The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-27

as grass here. And now within these |
few days we have found here maize or |
Guinea wheat, whose ear yielded corn |
Tor bread four hundred Upon one ear. |
and the cane makes very good and per-
feet sugar. Besides that il is
the goodliest and most pleasing terri
tory of the world; for the continent is
of huge and unknown greatness. and
very we'll peopled and towned, though
savagely and the climate so wholesome
that We had not one sick since we touch
ed the land here. To conclude, if Vir-
ginia had but horses and kline in some
reasonable proportion, dare assure my
self, being inhabited with English, no
realm in Christendom were comparable
to it. For this already we find that
what commodities soever Spain, France,
Italy or the East parts do yield unto us,
in wines of all sorts, in oil. in fax. in
raisens, pitch, frankincense, currants,
sugars, and such like. these parts do
abound with the growth of them all, but
being savages that possess the land, they
know no use of the same"
1t will be observed that no mention is
made of malaria. That invention or dis
covery seems to have been reserved for
later years and more civilized times The
stalwart and bronzed appearance of the
present inhabitants, Indicating an active
and outdoor life, would negative an I'M
healthy climate. We who know the land,
the richness of its soil, the variety of
its products, the abundant yield to the
toll of the husbandman, and who know
its waters teeming with fish and she'll
fish of many varieties, can understand.
or excuse. the enthusiasm of the old
chroniclers.
No women formed a part of this colony
of Lane. No doubt it was the purpose
of Sir Walter Raleigh, as shown by a
later expedition, to send them as soon
as the colony was firmly established On
June the 10th. 1886. Sir Francis Drake,
with a large fleet, cast anchor off the
coast. He furnished Lane with a bark
of seventy tons, pinnaces and provisions,
and lent him two of his captains. A
storm arose which carried the bark to
sea with many of the principal men of
the colony. Discouraged by this mis-
: fortune Lane and the colonists on June
! IS, 1886, sailed away with Drake to Eng
| land. OF this colony Edmund Gosse says:
1.-The experiment was not completely
|
1856. which is the birthday of the Ameri-
can people, to June IS, 1886, one hum
dred and eight persons, under the COM
mand of Ralph Lane, and in the service
| of Raleigh. made Roanoke their habita-
ton. 1t is true that the colonists lost
courage and abandoned Virginia at the
| latter date. but an essay at least had
been made to justify the sanguine hopes
of Raleigh" Soon after their departure
another ship, sent out by Sir Walter
Raleigh, arrived at Hatteras, bringing
all manner of supplies for his colonists
but, after vainly seeking for them. re-
turned to England with the supplies. a
| fortnight after Drake had sailed, SiI
Richard Grenville came with three ships
| also well furnished. Hearing nothing
from the colonists and finding their habi-
| tationsd eserted, Greenvile landed fifteen
men upon Roanoke Island to hold posses
sion of the country, with abundant sup
plies, and returned to England with his
fleet Not discouraged by these misfor-
tunes and disasters, to which a man oil
I less fortitude and courage than Raleigh
/ would have succumbed, in the spring oil
| 1887 he fitted out another expedition
consisting of three sail, intending to
command it himself. He was still in
favor with the Queen, but she refused
to permit him to accompany it. The
fleet sailed from Plymouth on May s.
1887, and arrived at Hatteras July %
1887. This colony consisted of ninety one
men, seventeen women, and nine children
and their names are still preserved in
the records. John White was appointed
| by Raleigh as the governor of the
colony with twelve assistants likewise
appointed. In this colony was Eleanor
Dare, the wife of Ananias Dare and the
daughter of John White. Many of these
women were married. The women OF
/ this colony were the first English wo-
men who landed upon the continent OF
America seeking homes in the New
| World. These colonists brought with
them the implements of agriculture. The
| colony proceeded to Roanoke Island and
| settled, but they found no trace of the
| fifteen men whom Granville had left there
| the year before, except the bones of one
Of them who had been slain by the
savages. This hardy band of pioneers
| and settlers was doubtless destroyed by
| the savages. The colony of White be-
came involved in warfare with them and
some of the colonists were slain. "The
18th of August, our savage, Manteo, by
| the commandment of Sir Walter Raj
| eigh, was christened in Roanoke" says
the narrative, land called Lord thereof,
| and of Dasamonguepeuk, in reward of
| his faithful service. The 18th, Eleanor,
| daughter to the Governor, and wife to
| Ananias Dare, one of the assistants, was
delivered of a daughter in Roanoke and
| the same was christened there the Sun
| day following, and because this child was
the first Christian born in Virginia, she
was named Virginia" The supplies of
| the colonists began to fail, and at their
earnest solicitation, John White was in
duced to sail for England to procure
them. At his departure there were
eighty nine men, seventeen women and
two children composing the colony, in
Guiding Eleanor Dare and her child,
Virginia Dare, for whom this county is
named. White set sail for England on
August 9th, 1887, destined never to see
again his daughter and grandchild, or a
member of the colony committed to his
care. He arrived in England at the time
she was preparing for her life and death
struggle with Spain, and was straining
every nerve to meet and overcome the