t>. ^> 'L. .a^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT.3) !.0 ^i^ ll££ l.i ^ 1^ 1^ ^ II L.2 2.0 18 1.25 1.4 1.6 41 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 5V 1 ^ v^^' ,\ :\ \ 4^^ o'^ 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WEBSTCRN.Y M580 (716) •72-4501 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquas at bibliographiquaa Tha Instituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chcckad baiow. n Colourad covara/ Couvartura da coutour I I CovaTS damagad/ Couvartura andommagdka Covars rastorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura r^tauria at/ou pallicul^ Covar titia miaaing/ La titra da couvartura manqua Colourad mapa/ Cartaa giographiquaa mn coulaur Colourad ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) Colouiad plataa and/or illuatrationa/ Planchaa at/ou illuatrationa ^n coulaur Bound with othar matarial/ RalM avac d'autraa documanta D D D Tight binding may eauaa shadows or distortion •long intarior .nargin/ La r« liura sarria paut causar da I'ombro ou da la distorsion la long da la marga intiriaura Blank iaavas addad during raatoration may appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar poaaibia, thaaa hava baan omittad from filming/ II sa paut qua cartainaa pagaa blanchaa ajout«aa lors d'una raatauration apparaiaaant dana la taxta. maia, lorsqua cala «tait poaaibia. caa pagaa n'ont paa «ti filmtea. Additional commanta:/ Commantairaa supplAmantairaa: L'Instit'Jt a microfilm* la mailleur axamplaira qu'il lui a M possibia da sa procurar. Las details da cat axamplaira qui sont paut-itra uniques du point da vua bibliographiqua, qui pauvent modifier una image raproduite, ou qui pauvent exiger une modification dana la mAthoda normale de filmage sont indiquis ci-dessous. D D D Q D D Q D Coloured pages/ Pagaa da couiaur Pagaa damaged/ Pagaa anciommagtes Pagaa reatorad and/or laminated/ Pages reataur«es et/ou pellicui«es Pagaa discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dicclories, tachat^es ou piquies Pagaa detached/ Pagaa d^tach^as Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualit* inAgala de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du material suppiimentaira Only edition v ailabla/ Seule Mition disponible Pagaa wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., hava been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Lea pages totalement ou partiallement obacurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une peluie, etc.. ont At* filmies i nouveau de fapon A obtanir la mailleure image possibHe. This item is filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ Ca document est film4 au taux da reduction indiqu* ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X LJ_L 26X XX 12X 16X 20X y 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thenks to the generosity of: Library Indian and Northern Affairs The imeges eppeering here ere the best quelity possible considering the condition end iegibility of the originel copy end in keeping with the filming contrect specificetions. Originel copies in printed psper covers ere filmed beginning with the front cover end ending on the lest psge with e printed or illustrsted impres- sion, or the beck cover when appropriete. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrsted impres- •.ion. and ending on the last page with a printed or illu&lrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -^^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too ierge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'e;templaire film* f ut reproduit grflce A la g6n4rositA de: Bibliothique Affairat indiennes et du Nord Les Images suivantes ont 6t4 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet* de I'exemplaire film*, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimie sont flimte en commenpent per le premier piet et en termlnant soit par la derniAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous !es autres exemplaires originaux sont fllm6s en commenpent per la premiere pege qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustretion et en termlnant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivsnts apparattra sur la derniire imege de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableeux. etc.. peuvent Atre fiimAs A des taux de r6duction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grsnd pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich«, 11 est film* A partir de i'engle supArieur geuche. de geuche A droite. et de heut en bss, en prenent le nombre d'images nicesssire. Les disgrammes suivants lllustrent Se mAthode. t 2 3 . 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^. . /. iCiCi^^, ®iF iiis^ mmmT kas i& IB¥ BIOGRAPHY or ELISHA KENT KANE. BY WILLIAM ELDER. (8 VI i |. i t PHILADELPHIA: CHILDS & PETERSON, 602 AECII STREET. LONDON: TRUBNER & CO., 60 PATERNOSTER ROW. 1858. Eutered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by GUILDS & I'ETERSON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tlie United States for the Eastern District of rennsylviinia. STEREOTYPED IIY L. JOHNSON t CO. rHlLAnEI.l'lIIA. PRINTED DY DEiCON ft PETEE30K. TO THE READEE. 14] This book was announced as forthcoming in May last, and was expected by the subscribers for over thirty thou- sand copies about midsummer ; but, notwithstanding a per- sistency of effort which threatened to exhaust every thing in me except my patience and hope, I was not able to secure the narrative material for the third chapter until the end of August; and that which was required for all after the eighth was delayed till the 7th of November. I have worked hard, under pressure of u clamorous im- patience for the publication. The toil which does not appear in these pages, I think, amounts to ten times more than the reader will discover, — unless he has some time written a biography out of the raw material. I have not been unpunctual. Moreover, I have had so very, very little help that my only temptation to affect thankfulness would be a division of the responsibility, which, in the strictest justice to all parties, rests exclusively upon myself. My aim was not to write a review of Dr. Kane's writings, but a memoir of the man, which might serve to make his readers personally acquainted with him. I would do this, or I would do nothing ; and, working steadily to this end, I think I have not diluted my narrative with any thing i (9 V) i i i i TO THE READER. except my own personality,— for wliicli I respectfully refuse to offer either justification or apology. It will be observed how largely, and how freely too, I have quoted from Dr. Kane's private letters and memoranda. Bless the memory of the man for the happiness I have this day in declaring that I have not been obliged to suppress a letter or a line for the sake of his fame ! I struck out only one word in all my quotations from his manuscript, and altered one in the report of him by a correspondent ; and these only because they would have been misunderstood. May I not well be glad that nothing has discovered itself, in all this scrutiny of the character and conduct of my sub- ject, which could affect my regard for him, or leave me with a shade of doubt or discomfort after all I have said of him ? The "Obsequies of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane," appended to the biography proper, and making so large a part of the volume's value, were prepared by the Honorable Joseph E. Chandler, of this city. His name is a sufficient voucher for their worth. Philadelphia, December 14, 1857. W. E. ' * Gen C d( The h I C t Sei J CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FAai Genealogy— The Maternal Line through a Century— Birth— Baptism- Childhood— Hardihood— Pugilism and Polar Practice— School-Cramps —Juvenile Polytechnics— Drift of Nature under Direction of Provi- dence. CHAPTER II. The Boy's Battle vrith the Books— His Studies at Play— Reconciliation on his own Terms, and at Work with a Will— His Collegiate Course— Civil Engineering— System Suiting the Subject— Dangerous Illness— Self- Culture, its Limits and its Authorities— Life in a New Light— The Study of Medicine— A Student at Blockley— Character at Twenty-One— Celi- bacy, and a Reason for it 13 29 i It tj VI i < i 4 CHAPTER III. Senior Physician at Blockley— Duties and Studies— Inaugural Thesis- Verdict of the Profession— Physiological Exploration, Methodology, Apparatus, Certitude— Unrest, Cause and Cure— Assistant Surgeon United States Navy— Better Health— China Mission— First Voyage— "As it is written"— Studies Aboard— Around Bombay— Ceylon- Tropic Life 44 i 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The Forethought of Travel-Luzon-The Negritos-A Grar.J Earrble- A Vagrant Sou-en ir-Volcano of Tael, Pescripticn and History-De- scent of the Crater-An Indignant Idol-Skirmish with the Pygmies- Tho " Treaty rortnight"-Ki-ying and Cushing-Antipodal Gentle- men- A Dinner-Celestial Health-Drinking- Attaches -Diplomatic Darce — Disappointment FAQB 57 CHAPTER V. Testmiony of ^he Secretary and Chaplain of the Mission-Professional Practice in China-Rice-Fever Attack-Homeward-Borneo-Sin'-a- pore-Snmatra-Intenor India-Persia and Syria-Tho Nile, from the Sea to Scnnaar-Professor Lepsius-Life at Thebes-Egyntology- Nilotic Diluvium-Boat- Wreck-Skirmish with Bedouins-Attack of the Plague. 74 CHAPTER VI. Stacae of Mcmnon-The Ascension, Risk, Escape-Greece traversed afoot-Gcrmany-Switzerland-Paris-Surgic! Practice in the East -ALettcr-Ttaly-England-AU the World over-A Winter at Home -Repugnance to the " Service"-Waiting Orders-Mis-sent-Coast of Gun,ea-Dahomey-Pattern of a King-Birthday Ode-Prero..ative Royal-Magnilicence-The Sla^e-Trado-Human Sacrifico-Tho Coast-Fevor-Sent IIome-The ^leet-Surgcon's Report. oq CHAPTER VXI. A Summer of Suffering-Opportunity los^-Tho Last Chance seized- D .patched to Mex.co-Shipwreck in the Gulf-Tho Spy-CompaMy- Affair at Nopaluca-Rescuo of his Prisoncrs-IIa.J Fighting and Kough Surgory-Woundod-Typlm. Te/er-Newspuper H'story- Suffeit of Patriotism-Irksomeness of t'le Livery-Charge, against Do- iningues-The Ilorse-Claim-IJ >w it was proved, and what it .,rMv.,!= jlratitudo of his Prisoners 108 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. FAaa PAoa 57 74 90 Colonel Child's Letter — Compliment to General Gaona — His Reply — " The Flag of Freedom" — Complimentary Sword — Dr. Kane's Acceptance — Colonel Gaona's Wound — Dr. Kane's PriGoners — Palasios shot — Douiin- gues missed — Iland-to-hand Conflict — Loss and Gain upon "Relic" — To Head-Quarters — Invalided — Homeward — Despondency— "Bureau- Favor refracted — Tread-Mill Regime — To the Mediterranean — Lock- jaw — Dying Experience — Recuperation— Coast-Survey — An Interlude — Lady Franklin's Appeal — American Response — Dr. Kane volunteers — Ambition's Last Gasp — Amusement and other Refreshments — Off to the Arctic 127 CHAPTER IX. Franklin's Voyages — Search-Expeditions — United States Grinnell Expe- dition—Lieutenant Do Haven — Arctic Rose-Plucking— The Captain's Douhts — The Doctor's Decision — The Personal Narrative — Horrors of Authorship — Dietetics and Drugs — Public Lecturing — Expeditions of 1852 — Estimate of Buttons — Second Voyage postponed — Little "Wiliio — In Memoriam — Grinnell Land — Arrowsmith and the Admiralty — Adjourned Justice— Dr. Kane and Colonel Force — Comity and Equity. 140 CHAPTER X. Mr. Kennedy's Alacrity- Sympathy of the Savans — Confidence strength- ened — Exciting the Officials — Hopes on a Sce-saw — Drudgery of Boring — Kennedy Channel — Cash Contributions — Lecturing-Business — Mr. Poabody — Deficiencies of Outfit — Laborious Preparations — Patriotic Enthugiusm — Tlie Honors in Danger — Race against Time — Admiralty Chart— A Time to bo Sick — Daily Prayers— Cliristian Heroism— Spe- cial Providence- Worshipamung the Hummocks — Vindication of Faith — "IIow rcadcst thou?"— Saving Faith 166 CHAPTER XI. Motives and Objects — Declaration i« extremis — Working up the Coast of Greouland — Good-by(>— A Father's Testimony — Franklin's Chances— 1 VI 'I 4 < i 4 c > 8 CONTENTS. TMl Refuge with the Natives — Supporting Authorities — Sir R. Murchison — The Brave trust the Bravo — Contributions to Scionce — Inedited Manu- scripts — The Open Sea — Logical Demonstration — The Discovery — The Last Throw — ^^Villiam Morton — Facts and Theories — Lieutenant Maury — Kane's Official Report — British Achievements — Results of Explora- tion — Washington Land — AVithin the Polar Ice-Ring , 187 CHAPTER Xn. The Natural Sciences — Glaciology — Relief-Expedition — Captain Ilarb- stene — Dr. John K. Kane — The Knight and his Squire — The Three Captains — Authorship again — Pains and Penalties — Author and Pub- lishers — The Unwritten Book — Engravings — Mr, Hamilton — Dr. Kane's Drawings — Artistic Skill — Facility and Fidelity — Congres- sional Subscription — Popular and Public Patronage — The Author's Involvement — The Secretary's Commendation — Testimonials and Medals 209 CHAPTER XIIL Kane's Sea — The Chart — Summary of Operations — Last Will — ^Voyage to England — Hoping against Hope — Reception in London — Last Letter — Disease of the Heart — Voyage to St. Thomas — On his AVay to Cuba — Attack of Paralysis — At Havana — Longing for Home — Last Scene of all — Ilesleepeth — Interpretation — Church Relations — Free-Masonry — The Obsequies — Legislative Resolutions — Learned Societies — English Testimonial 229 CHAPTER XIV. Personal Description — Social Bearing — Spirit-Power — Portraits — Hyper- trophy — Kindness for Animals — Gun-Murder — Dog-People — Man and Beast — Godfrey — North British Review — Withdrawing Party — Man- ners and Customs — Toodla-mik — Tastes and Antipnthios— Novels and Plays— Prose-Poetry — Mental Method— ^ledical Skepticism— Benefits of the Study — Governing-Power — The Outside Passage— Routine and Organization — Esquimaux Allies — Fondness for Children — Justice to Subordinates — All else submitted — The End 249 CONTENTS. 9 LETTER FROM DR. HAYES. PAQI Dr. Kane's Plan of Search— Adventures of the Depot-Party— Return of Part of them— Starting of the Rolief-Party— Inadequate Appliances- Special Providence — Their Return— Death of Baker and Schubert — Dr. Kane's Sickness — ^Want of Dogs— Appearance of Esquimaux — An Exchange effected — Breaking down 269 LETTER FROM AMOS BONSALL. Early Acquaintance with Dr. Kane— Volunteering for the Expedition- Character of the Sailors— Dr. Kane's alleged Cruelty to his Men— His Leniency- Ilis Self-Denial and Kindness to the Sick— Death of Jeffer- son T. Baker and Pierre Schubert— Character of Baker 273 LETTER FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW. Dr. Kane's Sea-Sickness- His Habits on Board— Failing Health— The Rescue-Party- A Bad Restorative— Government of the Crew— Allow- ance of Food— Dr. Kane's Abhorrence of Corporal Punishment— His Attention to the Sick— His Spirit of Scientific Inquirj —His Social Demeanor and Conversation — Exercise— Dietetics 276 REPORT OF OBSEQUIES. Introductory Remarks 287 Proceedings of City Councils of Philadelphia 288 Mr. Cuyler's Remarks and Resolutions 288 Message of Mayor Vaux 289 Remarks of Mr. Perkins 290 Kcsolutions offered by Messrs. Ilolman and Henry 290 Meeting of Citizens 291 Mayor Vuux'h iiemurka ...i.. • 29i i w VI i II' i i c i la CONTENTS. FAGI Remarks of Hon, William B. Reed 292 Major Riddle's Speech 294 Professor Frazer's Address 296 Mr. Chandler's Speech 2S7 Remarks of Rev. Dr. Boardman 298 Corn Exchange 299 Committee's Resolutions 300 Remarks of Mr. Busby * 300 Proceedings at Havana 302 Communication from the Captain-General 302 Resolutions adopted at the Meeting of American Citizens 303 Remarks of Don Jos6 J. de Echavarria 304 Response of Consul Blytho 305 Ceremonies at New Orleans , 306 Ceremonies at Louisville, Ky 307 Programme for Reception of Remains 308 Ceremonies at Cincinnati 310 Programme 310 Relatives of the Deceased : Colonel T. L. Kane, Robert P. Kane, John K. Kane; William Morton 313 Reception of Remains by the Cincinnati Committee 315 Remarks of Mr. Monroe, on behalf of the Louisville and New Al- bany Committees 315 Remarks of Mr. Anderson in reply 317 The Coffin 319 The Procession 320 Ceremonies at Columbus 320 Remarks of Mr. Anderson, on behalf of the Cincinnati Committee. 322 Religious Exerciscsat the Capitol 327 Prayer by Rev. J. M. Steele 327 Substance of a Discourse by Rev. James Ilogo, D.D 329 Concluding Prayers and Benediction 336 Order of Procession to Railroad-Station 333 Ceremonies at Baltimore 339 Crossing the Ohio 339 Disappointment at Wheeling 34I Crossing the Mountains.. 34] ... 292 ... 294 ... 296 ... 2S7 ... 298 ... 299 ... 300 ... 300 ... 302 ... 302 ... 303 ... 304 ... 305 ... 30G ... 307 ... 308 ... 310 ... 310 le, ... 313 ... 315 U- ... 315 ... 317 ... 319 ... 320 ... 320 se. 322 ... 327 ... 327 ... 329 ... 336 ... 338 ... 339 ... 339 ... 341 ,.. 341 CONTENTS. 11 FAOa Reception of the Remains by the Baltimore Committee 341 Arrival at Baltimore 342 The Procession 343 Appearance of the City while the Remains were passing through it 345 Meeting of the Maryland Institute 346 Remarks of Mayor Swann 346 Resolutions 343 Remarks of AVilliam H. Young 349 Remarks of Hon. John P. Kennedy 350 Proceedings of the Companions of Dr. Kane at Philadelphia 358 Deputations from New York and other Cities .'.,. 300 Arrival of the Remains at Philadelphia 301 Programme of Procession to Independence Hall 3G2 Remarks of Messrs. Dukehart, Chandler, and Parry 363 The Funeral Procession 305 Exercises in the Church 3Q3 Invocation, by Rev. Charles Wadsworth, D.D 368 Funeral Discourse, by Rev. Charles W. Shields 370 Prayer, by Rev. Dr.Boardnian 3gO Conclusion of Exercises 3gj Remarks and Acknowledgments of Committee 382 Proposed Erection of a Monument to Dr. Kane 386 MASONIC OBSEQUIES. Resolutions of Arcana Lodge, of New York 391 Meeting of Lodge of Sorrow 3^2 Ode by Brother Herring 003 Address by Grand Master John L. Lewis, Jr 393 Letters to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Now York 395 Commodore Stewart, U.S.N ^nn Commodore Perry, U.S.N one Commodore Read, U.S.N ooa oyo Lieutenant Mnnrv. U S ^^ «-=, '" ■ '" ...I. .11 jiji Major-GenerulJohn E. Wool, U.S.A oq-* Hi VI U i < 2 i a X t I 12 CONTENTS. Honorable Judge Kane 397 Honorable Edward Everett 398 C. Edwards Lester, Esq 398 Washington Irving, Esq , 398 Fitz-Greene Halleck, Esq 399 J. D. Evans, P.G. M. of Grand Lodge of New York 399 R. L. Schoonmaker, Grand Chaplain of Grand Lodge of New. York, &c. &c 399 Hymn, by Brother George P. Morris 403 Eulogy, by Grand Master Honorable E. W. Andrews 4C4 Tkat ... 397 ... 398 ... 398 ... 398 ... 399 ... 399 .... 399 ... 403 ,... 4C4 ELISHA KENT KANE. CHAPTER I. GENEALOGY — THE MATERNAL LINE THROUGH A CENTURY — BIRTH — BAPTISM — CHILDHOOD— HARDIHOOD — PUGILISM AN? POLAR PRAC- TICE — SCHOOL-CRAMPS — JUVENILE POLYTECHNICS — DRIFT OP NA- TURE UNDER DIRECTION OP PROVIDENCE. Elisiia Kent Kane derived his blood from the com- mon source, immediately through the Kanes and Van Rensselaers of New York, and the Grays and Leipers of Pennsylvania. His family, in all branches, dates American for more than a century. The Kane blood is Irish, the Van Rens- selaer Low Dutch, the Gray English, and the Leiper Scotch. A hundred years ago his male ancestors of these names were respectively Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Quakers, and Presbyterians. His greal>grandfather, John Kane, who came from Ireland about the year 1756, married Miss Kent, a daughter of the Reverend Elislia Kent, by unbroken descent and dissent a Puritan from the earliest settle- meno of Massachusetts. His other great-grandmother, 28 t i V) t i 14' < 2 i t 14 ELISHA KENT KANE. Gray, varied the faith of the family with all that was practically best and most beneficent in the religion of the Moravians. This lady, born Martha Ibbetson, was in London in 1749, under the tuition of an apothecary-sur- geon. After acquiring so much of his art as qualified her for the Lady-Bountiful life to which she had devoted herself, she emigrated to America. A year after her arrival in Philadelphia, she married George Gray, of Gray's Ferry, a man of great wealth, a liberal gentleman, and a zealous Whig. He was born a member of the Society of Friends, but at the earliest period of the Revo- lution he was a member of the Council of Safety, and a representative of the resistance party in the Assembly of the Province. On the 4th of July, 1776, he appears, as a delegate from the county of Philadelphia, at " a meet- ing consisting of the officers and privates of the fifty- three battalions of the Associators of the Colony of Pennsylvania, held at Lancaster, to choose two brigadier- generals to command the battalions and forces of the Province." He was, of course, among the proscribed by the British authorities. Mrs. Gray was as decided a patriot as her husband, and as actively devoted to the service. During the occupation of Philadelphia by the British forces, the sick and wounded American prisoners, amount- ing at one time to nine hundred men, were confined in the old Walnut Street prison. They were not treated as prisoners of war, but as rebels under arrest. Hunger, thirst, cold, and every species of personal abuse and HIS ANCESTORS. 15 indignity which the malignity and neglect of a brutal subordinate could inflict upon them, made their condition intolerable. Mrs. Gray constantly ministered to their wants,— enduring the insolence and overcoming the resist- ance of their keeper, as only a woman of high character and determined zeal could meet and manage such diffi- culties. Food and medicines were supplied at her own expense; and the indispensable services of the surgeon and nurse, for which she was so well qualified, were ren- dered by her own hands. Her courage and constancy overcame all resistance that could be offered to her as a benefactress. The baffled officer of the prison charged her with being a spy, and she was ordered to leave the city. She appealed to Lord Howe: he withdrew the order, and she held her ground till the British evacuated the city. The American officers who had witnessed and experienced her generous services to the prisoners acknow- ledged them in the strongest terms of gratitude and admi- ration.'^' Afterward, when the tide of affairs turned, and British prisoners needed her aid, it was given as freely and effectually as she had before ministered to the suffer- ings of her own party. Through all these labors and * "We, the subscribers, officers in the American army, now prisoners in Philadelphia, think it our duty in this manner to testify the obliga- tions we are under, and the respect we entertain for Mrs. Martha Gray, wife of George Gray, Esq., for her unwearied attention to the distresses of the numerous sick and wounded soldiers in confinement, supplying them, at a great expense, with food and raiment, constantly visiting and alleviating, by her attention, their wretched condition, and in every cir- i y V) i < 2 i 4 X ,5 16 ELISHA KENT KANE. trials of heroic benevolence, her daughter Elizabeth, afterward Mrs. Thomas Leiper, was her chief assistant. Of Thomas Leiper, it is recorded, in the chronicles of the times, that he was 1st Sergeant of the Ist City Troop of Cavalry raised for the Continental service; that, as treasurer and quartermaster, he carried the first money from Congress to General Washington, then on the Heights of Boston; that he was at the side of the Com- mander-in-chief at the battles of Trenton, Monmouth, Princeton, New Brunswick, and Brandywine, and in the field generally, from the beginning to the end of the War of Independence. Warmly attached to Robert Morris, and ardent in the support of his financial policy, he was one of those patriots who, each lending one-third of his personal estate to the old Bank of North America, enableu him to make provision for the march of the army to Yorktown. cumstance interesting herself in their behalf. As we have been eye- witnesses to the above, we have hereunto set our hands. Philadelphia, January 2%th, 1778. John Hannum, Chester Co. 3Iilitia. Pers'n Frazer, Lieut. Col. bth Fenna. Regt. Luke Marbury, Col. 4th Bat. Maryland Militia W. Taliaferro, Lieut. Col. Aih Virginia Battal. 0. TOWLES, Major 6th Virginia Battal." HIS ANCESTORS. 17 When the two great parties of 1799 were forming, he became the partisan, as he had long been the personal friend, of Mr. Jeflferson. In Mr. Jefferson's letters to Mr. Leiper there is a remarkably free communication of opi- nion and feeling upon all the political questions, foreign and domestic, of the time. Their correspondence was constant and frequent until the death of Leiper, which occurred in 1822. He was long President of the Common Council of Philadelphia, invariably the head of the Democratic elec- toral ticket for Pennsylvania, and, by prerogative of his party position, the chairman of all the large Democratic meetings and conventions of the city and State. But he never held any office of emolument, — always refusing such appointments for himself and his family. At the end of the Revolutionary War he and his troop accepted, for all their services in the field, a letter of thanks from General Washington. Their money pay they transferred to the Pennsylvania Hospital, to found a lying-in department, and, by this noble donation of their toil-and-danger-earned funds, that charity was established. John K. Kane, son of John Kane and Miss Van Rens- selaer of New York, was a member of the Philadelphia bar when he married Jane Leiper, and has been judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 1845. Mrs. Kane's blood descends from Martha Ibbetson and George Gray, through Thomas Leiper and their daughter, and Elisha was, emphatically, her son. 8 8 VI t i III' < i t i 18 ELISIIA KENT KANE. He was born on the 3d of February, 1820, in Walnut Street, between Seventh and Eighth, Philadelphia. He was the eldest of seven children. Three brothers and a sister, his father and mother, survive him. He was baptized in his infancy, in the Presbyterian church, of which his parents are members, Elisha Kent, after the old Puritan clergyman of Massachusetts. He went through the diseases and the training of in- fancy vigorously, having the clear advantage of that energy of nerve and that sort of twill in the muscular texture which give tight little fellows more size than they measure, and more weight than they weigh. His frame was admirably fitted for all manner of ath- letic exercises, and his impulses kept it well up to the limits of its capabilities, daring and doing every thing within the liberties of boy-life with an intent seriousness of desperation which kept domestic rule upon the stretch, and threatened, as certainly as usual with boys whose only badness is their boldness, to bring down everybody's gray hairs in sorrow, &c. It was not the monkey mirth- fulness nor the unprincipled recklessness of childhood that he was chargeable with, but something more of pur- pose and tenacity in exacting deference and enforcing equity than is usually allowed to boyhood, i xrritrary authority he was a regular little rebel. Theie v/a,s nothing of passive submission in his temper, and he did not over- lay it with the little hypocrisies of good-boy policy. He was fi' r; lutely fearless, and, withal, given to indignation q.-itc vy to liis own measurement of wrongs and insults. PUGILISTIC FEATS. 19 and he had a pair of Uttle fiwts that worked with the steam-power of passion in the administration of distribu- tive justice, which he charged himself with executing at all hazards. In right of primogeniture, he was protector to his younger brothers, and was not yet nine years old when he assumed the office with all its duties and dangers. At school, about this time, with a brother two years younger under his care, the master ordered his protege up for punishment. Elisha sprang from his seat, and inter- posed with a manner which had rather more of demand than petition in it, "Don't whip him, he's such a little fellow — ^whip me." The master, understanding this to be mutiny, which really was intended for a fair compro- mise, answered, "I'll whip you too, sir." Strung for en- durance, the sense of injustice changed his mood to defiance, and such fight as he was able to make quickly converted the discipline into a fracas, and Elisha left the school with marks that required explanation. When he was ten years old, four or five neighbour boys, all bigger than himself, who had climbed upon the roof of a back building in his father's yard, were amusing themselves by shooting putty-wads from blow-guns at the girls below. Elisha, attracted to the spot by the outcry of the injured party, promptly undertook the defence, and in the firm tone of a young gentleman ofiended, required them to desist and leave the premises ; but he of course, was instantly answered by a broadside levelled at himself. Fired at the outrage, he clutched the rain- f y VI i 11' < i X 20 ELISHA KENT KANE. ypout, and climbed like a young tiger to the roof, and wa8 among them before they could realize the practica- bility of the feat; and then he had them, on terms even enough for a handsoine settlement of the case. The roof was steep and dangerous to his cowed antagonists, but safe to his better balance and higher courage, and they were at his mercy ; for no one could help another, and he was more than a match for the best of them, in a posi- tion where peril of a terrible tumble \v as among the risks of resistance. Forthwith he went at them seriatim, till, severally and singly, he had cuffed them to the full mea- sure of their respective deservings. But not satisfied with inflicting punishment, he exacted penitence also, and he proceeded to drag each of them in turn to the edge of the roof, and, holding him there, demanded an explicit apology. Before he had finished putting the whole party through this last form of purgation, little Tom, who had witnessed the performance from the pave- ment below, greatly terrified by the imminent risk of a fall, which v^^ould have broken a neck or two mayhap, called out, "Come down, Elisha! oh, 'Lisho. come down!" Elisha answered the appeal in the spirit of the engage- ment, " No. Tom, they an't done apologizing yet." lie took no " sauce" from anybody. lie couldn't under- stand why he should, and it was hard and risky to make him know that he must; for he was equally fertile in expedients and bold in execution. On the wharf, one day, when he was not yet twelve years old, an insolent ruffian, big enough and wicked enough to break every EARLY CHARACTERISTICS. 