Cylchgronau Cymru

descent, and at a time like the present, when it is important that we should deepen our knowledge of American life, a study of the contri- bution of Welsh-Americans may well help us to do so, by providing a link between our own history and that of the United States. Much has been written on the subject, and most of it (I regret to say) is uncritical to a degree. It is therefore, perhaps, as important to indicate what has not been the contribution of Wales as it is to describe that contribution, and so I am tempted to start with the legend of the Welsh discovery of America three hundred years before Columbus. For the legend is, itself, not without significance, and it was destined to lead to a remarkable sequel. Briefly, the legend states that, about 1170, Madoc, the son of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, sailed westwards and dis- covered America he returned home, gathered together a number of ships and men, and sailed westwards again, presumably settling down in the new country. Unfortunately neither Brut y Tywysogion nor the Annates Camhriae mentions either Madoc or his exploits, and the two obscure references to him in the work of contemporary bards seem to indicate that he had been killed some time before the death of his father, which took place in 1169. That would seem to dispose effectively of his discovery of America in 1170. How the legend had its origin is, indeed, a mystery which cannot detain us. It is, how- ever, to be found, more or less complete, in the MS. History of Cambria of the Welsh Tudor geographer Humphrey Llwyd. This was published after Llwyd's death by Dr. David Powell of Ruabon, in 1584, and Dr. Powell added to the legend the interesting detail that it was in Mexico that Madoc had settled, his proof for this statement being the number of Welsh words to be found in the Aztec language. He gave several examples of such words, none very happy, and one was particularly unfortunate. This was the name penguin, a word which proved nothing except that the good vicar of Ruabon had never seen the black-headed bird. But once launched, the legend found its way into most of the travel literature of the time, into the books of Hakluyt, Raleigh, Purchas, Archbishop Abbot, and others, and the reason for this is of some importance: it was put forward deliberately in order to counteract, on the grounds of prior discovery, Spain's exclusive claim to the New World. In the seventeenth century a surprising addition was made to the legend. The numerous Welsh emigrants to America at the end of the century were interested in it, and for their benefit the Reverend Morgan Jones, a native of Basaleg and an alumnus of Jesus College, Oxford, told the following story. In 1669, he said, he was in the area