royed the possibility of a united
Netherland state, while during the life of William there was union in
the policy, unity in the history of the country.

NAMING OF VIRGINIA: FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIANS

THE LOST COLONY

A.D. 1584

ARTHUR BARLOW R. R. HOWISON

At the age of thirty-two Sir Walter Raleigh had already been
connected with navigating and colonizing expeditions to North
America. He was associated with the enterprise of his elder
half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who in 1583 established at St.
John's, Newfoundland, the first English colony beyond seas. Upon the
death of Gilbert, in that year, Raleigh succeeded to his enterprise,
and obtained from Queen Elizabeth, whose favorite he was, a charter
of colonization.

When next year he sent out his first expedition to find some
suitable spot for a colony on the North American coast, Raleigh took
warning from the unfortunate experiences of Gilbert in the northern
latitudes, and directed his two commanders, Philip Amidas and Arthur
Barlow, to take another route. They accordingly took the old way by
the Canary Islands.

History is fortunate in possessing Barlow's account of this voyage.
It has, as one writer says, "all the freshness and gayety of an
idyl. His description of the sweet smell wafted to the voyagers from
the American shore, as from some delicate garden abounding with all
kinds of odoriferous flowers, was noticed by Bacon, and utilized by
Dryden to flatter one of his patrons."

Howison's story of the ill-starred colony and the conjectural refuge
of its remnants among the Croatan Indians of Virginia--as Raleigh
named the whole region, including the present North Carolina--fittingly
completes the history of Sir Walter's American enterprise. The
failure of the colony has been freely charged to his own neglect,
occasioned by the turning of his mind to more brilliant prospects
presented by the illusory "El Dorado," whereby so many other
adventurers were misled.

ARTHUR BARLOW

The 27. day of April, in the year of our redemption 1584, we departed
the west of England, with two barks well furnished with men and
victuals, having received our last and perfect directions by your
letters, confirming the forme