21 bone in the lad's body, aroused his wrath by an intolera- ble piece of rudeness. Resistance and redress seemed impossible, but submission was completely so. He saw his opportunity, — a rope fixed to the end of a crane hung within his reach, and the ruffian stood fairly in the track of its swing. He seized it, and running backward till it was tightly stretched, he made a bound which gave him the momentum of a sling, and planted his knees like a shot in the fellow's face, levelling him handsomely, and with a spring he put himself under the protection of the bystanders, who had witnessed and admired the per- formance. S(/ Elisha earned the charactc " of a bad boy, while he was, in fact, exercising and cultivating the spirit of a brave one. Goody-good people, very naturally, did not understand him then, — they do now. Elisha never reformed: he just persisted until he performed what was in him to do. The rjlls, so tortuous and turbulent near the springs, rolled themselves into a river in time, and regulated their rush without losing it. It is said that "education forms the common mind:" it is more certain that "as the twig is bent, the tree^s inclined." This boy, at least, was the father of the man. It was utterly impossible to fashion his young life by ve- neering it with the proprieties which are supposed to shape it into goodness. He may not have known what he should be in the future, 1)ut he knew what he must be in the present, and he, happily^ did not limber himself b}' forced compliances. Difficult, daring, and desperate en- (a VI i 14' < 2 t 5 5 22 ELISHA KENT KANE. terprises, not only useless, but recklessly wild, under the common standard of judgment, worked in him like one possessed. At ten years of age he studied the weather, watched the moon, and carefully scanned the opportunities afforded by the nights for scaling fences, clambering over out>houses, and getting into the tree-tops, all round the square that was over] oked by his dormitory. Wherever a cat could go, he would ; and escapes from the sky-light, by way of the kitchen-roof and through the trap-door to the yard, and thence abroad to enjoy an unwatched and unmolested rambling, clambering and tumbling, afforded him a seriously high-toned delight. He took nobody into his confidence except his bed-fellow; but this was voluntary and generous, for he was bent upon training him for similar achievements. One instance will illus- trate : — The back-building was two stories high, the front three, and the houses which flanked the kitchen were, also, three stories. To relieve the draft of the kitchen chim- ney from the eddy of the buildings which embayed it, it was carried up like a shaft sixteen feet above the roof There it stood at the gable, in provokingly tempting alti- tude, and tlie point that concerned our little hero was, how to get to the top of it? "How should he get to the top! Bless me," exclaims some considerate personage of correct habits and cautious judgments, "why should he?" Elisha would have an- swered him, " I must, and I wonder why I should not ?" W'ry certainly there would have been two opinions on POLAR PRACTICE. 23 the matter, if any wise body had been consulted. But the little desperado needed no advice. The thing was to be done, and it was done. It required some engineering, but— it was all the better for that. It is not mere muscle and hardihood that will carry a man to the North Pole. He must have some science and some tackling along with him; and the boy that is practising upon a chimney-top for arctic service, must put his wits to work, quite as much as his muscles and his courage. He made his ob- servations and his calculations, — his determination was long made. The preparations were perfected, and his younger brother taken into the enterprise. When all in the house were asleep, and the stars gave just light enough to guide, and none to expose the per- formance, with prevention and punishment among the chances, the two little fellows left their bed, and descended the roof of the front building till they dropped them- selves upon that of the kitchen. Here the clothes-line, pro- vidently stowed away during the day for the purpose, was lying ready in coil, with a stone securely tied at one end. " What is the stone for, Elisha ?" " Wliy, you see, Tom, the stone is a dipsey. I call it a dipsey, (a young science of exploration, and a nomen- clature to match, already,) because I'm going to throw it into the ilue, so that it will run down into the old fur- nace, carrying the line down with it, and then I can slip down and fasten it there. Now for a heave. The chim- ney-top is almost too high for me. It is pretty near twenty feet, I should think; but I'll do it." Ik VI i i X 5 24 ELISHA KENT KANE. 'J Failures to reach the height, then failures to direct the dip of the falling stone, followed in long succession; but this gave practice, and practice makes perfect. At last one throw more lucky than the rest, and the rumble in the chimney and the run of the line announced suc- cess. Down through the trap-door w^ent Elisha, and, after securing the end at the furnace, he asctjnded to the roof again, and was ready. But stop a little, — the chim- ney is a very narrow stack; it stands outside of the gable, and there is a chance that the climber may swing out and get forty or fifty feet of clear air between him and the pavement below. This must be cared for; and little Tom is duly instructed and pltmted firmly, wdth the slack of the rope in hand, to keep Elisha on the right side of the chimney, so that if the bricks on the edge give way and a tumble betide, he may come down all safe and nice upon the roof All these arrangements made, and the contingencies so well provided for, the rope is seized, the feet planted against the chimney, and, han'^. over hand, up goes the aspirant, till the top is within reach; but the perch is not so easiW attained, even when the full height of the stack is mastered. One hand on a top brick to draw himself up by it, and it yields in its loosened bed! That won't do. With a hard strain he gets his elbow over the edge, and so much of the doubled arm within for a good broad hold, and then daintily and carefully wriggling up the little body, and he's up, seated on the top ! " Oh, Tom, what a nice place this is ! I'll get down I POLAR PRACTICE. 25 into the flue to my waist, and pull you up, too. Just make a loop in the rope, and I'll haul you in. Don't be afraid, — it is so grand up here." But the strength was not quite equal to the will ; and Tom's chance had to be surrendered. The descent was about as dangerous, though not quite as difficult, as the ascent. And then all that remained was to hide the tracks, which required another descent to the basement, a thorough washing of the rop-^ to re- move the soot of the chimney; and then, as the business of the night was done, to bed via the roof and sky- light again ; and a bright, happy consciousness on awak- ing in the morning that he had done it. His child history is full of this sort of incidents. Through them all runs the one character of physical hardihood, and steady tense endeavour for doing every thing that seemed difficult of accomplishment, without other aim, or any aim at all, beyond the mere doing. It might be only the impulse which lifts the lark into the clouds to sing her morning hymn, and leads the chamois to the dizziest heights of the Alps, away above the region where he finds his food ; or it might be a hor bitude providentially induced and adjusted for the after work of his adventurous life. Opinions upon such points as these are not always reason ; and reason itself is not quite capable of a solution. Only those who have the like feeling will rightly understand it, and explanation would not explain it to any one else. From his eighth or ninth till his thirteenth year he •i. ■ (i i i 2 X 3 5 26 ELISHA KENT KANE. was rather an unpromising school-boy. In the softened phrase of a good authority, (the family physician,) " he manKested no extraordinary love of learning." His mani- festations during this period would bear a still severer judgment under 'the standard which exacts devotion to school studies. He really disliked the lessons systemati- cally imposed upon him ; and he was not given to sub- mission or compromise, nor the least inclined to the shabby dishonesty of seeming and dodging. He never complied when he did not consent, and it was an heroic integrity, unbecoming his age of course, that made him a refractory boy first and a noble man afterward, when earnestness and honesty became more seasonable. His teacher put the class into a jumble of classic text-books. Elisha, decided by his relish perhaps, perhaps by his judgment against the assortment, announced his repug- nance, and supported it by delinquency in study and deficiency at rehearsal. He thought he could not, and he said he would not, conform. What was that to the teacher ? The system was all right, and the order had the warrant of the authorities, and of what conse- quence was it that it was only not right for the pupil ? Many ineu have many minds, but many boys must have only one. The teacher told him that he would rather have him leave the school than stay out of his class. The next day the dissenter took his seat in his place, opened at the lesson, put his finger on it, and closed the book! His mother heard the complaint against him, and exhorted him to obedience. Elisha loved his mother SCHOOL-CRAMPS. 27 "with his whole heart, and his understanding also;" he went through a struggle, — he yielded. For one week he laboured faithfully, and gained great credit for success. He could go no further ; his conclusion was, " I said that I would not, and I will keep my promise. Mother breaks my heart about it, but I cannot do it." The influence of his example was not good for the established authority of the system; the hypocrisy of apparent submission would have answered better for that; and accordingly, his schools and teachers were frequently changed, although he conciliated the favour of his teachers generally by his readiness in learning whatever of his tasks he was inclined to, and always by his gallantry, fine spirit, and truthfulness. The mistake was all theirs. It was the period that nature had assigned for the growth of his body and the education of his physical energies. His instincts and his necessities, as well as their resulting tastes, were in just rebellion, and it was well that he was not a sacri- fice to the authorities. In other and happier directions he was assiduous in his own proper education. About this time he collected a cabinet of minerals which is still preserved, and exploded any number of chemicals in the out-house, where he tin- kered at his own tuition in all the arts, sciences, and polytechnics of the boy-system of self-culture. His stolen reading — all boys who have any thing in them ste.il the reading which their special capacities require — was Chemistry, Robinson Crusoe, and the Pilgrim's Progress. « n to V) i < i X i 5 5 28 ELISHA KENT KANE. He was getting ready, intentionally or unconsciously, for the studies, discoveries, and achievements of his after life. We propose, therefore, to modify the received report of his school-boy character, and put it : — He manifested no extraordinary love for learning the lessons set him by his teachers. Which very naturally as well as justly turns the point of the judgment, and gives it the right cutting direction. I I CHAPTER II. THE boy's BATIXE WITH THE BOOKS — HIS STUDIES AT PLAY — RECONCILIATION ON HIS OWN TERMS, AND AT WORK WITH A WILL — HIS COLLEGIATE COURSE CIVIL ENOINEERINQ — SYSTEM SUITING THE SUBJECT — DANGEROUS ILLNESS — SELF-CULTURE, ITS LIMITS AND ITS AUTHORITIES — LIFE IN A NEW LIGHT — THE STUDY OP MEDI- CINE — ^A STUDENT AT BLOCKLEY — CHARACTER AT TWENTY-ONE — CELIBACY, AND A REASON FOR IT. The name of Elisha K. Kane has passed into history, the history of science and heroic adventure. The youth of his countrymen desire to know him personally, inti- r^iately. There is a lesson in his life for them. Hero- -nrship is a form of devotional faith which may or may ■ :. vield its best fruits to the worshipper: the spirit j^cnerous emulation must work in him to produce them, and for this he needs the directory of the facts and influences which grew his model into greatness. His father, a scholar, a lawyer, and a literateur, systematic in study, and keen in the pursuit of all use- ful and elegant attainments, despaired of Elisha's future when the lad was thirteen. He told him then, that he must choose between labour and learning promptly. 2B V) 02 i X N a 80 ELISHA KENT KANE. Elisha had already chosen both, and both together ; but his father had not found the college to suit him. Here lay the whole difference between them, and neither of them understood it. The boy had not a vice or a fault that could spoil the man ; but he had scarcely an incli- nation that promised success in the life designed for him. There was riding at break-neck speed to be done; trees and rocks to climb; pebbles to pick; dogs to train; chemistry, geology, and geography to explore, with his eyes and fingers on the facts ; sketching, whittling, and cobbling to do, with other heroics of muscle and mind — all mixed in a medley of matter and system, for which there was no promising precedent, and no prophecy of good. Withal, he was constitutionally averse (he was not exactly incapable of any thing) to continuous allotted labour — so many hours, so many things to do. It was not until his sixteenth year that he began to feel the deficiencies of his formal education, and addressed himself vigorously to the work of repairing them. The interval of two or three years waa occupied with irregu- lar and ineffective efforts to prepare himself for college. His health had given way, he was ill at ease, and he was on bad terms with his stated engagements. Boys' sorrows do not often break boys' hearts ; just as the crudities which they cram into their stomachs do not give them the dyspepsia. Ephemeral despairs and short fitd of indigestion relieve them of their troubles of both kinds ; for they are not very susceptible of chronic complaints. But there are some fourteen year olds. AT WORK WITH A WILL. 31 ler; but I. Here lither of ir a fault an incli- gned for be done; to train ; with his ling, and [ mind — or which phecy of (he was i allotted began to iddressed a. The h irregu- ' college. I, and he ; just as Qachs do mirs and Dubles of f chronic ear olds, who have character enough to suffer by their mental conflicts. I wish Doctor Kane had himself charted these first encounters of his with the hummocks and icebergs of his life-voyage. It would serve, I think, for guidance in education, as well as his map of the polar regions answers to direct geographical adventure and insure its success. But, like a brave fellow, he " buckled down to it," and made such progress in the languages, mathematics, and drawing as made him ready for collegiate study in general literature, and civil engineering especially, which was at this time the profession of his own choice. His father had carried him to New Haven, with the intention of entering him at Yale; but there he dis- covered the first symptoms of that heart disease, from which he was never afterward entirely free; and besides this, Elisha was behind in certain studies which the ritual of Yale prescribed, and, at the same time, so much in advance in the natural sciences of the college course, that a good year must be sacrificed if he entered under the rules; and his father very wisely decided against Yale under these conditions. The University of Virginia allows the pupil an elec- tion among its courses of study, insisting only upon a certain basis of mathematics and classic literature. Here was the freedom required; and Ehsha, in his six- teenth year, glad to avail himself of a happy exemption from arbitrary routine, went ardently at the work to which ho was appointed. i V) i lid \id < z ti K a 3 32 ELISHA KENT KANE. 'm Now that he was in " the right place for the right man," he knew how to accommodate himself to the method of necessary rule, and was well inclined to find his own private pathway quietly through the fields of formal study. He made very fair headway in Latin, Greek, and mathematics. What he got he kept, for his memory in all things had the special char racter given to that faculty by intenseness of impression. He did not take a degree here — he was not a candidate; but the learning of the class-books stuck in him so as to stick out in his style, almost to pedantry : it is the one fault in the diction of his first Arctic book. He had, in fact, a wonderful aptitude for language. Whenever he talked, I must not say lazily, but less intently, he coined words most incautiously, but with a facility wondrously happy; and they were alive with Latin, Greek, French, and grammar. His English was capital always, when he was thinking closely ; and he was so nicely critical when he cared to be so, that it was evident enough an eminent linguist had been spoiled to make up a man. During his year and a half at the Virginia University he devoted himself specially to the study of the natural sciences under Professor Rogers, and of mathematics under Mr. Bonnycastle. Professor Rogers was at the time engaged upon the geology of the Blue Mountains. Young Kane seized this opportunity for exploring nature and resolving her mysteries by the aid of science. In this engagement chemistry and mineralogy, with a ; right to the led to h the ladway got he i\ chor :ession. didate ; 10 as to he one had, in !ver he tly, he facility Latin, capital was so it was Qiled to Lversity natural ematics at the mtains. ; nature ce. In with a V) Lb 2 3 5 1 V) < < 2 a I- 5 FAC-SIMILES of COLO MCDAH, Vrftfnlfd tn Dr. Kane hy the Kni/ul Gtmiiruphiail Snciely, and by llw. liriluth Gm'trnmfnt t mi tu sel thi hi] lie mi en sti Ai he we pre nai we wh lefi wr Gill thf we the for no DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 33 margin of physical geography, offered him the oppor- tunity for pushing the studies which his heart was set on; and it gave freedom besides for indulging that importunity of muscular activity which possessed him. At the examinations which closed the terms of study he was distinguished for his progress in chemistry, mineralogy, and the other branches which make up an engineer's qualifications. How well he profited by these studies is amply attested by his pubhshed journals of Arctic exploration. Civil engineering was the drift of all the preparation he was now making. The traveller and the naturalist were striving in him so strongly, that his choice of a profession was determined by these necessities of his nature. But his studies, pressed with too much ardor, were interrupted by an attack of acute rheumatism, of which the symptoms had shown themselves before he left home, and his father was obliged to bring him away wrapped up in a blanket, travelling in pain and diffi- culty till he reached home, where he was long danger- ously and hopelessly ill. We are now at a resting place, and cannot do better than survey the ground which we have traversed; for we must understand the boy if we would comprehend the man. His was just the intellect to distinguish between the formalities and the essentials of an education. Ho had no time, (let this excuse all that was wrong in his lb. (a V) ft 4 < 2 a r t 5 3 34 ELISHA KENT KANE. refractoriness,) he had no relish, (this justifies him if the laws of harmony have a rightful rule,) for things not pertinent or helpful to his purpose. He was capable of painting, music, or helles-letters authorship, and he could have beaten De Foe in his own line of writing. For all these he had the relish that goes with large capability ; but, like mathematics to Wesley, they were not to the purpose of his life. He was strongly given to specula- tive inquiry, but not at all disposed to convert the impulse into a mere intellectual observatory. He could not lobby, he must labor productively, through life. Conventional college studies fell with him into the same category with the esthetics of literature and philosophy; they were judged and settled by their serviceableness to his actual uses. So, he was not a Bachelor, nor a Master of Arts, nor a Doctor in Law or Philosophy ; but he v^^as none the less a Monk of intellectual industry, but all the more so. Where could he find a school for his training and a diploma for his attainments? There is no faculty of Discovery to prescribe its studies and authenticate its (|ualifications, except the shut world of the unknown which borders and embosoms the realm of established science, and the open world of opinion. They have given him his diploma, — a Master in Scientific Enter- prise. It has been said that " the self-taught has a fool for his teacher." That, however, depends upon whether he is a fool or not; and the maxim, true enough in general, nuist SELF-CULTURE. 35 be ai)plied as Ophelia distributed her rosemary and rue, to be worn "with a difference." Sir Humphry Davy said that he considered it as fortu- nate that he was left much to himself as a child, and put under no particular plan of study. But Sir Humphry had genius, and had the command of it. It never made a fool of him; and his common sense worked like a drudge under its guidance. Sir Walter Scott says, that "the best part of every man's education is that which he gives himself." This is universally true. Sir Benja- min Brodie, more exactly to our purpose, "willingly admits that among those whose intellect is of the higher order, there are many who would ultimately accomplish greater things, if in early life they wore left more to their own meditations and inventions than is the case among the more highly educated classes of the community." He adds: "A high education is a leveller, which, while it tends to improve ordinary minds and to turn idleness into industry, may, in some instances, have the effect of preventing the full expansion of genius. The great amount of acquirement rendered necessary by the higher class examinations, as they are now conducted, not only in the universities, but in some other institutions, while it strengthens the power of learning, is by no means favorable to the higher faculty of reflection." Dr. Newman is even more bold. Self-educated persons, he holds, "are likely to have more thought, more mind, more philosophy, than those earnest but ill-used persons who are forced to load their mhids with a score of subjects ft In V) i < z 0! X K 0, 36 ELISIIA KENT KANE. against an examination; who have too much on their hinds to indulge themselves in thinking or investigation. How much better is it for the active and thoughtful intellect, where such is to be found, to eschew the college and university altogether, than to submit to a drudgery so ignoble, a mockery so con' ■ Mousi" Here are authorities of tlu' ,aest rank, and points even stronger than our case demands; for young Kane very sufficiently availed himself of the help of the schools, took all their advantages, and kept his peculiarity so well within svstem as to corroborate and advance his own drift, but without surrendering its freedom or abatmg its force. Whatever the schools could teach for his use he learned, and he never lost it, because he did not bolt, but digested and assimilated, the nutriment provided. He was not a radical non-conformist, but a resolute striver after the true ends of all study. His self-culture under his own system was just as far from rebellion in fact as it was from submission in form ; and so he grew in strength, and in favor with his helpers. This is the sort of self-culture which we commend, and would enforce by the example of his great success. He left the Virginia University, as we have seen, dan- gerously ill. This was in his eighteenth year, and his collegiate studies were at an end. He had scarcely arrived at Philadelphia when his disease developed itself into a very bad case of endo-carditis,— intlammation of the lining membrane of the heart-. For a long time his family despaired of his life. He was himself persuaded that there LIFE IN A NEW LIGHT. 0( was no hope of his ever making himself useful or honored among men. "The doctors tell me," he used to say, "that if I throw off this paroxysm, I may live a month, or perhaps half a year; but they know, and I know, that I may be struck down in half an hour." When he was so far recovered as to sit up, he undenvent paroxysms of pain and suffocation that racked his slight frame to the limit of its strength ; and one of his physicians told him that an incautious movement might prove fatal. " You may fall," said he, "Elisha, as suddenly as from a mus- ket shot." This was the period of a new birth to him. Coasting the Infinite so long and so near, it opened its scenery to the eyes of his spirit. He walked in its light thence- forth through his journey to the end. He was let into his own inmost life ; he got hold of his destiny, and he ever after governed himself conformably. He was at one with himself now, and knew how to conciliate order and liberty, to obey and to command, to accept the help of system, and to preserve his individual- ism under it without conflict; he stood ready to die, but he did not despair. After a long struggle, which seemed to promise no speedy or certain conclusion, his father saw, without the aid of medical science, — what mere science is not always quick to disci .-er, — that his disease was no longer organic or structural, but neuropathic or functional, and applied the heroic remedy. "Elisha-, if you must die. die in ihe harness." A thousand times after, the doctor met dan- %• i u. < H X K Q 38 ELISHA KENT KANE. 'i ger and faced death in the harness, and fought his way to victory. He rose out of the wreck resolutely, and retrieved his life, in a strength made his own by holding it in fee of chivalric service. This is the simple mystery of the man through his whole history. There is nothing else in it that puzzles our judgments. He recovered, his medical attendant says, imperfectly, and had, all his life after, more or less rheumatic and cardiac disease, abated somewhat, perhaps, while he was in the high degrees of north latitude, by the incompati- bility of these affections with the scurvy, with which he was deeply tainted in his last Arctic voyage. There is the best authority for the opinion that his ailments had always in them a preponderant character of neuropathic disturbance. When he was free, or compar ratively free, from the acute form of his rheumatic com- plaint, his nerves were tingling and rioting with irrita- tion. Add the susceptibility and distraction of this con- stant besetment to the under-tow of organic disease, and his struggles may be estimated, but only by those who are similarly harassed, and similarly resolute in subduing their demon. It helps in the apprehension of his vigour of spirit, to fmd him steady and strong in will and action, firm in purpose, and unwavering in enterprise, all along the years of assiduous preparation, as well as during the whole period, of his great achievements. A brave heart and a sound brain may easily master the mischiefs which CHANGE OF PROFESSION. 39 they ha /e the health to hold at bay; but when these bulwarks of resistance and salient points of enterprise are themselves shattered by the enemy, it depends upon the spirit with which they are manned whether the struggle shall be successful. Then it is that the victory is due to the resolution to conquer or " die in the harness." Instead of fitfulness, capriciousness, and valetudinar rianism, our young hero was sedate, earnest, calm, kind, gentle, and steadily industrious. When he was at the university, while the life in him was as hopeful as it was earnest, he told his cousin that he had "determined to make his mark in the world." After his first critical attack, with death con- stantly impending, he held on his way till the promise was abundantly fulfilled. From whatever impulse he then spoke, the ambition of his after-life was of that kind which embraces duty and aims at service, — that kind which seeks power and place for the opportunities they give for heroic and beneficent uses. To such the good Providence intrusts the well-being of the world; ?nd such as are in this spirit faithful in a few things on earth shall be made rulers over many in heaven. The imperfect and unpromising convalescence from the attack of cardiac disease which terminated his col- legiate studies, in the judgment of his friends, made the profession of an engineer altogether impracticable. Be- lieving that he was and would be brooding over the symptoms of his complaint, which was sure to be V) i 14' < z u 14 40 ELISHA KENT KANE. chronic, they recommended the profession of medicine, in the hope that he would be happier, or less unhappy, if he understood and could manage his own case. He conformed to his necessity, and in his nineteenth year he entered the office of Dr. William Harris, of Philadelphia, where his preceptor reports him to have "prosecuted his various studies with so much zeal that he made rapid progress, and seemed to have always before his eyes the pledge which he made at the Univer- sity of Virginia." On the 19th of October, 1840, he was elected (being an undergraduate and not yet twenty-one years of age) Resident Physician in the Pennsylvania Hospital, Blockley, and entered upon duty on ihe 25th of the same month. Under the system then in operation in the Lospital, he went in as junior to Dr. McPheeters. For six months he occupied the same room with his principal. Their intimacy was close and their friend- ship cordial. Dr. McPheeters says of him, that " at that time his health was delicate and his appearance even puerile, notwithstanding he was within a few months of his majority. He was laboring under a serious organic affection of the heart— dilatation with valvular disease, wlach gave rise to a very loud bruit cle soufflet, (bellows sound,) accompanied by the most tumultuous action of the heart from any violent exertion. He was unable to sleep in a horizontal position, but was under the necessity of having his head and shoulders elevated, almost to a right angle with his body. Ho STUDENT AT BLOCKLEY. 