Médoc

“ When the Modoc has led his last warrior to battle up yonder in his rocky fortress, fired his last shot, and the grass is growing in the last war-path of those people, then, and not till then, I may go up where the solemn trees with their dead limbs stand around, making faces at something in the centre, pitch a tent there, and go down in the canon with men, and picks and shovels, and bars of steel and iron. ”

“ As the poem, in which this reference occurs, opens with an appeal to Owain, and laments the death of several of his children, it is only fair to conclude that here is the Madoc who was supposed to have sailed to America. Another poem, by its reference to "an assassin slaying Madoc," [8] strengthens this belief. It is not till the middle or close of the fifteenth century that there is any trace of the tradition as we now have it, when Meredydd ap Rhys sings, "Madoc, true whelp of Owain Gwynedd, would not have land or great wealth, but the broad sea," and alludes to his passion for the sea. ”

“ Now you see these fellows walking all through the grounds at Fort Klamath, Oregon, free men. They were the first men that gave up their arms on Fairchild's Ranch, California, and were employed as government scouts at $100 per month. There is, kind reader, human devils in all nations. These men done more to close up the Modoc War than the army of a thousand men. They are now real live heroes, and they feel it, too. If anything is yet wanting to make this scene complete, it is fully made up by the soldiers who enjoy a safe look into the eyes of the Modoc chief, Capt. Jack. ”

“ For the Modocs the valley of Lost River and the lands around Klamath and Tula Lake are sacred. We, who endeavor to trace our origin back to a monkey or, still farther, to a bit of protoplasm, or who believe in and search far and wide for the Garden of Eden, cannot revere a country which is ours simply by chance of birth as the Indian reveres the country where his tribe originated. ”

“ The rent-paying day was bright and breezy. The tide was up in the morning, and Mehalah and her mother in a boat with sail and jib and spritsail flew before a northeast wind down the Mersea Channel, and doubling Sunken Island, entered the creek which leads to Salcot and Virley, two villages divided only by a tidal stream, and connected by a bridge.
The water danced and sparkled, multitudes of birds were on the wing, now dipping in the wavelets, now rising and shaking off the glittering drops. A high sea-wall hid the reclaimed land on their left. ”

“ A clear stream of water full of trout, with willow-lined banks, wound through the length of the narrow valley, entirely hidden in the long grass and leaning willows.
The Pit River Indians did not visit us here, neither did the Modocs, and we began to hope we were entirely hidden, in the deep narrow little valley, from all Indians, both friendly and unfriendly, until one evening some young men, calling themselves Shastas, came into the camp. They were very friendly, how ever, were splendid horsemen, and assisted to bring in and corral the horses like old vaqueros. ”

“ There are traces of Madoc traditions—though not such tradition s we find in Powel—in Meredydd. Coupling these with the statement that Madoc went across the broad sea, or "Morwerydd," it becomes highly probable that Madoc's voyage was only to Ireland. In early Welsh, "Morwerydd" regularly means the Irish Sea, and not the Atlantic. In the Brut y Tywysogion, we are told that Owain Gwynedd married an Irish lady. Another early Welsh writer couples Riryd, Madoc's brother, with Irish estates, and Riryd is found in the stories sailing with Madoc to America. ”

“ The Modoc people believe that Kumush created the world—the world in Modoc myth means the country inhabited by the Modocs and the tribes they come in contact with.—He made the mountains, lakes and rivers and gave them names. We are not told about the creation of the “first people,” those wonderful beings who inhabited the world before man was created and were “so numerous that if a count could be made of all the stars in the sky, all the feathers on birds, all the hairs and fur on animals, and all the hairs on our heads, they would not be as numerous.” ”

“ But think not that this famous town has only harpooneers, cannibals, and bumpkins to show her visitors. Not at all. Still New Bedford is a queer place. Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador. As it is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so bony. The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New England. It is a land of oil, true enough: but not like Canaan; a land, also, of corn and wine. The streets do not run with milk ”

