America Discovered by the Welsh in 1170 A.D Part 9

THE MOQUIS, MOHAVES, AND MODOCS.

Sebastian Cabot, in 1495, some two or three years after the first voyage of Columbus, discovered Florida and Mexico, and found along the coast the descendants of the Welsh discoverers who eventually settled in Mexico.

Sir George Mackenzie, in a letter to his grandfather, the fourth Earl of Perth, writing on the subject of Celtic discoveries in Europe and America, cites Baronius, Scaliger, Salmasius, Lipsius, and others as authorities for believing in these early emigrations. As early as the sixteenth century are found explicit accounts of strange peoples inhabiting certain portions of America and possessing different characteristics from the aborigines. Hakluyt, in his third volume, has an extract from Antonio de Epejo, written in 1583: "The Spaniards along the Rio del Norte, lat.i.tude 37 upwards, found the Indians far more civilized, and having a better form of government, than any others in Mexico. They had a great number of large and very populous towns, well built of stone and lime, three or four stories high; their country is very large and extensive. The chief town, called Cia, has not less than eight markets. The inhabitants are very warlike, have great plenty of cows and sheep, dress neat's leather very fine, and make of it shoes and boots, which no other Americans do. They have also deer-skins and chamois equal to those of Flanders (probably brought to Flanders from Switzerland), and abound with excellent provision in the greatest profusion. They have large fields of corn, and make curious things of feathers of various colors. They manufacture cotton, of which they make fine mantles, striped with blue and white. They have many salt lakes in their country, that abound with excellent fish, and from the waters of which they make excellent white salt. The country abounds with wild beasts, wild fowl, and all sorts of game. They breed great numbers of hens. The climate is very fine, the soil rich, producing great quant.i.ties of delicious fruits. They have amongst them grapes the same as those of Castile, and fine roses like those of Europe. They have also abundance of excellent metals, gold and silver. The people are very industrious and laborious, and the cultivation of the ground occupies all their time. Their houses are flat-roofed. The country is very mountainous, and has excellent timber; and the inhabitants seem to have some knowledge of the Christian faith. They have many chapels, and erect crosses, and they live in general in great security and peace. The largest lake is in the western part of the country, and around it is a great number of large, well-built, and populous towns. The people are neatly dressed, in clothes made of exceeding well-dressed skins and cotton cloth."

Captain Carver, in his "Travels in North America," says that "northwest of the Missouri and St. Pierre, the Indians farther told me that there was a nation rather smaller and whiter than the neighboring tribes, who cultivate the ground, and (as far as I could gather from their expressions) in some measure the arts. They are supposed to be some of the different tribes that were tributary to the Mexican kings, and who fled from their native country to seek an asylum in these parts about the time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, about two centuries ago."

Farther on (page 386), he says, "The Jesuits and French missionaries also pretended that the Indians had, when they first travelled into America, some notions--though these were dark and confused--of the Christian inst.i.tutions, for they were greatly agitated at the sight of the cross, which made such impressions on them that showed that they were not unacquainted with the sacred mysteries of Christianity."

Very little has been known until late years of the Rio del Norte and its source or sources, which flows in a southerly direction through New Mexico and empties into the Gulf. But as the population has increased in this country with astonishing rapidity, and settlements have been opened in the Territories, and there was a necessity for a well-organized Indian Bureau to provide for the scattered tribes living in the Southwest, the condition and character of the country and of the people in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona are being brought to light.

Military and scientific expeditions have been sent into those countries, which have returned with reports of having discovered new nations about whom nothing has been hitherto known.

