about 51° north latitude; but finding the country rocky and sterile, he steered southward, and entered the bay of St. John, in Newfoundland, where he found thirty six vessels of various nations, employed in the fishing trade. Gilbert took possession of the harbor and country, two hundred leagues around, for the crown of England. Intent on further discoveries, he sailed from the island, and one of his ships was cast away among shoals, and almost one hundred souls perished.* He soon after sailed for England; but his ship foundering in a violent storm, he was lost with all his crew; other vessels in company rode out the storm, and arrived without accident.

The territory now comprehended within the United States, though blest with a soil and climate more inviting than the northern regions, had received no colonies from Europe. In 1584, Elizabeth, queen of England, granted to sir Walter Raleigh "liberty to discover such remote heathen and barbarous lands, not actually possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him should seem good; with prerogatives and jurisdictions as ample as had been granted to his brother, sir Humphrey Gilbert." In July, this year, Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, two experienced commanders, who had been sent out by Raleigh, arrived on the coast of North America, and took possession of the country in the neighborhood of the Island of Wocokon, on the coast of North Carolina, where they had some intercourse with the natives; they afterwards landed on the Island of Roanoke, which they found inhabited by Indians. After various transactions, the adventurers returned to England, and gave so flattering an account of the country, that Elizabeth bestowed on it the name of Virginia, as a memorial that the discovery was made under a virgin queen. The next year, a fleet of seven sail, under sir Richard Grenville, proceeded to Virginia, and made various discoveries on the coast. Touching at Wocokon, he afterwards landed on the Island of Roanoke, where he left one hundred and seven persons, under the government of Ralph Lane, to commence a plantation, and returned to England. These colonists had to contend with many difficulties, among which were, a want of provisions, and a hostile disposition of the Indians, who formed a conspiracy to massacre the whole of the adventurers. In 1586, sir Francis Drake, who had been in the West Indies with a fleet, to prosecute hostilities against the Spaniards, arrived at the English settlement in Virginia; and after a conference with governor Lane, received the whole of the colonists on board, and carried them to England.

Still intent on planting a colony in Virginia, sir Walter Raleigh, the next year, sent out another company of one hundred and fifty adventurers, in three ships, under governor White, with orders to establish a plantation and fortify a post at Chesapeake Bay. Arriving at Hatteras, June twenty-second, governor White and forty of his men, proceeded in a pinnace to Roanoke, and landed with expectation of finding the fifteen men left by Grenville; but none were to be seen, excepting the bones of one who had been slain by the Indians. The fort built by Lane, was razed,

Among these was Stephen Parmenius, of Buda, in Hungary. He was a learned man, and wrote the Latin with great elegance. A Poem in that language, written by him, a short time before the voyage, is inserted in the 9th Vol. Mass. Hist. Col.

the houses standing, but overgrown with weeds and vines, indicating that they they had been sometime deserted. The remainder of the people were soon landed from the ships, to the number of 117 persons, and they took possession of the deserted houses and erected others. It was afterwards ascertained, that the fifteen men left at the place, had been attacked by the Indians, some slain, while others embarking in their boat, landed on a small island near Hatteras, whence they afterwards departed, and were heard of no more.

The people under governor White, prosecuted the business of the plantation without interruption from the natives. On the eighteenth of August, Mrs. Dare, a daughter of the governor, was delivered of a female child, who was baptised by the name of Virginia, the first English child born in the country.

Supplies being now wanted, the governor, at the urgent solicitations of the people, sailed for England to obtain them. In the course of the next year, he procured two small vessels, and sailed from England with fifteen planters, and supplies of provisions for the Virginia colony; but meeting with two French men of war, by whom he was rifled, he put back to England. Raleigh having then expended a large sum of money, in his abortive attempts to colonize Virginia, made an assignment of his patent to Thomas Smith, and other merchants, and gave up further attempts.

In 1590, governor White sailed for Virginia with three ships, and arrived in the Chesapeake, the fifteenth of August. After various incidents, he landed at the place where he had left his colony, and found that the houses had been taken down, and the place strongly fortified with palisades; but the people were not to be found. From the word

CROATOAN, which was found carved on a tree, it was concluded they had removed to that place, to which White resolved to proceed. But tempestuous weather coming on, and his provisions being nearly expended, he sailed to the West Indies, and thence returned to England, leaving the unfortunate colony to their fate; and whether the people were slain by the natives, or perished from a want of provisions, is a problem which remains to be solved, as they have not since been found.