41 ledicine, mhappy, neteenth arris, of to have :eal that I always « } Univer- d (being years of Hospital, h of the [•ation in Pheeters. with his ir friend- " at that mce even J months a serious . valvular le soKjfflet, Lmultuous tion. He , but was shoulders lody. Ho was ful]y aware of the gravity of his disease, as he often remarked to me that he never closed his eyes at night in sleep without feeling conscious that he might die before morning; yet this consciousness did not seem to affect his spirits, or to check his enthusiasm. The habitual contemplation of a sudden death seemed not at ail to affect the buoyancy of his spirits, or to abate the ardor with which he pursued the objects of his ambition. I have always thought that the uncertain §tate of his health had a good deal to do with his subsequent course of life, and the almost recldess exposure of himself to danger." "At the time that he entered the hospital he had attended one course of lectures, and had been a good student; but, as a matter of course, he was little ac- quainted with the practical duties of the profession. This, however, he soon acquired in the discharge of his duties in the hospital, which were always performed with more than usual fidelity and earnestness. At first his extremely youthful aj)pearance rather subjected hiia to a want of confidence on the part of the patients; but his dignity of character, great intelligence, and fidelity^ soon overcame all obstacles of this kind, and he rapidly acquired the respect and confidence both of his associates and patients. I regarded him from the first as a young man of fine talents, of more than ordinary cultivation, and remarkably quick perception, accompanied with an ardent devotion to the pursuit of his profession. He was an habitual student, and took particular interest in the k < < Z a 42 ELISHA KENT KANE. numerous iiont mortem oxiuuiiuitions made by myj^elf and others — indeed, he manifested a great fondness for patho- logical investigations." In the spring of 1841 Dr. McPheeters left the hospital, and his young friend and junior of six months' standing, early in 's twenty-second year, and still an under- graduate, became, under the rule, one of the four seniors resident, who had the general charge of the patients. To the system, of study and training in medicine, especially as theory undergoes the correction of facts in hospital practice, he gave his consent, and he went through it as he accomplished every thing else he ever gave himself to in his life, — something better than the best of his compeers. Passing over, for the present, the most important part of Dr. McPheeters' contribution to these reminis- cences, I make two other extracts, that we may have our subject before us as he stood in the apprehension of an intimate personal and professional friend during half a year of that period which was to determine his destiny. "At the time that I speak of," continues Dr. McPheeters, " Dr. Kane was a man of great purity of character. Although surrounded by temptations, I am not aware that he had any bad habits; indeed, I re- garded his moral character as above reproach. In his filial relations, too, his conduct was peculiarly exem- plary. I have always admired the relations which existed between Judge (then Mr.) and Mrs. Kane and their children as I witnessed them at their fireside, as REASON FOR CELIBACY. 43 well as tlit'y were exhibited in the character and con- duct of Dr. Kane. His parents seemed to be his confidential friends and advisers. The relations which subsisted between them were tender and alToctionatc, and at the same time free from all restraint and embar- rassment. This, in my estimation, added greatly to the charm of Dr. Kane's character." An anecdote which Dr. McPheeters furnishes opens a liftht in another direction into the mind of Doctor Kane at the time, and prepares us on this point for his future history. " On one occasion, when going the rounds of the out wards, or almshouse department, with Dr. Kane, we encountered a miserable, squalid, diminutive, and de- formed pauper, who had married quite a good-looking woman in the house. As we passed this interesting couple, I jocosely asked the doctor ' what he supposed must be the contemplations of that woman as she beheld that miserable object, and reflected that he was her lord and master?' He paused for a moment, and then replied in a serious tone, ^ It is to save some lady just such reflections as these that I have made up my mind never to marry.' " How heavily the consciousness of physical disease ' must have hung upon him at twenty-one ! How gloomy the future of a youth so finely though sligh+ly formed, who, in full health, would have passed for a model of personal beauty ! And how generous, though morbid, the exaggeration of his disqualifying infirmities ! 1 u. 2 X. K a 3 \\ CHAPTER III. SENIOR PHYSICIAN AT BLOCKLEY — DUTIES AND STUDIES — ^^INAUQURAL THESIS — VERDICT OP THE PROFESSION — PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLORA- TION, ME'lflODOLOGY, APPARATUS, CERTITUDE — UNREST, CAUSE AND CURE — ASSISTANT SURGEON UNITED STATES NAVY — BETTER HEALTH — CHINA MISSION — FIRST VOYAGE — " AS IT IS WRITTEN" — STUDIES ABOARD — AROUND BOMBAY^-CEYLON — TROPIC LIFE. In the spring of 1841, a few months after he attained his majority, and a year before he graduated, he was installed, as we have seen, one of the Senior Physicians Resident at Blockley. The heavy duties and responsi- bilities of his office were upon him, added to the studies preliminary to his expected graduation in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, chemistry, and all the tributary branches of the healing art which enter into our omni- bus system of tuition, under the genuine American notion that nothing less than too much is plenty of any. thing. But he found time, as the events of the year showed, for all this, and for a margin of collateral inves- tigations large enough in itself to pack the pages of a year's progress in an ordinary man's work. 4^ INAUGURAL THESIS. 45 AUGURAL EXPLORA- \.USE AND 1 HEALTH -STUDIES ittained he was ysicians esponsi- studies edicine, dbutary r omni- merican ^ of any. he year il inves- ges of a In the year 1831 M. Nauche had communicated to the Society of Practical Medicine of Paris some observa- tions upon a new substance found in the renal secretion, which he called hyestein, and announced as an indubi- table test in cases of suspected utero-gestation. The importance of this discovery made it the subject of a critical examination in Europe, and, at the request of Dr. Bunglison, Drs, McPheeters and Perry, in the spring of 1840, instituted a series of experiments in the Blockley Hospital, the results of which they published in the "Medical Intelligencer" in March, 1841. Dr. Kane, as Junior at the time, had studiously watched the investi- gation, and when his principal. Dr. McPheeters, retired, availing himself of his apparatus and the insight gained in the preceding six months, "pushed the subject of kyestein," as Dr. McPheeters very frankly says, "much farther than I had done, and wrote his inaugural thesis upon it, the publication of which gave him great celebrity, — and justly too." With the results at which Dr. Kane arrived we have nothing more to do now than to state their value in the estimation of the profession. Samuel Jackson, M.D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, in his vale- dictory address to the graduating class of that institution on the 28th of March, 1857, says, "It is fifteen years and two days, to the hour, when Elisha Kent Kane stood on this platform, in this room, and received tlie medical diploma of the University. However sanguine may 1 i < 2 K Q 2 46 ELISHA KENT KANE. have been his anticipati as of professional success and reputation, (and it is a fair presumption that such were entertained by him,) he was fully justified in that expec- tancy. He was the foremost student of the class ; the thesis he had presented to the Faculty had been honored by a vote of approbation and a request for its publica- tion.* In this treatise, a subject that had recently been brought to the notice of the profession by Nauche, and was still a matter of controversy, was investigated and permanently settled. The conclusions of Dr. Kane were drawn from a series of experiments and observations on one hundred and seventy-nine individuals, and have been entirely acquiesced in. The subject has remained undisturbed in the position in which his publication placed it. This, his first step in medicine, made his name an authority on that question that time has not weakened; it established a reputation that has not been dimmed, and was an augury of professional pre- eminence." Dr. Dunglison,— the most competent, comprehensive, and critical of our text-book authors,— in his well-known "Physiology," speaking of this investigation, says, "The result of Dr, Kane's observations, which the author had an opportimity of examining from time to time, and for * Extract From the minutes:—*' The following resolution was offered by Dr. Jackson, and unanimously passed : * That the Dean bo desired to communicate to Mr. E. K. Kane tlie approbation of the Faculty for his able and instructive thesis, and that he be re(iuc8ted to have it pub- lished.' " Dated March 18, 1842. iul t VERDICT OF THE PROFESSION. 47 the accuracy of which he can vouch, was deduced by Dr. Kane as follows," &c. M. Simon, of Berlin, Prussia, who had investigated the subject with great zeal and care, refers (in his ''Animal Chemistry," English edition of 1846) to our young author thus : — " From the observations of Kane and myself it seems to follow," — endorsing and affirming the doctrine of the thesis. A dozen distinguished cultivators of medical and chemical science in Europe and America were engaged in this research; yet among them all Kane made his first " mark in the world," to the effect which our quota- tions testify. The general reader is not concerned with the subject- matter of Dr. Kane's inaugural thesis ; but there is that in the mind and method of the young naturalist which is much to the purpose of these pages. Young and enthusiastic as he was, he adjusted him- self to his difficult and doubtful inquiry in that spirit of philosophic caution which equally avoids the anticipation and the oversight of facts. His mind was well balanced between the skepticism and the credulity of physical dis- covery, for which mental integrity is as necessary as mental capacity. He had witnessed the experiments of highly compe- tent persons, and had observed their confidence in the inferences which they drew from them. Weighty au- thorities were in the field before him, but he was "care- ful to avoid the influence which the known opinions of (10 i u, < 2 N Q 48 ELISHA KENT KANE. others might have had upon the freedom of his own." He noticed that the aggregate of all the observations made upon the subject in the ten years before he under- took it did not quite number sixty cases. He extended his, not only to the one hundred and seventy-nine cases tabled in his report, but to ninety-two enumerated cases besides, not directly involved in his category, but exa- mined for the corrective cross-lights which they threw upon those that fell fully within the inquiry; and, he adds, in general terms, " numerous others," the subjects of various diseases and of various ages and conditions, which might by possibility modify the results he was aiming at. Indicating the method of his procedure, and the con- siderations which controlled it, he says, "My notes were always made upon the spot. If, from any cause, an individual observation, or a series, was unsatisfactory or inconclusive, or if it led to a different result from others, I repeated it at once with increased care; and I was always careful to observe the constitution, habits, and circumstances of each patient." Of all which, m- deed, his tabled cases give the most ample and satisfactory proof He remarks, upon the caution and comprehensiveness of his lalioriously exact inquiries, that, "To justify general conclusions, a largo number of cases should be examinedy individually and in group, and their progress, changes, and points of difference noted. They should •be -viewed under dilTerent aspects, at regular and ire- >; nsivenoss PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 49 quentlj recurring intervals. If the indications of a paiv ticular case should appear to vary from those of others repeated observations would become necessary to detect the causes of variance; and the influence of similar causes upon other cases, where they existed, also should then be sought for. And I may be excused for adding that a candid spirit, not too much biassed in favor of theory to admit the existence of observed exceptions — that looks to each clearly-ascertained result as an inde- pendent element, and that rejects nothing that appears true because irreconcilable with what was known before is not less important to the formation of correct opinions than the most careful and varied scrutiny of facts." "It is not meant by this," he adds, deferentially, "that the gentlemen who have treated on this subject have been regardless of these precautions, or wanting in the proper spirit of inquiry; but it is apparent that their observations have been rather of isolated cases tlian of classes, that they have not compared a large number of results, and that they have failed to detect any exceptions to their general conclusions." These paragraphs contain a very complete directory for physical investigation in all its applications. They are a plain translation into specialities of all that is found in Mills and Comte on the conduct of the under- standing in philosophic researches, — all that the one means by "the empirical law deriving wlmternir of truth it has from the causal laws of which it is c1 Gons(^^\e5^'7p^ ana all that the other iutuuds by " the reciprocal;;j^|ji|k5i^!^^^ I i' %B •J V) i Lb' < 2 i:^ X Q 3 ELlSnA KENT KANE. •1 50 tion of laws and facts carried on pari pmm,"— with the advantage of being analytically rendered into guide-book clearness, and definitely presented for practical use, and illustrated, moreover, by the method of his own process, of which these abstract directions are but a just description. It is surprising that a boy in years and experience should thus put himself abreast of the adepts who were in the field of scientific discovery against him; but when we find him working under direction of an unerring method, intuitively his own, the surprise shifts, from the success achieved, to the philosophic spirit of system so early and so fully attained. The chemical tests employed seem to have exhausted the known resources of that science for the elucidation of his subject; and the doubt which he intimates, of the capability of chemical agents for rendering the secrets of vital phenomena,shows an equally bold and clear appre- hension of a truth which concerns the morals as well as the certainties of the Inductive I'hilosophy. In the same free spirit he speaks of the microscopic observations, practised with great assiduity and with the best assistance which he could secure: he says, "I do not venture to claim for these the same confidence which is due to my examinations by the unassisted eye." It is something unusual to find an ardent under- .rraduate so free from the blandishments of authority and the imposture of apparatus, where all their testimonies, as in his case, make for the very conclusions which he inclines to receive and is tempted to adopt. UNREST, CAUSE AND CUBE. 51 :li the e-book le, and less, of iption. jrience were b when lerring )m the tern so lausted idation , of the crets of ■ appre- well as roscopic vith the [ do not Yhich is under- rity and imonies, ^^hich he This man was singularly fitted, mentally and morally, for discovery in natural science. The "die-in-the-harness" resolution was in full play, as we have seen, during the year and a half of hospital service and study at Blockley. Several times it seemed to be near its finishing fulfilment : the doctor was more than once carried home on men's shoulders to be nursed, and returned again to his ofiicial duties and scientific pursuits at the earliest moment of adequate strength. But it was not all desperation that determined him to labor in spite cf pain. It had become apparent that his system would not brook repose; rest was not his remedy : unintermitting activity was proved, on fiiir trial, to be his best medicine. This was true of his whole subsequent life; and his apprehension of this necessity explains and justifies the tension and persistency of his enterprise, otherwise Hable to be ascribed to impulses more heroic and reckless than reasonable or even excusable. The current of his life shows convincingly that incessant toil and exposure was a sound hygienic policy in his case. Naturally his physical constitution was a case of coil- springs, compacted till they quivered with their own mobility; nervous disease had added its irritability, and mental energy electrified them. It was doing or dying with him. And it was not a tyrant selfishness, a wild ambition, that ruled his life, but a rare concurrence of mental aptitude, moral impulse, and bodily necessity, that kept him incessant in adventure. If some of his performances which we have to record transcend even f (!0 V) mm < U.' U.' < Z ct u S, o; 52 ELISHA KENT KANE. m I 'f !■'■ - the large range which a right regimen dictated, it is only their excess, not their quality or purpose, which invites a candid censure. When anatomy was but little ad- vanced, the sinews were called nerves; and the adjective "nervous" is thence employed by literary people to mean • strong, vigorous; in colloquial phrase the same word is used for irritable, agitated. Put both these senses of the word together, and you will have some notion of the way the nerves were strung in our subject. His father was so well persuaded of all this, that, when Elisha was about to graduate in medicine, he applied, without consulting him, to the Secretary of the Navy, for a warrant of examination for the post of surgeon in the service. The doctor was not a little dissatisfied with the sudden diversion of his drift,, when he learned what had been done and how he was committed. The en- thusiasm of his last year's researches was strong upon him; his plans looked to continued occupation in the career he had entered upon with so much success; and, beside this, his hospital-training and habit of mind were rather alien than helpful to the special duties of ship- board practice. But he resolutely faced about; and the first good fruit of the new endeavor was a decided improvement in his health, under the hard work of preparing himself for his new examination. He stood the inquisition of the Board of Navy Sur- geons handsomely. There were four candidates so nearly equal in the judgment of the examining Board that they doctf FIRST SEA-VOYAGE. 53 is only invites le ad- jective ) mean ^ord is of the of the b, when ipplied, Navy, geon in ed with id what rhe en- ig upon in the 3s; and, lid were of ship- )od fruit t in his f for his ivy Sur- io nearly hat they settled their relative rank by the rule of seniority. Dr. Kane stood third in the report made under this rule. Bad health may disqualify a navy surgeon for the per- formance of his duty, and is properly a ground of reject tion, however well he may be otherwise fitted for the place. After Dr. Kane had passed his examination, he frankly told the Board that he labored under chronic rheumatism and cardiac disturbance, and that he knew they could reject him for that cause. But the metal in the man outweighed his physical infirmities in their esti- mation, and they refused to re-examine him. There was no vacancy at this time on the roll of assistani>surgeons. Mr. Webster was in the administrar tion, and the public expectation had named him as our minister to China. Dr. Kane's friend. Dr. Chapman, obtained Mr. Webster's promise that he should be the physician of the embassy; and it was arranged with the Secretary of the Navy that he might accept the place without prejudice to his rank in the service. Mr. Cush- ing, who was ultimately charged with the mission, adopted the friendly purpose of Mr. Webster, and the doctor accordingly sailed in the frigate Brandywine, Commodore Parker, for the Eastern seas, in May, 1843. This was his first seorvoyage. The vessel, after touch- ing at Madeira, passed on to Rio de Janeiro. There they were just in time to witness the coronation of the Em- press of Brazil, and the officers of the legation bore part in the ceremonial. While they remained in port, the doctor availed himself of an opportunity for a trip to V) < Ui' LI' < 2 Q 3 54 ELISHA KENT KANE. the Eastern Andes of Brazil, and he examined with some care the geological character of the region. Some very brief memoranda of this excursion ^yere transcribed from his diary in letters to his friends at home; but the journal of the grand tour then before him, with all its sketches of objects and scenery, was lost on the Nile, as he returned, by an accident which will be narrated in the proper place; and he never had the leisure to restore his notes even so far as memory might have served to replace the record to any purpose. There was, in fact, not this much in him that would work backward. As in the case of his inaugural thesis, he always took his notes upon the spot, and when he pub- lished them afterward his books were scarcely any thing but his journals emptied into type. His writings that have charmed the world are, as nearly as any other man's ever were, his books of original entry. There are several instances, in his three volumes of Arctic Explorar tions, where his notes seemed to him of questionable accuracy; but a rigid observance of a good rule restrained correction by his memory, and he put them down as they were written. He had a conscience in literary composition, and a habitual respect for the difference between the Utera scripta and the vestiges of memory : ^ the statement of facts. The loss of his journal on the Nile makes it difficult to detail satisfiictorily the story of his Eastern travels and adventures, and deprives us, besides, of his observar tions hy the way,— a loss even more material ; for we AROUND BOMBAY. 55 for \VQ could better spare the personal adventures of any year of the fourteen, crowded as they all were with inci- dents of travel, and peril, and bold achievement, than the fruits of art and thought which he gleaned from them in a day. The frigate went to Bombay, to meet Mr. Commis- sioner Cashing, who followed by the overland route. During the voyage he occupied himself with the severer studies of geometry, algebra, navigation, and in the languages of modern Europe. A young midship- man, Mr. "Weaver, for whom he formed a warm and generous affection, became his pupil in these. Among their studies the Bible and Shakspeare had their place. With the admirable idiom of these handbooks of the head and heart few laymen were more conversant than Dr. Kane, and he is a more than ordinary wise man who has profited more in the practical wisdom of their teachings. Mr. Gushing was delayed by the burning of the steam- frigate Missouri, which had carried him to Gibraltar, so that the legation lay for some months at Bombay awai<> ing him, and enjoying the hospitalities of the British officials of the station. Durmg this detention of the frigate Dr. Kane was an active traveller. He visited the caverned temples of Elephanta, excavated from the rock of a mountain-side on the island of that name in the vicinity of Bombay, journeyed by palanquin to Ellorah and Dowlatabad, crossed the Ghauts at Kandalali, and explored the rarely- H (a : It*, < U.' < 2 a X a 5 56 ELISIIA KENT KANE. visited cave-temples at Karli, situated on the coast of the continent opposite the larger island of Salsette. Returning to Bombay from this excursion, and finding that he had time and opportunity for further research, he passed over to Ceylon, pressed onward to the interior, under the friendly escort of some gentlemen of the gar- rison, and shared in the elephant-hunt and the rare sports of the jungles. Here, where the wild game is the elephant, which is considered of better quahty than in any other country in the world, — not quite so tall as on the continent, but particularly active and hardy, — and where the wooded hills around Candy, the interior capi- tal, which is only a large straggling village, echo conti- nually with the cries of birds and wild beasts, was a field of richly-assorted sports, and a rare chance for the coveted exercise. He used to refer to this as a time of delightful excite- ment. The risk edged the relish of the joyance, and he feasted to the full upon the tropical wealth of novelty which everywhere surrounded him, multiplied in its effect by its infinite variety : "here he picnicked in the summer-palace among the hills, took his nooning under the taliput palms, and waked to the wild hazards of the chase." If the pen and pencil of the Arctic artist had painted Ceylon in the colors of his first surprise, the picture would spare some ineffectual wing-work of the fancy which endeavors to realize it as he saw and felt it. CHAPTER IV. THE FORETHOUGHT OF TRAVEL — LUZON — THE NEGRITOS — A GRAND RAMBLE — A VAGRANT SOUVENIR — VOLCANO 01 TAEL, DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY — DESCENT OP THE CRATER — AN INDIGNANT IDOL SKIRMISH WITH THE PYGMIES — THE <' TREATY FORTNIGHT" — KI- YING AND CUSHING — ANTIPODAL GENTLEMEN — A DINNER — CELES- * TIAL HEALTH-DRINKING — ATTACHES — DIPLOMATIC DANCE — DISAP- POINTMENT. After a tedious voyage from Ceylon, the legation reached Macao, and the doctor remained connected with it until the negotiations were closed by the treaty of 3d July, 1844. But he was not idle during the six or seven months of the slow proceedings of Chinese diplo- macy. He was not attached to the service now as a surgeon of the navy, but as physician to the embassy; and, obtaining Mr. Cushing's sanction, he provided a substitute to serve in his place in case of need, and crossed the China Sea to Luzon. Before leaving home, he had been furnished by Arch- bishop Eccleston, of Baltimore, and by his friend Bishop Kenrick, then of Philadelphia, with letters to the Arch- bishop of Manilla. Under the auspices of this distin- 57 < U.' 14' < Z CC I, h m 58 ELlSnA KENT KANE. guislied prelate, he was enabled to make a more complete exploration of the Philippines than any foreigner had at that time effected. That he had the purposes of the traveller in prospect before he sailed, and intended to avail himself of all the opportunities of the cruise, is indicated by his precaution to secure these and other letters from the Catholic bishops, addressed to the faithful tlii'oughout the world, and, along with them, letters i-n the nature of protection's from the Papal consuls of Spain, Portugal, and France. He had been accommodated, to the same purpose, by Mr. George R. Ptussell, of Boston, to his correspondents in Manilla, and he had similar letters from the Presbyterian Board of Missions, to meet his exigencies at their mis- sionary stations, and fi'om the Lutheran and Moravian officials of the like purport. The island of Luzon, or Luconia, the largest of the Philippines, is briefly described in tlie books, quoting Balbi, as having an area of about fifty thousand square miles, and a population of two and a quarter millions, — the western portion under the government of Spain, with Manilla (population one hundred and forty thou- sand) for its capital, and the eastern or Pacific coast in possession of independent savages. " It is covered," says Murray, ''to a great extent with high mountains, among which arc several active volcanos, with hot springs in their vicinity, and violent eiirthquakes have been felt at Manilla and in other (quarters. The aboriginal inhajjit- ints consist of two races, the Malays and a tribe of A VAGRANT SOUVENIR. 69 negroes called Negritos. The former have, with some exceptions, submitted to the sway of the Spaniards, and embraced Christianity. The Negritos are generally inde- pendent : they are represented, also, as dwarfs or pyg- mies in stature, and among the lowest forms of humanity in all their characteristics. The native languages of the island are the Tagalic and Bisago." Dr. Kane traversed the island from Manilla to its Pacific coast, and, with his usual audacity, explored its fastnesses, bathed in the forbidden waters of its asphaltic lake, descended to the very bottom of its great volcano, and perilled his life in a contest with a band of savages who were incensed by his proflmation of their sacred mysteries. A history and description of the volcano, written by a friar in a convent near Manilla, for the doctor, and probably at his request, followed him by a route and with incidents of travel almost as devious and remark- able as his own journeyings. It was carried by a Manilla sea-captain to China, another carried it after him to Calcutta or Bombay, through half a dozen hands it reached New York, thence it went on its way to Illinois, and finally, after a trip of twelve years, it reached its ultimate destination in the summer of 185G. It was put into his hands as he sat at his dinner-table, with the sullerings of all those years recorded in his system and pointing to other interests than those which absorbed him when it was written, lie laid it aside, and never opened it. c^ ^ < < 2 X h 25 60 ELISHA KENT KANE. It is endorsed, "Description of a Volcano in the Island of Luconia. Written by a Friar in a Convent near Manilla, for Dr. E. K. Kane; left with Henry Hesketh for translation." It has the following subscrip- tion :— " This is as much as I can relate to my friend Mr. Elisha Kent Kane. T. G. Azaola, Ifanilla, 27th April, 1844." This Mr. Hesketh had left IlUnois for Trinidu \ Cali- fornia, and died there in 1850. The document was for- warded by his administrator to Dr. Kane at Philadelphia, when his celebrity as an Arctic voyageur had made his name a sufficient direction to his residence. From this description of the volcano and history of its eruptions, which entire would fill fifteen of our pages, we extract so much only as may help to a tolerable estimate of the adventure which makes it a matter of special interest in this work. "VOLCANO OF TAEL. « The Indians have no word expressive of this phe- nomenon, and, as it is situated on an island, they call it Pido, the ' Tagalo' [Tagalic word] for island. This island, which is formed by a mountain from three hundred and fifty to four hundred yards perpendicular above the level of the Laguna de Bombon, is about three leagues in circumference, and in its summit is seen a crater two miles in circmnfereiice. The walls which form this crater arc fifty to seventy-five yards in perpendicular height from its base, which renders a descent into it impossible without the aid of ropes or ladders. At the and ( VOLCANO OF TAEL. 61 bottom of the crater, which is smoking, are seen four or five peaks or cones covered with suljDhur. All the rest is a lake of green water which boils in several places, and should contain sulphuric acid. Neither basaltes nor lava are found in all the mountain or volcano, nor scoria) and burnt clay, nor any pumice-stone. "The lake in which stands this island, volcano, or Pulo has a circumierence of thirty leagues : its waters are brackish and bituminous : it is of great depth ; the shallowest part is twenty fiithoms; the soundings are forty ftithoms, forty-five, seventy, one hundred fiithoms, and in other parts no bottom has been found with a line of one hundred ard twenty-five fiithoms. " The natives call it Bombon, because it is surrounded by mountains of great elevation, more than one thousand five hundred yards above the sea-level, and it is so deep that they liken it to a stalk of cane or bamboo, in calling it Bombon from its narrowness and depth. . . The waters of this lake issue by a small river, of very little breadth nowadays, whose mouth or outlet is on the southwest of the lake, and it runs a distance of two leagues to empty into the sea, on whose shore now stands the Pueblo of Tael and the hermitage or sanc- tuary of Casaisay. . . . The situation of the old Pueblo de Tael was nearly on the bank of the lake : it being the capital of the province, and there being an oral tradition that there entered ' Chanipancs' or ' Pon- tines' of forty to sixty tons, which traded between it and other Pueblos {hahlhitiom) of the same lake.