There is a Welsh triad entitled "The Three Losses by Disappearance." The first loss was that of Gavran, the son of Aeddan Vradog, a chieftain of distinguished celebrity of the latter part of the fifth century. He went on an expedition to discover some islands which are known by the name of Gwerddonan Llion, or the Green Islands of the Ocean. He was never heard of afterwards, and the situation of these islands became lost to the Welsh.
The second loss was that of Merddin, who was the Bard of Emrys Wledig, or the Ambrosius of Saxon history, by whose command Stonehenge was erected.
Merddin is held as one of the three Christian Bards of Wales,—Merddin Wyllt and Taliesin being the other two.
This Merddin, with twelve Bards, went to sea, and they were heard of no more.
The third loss of this remarkable triad was Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd, who, with three hundred men, went to sea in ten ships, and it is not known whither they went.
About 1440 A.D., Meredydd ab Rhys, having obtained the loan of a fishing-net by a poem, sent a second poem with it when he returned it, and wrote thus:
Madoc was a navigator, and made the sea his home. No doubt can be entertained on that point. In the above quotation the poet likens himself to Madoc as the true type of a sailor.
It has been said that the Welsh Bards were historians. They were retained in families of importance to record the actions of their ancestors and those of the Bards themselves in odes and songs. While they may have employed a poetic license in their construction, the facts themselves were not lost out of sight. So far as can be known, it appears that these odes were written prior to any definite notion of a Western world, known subsequently as the American Continent. Madoc's voyages might not have been very familiar to many except the Welsh, and they were ignorant whither he went. One thing, however, is absolutely certain, that this tradition having existed for centuries could not have been invented, as some have suspected, to support the English against the Spanish claims of prior discovery. A period of three hundred and twenty-two years intervened between that of Madoc and that of Columbus.
Many valuable historical documents in prose and in poetry relating to the Welsh nation were destroyed by the order of Edward the First of England about the time that he so inhumanly massacred the Welsh Bards. He feared that their recitations of patriotic poetry among the people might serve to awaken and preserve the spirit of liberty and independence among them, and lead eventually to their casting off the yoke he was so cruelly imposing upon them.
Sir John Wynne, who was born in 1553 and died in 1626, wrote the history of the Gwedir family, which remained in manuscript until published by Hon. Daines Barrington in 1773. It contains an enumeration of the various branches of the descendants of Owen Gwynedd, especially those who were claimed to be the more immediate ancestors of Sir John's family. He mentions Madoc as the son of Owen Gwynedd, but makes no reference to his voyages. He touches upon the subject of the massacre of the Bards by Edward the First, "who," he says, "caused them all to be hanged by martial law as stirrers-up of the people to sedition." Some of the records of Welsh history were removed from their usually secure retreats in abbeys to London, as testified to by Sir John and others, particularly William Salesbury, who declared that they were burned, "and that there escaped not one that was not incurably maimed, and irrecuperably torn and mangled."
This happened in the Tower, where, previous to their destruction, many of the political prisoners from Wales obtained leave to read "such books of their tongue as they most delighted in."
In view of these facts, and considering that the history of the events contemporaneous with the period at which Madoc is alleged to have left his native land is unusually scanty on this subject, it is more than probable that some of these lost manuscripts contained particular accounts of Madoc's departure. Fortunately, however, enough has escaped the spoiler's hand to furnish such proof to every rational mind that the question must be regarded as settled.
Caradoc, of Llancarvan, Glamorganshire, wrote, in his native language, a history of Wales. He lived at the time Owen Gwynedd was in the height of his power and fame, and was familiar with all the more important events in connection with his country. His history was translated into English by Humphrey Lloyd, and published by Dr. David Powel in the year 1584, and has been reprinted several times since. In it is contained the following narrative, which bears all the semblance of historical truth that any narration of facts can. Its plainness, naturalness, and simplicity are at once evident:
"On the death of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, about the year 1169, several of his children contended for his dominions; and Madoc, one of his sons, perceiving his native land engaged, or on the eve of being engaged, in a civil war, thought it best to try his fortune in some foreign clime. Leaving North Wales in a very unsettled state, he sailed, with a few ships which he had fitted up and manned for that purpose, to the westward, leaving Ireland to the north. He came at length to an unknown country, where most things appeared to him new and uncustomary, and the manners of the natives far different from what he had seen in Europe. Madoc, having viewed the fertility and pleasantness of the country, left the most part of those he had taken with him behind (Sir Thomas Herbert says that the number he left behind was one hundred and twenty), and returned to North Wales. Upon his arrival he described to his friends what a fair and extensive land he had met with, void of any inhabitants, whilst they employed themselves and all their skill to supplant one another for only a ragged portion of rocks and mountains. Accordingly, having prevailed with considerable numbers to accompany him to that country, he sailed back with ten ships, and bid adieu to his native land." There is an apparent contradiction between "the manners of the natives" and "void of inhabitants." The historian meant to convey the idea by the latter phrase that the portion Madoc discovered was thinly peopled, and might be occupied without much difficulty.
But it is conjectured that Caradoc's writings do not reach any lower than the year 1157,—which would be thirteen years earlier than the time of Madoc's departure, or 1170. Some suppose that Caradoc must have died in 1157, because the Brut or Annales from which Humphrey Lloyd chiefly compiled his history of Cambria, and which bore Caradoc's name, did not extend beyond that year. There is no sound reason for this belief: many of the various Bruts bore his name, and it is altogether likely that he was living when Madoc set sail and returned, prior to his final leave. It would not be wise, however, to dispute Humphrey Lloyd, Caradoc's translator into English, who says that that part of the history beyond 1157, and, of course, that including Madoc's voyages, was compiled from collections made from time to time, and kept in the abbeys of Conway in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, and Strata Florida, Cardiganshire, South Wales. These and other abbeys were the repositories of literature and history for many centuries, whose registers were carefully compared together every third year, when the Beirdd or Bards belonging to these houses went on their customary visitations, which were called clera. This practice continued until the death of Prince Llewelyn, or a little prior, about the year 1270. If Caradoc did not continue his history beyond 1157, and that because of his death in that year, even then there is no reason to question the veracity of those monks of Conway and Strata Florida who continued the same history in their registers. Guttun Owen, a Bard in the reign of Edward the Fourth of England, about the year 1480 obtained one of the most perfect copies of these registers. He doubtless had special facilities, since he was personally commissioned by Henry the Seventh to search the pedigree of Owen Tudor, that king's grandfather, among the Welsh annals. Another Bard about the same time with Guttun Owen mentioned this event. His name was Cynfrig ab Gronow. Thus, step by step, for the space of three hundred years, can be traced through Bards and historians this recital respecting Madoc, and all prior to the discovery of America by Columbus; so that it cannot possibly be said that the claims afterwards advanced in favor of Madoc were an after-thought.
