SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

17

voyage; landed on the coast of Labrador, and brought away some of the mineral productions of the country. On his return one of the stones he had found was thought, by the English refiners, to contain gold. This circumstance gave a new direction to British enterprise, and gold became now the grand object of discovery. Queen Elizabeth contributed to the fitting out of a new expedition, which returned laden with what was supposed to be gold ore, but was soon discovered to be worthless earth. (1577.) Not discouraged by this result, the queen lent her aid to a new enterprise, which had for its objects the permanent settlement of that high northern region, and the working of its supposed mines of gold. Fifteen vessels, carrying one hundred settlers, many of whom were sons of the English gentry, were despatched in pursuit of boundless wealth in the New World. The fleet encountered great difficulties and dangers among the currents and islands of ice, with which the northern seas abounded; the settlers were afraid to remain in so dreary a region; and their hopes of bringing home cargoes of gold ore were, of course, as futile as those of their predecessors.

While these attempts were made on the eastern coast of North America, Sir Francis Drake, in one of his cruises in search of Spanish merchantmen in the Pacific, thought proper to explore the western coast in hopes of finding the supposed northern strait connecting the two oceans. He sailed as far as the forty-third degree of north latitude, and was consequently the first Englishman who visited the Oregon territory. (1579.)

The plan of colonisation was, meanwhile, revived by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man of intelligence and singular intrepidity, who, having obtained a charter from queen Elizabeth, sailed from England with a small fleet in 1579, in hopes of establishing a permanent colony; but the loss of one of his ships and other disasters compelled him to return. A new

squadron was fitted out by the joint exertions of Gilbert and his step-brother, Walter Raleigh, in 1583. Nothing more was accomplished by this expedition, than the empty ceremony of taking possession of Newfoundland in the queen's name, and the discovery of some earth which was falsely supposed to contain silver. On the passage home, the small vessel in which the unfortunate Gilbert sailed, was foundered. Her companion reached England in safety.

Not disheartened by the sad fate of his step-brother, Raleigh

18

ENGLISH IN NORTH CAROLINA.

determined to found a colony farther to the south. For this purpose, having obtained a patent from the queen, he despatched two vessels under the command of Amidas and Barlow, who arrived on the shores of Carolina in July, 1584, and after sailing along the coast for a distance of one hundred miles, landed on the island of Wococken, the southernmost of the islands forming Ocracock inlet. They were delighted with the rich and verdant appearance of the country, and the mild and gentle manners of the natives; and having explored Albemarle and Pamlico sounds and Roanoke island, and induced two of the natives to accompany them, they returned to England.

The accounts, which they gave of the beauty and fertility of the country, were so flattering, that queen Elizabeth considered it an important addition to her dominions, and gave it the name of Virginia, in reference to her own unmarried state. Raleigh, who had now received the honour of knighthood, soon fitted out a new expedition of seven vessels, carrying one hundred and eight colonists under the direction of Ralph Lane, who was appointed governor of the colony. Sir Richard Grenville, Hariot, Cavendish, and other distinguished men accompanied him. Arriving on the coast, the fleet was in some danger of shipwreck near a headland, to which they gave the name of Cape Fear. It escaped, however, and arrived at Roanoke. After landing, the men of science, attached to the expedition, made an excursion, to examine the country; and in revenge for some petty theft Sir Richard Grenville ordered an Indian town to be burnt. He soon after sailed for England, leaving Lane and his company behind. Hariot, who was an accurate observer of nature, paid considerable attention to the native productions of the soil. Among these were tobacco, maize or Indian corn, and potatoes, which, till then unknown to the English, have since become important sources of subsistence and wealth in every part of the country.

The Indians were at first considered by no means formidable to the colonists. Their weapons were bows and arrows, and wooden swords. They were divided into numerous small tribes, independent of each other. The largest of these tribes could scarcely muster a thousand warriors. Their terror at the effects of the English fire-arms was only equalled by the superstitious reverence which they professed for beings who were so much their superiors in knowledge and arts.

Their fears, however, did not restrain them from attempts to destroy the intruders, as soon as they began to suspect

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF ROANOKE.

19

them of a design to supplant themselves in the possession of the soil. They formed a conspiracy to massacre the English, and even thought of abandoning their fields in order to drive them away by famine. When the situation of the colony had become critical, and the people were beginning to despond, Sir Francis Drake, with a fleet of twenty-three vessels, on his way from the West Indies to England, paid them a visit; and the whole colony abandoned the soil and returned to their native country. (1586.)

