312. Edit. 1788.]

[Footnote cc: Herbert's Travels, p. 394, &c. The Differences we
find between the Writers who have mentioned prince Madog's Voyages,
seem to imply that they derived their Information form different
Sources.]

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.