Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/31

 World. Accordingly, he engaged Juan Verrazzani, a Florentine, to explore, on his behalf, new regions in the unknown West. With a single vessel, the Dolphin, this manner left Madeira, and wrote to the king a description of his discoveries, which was the earliest ever penned, and which is remarkable for its freshness and graphic clearness. After "as sharp and terrible a tempest as ever sailors suffered, whereof with the Divine help and merciful assistance of Almighty God, and the goodness of our ship, accompanied with the good-hap of her fortunate name—the Dolphin—we were delivered, and with a prosperous wind followed our course west by north, and in other twenty-five days we made above 400 leagues more, when we discovered a new land, never before seen of any, either ancient or modern." This was the low, level coast of North Carolina, along which, illumined at night by great fires they sailed fifty leagues in search of a harbor;—at length they cast anchor and sent a boat on shore. The wandering natives at first fled to the woods, yet still would stand and look back, beholding the ship and sailors "with great admiration," and at the friendly signs. of the latter, came down to the shore, "marvelling greatly at their apparel, shape, and whiteness." Beyond the sandy coast, intersected "with rivers and arms of the sea," they saw "the open country rising in height with many fair fields and plains, full of mightie great woods," some dense and others more open, replenished with different trees, "as pleasant and delectable to behold as it is possible to imagine. And your Majesty may not think," says Verrazzani, "that these are like the woods of Hercynia, or the wild deserts of Tartary, and the northern coasts, full of fruitless trees; but they are full of palm trees, bay trees, and high cypress trees, and many other sorts unknown in Europe, which yield most sweet savors far from the shore." The land he represents as "not void of drugs or spicery, and of other riches of gold, seeing that the color of the land doth so much argue it." He dwells upon the luxury of the vegetation, the wild vines which clustered upon the ground or trailed in rich festoons from tree to tree, the tangled roses, violets, and lilies, and sweet and odoriferous flowers, different from those of Europe. He speaks of the wild deer in the woods, and of the birds that haunt the pools and lagoons of the coast. But, after his rude tossing on the stormy Atlantic, he is beyond measure transported with the calmness of the sea, the gentleness of the waves, the summer beauty of the climate, the pure and wholesome and temperate air, and the serenity and purity of the blue sky, which, "if covered for a while with clouds brought by the southern wind, they are soon dissolved, and all is clear and fair again." Verrazzani also entered the harbors of New York and Newport, and coasted northwardly to the fiftieth degree of north latitude. No settlement, however, resulted from this voyage of Verrazzani to America.

The first attempt at colonization by the English was disastrous in the extreme. A London merchant, named Hore, with others who joined him, undertook to found a