Free Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America by Giles Milton

founde,” wrote one. Roanoke Island (middle left) was sheltered from the sea by the Outer Banks
    Barlowe and Amadas still had one important matter to attend to before they could return to England. Ralegh’s last instruction before they had set sail was to bring back a native American so that he could be taught English and reveal the secrets of his land. He had not offered any advice on how the men were to coax this tribesman on board, nor did Barlowe see fit to explain how they achieved their
goal. But when the two vessels set sail for England, they had on board “two of the savages, being lustie men, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo.”
    It is unlikely that the two men knew each other. Wanchese came from Roanoke while Manteo lived on Croatoan, a long sandy spit that formed part of the Outer Banks. It was not long before the two Indians found they had little in common. While Manteo saw the English as his hosts, Wanchese came to view them as captors.
    The ships arrived in England in the middle of September 1584. Barlowe dashed straight to Durham House to inform Ralegh of his exciting news. The content of their discussions was secret and will never be known, but by the time Barlowe’s account was published, America was being promoted as a second Eden. “We found the people most gentle, loving and faithfull,” he wrote, “void of all guile and treason, and such as lived after the manner of the golden age.” He added that “the earth bringeth foorth all things in aboundance, as in the first creation, without toile or labour.”
    The myth of the noble savage was born, but it remained to be seen if Manteo and Wanchese would live up to expectations.

4
    Harriot’s Devils
    Arthur Barlowe brought Manteo and Wanchese to London, where the Indians were given chambers in Durham House. There are no surviving records of their first days in the city, nor of the reaction of curious Londoners, but they must have made an extraordinary sight as they wandered through the capital’s alleys and markets clothed in deerskin breechcloths, their hair decked with feather mantles. They were probably given the standard tour of the city’s sights—the Tower of London, the markets of Cheapside, and the rotting heads of traitors impaled on London Bridge. London did not impress all of its visitors, but its sheer size and noise must have left a deep mark on the two Indians.
    The bridge was one of the most magnificent sights—its twenty arches of squared stone supporting such a hodgepodge of gabled houses that “it seemeth rather a continual street than a bridge.” It led to Southwark, where the stews, bear pits, and fighting dogs drew many curious visitors. But the most impressive vista extended along the northern bank of the Thames. The grandiose edifices that lined the Strand must have astonished Manteo and Wanchese, who had never before seen a building larger than a wood-framed shelter covered with wicker mats. Further downstream, the Tower, which was already an ancient monument in Elizabethan times, also made a
fine sight. Those fortunate enough to be granted access to its cavernous interior were left rubbing their eyes at the treasury, which housed “objects of silver gilt and also of pure gold”; regal beds “of red velvet embroidered with gold and numerous little pearls,” and gold and agate chalices “set with large pearls, emeralds, diamond and rubies.”
    In the third week of October, Manteo and Wanchese accompanied Ralegh to Hampton Court, where the queen was in residence. Their visit coincided with that of a Pomeranian traveller, Lupold von Wedel, who had spent much of the year at the court and was most impressed by what he had seen. Here, in the palace’s formal gardens, the Elizabethan court made a magnificent spectacle, especially on Sundays when the queen and her retinue proceeded to church with all the pomp and ceremony they could muster.
    They were led by her lifeguard, “strong and tall,” who were dressed to the