America Discovered by the Welsh in 1170 A.D.

The etymology of the names of persons, places, and things is a curious subject of inquiry. It is one of the safest guides in an attempt to distinguish the race-differences of a people whose history reaches back to an immemorial era.

The names of Wales and the Welsh are comparatively of recent origin. The Welsh have always called themselves Cymru or Cymry,-Romanized into Cambria or Cambrians. This has been the generic name of the race as far back as any trace can be found of their existence. The Romans changed Gal into Gaul; the Welsh sound u as e: hence they pronounced the Romanized word Gaul as Gael. The Saxons, as was their wont, substituted w for g: hence, as the people of Cambria were esteemed to be analogous to the Gauls, they called their country Waels or Wales, and its people Waelsh or Welsh; and these names have continued to the present time. But this people always have called themselves "Y Cymry," of which the strictly literal meaning is aborigines. They call their language "Y Cymraeg,"-the primitive tongue. Celt, meaning a covert or shelter, and Gaul, meaning an open plain or country, are terms applied to various subdivisions by which the Cymric race have been known. In this connection it may be appropriate to say that the word "Indian" is one that does not apply or belong to the red race of the American Continent, but was used by Columbus, who, anxious to discover the East Indies by a northwest route, imagined that he had reached that country, and called the inhabitants Indians. Subsequent events have proved his mistake. The primitive races of this continent are more properly designated by the word aborigines, as in the case of the Cymry.

Through the rich and copious language and literature of Wales, the student of history is able to gather a vast store of knowledge respecting its inhabitants and their early ancestors. The substantial result arrived at as to their origin and migrations may be briefly stated as follows:

First. That the inhabitants of Wales, known to Homer as the Cimmerii, migrated thither from the great fountain-head of nations,-the land of the Euphrates and Tigris.

Second. That they went in successive bands, each in a more advanced state of civilization than the former.

Third. That they carried with them a peculiar language, peculiar arts and superstitions, marking their settlement on the Island of Britain at a very early period.

Fourth. That their journey through Europe is marked with the vestiges of tumuli, mounds, skulls, rude utensils, ornaments, and geographical names in their language.

The Welsh language is of a pure radical construction, and remarkably free from admixture with other tongues. It is as copious, flexible, and refined as it was two thousand years ago, when it existed alongside the Greek and Latin, both of which it antedates and survives, for it is not, like them, a dead language, but is in living use at the present day in literature, commerce, home, and worship.

"'Dim Saesenaig! Dim Saesenaig!'" exclaimed the astonished Thomas Carlyle, when visiting the vale of Glamorgan, "'Dim Saesenaig!' (No English! No English!) from every dyke-side and house comes. The first thing these poor bodies have to do is to learn English."

Thomas Carlyle was greatly mistaken, if he ever believed that the Welsh would tamely surrender their Cymraeg. It has been the symbol of their unconquerable hope, and they watch with jealous care any inroads made upon it. Upon the principle that might is right, nations have been forced from their own soil, but with a most passionate tenacity they have still clung to their native tongue. True, there have been languages which have become extinct, like the nations which have spoken them, by conquest; but the Welsh continues to exist, because either the people who speak it have never been conquered, or it has proved itself superior to conquest.

Edward the First is supposed to have directed the final blow towards crushing Welsh independence; and yet there is at present preserved in the cathedral of St. Asaph, North Wales, the celebrated Rhuddlan Parliament Stone, on which is written this inscription:

This Fragment is the Remains

Where Edward the First held his

Parliament A.D. 1283; in which the

Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted

Securing to the Principality of Wales

Its Judicial Rights and Independence.

The Welsh have a property in the British Isle which no earthly power can wrest from them. Henry the Second once asked a Welsh chieftain, "Think you the rebels can withstand my army?" He replied, "King, your power may to a certain extent harm and enfeeble this nation, but the anger of God alone can destroy it. Nor do I think in the day of doom any other race than the Cymry will answer for this corner of the earth to the Sovereign Judge."

Many centuries have elapsed since these brave and hopeful words were uttered, and the destiny of Wales is more manifest,-that her nationality will be swallowed up or merged with English laws, customs, and habits: still her language and literature will survive, and the names will continue fixed to assert the antiquity and greatness of her people. More than half the names borne by the population of England are of Cymric origin or derivation. More than three-fourths of the names in Scotland, and about one-half of those of France, are from the same source. Cambrian names are found all through Europe,-in Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and about the Pyrenees.

