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 :^y!^n^i&n ^vctiaioloQ^ 
 
 THE • PRE-COLUMBIAN 
 VOYAGES ' OF • THE 
 WELSH • TO • AMERICA. 
 
 Antiquities or Keiiuiants of History, are, as said, Tanquam Tabula naufrayii. 
 like planks of a shipwreck, when industrious persons, by an exact and scrupu- 
 lous diligence and observation, out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, tradi- 
 tions, private records and evidences, fragments of stones, passages of books that 
 concern not story, and the like, do save and recover somewhat from the deluge 
 of time. — Advaummcnt of Learning. 
 
 By B. F. De COSTA 
 
 ALBANY: 
 JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS 
 1891 . 
 
74068 
 
 PRESS OF DAVID CLAPP & SON, 
 BOSTON. 
 
TO THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF 
 
 ne w york city, 
 
 Whose Ancestors sailed upon the Western Ocean, 
 
 following close in the track op the northmen, 
 
 and long preceding the 
 
 Earliest Navigators op England, Portugal and Spain, 
 
 and whose more immediate progenitors 
 
 performed so large a part, 
 
 BOTH AS Statesmen and Soldiers, 
 
 IN LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, 
 
 WHICH, BY THEIR PATRIOTIC ENDEAVORS 
 
 AND WISE DEVOTION 
 
 TO Moral, Educational and Religious Interests, 
 
 THEY ARE NOW DOING SO MUCH TO PERPETUATE, 
 THIS VERY INSUFFICIENT EsSAY 
 
 ON THE Pre-Columbian Voyages of the Welsh 
 
 IS 
 
THE 
 
 PRE-COLUMBIAIS^ VOYAGES OF THE WELSH 
 
 TO AMERICA. 
 
 The alleged voyages to America by the Welsh, set down 
 near the year 1170, form a subject that has never received the 
 attention to which it is entitled by American writers, while in Great 
 Britain it has not been treated with anything like justice. No 
 monograph of a really meritorious or exhaustive character has ever 
 been devoted to this important theme either in Europe or America. 
 Superficial sketches are certainly not wanting, while the alleged 
 voyage has often been referred to in historical and general works, 
 and the probabilities of the case have sometimes been discussed. 
 Comparatively little historical criticism, however, has been applied 
 to the voyage of Madoc, son of the Prince of Wales, while, as if by 
 some kind of an understanding, the most of that class of writers who, 
 with good reason, might have been expected to have studied the 
 subject with care, have either ignored the voyage, or contented 
 themselves with a few irrelevant remarks which serve to show that, 
 in reality, they were unacquainted with the merits of the case. 
 
 Justice requires us to point out that one cause of this neglect may 
 be found in the fact that the discussion with regard to the voyages 
 of the Northmen to America, which began with the opening of the 
 eleventh century, had the prior claim to notice, being superior both 
 in interest and importance, and quite overshadowing the modest 
 claim of the Welsh. The Northmen, for more than half a century 
 last past, have largely monopolized the attention of many inquirers 
 concerning the Pre-Columbian History of America. On the other 
 hand, injudicious advocates of the Welsh have done much to create 
 prejudice and distrust. It is not improbable, too, that Southey, by 
 his poem of " Madoc," did considerable to convey the impression 
 that the subject was really a theme quite removed from the sphere 
 of veritable history. 
 