— < u. < z a X H a 25 ■\ 62 ELISHA KENT KANE. such as the old Tanauan, Tala and Bauan, — convinces me that the river was not only of greater width, but much greater depth, communicating with the sea by the Gulf of Balayan. The brackishness of the waters of the lake is another indication, having been pent up by the obstructions caused there by the successive eruptions of the volcano, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were considerable, — especially those of 1736, 1746, and 1749 to 1750. "When the old Pueblo of Tael was founded, in 1575 to 1576, in the place where ive visited its ruins, the volcano caused no anxiety, since an old chronicle of the Augustines says that on the skirts or declivities of the mountain the natives had fields of cotton, sweet potatoes, and other crops. Toward the end of the century 1600, the volcano already began to exhibit signs of an eruption, throwing out, says the same chronicle, cinders which destroyed the harvests of the Indians. It also relates that, of every three persons in the island, one died, — with- out doubt from the gases caused by this. About this time, says the chron>le, were formed (and became visible) within the crater two holes, one full of sulphur, and the other of green water, as at the present day." Then follow very graphic accounts of the great erup- tions of 1716, 1746, and 1754, related by competent eye- witnesses, with very ingenious speculations by Dr. Kane's friend, the friar Azaola, upon the phenomena exhibited and the probable connection of the volcano of Tael with tho earthquake which destroyed Linui in 1746, and the DESCENT OF THE CRATER. 63 shock felt in 1755 at Lisbon, and through Spain, France, Germany, Norway, and elsewhere,--all interesting enough to call for the publication of the paper entire, but only pertinent to our purpose as an introduction to the adven- ture of our hero.* His descent into the Tael was a feat which only one European had attempted before, and he without success. Dr. Kane was in company with Baron Loe, a relative of Prince Metternich. They had an escort of natives, pro- vided by the ecclesiastics of the neighboring sanctuary of Casaisaj', who pointed out the only pathway to the brink of the crater. The two gentlemen attempted the descent together, but they soon reached a projecting ledge, from which farther progress was absolutely pre- cipitous. After searching in vain for some more practi- cable route, the baron gave up the project, and united with the rest of the party in efforts to persuade the doctor to abandon it also. But that was out of the question. It was his temper to meet difficulty with proportioned endeavor, and to do his best to master it * A correspondent of the National Em, of the 17th of September, 1857, who was at Manilhi in February, and made a trip up the Pasig River to the neighborhood of the Tael, describes the water issuing from the springs at Los Banos, on the southeastern extremity of Lake Bay, as boiling hot. He says, "The volcano of Tael, whose crater was explored by Dr. Kane, in twenty miles distant from Los Banos, and it is probable that the subterranean streams which . ,rm these boiling f-pringa pass near the fires which communicate with the burning moun- tiiin." u. 2 a K Q 2i I I Si 64 ELISHA KENT KANE. before he yielded. The attendants very reluctantly gathered from the jungle a parcel of bamboos, and fash- ioned them into a rude but strong rope, by which, under the guidance of the baron, they lowered him over the brink. He touched bottom at a depth of more than two hundred feet from the platform he had left, and, detach- ing himself from the cord, clambered slowly downward till he reached the smoking lake below and dipped his specimen-bottles under its surface. The very next thing in order was to get back again with the trophies of his achievement. This he used to speak of as the only dangerous part of the enterprise. The scaldin-, ashes gave way under him at every step of his return; a change in the air-current stifled him with sulphurous vapors; he fell repeatedly, and, before he got back to the spot where his rope was dangling, his boots were so charred that one of them went to pieces on his foot. He, however, succeeded in tying the bamboo round his waist, and was hauled up almost insensible. When he sank exhausted in the hands of his assistants, the natives protested that the Deity of the Tael had avenged himself for the sacrilege; but the baron, who had less fliith in the divinity of brimstone, dashed him with water, and applied restoratives brought by a messenger whom he had de- spatched to the neighboring hermitage. The remedies were so far successful that he could be carried to the halting-place of the night before. He had mved his bottles of sulphur-water, which he sent home to l-e analyzed, and with them soioe fine specimens of porpbyritic tufa. THE TEEATY FORTNIGHT. G5 But this was not quite the end of the adventure. As his companion and himself pursued their journeying, the story of the profanation to which the Tael had been subjected went before them. A pygmy mob gathered angi'ily around them, their escort dwindled away or took part with their assailants, and, before they were rescued by some of the padres, the gentlemen were forced to entrench themselves in a thicket and throw up a dust with their revolvers. In a letter of the doctor's, dated Whampoa, August 5 and 6, 1844, he gives what he calls ''a faithful recollecting history of ' the treaty fortnight.' " Entire, it would fill twenty of these pages : we can afford it only the space of three or four. There is nothing in any published page of his that is richer in all the qualities of his style, nothing more graphic in description, more pictorial in presentment, than this long letter, which, he says at the end, he has " not even time to re-read." Chinese ceremony, costume, architecture, furniture, man- darins, mob, manners, and manoeuvres are rendered as if Retsch had sketched and Diedrich Knickerbocker writ- ten them. In the extracts which follow, it will be seen that the fun of the thing may have been a pleasure pretty fairly divided between the two parties. But our object is to show what manner of man the writer was at twenty-four, and get him in all-sorts before the reader in his own drawn likeness. V) < uu < 2 H Q 23 66 ELISHA KENT KANE. il THE TWO COMMISSIONERS. «Ki-ying is a man; and, lest this should not be con- Bidered sufficiently definite, I would say, in the true cant of a describer, that he is a man above the medium height, stout rather than corpulent, with an easy walk, and a stand perfectly unconstrained. His face, Chinese enough to modify the tartar, had a rather sleepy expres- sion; and yet the smile, though nearly sneering, was animated and expressive. The eye had less of the oval at its inner canthus than a southern Chinese, and its pupil, nearly hidden by a heavy eyelid, was bright and even intellectual. Such was the blood-relation of the reigning emperor of the ^Flowery Land,' the successor of Lin, ex-viceroy of Canton, and martyr to a power- ful moral sense unsustained by the information of the age. , j • -ui « Except by powerful proclamations and admirably written protests, poor Lin was, in accordance with the Chinese policy of an Imperial commissioner, aloof from all personal intercourse with the stranger. With Ki- ying it was just the reverse. He had played d.gnity with the Portuguese, and l>affled them; played the jolly companion with Sir Henry Pottinger, and floored him; and now, fresh from a drunken frolic at the Bogue, he met upon terms of cold yet equal and gentlemanly courtesy the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of the United States of North America. " One feature the two commissioners had in common,— KI-YING AND GUSHING. 67 an artificial one,— the mustache. With the American envoy brown, wiry, truncated, and protruding; with the Imperial dignitary gray, waving, unclipt, and curling around the mouth. The one a wire terrier, the other a dew-lapped mastiff. Which caught the rat ? You shall see "Dinner was announced by a single servant, who walked up to Ki-ying, and, without any vulgar obsequi- ousness, did his errand. "Ki-ying, very much in the same style with which a gentleman of the old school would take by the hand a youngish lady, led in Mr. Gushing." THE TWO GENTLEMEN. "Wong led in Commodore Parker; and, before I leave these two, who in every formal visit played a distin- guished part, I may say of them, that Wong was, by universal consent, the most gentlemanly, self-relying, and handsomest Chinaman we had any of us seen; and Commodore Parker, in every respect his superior, sus- taining himself fully, wherever he might be placed, with an innate, inherited gentility, which extracted marked respect from the mandarins, and placed his American associates instantly at their ease. An opinion, this, only to be valued because derived from the universal voice of the American community in China." THE DINNER. The pen pauses long upon the decision, but it must be pretermitted,— all but the summi'TiD- im k V) < X H a Q IS 68 ELISHA KENT KANE. " People here say it was a noble feast, and many an old merchant has gone into affected raptures at Ki-ying's bounty. Your son can only borrow Uncle P.'s quotation of the rrenchmuu".i climax, which marks, with pretty tolerable accuracy, the seeing, sitting, and rising stages of the banquet : — ' Superbe, magnifique, pretty well !' " THE HEALTH DRINKING. " The liquor, warm sam-shou, a distillation from rice, and, as Ki-ying told us, flavored with a Northern grape most highly prized. We took to it quite naturally, and the dear little silver oil-cans from which it guggled were in constant requisition. The grape-flavor was remark- able. Had we not known otherwise, we should have thought it a Madeira with the bouquet of Moselle : it had none of the empyreumatic taste of distilled spirits. " Health-drinking with the Chinese is a rather serious matter. First, the person chin-chined, or complimented, grasps the stem of the glass with both hands, and stares smilingly at his complimented adversary. Next, they point glasses one at the other, and, if near, they hobnob, then raise slowly and drain to the very drop, turning their glasses upside-down. " Ki-ying began with the plenipotentiary ; then glided easily to Commodore Parker, who, temperate and gentle- manly always, raised the full glass to his lips, smiled, and emptied it in his plate, — thus escaping the perils of the bumper system. "There was among the Chinese gentlemen a small- THE ATTACHES. 69 poxed mandarin,— not that cither smallpox or mandarins are scarce in China,— but there was a smallpoxed man- darin, a man of might : he sat near your first-born. When, in the routine of the civilities, all the mandarins had sam- shoued the higher dignitaries of the Stars and Stripes, the aforesaid mandarin with the dotted face returned to one of them 'Chin-chin you wan; (wine.) 'With pleasure;' and over went the glasses. ' I chin-chin you two wan; (two wines.) Tip, and over went the glasses. ' I chin- chin you' (holding up three fingers) Hmn: The respond- ing smile was more sickly; but, too gallant to flinch, the challenge was met, and over went the glasses again,— about the eighth already emptied. "Seeing this, Webster, myself, and some others, in revenge, began a similar game with Ki-ying. It was, I mourn to say, but a suspending and temporary digres- sion from the general epic of our smallpoxed hero. Once more he filled his steaming glass and chin-chined to the charge again." "I would here wander from the Richard and Saladin of this desperate encounter, and turn to a race of nobodies known as the attacMs. These devoted men— those who had beards and those who hadn't— rallied to a man and to a boy. The duties of the class have been, like them- selves, under-estimated. In the case of our embassy to the land of flowers, they had to dress at least three times a day, to talk with the light, or rather heavy, morning visitors, to drink wine with the supernumeraries at the legation-table, and even to answer all the invitations,— < u.; < Ui X H o 2: I 70 ELISHA KENT KANE. previously enclosing them in scented envelops, and seal- ing them with exceedingly thin-sticked sealing-wax. And now they had still higher duties. Could they remain spectators of the unequal fight? They rallied to an individual. Bristling glasses pointed from every quarter at the smallpoxed hero, and chin-chifls were uttered in every gamutine graduation from thorough-bass to treble. Reluctantly he forsook his higher game, and turned upon his new assailants. The battle raged. The re- prieved nose of his antagonist of the duello gradually regained its wonted pinch, and the indomitable man- darin, resigning for a time his incipient victory, pro- ceeded to immolate on the spot three of the presump- tuous attaches whose devotion had hurled them within the vortex of his civilities. "And so the dinner passed away. No speeches were made with a more direct bearing upon the commercial interests under negotiation, than a well-expressed remark from our chief that 'this hiclie de mer was really not so bad,'— a proposition which Ki-ying, not understanding, received in courteous silence. After which we toasted the Emperor of China, hip-hipped him, hurraed him, hiccupped him, and withdrew." A DANCE, Which was a diplomatic device. The device having been neatly dodged by Ki-ying, the dance had to come off, nevertheless. «At last, on the 25th of June, another interview A DIPLOMATIC DANCE. 71 must be had with Ki-ying : every thing was ripe for it. Mr. Gushing did not personally see the subordinates. How should the interview be made available ? for it was to decide much." "The American ladies! "What have the American ladies to do with it? Listen. It was determined that Ki-ying should again Tiffin,— i.e. in the language of the Eastern world, take a dinner-luncheon; that the ladies should meet himj and that informally, but in goodly numbers, and in less than two hours, they should all be there. " Mr. C. gave me a carte hlanche, and, with the character- istic modesty which I inherit, your interesting eldest paid an accidental morning call to all Macao, and collected, for the good of his country, thirteen ladies and a child. Distinguished services, for which I received a cholera morbus and the thanks of Mr. Gushing. "O'Donnell and myself presided. Mr. Gushing, Web- ster, Wong, and Ki-ying w^ere, with the interpreters, in close confab in the forward parlor. Strange, how little things are mixed with big: that trivial ante-dinner interview decided the entire object of the Ghinese lega- tion! "Dinner now one hour on the table: thirteen ladies with seven husbands are no trifles to keep amiable. 'Why didn't Mr. Gushing show them Ki-ying and be done with it?' Mrs. R would not have stood it, (she was not there;) and as for my friend Mrs. T., she thought it quite rude. Two hours passed by: small I < < d X H Q 23 72 ELISHA KENT KANE. talk entirely run out. A half-hour more, and the fold, whose humble office of diplomacy it had been mine to bring together, were on an ear-pricking qui vlve. They had heard from James, who had heard from the Chong, who had heard from the sentry, that Mr. Gushing had said, 'And now let's go to Tiffin.' They were all on intelligent tiptoe for the exhibition of five living Chinese mandarins, 'nobles of high degree.' "The 'now let's go to Tiffin' of Mr. C. was soon fol- lowed by a familiar sound saboting along the hall. The two Excellencies, Wong, Pownting-gua, and the three other attaches, were ushered in eu (jroupe. The ladies were introduced, and after some interesting con- versation, confined, with much tact, to an examination of shawls, necklaces, dresses, caps, and teeth, Ki-ying ■was taught the European absurdity which converts the arm into a pothook. Mrs. P. made a link with the vice- roy, and, the minor men and minor maids following their example, we walked in to dinner. "It has been my lot, in some few of the many dinners which I have of late attended, to be a seated companion of seated statues : and so we were, all of us, at the well- remembered Ki-ying dinner of the 24 th. Our attempts to look jovial were as ludicrous as our aitei ipts to look comfortable; yet, occasionally drinking hcaltlis, and some- times inwardly laughing at the contortions which Chu- teau-Margaux induced in Chinese features, we sat oat our sit. * " Mr. Cushing was anxious, nervous, not quite at home ; THE YANKEES CHECKMATED. 73 Ki-ying dignified; Dr. Bridgeman chop-fallen : something had gone wrong." ' It had been settled, in that "ante-dinner confab," for the hope of visiting the Imperial palace and seeing the Majesty of the Celestials in his own proper person, in Mr. Webster's phrase, "No Pekin." Ki-ying had put it squarely to Mr. C. "Should you negotiate with :ne, Pekin is a second matter, and that either he (Ki-ying) was a negotiating envoy and Pekin unnccessarj^, or Pekin the primaiy object, and he (Ki-ying) unnecessary." " Two hours after, I was in a chartered boat, armed to the teeth, and threading the ladrone dangers of the Can- ton River. I was a freed man." Of f t/1 at < Urn Urn O i CHAPTER V. TESTIMONY OF THE SECRETARY AND CHAPLAIN OF THE MISSION — PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN CHINA — RICE-FEVER ATTACK — HOME- WARD — BORNEO — SINGAPORE— SUMATRA — INTERIOR INDIA — PERSIA AND SYRIA — THE NILE, FROM THE SEA TO SENNAAR — PROFESSOR LEPSIUS — LIFE AT THEBES — EGYPTOLOGY — NILOTIC DILUVIUM BOAT-WRECK — SKIRMISH WITH BEDOUINS — ATTACK OF THE PLAGUE. The negotiations terminated, the frigate left her station at Macao, homeward bound, in August, 1844. Dr. Kane, not intending to return with his companions, had resigned his post of physician to the legation, and was even meditating a resignation from the navy, in which up to this time he had been an unpaid, though otherwise a kindly-requited, laborer. It is believed that he intended to practise his profession in China long enough to put himself in fands for a long run of travel in the East. Fifteen months' indulgence and enjoyment through a range so large and rich as lie had made it, fully revealed his destiny to him; and all other occupa- tion must now be only subsidiary to this leading object of his life. 74 TESTIMONY OF MR. WEBSTER. 76 What we have been able we nave oeen able to gather of the incidents ux his sojourn in China, after the departure of his friends, will bo given when we have first secured the brief but valuable contributions to these recollections made by two of his associates in the diplomatic voyage. Fletcher Webster, Esq., was secretary to the legation From his letters, in which he intended rather to assist than to answer our inquiries, we take a few helpful extracts : — "I first met Dr. Kane, as physician to our mission to China, on board the Brandywine, at Bombay, in Novem- ber, 1843. I was secretary to the mission, and an inter- course sprang up between us which rapidly grew into a warm friendship. " Dr. Kane had, I think, just returned from a trip into the interior of India as far as Poonah and the cave-temples at Karli, which he had an opportunity to make while the frigate lay in port waiting the arrival of Mr. Cushing. I was at once struck by the activity and energy of the doctor, who was never for a moment Idle, or seemed enervated by the climate; and the officers of the ship remarked that he could never keep quiet "We left Bombay for Ceylon; and we had hardly touclied at Colombo before he was off on an expedition to Kandy, the former capital-city of the island, some .^ixty miles distant in the interior. " On our long voyage from Ceylon to Macao I hnd an opportunity of learning Dr. Kane well Highly accomplished as a physician and surgeon, he seemed to f OS < fa < X O 23 76 ELISIIA KENT KANE. % think very lightly of his acquirements in the profession, and to be continually looking forward to something beyond. " He was very fond of the exact sciences, and was an indefatigable student, — evidently annoyed when not en- gaged in something, and always restless unless busy, — for hours in the state-room buried in mathematics, and then next seen at the mast-head or over the vessel's side. "On our reaching Macao, Dr. K. and the rest of us established ourselves on shore; and, while waiting the slow proceedings of the Chinese authorities, he made flying visits to Hong-Kong and Canton, returned to examine the environs of Macao and the islands in the harbor, — excursions always attended with a good deal of personal danger, — and had explored the whole town itself before we, of slower motions, had commenced. . . . "He remained but a short time with us at Macao, but on leave of absence went to Luconia. He landed at Manila, and thence proceded entirely across the island to the shores of the Pacific, saw all its greatest curi- osities, and, on his return to Ma-^ao, established himself as a physician at Whampoa Reach, in the Canton River, W'here he soon acquired an extensive practice among the shipping which usually lies there in great num- bers. When I left Macao, in August, 1844, he was still there "Dr. Kane was a person of very nice modesty, — not given to much talking, and not eminently social, — that is, as I found him. In social intercourse, although agree- TESTIMONY OF^KEV. GEOKGE JONES. 77 able ,.„d very bright .1::::^^^ out, he still seeded to be thinking of something above and be>-ond what Wcas present. "To his great scientific taste and knowledge, and his energy and resolution, !,e added a conrage of tlie most dauntless kmd. The idea of personal apprehension seemed never to cross his mind. He was ambitious, not of mere personal distinction, but of achievements useful to mankind and promotive of science." The Rev. Geo, Jones, of Brooklyn, chaplain to the China m^.ssion, speaks of him, as he knew him on the voyage and at Macao, thus :— "He was then very y„uthful-h .king, with a smooth face, a tlond complexion, very .lelicate form, smaller than the common size, but with an elastic step, a bright eye and a great enthusiasm in manner, which also mixed t.elf with h,s conversation. He seemed to be .all hope, a 1 ardor, and his eye appeared already to take in he wl.o.0 worid as his own. He was very gentlemanly in !..« appearance and conduct. His conversation showed a great deal of such intelligence as is gained from books and a gi.at desire to learn on all topics. I soon found 1.0 was also ready and skilful with his pencil as well as 'l"-ok m the n,se of his pen. All the ele„,ents of the •- «'quently distinguished man were there, only waiting to be brought mfn v^^e. "1 had very goo.] opportunities xbr observing him as I wa. attached to the .hip as chaplain, and as the leiter 01 introuuction, (from ou. nuUnal friend Elisha Channcey, < Ml 0^ '■X. Oi a 23 t. 78 ELISIIA KENT KANE. Esq., of Philadelphia,) together with some affinities in taste, brought us frequently together during the voyage, and subsequently to our arrival in the China Sea. I was often struck with his simplicity of manner; for, with his good sense, he had often also, in worldly things, almost the simplicity of a child. This led him to be undervalued by those who could not see the strength of character and energy that underlaid the outside cover- ing, but v/hich showed themselves whenever any thing was to be done, any enterprise to be undertaken, or knowledge to be gained. All this shone out whenever our ship touched at any port; for he was then every- where. With an activity that seemed to take no rest. His journals, i suppose, will show all this. His visit to the interior of Luzon is especially remarkable ; but at Rio, at Bombay, and ac Ceylon he visited every thing that was worth seeing, often in distant excursions from the ship. " His attachments were very strong, and his labors to benefit those he took an interest in were self-sacrificing and enduring. He was very unselfish. His morals, I believe, were good, and his religious Lentiments, though now standing for the first time the test of a com- mingling with the world, stood it very well." All that we know of bis fortunes in China for the succeeding six months is, that, while engaged in very successful practice as a physician and surgeon at Wham- poa, he was stricken down at the close of 1844 with the rice-fever. Mr. Ritchie, of Canton, took him to his ; .1 BOKNEO — SUMATRA. 70 hosprtable home, where he was nursed with the kindest care It was a hard struggle; but the life-power had the mas ery Th.s illness broke up his plan Tf professionj practice there, and he resolved to come home Mr. Dent, the son of a British oflicial at Madras, was a so .„ deheate health, and it was arranged that th two should take the overland route for Europe together They saded in January, 1845. The next monttthe;' borngtg' :ti;"t r~'^^ ^^*"'-' o n 10 tne lii,t..h, situated on an island at the .out ern extremity of the peninsula of Malacca, and, a nearly as may be, under the Equator. In hi . J, two of the places m the East which he had visited. It .p™ able t at while at Singapore he availed himself of the facdUies afforded by this greac emporium of he trade of t ese ,,eas for e.xcursions east and west to these two islands. He was at Upernavick, on the west coast of Greenland, distant six years of time »..v ty-five of west longitude, whon one of those world- wide contrasts which were so frequent in his expeil enees enlivened the relish of a dwarfed radk;. with thl Borneo the cherimoya of Peru, the pine of Sumatra, and « e seekel-pear of Schuylkill Meadows- and he joumal- -d his enjoyment of the first fresh vegetable lie hid I'ave-for this stage of his Oriental journey. eg '4 uu < •z a UJ .laaw, O Zi 80 ELISIIA KENT KANE. From Singapore they crossed the Bay of Bengal tc Ceylon, and thence to the Anglo-Indian peninsula. Some months were spent in a tour of exploration through the interior of India, including the ascent of the Himalaya Mountains. Tlie Zemindar Dwakanoth Tagore, by courtesy styled Prince Tagore, one of the wealthiest of the native nobles of Calcutta, was preparing for a visit to the court of Queen Victoria; and, Mr= Dent's health having been so far restored as to allow a change of their plan of travelling homeward together. Dr. Kane passed, with his consent, into the prince's suite. The interval before the party started for Alexan- dria was passed in travelling wherever historical memo- rials or scientific research invited him. He had every facility that the ample means of the prince, most generously dispensed, could supply; but we have no record of his Indian explorations. He reached the shore of the Mediterranean in April, 1845, and, bidding a reluctant good-by to his friend and patron, under whose safe-conduct he had traversed Persia and Syria, he bent his way to the regions of the Upper Nile. Pasha Mehemet Ali, the politic, if not the liberal, reformer of Egypt, to whom the doctor was introduced by Prince Tagore, gave him a special firman for his pro- tection ; and under the auspices of the Egyptian Asso- ciation of Grand Cairo, which had elected him a member, he hoisted the American flag and headed his little boat AT THEBES. 81 toward the PyramidsT^iZTh^bea ,n^ ti. Cataract. ' """^ ^^^ »«'=°°'l A letter dated at Thebes, May 2, 1845, coverin. half a doz , ^^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^. a authoritie. He t:^: l' "^ ''" '"'^^'''^<' *» «*her in ?lr of'? '" """^ '^^^ ^*"^' -»^-°g about n a state of amazement, unable profitably to see anv h.ng. Perhaps it may to you seem an absurdit" Z there ,s something so vast in fl>o a- ■ colossal r„in, tK * t dimensions of these colossal rums that I cannot embrace details; and, indeed r almost fear that I shall leave Thebes wi thou u definite impression of any thing but magnitude. of th?0 -T " T"' "^°" ''"' ^"O"-- f°ot of one of the Osiride columns i„ the Memnonium; my break fa^t, yet awaiting me, is on the other. ForlSght" ^u.ns a beM„a me, grouped around my bed. S root which they support throws its shadow upon this respectable epistle. I have taken lodgings in the n»l ten-'ple of Sesostris. " ^ " J"*'*"^ "Thanks to Dwakanoth Ta^ore and tI,o influence of my Chinn. tUl t , **' ^"--^ -"^agre member of th„ P . ' '''^" *'''^" ^'^oted a hon'r w ci ''" "™*^'-' "'"^^^'>»' ""b'o- condemned me to a folnf t '^ ' " ' '''"■'"■^' ''"'^ of «ueh .en as Stevens, and to read, wit/the 00^ Oil 4: a H O 23 82 ELISUA KENT KANE. itself for my atlas, the noble labors of Cailliaud and Wilkinson. "This is very delightful for a sight-seer, but very mortifying to an ignorant man like myself, for my boundary is fixed and limited as my own information. Nothing can be more exciting than the intelligent study of Egyptian antiquities. « Since Champoilion gave tongues to stones, by clothing these wonderful remains with the interest of a recorded history, Egypt has undergone a complete revolution. It is no longer a place for sage Mr. Oldbucks and ingenious gentlemen of the Bill Stumps class. It is nothing more nor less than a great library of monumental history, where all that is wanted is the patient If of a reader. " You will be glad to hear that I have h, a corespond- ing acquaintance (now a personal one) with Professor Lepsius, of Berlin and Rome. ... I met him, seated cross-legged in the great temple of Karnak, supping coffee and copying hieroglyphics. He is at the head of the great Prussian commission; and it gratified me not a little, during our long talks, to find that he knew the Recording Secretary of the American Philosophical Society; and it required a very tolerable strain of my tolerably plastic countenance to sustain myself in the scientific position which, by reflection or inheritance, I was supposed to occupy. " I dare say that Mr. Gliddon has crammed you suffi- ciently to make my own literal descriptions useless ; or, if he has not, I yield me to mosquitos and this awful TKOPESSOB LEPSIPS. 