understood what the natives fpoke. The Dutch bade him fpeak to them, and they were thereupon very courteous; they fupplied them with the beft things they had, and told Stedman, that they came from a country called Gwynedd, (North Wales) in Prydam (Prydain) fawr, Great Britain. It is fuppofed by Mr Lloyd that this place was fituated between Virginia and Fiorida. It is farther faid by this Gentleman, that one Oliver Humphreys, a merchant, who died, not long before the date of this letter, told him, that when he lived at Surinam, he spoke with an English privateer or Pirate, who being near Elorida a careening his veffel, had learnt, as he thought, the Indian language, which his friend faid was perfe& Welth. " My brother, Mr Lloyd adds, having heard this, (Mr Jones's adventures) and meeting with this Jones at New York, defired him to write it, with his own hand, in his houfe; and to plafe me and my coufin Thomas Price (of Llanvyllin) he fent me the original. This Jones lived within 12 miles of New York, and was contemporary with me and my brother at Oxford. He was of Jefus College, and called then Senior Jones by way of diftinction.”

The flight of Jones this gentleman fuppofes to have taken place about the time of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, and that he was with the Indians about the year 1659.

The date of Mr Llyod's letter is Dolobran, 8m 14 D, 4.

To thefe evidences must be added what the authors of the univerfal hiftory have faid:

"That the Welth contributed to wards the peopling of America is intimated by fome good authors, and ought to be confidered as a notion fupported by fomething more than bare conjectures. Powel, in his hif tory of Wales, informs us that a war happening in that country for the fucceffion, upon the death of Owen

Gwyneth, A. D. 1170, and a baf tard having carried it from his lawfuł fons, one of the latter, called Madog, put to fea for new difcoveries, and failing Weit from Spain, he difcovered a new world of wonderful beauty. and fertility. But finding this uainhabited, upon his return, he carried thither a great number of people from Wales. To this delightful country he made three voyages, according to Hakluyt. The places he difcovered feem to be Virginia, New England, and the adjacent countries. In confirmation of this, Peter Martyr fays that the natives of Virginia and Guatimala celebrated the memory of one Madoc as a great and ancient hero, and hence it came to pass that modern travellers have found feveral old British words among the inbabitints of North America; Matee Zanga and Mat Inga as being in ufe among the Guatimallians. in which there is a plain allufion to Madoc, and that with the D foftened into T, ac cording to the Welsh manner of pronunciation. Nay, Bishop Nicolfon feems to believe that the Welsh language makes a confiderable part of feveral of the American tongues. Ac cording to a famous British antiquary, the Spaniards borrowed their double L. (LL) from the people of Mexico, who received it f om the Welsh; and the Dutch brought a bird with a white head from the Streights of Magellan, called by the natives Penguin, which word in the Oid British (and in mo.. dern British) fignifies "white head ;" and therefore feems originally to have come from Wales. This mult be allowed an additional argument, to omit others that occur in favour of Madoc's three American expedi tions."

Mr Charles Beatty, a miffionary from New York, accompanied by a Mr Duffield, vifited fome inland parts of North America in the year 1766. If I rightly understand bis journal, he travelled about 400 or 500 miles, to

the

the South West of New York. Daring his tour he met with several perfons who had been among the Indians from their youth, or who had been taken captives by them, and lived with them several years. Among others one Benjamin Sutton, who had vifited different nations, and had lived many years with them. His account, in Mr Beatty's words, was as follows:

"He, (Benjamin Sutton) informed us, when he was with the Chitaw nation, or tribes of Indians at the Miffiffipi, he went to an Indian town a very confiderable diftance from New Orleans, whofe inhabitants were of different complexions; not fo tawny as thofe of the other Indians, and who fpoke Welth. He faid he faw a book among them, which he fuppofed was Welsh Bible, which they carefully kept wrapped up in a skin, but they could not read it, and that he heard fome of thefe Indians afterwards in the lower Shawanaugh town speak Welsh with one Lewis a Welth-man, captive there. This Welsh tribe now live on the Weft-fide of the Mifliffipi river, a great way above New Orleans.

Levi Hicks-as being among the Indians from his youth, told us he had been, when attending an embaffy in a town of Indians, on the Weftfide of the Mishflipi river, who talked Welth, (as he was told, for he did not understand them); and, our interpreter Jofeph faw fome Indians whom he fuppofed to be of the fame tribe, who talked Welth, for he told us fome of the words they faid, which he knew to be Weith, as he had been acquainted with fome Welfh people.

Correfpondent hereto, I have been informed that many years ago, a clergyman went from Britain to Virginia, and having lived fome time there, went from thence to South Carolina; but either becaufe the climate

did not agree with him, or for fome other reafon, refolved to return to. Virginia, and accordingly fet out by land, accompanied by fome other perfons: but travelling thro' the back parts of the country which was very thinly inhabited, fuppofing, very probably, this was the neareit way, he fell in with a party of Indian warriors going to attack the inhabitants of Virginia, against whom they had declared war.

The Indians, upon examining the clergyman, and finding that he was going to Virginia, looked upon him and his companions as belonging to Virginia, and therefore took them all prifoners, and let them know they muft die. The clergyman in preparation for another world went to pray. er, and being a Welth-man, praved in the Welsh language, poffibly be. caufe this language was moft familiar to him, or to prevent the Indians understanding him. One or more of the party of the Indians was much furprifed to hear him pray in their laoguage. Upon this they fpoke to him, and finding that he could understand their fpeech, they got the fentence of death reversed; and this happy circumftance was the means of faving his life.

