“This Madoc arriving in that westerne countrie, unto the which he came, in the year 1170, left most of his people there:  and returning backe for more of his owne nation, acquaintance and freends, to inhabite that faire and large countrie:  went thither againe with ten sailes, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen.  I am of opinion that the land, wherevnto he came, was some part of Mexico:”  etc.—­David Powel, S.T.P., note in The historie of Cambria, 1584. 4 deg.. p. 229.

    [The learned Powel relies on the authority of the poet Gutyn
    Owen.  “He wrote,” says W. Owen, “between A.D. 1460 and
    1490”—­three centuries after the event in question!]

    Ethnographic evidence.

“They came [anno 1536] to part of the West Indies about Cape Breton, shaping their course thence north-eastwards, vntill they camme to the Island of Penguin,” etc.—­The voyage of master Hore, in The principall navigations, etc. 1589.  Fol.

[Antiquaries consider the mention of Cape Breton and Penguin Island as evidence.  It cannot prove much, as the particulars were not committed to writing till about half-a-century after the voyage.]

“There is also another kinde of foule in that countrey [between the Gulf of Mexico and Cape Breton] ... they have white heads, and therefore the country men call them penguins (which seemeth to be a Welsh nanme).  And they have also in use divers other Welsh words, a matter worthy the noting.”—­The relation of David Ingram, 1568. in The principall navigations, etc. 1589.  Fol.

    [This narrative was compiled from answers to certain
    queries—­perhaps twenty years after the events related.]

“Afterwards [anno 1669] they [The Doeg Indians] carried us to their town, and entertained us civilly for four months; and I did converse with them of many things in the British tongue, and did preach to them three times a week in the British tongue,” etc.  Rev. Morgan Jones, 1686.—­British Remains, 1777. 8 deg..

    [The editor omits to state how he procured the manuscript.  The
    paper whence the above is extracted is either decisive of the
    question at issue, or a forgery.]

The student may infer, even from these imperfect hints, that I consider the subject which he proposes to himself as one which deserves a strict investigation—­provided the collections hereafter described have ceased to be in existence.

“With respect to this extraordinary occurence in the history of Wales, I have collected a multitude of evidences, in conjunction with Edward Williams, the bard, to prove that Madog must have reached the American continent; for the descendants of him and his followers exist there as a nation to this day; and the present position of which is on the southern branches of the Missouri river, under the appellations of Padoucas, White Indians, Civilized Indians, and Welsh Indians.”—­William Owen, F.A.S. 1803.

The title prefixed to this paper would be a misnomer, if I did not add a list of books which it may be desirable to consult:—­