1585.] RALEIGH'S COLONY IN NORTH CAROLINA.

47

by Queen Elizabeth, was willing to act for Raleigh as their governor, while Sir Richard Grenville assumed the command of the fleet. It sailed from Plymouth, in April, 1585, accompanied by several men of merit, whom the world remembers; — by Cavendish, who soon, after circumnavigated the globe; Hariot, the inventor of the system of notation in modern algebra, the historian of the expedition; and With, an ingenious painter, whose sketches of the natives, their habits and modes of life, were famed for beauty and exactness.

In June, the fleet fell in with the main land of Florida; it was in great danger of being wrecked on the cape which was then first called the Cape of Fear, and, after encountering perils on the shoals of that coast, made its way through Ocracock Inlet to Roanoke.

Manteo, the friend of the English, who returned with the fleet from a visit to England, was at once sent to the main to announce their arrival; while Grenville, accompanied by Lane, Hariot, Cavendish, and others, in an excursion of eight days, explored the coast as far as Secotan. At one of the Indian towns, a silver cup had been stolen; its restoration was delayed; with hasty cruelty, Grenville ordered the village to be burnt, and the standing corn to be destroyed. Not long after this action of inconsiderate revenge, the ships, having landed the colony, sailed for England.

The employments of Lane and his colonists, after the departure of Grenville, could be none other than to examine the country. "It is the goodliest soil" such were his words. "under the cope of heaven; the most pleasing territory of 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 not one sick since we touched the land. If Virginia had but horses and kine, and were inhabited with English, no realm in Christendom were comparable to it."

The keenest observer was Hariot; and he was often employed in dealing with "the natural inhabitants."

48 NATIVE INHABITANTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. [1585.

He carefully examined the productions of the country-those which would furnish commodities for commerce, and those which were in esteem among the natives. He watched the culture of tobacco, accustomed himself to its use, and was a firm believer in its healing virtues. The culture of maize, and the extraordinary productiveness of that grain, especially attracted his admiration; and the tuberous roots of the potato, when boiled, were found to be very good food. The inhabitants are described as too feeble to inspire terror; clothed in mantles and aprons of deer-skins; having no weapons but wooden swords, and bows of witch-hazel, with arrows of reeds; no armor but targets of bark and sticks wickered together with thread. Their towns were small, the largest containing but thirty dwellings. The walls of the houses were made of bark, fastened to stakes; and sometimes consisted of poles fixed upright, one by another, and at the top bent over and fastened, as arbors are sometimes made in gardens. But the great peculiarity of the Indians consisted in the want of political connection. A single town often constituted a government; a collection of ten or twenty wigwams was an independent state. The greatest chief in the whole country could not muster more than seven or eight hundred fighting men. The dialect of each government seemed a language by itself. The country which Hariot explored was on the boundary of the Algonquin race, where the Lenni-Lenape tribes melted into the widely-differing nations of the south. The wars among themselves rarely led them to the open battle-field; they were accustomed rather to sudden surprises at daybreak or by moonlight, to ambushes, and the subtle devices of cunning falsehood. Destitute of the arts, they yet displayed excellency of wit in all which they attempted. Nor were they entirely ignorant of religion; but to the credulity of polytheism they joined a confused belief in the existence of one supreme Power. It is natural to the human mind to desire immortality; the natives of Carolina believed in continued existence after death,

1586.]

TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS.

49

and in retributive justice. The mathematical instruments, the burning-glass, guns, clocks, and the use of letters, seemed the works of gods, rather than of men; and the English were reverenced as the pupils and favorites of Heaven. In every town which Hariot entered, he displayed the Bible, and explained its truths; the Indians revered the volume rather than its doctrines; and, with a fond superstition, they embraced the book, kissed it, and held it to their breasts and heads, as if it had been an amulet. As the colonists enjoyed uniform health, and had no women with them, there were some among the Indians who imagined the English were not born of woman, and therefore not mortal; that they were men of an old generation, risen to immortality. The terrors of fire-arms the natives could neither comprehend nor resist; every sickness which now prevailed among them, was attributed to wounds from invisible bullets, discharged by unseen agents, with whom the air was supposed to be peopled. They prophesied, that "there were more of the English generation yet to come, to kill theirs and take their places;" and some believed that the purpose of extermination was already matured, and its execution begun.

