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,
br /> 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.



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