Rev. Josiah Rees, the editor of a Welsh magazine published in Wales in 1770, told the Welsh scholar Edward Williams that he had in his possession at that time two or three fair manuscripts of Caradoc of Llancarvan, with the continuation by the monks of Strata Florida, Guttun Owen, and others. He furthermore said that he had compared these originals with Dr. Powel's translation, or, more strictly speaking, with Humphrey Lloyd's translation, which Dr. Powel published in 1584. Mr. Rees said that it was the most faithful he ever met with in any language. Lord Lyttleton, in the last century, then, was very much mistaken, and withal quite ignorant, when he said that Dr. Powel "dressed up some tradition concerning Madoc in order to convey an idea that his countrymen had the honor of first discovering America." Dr. Powel himself did not entirely depend on Lloyd's translation in the preparation of the work for the press, for he says that he compared that translation with the original records, and therefore was able to correct his copy. All this proves that Caradoc's history, with the continuation from the registers of Conway and Strata Florida, the writings of Guttun Owen, Cynfrig ab Gronow, Sir Meredyth ab Rhys, and others, were extant in the days of Lloyd and Powel, and consequently these two latter historians would have been detected if they had been in any degree guilty of misrepresentation or forgery.
In Hakluyt's "Collection of Voyages," a large and costly edition published in 1589, there is found, in connection with other important statements, the following:
"After the death of Owen Gwynedd, his sons fell at debate who should inherit after him; for the eldest son born in matrimony, Iorweth, or Edward (Drwyndwn), was counted unmeet to govern, because of the maim upon his face, and Howel, that took upon him the rule, was a base son, begotten upon an Irishwoman. Therefore David, another son, gathered all the power he could, and came against Howel, and, fighting with him, slew him, and afterwards enjoyed quietly the whole land of North Wales until his brother Edward's son [Llewelyn] came to age.
"Madoc, another of Owen Gwynedd's sons, left the land in contentions betwixt his brethren, and prepared certain ships with 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 unknown, where he saw many strange things. This land must needs be some part of the country of which the Spaniards affirm themselves to be the first finders since Hanno's time (the Carthaginian admiral, supposed to have flourished about four hundred and fifty years before Christ); whereupon it is manifest that that country was by Britons discovered long before Columbus led any Spaniards thither.
"Of the voyage and return of this Madoc there be many fables framed, as the common people do use, in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment than to diminish; but sure it is, there he was. And after he had returned home and declared the pleasant and fruitful countries that he had seen, and, upon the contrary, for what barren and wild ground his brethren and nephews did murder one another, he prepared a number of ships, and got with him such men and women as were desirous to live in quietness, and, taking leave of his friends, took his journey thitherwards again.
"Therefore it is supposed that he and his people inhabited part of those countries; for it appears by Francis Lopez de Gomara that in Acuzamil, and other places, the people honored the cross. Whereby it may be gathered that Christians had been there before the coming of the Spaniards; but, because this people were not many, they followed the manner of the land which they came to, and the language they found there. This Madoc, arriving in that western country, unto the which he came in the year 1170, left the most of his people there, and, returning back for more of his own nation, acquaintance, and friends to inhabit that fair and large country, went thither again with ten sails, as I find noted by Guttun Owen. I am of opinion that the land whereunto he came was some part of the West Indies."
It is worthy of observation that Hakluyt distinctly says that he derived his account from Guttun Owen, and, therefore, from the original sources themselves, as it has been shown that Owen secured perfect copies from the abbeys. Hakluyt does not refer to Lloyd and Powel as his authorities, because he was fortunate in gaining access to the writings from which they too had compiled their histories. Thus the historical veracity of Lloyd and Powel is, without design, sustained by the learned Hakluyt.
Another point that should not be passed is in relation to the last sentence of the extract just given, wherein Hakluyt expresses his opinion that Madoc touched the West Indies. It will be understood that during the earlier discoveries that name—West Indies—embraced not only those islands which are now known by it, but also so much of the continent or mainland as had been occupied.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the throne in 1558, the belief seems to have been universal that Madoc did sail and discover America; and most historical writers of the time have introduced the subject into their writings with the same credence that any other well-ascertained fact deserves.
Hornius, in his "De Originibus Americanis," gives an account of the same event. The following is an extract translated from the Latin:
"From hence he [Hakluyt] concludes that Madoc, with his Cambrians, discovered a part of North America. A cursory attention to the figure of the earth must convince every one that on this direction he must have landed on that continent; for beyond Ireland no land can be found except Bermuda to this day [1650] uncultivated but the extensive continent of America. As Madoc directed his course westward, it cannot be doubted but that he fell in with Virginia or New England, and there settled.
"Nor is this contradicted by its being said that the country was uninhabited and uncultivated; for that country is very extensive, and in our times, after six centuries, is but thinly peopled. Besides, that tract on which Madoc landed might be desert, and yet other places in the interior parts, possessed by the barbarous Chichimecas, might be populous, with whom the Cambrians mingled, and, the communication being dropped between them and their mother-country, they adopted the language and manners of the country. The traditions prevailing among the natives strongly confirm me in this opinion; for the Virginians and Guahutemallians, from ancient times, worshipped one Madoc as a hero. Concerning the Virginians, see Martyr, decade vii. chap. 3; concerning the Guahutemallians, decade viii. chap. 5. Among them we have Matec Zungam and Mat Ingam; and why this should not be Madoc the Cambrian, whom the monuments in the country prove to have been in those parts, no reason can be given. As to antiquity, five centuries are sufficient, beyond which American traditions do not ascend."
In another part he says, "For when it is demonstrated that Madoc, a prince of Cambria, with some of his nation, discovered and inhabited some lands in the West, and that his name and memory are still retained among them, scarcely any doubt remains."
Peter Martyr, alluded to in the above extract, lived in the court of Ferdinand, King of Spain. He was the author of several works, among them the "Decades," which contain the references to Matec Zungam, or Madoc the Cambrian. He was at court when Columbus returned from his first voyage, and is considered good authority with respect to what he wrote about in those times. He distinctly affirms that some nations in America honored the memory of one Madoc when Columbus landed on that coast.
