What happened to the Lost Colony

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A.� Nobody knows for sure. They probably moved and starved to death, or were killed by Native Americans - or were assimilated into a local tribe.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� First, I think you'd better explain who they were.

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In 1584, explorers were sent to investigate Roanoke Island - in the tidewater coastal area of North Carolina - part of the huge area granted to Raleigh by the Queen. The expedition was not a success, however. Some of the Native Americans were hostile and many of the colonists just didn't get on, either. Then supplies began to run out - so they all went back to England.

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Q.� A failure, then

A.� Raleigh was determined to succeed. He sent a second expedition to his lands - which had been named Virginia in honour of Elizabeth the virgin queen. There were 117 men, women and children, led by Governor John White. Raleigh told them not to settle at Roanoke Island, because it wasn't suitable. But did they listen

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The colonists landed in the middle of summer, which meant it was too late to plant crops to see them through the winter. There were also not enough supplies to feed the group until a spring crop could be planted and harvested. White returned to England for more supplies and left the others behind - on Roanoke Island.

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Q.� He left instructions

A.� Yes. If they moved inland they would leave markings to indicate which direction they were travelling. If they were in danger, they would carve a cross in a prominent place.

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Q.� And White hastened back

A.� No. He arrived in England to find the country at war with Spain. He didn't return to America for three years ... and when he arrived back he found everybody had gone.

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Q.� No trace

A.� His possessions had been left. And on a tree he found the letters C.R.O.; the word CROATOAN carved on a gatepost. There was no cross, the agreed danger sign.

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Q.� And no other clues emerged

A. �Plenty - over the years. Captain John Smith wrote in 1608 that two explorers had been told by natives of men who dressed like Englishmen. In 1613, an official of the Virginia colony wrote of reports that the lost colonists had moved inland, built two-storey stone houses, and lived with the natives for 20 years. When Jamestown was founded in Virginia in the early 1600s, they moved south with their families - having now bred with the Native Americans.

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In 1660, a minister told of meeting friendly natives who spoke English. A German explorer who travelled south from Virginia told of meetings with 'a powerful nation of bearded men'.

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Q.� So what's the most likely theory

A.� That they became what was later known as the Lumbee tribe. John Lawson, sometimes referred to as the 'first North Carolina historian', wrote of a native guide he hired who knew about 'talking books and speaking paper', and who asked to see a Bible that Lawson was carrying.�

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The natives of this swampy area of North Carolina have always referred to themselves as the People of the Lumbee River. The authorities called them the Indians Of Robeson County.

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In 1914, the Secretary of the Interior was sent by the Senate to investigate the tribal rights of the Indians of Robeson County. His findings included the words: 'There is a tradition among these people that their ancestors were The Lost Colony, amalgamated with some tribe of Indians. This tradition is supported by their looks, their complexion, colour of skin, hair and eyes, by their manners, customs and habits, and by the fact that while they are, in part, of undoubted Indian origin, they have no Indian names and no Indian language.'

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Steve Cunningham