sent 108 colonists to occupy the fruitful region from which the French had been expelled (S$ 44, 46).

52. Virginia. - Delighted with the accounts which reached her of the beauty and wealth of the country, Elizabeth named it Virginia, in honor of her own state as a maiden queen. A site was chosen for the colony on Ro

anoke Island, and a profitable trade was carried on with the

friendly Indians. But the misconduct of the white men soon turned these into foes; the situation of the colonists then became unendurable, and they seized an opportunity to return. to England.

53. A second colony," including some women and children, arrived at Roanoke in 1587. But war was now breaking out between England and Spain. Ships which Raleigh sent with fresh supplies for the colonists, went in chase of Spanish prizes, and were themselves taken. When Englishmen revisited Roanoke three years later, no white face was found on the island. Whether the settlers had perished or had taken refuge with some friendly tribe in the interior, can not be known.

Sir Walter Raleigh.

54. Though Raleigh derived no benefit from the expenditure of all his fortune, yet his generous efforts had spread through England a knowledge of America, and had given a great impulse to colonization. The voyages of Gosnold," Weymouth, and Pring made known the islands, capes, and noble harbors on the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts;

ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS-VIRGINIA.

and fleets of English vessels repaired thither for trade and fishing, though for many years no permanent settlement was formed.

55. Colonial Companies. In 1606 King James I.7 gave charters to two English companies "for planting and ruling New England in America." The London Company might establish a colony anywhere between Cape Fear and the east end of Long Island; the Plymouth Company, anywhere between Delaware Bay and Halifax, provided that neither should begin a settlement within a hundred miles of one already made by the other. The king reserved to himself the right to make all laws and appoint all officers for the colonies; and was, moreover, to receive one fifth of all gold and silver, and one fifteenth of all copper obtained from them. For five years every man was to labor, not for himself, but for a common fund.

8

56. First English Settlement.-The London Company soon dispatched three ship-loads of emigrants, commanded by Christopher Newport, to select and settle lands in Virginia. Of the 105 men who enlisted in the enterprise, 48 were "gentlemen," according to the notions of the times; that is, they despised work, and expected to grow rich either by accident or by the toil of others. The most sensible man in the colony was Captain John Smith, who had gained wisdom by much hard experience; and he was imprisoned on the voyage out, under a foolish charge that he intended to murder the Council and make himself king of Virginia! This accusation sprang from President Wingfield's envy of the superior ability and influence of Smith. Upon trial, the latter was honorably acquitted and restored to his place in the Council.

57. It was the spring of 1607, when the three vessels entered Chesapeake Bay. Glad to be protected from the storms that were raging without, the adventurers named their first anchorage Point Comfort. They called the two

377

capes which guard the entrance of the bay, Charles and Henry, after their king's two sons; and the noble stream which they soon afterwards ascended, James or King's River, from the king himself. Fifty miles up the river they chose the site for their first settlement, which bore the name of Jamestown.

58. Wingfield's dishonesty soon brought him into disgrace, and Smith became the real head of the colony. enforced the primitive rule that he who would not work

He

should not eat; he put an end to quarreling and profanity, and in time he taught the "gentlemen" to swing their axes with the rest. Meanwhile he explored Chesapeake Bay and all its tributary rivers; cultivated friendship with the Indians, of whom a powerful confederacy of forty tribes, called Powhatans, occupied the region, and secured from them needed supplies of corn.

59. The "Starving Time."-Compelled by a severe wound to return to England, Smith left about five hundred

LABOR IN VIRGINIA.

39

colonists in Virginia, well supplied with all that was needful for their comfort. Nevertheless, the period following his departure is called the "Starving Time," for the men gave themselves up to idleness and riot, and in six months there were only sixty persons alive in the colony. These resolved to join the fishermen in Newfoundland; but on their way down the river they met Lord Delaware, the new governor, with hundreds of colonists and a fresh supply of stores.

60. A new era soon dawned upon Virginia. Goldseeking was abandoned after a ship-load of earth containing specks of yellow mica had been sent to England and found worthless. The soil was now perceived to be the true source of wealth, and the allotment of a few acres to each man gave each an interest in his own labor. Unhappily the high price of tobacco in England-where it had been lately introduced and was very fashionable-led most of the planters to raise it to the exclusion of food-products. And though the price soon fell to two-pence a pound, tobacco long continued to be the medium of exchange as well as the chief export of the colony. Ministers' salaries, lawyers' fees, and landlords' rents were all paid in tobacco. But the crop exhausted the soil, and in many cases short-lived wealth was followed by bankruptcy, ruin, and poverty.

61. New Laws.-In 1611 the Company sent out a new code of laws of almost incredible strictness. Theft and disrespectful mention of the king were punishable with death at the first offense. Profane swearing and absence from public worship received the same punishment after two trials of lighter penalties.

62. Introduction of Slavery. - Hitherto there had been very few women in the colony. In 1619, beside nearly twelve hundred other settlers, ninety honest girls came from England and became wives of planters. Another cargo followed, and many colonists now enjoyed the comfort of

settled homes. A less valuable acquisition was a company of "jail-birds," who were sold as indentured servants for a limited number of years. Still more serious in its ultimate consequences was an importation of negroes from the African coast who became slaves for life. The first cargo

of negroes was brought to Jamestown in a Dutch ship in 1619.

Trace on Map No. 2 the voyages of Frobisher, Davis, Drake. out capes Charles and Henry. The site of Raleigh's two colonies. Map No. 3, point out the site of Jamestown. principal rivers that flow into Chesapeake Bay.

Point Comfort.

Point

On

The

Read Smith's "True Relation" and "General History." For this and all following chapters to the end of Part III: Bancroft's "History of the United States;" Bryant's "Popular History;" Hildreth's "History of the United States."

NOTES.

1. Martin Frobisher for fifteen years cherished the idea that he could sail direct to the coveted "north-west passage," but he was too poor to fit out a ship. He said "it was the only thing of the world that was yet left undone, by which a notable minde might be made famous and fortunate." At length, the Earl of Warwick provided him with means sufficient to equip two small barks, and he set sail from the mouth of the Thames in the summer of 1576. One vessel deserted him at the first storm, but he fearlessly pressed forward with the other to the coasts of Labrador. Upon entering an inlet north of Hudson Strait, he firmly believed the aim of his journey across the sea was achieved; for he argued that the land on his right was Asia, while that on his left was the continent of America. A short sail convinced him of his error. The next year Frobisher came with a fleet of several vessels to the same forbidding region, and returned to England laden with worthless dirt and stones which were believed to contain rich traces of gold. In 1578 he commanded a third expedition, this time under the immediate patronage of Queen Elizabeth. It was composed of fifteen well appointed ships, and carried out many sons of noble English families, besides one hundred persons to form a permanent colony on the inhospitable shores of Greenland. When the flag ship of the Admiral sailed into Hudson Strait, "Now, surely," thought he, "I will go through to the Pacific." But after going sixty miles he concluded that he was upon the wrong course, and turned back with his fleet. With the approach of winter his ships were nearly overwhelmed by icebergs, and the intense cold created mutiny among his men; so that all were glad to get away from these polar regions with their lives, and back to their homes without either glory or gold. Frobisher was knighted for bravery at the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and died from a wound received in an attack on Brest in 1594.

2. Sir Francis Drake (b. 1545, d. 1595) was one of the most renowned of British admirals. In 1572, having crossed the Isthmus of Panama from the east, he first saw the Pacific Ocean from the top of a tree which he had climbed and then and there he resolved" to sail an English ship in these seas." Five years later he left England with five small vessels and nearly two hundred men, to carry out this resolution. In eight months he en