Peter Martyr, alluded to in the above extract, lived in the court of Ferdinand, King of Spain. He was the author of several works, among them the "Decades," which contain the references to Matec Zungam, or Madoc the Cambrian. He was at court when Columbus returned from his first voyage, and is considered good authority with respect to what he wrote about in those times. He distinctly affirms that some nations in America honored the memory of one Madoc when Columbus landed on that coast.
Our next quotation will be from "Letters writ by a Turkish Spy," who lived forty-five years undiscovered in Paris, giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe from the year 1673 to 1682. They were originally written in Arabic. The author of this work, which caused a great sensation at the time, as well from the highly-interesting character of its contents as from the profound secrecy in which the name of the writer was long involved, was John Paul Marana, a native of Italy. He says, "This prince [Charles II.] has several nations under his dominions, and it is thought he scarce knows the just extent of his territories in America. There is a region on that continent inhabited by a people whom they call Tuscorards and Doegs. Their language is the same as is spoken by the Welsh. They are thought to descend from them. It is certain that when the Spaniards first conquered Mexico they were surprised to hear the inhabitants discourse of a strange people that formerly came thither in corraughs, who taught them the knowledge of God and immortality, instructed them also in virtue and morality, and prescribed holy rites and ceremonies of religion. 'Tis remarkable, also, what an Indian king said to a Spaniard, viz., that in foregoing ages a strange people arrived there by sea, to whom his ancestry gave hospitable entertainment, in regard they found them men of wit and courage, endued also with many other excellencies, but he could give no account of their original or name. The Welsh language is so prevalent in that country that the very towns, bridges, beasts, birds, rivers, hills, etc., are called by Welsh names. Who can tell the various transmigrations of mortals on earth, or trace out the true originals of any people?"