Our next quotation will be from "Letters writ by a Turkish Spy," who lived forty-five years undiscovered in Paris, giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe from the year 1673 to 1682. They were originally written in Arabic. The author of this work, which caused a great sensation at the time, as well from the highly-interesting character of its contents as from the profound secrecy in which the name of the writer was long involved, was John Paul Marana, a native of Italy. He says, "This prince [Charles II.] has several nations under his dominions, and it is thought he scarce knows the just extent of his territories in America. There is a region on that continent inhabited by a people whom they call Tuscorards and Doegs. Their language is the same as is spoken by the Welsh. They are thought to descend from them. It is certain that when the Spaniards first conquered Mexico they were surprised to hear the inhabitants discourse of a strange people that formerly came thither in corraughs, who taught them the knowledge of God and immortality, instructed them also in virtue and morality, and prescribed holy rites and ceremonies of religion. 'Tis remarkable, also, what an Indian king said to a Spaniard, viz., that in foregoing ages a strange people arrived there by sea, to whom his ancestry gave hospitable entertainment, in regard they found them men of wit and courage, endued also with many other excellencies, but he could give no account of their original or name. The Welsh language is so prevalent in that country that the very towns, bridges, beasts, birds, rivers, hills, etc., are called by Welsh names. Who can tell the various transmigrations of mortals on earth, or trace out the true originals of any people?"
Sir Thomas Herbert visited Persia and many other countries about 1626, and in connection with his travels mentioned Madoc's emigration to the West. He states that Madoc embarked at Abergwilly, and first reached Newfoundland, whence, coasting along, he in time came to a convenient place for settlement; that, after recruiting the health of his men, and fortifying the spot he had pitched upon, leaving a hundred and twenty of his crew, he returned to Wales, and conducted back to his new home a fleet of ten barks, and found but few of those he left remaining. With the aid of Einon and Idwal, he soon put things in order again, and waited vainly for the arrival of other emigrants from Wales, of those who were to have followed him; but none came, owing to the wars with England. Sir Thomas concludes by saying that "had this voyage of the Prince of Gwynedd been known and inherited, then had not Columbus, Americus Vespucius, Magellan, nor others, carried away the honor of so great a discovery, nor had Madoc been defrauded of his memory, nor our kings of their just title to a portion of the West Indies."
In the year 1740 there appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine," London, England, a very remarkable narration, written by Rev. Morgan Jones. It is as follows:
"These presents may certify all persons whatever, that in the year 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major-General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major Bennet and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty leagues to the southward of Cape Fair, and I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor's mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet, that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda, with one Mr. West, who was to be Deputy Governor of said place. As soon as the fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the river to a place called the Oyster Point. Here I continued about eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions, five others, with myself, travelled through the wilderness till we came to the Tuscarora Country. Here the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners, because we told them that we were bound to Roanoke. That night they carried us to their town, and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a consultation about us, which after it was over, their interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next morning. Whereupon, being very much dejected, and speaking to this effect in the British tongue: Have I escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog? then presently an Indian came to me, which afterwards appeared to be a war-captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original I find must needs be from the old Britons), and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British tongue I should not die, and thereupon went to the Emperor of the Tuscaroras, and agreed for my ransom and the men who were with me. They then welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British language, and did preach to them three times a week in the same language, and they would confer with me about anything that was difficult therein. At our departure they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well-doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape Atros [Hatteras]. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians.
"Morgan Jones,
"Son of John Jones, Basaleg,
near Newport, County of Monmouth.
"I am ready to conduct any Welshmen or others to the country.
"New York, March 10, 1685-6."
It appears that the origin of this narration came about in the following way, as described by Charles Lloyd, Esq., of Dôl y Frân, Montgomeryshire, in a letter which he has written. He says, "My brother, Dr. Thomas Lloyd, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having heard of Rev. Morgan Jones's adventures, and meeting him in New York, desired him to write them out with his own hand in his house; and to please me and my cousin, Thomas Price, of Llanvyllin, he sent me the original. Mr. Jones was living then within twelve miles of New York, and was contemporary with me and my brother at Oxford. He was of Jesus College, and called there 'Senior Jones,' by way of distinction."
The original was given to Dr. Thomas Lloyd, and transmitted to his brother, as mentioned above; subsequently it came into the possession of Dr. Robert Plott, through Edward Lloyd, A.M., keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, the former having maintained in his writings his implicit belief in Madoc's emigration and Mr. Jones's narrative. Rev. Theophilus Evans afterwards communicated the narration to the "Gentleman's Magazine." He was a Welsh clergyman, vicar of St. David's in Brecon, and well versed in the history of his nation. It is to be regretted that other accounts of the travels of Mr. Jones among the Doegs of the Tuscaroras, which were published at an earlier period, have not been preserved, inasmuch as they would materially assist in more fully establishing the veracity of the writer. As it is, however, it does not appear that his truthfulness has ever been questioned. He was an educated man, a graduate of Oxford, and not likely to be mistaken or led into an easy credulity. He is explicit as to the mode of his rescue, while engaged in prayer and deploring his wretched fate, the time he remained among them, his conversing with them and explaining anything difficult between them,—nothing unreasonable to expect, after the lapse of so many centuries,—his preaching to them three times a week. All these things, taken in connection with his accurate description of the location of this tribe, must impress the candid reader that this clergyman gave a recital of unvarnished facts.
At the time Mr. Jones was captured, the Tuscaroras inhabited a range of country that extended from Virginia down into the Carolinas. They comprised several branches, known as Doegs, Chowans, Meherrins, and Nottoways, who dwelt along the rivers bearing some of their names. They were often called the Southern Iroquois, because they were chiefly kindred in dialect with the main body of that mighty confederacy, the Five Nations, or Iroquois proper. They made frequent incursions into the territory of the Carolinians, by whom they were severely defeated in 1712: large numbers were taken prisoners, while the remainder fled northward and formed the sixth nation of the celebrated Iroquois Confederacy. Iroquois was a term applied to this confederacy by the French; Mingoes was the name given to those composing it by the great Algonquin race of red men, by whom they were largely surrounded, and with whom they were almost incessantly engaged in bloody and decimating wars.
The Five Nations called themselves Konoskioni, or "Cabin-Builders." The territory they occupied when Europeans obtained a more general acquaintance with them, which embraced New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and portions of the Carolinas, evidently had not been in their possession a very great length of time. From all that can be ascertained, they came from the west, in an easterly direction, crossing the Nauraesi Sipu (Mississippi), and made war upon another nation, called the Alligewi or Alleghanians, destroyed their works, and drove them into the interior, the conquerors taking possession of the eastern country. Now, who were these Alligewi? That they were expelled from the lands held by the Five Nations there can be no doubt; that they moved westward is equally certain. But who were they? They were supposed to be whites. McCulloh, in his "Researches on America," says that an exterminating war appears to have taken place between the barbarous natives (Iroquois) and their more refined and civilized neighbors, ending in the nearly total destruction of the latter, the few survivors of whom fled to happier climes; and to these aboriginal whites, perhaps, the Mexicans were indebted for their refinement and knowledge. Traces of these Alligewi are found throughout those portions of the country of the Eastern States once held by them, afterwards by Iroquois. Their line of march westward may be clearly traced by the earthen fortifications they threw up for purposes of defence against their savage and wily enemies. Almost without exception the traditions of the red men ascribe the construction of these works to white men. Some of them belonging to different tribes at the present say that they had understood from their prophets and old men that it had been a tradition among their several nations that the eastern country and Ohio and Kentucky had once been inhabited by white people, but that they were mostly exterminated at the Falls of Ohio. The red men drove the whites to a small island (Sandy Island) below the rapids, where they were cut to pieces. Kentuckee, in Indian, signifies river of blood. Some of the fragments of the ancient tribe of the Sacs expressed astonishment to a gentleman at St. Louis that any person should live in Kentucky. The country, they said, had been the scene of much blood, and was filled with the manes of the butchered inhabitants, who were white people.
