Decade VIII. chap. 5. Among them we have Matec Zungam and Mat Jngam, and why this should not be Madog the Cambrian, whom the Monuments in the Country prove to have been in those parts, no reason can be given. As to Antiquity, five Centuries are sufficient, beyond which American Traditions do not ascend."[m]

[Footnote l: A barbarous People to the North West of Mexico.]

[Footnote m: There were two or more Peter Martyrs; the Person here referred to, was Peter Martyr, the celebrated civilian of Anghiera or Angleria, in Italy. He lived in the Court of Ferdinand the fifth, King of Spain, called the Catholic. In a volume of his Works which I have consulted he calls himself, "Peter Martyr, Angi Mediolanen, Consiliarii regii, Pronotarii apost." It is dedicated to Charles the 5th of Spain, and printed at Basil, by Bebelius 1533. He was born in 1445, and died in 1525. The date of the first Chapter of the first Decade is, Ex Hispana Curia Jdus Novem. 6. 1493. and of the 2d Chapter, Ex Hispana Curia tertio Calend Maii 1494. See also the 10th Chapter of the 2d Decade. Columbus sailed on his first Voyage in the Autumn of of 1492, and returned about February or March, 1493. Hence it appears that Peter Martyr was in the Spanish Court when Columbus returned from his first Voyage; for his first Letter is dated about 6 or 7 Months afterwards. Peter Martyr, therefore, ought to be considered as a decisive Evidence that some Nations in America, honored the Memory of one Madog, when Columbus landed on that Coast.

See Nouveau Dictionaire Historique, Ou Histoire abregee, &c. par une Sociate' de gens de Letres 6mo. Edition. 1786, Paris.]

This Author in the former part of this Chapter, says, Nam ubi demonstratum suerit, Madocum cambriæ principem olim cum fuæ Gentis Hominibus novas in Occidente invenisse Terras et inhabitasse: ejus etiam nomen ac memoriam adhuc inter barbaros superesse, nihil fere quod amplius ambigamus, restabit. "For when it is demonstrated that Madog, a Prince of Cambria, with some of his Nation, discovered and inhabited some Lands in the West, and that his Name and Memory are still retained among them, scarcely any doubt remains."

In the above observations, we have as it appears to me, a clear proof that Madog visited America, several centuries before the Spaniards. Matec Zungam, and Mat Jngam, seem to be plain corruptions of the Name, Madog, the Hero whose Memory was retained, if not revered, by those who were descended from his Colony.

In the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. X, for the Year 1740. p. 103, &c. the following Narrative is inserted.

"These presents may certify all persons whatever, that in the Year 1660, being an Inhabitant of Virginia, and Chaplain to Major General Bennet of Mansoman County, the said Major Bennet find Sir William Berkeley sent two Ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty Leagues to the Southward of Capefair, and I was sent therewith to be their Minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the Harbour's Mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same Month, where we waited for the rest of the Fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. West, who was to be Deputy Governor of the said Place. As soon as the Fleet came in, the smallest Vessels that were with us sailed up the River to a place called the Oyster Point. There I continued about 8 months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions, I and 5 more travelled through the Wilderness, till we came to the Tuscorara Country. There the Tuscorara Indians took us prisioners, because we told them that we were bound to Roanock.[n] That night they carried us to their Town, and shut us up close to our no small dread. The next Day they entered into a consultation about us, which after it was over their Interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next Morning. Whereupon being very much dejected and speaking to this Effect in the British Tongue, 'Have I escaped so many Dangers, and must I now be knocked on the Head like a Dog;' then presently an Indian came to me, which afterwards appeared to be a War Captain belonging to the Sachem of the Doegs, (whose Original I find must needs be from the Old Britons) and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British Tongue, I should not die, and thereupon went to the Emperor of Tuscorara, and agreed for my Ransom, and the Men that were with me. They then wellcomed us to their Town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months; during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British Language, and did preach to them three times a Week in the same Language; and they would confer with me about any thing that was difficult therein;[o] and at our Departure, they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our Support and Well-doing. They are setled upon Pontigo River,[p] not far from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my Travels, among the Doeg Indians. Morgan Jones, the Son of John Jones of Basaleg, near Newport, in the County of Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman, or others to the Country. New York, March 10th, 1685-6."

[Footnote n: An Harbour at the Mouth of Albemarle River in North Carolina.]

[Footnote o: When it is considered that Mr. Jones's Visit to these Nations was near 500 Years after the Emigration of Prince Madog, it can be no Wonder that the Language of both Mr. Jones and the Indians was very much altered. After so long a period Mr. Jones must have been obliged to make use of Words and Phrases, in preaching Christianity, with which they must have been altogether unacquainted. Besides, all living Languages are continually changing; therefore during so many Centuries, the Original Tongue must have been very much altered, by the Introduction of New Words borrowed from the Inhabitants of the Country. Though the Language was radically the same, yet Mr. Jones, especially, when treating of abstracted subjects, was hardly intelligible to them, without some Explanations. We are told that the Religious Worship of the Mexicans, with all its Absurdities, was less superstitious than that of the ancient and learned Greeks and Romans. May we not hence conclude that the Mexicans derived some part of their Religious Knowledge from a People enlightned by a divine Revelation; which, tho' very much corrupted in the Days of Madoc, yet was superior to Heathen Darkness. Clavigero, Hist. of Mexico. Monthly Review, Vol. 65. p. 462, &c.]

[Footnote p: Pontigo, seems to have been derived from the Welsh Pont y Go. "The Smith's Bridge;" or Pant y Go, "The Smith's Valley." Perhaps a Smith dwelt by the Side of a River, or near a Bridge. Dr. Robertson says, History of America, Vol. II. p. 126, that the Indians were very ignorant of the use of Metals; Artificers in Metals were scarce, and on that account a Name might be given to a Bridge or Valley where one dwelt. Doeg Indians, may be a corruption of Madog's Indians. Cape Atros, Cape Hateras; near Cape Fair in Carolina, which last may be Cape Mair, the Cape of Mary, i. e. the Virgin Mary.—I would just observe that some parts in Europe seem to have derived their Names from the Welsh. Armorica, has been thought Latin, yet it is most likely to be Welsh. Ar-y-môr "upon the Sea," which particularly is the Situation of Bretagne, in France, twice peopled from Great Britain.]

This Letter was sent or given to Dr. Thomas Lloyd of Pensylvania, by whom it was transmitted to Charle Llwyd Esq. of Dôl y frân in Montgomeryshire; and afterwards to Dr. Robert Plott by