83 khamp«„, and spare my imagination. As however ".y portfolio contains hut two sheets of pa^r Td ^ have determined to fi„ them both, I deliver l^Z by an easy labor, giving you, as I had it repltedt frequent conversations, the outline of the laborroTth great Prussian commission " *^ An oj«t report of the expedition of Opsins and his Tlv m t ,Tjf "' J""™'^^'"^'^' -'J dates, from n- «t '. *' "'"^ •"■ "^'^ '««»■•. follows. I .s fi le with valuable information which was news to all the students of archscology Mingled with the narrative of the journeyings of the ~Z'!i "^'':r' - -sionafinLltl „n great (Nubian) desert to Abou Ahmed ™d Berber, a journey of twelve days, with fifty-two H ■■■ Aecompamed by his chaplain, he ascended the B^ '" "^P"'' ^5, at the pyramids of Mercie Cts t z:i:'':t t •'"' ■^'^ '-' --'- e-sive,<.and"tasi::::^l----; make my detour from Esneh (Upper £v n to t, '^ ' wells inrl Ak, J XI. ^ li^^^ -^Sjptj to the oasis- and Ab,.dos, this poor, scabby, sun-bn.„t economist ad -z a a IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4// ;/t^^ t !.0 ?^« I.I 1.25 2.8 12.5 2.2 If 1^ 12.0 Id U 11.6 -*l V] c^ ^ ^^# V # o % #/ Photographic Sdences Corporation 33 WiST MAIN STRifiT WIBSTfR.N.Y. 14580 (716) 87^-4303 ^V^^ ^ V" /-•>•• 4!s i? ( to pi a m Hi 88 ELISHA KENT KANE. " I am heart-sick at this loss. Nothing in the great scale of ups and .downs which I have experienced, you would say; but most depressing in its consequences. Only one thing remains to comfort me; and that is, that, taught by persecution a little foresight, I had pre- viously sent to England my best clothes and — thank Heaven ! — my diplomas. But still my list of losses is more than enough to try my well-tried purse and better- tried philosophy. "The idle hours of the sleepy Nile I had devoted '- the arrangement of my collection, papers, &c. They are all gone : even Dr. Morton's skulls have sunk in the quicksands. One thing more, (it ends my story: how shall I say it !) I have lost my watch. Remaining are dear mother's battered writing-desk, containing my business correspondence and my money, my legation sword, valued for old associations, and a carpet-bag of shirts. No jackets, no boots, and no pantaloons." Whether this was the true, or, at least, the whole explanation of his loss, he had afterward good reason to doubt. Some days after it occurred, as he was landing from his boat, borne through the water on the shoulders of his interpreter, he caught a glimpse of his watch-chain suspended round the fellow's neck, and he succeeded, after a severe tussle and a good ducking, in recovering a part of the chain, and with it the watch itself. The rascal made his escape with the rest of his plunder, which most probably amounted to all that he coveted of the swamped cargo. ATTACK OF THE PLAOUE. gg He had been hetorT'ii^T;;^^^,^ ;„ ^.^ , »*. w.th a party of Bedouins who attempL to Ob bun and was glad on his arrival at AleLdr^^ to put himself under surgical treatment. But a nel v.s,tat,on awa.ted hin. here. He had an attaok of thi plague; and during his illness, which nearly cost him h.s hfe the collections which he had made and sen" down the nver from time to time by his occasion! opportunities, ^ere dissipated and lost X p CHAPTER VL BTATUE OP MEMNON— THE ASCENSION, RISK, ESCAPE — GREECE TRA' VEiaSED AFOOT — GERMANY — SWITZERLAND — PARIS— SURGICAL PRAC- TICE IN THE EAST — A LETTER — ITALY — ENGLAND — ALL THE WORLD OVER — A WINTER AT HOME — REPUGNANCE TO "THE SERVICE" — WAITING ORDERS — MIS-SENT — COAST OP GUINEA — ^-TTOMEY — PAT- TERN OP A KING — BIRTHDAY ODE — PREROGATIVE ROYAL — MAGNIFI- CENCE — THE SLAVE-TRADE — HUMAN SACRIFICE — THE COAST-FEVER — SENT HOME — THE FLEET-SURGEON'S REPORT. Before Dr. Kane could take his departure " from the river unto the ends of the earth," it must needs be that some adventure characteristic of the man, and in keep- ing with the wonders of the region, should signalize his visit. The volcano of Tael had tempted him to brave the perils of its descent by the mysteries of nature hidden away in its depths ; and here the towering wonders of human art, as tempting for the hidden things which they expose to dubious and difficult research, were all around him. An army of antiquaries were busy disin- terring the mummy-history of Egypt from the ruins at their feet, and deciphering the hieroglyphics every- eo STATUE or MEKNOir. 91 where within easy reach of inspection. They bn)ught science and patience to their task, and sat " cross-W' at their work. Was there any margin of exploration among these labyrinthine ruins and colossal monu- ments for an athlete who, at the risk of his neck, might wnng the heart out of some mystery beyond their danng? We shall see. The statue of Memnon, of marvellous fame, is the northeastern of the two colossal granite figures which staad on the plain near Medinet^Abou, on the west side of the Nile, opposite Luxor and Kamac. It is ascer- tained to be the musical statue which greeted the sun- nse, by the multitude of inscriptions that testify its miraculous powers and the credulity of the witnesses It stands now in the category of obsolete miracles; but It IS still a wonder that needs not the help of a superstitious faith to secure admiration. Professor Lepsius measured it in February, 1845 and m his Denkmaier, (Monuments,) published in 1850 we have a splended engraving of the statue. From these sources-" the Denkmaier" and his "Discoveries in ^gypt"— our description is drawn. The statue is credited by the mmn, to Amunophis ni, whom Gliddon, following Bireh, places in the eighteenth Theban dynasty, 1692 B.C.; but Lepsius ha. since transferred him to the seventeenth, an earlier dynasty, and dated his reign in 1530 B.C., or one hun- dred and sixty-two years later,-an instance of the uncertainties of Egyptian chronology, but which in no f- 92 ELISHA KENT KANE. wise aflfects the points with which we are now con- cerned. It is in the sitting posture, and measures from head to foot, without the tall head-dress it once wore, forty- live and a half feet in perpendicular height. For its entire height above the level of the temple the base must be added, — thirteen feet seven inches, of which about three feet is hidden by a surrounding step. Thus the statue originally stood, or sat, nearly sixty feet (perhaps seventy with the head-dress) above the plain. The measurements which specially interest us are those which are obtained by estimating the proportions observed in symmetrical statuary, and by calculations made upon the scale of the portrait given in the Denk- maler, the results of both methods agreeing exactly. The height from the sole of the foot to the top of the knee is twenty feet. The breadth of the base or block on which the throne and the feet of the figure sit is twenty, and the length thirty-six feet, nearly covered by the sitting statue. Dr. Kane, observing from below a tablet or lapstone which had never been specially described, suspected that its under-surface might have hieroglyphic inscriptions of value, and determined upon an inspection. This could be accomplished only by ascending from the base between the legs to the point to be examined; and that must be done by climbing, — a feat as yet unattempted, and, therefore, just the thing for him to undertake. ASCENSION — BISK. 93 But as the leg at the ^^J^r^^t four and a half f. . m diameter and thirtepn ir, • . ^^^* ^ one grasp, the e^/a LeTutr'^ "'■"" "' was clear., impracticable tL:. ITt ""' "' rtf '^ wa, up to the wX wir :r: nis back or neck (n^ f^o ,, • • - "^^^^"8 "ecK (as the varying interspace reauirpr^^ ---thatti:::--^.---- see„>ed so, fo he failed in several attelr B t ^ P-g himself to his pantaloons, whichTre no enll brance :n climbing, he was at last successful It was slow and weary work : but he made sood 1 • accent to the point he aimed at ^ """ He had counted upon examining the lower surface of to he pla.n by taking advantage of the .'r JularTrl jections at the back of the fiiru-e , , ^ "P. the least relaxation of his brace for that pu^ 2 -^ ^ O 23 ? *! 94 ELISHA KENT KANE. 4! % m i«'' would let him down with a run, and as certainly add another relic to the ruins of Thebes. We must leave him here till the measures necessary fcr his relief, and an inquiry which is as necessary to extricate us from a difficulty of our own, are effected. The figure of the vocal Memnon, as it is given in the books commonly accessible, — such as Chambers's Infor- mation for the People, Murray's Encyclopaedia of Geo- graphy, and Frost's Ancient History, — show no sign of this lapstonc or tablet, or, indeed, any other impediment to the continuous ascent of a climber who aims at reaching the lap of the sitting figure, when he has reached the position in which Dr. Kane touched the butt and boundary of his upward tending; and even the large and otherwise accurate drawing of Rosellini gives no hint of it. In his Memnon, as in the popular sketches, the hands lie spread upon the thighs, and the apron of the figure falls at least three feet short of cover- ing the knees. So, the difficulty of finding the difficulty turned out to be almost equal to the alleged difficulty of surmounting it. But the Denkmaler delivered us from the dilemma. There, as plain as any other feature of the statue, is the obstructing block, — ^neither an apron nor a lapstone exactly, but a tablet ten inches thick, jutting out flush with the knee-caps, but fixed between the knees, not lying on them. The end of this block is obviously quite beyond the reach of a man lying extended mid- way between the gigantic knees, and too thick to be ESCAPE. 90 clutched availably, if iT^^^^^ii^i^ the reach, and the hmber could raise the courage, and run th risk of The suspense of this explanation is a shorter one, and proba ly „,uch less straining, than that which our adventurer had to endu,.; for he hod to wait till a boat, man mounted his hor«,, galloped away over the sands and brough the Arab guide, who knew the backway ascent of the statue. But happily the messenger brought iTef ae Arab chmbed to the lap of the figu., and pi ,nting Wif firmly for a strong, steady pull, th..w the end ^ hs sash over the projecting stone and swung it in .1 the doctor grasped it, when, swinging himself out boldly, ,n the ta.th that a stout fellow could haul in a descended by the customary pathway to the plain ^ Quite unexpectedly, he had abundance of leisure to transcnbe the inscriptions he was in search of,-if Z^ -ere any; but, for reasons which we make b;id to say were probably sufficient ones, he never reported Zy discovenos or p^spects of making any, likely to teZ futu. explore., to a :.hea,.al of his enten>rir ' Th. v,sit to Egypt, and its engagements, like those of he d,,ease distmctive of the climate. This was his hat" "r"" " ^^"^ ^''"^ *"- "'^^ ^l as t: hall see m the sequel. The anemometers, hygrometer barometers, and thermometers of the scie tifi'f t^et; 06 ELIS'JA KENT KANE. ItiL arft no better indicators and registers of climatology than the varied sensitiveness of the constitution he carried T^ith him in all his journeyings. Scarcely recovered from the plague, or well enorgh to travel, he set out for Greece in company with a lieutenant of the British army. From a mere scrap of a letter, it appears that he was at Athens on the 10th of June, 1845. He made the tour of Greece on foot, which, in conse- quence of his weakness, was a slow one ; but the exercise was restorative, and he managed to visit all its scenes of ancient story and classic interest. He left nothing of this trip behind him but a brief itinerary, and some memorials gathered by the way to present to his friends at home. He went from Athens to Eleusis, thence to Platoea, to Leuctra, to Thebes, to Cheronaea, to liivadia; then to the top of Mount Helicon, and there cut a walking-stick from tae brink of Hippocrene, which he brought home for his father, with the motto engraved upon the ring, Fonte prolui Gahallino. Thence he passed on to Thermopylu) and the Zietoun Gulf, returned by Parnassus to the Delphic oracle at Castri, bathed in the fountain in which the Pythoness was wont of yore to plunge before she mounted the tripod to utter her tb rice- sacred oracles, and descended to the plain by Galixidi and Salonr^ crossed the Gulf of L(!panto in an open boat, visited Megaspelion r.nd Vostitzn, traversed the Morea thoroughly, and then took a steamer from Patras for Trieste by the Adriatic Sea. PAEiS — A LETTER. 97 Here Germany and Switzerland lay before him. He travelled through both, and in the latter so carefully exanuned the glacier, of the Alps that his ice-theories of the Arcfc regions are enriched with frequent and cntieal allusions to them. On the T3th of July he was in Paris A letter of the doctor's from which we obtain this date d,,covers that at this time he was intent upon obtanung a hcense from the Spanisl, authorities to prac- tise his profession at Manila, i„ the island of Luzon He had made three thousand dollars by his half- years practice in China, and promised himself an outfit '" ""t,™"" ' '"'' '""" "^ P™<=««« ^'"""g tho Mlilin- Cr^ittr "■°"''' ^^- ''^"' -- -' - ^ Six months had been spent in travel since he left Macao; , „d .t is only now that he confesses how des- ponitely i„ he had been there, and how much he iZ endured in the interval. The letter is an elaborate defence of his destiny against «».o citations of his family lor his return and ret- ment at home. Its topics and tone are too deeply « or publication; but we may be allowed to lay >t that any page in it would amply justify the warmest admiration for his heroism, his L'li ig, and nave v. on for his memory. trom Uina, and Ins yearnings ibr homo and hi. mother's erf O 33 ^ if 98 ELISHA KENT KANE. I nursing are poured out, pulsating with the heart-throbs of a hungering affection; yet he could not consent to surrender the plan of life to which he had so resolutely devoted himself. This letter, moreover, discovers that he knew himself well, and that his life was not led by an irreflective impulse, but by a purpose as well considered as it was boldly resolved; and it is, moreover, a piece of character- ization that might safely challenge a parallel among the gems of aesthetic literature. He failed in his application to the Spanish authorities, or he yielded the purpose to other considerations ; for he soon after passed over into Italy, and returned through France to England, and from England came home. It will be seen how meagre our materials are for the history of his European travels. A scrap of this story appears in Mr. Snow's journal of the Prince Albert's expedition to the Arctic regions in 1850 in search of Sir John Franklin. The writer met Dr. Kane in Lancaster Sound, and gives him a place in his book. He says of him : — "Dr. Kane, the surgeon, naturalist, journalist, etc. of the (first Grinnel) expedition, was of an exceedingly slim and apparently fragile form, with features, to all appearance, far better suited to a genial clime and to the comforts of a pleasant home than to the roughness and hardships of an Arctic voyage. I found that he had been i» i;^any parts of the world that I myself had visited, and. in many others that I could only long to ALL THE WORLD OVEB. 99 jit There in thatl^J^H^pHable, dreary region of everlastog .ceand snow, did we again, in faney JZ over nnles and n.i,es of ,.nds far distant, and I;^ joyous. Wsmiling Italy, and its soften ng Hfe .t"! fewa^erland, and its hardy sons; the Alps tie' Zel -nes, France, Germany, Ma, Southern I ri C came Spa:n, Portugal, and my own England- le.t reared Egypt, Syria, and the Desert. WitT,,! thel traveller. ...cb ,n aneedote and full of pleadn. tnlt nne Hew rapidly as I conversed with hi.^n X'^ of the hospitality offered me." The range of this single trip was, however some thing larger, as our readers will remen.ber tt, T catalogue of Mr. Snow records : Ma^L ^1^ S7' f -" ^'^ '^'-<^^, Borneo, slma ^ Sa"' It'trrbr '1 ■'''"''' "* ^^ ^-erted'into : hes j.membra„ces he had been in Mexico and in the West Indies, and had just then - -rived „ t , Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, an^ all^ te": oL^i" .n Lancaster Sound, in latitude north on the We „ hemisphere as high as civilized man had tili ! -0^, and was at the time but thirty yell"" At home through the winter of 1845-40, he m.^st'be b™y, whether his ultimate purposes-conld bo f.: tlr! by the occupation at hand or nof T+ v-' u-*^ wm. his usual earnestness,::: ,;:'SS-S: less energies, he, for the time th. ^-.^^T ^ i; ^ O 23 100 ELISHA KENT KANE, upon his travelling propensit''^s, turned his ambition upon professional eminence, with a view to the practice of medicine and teaching as a lecturer in Philadelphia. He took a house in Walnut Street, and furnished an office in it with taste and elaborate care. With his medical brethren he kept a full round of engagements, — chemical, anatomical, quiz, and soiree. It must be recollected that, although he had now been for nearly four years a titular assistant surgeon of the United States navy, he had not been commissioned and put upon the pay-roll. His repugnance to the service was decided : it would not be too much to sav he detested it. From his first cruise to the end of his voyaging he was always sea-sick in rough weather. But this was as nothing to the routine life of a subordinate to which it subjected him. The distinctions of rank which our naval service tolerates, without justifying, outraged his frank democracy of feel- ing. All manifestations of masterdom were abhorrent to him. He had no feeling that forbade the taking of human life ; but he could not endure the bullying spirit which violates its common rights. An insult, or a blow that carries one with it, he regarded as worse than death if it nnist be passively endured. And it was just as hard for him to witness as to receive such indignities. There was nothing in him that fitted him for naval service except his capacity for the performance of its duties : its regime was his abhorrence. Yet now, wlion his family urged him to resign his official relations to it, WAITING ORDERS. 101 honcable fit! 1' '"T'^' *■"'' '' ^-■'' -' "^e impending. '"^^ *'" ""^^ -* ^at chance Mr. Bancroft, Secretary of th^ K station him at the Nn, v 7 ''"'^' "'**'"^«d to delphia ; but „* n! "" r " ''^^'" ^^^'"^ "^ ^^ila- -ic.thi.p::;; ,r^^^^ - ™»'^. -^e put him.elf upo^ t eriTrD ''' -- "waiting orders,"_cur'lv Jm , ^^'"'""'"'^ decision with-^Vhatl ' f """f ™"" '°' *« -.id.e,out.inl::;rLtr--^Pa.^o liie order came three weeks bf^fnro n y "war with Mexico al ead' ILST: ''"''"'' that power," but it was to the coa tof If "' °' ^n.ate United State, under CoJIdJe ^T'ZT was despatched Th;. ^' *"^* ^e Htteri,Lter:^f:%::;;;v;L"r^'^"^^^'' the expected war that he 1 T , """^ ^"'""'^^ "'" under„arching.or : It !" '' '"' '"'"''"^ his «..bmis«ion or bv a\ . V'" ° ^"""'^ '^ ^'''"^t tination,aUh'uht:::^/,'^'"^'*°-^^'>hisde. %ondhi.own:on.n::;: rxr^r-'''r rr^ - in the ™al,e»t action, a Irl ' 1^ '^ lile, he stood unfliachin-lv tlo 1 , 'nt^ests of his he vohnifu-ilv r, . '^' "^ "'« <^'« which fete. TZ L^'T: "'"■'' """^ "-"' -- his urterheharpZe ;7 "^ •"""""'^'' "^ '^^°""- " '■ ' '^ '* "'™"g'' the forms of enactment. m a 22 >f 102 ELISHA KENT KANE. !• I Wmi The vessel sailed about the 25th of May, 1846. lu the middle of June it reached Cape Verd. When the doctor was at Brazil in 1843, he had made the acquaintance of the famous Da Souza, a Portuguese merchant largely engaged in the slave-trade, and, in return for some professional services, received from him introductory letters to his commercial representatives on the Coast. Presenting these letters when ashore with a party of officers, he was entertained with very liberal hospitality, and admitted to the freest confidence that his position would allov/ him to accept. He availed himself of the facilities which he could command to visit the slave-factories from Cape Mount to the river Bonny in the Gulf of Guinea. While the frigate lay in harbor, a caravan was ready to set out from one of those factories on the coast for Dahomey, the great slave-mart of the interior, carrying a magnificent tribute of jewelry ai>d ornate furniture from the factory to his sable majesty. Dr. Kane pro- cured the commodore's permission to join the party, and, it seems, became quite a favorite with the sovereign while the embassy remained at court. A semi-diadem of feathers, and a number of baskets decorated with the royal crimson dye, which are still preserved at Fern Rock, were among the testimonials of regard which he brought home with him. Notwithstanding all the courtesies received and the impressions they were intended to make, the recollec- A PATTERN OF A KING. IQS The monarch of Dahome-, in his renort inch a kino- „ ■„ report, was every " king,_as magnificent a. the best of them in hi retmue, and somewhat more onul^nf i • lute in authority A nX T '''^'' "'"^ ^''^°- -thy succes ^r of tra Lt '"": "" '^' ^"^ ^ ^ "I 01 tuat Illustrious predecessor of hU tT::r^' ^'^". — ^ - ^-.h* tri ; rati f ^"" ' *'«'"'"'^'"' S-^-^-J -" over with ;t:srnV:rhi:fr-'''^"-rei o^e Which is cirttr^^"^^^'^'''^^^ " Ho, lam-a-rama bo now, Sam-a-rambo jug ! Hurrah for tbe son of the sun I Hurrah for tbe brother of the moon 1 Buffalo of buffaloes, and bull of bulls t He sits on a throne of his enemies' skulls • Aod, If he wants more to play at football, ' Oursareathi3 8ervice,-all,all,all." His majesty, magnificent and munificent in all thin^ oya amused himself occasionally, or oftene:, w tlut -her n*:^^^^^^^^^^^ ".■easons of sta^:- hI " T '"'''" "" '='"'«<' b^hle, rr\ ™'""fi«™e was in feathers and f worth r "' ''' "•™'"' O'^p--'! '» -' lis worthy guests as had the taste to accept them The manner of selecting hi,, ho. >st of sultan as was H 104 ELISHA KENT KANE. ■ '1 I t ■, 1^ right royal : applying the Norman doctrine of tenure in the lands of England to the ladies, the entire sex of his realm, by a species of domesday practice, the women )f Dahomey are annually mustered, the king seizes n few hundreds of them in right of eminent domain, and grants the refuse to his grandees in fee of knight- service, which they are bound to receive with the most humble gratitude. Nor is his majesty a whit behind the most renowned of his craft as a killer. The large court-yard near the palatial shanty was literally covered with skulls, the memorials of his sabre-skill ; and it was only at the pressing solicitation of his christian visitors that he adjourned an exhibition of his prowess in that line. Dr. Kane returned from Dahomey with the impression that, whatever may have been the case in the early periods of the trade, the slaves that are driven to the coast for shipment may very well congratulate them- selves upon the commutation of their fate, even with the "middle passage" before them. Indeed, he believed that the predatory wars of Inner Africa, though now stimulated in some degree by the cupidity of the chief- tains, had their origin in a dark fanaticism that sought for prisoners as victims for sacrifice. He was convinced that very many of those whom he saw caged in Dahomey were too young and too infirm to be merchantable. It is well known that they have two annual festivals of slaughter, in which the king and chief men propitiate the manes of their ancestors by a crowd of victims. COAST-FEVER. lOo The walls of the p^h^^^TZ^i^r^phs are crnamented >nth skulls; the king has his sleeping-apartment paved with them; and war and glory, after the manner of kingship, are grander and even more mereiless with him, as they are elsewhere, than the passion for for- eign traffic. Dr. Kane had not been long on the coast when the pestilence of that region made its appearance on board the frigate. "I am sitting," he writes, "in my little cockpit state-room. Fumes of mouldy boots and molasses ar^ exuding from the dirty deck below me; and heaven's breath comes to me through a long canvas tube. This grateful conductor of vitality is called a wind-sail Its funnel has been pointed opposite my kennel, and I am thankfully enjoying the wet-towel smell of the scanty breeze. The jaundiced-looking spermaceti candle on my table has been gasping ,so at the scanty oxygen that I have even put it out of its misery, and I am writing by the beams of tlie hatchway-lantern. The weather above ,s rainy, and it is night there as well as here The thermometer is at eighty-five degrees. Our voyage from the Cape de Verds,-oh! that sleepy period o°f s agnat.on,_it was a nearly continuous calm. Six cases of the dreaded fever broke out before we had been a week from port; and I am now in the midst of the true responsibilities of a navy surgeon. We are on our way ' «outli. A London homeward-bound may deliver this note : if so, let it assure you of my continued health and Jeferniination to make the best of my bad bargain 1i I <15 ■4. O 23 p\ .;: I'i! I! t 111 liiiijji. I Hlilli * 1 i illlii MiiiHi:! 106 ELISHA KENT KANE. Tell mother not to be uneasy. The fever is not con- tagious, and one never loses by attention to duty." In less than three months after this he was himself prostrated by the " coast-fever." His attack was exceed- ingly severe. For three weeks the active virulence of the disease held on without check : in three weeks more he was only strong enough to allow of his being lowered over the ship's side and sent home in one of the Liberia transport- vessels. A letter of Dr. Dillard, the fleet-surgeon, written at the port of St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, to one of the doctor's friends, serves a purpose which warrants its insertion here. •■} (copy.) " U. S. Feioatk U.aTED States, PoKTO Peaya, March 9, 1847. "Dr. Kane returns home on account of ill health. His disease was the coast-fever, and the attack exceedingly severe. It manifested itself on the 1st of February, and continued with unmitigated violence for ten days. The abatement of the fever was not then complete, but greatly diminished, and finally left the patient on the twenty-first day worn out and exhausted. His recovery and convalescence have been slow, his present prostration and debility great. He gains strength tardily; and I fear that if he be kept in this baleful climate he may relapse and die, or suSer in his constitution. Under this view I have thought it best to send him home. He goes in the ' Chesapeake and Liberian Packet/ — a new and comfortable ship, — and will have every possible attention extenced to him. May he soon reach his country and rejoin his family in renewed health ! God bless him ! "I part with him with regret, and shall miss him much. I lose not only a useful and necessary assistant, but a valued and esteemed A CHRONIC COMPLAINT. 107 young friend. Our asaociation, both official and social, has been of the pleasantest kind. Very truly, your obedient servant, "T. DiLLARD." To this attack of the coast-fever he was accustomed ever afterward to ascribe the most serious breach that disease had made in his constitution. He carried this feehng with him to the last as a complaint against the administration which condemned him to a field of ser vice 111 suited to his constitution and his aspirations ii *-^ W ''**• 1 (^ II UJ " ac. *^' OiS a 23 1 f CHAPTER VII. A SUMMER OF SUFFERING — OPPORTUNITY LOST — THE LAST CHANCE SEKED — DESPATCHED TO MEXICO — SHIPWRECK IN THE GULF — THE SPY-COMPANY — AFFAIR AT NOPALUCA — RESCUE OF HIS PRISONERS — HARD FIGHTING AND ROUGH SURGERY — WOUNDED — TYPHUS FEVER — NEWSPAPER HISTORY — SURFEIT OF PATRIOTISM — IRKSOMENESS OF THE LIVERY — CHARGES AGAINST DOMINGUES — THE HORSE-CLAIM — — HOW IT WAS PROVED, AND WHAT IT PROVED — GRATITUDE OF HIS PRISONERS. ^ST-HIS Dr. Kane reached Philadelphia on the 6th of April, 1847, a broken-down man. He had sailed for the pesti- lential coast of Africa ten months before, with a reluc- tance that nothing but a despotic self-government could have subdued. He returned in the condition and with the feeling of a sacrificed man. Knowing that he held his life by the most precarious tenii,r .-^nd certain that it must be a short one, he yearne«i. to tiowd it nith activities which might compensate by their worthi^iess for its brevity. His opportunity seemed now to have escaped him ; and the weary weeks of the ensuing con- finement in his sick-room were among the worst for him (>r his hard lifetime. The arm of the service to which 108 A SUMMER OP SUFPEBiNe. IQg Je wa, attached, and ^i:^^^^^ oiious to him except Per.™ea..,,harr;^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ on the Pacific and in the Tnlf n .1 ■^''*^' in tne Orulf, all the strono-holds nf fi,« enemy against which the navv conhl >. °''^^'"^^^^^ hr^ 1 ■■ iicivj coultl be oncao-ofl l)i.l been reduced, and there was nothin. that he T , . for him to expect in the routine of II!, ? ' offered chinces which it as his strength permitted him to L J ' nd t I T M» physician and his ti™i„ ,ad : t^i tf e^^ licence, he hurried off to Washington for th the armv TT 1 f ' ^""''^'^^ ^" ^^^ ii«e of me army. He had secured letters from +1. n nesident, enforcing his application, and he would h One more lono- term r^f ■.. ^ ( • h=« -ther the 001™ ^ CtrheT o""'? »""^ on., conditions in which she i^ d ei^"!;; r-''"^ -W. and, under her care, h, the eS^:,::;: of October he was able to meet his friends again One Saturday mght, at the close of the month 1 attended the Wistar party .t I,!^ f ,i , ' paity at his fathers house, and "1,1SJ8. 114 ELISIIA KENT KANE. 1 i 1 Sl says, "When stationed in the castle of Porote in the month of January, 1848, I was visited by Dr. Ehsha K. Kane, of the United States navy, who was then en route for the city of Mexico, being, as I learned from him, the bearer of despatches from our Government to the commander-in-chief. He was unable to proceed on his journey, for want of an escort, and remained with me until the contra-guerillas or spy-companj^, commanded by Colonel Domingues, arrived at the town of Perote en route for the capital. The doctor had with him at the castle of Perote a full-blooded gray gelding, the finest animal I ever saw in the Republic of Mexico. When the doctor left the castle to pursue his journey, I accom- panied him on the Puebhx Road until we overtook the rear-guard of the spy-company, which had started some short time before us." This, as appears from other sources, was on the 3d of January. Immediately before this date, a scrap of a letter written by Dr. Kane on a piece of cartridge-paper, (which, however, was not received in Philadelphia until long after the period of anxiety for his fa'e had passed,) says, " I have determined to trust myself to the tender mercies of the renegade spy-company, Colonel Domingues, and thus reach Mexico (the city) in time for reputation or not at all." On the Gth, at a place near Nopaluca, and about twenty-five miles from Puebla, the escort — about one hundred and twenty mounted lancers, all Mexican skinners, bandits, and traitors — encountered a body of AFFAIR AT NOPALUCA. jj^ .