The disappearance of this colony has been truly called "the tragedy of American colonization," and around it has hung a pathetic interest which ever leads to renewed investigation, in the hope of solving the mystery. From recent search into the subject by students of history a chain of evidence has been woven from which it has come to be believed that the lost colony, hopeless of succor from England, and deprived of all other human associations, became a part of a tribe of friendly Croatoan Indians, shared their wanderings, and intermarried with them, and that their descendants are to be found to-day among the Croatoan Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina. (Those who desire to investigate this supposed solution of the mystery can easily secure the facts and the conclusions formed by those who have made a careful study of the subject.) Of course, it can never be known _certainly_ whether Virginia Dare was or was not of that number, but the full tradition of her life among the Indians is embodied in the legend of The White Doe. Much has been written about the Indian princess Pocahontas, and much sentiment has clustered around her association with the Jamestown colony, while few have given thought to the young English girl whose birth, baptism, and mysterious disappearance link her forever with the earlier tragedies of the same era of history. It seems a strange coincidence that the Indian maiden Pocahontas, friend and companion of the _White_ Man, having adopted _his_ people as her own, should sleep in death on English soil, while the English maiden, Virginia Dare, friend and companion of the _Red_ Man, having adopted his people as _her_ own, should sleep in death on American soil,--the two maidens thus exchanging nationality, and linking in life and in death the two countries whose destinies seem most naturally to intermingle. The scattered fragments of this legend have been carefully collected and woven into symmetry for preservation. Notes from authentic sources have been appended for the benefit of searchers into the historical basis of the poem, which is offered to the public with the hope that it may increase interest in the early history of our home land and strengthen the tie which binds England and the United States. SALLIE SOUTHALL COTTEN. CONTENTS PAGE FORGOTTEN FACTS AND FANCIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY i PREFACE 5 PROLOGUE 19 THE SEEDS OF TRUTH 23 THE LEGEND OF THE WHITE DOE I.--THE REFUGEES 31 II.--THE PALE-FACE MAIDEN 42 III.--SAVAGE SORCERY 46 IV.--THE COUNTER-CHARM 55