4 
 
 The present, however, would appear to be a favorable time for 
 the reopening of the discussion, since the voyages of the Northmen 
 are now substantially accepted, and the Sagas are received as 
 genuine histories. Indeed there should never have been any doubt 
 on this point. Critics like Alexander Von Humboldt did not doubt, 
 even at the outset. That great investigator frankly accepted the 
 records, and was of opinion that the scene of the Northmen's exploits 
 was to be found on the coast of New England. George Bancroft, 
 on the contrary, taught for about half a century, in the various edi- 
 tion of his History of the United States, that the Icelandic records 
 were " mythological in form and obscure in meaning," but in the 
 edition of his work published in 1883, he dropped all reference to 
 the subject, and has since had the frankness to admit that, in taking 
 that view of the subject, he fell into error. The conviction of the 
 great proportion of students, especially in Europe, is now so clear 
 and decided with regard to the reality of these voyages and the 
 historical character of the narratives, that few persons will be likely 
 to concern themselves much in the future with regard to objections 
 that may be urged. The way, therefore, is now open for the dis- 
 cussion of the claims of the Welsh, as Pre-Columbian voyagers to 
 the shores of North America. One may come to this discussion 
 with the more confidence, for the reason that old time prejudice is 
 dying out, and that every year there are fewer to be found, who ask 
 with the irony of Imogen : 
 
 " Prithee, think 
 There's livers out of Britain ? " 
 
 In opening this discussion, therefore, we may well quote some 
 observations by Humboldt, who, speaking of the "obscurity which 
 still shrouds the voyage of the Gaelic Chief Madoc," to "a Western 
 Land, 1170," observes : 
 
 "It is much to be desired that, in our days, when a sound and 
 severe spirit of criticism, devoid of a character of contempt, pre- 
 vails, the old investigations of Powell and Kichard Hakluyt might 
 be resumed in England and Ireland." Continuing, he says, "I do 
 not participate in the rejecting spirit which has, but too often, thrown 
 popular tradition into obscurity, but I am, on the contrary, firmly 
 persuaded that, by a greater diligence and perseverance, many of 
 the historical problems which relate to the maritime expeditions of 
 the early part of the middle ages * * * will one day be cleared by 
 the discovery of facts with which we have hitherto been entirely un- 
 acquainted." 
 
 Let us now proceed to inquire upon what the claim of the Welsh 
 to Pre-Columbian enterprise in America is founded? It will be 
 noticed that we do not say, the Pre-Columbian Discovery of America. 
 Unlike the Northmen, the ancient Welsh did not even claim the 
 discovery of "New Lands." The discoveries of the Northmen 
 formed a somewhat great surprise in Iceland and Scandinavia, but 
 
they did not suppose for a moment that they had found a new 
 Continent. On the contrary, they believed that the New Lands at 
 the West formed an arm of Europe, stretching around the pohxr 
 region from Norway to Greenland, extending thence indefinitely 
 southward. Still they knew nothing of our land until Biarne, when 
 sailing for Greenland, was blown upon the coast. The Welsh, on 
 the contrary, did not exhibit surprise on reaching a land at the west. 
 In fact, evei-ything would seem to indicate that they knew of that 
 land, probably by contact with the Northmen, and that Madoc sailed 
 expecting to reach some part of the region known as Vinland. 
 Ninety-five years before the voyage of Madoc, Adam of Bremen, 
 after a visit to Denmark, wrote that " a region had been discovered 
 by many in that [Western] Ocean, which was called Winland, be- 
 cause vines grow there spontaneously, making excellent wine ; for 
 that fruits, not planted, grow there of their own accord we know, 
 not by false rumors, but by certain testimony of the Danes," which is 
 in accord with the pleasant and fruitful countries reported by Madoc. 
 The proof upon which the voyages of Madoc to the New Woi'ld 
 rest, may be divided into two parts, taken respectively from Pre- 
 Columbian and Post-Columbian sources. First, we give the Pre- 
 Columbian statements taken from the Welsh Bards and Chroniclers, 
 though it may be proper to preface our quotations with a few re- 
 marks concerning the ancient literature of the Welsh, which carries 
 us back to a period before the Christian era. 
 
