).--In the darkness
superinduced by the absence of historical evidence on the Welsh
settlement in America, I beg leave to offer a few remarks on some
ethnological subjects involved in this question.
In reference to the specimen of a Welsh-Indian Vocabulary in Catlin's
_N.A. Indians_, which "Gomer" opposes to Prof. Elton's proposition
on this subject (No. 15. p. 236.), were the instances of similarity
to exhibit the influence of opinion, of government, or of commerce,
on the language of the tribe, the origin of such words would be as
indisputable as that of those introduced by the English into the
various countries of the East where they have factories; e.g.
governor, council, company. But these and numerous other traces of the
Celtic language which have been found in Florida and Darien are not
indicative of such impressions; most of them, from their universality,
bespeak themselves to be primitive; and who can assure us that some
may not have reached them before the twelfth century, through "Walsh
or strangers," "a race mightier than they and wiser," by whom they
may have been instructed in the arts which have excited so much
astonishment?
The glass beads, erroneously called Druid's beads, furnish Catlin
with another proof of affiliation, which, however, is invalidated by
the well-ascertained facts of glass-manufactories having, in remotest
antiquity, existed in Egypt, and of glass beads having been dispersed
by the Phoenicians among the nations which they visited.
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