They :

They took him back with them into their country, where he found a tribe whofe native language was Welfh, though the dialect was a little different from his own, which he foon came to understand. fhewed him a book, which he found to be the bible, but which they could not read; and if I mistake not, his ability to read it tended to raise their regard for him.

He ftayed among them fome time, and endeavoured to inftruct them in the Christian Religion. He at length propofed to go back to his own country, and return to them with fome other teachers, who would be able to intruft them in their own language;

to

10 which propofal they confenting, he accordingly fet out from thence, and arrived in Britain, with full intention to return to them with some of his countrymen, in order to teach these Indians Christianity. But I was acquainted that, not long after his arrival, he was taken fick, and died, which put an end to his fchemes. Sutton farther told us that among the Delaware tribe of Indians he obferved their women to follow exactly the cuftom of the Jewish women, in keeping feparate from the reft feven days at certain times as prescribed in the Mofaic Law; that from fome old men among them he had heard the following traditions: that of old time their people were divided by a river, nine parts in ten paffing over the river, and one part tarrying behind; that they knew not for certainty how they came firft to this continent, but account thus for their coming into these parts pear where they are now fettl. ed; that a king of their nation, when they formerly lived far to the weft, Jeft his kingdom to his two fons; that the one fon making war upon the other, the latter thereupon determined to depart and feek fome new habitation; that accordingly he fet out, accompanied by a number of his people, and that after wandering to and fro for the fpace of 40 years, they at length came to Delaware river, where they fettled, 370 years ago. The way, he fays, they keep an account of this, is by putting on a black bead of wampum every year, fince, on a belt they have for that purpose.

He farther added, that the king of that country from whence, they came, fome years ago, when the French were in poffeffion of Fort Duquesne, fent out fome of his people, in order if poffible, to find out that part of their nation that departed to feek a new country, and that these men, after fecking fix 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 whofe 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 fent a white man with them properly turnifh ed to bring back an account of their country who, the Indians fid, could not return in lefs than 14 years, for they lived a great way towards the Sun fetring. It is now, Sutton fays, about 10 or 12 years fince they went away. He added, that the Delawares obferve the feast of first fruits, or the green corn feaft.

The following is an account given by Captain Ifaac Stewart, taken from his own mouth, in March 1782, and inferted in the Public Advertiser, Oct. 8th, 1785.

"I was taken prisoner about 50 miles to the Weftward of Fort Pitt, about 18 years ago, by the Indians, and was carried by them to the Wabath, with many more white men who were executed with circumflances of horrid barbarity. It was my good fortune to call forth the fympathy of what is called the good woman of the town, who was permitted to redeem me from the flames, by giving, as my ransom, a horse.

He

After remaining two years in bondage among the Indians, a Spaniard came to the Nation, having been fent from Mexico on discoveries, made application to the chiefs for redeeming me and another white man, who was in a like fituation, named Juhn Davey (David) which they complied with. And we took out departure in company with the Spaniard to the Weftward, crofling the Miffithpi near Rouge or Red River, up which we travelled 700 miles, when we came to a nation of Indians remarkably White, and whofe hair was of a reddish colour, at least mostly fo. They lived on the banks of a smalt river, which is called the River Peft. In the morning of the day after our

arrival,

artival, the Welsh man informed me that he was determined to remain with them, giving as a reason, that he underftood their language, it being very little different from the Welth. My curiofity was excited very much by this information, and I went with my companion to the chief men of the town, who informed him (in a language that I had no knowledge of, and which had no affinity to that of other Indian tongues that I ever heard) that their forefathers of this nation came from a foreign country, and landed on the caft fide of the Miffiffippi, defcribing particularly the country now called

Florida, and that on the Spaniards taking poffeffion of Mexico, they fled to their then abode. And as a proof of the truth of what he advanced, he brought forth rolls of parchment, which were carefully tied up in otters fkins, on which were large characters written with blue ink. The charac ters I did not understand, and the Welfhman being unacquainted with letters even of his own language, I was not able to know the meaning of the writing. They are a bold, hardy, and intrepid people, very wars like, and the women beautiful when compared with other Indians."

A

PARISH OF LINTON.
Difeafes.

Man called William Badie, or Beatie, a fhoemaker, died a few weeks ago in Linton. About 16 or 17 years fince, being afflicted with ftomach complaints, contracted by drinking cold water when overheated in harveft, he was advifed to fwallow ftones to help digeftion, after the manner of birds with mufcular ftomachs. He was ever after afflicted with violent ftomach complaints, and frequent vomiungs, with a long train of hervous fymptoms. He never fufpected that the ftones had lodged in his ftomach, till happening to be feized with a vomiting lying acrofs a bed, with his head and body reclined downwards, and fupporting himself with his hands po the floor, feveral ftones came up. The man was of decent character, and from his own, and his neighbours reports, there is no doubt of the fact. The largest ftone was the fize of a finger end. He threw up 13, which, being the Devil's dozen, might probably be the number fwallowed. Latterly, his furgeon made him vomit in an inclined pofition, and he threw up

In 1782-3, people were fometimes difcovered living on nettles, or potatoes, without meal, and were refieved; particularly one poor house. holder, a day-labourer, who was reported to the minifter as fick and flarving. He was found exhaufted with hunger; and faid, that he felt an o'ercafting at his heart, and his lights were ay ready to lofe the fluff. Some Port wine, and a fupply of meat, put him in heart, and made him fit for work. The people lived then moftly on very wholsome white peafe, brought from Leith.