“ The old woman was shivering with the ague, and shook the chair on which her daughter leaned; every now and then she raised a white faltering hand to wipe the drops of cold sweat away that hung on her eyebrows like rain on thatching.
"I did not catch the chill here," she said. "I ketched it more than thirty years ago when I was on Mersea Isle, and it has stuck in my marrow ever since. But there is no ague on the Ray. This is the healthiest place in the world, Mehalah has never caught the ague on it. I do not wish ever to leave it, and to lay my bones elsewhere." ”

“ There is no sound reason for this belief: many of the various Bruts bore his name, and it is altogether likely that he was living when Madoc set sail and returned, prior to his final leave. It would not be wise, however, to dispute Humphrey Lloyd, Caradoc's translator into English, who says that that part of the history beyond 1157, and, of course, that including Madoc's voyages, was compiled from collections made from time to time, and kept in the abbeys of Conway in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, and Strata Florida, Cardiganshire, South Wales. ”

“ If Mersea was a trap, how much more so the Ray. The Sharlands had not even a lock to their door. No one was ever seen on the island after dark save those who dwelt there, for the hill was surrounded on all sides, save where girt by the sea, by a labyrinth of creeks and pools. A robber there would be like a fly in a cobweb, to be caught at once. The sheep were allowed to ramble all over the marsh and saltings, they could thread their way; and it was only when the moon was full or new, and the wind in the south-east, that the shepherd drove them into fold till the waters subsided. ”

“ This strife mortified Madoc. In order to separate himself from his quarrelling brothers he fitted out a number of ships and sailed west, “leaving the coast of Ireland so far north, that he came to an unknown land, where he saw many strange things.” He then returned home and gave an account of the attractive and fertile countries “he had seen without inhabitants.” He induced a number of men and women, who desired to live peaceably, to emigrate to the western land. The second voyage was safely made to the colony in the “fair and large country.” ”

“ The Bedouins continued to gain on us, and at length we lost sight of them, and saw them no more.
At this distressing moment, the fog cleared up, and our delight may be conceived, when, on a neighbouring hill, we saw a drove of camels. We made towards it, and were informed by the herdsman, that the Beni Omar Bedouins were encamped in a bottom hard by. Our spirits cheered up. We met other herds; and at last saw a woman grubbing roots for fuel, a certain sign that we were close to the tents. In a few minutes we came to the edge of a glen, where was a large encampment. ”

“ Madoc's Church, down the river began to chime, and a whole host of coracles were drawn near the water gate, for the Portreeve and all his company have been used from time immemorial to sail down the river to St. Madoc's Church and there to hear a solemn service. And for the magistrate and the Constable of the Castle, and the Bailiffs a very large wicker boat is provided and another for the musique who play their water piece; but all the rest go each in a coracle apart; and they must steer warily, for the river is shallow by Uske, and there is only a narrow passage that a boat can use. ”

“ Madoc, youngest son of Owain Gwynedd, king of North Wales (who died 1169) . He is called “The Perfect Prince,” “The Lord of Ocean,” and is the very beau-ideal of a hero. Invincible, courageous, strong and daring, but amiable, merciful and tender-hearted ”

“ Mehalah went to the boat. It was floating. She placed the lanthorn in the bows, cast loose, and began to row. She would need the light on her return, perhaps, as with the falling tide she would be unable to reach the landing-place under the farmhouse, and be forced to anchor at the end of the island, and walk home across the saltings. To cross these without a light on a dark night is not safe even to one knowing the lie of the land. ”

“ To Sir Madoc, a genuine country gentleman, full only of field-sports, the prospects of the turnip crop and the grouse season, the county-pack and so forth, a conversation that now rose, chiefly on the coming fête on dresses, music, routs and Rotten-row, kettledrums and drawing-rooms, and the town in general, proved somewhat of a bore. He fidgeted, and ultimately left for the stables, where he and Bob Spurrit had to hold a grave consultation on certain equine ailments. The ladies also rose to leave us; but Caradoc, Guilfoyle, and I lingered under the cool shadow of the oaks, and lit our cigars. ”