 With the introduction of Christianity into Wales, where the wor- 
 ship of Christ was established under an Episcopal Church govern- 
 ment, long before the Roman missionaries turned their steps towards 
 Great Britain, letters were cultivated and oral poetry and traditions 
 were committed to writing, the Bards assuming a high position in 
 the nation. These bards were not musical vagrants, roving, harp 
 in hand, through the country side, singing songs for what they could 
 pick up. The poet and the harpist formed separate offices, and 
 while some poets were skilled in the use of this instrument, others 
 were not, while many compositions were not adapted to musical ex- 
 pression. Besides, as fully recognized by scholars like Sharon 
 Turner, the verses of the bards had other uses, being more or less 
 of a historic character, and preserving important facts in British 
 history. The poetry of the ancient Welsh did not possess the won- 
 derful characteristics of Icelandic verse, nor did the Welsh cultivate 
 prose in proportion to verse. Indeed, Icelanders were the first of 
 all European people to produce a high style of original vernacular 
 prose. The Welsh literature cannot take rank with the Icelandic, 
 portions of which, as for instance the Eddas and the Heimskringla, 
 will hold their high place like the productions of Homer and 
 Herodotus, while literature endures. The Icelandic writings, too, 
 have an advantage in their greater popularity, since the most serious 
 efforts have been made to obscure the glory of Welsh literature, to 
 1# 
 
keep it in the background, and even destroy it, the Bards at one j 
 time being considered as politically dangerous. Hence it cost a 
 severe effort to bring out that great collection of Welsh literature, 
 "Myvyrian Archaiology," in three royal octavo volumes, forming an 
 imperishable monument of Welsh industry and genius. Yet, not- 
 withstanding the extent of this collection, taken together with a 
 large quantity of unpublished material, it may truly be said that we 
 now possess only a comparatively small portion of the ancient 
 writings, many of which were destroyed by vandals, while fire and 
 neglect have largely supplemented other destructive agents. The 
 subject of Madoc must have engaged the attention of many poets 
 and chroniclers, for it would be idle to suppose that the few scraps 
 that remain are all that were ever written. Let us, however, turn 
 to these surviving fragments and observe their bearing upon what 
 later writers have laid down with respect to the Western voyages of 
 the Welsh chief. 
 
 The first authority to be quoted is Lywarch ab Llwelyn, who 
 flourished at the close of the thirteenth century. Speaking, evidently, 
 of the two brothers, Hyvval and Madoc, he says : 
 
 " Two princes of strong passions broke oifin wrath, 
 
 The multitude of the earth did not love them ; 
 One on land in Avron allaying ambition, 
 
 And another, a placid one, on the bosom of the vast ocean, 
 In trouble great and immeasurable, 
 
 Prowling after a possession easily guarded, 
 Estranged from every one for a country." 
 
 This translation, from Stephens's ^^ Literature of the Cymry^^ 
 (II. §2), is accepted as literal, and, like thereat of his translations, 
 it is considered by judges entirely reliable, conveying both the letter 
 and the spirit of the text. The original is found in " Myvyrian 
 Archaiology" (I. 283). 
 
 We have here the picture of a sea rover, whose story was well 
 known by the people, who would at once recognize its faithfulness ; 
 while the incidental character of the reference renders it all the more 
 valuable. The same Bard makes an additional allusion to Madoc, 
 where, speaking of the latter's brother lorworth, he says that 
 lor worth met the Saxons by Llanwynwry's Lake, and describes him as 
 
 "Nephew of Madoc, whom we more and more 
 Lament that he is gone ." 
 
 That " Madoc disappeared from his native country," Stephens, a 
 hostile and able critic, frankly admits as "proved beyond a doubt." 
 This appears, he says, from the poem of "The Hot Iron," which 
 give^ an account of the trial of one who was accused of having 
 murdered the sea rover. The accused says : 
 
 " Good iron ! exonerate me 
 
 From the charge of having slain Madoc, 
 And show that he who slew the fair Prince 
 Shall have no part of heaven." 3Iyr. Archaiol. I. 289. 
 
Madoc son of Gvvynedd is not to be confounded with that Madoc 
 who, in 1180, was slain by Thomas, his drunken brother. 
 
 A later Bard, Meredydd ab Rhys, who wrote about the year 
 1440, also shows distinctly that Madoc was a sea rover : 
 
 " Madoc am I who through my life 
 By set. will seek my wonted prey." 
 
