of the Ancient Mexicans. 125 



their adventurous expeditions, the " Welsh Indians." It is 

 a common belief in the United States, that the first dis- 

 coverers of North America were Prince Madoc and his Welsh 

 followers, and that their descendants still exist in some un- 

 explored part of the continent. The hunters and trappers 

 found their supposition on this fact, that the Moquis are 

 much fairer than the other Indians, and have many indivi- 

 duals among them who are perfectly white, with light-coloured 

 hair and eyes, which is accounted for by the frequent occur- 

 rence amongst the Navajos, and probably the Moquis of 

 Albinos, with the Indian features, but light complexions, eyes, 

 and hair. 



In connection with this, I may mention a very curious cir- 

 cumstance which happened to me, and which tends to shew 

 that there is some little foundation for the belief of the trap- 

 pers, that the Moqui Indians are descendants of the Welsh 

 Prince and his followers. 



I happened, very recently, at Fort Leavenworth, on the 

 United States frontier, to enter the log-hut of an old Negro 

 woman, being at the time in an Indian dress, over which 

 was thrown a Moqui or Navajo blanket. The old dame's 

 attention was called to it by its varied and bright colours ; 

 and, after examining its texture carefully, she suddenly 

 exclaimed, " That's a Welsh blanket, I know it by the 

 woof." She had, she told me, in her youth lived many 

 years in a Welsh family, and in a Welsh settlement in Vir- 

 ginia, or one of the southern states, and had learned their 

 method of working, which was the same as that displayed 

 in my blanket. The blankets and tilmas manufactured by the 

 Navajos, Moquis, and the Pueblos, are of excellent quality, 

 and dyed in durable and bright colours ; the warp is cotton, 

 filled with wool, the texture close and impervious to rain. 

 Their pottery is the same as that manufactured by the ancient 

 Mexicans, painted in bright patterns, by coloured earths and 

 the juice of several plants. In the country of the Moquis are the 

 remains of five cities, on the sites of which they still inhabit 

 the villages, said to be the same in form as those constructed by 

 the Pueblos. The names of four of these are Orayxa, Masanais, 



