Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/45

 INTRODUCTION. 15 Roanoke, an Incommodious station without any chap. i. safe harbour, he committed the government of 1585. it to Mr. Ralph Lane, and on the 25th of August, set sail for England. 111 The chief employment of the colonists, next to providing the means of future subsistence, should have been to obtain a more accurate knowledge of the adjacent country. To this they were not entirely inattentive, nor were their inquiries altogether unsuccessful. But the first, and darling object of pursuit with all Europeans in America, was gold. In quest of this metal their most diligent researches were made, and the hope of finding it in the boAvels of the earth, stimulated them to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. The English flattered themselves, that the country they had disco- vered could not be destitute of those mines of precious metals with which Spanish America abounded. The Indians soon discerned the object for which they searched with so much avidity, and amused them with tales of rich mines in countries they had not yet explored. Deceived by this misinformation, they en- countered incredible hardships, and mispent, in search of what happily did not exist, that time which ought to have been employed in providing the means for their future subsist- ence. Mutual suspicion and disgust, between m Robertson,...Chalmcr..,,Stiih.