 In the 1583 edition of Hakluyt's Voyages there are found some 
 ancient lines which, the author says, " I received of my learned friend, 
 Mr. William Camden." The English version runs : 
 
 " Madoc I am the sonue of Oweu Gwynedd, 
 
 "With stature large aud comely grace adorned ; 
 
 No laud at home, nor store of wealth me please, 
 
 My mind was whole to search the ocean seas." 
 
 Camden evidently drew the lines from Rhys. At the period when 
 the latter wrote, the accused man had been exonerated from the 
 murder of Madoc, and it was concluded that the adventurer had lost 
 his life on the sea, which may have been the case, as we do not 
 know the result of his last western voyage. The poet, Cynddelu, 
 who lived about the time of Llywelen, wrote : 
 
 "And is not Madoc by the whelming wave 
 
 Slain? How I sorrow for the helpful friend ! — 
 Even in battle he was free from hate, 
 Yet not in vain grasped he the warrior's spear." 
 
 But now, whither did Madoc sail, and what land beyond the 
 sea did he make the scene of enterprise ? In partial reply we may 
 quote the Pre-Columbian Genealogies compiled by levan Brecva, 
 which say that " Madoc and Riryd found land far in the west and 
 settled there." William Owen, in the " Cambrian Biography " 
 (p. 233), says that the expedition is recorded in a book of pedigrees 
 by Brecva, written about the year 1466. This is supported by 
 Guttyn Owain, a distinguished poet and genealogist who wrote be- 
 tween 1460 and 1490. 
 
 But we must quote here from the ancient Triad of the " Three 
 Disappearances,^' ionndi in ^^ Oambi'O-Briton" (Vol. I. 1820, p. 
 123), which makes the third remarkable Disappearance, that of 
 " Madawg, son of Owain Gwynedd, who, accompanied by three 
 hundred men, went to sea in ten ships, and it is not known to what 
 place they went." 
 
 We should not hesitate to consider such testimonies, because they 
 are associated with some things that are marvellous. Discrimination 
 must be used. The essential fact given in the Triad is, that Madoc 
 went to sea with ten ships. The writer did not know the exact 
 destination of the fleet. The point he makes is, that the disappear- 
 ance of Madoc and his fleet was a remarkable occurrence. This is 
 all that he wanted to convey. He was not writing to convince any- 
 one that an enterprise was undertaken. He had no interest in show- 
 ins: that the Welsh knew of a sreat land in the West. The fact 
 
8 
 
 was of no account at that period. He was simply writing a Triad. 
 Madoc's well-known case formed one side of the triangle. We 
 should simply try to put ourselves back in the age when the Triad 
 was written, and feel its force as a testimony to the voyage of Madoc 
 upon the Atlantic. 
 
 These testimonies are of more consequence than, possibly, they 
 may appear at the outset. Carefully considered, it will be evident 
 that they cover six important points : 
 
 1. That there was a well-knowa historic person named Madoc, the son 
 of Gwyoedd, Priuce of AVales. 
 
 2. That he was a sailor, whose natural disposition drew him to adven- 
 tures on the sea. 
 
 3. That this Madoc made westward voyaoes on the Atlantic. 
 
 4. That after the first voyage, upon which he embarked more or less 
 secretly, he was supposed to have been murdered, while, on trial, the 
 accused man was cleared. 
 
 5. That he reappeared in Wales, raised a company of three hundred 
 men and women, embarking the company in ten ships, with the intention of 
 returning to the site of his colony. 
 
 6. That he sailed westward for the purpose of founding a colony and 
 never returned. 
 
 These are statements that antedate the voyage of Columbus, and 
 come down to us from a period when discoveries on the Atlantic 
 were viewed with general indifference by the Welsh, who found 
 such matters of interest only in the incidental manner pointed out, 
 while no glory was ever claimed in connection with Madoc's enter- 
 prise, the genealogist and poet being concerned only in the melan- 
 choly result. This is testimony of a kind that must inevitably have 
 force with minds accustomed to weigh historic evidence. 
 