The westward movements of the tribes which were overpowered and displaced by the Iroquois are distinctly marked, and show that a European civilization had some influence in directing the construction of those lines of defences along the largest valleys and streams of the countries through which they passed, until, arriving at the Ohio, they made a vigorous stand, with the resolution not to be driven any farther into the interior. This will account for the much greater number of earthen defences found along the Ohio, and, besides, agrees with the traditions of the red men. When, however, defeated here, after a residence extending over many years, the remnants of those tribes which survived the bloody battles fled up the Missouri.
But who were these Alligewi, or Alligenians? The word is strikingly familiar to the Welsh ear, with its double l, and corresponds with the Welsh words alii, mighty, and geni, born, or "mighty born."
Although the Tuscaroras, among whom Mr. Jones lived and preached, were supposed to be akin to the Iroquois in language and finally confederated with them, it is altogether probable that they were more anciently a branch of the Alligewi, who could not be driven from their soil. These Tuscaroras were lighter in color than the other tribes, and so noticeable was this peculiarity that they were generally mentioned as White Indians. Emanating from this source, many travellers subsequently applied the title to tribes through whose boundaries they passed in the West and South. Doubtless they had a common origin.
They stated that their ancestors were Welsh. If the objection is made, how they could have lost traces of European civilization so soon, it may be recollected that the buccaneers of St. Domingo had in thirty years forgotten all knowledge of Christianity. Such radical differences as exist between the white and red races could not have been lost without the lapse of centuries; while their languages would undergo, more or less, some marked modifications. Dr. Williams, writing upon this subject in his "Enquiry," published in 1791, says, "When it is considered that Mr. Jones's visit to these nations was nearly five hundred years after the emigration of Prince Madoc, it can be no wonder that the language of both Mr. Jones and the Indians was very much altered. After so long a period, Mr. Jones must have been obliged to make use of words and phrases in preaching Christianity with which they must have been altogether unacquainted. Besides, all living languages are continually changing: therefore, during so many centuries, the original tongue must have been very much altered, by the introduction of new words borrowed from the inhabitants of the country. Though the language was radically the same, yet Mr. Jones, especially when treating of abstract subjects, was hardly intelligible to them without some explanations. We are told that the religious worship of the Mexicans, with all its absurdities, was less superstitious than that of the ancient and learned Greeks and Romans. May we not conclude that the Mexicans derived some part of their religious knowledge from a people enlightened by a Divine revelation, which, though very much corrupted in the days of Madoc, yet was superior to heathen darkness?"
Many of the names mentioned by Mr. Jones in his narrative seem to have a Welsh origin, and bear a precisely similar sound to words in that language.
Pontigo—a name applied to a river in that country where he found them—seems derived from Pont y Go, "The Smith's Bridge," or Pant y Go, "The Smith's Valley;" a smith dwelling beside a river or bridge being sufficient to originate such a name. Dr. Robertson says, in his "History of America," vol. ii. p. 126, that "the Indians were very ignorant of the use of metals; artificers in metals were scarce, and on that account a name might be given to a bridge or valley where one dwelt." Doeg Indians might be a corruption of Madog's Indians. The majority of those who have had any convictions on this subject have believed that Madoc first landed with his colony somewhere in New England, and that they then moved down the coast and inhabited portions of the country between Virginia and Florida. New England has some vestiges of European civilization which were there before the Pilgrim Fathers landed. The celebrated round tower at Newport, Rhode Island, about the origin of which tradition and history are silent, is certainly constructed on the same principle as Stonehenge, England, and many other Cambrian memorials. It conforms exactly to the Druidic circle. Its materials are unhewn stone. It rests upon eight round columns, twenty-three feet in diameter, and twenty-four feet in height. Any person familiar with Cambrian and Scandinavian archæology will not hesitate to attribute the construction of this tower rather to the Cambrian than to the Scandinavian navigators.
A letter written by Charles Lloyd, Esq., of Dôl y Frân, in Montgomeryshire, already mentioned, published in 1777 by Rev. N. Owen, jun., A.M., in a pamphlet entitled "British Remains," strongly confirms Mr. Jones's narrative, and the truth of Madoc's voyages.
Mr. Lloyd says that he had been informed by a friend that a Mr. Stedman, of Breconshire, about thirty years before the date of his letter, was on the coast of America in a Dutch bottom, and being about to land for refreshment the natives kept them off by force, till at last this Stedman told his fellow Dutch seamen that he understood what the natives spoke. The Dutch bade him speak to them, and they were thereupon very courteous; they supplied them with the best things they had, and told Stedman that they came from a country called Gwynedd (North Wales), in Prydain Fawr (Great Britain). Prydain was the son of Hugh the Mighty, and supposed to have been the first to establish government and set up royalty in the isle of Britain, and the island was called by his name. Mr. Lloyd said that Mr. Stedman found these Welsh Indians along the coast between Virginia and Florida. Furthermore, this gentleman said that a Mr. Oliver Humphreys, a merchant, who died not long before the date of Mr. Lloyd's letter, told him that when he lived at Surinam he spoke with an English privateer, or pirate, who, being near Florida, careening his vessel, had learned, as he thought, the Indian language, which his friend said was perfect Welsh.
It is to be regretted that Rev. Morgan Jones and these others could not have given more of the traditional history of these Indians; but what they have recited is explicit. Here is no collusion, no attempt to meet the tradition concerning Madoc, for they, in all probability, knew nothing about it.
If the Welsh Indians could be identified as descendants of Madoc's colony, or if the Alligewi could be ascertained to have been the Welsh, the discovered traces of civilization, Christianity, and the arts might partly be referred to their instrumentality. They may have contributed to swell the tide of population, and aided in constructing those forts and works which so much resemble those of their own country. Our American mounds agree in the minutest particulars with those described by Pennant as found during his "Tour in Wales."
This is the opinion of De Laet, Hornius, Mitchel, and others.
