The spring of 1588 came quickly, and there was no sign of White, and no sign of
supplies.  As time passed, the colonists lost faith in the return of their leaders.  They also
spent time with their Croatoan hosts, eventually becoming fully integrated with the tribe. 
If the Croatoan society allowed it, the English men would have started pairing up with
the native women with four or five years of 1587.  Today, a tribe called the Lumbees
claim that they are a descended form the Hatteras, or Croatoan, people.  They also
continue to hold the traditional belief that they are descendants of the lost colonists. 
Some of their language sounds like something the English would say.  They refer to
North Carolina as Virginia, as the English once did.  They call knowledge “wit”, and
father is pronounced like “fayther”, as something the Irish would say.  Some also have
English last names.

In 1610, there were rumors of people alive within fifty miles of a Jamestown fort.  Some
historians believe that the answer to this mystery is as simple as this:  That the colonists
moved safely away from Roanoke island to just near Jamestown.  But then what does the
word “Croatoan” stand for in that tree?

It was possible that the colonists died.  They could have been scared by something, and
tried to swim inland, and all drowned in the process.  Some examples are unfamiliar
diseases, animals, and natives that could have caused their deaths.  Even something as
simple as a terrible storm might have played a part.  The tension after the encounter with
the natives, and the distrust because of the short fights between the two cultures, could
have been reasons for the natives to attack the ill-prepared colonists.  This would explain
why “Croatoan” was carved into the tree.  Perhaps it was a warning, or even a purposely
left clue for the Englishmen.