The Welsh name for London is Llundain. It was Latinized into Lundinum, and Anglicized into Lundon or London. Its etymology is from llyn, a pool or lake, and Dain or Tain for Thames (the sound of d being like that of t): hence, a pool or lake on the Thames. The low flat on the east side of London, known as "The Isle of Dogs," now a part of the mainland, was at one time flooded by the Thames; and hence the name of Llundain, or Thames Lake. Liverpool came from Flowing Pool; that is, the tide flowed in and out.

Avon is the generic Welsh name for river: hence Avon-Clyde, Avon-Conwy, Avon-Stratford. Cumberland stands for Cymbri-land; Northumberland for North Cymbri-land. Aber is the mouth of a river, Anglicized into harbor: hence there is Aber-Conway, Aberdeen. There is scarcely a river, mountain, or lake in England or in Scotland the etymology of which is not found in the Welsh language at the present day.

The ancient British language, physique, skull, hair, eyes, and flexure of pronunciation still preponderate in England, notwithstanding the incessant boasts of the Saxon, who was a barbarous savage when he arrived, and who did not exhibit a single instance of knowledge and learning until after he had come in contact with the Cymric race.

With a view to tracing the migrations of this race throughout Europe, observe the ancient geographical terms, with their strong physical traits.

Caucasus is derived from the two Welsh words cau, to shut up, to fence in, and cas, separated, insulated. This mountain-chain has borne this name from the earliest human records; and how expressive of their position and character, to inclose Europe from Asia!

The Caspian Sea means, when derived, cas, separated, and pen, head; literally, a sea with a head or source, but insulated and without an outlet. Any one familiar with this body of water can understand the force of the words.

Crimea comes from the Welsh word crymu (pronounced kri′me, the c being sounded as k, and the u as e), which means to bend or curve; literally, a circular peninsula. The Crimea was the Gwlad yr Haf (summer land) of the Cymry.

Alps is derived from al, grand, sublime, and pen, head,-a sublime head.

Armorica comes from ar-y-m?r, upon the sea.

Danube finds its derivation from dan, under, below, and uf (pronounced uv or ub), spreading or diffused. Some of the Cymric bands or colonies, in their migrations westward, halted along the banks of the Danube; others settled on the Elbe, and were called the Wendi, and their descendants speak at the present time a slightly-corrupted Welsh language. Bautzen, in Bavaria, and Glogau, in Prussia, are old Cymric towns; and an eminent German scholar has shown what ancient Cymric relics are to be found in the museums of Dresden and Berlin. Recently many learned philologists were excited into a sharp discussion to account for the name of the German capital, Berlin. Its origin is plainly Cymric, and is derived from ber, a curve, and lin, a river.

There is such a striking resemblance between the ancient Cymric laws, as compiled by Dyfnval Moelmud, and the Institutes of Menu, that many of the most able Oriental and Welsh scholars have concluded that another branch of the Cymric race must have gone eastward from the Caucasus and penetrated into India. Sir William Jones, a son of a Welshman, translated these Institutes of Menu, or Brahminic Laws, and says, "The name 'Menu' is clearly derived from menses, mens, or mind, as all the Pandits agree that it means intelligent." Menw in Welsh means the seat of intelligence.

Moreover, it is generally admitted that the Welsh contains a sufficient number of root-words by which the original connection of the Semitic (Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Egyptian, etc.) and the Indo-European languages is distinctly shown. And, as will be subsequently proved, a large number of words have been found in use by the aborigines of the American Continent, whose roots or simplest forms were related to roots of words in the old languages, many of which were directly connected with the Cymric tongue.

The object of this cursory sketch has been to show that, from the very earliest period, the branches of the Cymric race have been extensively spread over the earth, as indicated by the sure testimony of their language; that they moved from east to west, preceding all other races-the Teutonic, Sarmatian, etc.-by long intervals of time. From the certain data of history these things are placed beyond doubt,-by Herodotus, C?sar, and others. Would it be surprising, then, if, in accordance with the same nomadic principle and these westward migrations, together with the fierce persecutions of the northern hordes, some portions of the Cymry were driven still farther westward and were wafted to the American Continent?