In a "Journal of a Two Months' Tour," written by Rev. Charles Beatty, A.M., and dedicated to the Earl of Dartmouth, London, 1768, the author presents a sketch of a visit to some of the inland parts of North America during the year 1766. He was accompanied by a Mr. Duffield. Mr. Beatty was a missionary from New York, and travelled several hundred miles in a southwest direction from that city. During his tour he met several persons who had been among the Indians from their youth, or who had been taken captives by them and lived with them several years.
When at the foot of the Alleghany Mountains, Pennsylvania, he stopped at the house of Mr. John Miller, where he met with one Benjamin Sutton, who had been taken captive by the Indians, had been in different nations, and had lived many years among them. He informed Mr. Beatty and his companion that "when he was with the Choctaw nation or tribe of Indians, at the Mississippi, he went to an Indian town a very considerable distance from New Orleans, whose inhabitants were of different complexions,—not so tawny as those of the other Indians,—and who spoke Welsh. He said that he saw a book among them, which he supposed was a Bible, which they kept carefully wrapped up in a skin, but they could not read it; and that he heard some of these Indians afterwards in the lower Shawanese town speak Welsh with one Lewis, a Welshman, who was a captive there. This Welsh tribe now live on the west side of the Mississippi, a great way above New Orleans."
At Tuscarora Valley—a name, be it remembered, the same as that of the tribe among which Rev. Morgan Jones found those speaking Welsh—Mr. Beatty met with another man, named Levi Hicks, who had been a captive from his youth. He said that he "was once attending an embassy at an Indian town on the west side of the Mississippi, where the inhabitants spoke Welsh (as he was told, for he did not understand them); and our Indian interpreter, Joseph Peepy, said he once saw some Indians, whom he supposed to be of the same tribe, who talked Welsh. He was sure that it was Welsh, for he had been acquainted with Welsh people and understood some words.
"Mr. Sutton farther told us that he had often heard the following traditions among them; that of old time their people were divided by a river, and one part tarrying behind; that they knew not for certainty how they first came to this continent, but account for their coming into these parts near where they are now settled; that a king of their nation left his kingdom to his two sons; that the one son making war upon the other the latter thereupon determined to depart and seek some new habitation; that accordingly he set out accompanied by a number of his people, and that after wandering to and fro for the space of forty years they at length came to the Delaware River, where they settled, three hundred and seventy years ago. The way, he says, they keep an account of this is by putting a black bead of wampum every year since on a belt they had for that purpose. He farther added that the king of that country from whence they came, some years ago, when the French were in possession of Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg), sent out some of his people in order, if possible, to find out that part of their nation that departed to seek a new country, and that these men, after seeking six years, came at length to the Pickt Town, on the Ouabache River, and there happened to meet with a Delaware Indian named Jack, after the English, whose language they could understand; and that by him they were conducted to the Delaware towns, where they tarried one year, and returned; that the French sent a white man with them, properly furnished, to bring back an account of their country, who, the Indians said, could not return in less than fourteen years, for they lived a great way toward the setting sun. It is now, Sutton says, about ten or twelve years since they went away."
Dr. Williams, who wrote upon this subject, thought that these traditions referred to the unsettled state of North Wales, the departure of Madoc, and his travels before he finally settled.
It would not be surprising if Mr. Beatty's Indian interpreter, Joseph Peepy, had been among Welsh people in Pennsylvania, for large colonies of Welsh settled, in early colonial days, in and around Philadelphia. "The Welsh Tract" is still well known. William Penn and his family were of Welsh extraction. A large number of his followers were Welshmen. Philadelphia contains a larger proportion of Welsh descendants than any other city in the United States. The first mayor of the city, Anthony Morris, and the first Governor of the colony of Pennsylvania, Thomas Lloyd, were both Welshmen.
These colonies extended more and more into the interior, and came in contact with the nearest tribes. Traffic was carried on between them, and in this way Mr. Beatty's interpreter became somewhat acquainted with the Welsh tongue. Afterwards, penetrating far into the interior, where he spent many years, he found, as he informed Mr. Beatty, Indians speaking the same language he had heard among the Welsh people of Pennsylvania. To his testimony is added that of Benjamin Sutton and Levi Hicks, each independent of and consistent with the other. By means of these, and others, the residents of Pennsylvania were made acquainted with the existence of Welsh Indians. It is not at all likely that all, if indeed any, of them then knew of the historical records in Wales relating to Madoc; it was afterwards that they found out there were such.
The Rev. Thomas Jones, of Nottage, in the county of Glamorgan, came to America in 1737. His son, Samuel, was then about three years of age. He gave him a liberal education in Philadelphia, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He, (Dr.) Samuel Jones, wrote a letter to Rev. William Richards, of Lynn, in Norfolk. In that letter, speaking of the Madocian Indians, he says, "The finding of them would be one of the most pleasing things to me that could happen. I think I should go immediately amongst them, though I am now turned fifty-five; and there are in America Welsh preachers ready to set out to visit them as soon as the way to their country is discovered. I know now several in Pennsylvania who have been amongst those Indians."
The following words are in a letter from Mr. Reynold Howells to a Mr. Mills, dated Philadelphia, 1752: "The Welsh Indians are found out: they are situated on the west side of the great river Mississippi."
William Pritchard, a bookseller and printer of Philadelphia, when in London, in 1791, told some Welsh scholars, among them Mr. Owen and Dr. Williams, that he had often heard of the Welsh Indians, that in Pennsylvania they were universally believed to be very far westward of the Mississippi, that he had often heard of people who had been among them, and that if he should be but very little assisted he should immediately visit them.
A writer in the "Mount Joy Herald," after alluding to Powel's "History" upon this subject, which has been quoted already, gives this additional extract from the same:—"Three hundred and twenty-two years after this date,—Madoc's departure,—when Columbus discovered this continent a second time and returned to Europe to make his report, it caused great excitement, and he was justly applauded. But his enemies, and those who envied his fame, boldly charged him with acquiring his knowledge from the charts and manuscripts of Madoc. In the year 1854 I had a conversation with an old Indian prophet, who styled himself the fifteenth in the line of succession. He told me, in broken English, that long ago a race of white people had lived at the mouth of Conestoga Creek, who had red hair and blue eyes, who cleared the land, fenced, plowed, raised grain, etc., that they introduced the honey-bee, unknown to them. He said the Indians called them the Welegcens, and that in the time of the fifth prophet the Conestoga Indians made war with them, and, after great slaughter on both sides, the white settlers were driven away. Our fathers and grandfathers used to tell us what a hatred and prejudice the Conestoga Indians had against red-haired and blue-eyed people in all their wars in Eastern Pennsylvania. When taking white prisoners, they would discriminate between the black-haired and the red, showing mercy to the former, and reserving the latter for torture and death. This would seem to indicate that they knew from tradition of Prince Madoc and his followers, and of the fearful fight they had made.
