Secoton Village engraved by Theodor de Bry in 1590,
based on John White’s watercolor of 1585. Indian Town of Secota
Thomas Hariot (often spelled Harriot) was an English mathematician, linguist, & scientist. During the 1580s, he served as Sir Walter Raleigh‘s primary assistant in planning & attempting to establish the English colonies on Roanoke Island off the coast of present-day North Carolina. He learned the Algonquian language from two Virginia Indians, Wanchese & Manteo. In 1585, Hariot joined the expedition to Roanoke, which failed & returned to England the next year. During his stay in America, Hariot helped to explore the present-day Outer Banks region and, farther north, the Chesapeake Bay. He also collaborated with the artist John White in producing several maps notable at the time for their accuracy.
English artist John White accompanied the 1585 failed expedition to Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina & who, in 1587, served as governor of a 2nd failed expedition, which came to be known as the Lost Colony. White produced watercolor portraits of Virginia Indians & scenes of their lives & activities. He created detailed maps of the North American coastline & made contact there with the Chesapeake Indians. Many of White’s paintings were published by Theodor de Bry as etchings in Hariot’s illustrated edition of A briefe & true report of the new found land of Virginia (1590).
In Thomas Hariot's account of Virginia (1590), he describes the Algonquian village of Secota, accompanied by White's sketches. After noting the village's impressive agriculture & observing its inhabitants' feasts & religious rituals, Hariot describes the Indians of Secota in words that echo many Europeans' accounts. To Harriot, the Indians appeared void of all covetousness: they "live cheerfully & at their hearts' ease." These observations reflected the extent to which the indigenous peoples of North America managed to live in harmony with their natural environment, as well as their lack of the Europeans' notions of individual property ownership.
"Their towns that are not inclosed with poles are commonly fairer than such as are inclosed, as appeareth in this figure which lively expresseth the town of Secota. For the houses are scattered here & there, & they have gardens, expressed by the letter E, wherein groweth tobacco which the inhabitants call uppowoc. They have also groves herein they take deer, & fields wherein they sow their corn. In their corn fields they build as it were a scaffold whereon they set a cottage like to a round chair, signified by F, wherein they place one to watch, for they would soon devour all their corn. For which cause the watchman maketh continual cries & noise. They sow their corn with a certain distance, noted by H, otherwise one stalk would choke the growth of another & the corn would not come unto his ripeness G, for the leaves thereof are large, like unto the leaves of great reeds. They have also a several broad plots C, where they meet with their neighbours to celebrate their chief solemn feasts as we have already mentioned above; & a place D where after they have ended their feast they make merry together. Over against this place they have a round plot B where they assemble themselves to make solemn prayers. Not far from this place there is a large building, A, wherein are the tombs of their kings & princes, as will appear by the 22 figure. Likewise, they have a garden noted by the letter, I, wherein they use to sow pumpkins. Also a place marked with K wherein they make a fire at their solemn feasts, & hard without the town a river L, from whence they fetch their water. These people are void of all covetousness & live cheerfully & at their hearts' ease. They solemnize their feasts in the night, & therefore they keep very great fires to avoid darkness & to testify their joy."
See: Thomas Hariot, A Brief & True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1590)
