Illustration: BAPTISM OF FIRST CHILD IN VIRGINIA.
The governor, being at the last, through their extreme entreating, constrained to return into England, having then but half a day’s respite to prepare himself for the same, departed from Roanoke the seven and twentieth of August, in the morning, and the same day after midnight came aboard the fly-boat, who already had weighed anchor, and rode without the bar, the admiral riding by them, who, but the same morning, was newly come thither again. The same day both the ships weighed anchor, and set sail for England.
[It was three years before Governor White returned to the colony which he had left. He reached the coast of Virginia in August, 1590, and thus describes what followed.]
OUR boats and all things fitted again, we put off from Hatorask, being the number of nineteen persons in both boats. But, before we could get to the place where our planters were left, it was so exceeding dark, that we overshot the place a quarter of a mile: there we espied, towards the north end of the island, the light of a great fire through the woods, to the which we presently rowed: when we came right over against it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore, and sounded with a trumpet a call, and afterward many English tunes of songs, and called to them friendly, but we had no answer. We therefore landed at daybreak, and, coming to the fire, we found the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about the place. From hence we went through the woods to that part of the island directly over against Dasamonguepeuk; and from thence we returned by the water-side round about the north point of the island, until we came to the place where I left our colony in the year 1586.[220]
Illustration: THE EXPLORERS LOOKING AT THE TREE.
In all this way we saw in the sand the print of the savages’ feet, of two or three sorts, trodden [in] the night; and as we entered up the sandy bank, upon a tree, in the very brow thereof, were curiously carved these fair Roman letters, C R O: which letters presently we knew to signify the place where I should find the planters seated,[221] according to a secret token agreed upon between them and me at my last departure from them. Which was, that in any ways they should not fail to write or carve upon the trees or posts of the doors the name of the place where they should be seated; for at my coming away they were prepared to remove from Roanoke fifty miles into the main. Therefore at my departure from them in 1587, I willed them, that, if they should happen to be distressed in any of those places, then they should carve over the letters or name a cross ＋ in this form; but we found no such sign of distress. And, having well considered of this, we passed toward the place where they were left in sundry houses; but we found the houses taken down, and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisado of great trees, with curtains[222] and flankers,[223] very fort-like. And one of the chief trees or posts at the right side of the entrance had the bark taken off; and five feet from the ground, in fair capital letters, was graven C R O A T O A N, without any cross, or sign of distress. This done, we entered into the palisado, where we found many bars of iron, two pigs of lead, four iron fowlers,[224] iron saker-[224]shot, and such like heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown with grasses and weeds.