"About the year 1800 (for I must quote from memory), a man digging a cellar in the vicinity of the Indian Steppes came upon a lot of small iron axes, thirty-six in number. My father, who resided in Manor township and followed blacksmithing, was presented with one of these relics; and I recollect seeing it in his shop twenty-five years after that date. It was curiously constructed; the eye was joined after the fashion of the old garden hoe; it had no pole end, and had never been ground to an edge, nor had the others ever been. It had lain so long in the ground that the eye was almost eaten through with rust; and its construction was so ancient that I looked upon it as the first exodus from the stone to the iron axe."
Rev. Morgan Jones, of Hammersmith, England, wrote a letter to Dr. John Williams, in which he says that his father and his family went to Pennsylvania about the year 1750, where he met with several persons whom he knew in Wales,—one in particular with whom he had been intimate. This person had formerly lived in Pennsylvania, but then lived in North Carolina. Upon his return to Pennsylvania, the following year, to settle his affairs, they met a second time. Mr. Jones's friend told him that he then was very sure there were Welsh Indians, and gave as a reason, that his house in North Carolina was situated on the great Indian road to Charlestown, where he often lodged parties of them. In one of these parties, an Indian, hearing the family speak Welsh, began to jump and caper as if he had been out of his senses. Being asked what was the matter with him, he replied, "I know an Indian nation who speak that language, and have learnt a little of it myself by living among them;" and when examined, he was found to have some knowledge of it. When asked where they lived, he said, "A great way beyond the Mississippi." Being promised a handsome reward, he said that he would endeavor to bring some of them to that part of the country; but Mr. Jones, soon after returning to England, never heard any more of the Indian.
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for July, 1791, page 612, Mr. Edward Williams says that about twenty years prior he became acquainted with a Mr. Binon, of Coyty, in the county of Glamorgan, who had been absent from his native country over thirty years. Mr. Binon said he had been an Indian trader from Philadelphia for several years; that about the year 1750 he and five or six others penetrated much farther than usual to the westward of the Mississippi, and found a nation of Indians who spoke the Welsh tongue. They had iron among them, lived in stone built villages, and were better clothed than the other tribes. They gave Mr. Binon a kind reception, but were suspicious of his companions, taking them for Spaniards or Frenchmen, with whom they seemed to be at war. They showed him a manuscript book, which they carefully kept, believing that it contained the mysteries of religion, and said that it was not long since a man had been among them who understood it. This man, whom they esteemed a prophet (could it have been the Rev. Morgan Jones?), told them, they said, that a people would some time visit them and explain to them the mysteries contained in their book, which would make them completely happy. They very anxiously asked Mr. Binon if he understood it, and, being answered in the negative, they appeared very sad, and earnestly desired him to send some one to them who could explain it. After he and his fellow-travellers had been for some time among them, they departed, and were conducted by those friendly Indians through vast deserts, and were supplied by them with plenty of provisions, which the woods afforded; and after they had been brought to a place they well knew, they parted with their numerous Indian guides, who wept bitterly on their taking leave, and very urgently entreated them to send a person to them who could interpret their book. On Mr. Binon's arrival in Philadelphia, and relating the story, he found that the inhabitants of the Welsh Tract had some knowledge of these Indians, and that some Welshmen had been among them. He also learned then that on several occasions parties of thirty and forty of these Welsh Indians had visited the Welsh settled on the Tract near Philadelphia. Mr. Binon furthermore said that when he told those Indians, whom he had visited, that he came from Wales, they replied, "It was from thence our ancestors came, but we do not now know in what part of the world Wales is."
Mr. Edward Williams, who gave to the world the above account from Mr. Binon, also had an interview with a Mr. Richard Burnell, a gentleman who went to America about the year 1763, and who returned to England when the American war broke out.
During Mr. Burnell's residence in and near Philadelphia, he became well acquainted with the Welsh people, who informed him that the Welsh Indians were well known to many in Pennsylvania. He personally knew Mr. Beatty, whose narrative opens this chapter, and a Mr. Lewis, who saw some of these Welsh Indians in a congress among the Chickasaws, with whom and the Natchez Mr. Burnell says they are in alliance. He also said that there was in Philadelphia a Mr. Willin, a very rich Quaker, who had obtained a grant of a large extent of country on the Mississippi, in the district of the Natchez; and, having taken with him a great number of settlers, he had among them Welshmen who understood the Indians. Mr. Burnell, anxious to be informed, waited upon Mr. Willin, who assured him that among his colony there were two Welshmen who perfectly understood the Indians and would converse with them for hours together, and that these Welshmen had often assured him the Indians spoke the Welsh language; that some of them were settled in those parts, some on the west side of the Mississippi, and others in remote parts. At this time Mr. Burnell had a son, Cradog Burnell, settled at Buck's Island, near Augusta, Georgia. He was a capital trader in the back settlements. A company of about a hundred persons had purchased forty millions of acres from the Natchez and Yazoos along the Mississippi and the rivers Yazoo and Tombecbe, which fall into it. Mr. Burnell's son was connected with this large colony; and he said that probably his son knew more about these Welsh Indians "than any man living. He had the best opportunities, for he reads and writes the Welsh language extremely well."
If it be granted that Mr. Binon saw a manuscript book among those whom he visited, and that neither they nor he could read it, that would not be surprising; for many persons of greater intelligence in these times cannot read old books in the manuscript or old-style print of centuries ago. Most of them were written in the Roman character; but there are some in the Greek character, which, transferred to the Welsh or old English, would demand scholarship to interpret.
Let it be borne in mind, too, that the time is not very far back when it was considered quite an accomplishment for kings and queens to be able simply to read. There are books in manuscript and print in the public libraries of the world, dating back many centuries, which cannot be read and understood by those in whose vernacular they were written or printed.
Enough recitals have been added to the narrative of Rev. Charles Beatty to render it absolutely certain that in his time and during his tour through Pennsylvania there existed a firm conviction, based on personal knowledge and experience, that there was a tribe of Indians who spoke the Welsh language; that they formerly had occupied the eastern portions of the country, but, pressed by their enemies, red and white, they had retreated farther and farther into the interior, and had become broken into scattering fragments, incorporating themselves in some cases with other tribes. Can they be pursued by the antiquary or the historian? Let the succeeding pages answer.
Modern investigations and discoveries show that there once existed an almost unbroken system of defences, extending from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas, in a diagonal direction, to the valley of the Ohio, and thence into the great basin of the Mississippi. These works increase in size and number as they advance towards the centre, and may properly be classified into forts for defence and tumuli or mounds for sepulture. They are chiefly found along the fertile valleys through which run large rivers, and at their junctions with one another. It is quite usual with writers on these remarkable works to assign to them so great an antiquity that the employment of figures is almost useless if they tell the truth. But there are substantial reasons for the belief that they were erected by the Welsh, aided by those Indians with whom they became incorporated and whom they directed in their labor. The route they took, either by choice or necessity, and the exact correspondence of these earthen monuments with those found in England and Europe known to be of Cambrian origin, go very far to support this belief.