“ He is a little boy, but as soon as he is outside he increases in size. He enters a ravine, and when he comes out at the opposite end he is a full-grown man. Later every one sees him; his body is bright and beautiful. When pursued by his sister, he crosses a valley at a step, springs from one mountain to another, and early in the morning reaches the first house, the home of two women, who have the power of making themselves young.
The Modocs have lost the name of Gáukos’ elder sister, and they do not know the meaning of the name of the younger sister, Lĭsgaga. ”

“ The captain called a halt about one mile from the village, told the boys it was too dark to good shooting yet. "We will go on when it gets lighter," he says. If one could have penetrated the darkness, he could have seen fifteen or twenty men, less than a mile from Curley Headed Doctor's lodge, and four or five other lodges on the north bank of Lost River, straight across from Jack's lodge. This body of men are the settlers. These men were very anxious to secure a few Modoc scalps at the risk of their own lives. ”

“ And now, as I write these closing lines, I can see, through the lozenged and mullioned windows of the library, the old woods of Craigaderyn tossing their leafy branches on the evening wind, and the sunset lingering redly on the lofty peaks of Snowdon and Carneydd Llewellyn. Old Sir Madoc--too old now to back even his most favourite hunter--is sitting yonder in the sunshine, looking dreamily down the far-stretched vista of the chase to where the bright sea is rippling in the distance. ”

“ Mehalah retired with bowed head, and her arms folded on her bosom. She halted on the bridge, and kicked fragments of frozen earth and gravel into the water. A woman going by looked at her.
"Where is the parson?" asked Mehalah.
"Yonder; you go over the marsh by the hill with the windmill on it, and you come to a road, you'll find a blacksmith's shop, and you must ask there. He's the curate, there's no rector hereabouts. They keep away because of the ague." ”

“ It is, then, superfluous to discuss the question whether Madoc landed in Newfoundland, in Virginia, in Florida, in Mexico, or in the Azores, all of which have at various times been suggested for his landfall. The Welsh-speaking Indians are as historical as the Hebrew, Scotch, and Gaelic-speaking tribes which have at various dates been discovered in America by various enthusiasts. ”

“ For several miles we slowly advance along this curious road (for we are still upon a road, though one little used) and at last, reaching a hilltop, we are greeted by 292 a glorious salt breeze, and looking westward we behold the dim blue stretches of the broad Atlantic.
An hour more and we arrive at Mehedia, formerly a city of the Portuguese, to-day a vast ruin in the midst of which a miserable Arab hamlet is concealed. ”

“ The Medway, perhaps because it is the relic of some 232 much greater river now drowned by the sinking of the land, perhaps because its tidal estuary lends it twice a day an artificial breadth, gives one the impression of those continental streams, the Seine or the Meuse, which are sufficient to animate a whole country-side, and which run in so wide a basin that a whole province attaches to their name. ”

“ The Indians kept up a heavy fire on RECONNAISSANCE of the LAVA BEDS sketch showing JACK'S CAVE. the charging forces. Men were falling all the time, while they charged. They were exposed all this time to the deadly fire of the Modocs. The fog now banked over the opposing parties more dense than ever. No man's eye could penetrate more than twenty yards. The Modoc chief with Ellen's man, a Modoc brave, decided to get the warriors together and charge the enemy, which they did with good results, as the enemy retreated with bad order, leaving their dead and wounded behind. ”

“ Jack was ready with all his people for the journey. It took eight big government wagons with mule teams to haul the Modoc women and their clothing, etc., up on the reservation. The point is known as Modoc Point today, named on account of the Modocs being settled there in November, 1869.
Jack in a few days had all his people well settled. About the month of December he called on the Indian agent, Knapp, at the agency. He told the agent that he wanted chopping axes, cross-cut saws, wedges and maul rings. He said he wanted to put his men to work making rails, etc. ”