The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-08-20
THE WHITE Doe
Quaint Indian Tradition Based or
Virginia are Of RaIeish's
Lost Colony.

Lost Colony.
The White Doe of Roanoak Is
land" a poetical tradition of the
| South, based as many of them are, OF
Indian legend is to take dramatic
form at the jamestown Exposition
next year.
The white Doe" which led the
it was slain by silver arrow was none
other tnan the bewitched spirit of
Virginia Dare, the first white child
born of English parents on the soil
of North America.
Had Raleigh's colony on the Island,
remained there until white men had
obtained a permanent foothold on
American soil, Roanoak Island and
not jamestown would be very prop
.erly regarded as the cradle of the
American nation. But Raleigh's col
ony vanished entirely from human
view and with it Virginia Dare, who,
according to legend, was afterwards
transformed by witchcraft into a
beautiful white doe, which roamed for
a time, over the Island as the lead
er of a herd of deer.
The history of Virginia Dare is
short, dramatic, mysterious. She NOV
ed for an instant across the page of
history and disappeared into the
abysm of time. After two successful
attempts at colonization by Raleigh's
adventures on Roanoak Island, an
other colony came from England in
1887 and landed on the island. This
became the famous lost colony, and
the name of Virginia Dare is linked
with it forever.
Among those who formed this col
ony were seventeen men and nine
children, who came with the inten-
ton of making permanent homes.
Among the women was Eleanor Dare,
daughter of John White, the govern
or of the colony, and the wife of al
assistant governor. A few days after
was born to Eleanor Dare and being
the first white child in Virginia-as
the whole country was then called
this baby received the name of Vir-
ginia Dare. She was baptised on the
Sunday following ner birth. The facts
Of her birth and baptism have been
officially recorded and there is no
doubt whatever that she was the first
white child orn of English parents
in North America.
When Governor White returned to
noak Island, it was agreed that should
the %colonists migrate they would
leave word clearly indicating whittier
they had gone Those who came lat
er to the Island from England found
HI word Croatoan carved upon the
trunk of a tree and-nothing more.
the little band, with the child vir-
ginia Dare, had disappeared forever
from th,a Ion oP man
When the facts of history became
merged into Indian legend, gradually
assuming the form of the tradition
of the white Doe" which has sur
vived for three centuries and bids
fair to outlast history.
and more difficult to tell than are
the cold facts of history. It's themes
are love n jealousy and sorcery.
1t tells how the infant Virginia Dare
grew into a fair maiden who was
beloved and sought after by the In
dian braves, the rest of the lost col
ony being entirely eliminated from
the narrative. 1t tells how the beau
tiful maiden was, through the rage
of a rejected lover, transformed by
sorcery into a white doe, which as
all the world knows, can only be slain
by a silver arrow. Hence for a time
The true lover. however, finally dis
covered magic superior to that of the