«'iO 



Suppofed Welch Indians. 



[Jan. 1. 



OBSERVATIONS cn ihc preceding, by the 

 EDITOR of the Philadelphia medi- 

 cal and PHYSICAL journal. 



THE ilory of a Welch colonization of 

 America has excitecl much curiofiiy bolh 

 in Europe and (he Uni tcl States •. by many 

 it is believed, while by o' hers it is thought 

 unworthy of any attention. By reafon of 

 the preterit rapid piogiel's of fettleinent in 

 America, the time cannot be remote when 

 the truth or faliify of this ftory will be 

 compleiely ertabliflud. Intlienusn while 

 I do not hefitate to conj Jluie, that >:o 

 traces of the defcendants of the (fclch prince 

 luiil ever be difconjered in the IVeflern 

 farts of Sorth-Amencti, 



It may noi be improper to notire the 

 talc upon wliicli io mnny ptjfons, in Eu- 

 rope at leaft, reft (heir hojjes of proving, in 

 the mod fatisfaiioiy manner, that the 

 Welch have ccntiibutcd to the peopling of 

 America. 



David Powcl, a Welch hiftorian, in- 

 forms us, that cn the dtceafe of Owen 

 Guyneth, king of North- Wales, a diipute 

 arofe among his fons concerning the luc- 

 ceflicn to the crown ; and that Madr.c or 

 Madog, one of the fons, " weary of this 

 contention, betook himfelf to fea, in qiieft 

 of a more (]uiet fcttlement."* We are 

 infrmed, tlut " he Iteered due weft, 

 leaving Ireland to the noith, and aniV'd 

 in an iinknowQ country, which appeiiied 

 to him (o dtfirable, that he returned to 

 Wales, and carried hither feveial of his 

 adherents and comjianions. Af:er this 

 neither Madog nor his companions were 

 ever heard of more. The voyage of Ma- 

 ^og is laid to have been performed about 

 the year 1 170.'" 



I have not feen Powel's work, but I 

 le.irn that this hiftorinn, who livtd in liie 

 reign cf Qi^ernElizaheih,and confequently 

 at a great diitancc of time frcm tiie event 

 , which he recoids, adi'uces no better autho- 

 ritv in fupport of the voyage than a quo- 

 tation fiom a Welch poet, •' which prnves 

 no more than tb.\t be (Mados) haH iiiilin- 

 guiihed himftlt by fea and lrnJ."-t- Some 

 few Wcl/h words, fuch as g--wrando, to 

 hearken or liften, &c., aie very ftebly or 

 unfortunately adduced by Powcl as cir- 

 cumilances favourable to the tru'.h of the 

 Welch emigration. 



When we ccnfider, " that the Welch 

 were never a nsval people ; that the age 

 in which Madog lived v, as peculiarly ig- 



» Dr. Robertfon. 



-|- Pennant's Arctic Zoology, Introduflion, 

 p cilxiii., &c. 



norant in navigation ;" that the compafs 

 was then unknown ; the ftory of the voy- 

 ages of the Welch prince muft I think be 

 conlldered as extremely improbable. I 

 am of opinion, wiih Mr, Pennant, that 

 " the mort which they could have attempt- 

 ed muft have been a mere coafting- 

 voyage." 



But it may be faid, we muft appeal to 

 fafts ; and tha', independeritiy of the 

 verfes of the Welch poet, and the argu- 

 ments of the Welch hiftorian, it feenis 

 hiH;hly probable that a colony of whi^e 

 ptojile, who fpeak the Welch language, 

 dots a61ually exift in the wcltern pans of 

 North-America. 



I cannot, I muft confefs, adopt this 

 opinion. I leadily allow, that the rela- 

 tions ptiblirtied by Mr.Toulmin and many 

 othtrperfonsboth inEuropeand in America 

 are extremely curious; but thefc relations 

 ;ue very inconfiftent wilh one anotlier, 

 paiticiiiarly in what relates to the ailual 

 (fate of improvement of the fuppofed 

 Wtlchmcn. By fome we are told they 

 are very tar advanced in impiovement ; by 

 O'litrs, that (heir improvement is not at all 

 gre.iter than that of the Red-men, or In- 

 dians of America. At one time they are 

 faid to be in pcflVlTion of mannfcripts (and 

 even printed books) 5 at aiiother time no- 

 thin? of this kind is found among them^^ 

 It muft be confelTedthal Maurice GJffitli's 

 relation is, in feveral relpcfls, more plau- 

 iible than (hat of any preceding traveller; 

 but it is not unincumbeied witii inconfif- 

 tencies, which I do not deem it neceftary 

 to notice in this place. His alleition, 

 " that the white men of ih-; Miftburi fpeak 

 pure Welch," ev.n though this aflertion 

 be (pialified by theoblervation that " they 

 occalio:iaily make u'e of a few words 

 with ivhich he was not acquainted," is to 

 me I ne of the moft improbable things that 

 have ever been related of thefe people — 

 H'S filence about their religion is altoge- 

 ther incxcufable. One wciild fnppole 

 that a I erf n of GrifHth's inquilitive turn 

 of mind would hardly hnve omitted to 

 make fome inquiries rcfpe£ling the reli- 

 gious inftitutiiiis of a people whom he 

 conlldered as his ccuniiymen. If thefe 

 people be the del'cindants of Madog, yb//;^ 

 traces ot the Chuftian rcl'gion may be ex- 

 peffed to be diCcerntd among them ; for I 

 think it requires many centuries to en- 

 tirely eft'ace Ironi the memory of a peiple 

 all velliges of iheirrel:gion, eipetjally from 

 a people io tenacious of their language, 

 and lo little difpofed to intermix with 

 their neighbours, as the Welch Indians 

 are lepreitiiied to be. 



But. 