No further attempts were made to colonize Virginia for several years; but efforts were continued by the English and French, in the northerly part of the continent. In 1600, M. de Chauvin, having obtained a commission from Henry IV. of France, sailed up the river St. Lawrence ninety leagues, to a place called Tadoussac, near the mouth of the Saguenia river, below what is now Quebec, where he left some of his people, who suffered severely the following winter, and were saved from starvation by provisions procured of the natives. The next year Chaurin sailed up the river to Tadoussac and Trois Rivieres.

The spirit of colonization now began to revive in England. In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed from Falmouth with thirty two men, for the northern part of Virginia-the name by which North America was then known by the English-with a design of beginning a plantation; and after a voyage of seven weeks, he discovered the American coast in the latitude of 42°, which he named Cape Cod. Coasting southerly, he saw Martha's Vinyard, and anchored in the northwest part of the Island; soon after he discovered Buzzard's bay, and several capes and Islands,

1

one of which he called Elizabeth Island, on which he resolved to make a settlement. A small rocky islet, situated in the centre of a pond about two miles in circumference, was selected for the site of a fort and store house, and the buildings were soon completed. But discontent arising among the people who were to remain at the place, Gosnold relinquished his design, and the whole company returned to England. So late as 1797, the cellar of Gosnold's store-house was to be seen.*

Another voyage was undertaken by several merchants of Bristol, in 1603. Two small vessels under the command of Martin Pring, carrying forty six men and boys, sailed from Milford haven, April the tenth, and arriving on the coast of North America, fell in with several Islands in Penobscot bay, in the beginning of June. Steering to the southward, they entered the bay of Massachusetts, and landed at a point called Savage rock; continuing the voyage, they discovered Vineyard sound, and cast anchor in an excellent harbor, which they named Whiston bay, now called Edgarton. Here Pring built a hut and enclosed it with a barricade, in which a guard was kept, while the remaining people were collecting sassafras-the chief object of the voyage. After a stay of almost eleven weeks, in which time the ships were visited by the natives, who appeared amicable, they returned to England with cargoes of sassafras.

The same year Samuel Champlain, a French officer sailed up the St. Lawrence-touched at Tadaussac, the place where Chauvin had left people in 1600, and continuing up the river, anchored at what is now Quebec, which from its elevation and peninsular form, he found an eligible position for a fortification. He afterwards ascended the river to Hochelaga, and obtained much information from the Indians of the neighboring country concerning the southern lakes and Iroquois, a warlike people situated to the southwest; he then returned to France.

The French at this time, appear to have been determined on making permanent settlements on various parts of the coast of North America. This year, 1603, Henry fourth "granted to Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Ments, a patent of the American territory, from the fortieth, to the fortysixth degree of north latitude, constituting him lieutenant general of that portion of the country, with power to colonize and rule it, and to subdue and christianize its native inhabitants." Soon after, the exclusive right of the trade in peltry in Canada, and the gulph of St Lawrence, was given to de Ments.

Clothed with this authority, de Ments in 1604, with Champlain for his pilot, and M. Poutrincourt, with a number of volunteers, in two ships, embarked for America, and arrived on the coast of Nova Scotia, then called Acadie. Coasting south west, and touching at several harbours, de Ments doubled Cape Sable, and entered the bay of Fundy, which he named La Baye Francoise; and soon after, discovered a narrow strait, leading into a spacious bason, environed by hills and skirted by fertile meadows, which he called Port Royal, since named Annapolis. Here Poutrincourt, having received a grant from de Ments, remained and commenced a settlement. Champlain was dispatched to make further discoveries on the coast of Acadie, and on his voyage, saw the mouth of St. John's river; and coasting southwest, twenty leagues, arrived at

*Holmes' Annals, Vol. i. p. 144.

an Island in the middle of a large river, where he was afterwards joined by de Ments. Resolving to winter on the Island, they built huts and a fort, near the upper end of the Island, and named the river St. Croix, which by the Indians was called Schoodick. During their stay on the Island, the adventurers often landed on the adjacent shores to traffic with the Indians in furs, and to procure fresh water. In one of these excurşions, some misunderstanding with the Indians produced hostilities and a skirmish ensued, in which several of the French were killed. They were now compelled to sink a well on the Island, as their only resource; but the water proving bad, many sickened and died. Early in the spring, de Ments and Champlain abandoned the Island, and returned to Port Royal, leaving their fort and buildings standing.