In the campaign of General Crook against the Apaches, a large tract of country, rich with the relics of the past, was opened. It contains a chain of cities in ruins and ancient towns still inhabited by a race which holds itself aloof from Mexicans, Indians, and Americans, and prides itself on its descent from the ancient inhabitants of the country, and maintains a religion and government peculiar to itself. The largest settlement was found in Mexico, about thirty miles south of the border line. A strong wall surrounds it. Within are houses for about four thousand people. The population had dwindled at the time they were discovered to about eighteen hundred. Montezuma is their deity, and his coming is looked for at sunrise each day. Their priests wear heavily-embroidered robes, while their religious ceremonies are very formal and pompous. They have a high order of morality. The chief powers of government are vested in thirteen caciques, six of whom are elected for life. They are quite advanced in civilization. Their women are not treated as beasts of burden, but are respected, and permitted to confine themselves to housekeeping. From all that can be gleaned, it appears that these people have maintained their traditions unbroken for at least three centuries and a half.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Baca published, in 1529, a description of his wanderings in America. He was in New Mexico, and, in writing of the Indian villages, said, "The New Mexico pueblos--villages--are generally two stories high, with doors on the roof and the staircase ladders on the outside." Within a circle of sixty miles from Santa Fe there are to be found the ruins of over forty deserted towns; and in various other portions of New Mexico and Arizona similar ruins are in existence, all showing that there once resided here a powerful people essentially differing from the common American Indians. They were not placed here by the Spaniards, but had occupied these towns and cities long before their coming. By some it is believed that Montezuma originated in New Mexico; and some even designate his birthplace. Some locate it at the old pueblo of Pecos; while others maintain that it was near Ojo Caliente, the ruins of which are still to be seen. A doc.u.ment is now extant purporting to be copied from one of the legends at the capital in Mexico, in which it is stated that Montezuma was born in Teguayo, one of the ancient pueblos of New Mexico. This was not his original name, but was applied to him upon his elevation to the Aztec throne, as it was to his predecessors.

It is supposed by some that in this region was situated the Aztlan, whence came the Aztecs to Mexico; by others that it was along the Gila River, in Arizona. But throughout that entire country the ancient towns which are now inhabited and the deserted ruins show a common origin.

The view has been entertained by some who have given this subject attention that it was at this point in the progress of the migrations that Madoc and his followers finally became amalgamated with the Aztecs.

Within the past few years, several visits have been made by the members of Wheeler's Surveying Expedition--Samuel Woodworth Cozzens and a few others--to the seven wonderful cities of the Moquis, situated near the Colorado Chiquito, in Arizona.

Dr. Oscar Leow, chemist to Wheeler's Surveying Expedition, has contributed a brief but intensely interesting article to the "Popular Science Monthly" for July, 1874, on "The Moquis Indians of Arizona." By reference to the Indian reports, it appears that this nation has never been brought in contact with the Indian Bureau, nor with the Arizona agency, although within its jurisdiction. Small appropriations have recently been made for them; and it is likely that much more will soon be learned about them,--their habits, industries, language, and strange history.

Their seven cities stand upon very high, precipitous cliffs of sandstone, which, when seen in the distance, present such bold fronts that it appears out of the question for any one to think of climbing them. As the traveller approaches, however, he discovers narrow and circuitous paths, which must be pa.s.sed over single file, up and up, till the summit is reached. On this giddy height is the home of the Moquis.

Dr. Leow terms it the "Gibraltar of the West," which the Navajos and Apaches have never been able to conquer. The Moquis number about two thousand five hundred. The cities rest on four sandstone _mesas_,--tables,--which are about eight miles apart. On the first table are three of the cities, named Tehua, Tsitsumo-vi, and Obiki; on the second are Mushangene-vi and Shebaula-vi; the third is Shongoba-vi; and on the fourth is Orai-vi.

The houses are built in rows of two, three, and four stories in height, and constructed in terrace style, with the upper stories removed a few feet back from the lower ones. The sides fronting the bluffs are quite near, with only a narrow ledge along which to walk, and where the children were seen by the doctor, playing, unconscious of danger, while the mothers were within the houses performing their duties, though an awful gulf hundreds of feet in depth yawned beneath. Here the habitations are not built of adobe, like Indian and Mexican huts, but of stones firmly held in place by a cement of clay and sand. The stories are about seven feet high, divided into rooms, and each provided with a fire-place. Windows are cut into the walls about a foot square.

