Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-07-20

Wy Tie patient lnOlan ScnOldrS WHO
have studied the tribes of the North
and the Northwest. They have been
traced back into the great lakes coun-
try and traces of their occupation of
the neighbOrhood around the height Of
land up in Canada have been found.
Certain traditions among the ancient
forest tribes of Canada tell of a nation
that lived in log houses partly under
ground.
"rhe ground-house people, they
were called, and this tradition seems
to refer to the Mandan custom of
throwing up a bank of earth around
their strong lodges in order to make
them stronger, warmer and less liable
to take fire.
Old Welsh Traditions.
The patient work of many nvesti-
gators shows that they came origin
ally from the desolate lands that lie
just to the south of Labrador. There
the tale ends But such as it is. it
bears out the Mandan myth that their
fOrebears were while men who came
across the waves in great canoe with
!
among savages has prevented any GER
tain evidence of their earlier history
from preservation. 1t takes but
few years for the forest to obliterate
all traces of savage nation. save
few potshreds and an occasional skull
that marks their burying; places.
The Welsh have tradition that
seems to connect the white Indians"
of the North with one of the savage
! episodes of ehalf-mythical Welsh his
tory. There runs tale among the
early chroniclers of the Welshmen OF
certain Prince Madoc who rebelled
against authority and waged a long
and bloody civil war. In the end he
and his followers were defeated and
were scattered among the hills and
broken country along the seacoast.
Rather than submit to the certain
death that awaited them at the hands
of the victors, they built for them
selves a ship and embarked upon 1t
with their wives and children. They
then set sail and vanished into the
west. For generations their vindlc-
tive kinsmen cherished tradition
that they had set sail around Ireland
and struck out into the unknown At
lantic in search of a new land. where
in they might find kingdom OF their
own.
The followers of Prince Mad0c new
err came back. nor was there any word
of them received in their native land.
In some manner, however. the impress
sion gained ground among the people
of Wales that Madoc and his clans
men gained the shores of a great
country to the west and established
themselves. This was long before
the visits of Eric the Red and others
of the Norsmen to the shores OF New
England. There is no hint among
the sages of the Vikings of any white
race living along the coasts of the
Vinland that the Norsemen had con.
quered. The races they met seem to
have been the savage red men who
afterward caused the Puritans many a
sleepless night during the bloody his
tory of King Phillip.
Play Welsh Games.
There is a possibility that after all
Madoc. the mad Welshman. and his
equally mad followers. gained the
shores of North America. Other men
in ships no more seaworthy than his
own managed to reach them over the
same stormy seas. In case they had
touched upon the shores of Labrador.
it is more than possible that thew
could not have won their way back
acrcss the Atlantic, even if they had
wished to do so. What would have
been more natural than for them to
have adopted the dress. the habits of
and the idiomatic speech of the neigh
boring tribes and to have drifted into
the south toward the warmer and
more pleasant country that lay about
the great lakes?
The houses that the Mandans once
built and many of the games they still
play are unlike anything in Indian
life Football. so like that of the
ancient Welsh folk that the resem-
blance is startling. is still one of their
favorite sports. The native Welsh are
chem selves great lovers of the game.
but their devotion to it is no greater
than that of the ancient Mandans
when the tribe was one of the most
powerful and most feared in the north |
west.
The tradition of Prince Madoc and
his followers dates back to about the
eighth or ninth century of the Chris !;
tan era u was at least a couple of
centuries before any of the recorded i
voyages of exploration made by the
Norsemen. The Welsh themselves
had but little culture at that time. :
The missions established in the Irish :
sea had but little effect upon the
shaggy folk who lived and fought ,
among the hills and crags of Wales. !
There was but little culture among
the shock-headed warriors who prob ;
ably sailed with Madoc on his daring
venture into the unknown worlds OF
the west.
There is even a slight resemblance
between the pure-blood Mandans with |
the light skin and light eyes. and the
Caucasian. The angle of the skull is ,
different from that of the other we'll
known cranial types of the savages of ,
North America. The typical high !
cheek bones of the North American
eayopo 10 tho Nopdop HE