III. CHAP. not return, till their stores of provisions were exhausted and they had killed and eaten the very dogs 1586. which bore them company. On this attempt to April. explore the interior, the English hardly advanced higher up the river than some point near the present village of Williamstown. The Indians had hoped to destroy the English by thus dividing them; but the prompt return of Lane prevented open hostilities. They next conceived the plan of leaving their lands unplanted; and they were willing to abandon their fields, if famine would in consequence compel the departure of their too powerful guests. The conspiracy was defeated by the moderation of one of their aged chiefs; but the feeling of enmity could not be May. restrained. The English believed that a general conspiracy was preparing; that fear of a foreign enemy was now teaching the natives the necessity of union; and that a grand alliance was forming, of which the object would be the destruction of the strangers by a general massacre. Perhaps the English, whom avarice had certainly rendered credulous, were now precipitate in giving faith to the suggestions of jealousy; it is certain, that in the contest of dissimulation, they proved themselves the more successful adepts. Desiring an audience of Wingina, the most active among the native chiefs, Lane and June his attendants were quickly admitted to his presence. 1. No hostile intentions were displayed by the Indians ; their reception of the English was proof of their confidence. Immediately a preconcerted watchword ILL SUCCESS OF THE ENGLISH COLONY. 115 III. was given; and the Christians, falling upon the CHAP. unhappy king and his principal followers, put them without mercy to death. 1586. It was evident that Lane did not possess the qualities suited to his station. He had not the sagacity, which could rightly interpret the stories or the designs of the natives; and the courage, like the eye, of a soldier, differs from that of a traveller. His discoveries were inconsiderable; to the south they had extended only to Secotan, in the present county of Carteret, 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, the Chowan had been examined beyond the junction of the Meherrin and the Nottaway; and we have seen, that the hope of gold attracted Lane to make a short excursion up the Roanoke. Yet some general results of importance were obtained. The climate was found to be salubrious; during the year but four men had died, and of these, three brought the seeds of their disease from Europe. The hope of finding better harbors at the north 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; they were sighing for the luxuries of the cities in their native land; when of a sudden it was rumored, that June the sea was white with the sails of three and twenty 1 Hariot, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 340; True Declaration of Virginia, p. 32. 8. CHAP. ships; and within three days Sir Francis Drake had III. anchored his fleet outside of Roanoke inlet, in "the 1586. road of their bad harbor." He had come, on his way from the West Indies to England, to visit the colony of his friend. With the celerity of genius, he discovered the measures, which the exigency of the case required; and supplied the wants of Lane to the uttermost; giving him a bark of seventy tons, with pinnaces and small boats. Above all, he induced two experienced seacaptains to remain in the colony and employ themselves in the action of discovery. Every thing was furnished to complete the surveys along the coast and the rivers; and, in the last resort, if suffering became extreme, to transport the colony to England. At this time an unwonted storm suddenly arose and had nearly wrecked the fleet, which lay in a most dangerous position. The bark, that had been laden with provisions for the colony, was driven out to sea; the fleet had no security but in weighing anchor and standing away from the shore; and when the tempest was over, nothing could be found of the boats and the bark, which had been set apart for the colony. The humanity of Drake was not weary; he instantly devised measures for supplying the colony with the means of continuing their discoveries; but Lane shared the despondency of his men; and Drake yielded to their unanimous desire of permisJune sion to embark in his ships for England. Thus ended the first actual settlement of the English in America. The exiles of a year had grown familiar 19. SECOND VOYAGE OF GRENVILLE. 117 III. with the favorite amusement of the lethargic Indians; CHAP. and they introduced into England the general use of tobacco.1 The return of Lane was a precipitate desertion; a little delay would have furnished the colony with ample supplies. A few days after its departure 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 English 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.3 1586. Raleigh was not dismayed by ill success, nor borne 1587. down by losses. The enthusiasm of the people of England was diminished by the reports of the unsuccessful company of Lane; but the decisive testimony of Hariot to the excellence of the country, still rendered it easy to collect a new colony for America. The wisdom of Raleigh was particularly displayed in the policy, which he now adopted. He deter 1 On the settlement, see Lane's Particularities, &c. in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 311-322, the original account. The reader may compare Camden, p. 286; Stith, p. 12-21; Smith, v. i. p. 86-99; Belknap, v. i. p. 213-216; Williamson, v. i. p. 37-51; Martin, v. i. p. 1224; Tytler's Raleigh, p. 56-68; Thomson's Raleigh, c. i. and ii. p. 3 Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 323. Stith, 22, and Belknap, v. i. p. 217, say fifty men; erroneously. Smith, v. i. p. 99, began the error. III. CHAP. mined to plant an agricultural state; to send emigrants with wives and families, who should at once 1587. make their homes in the New World; and, that life Jan. 7. 26. 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 entrusted. A fleet of transport ships was prepared at the expense of the proprietary 'Queen Elizabeth, the godmother of Virginia," declined contributing "to its education." The comApril pany, as it embarked, 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; and were feeding on the productions, which a rank vegetation still forced from the gardens. The fort was in ruins. No vestige of surviving life appeared. The miserable men, whom Grenville had left, had been murdered by the Indians. The instructions of Raleigh had designated the place for the new settlement on the bay of the Chesapeake. It marks but little union, that Fernando, |