The architecture of these stone houses bears a marked conformity with that of the ruder ages among the Welsh.

The physical appearance of the Moquis is a nearer approach to that of the Caucasian than to that of the Mongolian race. The complexion is a light red-brown, and the countenance unusually intelligent.

Mr. Cozzens says that "their faces were so bright and intelligent that I fancied they only required to be clothed in American dress, and shorn of their long locks of coa.r.s.e black hair, to enable them to easily pa.s.s for people of our own race who had become brown from exposure to the sun.

"Their clothing is neat, and they have an abundance of it. They knit, spin, and weave blankets, cloaks, etc. They also manufacture certain kinds of pottery. They have a system of reservoirs or stone tanks, built of masonry in a substantial manner, and which hold millions of gallons of water. These are connected with smaller ones below by pipes, and thus utilized for their stock, which comprise dogs, donkeys, sheep, goats, and chickens. The sheep and goats are driven some eight or ten miles from the mesas to some pasture-lands. The princ.i.p.al crop is corn, which is planted deep in the ground to obtain a greater degree of moisture. The corn is ground, and then mixed with water, so as to form a paste. The woman who makes it dips her hand in the paste and rapidly pa.s.ses some of it over hot stones, where it is soon baked. The cakes resemble the Welsh _bara llechan_, noted in their cookery. They have a kind of food called _panoche_, and still another called _tomales_,--by mixing flour and meat in a powdered state. They also raise beans, cotton, and tobacco.

"The women appear more intelligent than the men, and dress with far more taste. The daughters of the chief are said to be exceedingly interesting ladies. The hair is worn a la Pompadour, with two inverse rolls on the side of the head, by the unmarried. When married, the rolls give place to broad braids. The Moquis girls have one privilege which ladies do not generally enjoy: they have the right to propose for their own husbands.

When they have made their proposals, the fathers make the arrangements.

The bride then prepares with her own hands the wedding-dinner.

"Females are not permitted to dance; their places are taken by young men who dress in imitation of the women. All the dancers wear masks made of peeled willow twigs nicely woven together; males have theirs dyed brown, and supposed females bright yellow.

"The vice of drunkenness and crime of murder are not known among this people.

"They are kind, warm-hearted, and hospitable. They believe that their great father, Montezuma, lives where the sun rises."

Mr. Cozzens studied their manners and customs, and endeavored to learn something of the history of this singular race. He says that it is a.s.serted by the people of the other pueblos "that they are descendants of the Aztecs, though with Welsh blood in their veins."

That they have occupied their present location for a long time may be inferred from the fact that their feet have worn down the path in the rock between the several villages to the depth of some inches.

The Mohaves, who are on the Colorado River Reservation, Arizona, are a small, isolated tribe, not more than perhaps a thousand all told. They are different from all other Indians. The women are tall, cleanly, and less servile than most Indian women. Their language is peculiar, and has Welsh words in it. The more recent reports of the United States Government agents contain complaints against the vile traders who are leading this once sober and respectable tribe into all sorts of vice, drunkenness, immorality, loathsome diseases, and crimes. White men, with their boasted civilization and virtues, drag the Indians to the brink of ruin, and then crowd them over as vile and disgusting creatures.

The perfidious and barbarous ma.s.sacre of General Canby, Rev. Eleazer Thomas, and others, by that savage band called the Modocs, brought them into an unenviable notoriety; but, while pa.s.sing, it is worthy of query how they came by a name so much like that of Madoc.

CHAPTER XIV.

SIGNS OF FREEMASONRY AMONG INDIANS.

The first printed evidence of the introduction of Freemasonry in America is found in the "Pennsylvania Gazette" of December 8th, 1730, published by Benjamin Franklin. It is as follows: "As there are several lodges of Freemasons erected in this province, and people have been lately much amused with conjectures concerning them, we think the following account of Freemasonry from London will not be unacceptable to our readers."