In Onondaga, New York, there are vestiges of ancient settlements dating back beyond the time when the council-fires of the Six Nations burned there. These are protected by three circular forts.
Isaac Chapman, Esq., says, in his "History of Wyoming," Pennsylvania, "In the valley of Wyoming there exist some remains of ancient fortifications, which appear to have been constructed by a race of people very different in their habits from those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. Most of these ruins have been so obliterated by the operations of agriculture that their forms cannot now be distinctly ascertained. That which remains the most entire was examined by the writer during the summer of 1817, and its dimensions carefully ascertained, although from frequent plowing its form had become almost destroyed. It is situated in the township of Kingston, upon a level plain, on the north side of Toby's Creek, about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and about half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna. From present appearances, it consisted probably of only one mound, which in height and thickness appears to have been the same on all sides, and was constructed of earth, the plain on which it stands not abounding in stone. On the outside of the rampart is an intrenchment, or ditch. When the first settlers came to Wyoming, this plain was covered with its native forest, consisting principally of oak and yellow pine, and the trees which grew in the rampart and the intrenchment are said to have been as large as those in any other part of the valley; one large oak particularly, upon being cut down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. The Indians had no tradition concerning these fortifications; neither did they appear to have any knowledge of the purposes for which they were constructed. They were, perhaps, erected about the same time with those upon the waters of the Ohio, and probably by a similar people and for similar purposes."
Directly opposite, on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, a little above the city of Wilkesbarre, another fortification has been discovered and measured, and found to have been of precisely the same size and dimensions as that described by Mr. Chapman.
In these earthen works, and along the banks of the river up as far as Towanda, have been found human skeletons,—as many as six at one time having been washed out from old fire-places by the freshets,—large earthen vessels, and relics of various kinds. One of these earthen vessels was twelve feet in diameter, thirty-six feet in circumference, and three inches thick. It was found on the farm of a Mr. Kinney. Relics of iron instruments have also been found—which agrees with a remarkable tradition of the Shawanese Indians who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio, "that the coasts were inhabited by white men who used iron instruments."
Six buttons were also discovered bearing on their faces the mermaid, the coat of arms of the Principality of Wales.
Passing thence westward to the streams which empty into the Ohio,—the Alleghany, Monongahela, Muskingum,—and down the Ohio itself on both sides, many wonderful earthen remains have been brought to view, those circular in form being the most frequent. They show, too, that they were constructed by a people who were migrating from one part of the country to another through the pressure of enemies or the inducement of more fertile lands.
In the year 1784, Mr. John Filson published a pamphlet entitled "The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucky," wherein, after mentioning the story of Madoc, he has these words: "This account has at different times drawn the attention of the world; but, as no vestiges of them [the Welsh] had then been found, it was concluded, perhaps too rashly, to be a fable,—at least, that no remains of the colony existed. But of late years the Western settlers have received frequent accounts of a nation at a great distance up the Missouri (a branch of the Mississippi) in manners and appearance resembling other Indians, but speaking Welsh and retaining some ceremonies of the Christian worship; and at length this is universally believed to be fact. Captain Abraham Chaplain, a gentleman whose veracity may be entirely depended upon, assured me that in the late war, being with his company in garrison at Kaskaskia, some Indians came there, and, speaking the Welsh language, were perfectly understood, and conversed with two Welshmen in his company, and that they informed them of their situation as mentioned above." Mr. Filson then continues: "That there are remains in Kentucky which prove that the country was formerly inhabited by a nation farther advanced in the arts of life than the Indians, and that these are usually attributed to the Welsh, who are supposed formerly to have inhabited these parts; that a great number of regular intrenchments are found there, and ancient fortifications with ditches and bastions,—one in particular containing about six acres of land, and others three acres; that pieces of earthenware were plowed up, a manufacture the Indians were never acquainted with."
About the time Mr. Filson's pamphlet appeared, Rev. Mr. Rankin, a resident of Kentucky, told William Owen, of London, that it was certain that a tribe or tribes of Welsh Indians then existed far westward, and that a vast uncultivated hunting-ground intervened, through which it was dangerous to pass, because of the depredations of the wild Indians, who destroyed everything that came in their way. He declared that there were unmistakable evidences of their formerly having occupied the country about Kentucky, such as wells dug which remained unfilled, the ruins of buildings, mill-stones, implements of iron, ornaments, etc.
The statements of these early writers have been abundantly confirmed, respecting the existence of monumental remains and traces of civilized life, by the patient explorations of such workers as Schoolcraft, Squier, Davis, Pidgeon, and others, who have opened up many of these half-concealed monuments and disclosed their contents. Squier, in speaking of those found along the Ohio Valley, says, "The British Islands only afford works with which any comparison can safely be instituted. The 'ring-forts' of the ancient Celts are nearly identical in form and structure with a large class of remains in our own country." The same author has given some deeply interesting accounts in his "Aboriginal Monuments" of his explorations of mounds, his finding human skeletons in rude frame-works of timber, instruments and ornaments of silver, copper, stone, and bone, sculptures of the human head, pottery of various kinds, and a large number of articles, some of which evince great skill in art. He says, "In every instance falling within our observation, the skeleton has been so much decayed that any attempt to restore the skull, or indeed any portion of it, was hopeless. Considering that the earth around these skeletons is wonderfully compact and dry, and that the conditions for their preservation were exceedingly favorable, while in fact they are so much decayed, we may form some estimate of their remote antiquity. In the barrows and cromlechs of the ancient Britons, entire and well-preserved skeletons are found, although having an undoubted antiquity of eighteen hundred years." There is, however, no safe rule by which to judge the antiquity of human skeletons by the surroundings. Some have been kept in a wonderful state of preservation under apparently the least favorable conditions, while others have crumbled to dust when it was thought they ought to have been preserved.
It must be borne in mind that these mounds bear no resemblance to Indian burying-grounds. They are the sepulchres of a superior people.
In 1844 a gentleman in Ohio sent to the librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, a cross, the emblem of the Christian faith. It was made of silver, and was about two and a half inches long. It was found on the breast of a female skeleton which was dug from a mound at Columbus, over which a forest of trees had grown. On this cross the capital letters I. S. are perfectly visible. These initials are interpreted to mean the sacred name, Iesus Salvator.