The river Schoodic, or St. Croix, is the present boundary between the United States and the British province of New Brunswick, as settled by commissioners from both nations, in 1798. For sometime subsequent to the treaty of 1783, it was a question between the two governments, whether this, or the Magaguadavich, a river further east, was the true St. Croix mentioned in the treaty. The commissioners, who met at St. Andrews at the mouth of the river, to settle the question-one of whom was president Webber, of Harvard College, were furnished with an account of de Ments' voyage, in which was found a description of the Island on which he and Champlain wintered, with a particular notice of the neighboring country. This description was found to correspond very accurately with the appearance of an Island, about two miles above St. Andrews; and the commissioners were induced to land on it for the purpose of making a critical examination. On digging away the earth at the upper end, they discovered axes and other iron implements and the foundation of de Ments' fort, then overgrown with large trees. This evidence, with the description of the neighboring bays-course and source of the river, and other corresponding circumstances, coinciding so exactly with appearances, satisfied the commissioners, beyond a doubt, that the Island was the same described in de Ments' voyage; and that the Schoodic was the true St. Croix, first discovered by Champlain, in 1604. The Indians now residing on the right bank of the river, not far from the Island, still retain a traditional account of the incident relating to the French adventurers, while they occupied the Island. Francis Joseph, their very intelligent chief, stated to Brown, Esq. of St. Andrews, but a few years since, many particulars related in de Ments' voyage; and added, that "the water of the well on the Island, was poison, and killed the French people.'

On his return to Port Royal, de Ments built houses at the mouth of the river L'Equille, and after his sick people had recovered, sailed to the westward, along the American coast, by Penobscot, Kennebeck, Casco, Saco, and reached Cape Cod; thence he returned to Port Royal, where he found M. Dupont, with a ship from France, on board of which were supplies and a reinforcement of forty men. Leaving the place in September, 1605, under Champlain and Dupont, to continue the settlements, he sailed on further discoveries, and at length returned to France. This year an English ship, under George Weymouth, ranged the Ameri

* Mr. Brown's relation to the author at St. Andrews in 1805.

can coast from about latitude forty one, to Penobscot, and sailed up the river about forty miles, trafficking with the natives. On his return, he carried five of the Indians to England.

The various attempts of the English to plant colonies in the north part of America, previous to this time, with the exception of that at Newfoundland, had proved abortive; and this seems to have been, but a motly mixture of fishermen, who flocked there for the purpose of enriching themselves, on the bounties of the neighboring seas, rather than on the lands. But the period was now approaching when efforts were to be made with better success. In 1606, king James, viewing the grant made to sir Water Raleigh as void, by patent, dated April tenth, divided that portion of country, stretching from the 34th to the 45th degree of north latitude, into two districts-the southern, called the first colony, was granted to the London company-the northern, called the second colony, to the Plymouth company. Both were authorised to settle any part of their respective grants, as they might choose; and they were vested with the right of property in the lands, comprehended within given limits.

The same year Henry Challons, with a ship of fifty tons, was sent by the Plymouth company to make further discoveries in North America, and to essay a settlement. Soon after, Thomas Hanam sailed with another ship, for the same country, and for similar purposes; but neither succeeded in planting a settlement.

In 1607, three ships from England, under the command of Christopher Newport, arrived in Chesapeake bay, and took possession of a peninsula on the north side of Powhatan river, since called James river, about forty miles from its mouth, and planted Jamestown-the first permanent habitation in North America. The emigrants accompanying Newport, amounted to one hundred, several of whom were named to be of the council, and authorized to choose from among themselves, a president for one year, who, with the council were to govern the colony; Edward Wingfield was accordingly elected president.

The Indians in the neighboring country, were numerous, and at first, evinced a disposition to be at peace with the English; but this disposition was of short continuance, and hostilities on their part became frequent. The adventurers suffered much, but by resolution and perseverance, they surmounted all difficulties, and established their settlement.

This year, 1607, another attempt was made by the English, to settle a plantation in North Virginia. Two ships were sent out by sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England, and others, under George Popham, and Ralph Gilbert, with one hundred landmen. Sailing from Plymouth in May, they fell in with the island of Monahegan, in August, and soon after landed on an island, since called Parker's island at the mouth of Sagadahock, or Kennebec river, where they built a store house and a fortification they named fort George. In December, the ships sailed for England, leaving a colony of forty persons under Popham, as president, and Gilbert as admiral. The succeeding winter proved extremely cold, their store house was accidentally distroyed by fire, their president died, and the settlers suffered severely. Early next spring, lord chief justice Popham fitted out two ships with supplies for the colony; but being sometime detained by contrary wind, his lordship's death was announced before