as circumftances favourable to the truth of the Welch 

 emigration. 



When we coniider " that the Welch were never a naval 

 people; that the age in which Madog lived was peculiarly ig- 

 norant in navigation;" that the compafs was then unknown; 

 the dory of the voyages of the Welch prince mult I think be 

 confidered as extremely imptobable. I am of Opinion with 

 Mr. Pennant, that " the raoft which they could have attempted 

 rauft have been a mere coalling voyage." 



But it asay be faid, we muft appeal to fads ; and that in- 

 dependently: of the verfes of the Welch poet, and the argu- 

 ments of the Welch hiltorian, it feerasnhigbly probable that 3, 

 colony of white people who (peak the Welch language, does 

 actually extft in the weftern parts of North America. 



* Dr. Robertfon. . \ • • ■•% 



f Pennant's Artie Zoology, Introduction, p. eclxiii. Sec. 



I canno^ 