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By whom and by what means the American Continent was originally peopled has been, in the main, an unsolved problem. That it will always remain so does not appear from new proofs which are being adduced to support favorite theories. Four of these theories have, at different times, and with much intelligent zeal, been maintained.

(1.) That the ancestors of the American aborigines came from Europe,-that they were Caucasians, but became changed in color by the use of red roots and the bleachings of the sun; and of these were represented the Romans, Grecians, Spaniards, Irish, Norsemen, Courlanders, Russians, and Welsh.

(2.) That they came from Asia, and comprised Israelites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Ph?nicians, Persians, Tartars, East Indians, Chinese, and Japanese.

(3.) That they came from Africa, the original cradle, it is maintained, of the American aborigines, who are made the descendants of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, or Numidians.

(4.) That the American aborigines are the descendants of all the nations in the world.

The last is certainly the most accommodative, and can be made to bend to suit the shifting exigencies of an imperfect state of knowledge. The skeptical view would not be accepted, inasmuch as it broke the unity of the race,-namely, that all the original people and animals of America were distinct creations.

Beginning with Peleg, whose name signifies division, when Noah divided the earth between his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, there is found a basis for the repeopling of the earth. Africa was assigned to Ham, the temperate zones to Shem, and the frigid zones to Japheth. Heathen altars and the mounds of early Scripture are taken as the original types of the earthen monumental remains of America. At the dispersion on the plains of Shinar, and after the confusion of tongues, "the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth." It was the opinion of Ogilby, cosmographer to the English king in 1671, that men and animals came soon after the flood from Armenia to Tartary, and thence, by continuous land-route by way of the present Behring Straits, to America.

The Atlantis of Homer, Solon, Plato, and Hesiod, which was supposed to unite the continents of Africa and America, or which was a great island situated between them, seems to lose, by time, more of its mythical character, and to be brought to the plane of a historic fact. It certainly cannot be treated as a pure fiction. The story that Solon brought from Egypt to Greece of the Atlantic island was not new there; for a great festival was held in Greece, accompanied with symbols, to show what advantage the Athenians had in their wars with the Atlantes.

Diodorus Siculus (book v. chap. ii.) seems to refer to America in the following: "Over-against Africa lies a very great island in the vast ocean, many days' sail from Libya westward. The soil is very fruitful. It is diversified with mountains and pleasant vales, and the towns are adorned with stately buildings." He then alludes to the Ph?nicians sailing along the Atlantic coast of Africa. The theory that the land forming the bed of the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Africa is a vast sunken tract is hardly defensible. The remnants of Cape Verd and Ascension Islands, and the numerous rock-formations and sand-banks surveyed with great accuracy by Bauche, have been submitted in its favor. Traditions exist that a people on the Mediterranean, sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar, the ancient Calpe, were driven westward by a storm, and were heard of no more. It is thought they reached the American coast. Some time since, at a meeting of the Mexican Geographical Society, it was stated that some brass tablets had been discovered in the northern part of Brazil, covered with Ph?nician inscriptions, which tell of the discovery of America five centuries B.C. They are now in the museum of Rio Janeiro. They state that a Sidonian fleet left a port of the Red Sea, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and following the southeast trade-winds until the northeast trade-winds prevented farther progress north, and they were driven across the Atlantic. The number of the vessels, the number of the crews, the name of Sidon as their home, and many other particulars, are given.

It is given as veritable history that a farmer near Montevideo, South America, discovered in one of his fields, in 1827, a flat stone which bore strange and unknown characters; and beneath this stone was a vault made of masonry, in which were deposited two ancient swords, a helmet, and a shield. The stone and the deposits were brought to Montevideo, and most of the inscriptions of the former were sufficiently legible to be deciphered. They ran as follows:

"During the dominion of Alexander, the son of

Philip, King of Macedon, in the sixty-third

Olympiad, Ptolemais."

On the handle of one of the swords was a man's portrait, supposed to represent Alexander. The helmet had on it fine sculptured work, representing Achilles dragging the corpse of Hector around the walls of Troy. This would seem to point to an early Grecian discovery of America.

Humboldt cites a passage of Plutarch, in which he thinks that both the Antilles and the great continent itself are described.

