Then, while
all the great men and fine ladies of England stood around, the queen
made him a knight. And from that time he was known as Sir Walter
Raleigh, the queen's favorite.
Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert about whom I have already
told you, were half-broth-ers.
When Sir Humphrey made his first voy-age to America, Sir Walter was
with him. After that, Sir Walter tried sev-er-al times to send men to
this country to make a set-tle-ment.
But those whom he sent found only great forests, and wild beasts, and
sav-age In-di-ans. Some of them went back to England; some of them
died for want of food; and some of them were lost in the woods. At
last Sir Walter gave up trying to get people to come to America.
But he found two things in this country which the people of England
knew very little about. One was the po-ta-to, the other was to-bac-co.
If you should ever go to Ireland, you may be shown the place where Sir
Walter planted the few po-ta-toes which he carried over from America.
He told his friends how the Indians used them for food; and he proved
that they would grow in the Old World as well as in the New.
Sir Walter had seen the Indians smoking the leaves of the to-bac-co
plant. He thought that he would do the same, and he carried some of
the leaves to England.
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