Was it strange, then, that the natives desired to be delivered from the presence of guests by whom they feared to be supplanted? The colonists were mad with the passion for gold; and a wily savage invented, respecting the River Roanoke and its banks, extravagant tales, which nothing but cupidity could have credited. Lane was so credulous, that he attempted to ascend the rapid current of the Roanoke; but he hardly advanced higher up the river than some point near the present village of Williamstown.

Meantime, the English believed that a general conspiracy was forming to destroy them in one massacre. Perhaps they were precipitate in giving faith to the whispers of jealousy; it is certain that, in the contest of dissimulation, they proved themselves the more successful adepts. Desiring an audience of Wingina, the 4

VOL. I.

50

VISIT OF DRAKE.

[1586 most active among the native chiefs, Lane and his attendants were quickly admitted to his presence. No hostile intentions were displayed by the Indians; their reception of the English was proof of their confidence. Immediately a preconcerted watchword was given; and the Christians, falling upon the unhappy king and his principal followers, put them without mercy to death. It was evident that Lane did not possess the qualities suited to his station. His discoveries were inconsiderable to the south they had extended only to Secotan, in the present county of Craven, between the Pamlico and the Neuse; to the north they reached no farther than the small River Elizabeth, which joins the Chesapeake Bay below Norfolk; in the interior, besides the short excursion up the Roanoke, the Chowan had been examined beyond the junction of the Meherrin and the Nottaway. Yet some general results of importance were obtained. The hope of finding good harbors was confirmed; and the Bay of Chesapeake was already regarded as the fit theatre for early colonization. But in the Island of Roanoke, the men began to despond; they looked in vain towards the ocean for supplies from England; when, of a sudden, in June, 1586, it was rumored that the sea was white with the sails of three-and-twenty ships; and Sir Francis Drake soon anchored his fleet in "the wild road" outside of Roanoke Inlet.

He had come, on his way from the West Indies to England, to visit the domain of his friend. With the celerity of genius, he prepared to supply the wants of Lane to the uttermost.

But a storm suddenly arose, and nearly wrecked the fleet, which found no security but in weighing anchor and standing away from the shore. When the tempest was over, the humanity of Drake again devised measures for continuing discoveries; but Lane shared the despondency of his men; and Drake yielded to their unanimous desire of permission to embark in his ships for England. Thus ended the first actual settlement of the English in America. The exiles of a year had

1586, 1587.]

CITY OF RALEIGH,

51

grown familiar with the favorite amusement of the lethargic Indians; and they introduced into England the familiar use of tobacco.

A few days after the precipitate departure of Lane, a ship arrived laden with all stores needed by the infant settlement. It had been despatched by Raleigh; but, finding "the paradise of the world" deserted, it could only return to England. Another fortnight had hardly elapsed, when Sir Richard Grenville appeared off the coast with three well-furnished ships, and renewed the vain search for the departed colony. Unwilling that the English should lose possession of the country, he left fifteen men on the Island of Roanoke, to be the guardians of English rights.

The decisive testimony of Hariot to the excellence of the country, still rendered it easy to collect a new colony for America. Raleigh now determined to plant an agricultural state; to send emigrants with wives and families, who should at once make their homes in the New World; and, that life and property might be secured, he granted a charter of incorporation for the settlement, and established a municipal government for "the city of Raleigh." John White was appointed its governor and to him, with eleven assistants, the administration of the colony was intrusted. A fleet of transport ships was prepared at the expense of the proprietary; for Queen Elizabeth refused all aid. The company, as it embarked, in April, 1587, was cheered by the presence of women; and an ample provision of the implements of husbandry gave a pledge for successful industry. In July, they arrived on the coast of North Carolina; they were saved from the dangers of Cape Fear; and, passing Cape Hatteras, they hastened to the Isle of Roanoke, to search for the handful of men whom Grenville had left there as a garrison. They found the tenements deserted, and overgrown with weeds; human bones lay scattered on the field; wild deer were reposing in the untenanted houses, or were feeding on the productions which a rank vegetation still forced from the gardens.