Having established a colony, consisting of one hundred and eight persons, in the island of Roanoke, an incommodious station, without any safe harbour, he committed the government of it to Mr. Ralph Lane; and, on the 25th of August, sailed for England.[5] [Footnote 5: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.] {1586} [Sidenote: Colonists carried back to England by Drake.] An insatiate passion for gold, attended by an eager desire to find it in the bowels of the earth, for a long time the disease of Europeans in America, became the scourge of this feeble settlement. The English flattered themselves that the country they had discovered could not be destitute of those mines of the precious metals with which Spanish America abounded. The most diligent researches were made in quest of them; and the infatuating hope of finding them stimulated the colonists to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. 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. Seduced by this information, they encountered incredible hardships, and, in this vain search wasted that time which ought to have been employed in providing the means of future subsistence. Mutual suspicion and disgust between them and the natives ripened into open hostility; and, the provisions brought from England being exhausted, they were under the necessity of resorting for food to the precarious supplies which could be drawn from the rivers and woods. In this state of distress, they were found, in June, by Sir Francis Drake, who was then returning from a successful expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. He agreed to supply them with about one hundred men, four months' provisions, and a small vessel; but, before she could be brought into a place of security, and the men and stores disembarked, she was driven out to sea by a sudden and violent storm. Discouraged by this misfortune, and worn out with fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously determined to abandon the colony, and were, at their own request, taken on board the fleet which sailed for England.[6] [Footnote 6: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.] Thus terminated the first English colony planted in America. The only acquisition made by this expensive experiment, was a better knowledge of the country and its inhabitants. [Sidenote: Grenville plants a second colony.] [Sidenote: Destroyed by the Indians.]