a Colony.%--While Drake was
making his voyage, another gallant seaman, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was
given (by Queen Elizabeth) any new land he might discover in America.
His first attempt (1579) was a failure, and while on his way home from a
landing on Newfoundland (1583), his ship, with all on board, went down
in a storm at sea. The next year (1584) his half-brother, Sir Walter
Ralegh, one of the most accomplished men of his day and a great favorite
with Queen Elizabeth, obtained permission from the Queen to make a
settlement on any part of the coast of America not already occupied by a
Christian power; and he at once sent out an expedition. The explorers
landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina,
and came home with such a glowing description of the "good land" they
had found that the Virgin Queen called it "Virginia," in honor of
herself, and Ralegh determined to colonize it.[1]

[Footnote 1: For Ralegh read E. Gosse's _Raleigh_ (in English Worthies
Series); Louise Creighton's _Sir W. Ralegh_ (Historical
Biographies Series).]

%17. Roanoke Colony; the Potato and Tobacco.%--In 1585, accordingly,
108 emigrants under Ralph Lane left England and began to build a town on
Roanoke Island. They were ill suited for this kind of pioneer life, and
were soon in such distress that, had not Sir Francis Drake in one of his
voyages happened to touch at Roanoke, they would have starved to death.
Drake, seeing their helplessness, carried them home to England. Yet
their life on the island was not without results, for they took back
with them the potato, and some dried tobacco leaves which the Indians
had taught them to smoke.

Ralegh, of course, was greatly disappointed to see his colonists again
in England. But he was not discouraged, and in 1587 sent forth a second
band. The first had consisted entirely of men. The second band was
composed of both men and women with their families, for it seemed likely
that if the men took their wives and children along they would be more
likely to remain than if they went alone. John White was the leader, and
with a charter and instructions to build the city of Ralegh somewhere on
the shores of Chesapeake Bay he set off with his colonists and landed on
Roanoke Island. Here a little granddaughter was born (August 18, 1587),
and named Virginia. She was the child of Eleanor Dare, and was the first
child born of English parents in America.

[Illustration: Roanoke Island and