•..•de-de-ca^p Maximilian, ZZ.Z' ""l "°" ""^ -;^;a.wvi.,.;,;::;:;3:;--.e i. • -^'-'iityon, Colonel Gaom wUh + captains and thfrfv ^i-n-i.^ , ^''^»'''n" of tbe 8th ■'' ■"'*''' 't was stated that " n,. f "P (to Puebla) with *!, -^""'^ '^"""^s -^wa.hi4o::i::i::,.x---p-^H. at this time knew nothin. 'ft "'' ''^"'^^ The earliest news i„ which h iT "**^- given wa. i„ the "Penl.l.n T •' ""^ '^""'''^"^ Puebia, January 17 "'■^''""^ ^"V^rev," written at -ri8:iirthu:.-'"'"'^''"^^^^«^'--'^^'- -2\:r:;:::r'';;."->'-^-»e ...i.hs. " "■^'^"•SPn-ners General Torrojon, General rr a: O 2S 116 ELISIIA KliNT KANE. mil 111 v^ Gaoria, two colonels, three majors, and thirty-eight privates. " But for the gallantry and magnanimous exertions of Dr. Kane, they would have killed General Gaona, the father of the colonel of that name, and several other officers. Dr. Kane, with the utmost intrepidity, rode from one to another of the spy-company, ordering them to give quarter to all. Dr. Kane is still at the house of General Gaona, who said yesterday to Colonel Childs, the Governor of Puebla, when he called on the illus- trious prisoners who are quartered with Colonel Gaona at the palace, that he owed his life to Dr. Kane, and would be glad at any time to die for him. General Torrcjon said that he too owed him his life; and so did others of the officers." In " The Pcnnsylvanian" of the 24th of March, 1848, the following account of the Nopaluca affiiir appeared : — " It seems that in anticipation of the American attack upon Orizaba, since signally successful, a column of Mexicans was hastening to reinforce that place, a con- siderable distance in advance of which rode on their way a bevy of distinguished officers with a troop of lancers. Dr. Kane and his escort, hastening to the city of Mexico with important despatches, encountered these on the high-road near Nopaluca, about thirty miles distant from Puebla. "It is not clear to us how the doctor ranked in the party, which was the contra-guorilla or Mexican spy- company of the notorious Domingues; but it appears BESCtTEJJ^f PKISONEES. Jjy that it was at las instance.if^at his order that th brief Th. A " *'^''"' ^''^ ''""iant but Puebla It •, °'' '"''""•^'^' ""d carried to the To^jon who has been reported ol, '°"'~ - often,-is one of the prisoners." "^ ^ "''^ Th.s IS the sum of the military report of th» .* »ow for that whieh smacks of romance "^ "At one period of the charge, when Dr K some distance ahead of the rest nf . """' W carried him in bet ! en ! ^d r'""^'' '" '"^ his orderly, who fell upon hij t th ™"""'°'' ''"' The lance of the latter'f^led Tt the t^i ''T ""°"""'- y um seized him by his arm, crying, ^Father ' m^^ f.f». , save mv fathpr I' tv / -^ '^^"er i my lather ! Had .axxciidered to Dr. Kane. He was at a 2! 118 ELISIIA KENT KANE. the moiiieiit defending hiniscH!, bure-lieaded and unarmed^ against his assaihmts. Dr. Kane saved him and numerous others ; but it api)ears that he did so with great efforts, and at considerable personal risk." A writer at Puebla, in the " Inquirer," under date of the 26th January, says, " He parried four sabre-cuts that were made at hiui, and did not succeed in enforcing obedience to his orders until he had drawn his six- shooter — which all Mexicans hold in mortal dread — and fired at Colonel Domingues, the commander of the squad- ron ; and the doctor received a thrust from a lance in the lowx^r part of his abdomen. They also killed his horse." The correspondent of "The Pennsylvanian" con- tinues : — "^ As soon as the old general was rescued, he sat down by the side of the major, his son, to comfort his last painful moments. When the doctor observed that that individual was bleeding to death from an artery in the groin, he made an effort in his behalf With the bent prong of a table-fork he took up the artery and tied it with a ravel of packthread, and the rude surgical opera- tion was perfectly successful. " When they all arrived safely at Puebla, the gratitude of the Mexicans saved was extravagant. They publicly declared to Colonel Childs, the American Governor of Puebla, that they owed their lives to Dr. Kane ; and the governor thereupon returned him thanks for his gallantry and humanity. General Gaona proffered him the choice of his stables to replace his Kentucky stallion TYPHUS FEVER. 119 I if- untnnely bu cherod i„ the connict, au,I some sort of honorary ie^t.val was i„ preparation, when the dolor from he effeet of the wound in the abdon.n ' ^ l^bab,,, to great ph,,ea. exhaustion, fell dea ^ 2, ' H.S d,,,ea.e toolc the form of Cakntura typhoidea_t e worst of t,phus,-and, after .,ing i.. , . to^^L^^^ * • • • • "His life was spared through the gratitude of the noble od Span,ard who owed ids own to him. On tl e seeon da, of Dr. Kane's iiluess he insisted upon ear. ^ ™ to Ins own prineel, residence, and gave him t.fe se^; iif ''Z """'"'' ^"^ '"-^^ ->>-'' ^ -fined ^ons,bd,ty eould suggest and ample nieans provided pl.s! ed daughtoi^, took upon themselves all the offieesof me,>.a Is, suffering the eare of nursing and attending il IncU.: ? ' '/ *"^ ""'''=''"^' '"" °^ ^^'-"4 had ni waitmg niglit and d.ay." ^ We have given these newspaper-reports of the affair a Nopaluca for the substanee of truth there is in tlem boeause w. have no narrative of the ineident, from I' Pnncpal aetor himself Onee onl, i„ all our persona ~e the sldrnUsh of that 6th of Janu L; ™ alluded and then only to eorrect one of the e.xaier t;-ofh,ssurgiealservieeto3oungGaona. «;::!. 11. wound was not in the groin : it was in the ehest:' and the artery was one of the iutercostals." at o 23 r *■ 120 ELISIIA KENT KANE. s ' V, Bj way of necessary explanation, I may as well say here, where it is most required, that he never stood questioning on his own acliievements, and he could not be ransacked by the most adroit endeavors of even a warrantable curiosity. He has scores of times turned me from the narrative of his experiences to such points of scientific interest as they suggested. He never would " sit" a moment still under scrutiny, or allow himself to be the subject of conversation. This fight with the Mexican generals and their escort, and the subsequent struggle with his own scoundrels, was of all others the very one on which he was indis- posed to speak. His personal involvement, his danger, and the resulting suffering, which put him under the deepest obligations for personal kindness to the very party to whom he had been in the same hour a foe at sword-point and a friend at even greater risk, and after- wards an object of care and solicitude for so many weary days, mixed his emotions only too painfully for agreeable reflection. Moreover, he had been in Mexico long enough, and was too well acquainted with the men and events of the last winter of that war to feel comfortable under the reflection that either his country or himself had any thing to answer for concerning it. If he had lived a century after that experience, he would not have been caught doing any more patriotism, unless it had first been warranted well principled, and its governing councils were somewhat more intent upon monly service to the country than the promotion of tlieir CHARGES AGA^fSIVDOMINGUES. 121 own paltry interests. His aftor lifc fo;„i feelino- for ;t 7 ilter-Iile fairly -xpressed this 'eelmg, for it was resolutely guided by it. He never sought or enjoyed a nartinlp nf n *!, . .• .,. P^irticle of Government favor from that time till the end of his career All that we have from himself on this matter comes ndirectly but clearly enough from a formal chaZ e menloT, ''^"'' ''""''''''' "" "™'"«' -^- derous assault of Domingues and his ba^Iits. carlful, ""'"'?' '""' "■"'" '" «>-« 'J-™-"*^ were — ly^prepared from the testimony ready for th.: rall'trr'"" "'""' ''"'"'"°™'' ^™^ '»••'<'« to Gene, ral Butler, then acting commander-in-chief: General Sco t had b^een superseded a month before its date, l!^! , " ^"^ °^ M"'"™, March 14, 1848. the city of Mexico, accompanied by an escort of lancers nde ana of Colonel Domingues, we fell i„ JZ body of Mexican troops near Nopaluca reiln T' " r "" "'"'' """'^'' """"^'"^ «»- -d Tor- rojon. Major Gaona, and two captain.^ w-ere taken nri ,„ ers, together with thirty-eight ra!ik and file. T^ T; -pec^ullysubmittoyournoticethefollowingf;^^^ wZ IamaHotnsustainbvsati..(hct„v„te.,tim( '"■'''^'"'='' sfactorj'^ lony,— VIZ. i 122 ELISIIA KENT KANE. " I. That, after the formal surrcndor of tlio Mexican party, Doiniiigucs, with his Lioutcnants Palhvsios, Rocher, and others, did, in cold blood, attempt to sabre the prisoners. "II. That an American officer, upon interjjosing his person and horse, was similarly menaced and assaulted, — receiving thereby an injury of a most serious character and losing a valuable animal." [The remaining charges were for robbing the prisoners of their personal eflects, and afterwards exposing them to cruel and ignominious treatment on their way to Puebla; and for a second attempt to shoot them, thirty- six hours after the surrender, which was prevented only by a resolute resistance, which succeeded by intimidating the ruflians without resort to force. The accusation concludes by demanding the punish- ment of the colonel and the restoration of the stolen property.] (Signed,) "E.K.Kane, " Marine Betachmcut.'' The horse-claim furnishes us wdth the rest of the authentic data in our possession. Dr. Kane writes to the Secretary of War under date of " Philadelphia, July 21, 1848. " Sir : — I left Perote fortress on the 3d of January, 1848, under orders to report to General Scott at the city of Mexico. My escort consisted of a party of TUE HOUSE-CLAIM. 123 lancers, Mexicans !„ thT^of the United States commanded by Colonel Bomin.rues ' in- Genor.,l« n / -^ of Mexicans escort- ii'to uenerals Gaona and Torroinn « i ., After a ^hnri .• -^^rrejon and other officers. -ot.o,ene™,/m,::L:— r;:::r'^^^ n>y special protection against n ^ """'' nought to km them aft:;" """f "' '""'' "''° effort to shield them an T" ' "'" '" ""^ ty Lieutenant Eochor I tpp,.;,,. t ' •'^' ''''"^ uuitr, 1 received a severe wound frr.m . lanee m the resion of tl,„ 1 1 i , " imn,ediatelv l,ef ''''"■' "^ '""'^o ''»ving mnieuiatcly before been struck down bv n l.„ , the shoulder from the same party ' "" "'"'"' weTe™;''"™""""'''"'"''™^ '-P-S i- till -:::::ie:rr::;r:^^^^^^^^^^^ unable to ride, was placed in a ^ ' '"'''''' ™t of the wounded. "'''"^ "" "'''^ *">« "My horse was forced alon"- with rliffl u ,, of the country in T T, "™ "' ^''""^^ ^™1>« country, m the Barris San MiVnni i :::r '*"-'"" -"•■"- »":-/: "In company with Lieutenant Foster I snxv l.' \ ^ there at the halt TJ • ' ^^ ^^^ ^^^y "^t! nait. I Ins was on the 7th. *f4 Oil '4 X. *-: O 23 124 ELISIIA KENT KANE. "On reaching Puebla, I was attacked very dangerously by congestive typhus fever, in consequence of my wound and the exposure which followed it. " My certificate, and the affidavit of Lieutenant Foster which accompanies it, -./ore made at the suggestion of Major Morris, of the artillery, — then acting as judge advocate, — as soon as I was able to write. " My condition at the time may serve as the apology for the brevity and want of detail of those papers. " I was subsequently carried in a wagon to the city of Mexico, where I reported, and, having been inspected by the surgeons, was ordered to the United States as invalided. I therefore saw little of Lieutenant Foster after our interview at Puebla, and, his corps having been disbanded, I do not know his residence. He belonged to the Louisiana mounted men, Captain Lewis's company. I am unable for this reason to procure a supplemental affidavit from him, and he was the only American officer on the field with me ; but I shall transmit copies of this letter to the principal officers of the United States whom I found in command at Pue[)la, and shall write thein to verify such of the facts as have come to their knowledge either from personal observation or official position. "I have the honor to be, sir, " Your most obedient servant, " Elisiia K. Kane," " To the Honorable Secretary of War." In answer to Dr. Kane's circular, spoken of in thi^ WHAT THE nOESE-CLAIM PEOYED. 125 1^,1848) res,d,„g ,„ New Castle, Belawa:., writes :- ... Wnlst I was in the Government Palaca Pucbla as judge advocate, Lieutenant Foster n.ade oath Miguel „, consequence of a lanee-wound received in an engagement with the enem, which took place betwe " Ojo de Agua and Nopaluca. Previous to that affidavit General Gaona, in giving ,„o an account of the batul ha stated that through ,our instrumentality alonf h: 0,^:;';°"*'' :-- -™' ^-- ^^^^ ei-hwi uuicnerj ot Dominmiess band- ihn^ +i, o ^'-'^'3 u.uju J tiiMt the enrrao-empnf woo ~e though short one; and , our own »«:: st; at PuetZ ~" "^" ^"^'^ ^"""^'^ ""^- "The circumstance of there having been no regular offical report must be accounted for by the w" 2::tt\r''''-""™''"''"<'^ "-''■"" vi.h "'^'^""^^'°"' - I '-k upon it, has nothing to do «Uh your loss. The h„r.,e was positively know,: to have been killed by hostile Mexicans, and if Zil W battle, the ease loses none of ts o d 1^ f * --"'""'-.CO. I knew the animal well,; J " value was full ,;, ,.„„j,^j ,„„ '" ^ '- -™Wught.hatsum.ifnotmore,ateven:r;:ed:^^^^^^ Vobmteer, T"' ' ""'■■''""' ™'-''""" United S.ates «::: tL:i!:,r '.'':'?'f r ""™"'^- ^' ^««. " " '" *'T'b' to >our in,|niry as to •,.,J O 126 ELISHA KENT KANE. smji my knowledge of the circumstances of the loss of your horse, I can and do certify, on honor, that I visited you daily during the time you lay sick at the house of General Gaona with typhus fever, the result of the wound received in the action with the Mexicans in the before-mentioned engagement, which occurred near Nopaluca on the 7th of January last ; and, moreover, that both during the time of your illness, and subse- quently, I have heard both Generals Gaona and Torrejon refer to the fact that your horse had been killed by a lance-wound in the action, and they expressed regret that a person to whom they owed their lives should have met with so severe a loss. "Colonel Gaona, who was dangerously wounded in the same engagement, repeatedly described to me the proud, prancing position of your horse when he was pierced by the lance. Indeed, the circumstances of his death were matters of town-talk in Puebla, and their omission in the official reports is only to be accounted for by the debased character of Domingues." The testimony of Assistant Surgeon G. E. Cooper, United States army, is to the same effect, and as full. CHAPTER Vlir. !.«. KANE'S ACCEPTANC, T -<'"»""««TA«V SWORD- AIM> GAIN UI'ON "jtVTjn" ™ -INVALIDED-HOMEW.Bn "EAD-QUARTERS JAW - DYING EXPFRiEvrv . ^'^=^"^«RANEAN-LOCK- ™™.».-.A.;r:::;r::~:---^^^ OTHEa «KFRES,r,,ENTS--oPE TO T,,. . ''*^'^*»'>'»'iAIENT AND ' lU THE ARCTIC. The young countrymen of n„. i with a L Z? 'T"'^^''' '^""''^ -' "e »,i.fied "fl^wr at Nopd """'^f'^''"'^'' "--"-e of the .ratifiea wi r :';;:,7''' '"- -'-' - it be •J-ervea to be Jrit ' ^ ''" "^ "■"'"«■"=• '' ■ivingana^u;vt:,^:r^:'"'"^ ""''-- "^^"'o) was and is a dopr nf +i • worker in fiiPfa . „ i ^^ tinn..-«.. 0/ tke CUi^ns of PMlaM^Uar DR. Kane's beplt. "UmtED States Ship St,PP„, »f -me of onr I ,„ J '^"""''"'^ "«'« »» "x^-If offering it Lfc L to H 7"' ""' *"" '"■^°'"«-'* y servzces of m,ne. But I shall eherish 23 iii 134 ELISIIA KENT KANE. them as memorials of regard from men whom I have always been taught to honor, and whose kind estimation would be an ample reward even for the meritorious. "I am, gentlemen, very gratefully and truly, " Your friend and servant, "E. K. Kane. "Thomas DtJNLAP, Esq., "Hon. John M. Read, "N. Chapman, M.D., '^Committee.'' I Determined neither to write nor compile the narrative of this {gallant and generous exploit, but merely and simply to collate its authenticated facts, it is never- theless due to the reader to supply some of the incidents which are not in the record, but are not the less suffi- ciently well ascertained. The wound which Colonel Gaona received in the action is stated as inflicted '^posslhly by the hands of the officer" whom the family were at the time nursing under the same roof with their suffering son. There was really no uncertainty about it ; but Colonel Childs covers the fact, which so much enhanced the kindness of General Gaona, with a delicacy of doubt which nobody enter- tained, because all parties wished it otherwise and avoided all unnecessary allusion to it. The " circumstances which had made the two generals Dr. Kane's personal prisoners" were that they had sur- rendered to him personally. LOSS AND GAINJ7P0.Y "keliC." I35 In the desperate deW whidT he made for hi. . • soners when they were attn.l-.,l r. , ^''''" n • 'Attacked, after the surrender h^r DoiTiinffues anrl lilc, + T s'wiieiiucr, oy ouch wouici have taken another ,v +i i was aimed It th . Za h , "'* '™"-*'^"^* desperate the brietTn fl \ ^ '''"^ ''°'^ *^« ""'l On the 4th of January, 1849 the W n awardoJ ^,„„,„ fo, jh^f^, j;;' ;''<^ ^- Department cannot he called n„ '"'"''«''' ''°"«« withheld fo 1 '''?""""' ''^"™'"">' ''fter it was trouble to ^he an 2rt '""'' '"''^^' ^"«> ^ -™h uic api)licant as was well wnrfl, +i i i We liave not relieved this ^in..- f .1 ; p.-oro.or of n,athe.nati:':::;. ::; : rhri?- l-vo faithftdl^ disenchanted the rocita and " '•emit the bare-bone facts tn tl 7 ^^ "°"' ->'om we have held W "'' "' "'" "•^''- -ientious dullness ' ""^''^'""' "^ "^ ~n- His illness at Puebia was so severe th.t I, 136 ELISIIA KENT KANE. t- -i« held unquestionable for many days before the relief of better news arrived. He was to have startedfor the city of Mexico on the 16th of February; but learning, as he states it, providentially, that four hundred mounted men under Padre Jaurata were waiting for them, the train, already on the march, was ordered back, and they set out on the 18th with a larger force. On the 25th, at St. Martin, he writes :— " The good effects of my Mexican interference mingle themselves with the bad. I am twenty miles from Puebla, at the base of Popocatei^etl,— the rain falling, the wind howhng, and some two thousand poor devils shivering under their tent-poles. I am with General Torrejon, snugly housed, warmly welcomed, and await- ing a call to supper." From Mexico he wrote :— " My movements unknown : should the doctors, as they threaten, order me home, I will apply for a leave, only for the armistice, so as to return to save my honor and be in at the death." Again, on the 3d of March :—" My surgeons have declared this poor carcass unfit for duty; and yet the carca.ss will not leave Mexico." On the 14th of March, he says :— " You are aware that the surgeons have condemned me ; their opinion is formally written out, signed by the superin- tendent of the hospitals, and hy the surgeon-general of the army; but, in spite of this, Mexico I will not leave until I can do so clearly,— until the armistice is more definite or peace is more prospective." Tlie armistice satisfied him; the opportunities of the service were gone, and^^iTtl^th of An m i ^^era Cruz, on his ,,,. j,,,,^ 'ij'^^ °^ ^^/^^ ^^ was at telling points :- '' ''^"^^ ^^^^'^^ ^'^^ «ome "On mj homeward trail and 1-,.,+ .«. ^■-- city! An escort of « L I '' ''°'" *^ .0 in f ,,^^,^^ ^_ t.oC:::x;z "S-in ret.,™, . U-okenlZZ'^'T- '" "■"'^' ' S-y, but that I have „o r M f "■ """""^'^ P-'-eu.aH, ™a,, hut that I W ^hj ^l'" ^T never to see me a-ain .nrl r. j 7 ^ " ' ' ^''^'''''^ ^ei"=-i.appoi„ter:';:j,:^;3- «- lives may make n>e a moL ilort . "= '•''''^' eyes. It ,vas a clear bargain 1!'/""" " ^"" My very dea..e„t love to .CL ^nT ,r^" "^ ' ' " I-ito so tba.Hess,3U b i L : ';'■ ^'"r'°"' Jie suffered terrilJ^^ f.,^ i • , return T !- , ""'""■^ '^°» '™ lanee-wouud after his t'^e BepartmU fo r ::: oT "■".^''""^' •" --^ Philadelphia Navy-Yard. W™"tme„t at the The question was raised whether tim , * , given to an «.«Wa«.surgeo„ Dr K 7 """ ''' -Heal eorps bestirred Cselt Z ™"'^ '" *"^ '""•' The appointing officer V ^"•. *''^^ ^^'^ recess- I do not state all this in a puling, unmanly .pirit J end, I feel that the naked truth is a sort of duty Mex,co, or .ndeed any other scheme of life, is denied me 7™, '" "'"^^ »''' 'f "y eough does not leave me »ha,l have to leave hon.e as «„„„ as its blessings Jre tested, and spend my winters in the tropics "Tell my father-the dear judge, of whom I often- - .an^ and for whom in vague, spirit-y.arning 1 t t,on I often pray-that I really believe I behaved Ko man when tho Hrst spasm of tetanus seized me. -■'- y ohaved like a medical man. n was about ■S to clock „, the evening: I had for some hours had a shiTness n, the muscles of the neck, but locked-jaw "".!" ^''"* -^ -'-". -"Wonly, a sense of tight - .fovery flesh-fibro of my ,„,dy was a llddle-str ng a d -0 hosts of devils were tuning n,e up, came over ^ '- >-ted a fraction of a minute, and was gone Of 'lK.e foretastes of Tophet I had four during the ni^ ;;-•< '.-on sho. ; and I give you my wU dear ^' .l.«t I had no more hope of ever seeing home. The.' ; ." ""^■•' •"•"""•'•'•"-"' -vi'^tion of inevitable death. O.K. bc.fore, durmg tho shipwreck of tho Fashion, I had i^J O 23 *) 140 ELISIIA KENT KANE. the .'li 1)1 less dc This feel ing was 9 iiime leeiing, di in a less aegree. ilus neither fear, nor penitential reminiscence, nor unprofit- able analysis of the dreamy after-time, but simple concen- trated sadness. I thought of all of you, including poor Caona, and of myself only as connected with you. Once, thinking I was about to choke, I penned a 'God bless you !' — which, as an instance of calligraphy during a tetanic spasm, I enclose for Pat's museum. That done, I a second time bled myself and fainted, and, according to the shore-doctors who saw me next morning, saved my life. For my own part, placing Providence and the dispensations piimero, I look upon opium as my sheet- anchor." Writing again, three days after, in a spirit of marked consideration for the feelings of his friends at home, he reports himself well again. In his own phrase, he says, "That remarkably poor devil, your son, although, in com- mon with the weakest and the strongest of the race to which he belongs, surrounded by hostile elements, has, as a great inherent quality of his splendid organization, a principle of resistance which almost makes him think himself 'reserved for better things.' .... I lost forty ounces of blood, and took twenty-two grains of opium, and then, bleached to the color of city milk, — a pale whitewash tinge, — got up to Hiank Heaven for the pros- pect, however distant, of seeing again my very well and dearly beloved mother." The lock-jaw, and the debility which followed, made even a Mediterranean cruise a hard one to him. KECUl'EKATION. 141 - .;. «*, ... „„., „ .:::;r;:::;' no Supply arrived in Norfolk towards the close of September. In October he was at bn,.o In February l^r-n , '""'"^^ rt)cuperating. J^coiiury, ihoO, he completed lil^ ih;.r n For the last seven he hnd / ' •^'^''• withfiervf.nf n / " ^'"^'^'"^"- ^"« ^^"«tiny with titi j.footed haste, and it had evaded him i T iifl pvor^f o • ^^'"^i^uiiini! January iiacl crept awaj in eventless tranouillifv i i , • • whirlwind h not recordcl I '' ''" "^ '™ poetry, ,s openly betrayed by a letter dated /Miri , "''^''f^r.'y, Shout's IIoTEr.! Who ever heard of Short',, Hotel ? A perfect litfl„ P- .«e. looking out upon the Bay of Moli d •■'"""S a fo,„--post bedstead. Destitnt,. r ;;''''-va,,b or wa.,.b.in.8,,orttt%d ':;•;' th, t ever bung l-,„„, „,„ , - ;.-h™„. to It. beautie. . .:::;t;:;.r ^ ' ■'^^'»>dv, nil covered with 4;^ t/1 in^ a 2S 142 ELISIIA KENT KANE. long gray moss, overhang it like the reliquary of a patriarch; and, save when the sea-breezes thrust away the venerable screen, you would think yourself looking "at a thicket of Cherokee roses. And here, dear fellow, am I. "I wish, dear, sick, working friend, that you could enjoy the climate, which just at this moment is preach- ing to me its sermon of thankfulness; for the only sermons that now reach my gizzard-plated bowels are those of the dear outer world of nature. Summer, of a perennial but sluggish sort, is mellowing every thing around me. God bless you ! "The breeze comes to me purple-stained with the sunset, rippling over the bay with an eloquent crescendo of wavelets and a cadenza of tiny surf God bless the breeze, too, for I know that that great jungle of glaucous-' leafed magnolia (t'other side of Short's) would stifle me with a sirocco of fragrance could it drive its perfume to leeward. Cows, too, have left their impress, — the specific mark of cow-some-where, and I smell a presentiment of milk for supper." For two years before this date the live world had been moved to its depths by the appeals of Lady Franklin for the rescue of her husband and his companions in the search for the Northwest Passage, of whom no tidings had been heard since August, 1845. She had addressed President Taylor, in April, 1849, soliciting aid from our Government. About midsummer. Sir Francis Beaufort I-ADY FRANKLIJ^ APPEAL. I43 had, on the authoritv ^fTi^nr o xiL/ 01 rumor, announced to the Rovnl ' Mr. Claytons letter promising only th-.t "wl„t ever can be done to aia the search b/spreL ..f^t whalers shall be done," and the balance in praver: Td yn^pat .es. Lad, PVanldin, with that tena it/ pT' year, mo.e of disappon.tment, renewed her prayer to General Taylor in December, 1849; and on the Z January he transmitted the correspondence to Con re" The response of the nation had been given with the heartiest ffood-will T;,„ , ^ mistaken T J. ^ ''*' "^-^P^'ation had almost m taken Uself for an accomplished fact. Sympathy ' allan try, national honor, had combined and Xmed 0^0 held he Goyornment committed to the enterprise No one, >„ or out of the seryice, had felt the im ,ul 'e -1 asserted the duty more ardently than Dr. KanT t - ..nteered his seryice, pressed his application m"; ^otju, at JMobile, he wrofo fr« o r • i . nr,. , iit wrote to a lnend:--"Thu Do ri nent has giye„ my -yoluntecr' the slighting ans^r^" ^.■ence,.eay,„gmethesimp,e.,ati.factio;ofhavin;done 14- 4!^ X 23 144 ELISIIA KENT KANE. as I did do. Now, however, as I am probably for months a coast-survey incumbent, your health, morale, and every thing else lead me to press upon you my invitation. "Come to me by the quiet valley of turbulent waters. . . . This quiet sunshine would not be uncongenial : you could stuff alligators, read books, drink claret, or eat French dinners, just as it pleased you. ... By the latter days of June we travel northward; stopping at the Havana, Charleston, Norfolk, and then journeying, you and myself, from Boston to Philadelphia by the rail- roads." But, all unaware of the fact, he had reached the point which evenly divided his life of desperate adventure and manly endurance into two weeks of years by a brief Sab- bath of rest, — an isthmus of ease smoothly linking two continents of effort, with the most massive and mountain- ous before him : he had abandoned himself to his fate as his last disappointment had colored it, and was pleasantly relieving its tediousness with the lyrics of elegant leisure, when, "in such an hour as he knew not," it sprang upon him like a strong man armed, and carried him into the field of a conflict fitting his necessities and fulfilling his hopes and his life. His "personal narrative" of the first "United States Grinnell Expedition" opens in the tone of this surprise, just as a whirlwind breaks into the calm of a tropic May day :— "On the 12th of May," he says, "while bath- ing in the tepid waters of the Gulf of Mexico, I received one of those courteous little epistles from Washington OFF TO THE AECTIC. 145 wh.ch the electric telegraph ha. made so familiar to na.al oftcer. It detached me from the coast-survey, and ordered me to 'proceed forthwith to New York for duty upon the Arctic Expedition.' "Seven and a half days later, I had accomplished my overland journey of thirteen hundred miles, and in forty hours more our squadron was beyond the limits of the tin. ted States : the Department had calculated my travel- Img-time to a nicety." ^ 10 CHAPTEK IX. franklin's voyages — SEARCH-EXPEDITIONS — UNITED STATES GRIN- NELL EXPEDITION — LIEUTENANT DE HAVEN — ARCTIC ROSE-PLUCKING — THE captain's DOUBTS — THE DOCTOR'S DECISION — THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE — HORRORS OF AUTHORSHIP — DIETETICS AND DRUGS — PUBLIC LECTURING — EXPEDITIONS OF 1852 — ESTIMATE OF BUTTONS — SECOND VOYAGE POSTPONED — LITTLE WILLIE — IN MEMORIAM — GRINNELL LAND — ARROWSMITH AND THE ADMIRALTY — ADJOURNED JUSTICE — DR. KANE AND COLONEL FORCE — COMITY AND EQUITY. Sir John Franklin's first voyage to the Polar regions was made as lieutenant commanding the Trent, under Captain Buchan, of the Dorothea, in 1818; his second was the great overland journey with Dr. Richardson, to the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, in 1819; his third, to the sq-me field of effort, in 1825; and he sailed for his fourth and last voyage on the 25th of May, 1845, with a crew of one hundred and thirty-eight men and officers, in search of the Northwest Passage from Baffin's Bay to the Pacific by way of Lancaster Sound. His ships, the Erebus and Terror, were met by a whaler in the upper waters of the bay, moored to an iceberg, waiting for an opening in " the pack," on the 26th of July following : they have not been seen since. 14G SEAECH-EXPEDITIONS. 147 Early ,„ 1848, three expeditions were despatched by the Bnt,sh Government in search of the missing vessels one, a marine expedition, by way of Behring's Strait,' eon.st.