A few years afterwards, a ship which had been sent out by Raleigh, arrived with supplies for the colony, and soon after, Sir Richard Grenville, with three more ships, sought in vain for those whom he had so recently left full of hope and resolution, to hold permanent possession of the land. He left fifteen men on the island of Roanoke, who were afterwards ascertained to have been murdered by the Indians.

Next year (1587) Raleigh sent out a colony of emigrants with their wives and families, hoping thus to insure their permanent residence. They were directed to settle on Chesapeake bay, but the governor, White, was compelled by the commander of the fleet to remain on Roanoke. The emigrants met with the usual hardships, and many of them only remained till the close of the summer. During their stay, Virginia Dare, the grand-daughter of the governor, was born, the first descendant of English parents in our country.

She remained with her parents after the governor had returned to England, and with them she perished in the land of her birth. The threatened invasion of England by the Spanish armada, prevented Raleigh from sending out reinforcements; and when, in 1590, governor White returned to search for his daughter and grand-child, Roanoke, the place of their settlement, was deserted. The fate of the colony was never precisely ascertained.

When the English had succeeded in defeating the Spanish fleet, Sir Walter Raleigh, finding his fortune too much diminished to continue the project of colonising Virginia, made use of the privilege granted in his patent to form a company of merchants and adventurers, for the purpose of effecting his original design. Among the members of the new company was Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of Westminster, a man of distinguished learning and intelligence, and the author of an extensive collection of voyages. He contributed more than any other individual to awaken among his countrymen that spirit of

20

GOSNOLD IN NEW ENGLAND.

foreign enterprise, for which they have ever since been distinguished. Although the design of the new company was not immediately executed, yet to them we are chiefly indebted for the expedition which finally effected a permanent settlement, as we shall hereafter relate.

While their operations were suspended, a voyage took place, which had nearly given to New England a priority over Virginia in the period of its settlement. This voyage was undertaken in 1602, by Bartholomew Gosnold, who, abandoning the usual route to America by the Canaries and West Indies, sailed directly across the Atlantic and landed in Massachusetts Bay, discovered and named Cape Cod, the Elizabeth Islands, and Buzzard's Bay, which he called Gosnold's Hope. On the westernmost of the Elizabeth Islands to which he gave the name now applied to the whole group, he landed some men with a design of settling. A fort and store house were built; and preparations were made for a permanent residence on the spot. But the courage of the colonists failed, and the whole company returned to England after a short voyage of four months.

In 1603, and 1606, Martin Pring made two voyages to the American coast, which he explored from Martha's Vineyard to the north-eastern part of Maine. His object was to traffic with the natives, and in this he was successful.

Nearly the same ground was passed over in 1605, by George Weymouth, who discovered and ascended the Penobscot river; and on his return brought away five of the natives whom he had decoyed on board his ship.

Thus far the attempts of the English to form permanent settlements on our shores were unsuccessful. Still these expeditions served to keep alive the claims which were founded on the discovery of the Cabots; and the extent of the explorations made by English voyagers on the coast, was subsequently considered a sufficient ground for expelling, or incorporating with their own establishments, the colonies which were planted by other nations on the soil of the United States.

CHAPTER V.

COLONIZATION OF VIRGINIA.

ALTHOUGH the attempts to form a permanent colony in Virginia had not hitherto succeeded, many persons of distinction in England still entertained sanguine hopes of ultimately effecting this grand object. Gosnold, whose voyage to New England we have already noticed, succeeded in forming a company consisting of himself, Wingfield, a merchant, Hunt, a clergyman, and the celebrated Captain John Smith; and they were, for more than a year, engaged in considering the project of a plantation. At the same time Sir Ferdinand Gorges was forming a similar design, in which he was joined by Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England.

Hakluyt, who was a participator in the privileges of Raleigh's patent, was desirous of proceeding with his plan of colonization; and the king of England, James I., was favourably disposed towards the design of enlarging his dominions. A company was formed by Gates, Summers, Gosnold, Smith, Hakluyt, Gorges, and Popham; application was made to the king for a charter, and one was readily obtained which secured ample privileges to the colonists.

On the 10th of April, 1606, the charter was issued under the great seal of England, to the petitioners, Sir Thomas Gates and his associates, granting to them those territories in America, lying on the sea coast between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude, (that is, from Cape Fear to Halifax,) and which either belonged to James I., or were not then possessed by any other Christian prince or people; and also the islands adjacent to, or within one hundred miles of the coast. The French settlement already noticed in Nova Scotia, then called Acadia, was of course excepted by these terms.

The petitioners were divided by their own desire into two companies; one consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers of the city of London, and elsewhere, was called the first colony, and was required to settle between the 34th and 41st degrees of north latitude; the other consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of Bristol, Exeter, and other places in the west of