In "Varia Historia," book iii. chap, xviii., ?lian tells how one Theopompus relates the particulars of an interview between Midas, King of Phrygia, and Silenus, in which the latter reported the existence of a great continent beyond the Atlantic, "larger than Asia, Europe, and Libya together."

In 1761, Deguignes, a French scholar, made known to the world that the Chinese discovered America in the fifth century. He derived his knowledge from Chinese official annals. He affirmed that in the year 499 A.D., Hoei Shin (Universal Compassion), a Chinese Buddhist priest, returned to Singan, the capital of China, and declared that he had been to Tahan (Kamtschatka), and from thence on to a country about twenty thousand li (short Chinese miles), or about seven thousand English miles. The measurements are taken to be about the distance between China and California, or Mexico. He called the country Fusang, from the name of an abundant plant,-the Mexican "maguey," or American aloe.

He described the gold, silver, copper, and other ores which abounded; also the customs, rites, and cycles of time; and these are made to agree with what has been known of the American aborigines. Oriental scholars, like Klaproth and Bretschneider, have handled these pretensions with keen severity; while there have not been wanting others who allege that the Japanese and Chinese do not record myths. There is a description of Fusang in the Japanese Encyclop?dia,-Wa-kan-san-ta?-dzon-yé.

Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg says, in his "Popol Vuh," a book on the ancient people of Mexico and Central America, "There is an abundance of legends and traditions concerning the passage of the Irish into America, and their habitual communication with that continent, many centuries before the time of Columbus. We should bear in mind that Ireland was colonized by the Ph?nicians. An Irish saint, named Vigile, who lived in the eighth century, was accused to Pope Zachary of having taught heresies on the subject of the antipodes. At first he wrote to the Pope in reply to the charge, but afterwards went to Rome in person to justify himself, and there proved to the Pope that the Irish had been accustomed to communicate with a transatlantic world."

Brereton's account of Gosnold's voyage to the New England coast in 1602 mentions an occurrence off the coast of Maine, of his having met "eight Indians, in a Basque shallop, with mast and sail, an iron grapple, and a kettle; that they came aboard boldly, one of them being appareled with a waistcoat and breeches of black serge, made after our sea-fashion, hose and shoes on his feet: all the rest (saving one that had a pair of breeches of blue cloth) were naked."

Michel, in his "Les Pays Basques," thinks that the Basques, being adventurous fishermen, were accustomed to visit the American coast from time immemorial. They were engaged in the whale and other fisheries.

The voyages of the Norsemen, and their temporary settlements on the American Continent, are now too well authenticated to admit of any doubt.

In the preceding chapter it was shown that the Welsh were a migratory race, and had moved from the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris in an eastward direction, and also westwardly, till, in the time of Homer, they occupied the British Island. They were surrounded by water. Their very necessities made them navigators. They conducted large fisheries. The Ph?nicians and Greeks traded with them in tin and lead, and in the Baltic for amber. Their commercial relations were extensive before Julius C?sar reached the island. He came to attack and subdue them, because their naval power, as he himself says, assisted the Gauls. Their ships were made of oak, and were so strong as to be impenetrable to the beaks of the Roman ships, and so high that they could not be annoyed by the darts of the Roman soldiers.

King Canute, in the eleventh century, had vessels with sixty rowing-benches. Early voyagers traversed seas and oceans with comparative safety. Though they had not the compass (which, by the way, is uncertain), they studied the elements of nature,-the winds, currents, sun, and stars. Modern sailors have the advantage of accurate instruments to reduce their observations. The ascensions and descensions of the sun by day, and the polar star by night, are sufficient guides to prevent sailing wide of points.

Between America and Europe are two great currents,-the southwesterly bearing towards the former continent, and the northeasterly towards the latter. The majestic Gulf Stream sweeps around from Newfoundland till it almost crosses the Atlantic near the British Island. That is why the steamship-lines adopt the course of sailing-vessels. By the aid of the simple forces of nature, early voyagers reached the American Continent.

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Owain Gwynedd was esteemed one of the greatest princes Wales ever produced.

Upon the death of his father, which occurred in 1137 A.D., he took his share of the possessions, which were divided, according to the custom of the nation, among the sons, and he ruled North Wales, his seat of government being at Aberfraw, till 1169 A.D., when he died.

