Notes and Queries, Number 04, November 24, 1849 | Page 8

men and munition, and sought adventures by seas, sailing
west, and leaving the coast of Ireland so far north, that he came to a
land unknowen, where he saw manie strange things."--CARADOC OF
LLANCARVAN, _continued--The historie of Cambria_, 1584. 4º. p.
227.
[The history of Caradoc ends with A.D. 1156. The continuation, to the
year 1270, is ascribed by Powel, the editor of the volume, to the monks
of Conway and Stratflur.]

Carmina Meredith filii Rhesi [Meredydd ab Rhys] mentionem facientia
de Madoco filio Oweni Gwynedd, et de suâ navigatione in terras
incognitas. Vixit hic Meredith circiter annum Domini 1477.
Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd, Iawn genau, Owen Gwynedd; Ni fynnum
dir, fy enaid oedd, Na da mawr, ond y moroedd.
_The same in English._
Madoc I am the sonne of Owen Gwynedd With stature large, and
comely grace adorned; No lands at home nor store of wealth me please,
My minde was whole to searche the ocean seas.
"These verses I received of my learned friend M. William Camden."
_Richard Hakluyt_, 1589.
[The eulogy of Meredydd ab Rhys is very indefinite, but deserves
notice on account of its early date. He "flourished," says W. Owen,
"between A.D. 1430 and 1460."]
"This land must needs be some part of that countrie of which the
Spaniardes affirme themselves to be the first finders sith Hannos
time; ... Whereupon it is manifest, that that countrie was long before by
Brytaines discouered, afore either Columbus or Americus Vespatius
lead anie Spaniardes thither. Of the viage and returne of this Madoc
there be _manie fables fained_, as the common people doo use in
distance of place {57} and length of time rather to augment than to
diminish: but sure it is, that there he was."--HUMFREY LHOYD,
_Additions to the Historie of Cambria_, p. 228.
[Lhoyd, who translated the history of Caradoc, and made considerable
additions to it, died in 1568. He mentions the second voyage of Madoc,
but cites no authority.]
"This Madoc arriving in that westerne countrie, unto the which he came,
in the year 1170, left most of his people there: and returning backe for
more of his owne nation, acquaintance and freends, to inhabite that
faire and large countrie: went thither againe with ten sailes, as I find
noted by Gutyn Owen. I am of opinion that the land, wherevnto he
came, was some part of Mexico:" etc.--David Powel, S.T.P., note in
_The historie of Cambria_, 1584. 4°. p. 229.
[The learned Powel relies on the authority of the poet Gutyn Owen.
"He wrote," says W. Owen, "between A.D. 1460 and 1490"--three
centuries after the event in question!]
_Ethnographic evidence._

"They came [anno 1536] to part of the West Indies about Cape Breton,
shaping their course thence north-eastwards, vntill they camme to the
Island of Penguin," etc.--The voyage of master Hore, in _The principall
navigations_, etc. 1589. Fol.
[Antiquaries consider the mention of Cape Breton and Penguin Island
as evidence. It cannot prove much, as the particulars were not
committed to writing till about half-a-century after the voyage.]
"There is also another kinde of foule in that countrey [between the Gulf
of Mexico and Cape Breton] ... they have white heads, and therefore
the country men call them penguins (which seemeth to be a Welsh
nanme). And _they have also in use divers other Welsh words, a matter
worthy the noting_."--The relation of David Ingram, 1568. in _The
principall navigations_, etc. 1589. Fol.
[This narrative was compiled from answers to certain
_queries_--perhaps twenty years after the events related.]
"Afterwards [anno 1669] they [The Doeg Indians] carried us to their
town, and entertained us civilly for four months; and I did converse
with them of many things in the British tongue, and _did preach to
them three times a week in the British tongue_," etc. Rev. Morgan
Jones, 1686.--_British Remains_, 1777. 8°.
[The editor omits to state how he procured the manuscript. The paper
whence the above is extracted is either decisive of the question at issue,
or a forgery.]
The student may infer, even from these imperfect hints, that I consider
the subject which he proposes to himself as one which deserves a strict
investigation--provided the collections hereafter described have ceased
to be in existence.
"With respect to this extraordinary occurence in the history of Wales, I
have collected a multitude of evidences, in conjunction with Edward
Williams, the bard, to prove that Madog must have reached the
American continent; for the descendants of him and his followers exist
there as a nation to this day; and the present position of which is on the
southern branches of the Missouri river, under the appellations of
Padoucas, White Indians, Civilized Indians, and Welsh
Indians."--_William Owen_, F.A.S. 1803.
The title prefixed to this paper would be a misnomer, if I did not add a
list of