A relic which obtained great celebrity some years ago, and which is now in the possession of some person in Richmond, Virginia, was found at Grave Creek, Virginia, near the Ohio, in the upper vault of the celebrated mound there. The attention of the learned world was brought to it by Mr. Schoolcraft, who made a correct drawing and published it. The mound went by the suggestive name of "The Grave." It was pointed out to travellers on the Ohio, and was frequently visited. Dates were cut upon the trees surmounting it as early as 1734. The relic was found, with other things, by the side of some skeletons. It is nearly circular in form, and composed of a compact sandstone of a light color. The inscription upon it runs in three parallel lines, and comprises twenty-four distinct characters, having at the bottom a hieroglyphic or ideographic sign. It has been subjected to the studious scrutiny of many learned men, with various results. The most of the characters have been decided to be Celtic or old British; and therefore they afford some clue as to the origin of the relic itself. The very fact of these characters being alphabetical indicates that the inscription was made by those of European origin.
What, then, is the conclusion? That it was inscribed by those who understood the old British or Welsh language, who occupied the valley of the Ohio centuries ago, and who were the followers or descendants of Madoc.
Some years ago, a circular plate, made of copper and overlaid with a thick plate of silver on one side, was found near the city of Marietta, Ohio. The copper was nearly reduced to an oxide, or rust. The silver was black, but could be brightened by being rubbed. A small piece of leather was inserted between the two plates of silver and copper, and both held together with a central rivet. This relic exactly resembled the bosses or ornaments appended to the belt of the broadsword of the ancient Briton or Welshman. It lay on the face of the skeleton, preserving the bone, as it did the leather and the lint or flax around the rivet. Near the body was found a plate of silver, six inches long and two in breadth, and weighing one ounce. There were also several pieces of a copper tube, filled with rust.
These are supposed to have belonged to the equipage of a sword; though nothing but iron rust could be found to answer for such a weapon. Near the feet of the skeleton was a copper plumb, of about three ounces' weight, and resembling an ordinary clock-weight.
The construction of the earthen defences found in the valley of the Ohio and along the Mississippi evinces that those who erected them had great proficiency in engineering and military skill. They comprised all the parts of a systematic defence,—walls, ramparts, fosses, intrenchments, and even the lookout, corresponding to the barbican in the British system of the Middle Ages. So that it may be asked, in the language of Dr. S. P. Hildreth, a zealous antiquarian of Marietta, Ohio, "Of what age, or of what nation, was this race that once inhabited the territory drained by the Ohio? From what we see of their works, they must have been acquainted with some of the fine arts and sciences. They have left us perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons, parallel lines, on a grand and noble scale; and, unless it can be proved that they had intercourse with Asia or Europe, we must attribute to them the art of working metals."
But the red race knew nothing of the art or science of smelting raw ores. Their copper instruments were beaten into shape from the native metal, and these at best were very rare and rude. The hundreds and thousands of relics in the various metals, many curiously finished, found in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, in mounds and caves, must, therefore, be the product of another people. Nor is it necessary to go back to dim or immemorial ages to account for their origin.
The Welsh are the best miners and workers in metals in the world. The Phœnicians carried on a large trade in the metals with the inhabitants of the British Isles centuries before the Christian era, and their mines of iron, copper, tin, etc., have since enriched the British Empire.
The mines of the Upper Lake regions were doubtless worked by the Welsh in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, all the evidences seeming to allow four or five hundred years since their opening. Old trees showing three hundred and ninety-five rings of annual growth have been found standing among the débris at the surface of some of these mines. Huge chunks of copper, in some cases weighing six tons, have been lifted out of their beds by finished tools and mining appliances.
Wooden frame-works and skids have been found, which were made with sharp-edged instruments, but upon being exposed to the air have turned to dust. It is thought that the area covered by the ancient works in the Lake Superior region is more extensive than that which includes the modern mines, but that the forests have overgrown and conceal from view the excavations. Of course a considerable period elapsed after the Welsh occupied the Ohio valley before they and those with whom they became incorporated penetrated so far northward to work these mines. Most of the relics which have been discovered in the mounds were, in all probability, made from the metals of that region. Colonel Whittlesey, who is an authority on this subject, thinks that the miners "went up from the settlements farther south in the summers, remained in the copper regions through the season, and worked the mines in organized companies until the advance of winter terminated their operations. As they were more advanced in civilization than the aborigines, they probably had better means of transportation than bark canoes."
In the enthusiasm of antiquarian research, many have been led to assign too great an age to the earthen defences and mounds of our country. The Cardiff Giant was pronounced, with scholarly awe, to be a fine specimen of an extinct race which trod this earth thousands of years before Adam drew breath, but was subsequently discovered to have been made from a chunk of gypsum taken from a quarry in Iowa. The remains of Fort Necessity, erected to cover the retreat of Braddock's defeated army, now wear such an antiquarian aspect that if there were no historical data respecting them they would be classed with the mounds. So with Forts Hamilton and Meigs, on the Miami and Maumee Rivers, and others, constructed only about one hundred years ago. When native forest trees are cleared away and the soil is turned over for the purpose of embankments, a new growth of vegetation is quickly started.
Some years ago, a large oak was cut down in Lyons, New York, and on its being sawed there were found near the centre the marks of an axe. On counting the concentric circles, it was discovered that four hundred and sixty had been formed since the cutting was made. The block was brought to Newark and exhibited in a hotel there. All who saw it declared that the work had been done with an edged tool.
The trees covering the mounds in Wyoming, as described by Chapman, had annular rings numbering from six to seven hundred. President Harrison observed that it would take the trees, growing where a forest was cut down fifty years since, five hundred years to equal in height the surrounding woods; and that a forest of the largest trees at the mouth of the Great Miami, consisting of fifteen acres, covers the ruins left by former races.
It is worthy of notice, too, that the age of the trees found standing on these ancient fortifications and mounds, and the number of their annular circles, diminish with striking regularity in the ratio of their distance from the eastern coast. The first found reach as high a number as seven hundred; then, decreasing, they are found in Ohio with from four hundred to five hundred; and then in the copper regions of Lake Superior with from three hundred and fifty to four hundred annular rings. Comparing these figures with the time (1170) when Madoc and his followers landed on this continent, and allowing for their progress into the interior such reasonable periods as their peculiar circumstances demanded, adding also whatever other proofs have been adduced, scarcely a single doubt can linger in the mind of the candid inquirer as to the origin of these earthen defences and mounds, the removal of the native forests, the working of the mines, and the many relics unearthed.
If it be objected that a small band of a few hundreds could not cover so much territory or accomplish so much work, it may be said, in reply, that one century alone offers sufficient time for the achievement of wonders. Under favorable conditions peoples multiply rapidly. Surrounded as the Welsh were with populous tribes of red men, they affiliated with some of them for self-protection and aid, and degraded remnants of them are found at the present time in different parts of the far West.