Gwalchmai, a Bard of his times, addressed to him the following spirited ode in celebration of an important victory he achieved over the English at the battle of Tal y Moelvre:

"The generous chief I sing of Rhodri's line,

With princely gifts endow'd, whose hand

Hath often curb'd the border land,

Owain, great heir of Britain's throne,-

Whom fair Ambition marks her own,

Who ne'er to yield to man was known,

Nor heaps he stores at Avarice's shrine.

"Three mighty legions o'er the sea-flood came,

Three fleets intent on sudden fray;

One from Erin's verdant coast,

One with Lochlin's arméd host,

Long burdens of the billowy way;

The third, from far, bore them of Norman's name,

To fruitless labor doom'd, and barren fame.

"'Gainst Mona's gallant lord, where, lo! he stands,

His warlike sons ranged at his side,

Rushes the dark tumultuous tide,

Th' insulting tempest of the hostile bands:

Boldly he turns the furious storm,

Before him wild Confusion flies,

While Havoc rears her hideous form,

And prostrate Rank expiring lies;

Conflict upon conflict growing,

Gore on gore in torrents flowing,

Shrieks answering shrieks, and slaughter raving,

And high o'er Modore's front a thousand banners waving.

"Now thickens still the frantic war;

The flashing death-strokes gleam afar,

Spear rings on spear, flight urges flight,

And drowning victims plunge to night;

Check'd by the torrent-tide of blood,

Backward Menai rolls his flood;

The mailéd warriors on the shore,

With carnage strew'd, and dyed with gore,

In awful anguish drag their mangled forms along,

And high the slaughter'd throng

Is heap'd, the King's red chiefs before.

"Lloegria's onset thus, Lloegria's flight,

The struggle doom'd her power to tame,

Shall, with her routed sons, unite

To raise great Owain's sword to fame;

Whilst sevenscore tongues of his exploits shall tell,

And all their high renown through future ages swell."

Many other odes are extant in the Welsh language, written in honor of this great prince, which have never been surpassed in true poetic spirit, elegance of diction, and metrical ease, by the productions of any other country.

Owain Gwynedd had nineteen children. The names of the sons were Rhodri, Cynoric, Riryd, Meredydd, Edwal, Cynan, Rien, Maelgon, Llewelyn, Iorweth, Davydd, Cadwallon, Hywell, Cadell, Madoc, Einon, and Phylip; and of this number Rhodri, Hywell, Davydd, and Madoc were the most distinguished.

Iorweth, being the eldest son, was entitled to succeed his father, but was declared unfit to occupy such a position, on account of an injury done to his nose, which gained for him the not very euphonious name of Drwyndwn (Swarthy-nose).

Hywell was a brilliant soldier and poet, and many of his best productions are still preserved. His mother was a native of Ireland, and although not born in wedlock, thus being regarded as an illegitimate son, he aspired to the crown after the death of his father, and succeeded in obtaining it, at the same time granting to Iorweth the cantrevs of Nanconwy and Ardudwy.

Soon after, he went to Ireland to receive possession of his mother's property, but upon his return he found Davydd, the legitimate son of Owain by another wife, asserting in arms his right to the throne under the sanction of a legitimate birth. The consequence was that the entire country became embroiled in a bitter civil war, Hywell was slain in battle, and Davydd ab Owain occupied his father's throne. As a stroke of perfidy, or policy, he married the sister of King Henry the Second, whereby he succeeded in breaking for a time the independent spirit of the Welsh. He gave aid to his brother-in-law in money and men, and attended the Parliament at Oxford. Such a treacherous course excited the disgust and hatred of his brothers, as well as of his subjects generally, so that his realm continued in a state of wild revolt and dissension. Davydd, suspicious and alarmed lest he might lose his throne through some unforeseen intrigues, seized and imprisoned Rhodri, slew Iorweth, and drove his other brethren into exile.

He was so intractable in spirit, and so cruel, that he put out the eyes of large numbers who were not subservient to his will.

From all the concurrent evidences which can be gleaned, it appears that Madoc was the commander of his father's fleet, which at that time was so considerable as successfully to oppose that of England at the mouth of the Menai in the year 1142. The poem in which Gwalchmai has celebrated this victory has already been given in this chapter. There is also an allusion to it in Caradoc's History, p. 163, 4th ed., 1607.

