The Lost Colony Of Roanoke
In the year 1584 two wandering vessels, like the caravels of Columbus a
century earlier, found themselves in the vicinity of a new land; not, as
in the case of Columbus, by seeing twigs and fruit floating on the
water, but in the more poetical way of being visited, while far at sea,
by a sweet fragrance, as of a delicious garden full of perfumed flowers.
A garden it was, planted not by the hand of man, but by that of nature,
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on the North Carolinian shores. For this was the first expedition sent
out by Sir Walter Raleigh, the earliest of Englishmen to attempt to
settle the new-discovered continent, and it was at that season as truly
a land of flowers as the more southern Florida.
The ships soon reached shore at a beautiful island called by the Indians
Wocokon, where the mariners gazed with wonder and delight on the scene
that lay before them. Wild flowers, whose perfume had reached their
senses while still two days' sail from land, thickly carpeted the soil,
and grapes grew so plentifully that the ocean waves, as they broke upon
the strand, dashed their spray upon the thick-growing clusters. "The
forests formed themselves into wonderfully beautiful bowers, frequented
by multitudes of birds. It was like a Garden of Eden, and the gentle,
friendly inhabitants appeared in unison with the scene. On the island
of Roanoke they were received by the wife of the king, and entertained
with Arcadian hospitality."
When these vessels returned to England and the mariners told of what
they had seen, the people were filled with enthusiasm. Queen Elizabeth
was so delighted with what was said of the beauty of the country that
she gave it the name of Virginia, in honor of herself as a virgin queen.
The next year a larger expedition was sent out, carrying one hundred and
fifty colonists, who were to form the vanguard of the British dominion
in the New World.
They found the land all they had been told. Ralph Lane, the governor,
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 Englishmen, no realm in
Christendom were comparable with it."
But they did not find the natives so kindly disposed as in the year
before, and no wonder; for the first thing the English did after landing
on Roanoke Island was to accuse the Indians of stealing a silver cup,
for which they took revenge by burning a village and destroying the
standing corn. Whether this method was copied from the Spaniards or not,
it proved a most unwise one, for at once the colonists found themselves
surrounded by warlike foes, instead of in intercourse with confiding
friends.
The English colonists had the same fault as those of Spain. The stories
of the wonderful wealth of Mexico and Peru had spread far and wide over
Europe, and the thirst for gold was in all hearts. Instead of planting
grain and building homes, the new-comers sought the yellow evil far and
wide, almost as if they expected the soil to be paved with it. The
Indians were eagerly questioned and their wildest stories believed. As
the natives of Porto Rico had invented a magic fountain to rid
themselves of Ponce de Leon and his countrymen, so those of Roanoke told
marvellous fables to lure away the unwelcome English. The Roanoke River,
they said, gushed forth from a rock so near the western ocean that in
storms the salt sea-water was hurled into the fresh-water stream. Far
away on its banks there dwelt a nation rich in gold, and inhabiting a
city the walls of which glittered with precious pearls.
Lane himself, whom we may trust to have been an educated man, accepted
these tales of marvel as readily as the most ignorant of his people. In
truth, he had much warrant for it in the experience of the Spaniards.
Taking a party of the colonists, he ascended the river in search of the
golden region. On and on they went, finding nothing but the unending
forest, hearing nothing but the cries of wild beasts and the Indian
war-cries, but drawn onward still by hope until their food ran out and
bitter famine assailed them. Then, after being forced to kill their
dogs for food, they came back again, much to the disappointment of the
Indians, who fancied they were well rid of their troublesome guests.
As the settlers were not to be disposed of by fairy-stories of cities of
gold, the natives now tried another plan. They resolved to plant no more
corn, so that the English must either go away or starve. Lane made
matters worse by a piece of foolish and useless cruelty. Wisdom should
have taught him to plant corn himself. But what he did was to invite the
Indians to a conference, and then to attack them, sword in hand, and
kill the chief, with many braves of the tribe. He might have expected
what followed. The furious natives at once cut off all supplies from the
colonists, and they would have died of hunger if Sir Francis Drake, in
one of his expeditions, had not just then appeared with a large fleet.
Here ended the first attempt to plant an English colony in America.
Drake, finding the people in a desperate state, took them in his ships
and sailed with them for England. Hardly had they gone before other
ships came and the missing colonists were sought for in vain. Then
fifteen men were left on the island to hold it for England, and the
ships returned.
In 1587 Raleigh's last colony reached Roanoke Island. This time he took
care to send farmers instead of gold-seekers, and sent with them a
supply of farming tools. But it was not encouraging when they looked
for the fifteen men left the year before to find only some of their
bones, while their fort was a ruin and their deserted dwellings
overgrown with vines. The Indians had taken revenge on their oppressors.
One event of interest took place before the ship returned, the birth of
the first English child born in America. In honor of the name which the
queen had given the land, this little waif was called Virginia Dare.
Now we come to the story of the mysterious fate of this second English
colony. When the ships which had borne it to Roanoke went back to
England they found that island in an excited state. The great Spanish
Armada was being prepared to invade and conquer Elizabeth's realm, and
hasty preparations were making to defend the British soil. The fate of
the Armada is well known. England triumphed. But several years passed
before Raleigh, who was now deep laden with debt, was able to send out a
vessel to the relief of his abandoned colonists.
When the people sent by him landed on the island, they looked around
them in dismay. Here were no happy homes, no smiling fields, no bustling
colonists. The island was deserted. What had become of the inhabitants
was not easy to guess. Not even their bones had been left, as in the
case of the hapless fifteen, though many relics of their dwelling-places
were found. The only indication of their fate was the single word
"Croatan" cut into the bark of a tree.
Croatan was the name of an island not far from that on which they were,
but it was the stormy season of the year, and John White, the captain,
made this an excuse for not venturing there. So he sailed again for home
with only the story of a vanished colony.
From that time to this the fate of the colony has been a mystery. No
trace of any of its members was ever found. If they had made their way
to Croatan, they were never seen there. Five times the noble-hearted
Raleigh sent out ships to search for them, but all in vain; they had
gone past finding; the forest land had swallowed them up.
It has been conjectured that they had mingled with a friendly tribe of
Indians and become children of the forest like their hosts. Some
tradition of this kind remained among the Indians, and it has been
fancied that the Hatteras Indians showed traces of English blood. But
all this is conjecture, and the fate of the lost colonists of Roanoke
must remain forever unknown.