The Language and Customs of the Indians, will be noticed hereafter.
To these Evidences must be added what the Authors of the universal History, and Dr. Campbell, in his Naval History of Great Britain, have said.
"That the Welsh contributed towards the peopleing of America is intimated by some good Authors, and ought to be considered as a Notion supported by something more than bare Conjectures. Powel, in his History of Wales informs us that a War happening in that Country for the Succession, upon the death of Owen Gwyneth. A. D. 1170, and a Bastard having carried it from his lawful Sons, one of the latter, called, Madog, put to Sea for new Discoveries, and sailing West from Spain, he discovered a New World of wonderful Beauty and Fertility. But finding this uninhabited, upon his return, he carried thither a great Number of People from Wales. To this delightful Country he made three Voyages, according to Hakluyt. The Places he discovered seem to be Virginia, New England, and the adjacent Countries. In Confirmation of this, Peter Martyr says that the Natives of Virginia and Guatimala celebrated the Memory of one Madoc as a great and ancient Hero, and hence it came to pass that Modern Travellers have found several Old British Words among the Inhabitants of North America; Matec Zunga and Mat Inga as being in use among the Guatimallians, in which there is a plain allusion to Madoc, and that with the D softened into T, according to the Welsh manner of pronunciation. Nay, Bishop Nicolson seems to believe that the Welsh Language makes a considerable part of several of the American Tongues. According to a famous British Antiquary, the Spainards borrowed their double L. (LL) from the people of Mexico, who received it from the Welsh; and the Dutch brought a Bird with a white Head from the Streights of Magellan, called by the Natives, Penguin, which word in the Old British (and in Modern British) signifies 'White Head;' and therefore seems Originally to have come from Wales. This must be allowed an additional Argument, to omit others that occur in Favour of Madoc's three American Expeditions."[dd]
[Footnote dd: Universal History. Vol. XX. Dissertion upon the peopling of America, p. 193. Edit. 1748.]
It would hence seem that these Writers were inclined to believe the Tradition concerning Madog; for they say that it is a notion supported by something more than bare Conjectures.
They say also that they have omitted other Arguments in Favour of Madog's Expeditions.
In the British Tongue, the double L (LL) hath a peculiar sound, different from any in other Tongues. It hath been said that in the Spanish it has the same sound. But a Gentleman who understands the Spanish Language informed me that it is not like the Welsh double, LL, though it hath a peculiar sound. However, if the Spanish Tongue hath such a sound, or one near to it, it might have been derived from the Inhabitants of Mexico or Guatimala; for we have very strong reasons to believe that the Descendants of Madog's Colony, spread themselves over a great part of America. But more of this hereafter.
Dr. Campbell in his Naval History agrees with the above Writers, in his general Account, and concludes with these Observations.
"It must be confessed that there is nothing which absolutely fixes this Discovery of America, though it must likewise be owned that the Course before set down might very possibly carry him thither. The great point is to know how far the fact may be depended upon, and in relation to this, I will venture to assert that there are Authentic Records, in the British Tongue, as to this Expedition of Madog's, wherever he went, prior to the Discovery of America by Columbus, and that many probable Arguments may be offered in support of this Notion. That these Britons were the Discoverers of that new World is also true, though at present we have not an Opportunity to insist upon them." And in a Note Mr. Campbell adds, "Meredith ab Reece, a Cambrian Bard, who died in 1477, composed an Ode in his Native Language on this Expedition,[ee] from which the particulars above mentioned are taken, and this was prior to Columbus's Discovery; so that Fact would never have encouraged the framing of this Fable, even supposing it to be so."[ff]
[Footnote ee: This Ode was cited above, p. 13 &c. It was not written on Madog's Expedition, but contains an Allusion to it.]