Only a few Europeans lived in North America in the 1500s．Most of them settled along the northeast coast．In 1587，a small group of one hundred people decided to go south．They moved to the small island of Roanoke．That area later became part of the state of North Carolina．
Unfortunately，the Roanoke settlers weren't well prepared．They had to ration（分配）their food for winter，and there wasn't enough grain for future crops．Their leader，Captain White，decided to sail back to England to get fresh provisions．However，there was a war in Europe，and three years passed before he returned to North America．
When Captain White finally sailed back to Roanoke in 1590，he was eager to see the settlers．He looked out from his ship as it came into port，but no one was there to meet him．The settlement was deserted．There were no signs of life．The Roanoke settlers had simply disappeared．
No one knows why they disappeared．Many people thought hostile（敌意的）tribes of Native Americans killed them，but there were no signs of a fight．Some thought that the settlers died from hunger or disease，but they couldn't explain the absence of bodies．
Much later，more settlers came to North Carolina．One of them was out riding one day．He came across a Native American group called the Lumbee．They were unusual looking in comparison with the other black-haired，brown-eyed Native Americans in the north．Some Lumbee had blonde hair and gray eyes．Then he listened to their speech and almost fell off his horse．They seemed to be speaking an odd kind of English！
He asked where they were from．None of them knew，but said their grandparents“talked from abook”．He guessed it meant that their ancestors（祖先）were able to read．As he rode back home he asked himself a question．Were the Lumbee Indians the descendants（后裔）of the Roanoke settlers？
People are still asking the identical（相同的）question．Because there are no written records，we can't be certain．However，there is one interesting fact．Today，some of the Lumbee people have names like Sampson，Dare，and Cooper．They are identical to those of the disappeared settlers of Roanoke Island．