„g of the Herald and Plover, i„ command o Captam Kellett and Captain Moore ; another, an overland and boat party, conducted by Sir John Richardson, to descend the Mackenzie River; the third, two ships, the Enterprise and Investigator, under command of Sir James Clarke Ross, through Lancaster Sound and Bar- rows Strait. An admirably devised and vigorously endeavored plan of search, but entirely unsuccessful Before the begmning of 1850, they had all abandoned .t without having reached even the threshold of the field to be explored. These failures only aroused the sympathy and stimu- at ed the enthusiasm of England to endeavor the rescue of the long-lost explorers. Parliament, in March, 1849 offered a reward of X2C,000 for the discovery and effectual rehef of the missing ships, or ^10,000 for the discovery and elfectual relief of any of the crew of the vessels, or for ascertaining their fate. Two whale-ships were put upon the search in 1849 • ey failed as badly as the more promising expeditions ot the year before. The anxiety and the effort grew by these disappoint- ments, ^„d, in 1850, England sent a fleet to the rescue -the Enterprise and Investigator, by Behring's Strait,' t e Resolute and Assistance and two screw-propellers tile I'loueerand Intmnifl b.rP„f«„'„ p.^ , .7 _ ' --x-^-; ^v --amna hay, and, joined to ai 14- O 23 148 ELISHA KENT KANE. !r ^y these, the veteran Sir John Ross went out in a schooner provided by public subscription; and Lady Franklin herself equipped two others, a ship of two nundred and twenty-five tons, bearing her own name, and a olipper- brig of one hundred and twenty tons, named the Sophia; and still another, of which she bore two-thirds pf the expense, — a schooner-rigged craft of ninety tons. Besides all this. Dr. Rae, under direction of the Hudson's Bay Company, undertook the same year to complete an un- accoLiplished part of the land-exploration of 1848, from the northern coast of America. In all, ten British vessels, manned by daringly adventurous crews, commanded by veteran ice-masters, and carrying a gallant band of volun- teers to the scene of trial and danger. Our own Government, urged by a generous public sentiment, and stimulated by the offer of two vessels for the service by Mr. Grinnell, of New Fork, went into the adventure with zeal and liberality. By joint resolution of the two houses of Congress, passed 2d May, 1850, the President was authorized "to accept and attach to the navy two vessels offered by Henry Grinnell, Esq., to be sent to the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin and Iiis companions. The President may detail from the navy such commissioned and warrant officers and seamen as may be necessary for said expedition, and who may be willing to engage in it. The said officers and men shall be furnished with suitable rations for a period not exceeding three years, and shall have the use of such necessary instruments as the Depart* IIEUTENANI DE HAVEN. 149 Tu\ "" ''T''"''- ^'^^^^id;^-els. officers, and men « 1 be >„ a , ..expects under the laws and AgulaZ the vessels shall he delivered to Henry Grinnell Pro v*d. that the mUed States shall not'belJeto!; cJaim for compensation in case of ih. i ^ deterioration, use, or ri.k of tZ^J^t '"''' ^-'^°-' These vessels were two little hermaphrodite bri^s t ^Kesr- ■:"'": '-'-' -' ^»^-^- ^^ uit nescue, of ninety-one. ottcer h,s berth was aboard of the Advance. Dr V.eeland, ass.stant-surgeon, was assigned to the Rescue' Lieutenant De H-iwn ti,„ , rescue, same kind ,f commander, had seen the Z" k'nd of serv.ce as that now before him in the Wilkes Expedition of 1838 to the South Jar con' Xiri:lr "''''"■ ' ''""' -'-' ^^'"^ ^ ^^* tte haidiest of h,s competitors in the struggles of the Nor 1, ..rn Ocean. In one of their joint scrat ami he hummocks of Barrow's Strau, with the B^ isri' holdrng their breath in strained expectancy, h gaJe ;xror;r:r;ir:°^^r"*'- ----inthebowofh-rtihetrrar: '', says of him and h IS men ill-* fJU 2S 150 ELISIIA KENT KANE. '» 4. depended alone upon skill and intrepidity, our go-ahead friends would have given us a hard tussle for the laurels to be won in the Arctic regions." The subsequent his- tory of the American cruisers shows that, if the longest and hardest tussle with the Arctic ice on record may decide, they really won the honors of the combined expe- ditions of that year. But, however the awards for exer- tion and endurance may be distributed, the American volunteers had been beforehand in securing one hand- some advantage over their competitors in the search, which Osborn states in this way: — "As a proof of the disinterestedness of their motives, men as well as officers, I was charmed to hear that, before sailing from America, they had signed a bond not to claim, under any circum- stances, the £20,000 reward the British Government had offered for Franklin's rescue : we, I am sorry to say, had acted differently. America had plucked a rose from our brows." Mercury, chloroform, and proof-spirits may freeze in the Arctic zone, but hearts as warm as these would stand the cold of the North Pole itself. The commander and the doctor of this gallant little crew met for the first time at the navy-yard of Brooklyn the day before they set sail. De Haven had never heard of Kane ; and he confesses that when he took his measure, as a captain looks at the men he must depend upon in great emergencies, he thought he was not the pattern for the place. If he had had but the time, he would have asked the Department to exchange him for a more promising man j but that was impossible, and he con- I THE captain's DOUBTS. 161 eluded that the battereTlI^^e body would have enough of It by the time they should reach Greenland, and then he could send him back. De Haven, you are a fine fellow, but you haven't the mialhble measure for men. That slight figure has a preternaturaily big heart in it; and the "soul, mind and sp.„t" of the man is still beyond your estimate though your admiration for his manliness now is as much M your own stout frame can v, Jl bear To sea they went; and the trial began. That inevitable sea,s.ckness which persecuted the doctor like a demon laid h.m up forthwith, to work away at the feat of turn! ing himself inside out at every pitch of the brig Wha le-Fish Island, and, pat to the purpose so benevolently en ertamed, and now, by the experience of the trial-trip the Greenland coast, so abundantly justified, De Haven ound an English transport, chartered by the Admiralty, hat could carry the completely knocked-up young doct^; to England on his way home; and he very kindly but resolutely, proposed it. All that was required was that the doctor should certify his own unfitness for further service, and he would be sent home invalided, on full pav rank saved, and all parties handsomely accommodated! The doctor looked at him a moment in almost btok dismay There was a consciousness of substantial truth and right in it; but, after a spasm of painful feeling which me ted the captain's very heart, he turned sud lenly, and answered, firmly, "I won't do it." The J"" I 23 Its i 152 ELISHA KENT KANE. 4 M captain could not insist, and a fortnight afterwards the doctor was fit for the hardest duty of the voyage, and for many months the busiest and most efficient man on board. His personal narrative of the Expedition shows what a world of w^ork he did in that voyage, the most remark- able for risk, adventure, and actual achievement of that season of search. Of this cruise, styled "The United /States Grhmcll Expedition in search of Sir John Frank- lin," to indicate the mixed governmental and private enterprise which it represented, it is well known Dr. Kane became the historian. The vessels left New York on the 22d of May, 1850, and returned to the same port on the 30th of September, 1851, a voyage of sixteen months, during nine of them ice-locked and adrift in a frozen ocea,n. It is alike impossible and unnecessary for us to follow the doctor in his personal adventures throughout this period which he has himself journalized and published. We have not the temerity to rehearse or abridge a narrative so absolutely perfect in substance, form, array, and effect. It was given to the world from the press of the Harpers early in July, 1853, with the . following advertisement : — " It may apologize, perhaps, for some imperfections in this book, to mention that the greater portion of it has gone through the press without the author's revisal. While lie was engaged in preparing it, the liberality of Mr. Grinnell, of New York, and Mr. Peabody, of London, enabled him to set on foot a second HORKOES OP AUTnOESHIP. 153 Polar Exped:fo„, which .ailed under hi. command on the tope, If h,s t„ne had not been engrossed by the nr^n^ rations for his journey." ^ ^^ This "note" was by the gentleman who supervised the c.o.ng sheets of the boo. as they passed LughlL tiof ttr, ri? ""^ ™ ""^^•''^^'^•' ^"'^ ^ '^^'"^ -ca- tion to h m. There was nothing in all the multitudi- nous and -mensely varied en .agements of his life^S TlZ r' ^■^''™''^^ ""» "^« ''■ His stren h was not adequate, and sedentary occupation was at oL mlT^Hor "'"'t""'' -""=-- '0 his habiZ ^eu Tol diSr". ;;: u 'ir r'^ "°' "-« 1 eu to aivide himself and to to biiffpt.." over an uncon^'en; il inK ti, uuuets cities over J ^ "'"' "'"" o'" '""'"'■"W «•■'?»• cifes over this unwonted work. He «,o«a write a book ^z:r ~ "' ""^"'-^^ ""' '>« --" '- "mself to the multitude, and adjust Iiimself to the trade " """'■^ ^"'-' "- public sentiment in support of «,!' « enterprise of search and exploration li J was endeavoring to inaugurate; but he could not on rainhisspiritintoaconformabloaddress. „e Ibrd s apabdity most libeliously, yet he felt that he ou^d XioXrr^^ no leadings of h, own nn-nd; and his frionds- fnend« to who.. ..dgments he looked one nioment with K0y DC S2 154 ELISUA KENT KANE. the docility of a child, and at the next resisted with the temper of outraged taste, — well, it may be said in a word, they badgered him till he escaped into the field of that freer fight and even less formidable toil which he encountered in his second voyage to the Polar circle. At one time during the early summer of 1852 his bodily strength fairly broke down and his brain well- nigh gave way. In diet and drink he "'^as habitually abstemious; in labor he was terribly intense; and when his nervous system broke up under this weakening regi- men and wearing work, and he apprehended an attack of apoplexy, paralysis, or some other form of cerebral explosion, to meet the danger he put himself under a reducing drug-treatment, and was on the very verge of a fatal issue when he was arrested by the advice of a friend. Upon a more generous system of living, and some relaxation of toil in book-making, he escaped the imminently impending catastrophe. Add to all this a voluminous correspondence in which he engaged to for- ward the interests of the second Expedition, and the wearing solicitude of preparation for so great an enter- prise, and some idea may be formed of his first expe- riences in authorship. He had been lecturing, too, in the principal Eastern cities, creating a public sentiment wherever he went, and had the unfamiliar responsibilities of public speaking to add to the repugnant work of authorship. That he was eminently capable of both, everybody knew but him- self; no success in results, no unanimity of public opinion. EXPEDITIONS OF 1852. 155 wc,uld ^ever pe.uade hin. to believe a word of it for ^iJ? 'r""^' '"''^'''' "^^'-J '^ ^o^dary and a subsidiary not be fi-hcd ,„ tnne for starting on a second cruise to tl.o North ,n 1852. He had been straining every nerve -:ce h,s return in the autumn before, to get up a private expedition for the ensuing nring Tlie unexpected return of the British squadron, and he compulsory drift which had brought the De Haven bngs ice-Iocked almost to our own shores before they were released, had increased the universal desire to d e ' nme the ,ato of Franklin. The discovery, i„ 1850 of ; ;""-<.;.a-tors at Beeehey Island in XsIU rev Id the hopes which had begun to fade rapidly away, five Bh.ps, under Sir Edward Belcher, were sen' out [o renew r and and m consequence of a report of the murder of Nr John au his crews by the natives of Wolstenholme hound on the west coast of Greenland, 7C1" N Ladv i^ranUin refitted the Isabel sc.w.team^ for the'invet tigation of this story. The field of search was to be explored more vigorously an ever; and Dr. Kane panted to participate. °0n t I 7^1 of May, 1852, he wrote to Mr. Gri mell -"Th! lette^of Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft er nice -vo me Their views coincide with my own am — d that an expedition could be carried out IZ I'nvate auspices without feeling the absence of an arti- "it DC 23 156 ELISHA KENT KANE. ^ ficial discipline. If you will send for Penny, I will act either conjointly with him, or in any other position in which I can be of use. . . . The feelings which lead me to this offer forbid the intrusion of any thought of tech- nical dignity. He may have my buttons, and I will go B.BCooh. . . . The book will be done in the middle of June: we might be off before the 1st of July. . . . You ought not, and are not, to advance one cent. The great tax upon you will be the * Advance.' I will go strenuously to work and raise the funds, giving my own salary as a start." In the afternoon of the same day he wrote again : — "Upon reconsidering my letter of this morning, it seems to me that if you knew of any good, practical man who could act as sailing-master, there would be no necessity for the delay and expense of Penny ; and I could readily undertake the exploration proposed." Again, 9th June, 1852, he says:— "I am still too unwell to undertake a long letter. If it pleases Provi- dence to restore me to robust health, I will gladly form a part of the Behring's Strait expedition, should the * Advance' join Lady Franklin's steamer. My judgment, however, is averse to the plan." He did not get off that season. His efforts through the winter and spring to accomplish this wish were dis- appointed : his offers, unreserved as they were, were not accepted. The book was not finished in June. His health had badly fiiiled him; and in June, when it was tolerably re-established, another task absorbed his LITTLE WILLIE. 157 thoughts, feelings, anl^^^^^T^.^^^ ^11 th. months of the year. '""""^^^ His brother, Utile Wilh'e a lad nf fir. in the snrino. .p ^- of fifteen, was taken ill bore it he: iet^^- ^:,:ir' '°'" '"' ™^' »^ parens. 0. p4 h!^;: rixr^r I? ^": * - well as you bore your lock Hwr ' ,f' ' ^'"' *''* hesaid, "lamnrptf ''""'■'''"'■ ^t another time all the .ood lr\ °" "'*' "^ ™"'^'^^ -'-«ns ri.Ht:rr:rtre:t:T::i"^--^^-<-^e -Hneveryparlor/JtiXS^rlVt't""' to me you must tell me. Do^, l^VrSni h"''" Natural affection, brother-love, symnathv f . sufferino- werp nn+ ^i i ^^"^Pathy for extreme «very other onffan-ement .„^ ,. "S&1« lasted, solicitude: Willelddll tl"'": ' ''''' "'"^^ personal worthiness. "^ ' '"'''''^"''^'" <"-■» "^ No falsities of faahinn o„ <• intrude nt tt, . ,, "^ '^^''^ Permitted to mt'ude at that brave boy's funeral. Th re were n! '^^C/'-mourners there: strangers to his blood 1^ '"'"• "•''™«'' ar' equality „f „,,f ^Z. J 7 shared it. ^ "^ "^^«® who It was not mere vrccnn{t^r «p ^.,.„. . X — --v - -^vciopmeiit, nor childish a. ■!■' ki 158 ELISHA KENT KANE. «L. sweetness of person and temper, which gave WiUie his place in our hearts and holds him still in their memo- ries. That youngest of the family bade fairly and surely, we thought, to rank with the eldest in all generous and noble achievements, — in another sphere of life, indeed, but not less excellent or beneficent. Willie was neither the copy nor the contrast of Elisha. They were unlike enough to love each other like brother and sister ; they were like enough for all the reciproci- ties of friendship. Tears sadly sweet for our loss in the early death of Willie ; solemn exultation over the nobly completed life of Elisha. . . . It seomed, while we looked at their mother, as she stood, in the composure of a great grief ruled by a strong spirit, at the margin of her child's grave, that there was one consolation for her in his premature death: — He would never go away, out of her arms, away into the world. She had now one child safe in heaven, — a child unchanging to her until her own change should come. Since then the wandering one has returned, and they rest together. Maternal solicitude is released from its painful vigils, and in the spirit of Christian hope the mother sits now by their tomb as once she watched by their cradle for their gladsome waking. I would not have ventured to speak of this sweetly sad episode in the epic of Elisha's life, if his portraiture could have been completed without ii. Those who know him only as a hero may herd him with the crowd who have in Iheir thousand ways worked their names into GEINMEtL LAND. 159 h. tory,_,„e„ of blood or naen of brai„s,-»en of chi valnc sp,„t and distinguished achieveme;*, whom fat ampl, ..epa,s for all they give or have to givHoI notonety had a heart and a soul i„ hi„._all nerve to the demands of dutv h„f • ^i , sense .11 t» / . ' "'" '^"'P'^^' ^-xJ dearest ens , all tenderness, devotion, and tact in the offices of affection and the services of suffering humanl I ™ay seem strange, but it is true, that°he ITtonce a ma. a woman, and a child to those who coul ~ .n full communion the life he had to give them notabandoned,_enga.ed him T'l ^^ ^ '"' P"°'^' the task of defending DeH ™""'" °""'" """S^' of the Grinnel r . , "' P"°"'^ "'' disn-W It :: " "° "''^™ '^'^y '' *ould, be ^'SftUibea, tnat our "frienrllv nli,-^.," • ^i T? , ,. iiii^nuiy callies in the senroh fr^r^ Frankhn did not behave handsomely, nor fa ! n At IS (ill settled now riiihtlv h„f ,v fnii r , "g^^'y^ but It was not done irrapp 2^^ the Wds-Commissioners of the British Ad! tarv'drir' V:: "°^"'^™"-' Poi„t of his involun. ' ^ ''•■ft "P Welhngton Channel, did, on the 22d f Seje^bisao. discover land e.;endi;,g;rrK";. ^^•iN.i^. of his position, to which h^ ..o,,. .,... .. - -i- b^^^t tiiu name of O 160 ELISHA KENT KANE. Grinnell. On the 4th of October, 1851, immediately after his return, he made his official report, claiming this discovery, backed by all the evidence that could be -equired to establish the claim ; and the newspapers of the day carried the announcement to England, along with the earliest intelligence of the safe return of the gallant and generous crews who had gone upon the search at their own country's expense and under a pledge to decline the reward which had been offered by Parlia- ment to induce the endeavor. On the 12th of May, 1851, eight months aftei the discovery of De Haven, the same land was seen by Captain Penny, of the English squadron. He knew nothing at that time of De Haven's ascent of the channel in the preceding September, and in ignorance of that fact named it "Albert Land," in compliment to his Royal Highness. This name, thus excluding the Ameri- can discovery, appeared on the map of the Hydrographic Office published in September, 1851, andin Arrowsmith's map of " Discoveries in the Arctic Sea," dated 21st of October, 1851, but not published for several weeks after wards, — for some of the discoveries of Dr. Rae, which were not announced to the Admiralty till the 10th of Novem- ber, appear on it. It is probable, as well as possible,, that the Hydro- graphic Office map of September, 1851, was innocent of any information of De Haven's discovery; but Arrow- smith's loses all right to a respectful construction, not merely by the fact that it was not issued until after news [lediately ning this could be Dapers of d, along •n of i;he pon the a pledge Y Parlia- iftei the seen by [e knew channel of that ; to his i Ameri- Dgraphic ^smith's 21st of ks after ich were Novem- Hydro- ocent of Arrow- ion, not er news o; 23 i ■%. *w. 3 (/> lill r J ■< Ml X.' 4> ■<■■•, o 2S g upon an unwarranted assumption. This document -ued so long after De Haven's report was pubirhed which was entitled, under any circumstances, to greate consideration, and, in the peculiar relations of the parties ::;; f ^™^"»-^ »«'-y besides, cannot claim the' .ame forbearance. This map of "Discoveries in the At of Parliament, at the Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty, April 8, 1852," reasserted the name Albert Land' for that tract of country which the Grin- -11 Expedition had discovered and claimed by naming ^Hifrththir- '''' ^— '^^ "^^ ^-•■^- . Here was an involvement, with an impeachment lyin, "«'er It; and Lieutenant De Haven, commanding th: 162 ELISHA KENT KANE. U't "Advance," Mr. Griffin, commanding the "Rescue," and Dr. Kane, the historian of the cruise, were all committed for the vindication of their personal credit and the honor of the service to which they belonged. The Secretary of the Navy called uiDon Dr. Kane for a statement of the facts by which the discovery was supported; and he made, also, an official call upon Lieu- tenant De Haven for a report. Dr. Kane replied under date of 28th of December, 1852. The Secretary sent De Haven's chart to the Admiralty on the 12th of January, 1853, which was received on the 31st of the same month. The I-ords-Commissioners, on the 1st of March, replied that "the whole Wellington Channel will no doubt be materially changed by Captain Sir E. Belchers observations: it would be better to let this matter remain in abeyance until his return, when it will be their lordships' fuvst duty to do the fullest justice to the enterprising efforts of Lieutenant De Haven and to the noble liberality of Mr. Grinnell." Moreover, the Admiralty had received "an engraved sketcii of the region round the Wellington Channel; and a tracing of the Grinnell vessels' tracks up that channel nearly to 75i° north latitude," forwarded from 2^ow York on the 18th of November, iSn, which was hud before the board by their hydrographer, Sir F. Beaufort, as appears by his acknowledgment oearing date the 5tli of December. Well, Sir E. Belcher, returning from his tour of explo- ration at the head of Wellington Cliamiel, landed in i ADJOURNED JUSTICE. 163 England on the 28th of September, 1854; and Sir F Beaufort, Eear-Admiral and Il.drographer of the Admi- ralty, wntn,g to Mr, Grinnell on the 24th of January, 1800, sa3. "On carefully comparing all the logs and journal, of Captain Austin's squadron, it is ma,:ifestly ..npossible that any of his vessels could hn,ve seen thai Haven!" ^'" """ '" '^''""'"''^ ^^ ^^P*'''" ^ T. ese logs of Austin's squadron had been in the pes- r r : ,? "^''""""^ ^^^^ ^'°- *« -"-" of is'i. ar E,^ Belcher had discovered no inaccuracies in De lavens report which could touch his pretensions; and the grace of crediting him and hi. officers was finally conceded not to their claim, but to the manifest impos- sibdUy of discrediting it after four years of incredulous scrutiny. Had it been earlier it had been mor* courteous. The British chum was from the first, as Dr. Kane held it in a etter to Mr. Grinnell, dated May 10, 1852, '-utterly .ndefe„s,ble." There were but two questions in tl'e c™troversy : one touching the capacity of the American officers to observe and understand what they saw, the "t'«;. affi.ct,ng their veracity in reporting it. The con- cession was not made to either claim. The substance of Dr. Kane's demolishing argument agamst the English assumption, made for theuse of the Navy Department, is reproduced in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Personal Narrative of the First Grinnell I'^xpedition. Lieutenant Do Haven's official report is iu ^3 ■ ■it ^ cue 164 ELISHA KENT KANE. the Appendix of the same volume, p. 494. Colonel Peter Force, of Washington City, during this period of long-delayed justice, or, rather, the adjourned question of our squadron's honor, brought to the rescue of his countrymen's claims the great resources and ample powers in his possession, and, in a series of papers dis- tinguished for their frankly severe criticism, completely established the De Haven discovery. Even when Dr. Kane sailed for the North on the 31st of May, 1853, he seems to have felt no assurance that the honor of the Grinnell Lan-I discovery at the head of Wellington Channel would ever be frankly conceded to De Haven by the Lords-Commissioners; for this, to our understanding, is the clear meaning of one paragraph of his letter to Mr. Kennedy, written before he landed at New York on his return. He says, " I have a Grinnell Land now which any one is welcome to take who reaches it." The now in this sentence is underscored in the autograph letter. The emphasis upon the word " take" is referred to the judgment of the readers of this brief narrative of the affair, with great confidence that there is no danger of its being put on too heavily. Dr. Kane had put the name of Grinnell on a newly-discovered coast so near the Pole that his priority was not likely to be disputed. Mr. Kennedy, quoting the same letter, — from me- mory doubtless,-~makes the doctor say, "I liave found another Grinnell Land, which any man is welcome to who will go after it." Anofher Grinnell Land, with- out any difference of name to distinguish it on the map COMITY AND EQUITY. 165 of the Polar region, and requiring a periphrase to deter- mine Its locality every time it must be used ! No : Dr. Kane did not know or believe that he had two ; eine he would have ear-marked them better, to prevent confusion in his nomenclature. Believing that Dr. Kane's characteristic forbearance m the management of this controversy cannot rightfully be construed into any thing hke satisfaction with the conduct of the Lords-Commissioners, we have conscien- tiously endeavored to vindicate the truth of history, leaving the international comities of kindred blood' language, and Anglo-Saxon partnership in the patrona^re of our planet to take care of themselves, under correction of even-handed justice to the "high contracting parties" and "the rest of mankind." » im m, Ci£. O CHAPTER X. MR. KENNEDY'S ALACRITY— SYMPATHY OF THE SAVANS— CONFIDENCE STRENGTHENED— EXCITING THE OFFICIALS— HOPES ON A SEE-SAW— DRUDGERY OF BORING— KENNEDY CHANNEL— CASH CONTRIBUTIONS— LECTURING-BUSINESF— MR. PEABODY — DEFICIENCIES OF OUTFIT- LABORIOUS PREPARATIONS— PATRIOTIC ENTHUSIASM— THE HONORS IN DANGER— RACE AGAINST TIME— ADMIRALTY CHART— A TIME TO BE SICK— DAILY PRAYERS— CHRISTIAN HEROISM— SPECIAL PRO- VIDENCE—WORSHIP AMONG THE HUMMOCKS— VINDICATION OP rAITH— "HOW READEST THOU ?"— SAVING FAITH. From this parenthesis of impatience with the Lords- Commissioners in the matter of Grinnell Land— for which, be it understood, Dr. Kane is in no wise respon- sible^'— we return to his unremitting labors throuoh the * In a letter dated May 17, 1853, ia which he mentions several pro- eents, valuable for service in the Arctic regions, froiK Sir F. Beaufort, Captain McClintock, Captain Inglefield, Mr. Barrow, and the Admiralty,— tetters to him from Parry, Ro.ss, and Sabine, containing helpful sugges- tions for his Expedition, and other letters from Captains Penny and Kennedy, in purpose and matter friendly and useful, he says :— "It will gratify you to see my letters from Sir F. Beaufort and others of Arctic reputation across the water. To me England has always been « seat of sympathy and pride; and I am -lad that I never permitted 1G6 ^ MR. KENNEDY'S ALACRITY. 167 winter of 1852-53 in the wearing work of getting up the expedition of the ensuing spring. In a personal interview with the^Honorable John P Kennedy, Secretary of the Navy, he unfolded the plan and purposes of his second Polar voyage. Mr. Kennedy- perceiving that, with all the liberality of Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Peabody, the outfit would be very limited, and beheving that he could aid it by some valuable additions through the ordinary means of the Navy Department- suggested to the doctor that he would issue an order to place him on "special duty" with reference to the Expe dition, and direct him to report to the Department This enabled the Secretary t. increase his pay to the "duty rate," and to add many focilities for His voyage, besides giving the Expedition something of the advantages of a Government connection, which might serve a good pur- pose m Its prospective necessities. This order was accordmgly issued on the 27th of November, 1852- and when the time came, ten men belonging to the 'navy were attached to the doctor's command, under Government ^yself to use au uucourteous expression in eonnection witii 'Grinnell "I hope you will not think me sclf-adulatorj when I say that my loc turcs and scientific papers have been of practical service in giving our Ex. pedU.on character among those whose opinions are calculated to advance >t. per., , a. a reputation. Everv thing seems to point to a prosperous commenuan.oat; making It only the more incumbent upon us, as Amen- cans and men, to sustain the expectations of those who are watching our ^•ourse On this head I feel gravely my respoasibility." ^•^t O 168 ELISHA KENT KANE. 4* pay. Apparatus from the Medical Bureau, "rations and commutations" for the volunteers detached from the navy, and such other necessaries for the voyage were added as were within the Secretary's very liberal con- struction of his powers. And to these helps the Smith- sonian Institute and the National Observatory contributed liberally for scientific purposes. Professors Henry and Bache, and Lieutenant Maury were alike zealous in yield- ing whatever of assistance was in their power to bestow. With an appropriation from Congress the Expedition could have been made much more effectual, and much suflering might have been avoided; but the hope of such aid was so slight that it was believed to be almost useless to appi} for it. The gentlemen just named, who are respectively at the head of the oxnithsonian Institute, the Coast Survey, and the Observatory, joined in a formal and ably-argued application to the Secretary of the Navy for the assist- ance of the Department, warmly commending iiim for the zeal he had already displayed by his orders in behalf of the enterprise, approving its objects, and as warmly endorsing Dr. Kane's " peculiar qualities as an explorer, and his varied resources of knowledge, exhibited, as they had been, in his contributions to the De Haven Expedi- tion," which, they said, " point him out as eminently fitted for the task which he proposes to undertake under your auspices." In November he received the intelligence of Captain Inglefield's reported discoveries in Smith's Sound,— the CONFIDENCE STRENGTHENED. 