RALEIGH'S EXPEDITION. 35 crossed the Pacific, and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope,1 having, as it was said then, "ploughed a furrow round the world." He was the first Englishman who circumnavigated the globe (1577-1579). 28. Walter Raleigh's Exploring Expedition to Virginia. -In 1584 Walter Raleigh, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, received a charter from her granting him the right to explore and settle the eastern coast of America. That charter made Raleigh governor, with full power to enact laws for any colony he might establish; but it expressly said that the settlers were to enjoy all the political and religious rights and privileges which they had in England. Raleigh was one of the few men of that day who believed that the northern part of the new world was worth settling. Most of the expeditions, as we have seen, had for their object to find a way through or round the continent to Asia; but Raleigh thought that perhaps in the end America might prove to be quite as profitable as the Indies. He sent out two ships, in the summer of 1584, to explore.3 The English reached Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. There they landed, and were hospitably entertained by the Indians. The explorers were delighted with the "native Americans," and spent several weeks, as they said, "eating and drinking very merrily" with the red men. When the expedition returned to England, the queen was so highly pleased with their description of the "Good Land” and the good people in it, that she named it Virginia, in honor of her own maiden life, and knighted the fortunate Raleigh, who now became Sir Walter. 29. Sir Walter Raleigh's Colony; the New "Root" and the New Weed.— In the summer of 1585 Raleigh sent out a hun 1 See Map on page 35, and also Map on page 12. 2 Raleigh (Raw'le, but usually pronounced Ral'ly in England). dred and eight emigrants under Ralph Lane, who was to act as deputy governor. The new colony established itself on Roanoke Island. It certainly did not lack room; for Virginia, as held by Sir Walter's charter, extended from the southern boundary of what is now North Carolina to beyond Halifax.' Westward it reached six hundred miles, or nearly to the Mississippi. But the colonists had not been well chosen. They would not work. Lane said, "they had little understanding, less discretion, and more tongue than was needful." After less than a year's trial of the country the emigrants returned to England. Still the experiment had not been an utter failure, for they carried back a peculiar kind of "root as they called it. When boiled or baked, the English found it excellent. Thus the Potato2 became an article of food in the British Islands. But this was not all. The Indians had a weed whose leaves they dried and smoked with great satisfaction. They told the white men of Roanoke that "it would cure being tired." The emigrants tried it, and one of them said that the plant had so many virtues that "it would take an entire volume to describe them all." The courtiers of Queen Elizabeth tested these virtues; and the queen, after smoking a little of it, confessed that it was "a vegetable of singular strength and power." The consequence was that from that time the air of England was never entirely free from tobacco smoke. We shall see later that this plant was destined to have a very important influence on American trade, and also on American history. 30. Raleigh sends out a Second Colony; Croatoan.— Raleigh, though disappointed at the return of his first colony, resolved to send out a second. The emigrants of 1585 were all 1 That is, from latitude 34° to 45°. The charter gave Raleigh control of the whole territory for six hundred miles in every direction round his settlement. 2 The potato, by which is meant the common not the sweet potato, was not cultivated by the Indians, and it is supposed that the Spaniards may have brought it to Virginia from some other part of the continent. The potato is an American vegetable; strictly speaking, it is not a true root, but an underground stem. men; but those of 1587 were, many of them, men with wives and families. Sir Walter's hope was that they would make permanent homes in the wilderness, and establish a city named after him. John White, the deputy governor who was to act for Sir Walter, carried a charter, and proceeded to lay the log foundations of the "City of Raleigh." The governor's daughter, Eleanor Dare, was the wife of one of the settlers. Shortly after her landing, Mrs. Dare gave birth to a daughter. She was the first child born of English parents in America, and was baptized by the name Virginia. Governor White soon sailed for England to get further help for the colony, leaving his daughter and his granddaughter, little Virginia Dare, to await his return.. That was the last he ever saw of them. Circumstances prevented his return for three years. When he did go back Roanoke Island was deserted. The only trace of the missing settlers was the word CROATOAN cut in bold letters on a tree. It had been agreed, before White left, that if the colonists abandoned the settlement, they should carve the name of the place to which they had gone, on a tree or post. If they went away in distress, they were to cut a cross above the name. There was the name, but no cross. Croatoan was an Indian village on an island not far away; but though repeated search was eventually made there and elsewhere, not one of the colonists was ever found. Sir Walter Raleigh was obliged to give up his project; and America was left with not a single English settler, but with many "English graves." now. Raleigh had spent over forty thousand pounds on the colony. Such a sum probably represented upwards of a million of dollars He could do no more; but he said, "I shall live to see it an English nation." He did live to see a permanent English settlement established in Virginia in 1607. A hundred and eightyfive years after that event (1792) Sir Walter's name was given to the seat of government of North Carolina, and thus the " City of Raleigh" was enrolled among the capitals of the United States. Sir Walter's example was not lost; and from his day England |