 We now turn to the Post-Columbian proof. First of all, we find 
 Powell adding to our facts, and showing the course taken by Madoc 
 on his first voyage, for he " left the coast of Ireland so far north that 
 he came to a land unknown."* Powell gives as his authority (and 
 his statements are accepted by Hakluyt) the Herald Bard, Gutty n 
 Owain, who flourished, as we have seen, before Columbus. This 
 statement attributed to Owain was first published in Post-Columbian 
 times, but there is no sufficient reason for doubting that it was con- 
 tained in some one of the many versions of his works, and was taken 
 thence by Powell, as the latter declares. 
 
 Portions of the narrative given in the notej below are plainly unhis- 
 
 * The use of this word does not interfere with the belief that the Welsh knew of the 
 voyages of the Northmen. Seventeenth century voyagers often spoke in this way of lands 
 already discovered but not explored. 
 
 t Powell's narrative states, as one result of dissension in Wales, during the twelfth cen- 
 tury, that Madoc, son of Owen Gwyneth, "left the land in contention betwixt his brethren 
 and prepared certaine ships, with men and munition, and sought adventure by seas, sailing 
 West, and leaving the coast of Ireland so farre North that he came to a land unknowen, 
 where he saw many strange things." " This Land," Powell illogically says, " must needs 
 be some part of that countrey of which the Spaniards afBrme themselves to be the first 
 finders since Hanno's time. For by reason and order of Cosmographie, this land to which 
 Madoc came, must needs be some parts of Nova Hispania, or Florida. Whereupon it is 
 
torical. The intelligent reader will discover the chafF. It should 
 be observed, however, that this particular narrative has been made 
 the subject of numerous sketches, superficial articles, by writers in- 
 capable of perceiving what was required of a critic, and who, after 
 despatching the Mexican allusions, have fondly regai'ded the claims 
 of the Welsh as laid to rest. It will be necessary, however, to 
 separate what is mere conjecture from what is supported by solid 
 testimony, and especially that testimony which is drawn from 
 ancient writings. The study of Mexican antiquities long ago per- 
 suaded the historical world that the use of the Cross had no necessary^ 
 connection with Christianity. The forced interpretation of the facts 
 by Powell grew out of the desire to antedate the Spanish claim to 
 the New World. The struggle between England and Spain was 
 coming on apace. The Armada was already foreshadowed, and men 
 were ready for any pretext to urge against Spain. Powell, howev- 
 er, made a poor use of the facts, and would have done the Welsh a ser- 
 vice if he had abstained from speculation, since, by false deductions, 
 he prejudiced a large number of writers against the whole subject. 
 
 We have now to turn to another Post-Columbian writer. In 
 1634, Sir Thomas Herbert published, " A Melation of Some yeares 
 Travaile" in which (p. 217) he gives additional particulars relating 
 to the voyage of Madoc, saying that Madoc "put to sea from 
 Abergwilley," that " after some weeks sailing due west he descried 
 land, probably New Foundland ; but whatever it was, it overjoyed 
 him." He continues, "Madoc then ranged the coast .... fixed on 
 a spot to form his intended settlement. After he had stayed there 
 awhile to recruit the health of his men, he fortified his settlement 
 and left 120 there to protect it." Eeturning to Wales, he organized 
 a second expedition and went back with his ten ships, and found 
 " few of those whom he had left remaining," but, with the help of 
 
 manifest that that countrey was long before by Britahie discovered, afore either Columbus 
 or Americus Vesputius led any Spaniards thither." 
 
