arrels with the Indians, whose conduct was less friendly
than formerly, a change partly due to the greed of the whites. In June,
when Lane was in fear of a conspiracy which he had discovered against
the life of the colony, and it was short of supplies, Sir Francis Drake
appeared off Roanoke, returning homeward with his fleet from the sacking
of St. Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustine. Lane, without waiting for
succor from England, persuaded Drake to take him and all the colony back
home. Meantime Raleigh, knowing that the colony would probably need aid,
was preparing a fleet of three well appointed ships to accompany Sir
Richard Grenville, and an "advice ship," plentifully freighted, to send
in advance to give intelligence of his coming. Great was Grenville's
chagrin, when he reached Hatorask, to find that the advice boat had
arrived, and finding no colony, had departed again for England. However,
he established fifteen men ("fifty," says the "General Historie") on the
island, provisioned for two years, and then returned home.

[Sir Richard Grenville in 1591 was vice-admiral of a fleet, under
command of Lord Thomas Howard, at the Azores, sent against a Spanish
Plate-fleet. Six English vessels were suddenly opposed by a Spanish
convoy of 53 ships of war. Left behind his comrades, in embarking from
an island, opposed by five galleons, he maintained a terrible fight
for fifteen hours, his vessel all cut to pieces, and his men nearly
all slain. He died uttering aloud these words: "Here dies Sir Richard
Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my
life as a true soldier ought to do, fighting for his country, queen,
religion, and honor."]

Mr. Ralph Lane's colony was splendidly fitted out, much better furnished
than the one that Newport, Wingfield, and Gosnold conducted to the River
James in 1607; but it needed a man at the head of it. If the governor
had possessed Smith's pluck, he would have held on till the arrival of
Grenville.

Lane did not distinguish himself in the conduct of this governorship,
but he nevertheless gained immortality. For he is credited with first
bringing into England that valuable medicinal weeds called tobacco,
which Sir Walter Raleigh made fashionable, not in its capacity to drive
"rheums" out of the body, but as a soother, when burned in the bowl of a
pipe and drawn through the stem in smoke, of the melancholy spirit.

The honor of introducing tobacco at this date is