This is followed by a letter on the mystery. But, if the testimony of intelligent travellers can be accepted, it seems quite evident that lodges of Freemasons were in existence among the American Indians centuries prior to this time, all of which point to a Welsh origin. They certainly had private societies, which met at certain times, and the proceedings of which were kept inviolably secret under an oath.

Governor De Witt Clinton believed that the signs of Freemasonry were found among the Indians. He was an eminent member of the craft himself, and was as familiar with its history, government, rules, and signs as any person of his time. In an interview that he had with an Indian preacher, the latter unmistakably made revelations which convinced the former that he was familiar with the order. This Indian said that he had obtained this knowledge from a Menomonie chief.

There was one order among the Iroquois consisting of five Oneidas, two Cayugas, two St. Regis, and six Senecas. The period of their meeting could never be ascertained. These private societies were not confined to the Iroquois, but seem to have extended among all the tribes. Their rules of government and the admission of members were the same as among the whites. No one could be received as a member of the fraternity except by ballot, and the concurrence of the whole body was necessary to a choice. They had different degrees in the order. Their ceremonies of initiation were remarkable, and the mode of pa.s.sing from one degree to another would awaken astonishment among civilized Masons.

Whence did they originate? There was a long period in Europe when the knowledge of Freemasonry was mostly confined to the Druids, and in Wales this order was the most generally found. It was their home. There they had their colleges and schools of learning. They were, indeed, priests, legislators, and historians. Through their order the principles of the mystic craft were preserved throughout Europe. It was a.s.sociated with the later system of Bardism; and when under James the First there was such a revival of the order, and it began to spread with such rapidity, embracing all cla.s.ses, from the king on his throne down to his humblest subject, it was known that its deepest roots were struck in the soil of Wales. Madoc, the son of a king, and surrounded by a heroic band of eminent men, could not be ignorant of the principles of Freemasonry, and when they landed in America they brought those principles with them, to be afterwards imparted to such of those with whom they mingled as to offer material means of safety. There are not wanting instances where the lives of many whites have been spared by the Indians because they understood certain secret signs communicated to them.

CHAPTER XV.

THE WELSH LANGUAGE AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS.

An eminent modern linguist has said "that the genealogy and antiquities of nations can be learned only from the sure testimony of their languages." Admitting the correctness of such a statement, though it does not possess axiomatic accuracy, it may furthermore be added, that the discovery of portions of a language among other distant nations, separated by a vast ocean, and differing in race, language, habits, and conditions of life, surely indicates that some who spoke that language must have brought it there. It may be urged that distant resemblances have led enthusiastic philologists in support of their cause to imagine a similarity in the form and sound of certain words, when, in fact, those words are entirely different in meaning. Instances of this kind have occurred in the study of the European languages. But when it is found that an ident.i.ty exists in (1) the form, (2) the sound, and (3) the signification, and that, too, in multiplied instances, there is reason to believe that this ident.i.ty does not rest on accident or coincidence. The student of language searches for some more satisfactory solution of the question, by ascertaining, if possible, how those portions were introduced.

Now, this is just the case with the Celtic language found among the Indian dialects. From New England to South America, Celtic words have been found whose structure, p.r.o.nunciation, and signification were the same as those in use by the Gaels, Erse or Irish, and Welsh. Names of tribes, persons, places, rivers, and of many living and inanimate objects on the American continent, have been applied, and are now used, which can find their right place only by a.s.signing to them a Celtic origin. This very soon came to be observed by all Europeans who arrived in the country, and some set themselves diligently to work to find out the cause. Some said that was not to be wondered at,--the finding of Celtic words among Americans,--for undoubtedly the Celts have been very widely spread over the globe. This, however, was too general an affirmation to satisfy others. The celebrated Bishop Nicholson believed that the Welsh language formed a considerable part of the languages of the American nations. Sir Thomas Herbert, who published his travels in London in 1683, has given a list of words taken from the Indian dialects, which have an undoubted Welsh origin: _groeso_, "welcome,"

_gwenddwr_, "white or limpid water," _bara_, "bread," _tad_, "father,"

_mam_, "mother," _buch_ or _buwch_, "cow," _llwnog_, "fox," _coch y dwr_, "a red water-bird," _clugjar_ (American, _clugar_), "partridge."

