Charmed by all that they had seen, the English voyagers returned, after a very short stay, having laden their ships with cedar, to which were added skins and furs obtained from the Indians, and sassafras, which had been introduced from Florida by the Spaniards, and was in great repute as a panacea; besides all this they carried with them two natives of this western paradise, Manteo and Wanchese. So glowing were the descriptions which they gave of the country that Elizabeth, who regarded it as an honour to her reign that during it these glorious lands had been discovered, conferred upon them her favourite appellation of Virginia.
The report brought by these heralds of discovery excited the utmost enthusiasm, and Raleigh, who was now knighted, made active preparations for a second expedition, which should consist of seven vessels, and take out one hundred and fifty colonists. Sir Ralph Lane was appointed governor of the colony, and Sir Richard Grenville, one of the bravest men of the age, took the command of the fleet. They set sail on the 9th of April, 1585, reckoning among their company many distinguished men—Cavendish, afterwards the circumnavigator, and Hariot, the inventor of the system of notation in modern algebra, being of the number. After some few disasters and narrowly escaping shipwreck on the coast of Florida, they reached Roanoke, where it was intended to found the colony. Manteo, one of the Indians who had accompanied the former party to England, and had now returned, being first sent on shore to announce their intention to the natives. Immediately afterwards a circumstance occurred which is to be regretted. Grenville, Lane, and others of the principal adventurers, made an excursion up the country, being everywhere well received by the natives. At one Indian town, however, a silver cup was stolen, and not being immediately restored, Grenville ordered the village to be set fire to, and the standing corn destroyed. This naturally incensed the natives.
The colonists, however, landed, and soon afterwards the ships returned to England; Grenville taking a rich Spanish prize by the way. Lane and his colonists explored the country, and Lane wrote home: “It is the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven; the most pleasing territory in the world; the continent is of a huge and unknown greatness, and very well peopled and towned, though savagely. The climate is so wholesome that we have none sick. If Virginia had but horses and kine and were inhabited by English, no realm in Christendom were comparable to it.” Hariot’s observations were directed to “the natural inhabitants,” and to the productions of the colony with reference to commerce; he observed the culture of tabacco, used it himself, and had great faith in its salutary qualities; he paid great attention to the maize and the potatoe, “which when boiled he found to be good eating.” He carefully studied the manners, customs, and faith of the Indians; exhibited to them his mathematical instruments, guns, clocks, etc., exciting in their minds the utmost respect and reverence for the English, as pupils and favourites of heaven. He exhibited the Bible to them wherever he went, and explained its truths, which affected them with profound regard and awe. The fire-arms which killed at a distance filled them with superstitious terror. Their wise men prophesied that “more of the English generation would yet come, who would kill theirs and take their places.”
In the meantime, the mass of the colonists, who were rabid for gold, listened to wonderful tales invented by artful Indians, who wished to be rid of these awe-inspiring strangers. The river Roanoke, they said, gushed forth from a rock near the Pacific Ocean, that a nation dwelt on its remote banks, skilful in refining gold, and that they occupied a city the walls of which glittered with pearls. Even sir Richard Lane was credulous enough to believe these tales, and ascended the river with a party in order to reach this golden region. They advanced onward, finding nothing, till they were reduced to the utmost extremity of famine. The Indians, disappointed by their return, resolved to cultivate no more corn, so that they might be driven from the country by want, and the English, divining their views, having invited the chief to a conference, fell upon him and slew him, with many of his followers. Lane was unfit for his office. This act of treachery exasperated the Indians to such a degree that they would no longer give him supplies. The colony was about to perish by famine, as the Indians desired, when Sir Francis Drake appeared outside the harbour with a fleet of twenty-three ships. He was on his way from the West Indies, and was now come to visit his friends. No visit could have been more opportune nor more welcome.
He supplied their wants; appropriated to them a vessel of seventy tons with pinnaces and small boats. All that they could need for sustenance or for the pursuit of discovery, he appointed for them. Strange however to say, a sudden storm came on; there was no security for the fleet but to weigh anchor and go out to sea; when the tempest was over, and Drake returned to the shore, he found all his preparations for the colony scattered as wrecks on the waves. The colonists were completely disheartened; and at their entreaties Drake received them on board his ships, and conveyed them back to England, after an absence of about twelve months, during which time they had accustomed themselves to the use of tobacco, which they now carried home with them.
They were gone; but scarcely had they left the shore, when a ship despatched by Raleigh, who had not forgotten them, arrived with all possible supplies, but which, finding the colony had vanished, set sail again homeward; and scarcely had it left the shore, when Sir Richard Grenville arrived with three ships, and he, too, after vainly searching about for the missing colony, departed, leaving fifteen men on Roanoke to keep possession for the English.
CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERIES CONTINUED.
Raleigh, spite of the ill-success which had attended his efforts at colonisation, was not discouraged; and the report which Hariot made of the capabilities and resources of the country strengthened the public faith. Profiting by adversity, Raleigh now resolved to attempt an agricultural colony; to send out families, men with wives and children, so that the emigrant should take his home, as it were, with him. He granted a charter of incorporation for the settlement, and established, before it left the country, a municipal government for his projected city of Raleigh; Captain John White being appointed governor. The emigrants were embarked at the expense of Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth declining to afford any aid. Women were now among them, and a sufficiency of implements of husbandry seemed to give promise of successful industry. They arrived at Roanoke in July, expecting to find the fifteen men whom Grenville had left there; but the fort which had been built was in ruins, the houses were deserted; wild deer were feeding amid the rank vegetation of the gardens, and human bones lay scattered everywhere. Spite of all these melancholy tokens, the new-comers resolved here to build their city of Raleigh; here to establish the seat of their future government.
Raleigh was again unfortunate in his choice of governor; Captain John White was no better fitted for his post than Sir Richard Lane had been. Aggressions on the Indians were the first acts of the colonists. The mother and relatives of Manteo welcomed the English with the utmost cordiality, but spite of this, a party of English seeing a company of natives sitting by their fires at night, and fearing lest they might be enemies, fell upon them, and after killing a considerable number discovered that they were their friends. Manteo, however, remained faithful, and by command of Sir Walter Raleigh received Christian baptism and the rank of a feudal baron, as the Lord of Roanoke.
It was soon found that many things were yet needful for the comfort of the emigrants, and the governor sailed for England to obtain them. A gloom overspread the little colony as the ship was ready to depart, and women as well as men besought of him to return speedily with reinforcements and supplies. At this moment he would have remained with them, and shared their sufferings and privations, but they compelled him to go. Previous to his departure, his daughter, Eleanor Dare, the wife of one of the emigrants, gave birth to a female child, the first offspring of English parents born in America; the child was called Virginia Dare.