THE FIRST BOOK
НнНоГм
book on iN'orlli Carolina
was the first English work written
on America.
By
К1СНЛК1» Н АГНИ*
North Carolina has the distinction
ol having been the subject of the first
English book on what is now the
United States, filled Brief and True
, Report ol the New Found Lund of
Virginia, it was written by Thomas
Hariot and published in 1588. It is
and always will be Book-Number-Onc
in American literary history.
In its day the little volume sold for
about 25 cents. But time has taken
its toll of the original copies and to¬
day only five are known to exist —
none of them in North Carolina
libraries. A newly discovered copy
would surely be worth more than ten
thousand dollars at a book auction.
Hariot wrote his book after having
lived on Roanoke Island during the
time of Raleigh’s First Colony in
1585-1586.
The writer was born in Oxford.
England, in 1560. After graduation
front the university in 1580. he
became Raleigh's tutor in mathe¬
matics. When Sir Walter collected the
settlers for his First Colony, he sent
Hariot along as surveyor, naturalist,
scientist, and historian. Hariot remained
at Roanoke for almost a year; and
when he returned to England with Sir
Francis Drake, he carried with him
two plants — the tobacco and the
potato — as well as the notes for his
book.
Hariot's Virginia, as it is popularly
called, is precise writing. It details the
resources of the Roanoke area and
sets forth the customs and manners of
the natives. Hariot said he wrote his
book not only to impart information
concerning the New World, but also
to deny the "slanderous and shameful"
rumors which had been circulated
about the Roanoke venture. His dis¬
course is actually an excellent bit of
propaganda, similar to our modern
real-cstate-dcvclopment literature. It
is phrased to lure financial backers for
Raleigh’s enterprise and settlers for
his colony.
The treatise is divided into three
parts, the first of which deals with the
"merchantable commodities" to be
found at or near Roanoke, that is.
those products which could be sold in
England. He mentions silkworms "fair
and great"; flax and hemp; pitch, tar,
rosin, and turpentine; cedars, grapes,
walnut oils. furs, deer skins, civet cats,
copper, dyes, and pearls.
The second part describes com¬
modities which Virginia (for so was
Roanoke then known) yields "for vict¬
ual and sustenance of man’s life" in
the New World. Mentioned first is
maize, called by the natives pagaiowr.
Following this are beans ( okingier ).
peas ( wickonzowr) and melons and
gourds ( macaquer ). There is a long
discussion of tobacco (upponwot), to
which Hariot attributed curative pow¬
ers for grievous diseases. (Our ciga¬
rette manufacturers have apparently
overlooked, for advertising purposes,
this early but flattering tribute to our
valuable Carolina product.) Among
the fruits named arc strawberries that
"are as gwd and as great as those
whicc we have in our English gar¬
dens." Hariot concludes with a listing
of various animals, fowls, and fish.
The third part consists of a rather
full report on the natives of the Roa¬
noke section. Hariot comments that
the Indians looked upon the white
men as gods, mainly because of the
magical scientific instruments such
as guns which suggested to them more
than human power. He tells of his mis¬
sionary work among them, of his
teaching the Bible to them. The
natives imputed any misfortune, such
as crop failure or physical illness, to
their having displeased the white
man's gods.
The entire account is most beguil¬
ing. Hariot concludes by relating that
he had written a history of the Roa¬
noke settlement to be published in
good time. The loss of this manuscript,
which would add tremendously to our
early records, is inestimable. Perhaps
even yet, it may be found.
After its initial publication in 1588,
A Brief and True Report was quickly
translated into Latin. German, and
French; by 1590 the famous
Thomas Harlot
Theodore De Bry engravings of John
White’s watercolors had been added
It was frequently reprinted by Hak¬
luyt in his Voyages and there were
some twenty editions in the next
thirty-five years. Other writers on ex¬
plorations borrowed from it un¬
ashamedly. and thus its influence was
tremendous. The prominent historian.
Randolph G. Adams, wrote: "No
other English colony in America ever
produced anything comparable to it
Hariot’s friendship for Raleigh re¬
mained after his return to England,
and it is said that he collected for his
patron much of the material which
Raleigh used in writing his History
о /
the World (1614) during the great
man’s confinement in the Tower of
London.
Hariot was a versatile scholar. He
corresponded with Kepler, the noted
astronomer, and made valuable con¬
tributions to the science of algebra, in¬
cluding new symbols and notations.
He was a protege of the Earl of
Northumberland, who pensioned him
at L 1 25 a year. Though he carried on
scientific experiments till his death in
1621. Hariot is still best remembered
for his slender little report on the
Roanoke adventure, which remains
one of the first large-scale statistical
surveys of a region, as well as English
America's and North Carolina's first
book.
Hariot's text is available in Explora¬
tions, Descriptions, and A item pied
Settlements ol Carolina. 15X4-1590.
edited by David Leroy Corbitt (State
Department of Archives and Historv.
Box 1881, Raleigh. 50 cents).
THE BTATE, SCHTEM8ER It. 1954
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