A bird's-eye view of an unenclosed Indian village of thirteen houses of light pole and mat construction. At the top, a path leads from water (a stream or pond) to the main group of houses where it widens into a central thoroughfare running down through the settlement. On the street, in the center of the main group of houses, a spoke-shaped fire attended by two Indians is burning and below, further down the path, are shown mats spread out on which are three large circular eating vessels and six small objects of indefinite form. One squatting and two sitting figures are seen eating and one man armed with a bow stands by. To the right of the path and street are three cornfields each at a different stage of growth. The top field of ripe maize contains a small hut, open at one side, which may shelter a seated figure and is mounted on a platform with four legs. A path to the right separates this field from the two lower ones in which crops of unripe and very young maize are growing. The last has faint indications perhaps representing hills around the bases of the plants. To the left of the unripe maize is a house with a small fenced yard before the door which is in the center of the end wall. The houses to the left of the road are set among (or near to) birch-like trees. Among the trees to the left are two houses with three figures nearby, two of them apparently carrying bows. Four other figures are to be seen among the main group of houses, which are shown with open ends, several revealing the pole framework and side platforms, while a few have small window-like openings. At the bottom right a path separates the lowest cornfield from the ceremonial area and is bordered by a row of seven posts. Below this is a circle of seven posts, the tops of which are possibly carved in the form of human heads, and on a path around it nine Indians (apparently all men), with feathers in their hair and waving gourd rattles, are dancing. Some wear a single apron-skirt and others apparently are naked or wear breech-clouts only. One Indian crouches beside a post outside the circle to the right and six others squat or sit in line on the roadway to the left. A further path is indicated at the bottom right, below the dancers. To the left of the roadway, opposite the circle, a path surrounds four posts within which a spoke-shaped log fire is burning, a fifth post being seen to the right near where the path joins the road. The heads of the posts are again possibly carved like the others. To the left of the fire is a but with the end covered and below, at the bottom left, is a house taller than the rest which may have openings in the end wall. A short path leads from it to the road.
Inscribed in dark brown ink, in the top right-hand corner, on the first field of maize, "Their rype corne" .; below, on the second field, "Their greene corne" .; on the third field, "Come newly sprong" . In the centre, below the eating figures, "their sitting at meale" . In a semi-circle about the fire, near the bottom left-hand corner, "The place of solemne prayer" and below, above the hut, "The house wherein the Tombe of their Herounds standeth" . To the right, on the street, below the line of squatting figures, "SECOTAN" ., and to the right again, below the dancing figures , "A Ceremony in their prayers wth | strange iesturs and songs dansing | about post carved on the topps | lyke mens faces"
John White (c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape & the native Algonkin peoples. White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World & their surroundings. During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape & native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard. They represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America encountered by England's first settlers.
