ADVERTISEMENT. IN preparing this volume of the Collections of the Antiquarian Society, the Publishing Committee have aimed to combine with a variety of subjects a degree of unity in the character of its contents. Not more, however, for that reason, than because the principal materials provided for the work have required greater space than was anticipated, an article on the Sacrificial Mounds of the Scioto Valley, originally designed for this volume, and another on some peculiarities of the Indian Dialects, are reserved for future publication. The documents now printed belong to the Colonial period of United-States history, and do not relate to the aboriginal antiquities of the country, except so far as portions of them may serve to illustrate the condition and habits of the natives as they appeared to the earliest settlers on our shores. The Papers of Sir Ralph Lane, the Governor of Sir Walter Raleigh's first plantation; the Journal of Capt. Newport's voyage of discovery up James River; and the Narrative of Edward Maria Wingfield, the first President of the Jamestown Colony, are entirely fresh materials for the history of North Carolina and Virginia at the beginning, and possess the merit of being the testimony of persons occupying the most prominent and responsible positions in the settlements, and having the best opportunities for observation. |