Madoc was of a mild, gentle temperament, and must have felt deeply grieved at the unnatural dissensions existing between his own brothers. Moreover, he was an object of suspicion himself, exposed to his brother Davydd's ferocity, who imagined that he might also dispute the question of succession to the throne. Doubtless it was this that led Madoc to resolve that he would leave those scenes of contention, and seek, in exile from his native country, some other land in the west, if such could be found. Being commander-in-chief of the fleet, he was able to take a speedy departure.

This emigration of Prince Madoc seems to have been commemorated by Bards who lived very near the time in which it took place. According to various old documents, his enterprise of exploring the ocean westward resulted in the discovery of a new world, from which he returned to make known his good fortune and to gather other emigrants to accompany him thither. He accordingly fitted out a second expedition, and, taking his brother Riryd, Lord of Clocran in Ireland, with him, they prevailed upon a number to accompany them, sufficient to fill ten ships. They set sail from a small port, five miles from Holyhead, in the island of Anglesea.

There is a large book of pedigrees still extant, written by Jeuan Brecva, who flourished in the age preceding the time of Columbus, where the above event is thus noticed in treating of the genealogy of Owain Gwynedd: "Madoc and Riryd found land far in the sea of the west, and there they settled."

The Bards were the historians of those times. By a perusal of the compositions of those who were contemporary with Madoc, it is found that his name is mentioned three or four times by Cynddelw, Llywarch, and Gwalchmai. These are held to be among the most celebrated of the Welsh Bards. Their works, which are mostly extant in manuscript, would each of them make a respectable volume.

Llywarch, who was the son of Llewelyn, wrote a poem while undergoing the ordeal of the hot iron to prove his innocence respecting Madoc's death. He invoked the aid of the Saviour "lest he should injure his hand with the shining sword and his kinsmen should have to pay the galanas." It is addressed

"TO THE HOT IRON.

"Good Iron! free me from the charge

Of slaying. Show that he

Who smote the prince with murderous hand

Heaven's kingdoms nine shall never see,

Whilst I the dwelling-place of God

Shall share, safe from all enmity."

The same poet, in a panegyric, addressed to Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, of Hywell and Madoc, his brothers, says,-

"Two princes were there, who in wrath dealt woe,

Yet by the people of the earth were loved:

One who in Arvon quench'd ambition's flame,

Leading on land his bravely toiling men;

And one of temper mild, in trouble great,

Far o'er the bosom of the mighty sea

Sought a possession he could safely keep,

From all estrangéd for a country's sake."

In a poem addressed to Prince Llywelyn ab Iorweth by the same bard, there appear the following lines:

"Needless it is to ask all anxiously,

Who from invaders will our waters guard?

Llywelyn, he will guard the boundary wave;

The lion i' the breach, ruler of Gwynedd.

The land is his to Powys' distant bounds,

He met the Saxons by Llanwynwy lake,

Across the wave is he victorious,

Nephew of Madoc, whom we more and more

Lament that he is gone."

Gwalchmai addressed an ode to Davydd ab Owain Gwynedd, lamenting his being deprived of that prince's brothers:

"Silent I cannot be without mentioning who they were,

Who so well of me merited praise:

Owain the fierce, above the muse's song,

The manly hero of the conflict;

Cadwallon, ere he was lost,

It was not with smooth words he praised me;

Cadwaladyr, lover of the harmony of exhilarating songs,

He was wont to honor me;

Madoc, distributing his goods,

More he did to please than displease me."

In an elegy on the family of Owain Gwynedd, by Cynddelw, Madoc is twice mentioned, one passage particularly seeming worthy of attention:

"And is not Madoc by the whelming wave

Slain? How I sorrow for the helpful friend!

Even in battle was he free from hate,

Yet not in vain grasp'd he the warrior's spear."

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:

"Let Ivan, of a generous stock,

Hunt, like his father, on the land;

In good time, on the waters, I,

By liberal aid, will hunter be.

Madoc the brave, of aspect fair,

Owain of Gwynedd's offspring true,

Would have no land,-man of my soul!-

Nor any wealth, except the seas.

Madoc am I, who, through my life,

By sea will seek my wonted prey."

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.

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