 " Of the Voyage and retui'ne of this Madoc," Powell says, "there may be fables fiiined as 
 the common people do use in distance of place and length of time rather to augment than 
 to diminish, but sure it is that he was there. And after he had returned home, and de- 
 clared the pleasant and fruitful countreys that he had seen without inhabitants, and upon 
 the contrary part, for what barren and wilde ground his brethren and nephews did murther 
 one another, he prepared a number of shippes, and got with himsuch men and women as 
 were desirous to live in quietness,^ and taking leave of his friends tooke his journey thither- 
 ward again. Therefore it is to be presupposed that he and his people inhabited part of 
 those countreys, for so it appeareth by Francis Lopez de Gomara, that in Acwzanid and iu 
 other places the people honored the crosse. Whereby it may lie gathered that Christians 
 had beene there before the coming of the Spaniards. But ))ecause these people were not 
 many they followed the manners of the Land they came vnto, and used the language they 
 found there. This Madoc, arriving in that western countrey, vnto which he came in the 
 yeere 1170, left most of his people there, and returning back for more of his own nation, 
 acquaintance and friends to inhaljit that fayre and large countrey, went thither again with 
 ten sailes, as I find noted by Gutten Owen. I am of opinion," adds the writer, with 
 little judgment, " that the land whereunto he came was near some port of Mexico. The 
 causes which make me to think so be these. 1. The common report of the inhabitants of 
 that countrey, which affirm that theyr rulers descended from a strange nation that came 
 thither fi'om a farre countrey, which theory is confessed by Montezuma, King of that 
 countrey, in an oration made for quieting his people, at his submission to the King of 
 
 Castile, Hernano Cortes being then present 2. The British words and names of places 
 
 used in that country, etc." 
 
10 
 
 his brothers Eneon and Edwal, put things once more in good order, 
 and remained there some time, expecting the arrival of more of their 
 countrymen .... but they never came, and caused grievous disap- 
 pointment," as the wars in Wales prevented further help. For 
 authorities he refers to " Cynwric ab Grono, Meredydd ab Rhys, 
 Guttain Ovvain, Lloyd, Hov^^ell, Prys [Rhys?J, Hackluit, Brough- 
 ton, Purchas, Davy and others." 
 
 On this it may be observed, first, that, in the time of Herbert, 
 the interest in the subject of America had increased, and that, vi^hile 
 this would tend to the amplification of facts, and the exercise of 
 imagination, it would, at the same time, lead to inquiry among the 
 Welsh for additional information. Herbert, indeed, produces an 
 additional name, in the Pre-Columbian Bard, Cynwric ab Grono. 
 Why, therefore, should not Sir Thomas be credited when he tells 
 us that he found new matter respecting the voyage? It is a fact, 
 that he had access to the finest and by far the most valuable collec- 
 tion of ancient Welsh manuscripts ever brought together, that of 
 Rhaglan Castle, collected by his relation, the distinguished Earl of 
 Pembroke. Why are not these ancient testimonies produced? In 
 reply, it may be said that Rhaglan Castle, one of the first of British 
 Castles, was destroyed during the Cromwellian Wars. 
 
 No one has yet produced any real reason for questioning the 
 veracity of Sir Thomas Herbert, and the only course open to the 
 average mind among the promiscuous eulogists of Columbus, who 
 do not understand the real merits of the Genoese and are bitter 
 against all Pre-Columbian adven turerson the high seas, is to employ 
 the common, if not convincing argument, and to declare, in the 
 terms of the unhistorical class to which they belong, that Sir 
 Thomas Herbert falsified. 
 
 As it remains, however, no one has yet shown a shadow of a 
 reason for questioning Herbert's veracity, though we may properly 
 criticize the use he made of his material ; for certainly Madoc sailed 
 from Wales. That fact is indisputable, and he must have sailed 
 from some port. That the name of the port lingered in tradition, 
 being preserved in some one of the many Rhaglan manuscripts, 
 is very likely, and it is not at all unlikely that Sir Thomas should dis-. 
 cover that the name of the port was Abergwilley. At least he says 
 so, and it is the business of the critic, in the absence of Sir Thomas 
 himself, to prove that it is false, which cannot be done simply by 
 declaring it false. That the Welsh adventurer should have built a 
 fort in the land to which he sailed is not very remarkable. There 
 were doubtless more things in the Rhaglan archives than are just 
 now dreampt of in our histories, and doubtless the fuller story of 
 Madoc's voyage was preserved there in chronicles, which, together 
 with many precious historical treasures, perished by fire. Indeed 
 the wholesale destruction of Welsh manuscript in many parts of 
 Great Britain is simply deplorable. At one time for instance nearly 
 