Some doubt the derivation of "penguin" from _pengwyn_, because it is thought that "white head"--its literal meaning--would be a misnomer when applied to the American penguin. By no means. As it stands on its short legs it presents a white front from its head and exposed breast, and might very well have received this appellation. There is some similarity in the name of a once powerful chief who lived in New England to that of Madoc, viz., Madokawando,--Madoc and _gwrando_, "to listen" or "to be obedient to," "to submit to or follow." The guttural g in the Welsh language is often dropped, especially before a vowel. Take the Welsh verb _gallu_, "to be able," or the noun _gall_, "energy, might," and by the omission of the letter _g_ the words will stand _allu_, _all_. _U_ is sounded like _e_ in English, hence allu would be p.r.o.nounced alle.

Alligeni (Alleghany) is a compound word, composed of _allu_, "mighty,"

and _geni_, "born," or "mighty born." This is the name of the people who once dwelt along the immense range called by that name, and were displaced by the powerful nations, particularly the Iroquois, who came from the northwest. Potomac has a more evident Greek origin, for its word for "river" is _potamos_. Pontigo seems to come from _pont_, "a bridge," and _go_, "a smith,"--"a smith's bridge." Nantic.o.ke is found in _nant-y-cwch_, "a curved brook or river,"--a very appropriate designation for that tribe, whether applied prior to their leaving the river in Maryland or after ascending the Susquehanna.

Appomattox--now well known to the world--signifies _appwy_, "appoint" or "name," and _Mattox_, "Madoc" or "Mattoc," the latter having the soft Silurian sound; hence, "Madoc's name."

Madoc's Creek is known by most Virginians, and by others.

It is well known that in the origin of Indian names it was customary for the tribes to a.s.sume those of the country they inhabited which had some distinct peculiarities. By this means, as they removed from one place to another, these names became multiplied. For example, the U-in-tats, known as a branch of the Utes, belonged to the Uintah Valley. U-imp is the name for pine; U-imtoo-meap, pine-land, which, contracted, means U-intahs. The origin of Ute is as follows: U is a term signifying arrow; U-too-meap, arrow-land, because the country bordering Utah Lake furnished the reeds for arrow-shafts.

Aztlan seems clearly to have been derived from Welsh words having become mingled with Indian dialects, as _as_, "plane surface" or "area," and _lan_, "up," an elevated area or table-land. What better definition could be found to describe the Aztec plateau, beginning in Aztlan proper and continuing to widen into the Mexican plateau? The termination _lan_ is very common in the Aztec language. It is found in the names of tribes, their cities, and a mult.i.tude of other objects,--Tlascalans, Cholulans, and other peoples who dwelt in and around the upper countries of the Aztec empire. The terminations _an_ and _pan_, the latter indicating locality, as prefix or suffix, are very noticeable. So frequent also is the use of _ch_, _th_, and _ll_, that the Welsh student who speaks or reads aloud Aztec words is simply astounded by their perfect consonance with those of his native tongue.

Rev. Morgan Jones affirms that in 1660 he conversed with Indians who spoke and understood the Welsh language, that he remained among them and preached in that language four months, and that it was his intention when he left to return and visit them. Rev. Charles Beatty, General Bowles, Messrs. Price, Binon, Willin, Burnell, Griffith, Stuart, Sevier, Lewis, and many others unhesitatingly relate that they personally, or those whom they knew to be veracious, intelligent witnesses, had visited Indians who spoke the Welsh language sufficiently to be understood by them, without taking into account their other peculiarities of color, beard, customs, traditions, arts, etc.