He adds, “But if we admit Powel’s Story; (Humphry Llwyd’s) it does not follow that the unknown Country which Madog discovered was any part of America:  it is much more probable that it was Madeira, or some of the Western Isles.”  With submission, this is altogether improbable.  It is very little farther from North Wales to some parts of America, than to the Madeiras; and, upon the whole, it is more secure to sail in an open Sea, than among Shelves and Shoals on an unknown Coast.

But not to insist upon this Circumstance; if the Country Madog discovered was Madeira, or any of the Western Islands, he must have found them uninhabited, and entirely uncultivated, covered with Wood, and without any Traces of Human Beings; for as the Doctor himself says, this was the state of the Madeiras when discovered by the Portuguese in 1519.  The other Western Isles were not, even, settled, for some Centuries after Madog’s Voyages.[uu]

[Footnote uu:  Dr. Robertson. ubi supra.  Vol.  I. p. 64.  If the Country on which Madog landed was uninhabited, how could he have found the Customs and Manners of the People different from those of Europe?  Where there were no Inhabitants, there could be no Customs.]

What the Doctor hath said, after Lord Lyttelton, concerning the Literature and Naval skill of the ancient Britons, hath been already animadverted upon.  To add more on those particulars, is unnecessary.

If we could find no Word, among the Americans, similar to the ancient British, in sound and sense, but Pengwyn, I should no more depend upon that circumstance than Mr. Pennant doth; but that is not the case:  for many such words were found among the Natives of the New World, and in the West Indian Islands, which are neither obscure nor fanciful; for they had not only a strong resemblance in found, but convey the same Idea precisely, in both Languages.

As to traces of Christianity, Hornius hath enumerated many that were found there by the Spaniards; such as the Cross, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, 35 days Fast, and the Trinity.[vv]

[Footnote vv:  Hornius. ubi supra. p. 128, 178, Peter Martyr.  Decade 3d. ch. 5. p. 58.  C. and de Insulis nuper inventis. p. 71.  C.]

It is true, that these Customs may have been introduced by other Nations; by the Chinese, Japanese, &c. as Hornius hath observed:  but this does not concern my subject, which is only to examine which of the European Nations first visited America.  As no Nation in Europe, but the ancient Britons, hath ever pretended, or does pretend to have discovered America before, the Spaniards in 1492, I am inclined to believe that some of these Christian ordinances and superstitions were introduced by the Britons.

The space of time between the landing of Prince Madog, and Columbus, above 300 Years, was sufficiently long to disseminate such Notions and practices through a very great part of America.

In short, the account given by Llwyd and Powel hath all the marks of strict Truth.  If it be an Invention without any Foundation, it is a very singular one, the like to which is hardly to be met with.  All imaginary Heroes and Conquerors, are adorned with every Virtue; whereas Madog is represented as possessed of no Virtue, but prudence and Courage.