Arriving there, and being joined by other vessels, he ascended the river to Oyster Point, where he and others settled. Some eight months afterwards food ran short, and the colonists were obliged to abandon their settlement. They retreated into the then unexplored territory fringing the sea-coast, and came into the country of the Tuscarora Indians, then at war with the English. They were seized and condemned to death, whereupon Mr. Jones exclaimed in Welsh, "Have I escaped so many dangers, and must now be knocked on the head like a dog?" On this an Indian came to him and told him in Welsh that he should not be put to death. The Indian, who was of the "Doeg" tribe, arranged for the ransom and release of all the prisoners. Afterwards, says Jones, he was taken about with the Indians, was well-treated, and in revenge regularly preached to them three times a week. They always consulted him about matters of importance: the locality given is near the Pantigo river.[1]
There is no evidence for this statement except the writer's assertion. The Doegs, so far as is known, never dwelt where Mr. Jones pretends to have found them; on early maps they are placed much more to the north. The tribes near the Pamlico — which is probably the original of Pantigo — were, besides the Tuscaroras, the Algonquins and Iroquois, whose language is well known, and had nothing Welsh about it. The only spark of confirmation is when George Fox records in his journal that the relations between the English and the Tuscaroras were unfriendly in 1672.[2] An English colony in close proximity to the supposed Welsh Indians knew nothing of them.
About the same time or a little later, a Welshman called Stedman landed from a Dutch vessel on the coast of America, and found that he understood the Indians language. They told him that they came from Gwynedd, or Wales, in Great Britain.[3] For
- ↑ Morgan Jones was an Oxford graduate. He does not appear to have mentioned his adventures to anyone till 1686. The date of his journey is given differently, as 1660, in another version. No expedition, so far as can be discovered, was sent to Carolina in either 1660 or 1669, though there were expeditions in 1663, 1666, and 1670. It was at the latter date that Oyster Point, now Charleston, was settled. With this expedition Virginia had nothing whatever to do; moreover, there was no reason why the long journey of which Jones speaks should have been attempted, as there was a settlement close at hand, at Cape Fear. Madoc, 128, 129.
- ↑ Journal, i. 173, 174. Quoted in Madoc, 130.
- ↑ 'Prydain Fawr.' Unfortunately the name "Great Britain" came into use long after the migration of Madoc. Madoc, 53.