11 
 
 a hundred copies of the Chronicle of Caradoc existed in manuscript, 
 but now nearly all have disappeared. This is not very surprising, 
 however, when we consider the fact that no copy of the earliest edi- 
 tions of the New Engla,nd Primer is known, though the book was 
 one scattered abroad as thickly as the leaves in Vallambrosa. 
 Under the circumstances, considering the indifference of the Welsh 
 towards the early voyages, how poor would be the chance for the 
 perservation of the story of Madoc. The possibility, nevertheless, 
 is, that the class of partisan writers, who are unable to make the 
 noble Columbus appear as great as they wish, will continue to reflect 
 upon Sir Thomas Herbert, who was an upright man and a diligent 
 student of the Welsh language and literature. 
 
 It is true that the voyage is not mentioned by Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, who lived at the period of Madoc, but, like most writers of his 
 class, he cared nothing about such subjects. It is also true, that the 
 voyage is not mentioned in any copy of Guttyn Owain now accessi- 
 ble ; but it is also a fact, that no two copies of these old narratives 
 were alike, being furnished by the author at different periods, and 
 for different persons and places, a book written out in old age being 
 entirely different from the history of the same subject in early years. 
 Whether Guttyn mentioned Madoc in one of his earlier or one of his 
 later compositions, it is impossible to say, but the variety in the 
 manuscripts is nevertheless pointed out and dwelt upon in " Myvy- 
 rian Archaiology " though not with the slightest reference to the 
 voyage of Madoc. Still the remarks of the learned editor apply, 
 and throw light upon the fact, that the present version of Guttyn 
 Owain is defective as respects Madoc. An illustration of these re- 
 marks will be had by comparing the last edition of Bancroft's " His- 
 tory " with that of half a century ago. Various voyages have dis- 
 appeared, and new adventures appear in the place of the old ; and 
 when the early editions have actually been worn out, or have dis- 
 appeared, as may actually prove to be the case and at no distant 
 period, some one may take up a recent edition, and declare that 
 Bancroft never wrote a word about the Northmen. 
 
 Here, for the present, at least, we rest the case, presenting the 
 subject as one worthy of study and consideration, and one, more- 
 over, that may richly reward the explorer of the unpublished ancient 
 Welsh manuscripts that may still lie neglected in obscure niches 
 among the mountains and in the seaport towns of beautiful Wales. 
 
 The subject, however, should not be left before we emphasize an 
 important fact, namely, that, for the sake of the argument, the Post- 
 Columbian authorities could be left out, since even then there would 
 be solid ground for the probability of Madoc's voyage. This, how- 
 ever, would be unfair, alike to history and to Lloyd and Powell, as 
 well as to Sir Thomas Herbert. These men were scholars of emi- 
 nence and of high character. Their integrity has been impeached simply 
 with sneers. Fair minded men, therefore, in the present stage of 
 
 Lire. 
 
12 
 
 the discussion, must give these writers due credit, and Herbert 
 especially must be believed, when he says that he found in the old 
 Chronicles, which were open to him at Rhaglan Castle, the fact 
 that Madoc sailed west from Abergwilly and built a fort in the land 
 beyond the sea, where he planted a colony. About all that can be 
 said in reply, is that " Columbus discovered America," wbieit is a 
 statement that has had its day ; while it is equally clear, that the 
 real claims of Columbus, when understood, will require no dispar- 
 agement of voyages made by earlier navigators. 
 
 Note. — The question relating to traces of a Welsh occupation, said to 
 have been found among the American Indians, especially as set forth by Catlin, 
 has been avoided purposely, requiring, as it does, a treatment that the Author 
 cannot at present undertake. The Author's thanks are due to Mr. Henry Black- 
 well for the free use of his library, which contains some two thousand titles 
 relating to the Welsh; also to Justin Winsor, LL.D., Harvard College Library. 
 
 Kevised and reprinted from the New-England Historical and Genealogical Register for 
 January, 1891. 
 
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