An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the Year, 1170Williams, John
History
An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the Year, 1170
Williams, John
America -- Discovery and exploration -- Welsh; Madog ab Owain Gwynedd, 1150-1180?
"Sutton farther told us that among the Delaware Tribe of Indians,
he observed their Women to follow exactly the Custom of the Jewish
Women, in keeping separate from the rest Seven Days at certain Times
as prescribed in the Mosaic Law; that from some Old Men among them
he had heard the following Traditions: That of old Time their people
were divided by a River, and one part tarrying behind;[ii] that
they knew not for certainty, how they came first to this Continent,
but account thus for their coming into there parts, near where they
are now settled: That a King of their Nation, when they formerly
lived far to the West, left his Kingdom to his two Sons; that the
one Son making War upon the other, the latter thereupon determined
to depart and seek some New Habitation; that accordingly he set out
accompanied by a number of his people, and that after wandering
too and fro for the space of 40 Years,[kk] they at length came
to Delaware River, where they settled 370 Years ago. The Way, he
says, they keep an account of this, is by putting on a Black Bead
of Wampum every Year since, on a Belt they have for that purpose.
[Footnote ii: Does not this Tradition refer to the passages of the
Israelites over Jordan into the Land of Canaan under the Conduct
of Joshua?]
[Footnote kk: The unsettled State of North Wales, the Departure
of Madog, and his Travels before he finally Settled, seem implied
in the above Account, or it may be a confused Tradition of the
Travels of the Israelites in the Wilderness.]
"He farther added that the King of that Country from whence they
came, some Years ago, when the French were in possession of Fort
Duquesne, sent out some of his People, in order if possible, to
find out that part of their Nation that departed to seek a new
Country, and that these Men after seeking six Years, came at length
to the Pickt Town on the Oubache River, and there happened to meet
with a Delaware Indian, named Jack, after the English, whose Language
they could understand; and that by him they were conducted to the
Delaware Towns where they tarried one year, and returned; that
the French sent a White Man with them properly furnished to bring
back an Account of their Conntry who, the Indians said, could not
return in less than 14 Years, for they lived a great Way towards
the Sun setting. It is now, Sutton says, about 10 or 12 Years since
they went away. He added that the Delawares observe the Feast of
first Fruits, or the green Corn Feast. So far Sutton."[ll]
[Footnote ll: Journal of a Two Month's Tour, &c. by Charles Beatty.
A. M. dedicated to the Earl of Dartmouth. London. 1768. p. 24,
&c. Note.]
Before I make any Remarks on the above long Extract I will produce
another Evidence of late Date, to confirm the Truth of Mr. Jones's
Narrative. It is an Accouut given by Captain Isaac Stewart, taken
from his own Mouth, in March 1782, and inserted in the Public
Advertizer, 0ct. 8th, 1785.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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