The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-07-18
A CurlOua story
ABOUT WELSH SETTLEMENT IN TnIs coON
TRY IN THE YEAR ITO.
a rfilnr,a Ma zinc

| ABOUT A WELSH SETTLEMENT ~ i"i' wv
TRY IN THE YEAR llIO.
IArthur's Magazine.I
In lecture delivered by Mr. James
Wood, OF Albany, n. Y, he related the
following curious tradition which exists
among the Welsh:
In ITO two brothers, David and Medoc,
quarrelled for the throne. The younger,
Medoc. becoming Disguised, gave up the
struggle, and fitting out ship sailed west:
The next year he returned, said ne nan
discovered fruitful country, and called
upon his friends to follow him. lie had
no difficulty in filling ten ships with men,
women, and childen. They sailed away,
and, according to Welsh story, were never
heard OF again.
This would not be worth much rs his
tory were it not that it seems confirmed by
evidence found upon this side OF the ocean.
| In 1910, i've hundred years after Prince
Medoc left Wales, a Welsh minister named
Morgan was sent from New York to North
Carolina to preach to some Welsh people
who settled there. One day he wandered
too far beyond the outskirts OF the settle
ment and was captured by Indians. They
took him many miles inland and prepared
| 10 burn him at the stake. The fagots were
piled around him, and his doom seemed
sealed. Suddenly he exclaimed, in welsh,
Have come so far to die ike dog at
last!v To his surprise, the Indian chief
sprang forward, loosed his bonds. and en-
braced him, crying in Welsh, "No; not il
YOU speak that language !" Hcnceforth he
was the honored guest OF the tribe.
Morgan's surprise deepened when the
principal members OF this Indian tribe
4 l. 70
verse with him in Welsh. He preached to
them, and they understood him. But what
amazed him most was to discover that they
had manuscript copy OF the Bible in
the Welsh language.
Morgan relates this story in a letter sent
to friends in Wales. This letter is well au-
thenticated, but it is the only evidence
that we have in the matter. So far as we
are aware, nothing more was ever heard OF
this Indian tribe who spoke Welsh and
had 4 Welsh Bible.
But about fifteen or twenty years later
an exploring party, returning from be-
yond the Mississippi river, relate, among
other wonders, that they found tribe OF
Indians who speak the Welsh language.
They. too, have a manuscript copy of the
Welsh Bible. None Of their number can
read it, and they keep it as a myterious
treasure, carefully rolled up in the skin Of
animals.
And fifteen or twenty years later still an
other exploring party brings Us back
strange news from the Red river OF the
North. They have found there singular
people, with whitened hair and blue eyes.
These people speak the Welsh language.
Lastly, Catlin speaks OF tribe OF white
Indians dwelling along the upper courses
OF the Missouri. They are different from
the tribes around them. Some have fair
hair and blue eyes, and their language is
strangely mixed with great number d
Welsh words.
"Now," says Mr.. Wood. "here we have
five Independent accounts. which seem to
tell one story. They are so strange that
historians don't know what to do with
them. But if Indians on the American
continent can speak the Welsh language,
they must have been taught at some time;
if there are manuscript copies Of the Welsh
Bible here, they must have come here some
how. And you can put the facts together
as you please"
Another curious fact was stated by the
lecturer. In speaking Of the discoveries
OF John Cabot, he said, in substance:
Here is strange thing. John Cabot
reached the shores OF Newfoundland in
1897, only five years after Columbus set
sail. lie found that the Indians were in
possession Of great number of French
words, and could understand him when
he spoke to them in that language.
They knew the French term for
Goldfish and fishing. lie soon learned
that the Breton fishermen from the
rock-bound coast OF Northern France
were in the habit OF coming to
these bleak American shores in their fish
ing-smacks and catching the cod with
which these shores abounded. Remember,
this was only five years after the time Of
Columbus. Ii these fearless fishermen, in
their frail vessels, had been travelling
backward and forward across the ocean
long enough to teach the Indians good
part OF their language, who knows whether
or not they saw the continent OF America
even before Columbus did,"