169 track of his own pro^i^^^^T^^^^eh. I„ August that officer h«J entered the Sound and seen a great open sea cumbered more or less with loose ice, and picturesquei; fumashed with an island in the distance, t. which he gave the name of Louis Napoleon. This peep into the "great Polar basin" was performed n the space of a few hours, in a heavy gale which blew tT Tn *'' '"""'■ '' --' ^--er, duly harted. and Dr. Kane,.ceived it as "an entire confirma^ t|on of the soundness of his plan of search," and expected thatrtwouldprobably cause Lady Franklin to add herlittle steamer, the " Isabel," to his party in the following spring. ..deed he says, " every thing points to a successful res: lution of the much-vexed question of an open Polar sea " I" «- -ent the "Isabel" did not join his party, and IngleHeld s sea was so tight under ice when .he "Advice" entered it the next year, that she was stopped by it; and the same ice is round her still." Two years of careful observation of that region resolved he .sland into a mistak.. „.d the coast-lines, longitude tees, and open sea of Inglefield went into the lis 01 "illusory discoveries." Lecturing and hook-writing went on through the win- ter, amid the racking toil and anxiety of preparation for an early start for the North. A hope of Congressional aid-one of those hopes that 2 ^". of want to die of fatigue, or, rather, the con- s .entious duty of endeavoring to secure it-cost weeks ot incessant labor. IJU *«i O 23 170 ELISHA KENT KANE. Of one of those weeks, ending the 30th of January, he gives, in brief, this account ; — " In order to excite an interest, I accepted an invitation, hastily given by Pro- fessor Henry, to lecture at the Smithsonian, and invited thereto the Senate Committee and Heads of Departments. I gave them a full exposition of our plans, state of organi- zation, and requirements. The Secretary (of the Navy) was present. "I have not hesitated to call personally on any mem- ber of either House whose interest was of peculiar importance ; and all this, together with the task of draw- ing up requisitions, &c. &c., has completely used me up. 1 have not averaged more than three hours' sleep a night since I left." It seems that he obtained a promise from the proper parties to append a grant of fifteen thousand dollars, for the use of his Expedition, to the General Appropriation bill. He adds to the statement the ominous remark that "this will require more work." The issue appears in his record of another week's work in April, after Mr. Kennedy had gone out with the Fillmore administration and Secretary Dobbin had come in with General Pierce : — April 7th, by telegraph : "Things look black." 8th : " Still seeing Senators." 11th: "Every thing that my poor efforts could do is now done; and I anxiously wait an answer." "General Pierce favored me with a private interview yesterday at 9 a.m. I talked nearly one hour, and lie DRUDGERY OF BORING. 171 ments. To this Ww T • , '"® ^^^sident s senti- letters enough to ca., Com.TlZ-'' ' """^" 11th, by telegraph : « A bare ghost of a chance " Same day, by letter: "I have completed a Z mentative paper bv Mr n i,k- ^ ''""' * '™g "''gi- matter in the 1 Lt of ^r "^""'' P''"''"^ the n light of a py^,^^ obligation." And afte. ta, „g a ost of auxiliary efTorl. and a^enci em P oyed, by which he left no stone unturned 1^1 2 have a worm under it, the .entle.an breaks out a. Ih a critical sweat « All +i • • ' ^^"" The sum total of Government h^lr. • • in a .etter to Mr. Kenned"^ ~ "^^^^^^ successor, Mr Dohhm ).no • '' ""^ ^^^^J '— 'Your whilo ;+ u T ^^orK,— an assurance which "dd to :t, at least enables Mr. Grinnell and myself to -gn- you alone as the centre of obligation. Tfe^ 2 T " ' "'"' ' '='^""»' ''"t f-1 that my little p't' belongs to another Administration; and I hope ta ;! s VI ^.o*^* 172 ELISIIA KEXT KANE. tj will not be bored if I show my recognition of your per- sonal agency by a regular bulletin from the land of ice." "Kennedy Channel," connecting the Arctic ring of perpetual ice with the open sea near the Pole, is the appropriate fulfilment of this purpose. It will be recollected that the doctor was decided against a "strictly naval expedition." His strenuous but unavailing endeavor to secure for the private one which he conducted every needed assistance from the Government acquits him of responsibility for the defi- ciencies of outfit which he could not, by all the efforts in his power, prevent. His personal contributions to ^^ ^ expense-fund cannot be given; but we know that he oted at least twenty months of unremitting toil, his o.vn pay, (which must have been about three thousand dollars,) and the proceeds of the lectures which he delivered through the winters of 1852 and 1853 in the Atlantic cities. We have the evidence of one item only, — the amount thus raised in Boston. Writing to Mr. Grinnell, 26th of February, 1853, he says, "Mr. George R. Russell, of Boston, for- warded to me the funds resulting from my Boston visit. These I have deposited in the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, and, as soon as I get time to run over the accounts, will send you. a check for the amount. I wish I could afford to give my travelling-expenses j but I am so out of pocket already with my perambulations, that, in the case of Boston, I had to charge them. These, however, refer only to such as are absolutely incidental to my object. I LECTUEING-BUSIITESS. 173 Incuclmg the several su„« of $78 75 and |58 re- ocvecl from New Bedford, and those added to my LnZ in Boston, the gross sum is somewhere about |I400 " mule at Boston the lecturing-business gets this charac- c™,ctonch: "ThefundwhiehlsoughUoraisewZ ha>dly or I wdl not accept personal contributions as I circulated by the first men, inviting me to lecture- and by the aul of the ladies, all the best of whom 7 havt pressed :nto th. service, I hope to succeed. Every! .the scene of some rival attraction, and I have to do aU I can to distance my rivals,-Blitz, Alboni, and Emer o„ we are all of one feather. No matter .so thaH "t my money, I do not care." ^ * The amount of his gatherings from all quarters we purse efore sailing, and especially after his return, when mo„ey """"" '''""'"^ "^^ -*>• ""^-d-'oe of Mr. Peabody, an American gentleman residing in Lon- l: Mr"r 'T ""^' ^^'^ '" '- «'— Sm hs% . r '"'' *'" '"S ^'^'''•^ ^- left in Smith s Sound, and how much besides we know not- the «t.tution, the American Philosophical Society and a n^^r of scientific associations and friends o'f' ^: tes.de, came forward to help him: but we have some «s for the belief that there wane larger cZlZ! ' r'l IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) i.O I.I ^1^ 1^ m ..„ Hill 2.0 1.25 i.4 11.6 <^ /a e. ■c*. > % "■! h. '^^J^W ^^, PhotograDhic Sciences Corporation m- 73 WIST MAIN STRUT Wf BSTIR, NY. 14580 (716) •72-4503 4^ ^\^\ ^^"^'^ ^If6^ ^ ^-^^ "%" i' .n ■^ % 174 ELISHA KENT KANE. tributor, first and last, to the Expedition, than Dr. Kane himself,~if the funds raised by his own labor may be as fairly credited to him as to the parties from whom iney were received. And we think they may; for the pro- ceeds of his lectures were justly his own, and the larger part even of his travelling-expenses came from his own pocket. If he had failed, either in labor or sacrifice, in prepara- tion for this voyage, all the reputation he has won for courage, endurance, and achievement would not shelter him from censure for recklessness and the suspicion of a selfish ambition. But can the most exacting spirit ask more from mortal man than he did to insure the good fortune of his great adventure ? He speaks to the point in his own way, (Second Grin- nell Expedition, vol. i. p. 25 :) " No one can know so Wdll as an Arctic voyager the value of foresight. My conscience has often called for the exercise of it, but my habits make it an effort. I can hardly claim to be provi- dent, either by impulse or education. Yet for some of the deficiencies of our outfit I ought not, perhaps, to hold myself responsible. Our stock of fresh meats was too small, and we had no preserved vegetables : but my personal means were limited; and I could not press more severely than a strict necessity exacted upon the unques- tioning liberality of my friends." Every word of this apologetic sentence is entitled to its utmost weight, except the generous-spirited ex'ggera- tion of his improvidence. A mountain of letters before LABORIOUS PREPAR riONS. 176 -fi';. me, written during the last months of preparation for the voyage prove an amount of foresight, provident care, and thoughtful solicitude and labor which would do honor to the head and all the hands of the Commis- sary Department of the Navy. Their details are micro- scopicallyminute, and their compass thoroughlycomplete. i-e-Se upon page of memorandum and calculation-with the. firstlies, secondlies, up to twentiethlies, exact as ma hematics could make them, methodical as an adept cou d confive, and simple and clear enough for a bullet- headed clerk to comprehend-are here to confront his selMepreciation. At one time the guns are being made under his own eye, that their quality may be insured while economy is consulted; at another, the order is withdiwn because the funds will not reach the outlay with the protest, "I hate to borrow a gun." Again, he offirs o go to New York to superintend the preparation ofthe 'pemmican-requiredfor the voyage. "Ifwecould pi-ocure a malt-kiln for a single week, I would under- take the matter; and I think we could prepare it more economically and of more certain quality." At this time his pen was running, his telegraphs %mg, he was worrying the Department, examining re- cruits, inventing cooking-stoves, pricing rounds of beef mmmaging the Medical Bureau at Washington till he had' succeeded ,n bc-ging some $2000 worth of outfit " and was all the while up to his elbows in a batch of Depart- ."cnt-dough that was only souring while he was tryin. to make it rise. *^ ° «ia tJu; f delay has not as yet interfered with our prospects. idy late letters from Lady Franklin speak of Inglefield as not yet leaving, and the Baffin Bay ice as probably stiU fast." Two weeks before sailing: "It seems to me, taking Inglefield's departure into consideration, that we cannot be of too soon. ... If we start at once, and are favored with a fair passage, we may yet meet Inglefield." Even the log of the first officer shows that the trip up the coast of Greenland was a chase, — a steeple-chase ; the Advance on the heels of the Isabel, doubling the Bay of Melville to get the inside track, and, for a week, running with iceberg tugs against steam, and in at the winning- post handsomely, to learn at last that she had been running against time I For all this apprehensiveness was a mistake. Inglefield was not bound for Smith's Sound. He was ten days ahead at Sukkertoppen ; but he was despatched to Lan- caster Sound, as Dr. Kane learned on his return two ■ADMIHALTT CHART. 179 years afterwards. The mistake waa like many another that has set the world agog: it was a mistake of a wa^ Lady Franklin had informed him that the Admiralty had ad,^ted his plan of search. They had only approJd . ; and they had no intention of prosecuting it with steam. 78 28 21 North, and extending through seven points of the compass," was not sufficiently persuasive; but the Adimralty lost nothing by waiting for better advices, and Dr. Kane gained nothing by the faith which he so frankly gave to the report. His journal says, " There can be no correspondence between my own and the Admiralty charts north of latitude 78° 18'. Not only do I remove the general coast-line some two degrees in longitude to the eastward, but its trend is altered sixty degrees in angular measurement. No landmarks of my prede- cessor. Captain Inglefield, are recognizable." Since the publication of these corrections, the news- papers have announced that "The British Board of Ad- mrralty have notified our Government that they have accepted Dr. Kane's charts, thus throwing overboard the charts of Captain Inglefield and other Arctic navigators belongmg to the British navy, as well as the works of all "t Dr. Kane s predecessors on the coast of Greenland » Dr. Kane had every other motive for hastening his departure for, and early arrival in, the Polar sea, which the purposes of his voyage required; but the desperate struggle which he made to secure the honors of Arctic ■fesC C4S1 iju' • .a •»C*iW. o 29 180 ELISHA KENT KANE. h« discovery to American enterprise deserves a record here, and a generous appreciation in the minds of his country- men. His heart was moved to its depths by the hapless fate of the lost mariners of England, and the helpl(is sorrow of the friends they left behind them; the govern- ing impulse that sent him out twice upon the search was sympathy for the sufferers; but a patriotism as ardent and enthusiastic as a pilgrim's religion devoted him to his country's glory. About the middle of April he went to New York, to give his personal attention to the outfit of the ship, and to hasten her departure. Immediately after his arrival he was taken ill, and, for three weeks, was bedftist under the kind care of Mr. Grinnell's family. Writing to Mr. Kennedy; from Philadelphia, on the 19th of May, he says, "After a cruel attack of inflammatory rheuma- tism, and three weeks of complete helplessness on my beam-ends, I find myself ready to start." To Mr. Grinnell he writes : — " I am so much better that I hope to be able in a day or two to ask you to name a day for our departure ; whereupon I will so leave Philadelphia as to give myself a week in New York. " The enemy still hangs by me, and it requires several hours to thaw out my night's stiffness. The doctors, however, tell me that I must expect this until I get off soundings : — no very comforting opinion to a man who has so much hard work ahead. " When I review my sickness, its time and place, your own devoted hospitality, and the pleasant store of recol- A TIME TO BE SICK. 181 lections which it hasli;^;;;^, I eannot say that I regret my attack. Providence, who watches over our Expedition, has his own wise ends to fuiei in this afflic- bon to myself; and, while I feel that we have as yet lost nothing ^.a*e«% by our delay, I regard it as a positive gam that my disease should have manifested itself before my departure." Those six weeks of suffering and incapacity for the work of preparing for his departure were indeed a heavy drawback then, and their burden and embarrassment fol- lowed him in painful memories through the voyage. After journalizing the ghastly merriment of the party on the next Christmas day, in the ice of Smith's Sound' he makes a significant allusion to the terrible struggle which it had cost to break away from home under circum- stances so forbidding. "So much," he says, "for the Merrie Christmas. What portion of its mirth was genuine with the rest I cannot tell, for we are practised actors, some of us; but there was no heart in my share of it. My thoughts were with those far off, who are thinking, I know, of me. I could *army own troubles as I do my eider-down coverlet- for I can see myself as I am, and feel sustained by the knowledge that I have fought my battle well. But there ,s no one to tell of this at the home-table. I^tir nacuy, unwise daring, calamity,_any of these may come up unbidden, as my name circles round, to explain why 1 am still away." ' Did he turn from this sad remembrance, and the ' 182 ELISHA KENT KANE. equally sad prospect before him, to make with his own hand an entry in the log kept by the first officer, as a man of faith plants an anchor in a storm of trouble ? It reads thus: — "Sunday, December 25. The birthday of Christ." The following letter to Mr. Grinnell, written two weeks before sailing, serves to show that we may read in this epitomized creed of Christianity, a profession of his faith, and not a mere confession of dependency induced by the weakness of suffering : — " My dear Sir : — All the expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin have accompanied their daily inspections with a short form of prayer suited to the emergencies of their peculiar service. " The isolated state of our little party, together with its probable trials, call strongly for a similar exercise; and, as the time of our departure is at hand, I write to suggest that you take the matter into consideration." The "march of mind," demolishing another mystery of nature at every step in its conquering pathway, has wellnigh banished faith from our philosophy of life. Inductive science rejects the supernatural. Chivalry, the religion of egotism, — which substitutes daring for duty, generosity for charity, and honor for godliness, — is our explanation of heroism in its grandest manifestations. That a holier Spirit "works in any man both to will and to do of His good pleasure," is an assumption which opinion in this nineteenth century of Christianity is shy of admitting. SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 183 Dr. Kane's heroism would have been reckless if it had not been reverent: he believed that whatever God wills a man maj do : he believed in special providence. His life was full of this confidence. In the journal of his first Arctic vojage there are such evidences of it as these :- "April 21.— I have more than crnnmm cause for thank- fulness. A mere accident kept me from starting last night to secure a bear. Had I done so, I would probably have spared you reading any more of my journal. The ice over which we travelled so carelessly on Saturday has become, by a sudden movement, a mass of floating rubbish." ^ "11th of June.— One thing more: a thought of grati- tude before I turn in. This journal shows that I have been in the daily habit of taking long, solitary walks upon the ice, miles from the ship. Suppose this rupture to have come entirely without forewarning!" In the journal of his second voyage °to the Arctic region, among twenty-two striking instances of clear recognition, I quote an example or two. On the 10th September, 1854: "It is twelve months to-day since I returned from the weary fooUramp which determined me to try the winter search. Things have changed since then, and the prospect ahead is less cheery But I close my pilgrim-experience of the year with devout gratitude for the blessings it has registered, and an earnest faith in the support it pledges for the times to come." Speaking of a time when things were at the worst, he ca 184 ELISHA KENT KANE. V A ,1 4 says, " I look back at it with recollections like those of a nightmare. Yet I was borne up wonderfully. I never doubted for an instant that the same Providence which had guarded us through the long darkness of winter was still watching over us for good, and that it was yet in reserve for us — for some; I dared not hope for all — to bear back the tidings of our rescue to a Christian land. But how, I did not see." Prayer, both in its acknowledgments and petitions, implies such reliance upon interpositions. Wilson, one of the rescue-party in that ice-journey which has en- graved its record upon the millions of hearts that have followed its terrific details with their sympathies, says, "Just before we started, [on the return with the rescued men,] while the rest of the party surrounded the sledge with uncovered heads, Dr. Kane rendered thanks to the Great Ruler of human destinies for the goodness he had evinced in preserving our feeble lives while struggling over the ice-desert, exposed to a blast almost as wither- ing as that from a furnace. The scene was extremely solemn, as, deeply impressed by the situation, our com- mander poured forth ready and eloquent sentences of gratitude in that lonely solitude, whose scenery offered every thing to depress the mind and nothing to cheer it. Not a word fell from his lips that did not find a ready response in our own hearts when we reflected upon the dangers we had undergone, and the cert&;inty of death which would have followed a continuance of exposure for even a few hours." it' HOW READEST THOU? 186 Journalizing the incidents of a day of severest trial, danger, and despondency, he "rendered to every man a reason for the hope that was in him," covering under the form of common words the still higher grounds on which it rested for himself. He puts its vindication thus : — "I never lost my hope: I looked to the coming spring as full of responsibilities, but I had bodily strength and moral tone enough to look through them to the end. A trust based on experience as well as on promises buoyed me up at the worst of times. Call it fatalism, as you ignorantly may, there is that in the story of ev^iy eventful life which teaches the inefficiency of human means and the present control of a Supreme agency See how often relief has come at the moment of ex- tremity, in forms strangely unsought,_almost, at the time, unwelcome; see, still more, how the back has been strengthened to its increasing burden, and the heart cheered by some consciom influence of an unseen Power." ^^ We have underscored the words which must be read "with the heart and with the understanding also" to find the emphasis which his own faith and practice gave them. "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" them, if you would know what they meant for him and what they may be to you. This Christian heroism that served him for his own great trials, fortified, by its outraying influence, his crew 251 W^' 186 ELISTiA KENT KANE. for theirs. Within the sphere of his life they lived above the level of their own. One of them answered me, when I queg^tioned him upon this aspect of his govern- ment: — "Well, it kept us human when we were nearly desperate. While we stood with uncovered heads in an atmosphere far below zero, his prayers brought up the spirit of society and civilization in us; and, although we, perhaps, had very little religion in us, we always had some about us." CHAPTER XI. MOTIVES AND^OBJECTS -DECLARATION m ^rrnEMrs-WORKim UP THE COAST OP GREENLAND-GOOD-BYE-A VATHER's TESTIMONY- FRANKLIN'S CHANCES-REFUGE WITH THE NATIVES-SUPPORTING AUTHORITIES-SIR R. MURCHISON-THE BRAVE TRUST THE BRAVE- CONTRIBUTIONS TO 8CIENCE-INEDITED MANU8CRIPTS-THE OPEN SEA-LOGICAL DEMONSTRATION-THE niSCOVERY-THE LASTTHROW -WILLIAM MORTON— FACTS AND THEORIES— LIEUTENANT MAURY— KANE'S OFFICIAL REPORT-BRITISH ACHIEVEMENTS-RESULTS OP EXPLORATION-WASHINGTON LAND-T/ITHIN THE POLAR ICE-RING. "Enterprises of great pith and moment" command our admiration, sympathy, and emulation with the varied force which the quality of their motives and objects deserves. The agility and courage of a rope-dancer on hie perilous balance do not affect us in the same way as the generous daring displayed by a fireman in the rescue of a child from a burning house. There is natural nobleness enough in anybody to feel the diiference between a hard day's journey on an errand of benevolence, and the feat of walking a hundred successive hours for a wager. A novelist, ar, orator, or a player, may work upon the sym- pathetic emotions of virtue until our heart-strings answer like echoes to his touch; but we are not deceived nor 187 188 ELISIIA KENT KANE. Mn .||if i M ' cheated into an admiration unworthy of ourselves. We were not made in the Divine image to take seemings for things. Our instincts stand by the real interests of the world and of the universe, and we will not meanly sur- render our souls to any imposture. We say to every man who challenges our admiration for his deeds, " Stop ! worship touches the life of the worshipper. If your objects are nothings, expect nothing for them : if youi- motives are selfish, pay yourself for them. We will not make fools cf ourselves: we will settle the account justly to you and honorably to us." " No man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him." Dr. Kane speaks of the mo- tives which thrust him out upon his last Arctic voyage, under circumstances as solemn as those which govern the wording of a last will made within the shadow of death. I quote from letters written as he was about to enter the fearful passage of Melville Bay : — "July 14, 1863. "Dear Brother and Friend: — Things look so Arctic, and the big responsibilities of my undertaking arc so crowding around me, that I sit down from very impulse to give you a brother's letter of confidence. "It is the quiet hour at which you and I begin to live; lacking midnight not over-much, yet in a full glare of day. The bergs of Omenak's Fiord are marching down from their glaciers; and Proven, our last connecting port with thu white man's world, is but a few miles ahead of us. Melville's Bay will bid me its third welcome before DECLARATION IN EXTREMIS. 189 three days have passed; and, if it bids me God-speed again, jou will have no more letters until I announce success or failure. « Now that the thing~the dream-has concentred itself nito a grim, practical reality, it is not egotism, but duty, to talk of myself and my plans: I represent other lives and other interests than my own. "The object of my journey is the search after Sir John Franklin : neither science nor the vain glory of attaining an unreached North shall divert me from this one conscientious aim/' Then follows a long, minute, and exact programme of his intended operations by boat and sledge after reaching the farthest point to which the brig could be pushed,-an equally careful directory for any search- mg party who might, perchance, be sent to relieve him after a second winter's absence : and the letter con- cludes : — "God bless you, my own dear brother. Do justice to my motives, and believe neither in unmixed good or unmixed evil in this world of medley. Good-bye !" " aovEHNon's IIousK, Upeunavick, July 23 1853 "My DEAR Father :--Looking through the port-holes of tins house-hulk, I see two hundred and sixteen icebergs floating in a sea as dead and oily as the Lake of Tiberias; yet I cannot warm my thoughts to talk about them.' Time was when 1 could have piled epithets upoa such a scene: but that time has passed; facts only are my aim o: 190 ELISIIA KENT KANE. now. The last week has been spent by me almost con- stantly in an open boat, striving to overcome the delays of an everlasting calm by making my purchases without "coming to anchor. This is a somewhat novel service to routine naval men ; but I have saved precious hours by it, and now write to bid you share with me congratula- tions. "I have all my furs, — reindeer, seal, and bear; my boot-moccasins, walrus lashings, my sledges, harnesses, and dogs, — and all of these without delaying the brig an hour upon her course ! Dogs are here, as horses are with you, matters of negotiation, and oftentimes not to be obtained. He (the dog) is the camel of these snow- deserts; and no Arab could part with him more grudgingly than do these Esquimaux. Congratulate me; for I have all my dogs, and the tough thews of the scoundrels shall be sinews of war to me in my ice-battles. "In quest of them I have threaded the fiords between Kangeit (about twenty miles south of Proven) and Karsiek, and thence to Upernavick, once fifty miles at a single pull. During this hard labor we cooked birds upon the rocks, and slept under buffalo-robes. Human desti- tution — the filthy desolation of the Esquimaux settle- ments — was contrasted with glories beyond conception. I had never before realized the grand magnificence of Greenland scenery. It would be profanation to attempt to describe it." After speaking of other and unexpected helps, of a character that promised greatly more than they fulfilled, GOOD-BYE. 191 he continues :~" I feel that something must be achieved ; and, if your son fails to bring back his often and hard' battered carcass, he will at least send back a record of manly effort and hardly-tried-for success. ''Our brig is only fifteen miles from the harbor, trying to fan her way with a feeble off-shore breeze, which has, since I began to write, ruffled with cat's-paw tremors the surface of the dead waters. Our course is now directly for the bay; and, as far as my ice-knowledge can predict its condition, every thing is in favor of a safe and easy passage. Say this to mother, but to no outside person, as I do not wish to hazard an opinion. Say to mother to have no fears on Arctic account. I am not entirely well, but as well as I would be at home, and so trusting in the Great Disposer of good and ill that I am willing to meet like a man the worst that can happen to one secure of right, and approving, heart and soul, of that m which he is engaged. Good-bye. E. K. K. "Love' a©- my last word is 'Love.'" ((( Dr. Kane's published journals are full of the evidences of his faith in the survivorship of at least some of Frank- lin's party, and of his hopeful devotion to their rescue. His father, speaking from that intimacy and certainty of knowledge which an unreserved confidence afforded, in a note published in the papers of the day, says of him, "His characteristic with us was hi^ sensibility to conscientious impuL-c It was this which carried him the second timo in iho. P^^lo« „ — j i _ i >^ i -„ -...,. i,^iu.i cca,, auu, liud uoa Spared €4 at] O. 192 ELISHA. KENT KANE. 4^ hipi, would have made him return there again ; for he believed, as none but the true-hearted can believe any thing, that some of Franklin's party were still alive, and that it was the mission of his life to reclaim them. He had a child-like fondness for the affections of home; but this, and zeal for science, and ambition for fame, and all else that could connect itself with motive, was subordi- nated to his one great conviction of duty." The grounds of this confidence not only held against his own terrible experiences of Arctic exposure, but arose out of those experiences. In May, 1854, after testing the ability of his party +o endure a temperature as low as 6T'' below zero., or 99° below the freezing-point of water, he says, "How can my thoughts turn despair- ingly to poor Franklin and his crew? "Can they have survived? No man can answer with certainty ; but no man, without presumption, can answer in the negative. "If, four months ago, surrounded by darkness and bowed down by disease, I had been asked the question, I would have turned toward the bleak hills and the frozen sea, and responded, in sympathy with them, ' No.' But with the return of light a savage people came down upon us, destitute of any but the rudest appliances of the chase, who were fattening on the most wholesome diet of the region, only forty miles from our anchorage, while I was denouncing its scarcity. "For Franklin every thing depends upon locality; but, from what I can see of Arctic exploration thus far, franklin's chances. 193 it would be hard to &ni7^^ol fifty miles' diameter entirely destitute of animal resources. "Of the one hundred and thirty-si.x picked men of Sir John Fra„k,i„ ;„ jg^g^ Northern Orkney men, Green- land whalers, so many young and hardy constitutions, with so much intellige , experience to guide them, I cannot realize that some may not yet be alive; that some small squad or squads, aided or not aided by the Esqui- mau.x of the Expedition, may not have found a hunting, ground, and laid up, from summer to summer, enough of fuel and food and seal-skins to brave three, or even four more winters in succession." ■ ' In the midst of the last winter, long after the daily prayer was changed from "Lord, accept our gratitude, and bless our undertaking," to "Lord, accept our grati- tude and restore us to our homes," his journal reads: - Please God in his beneficent providence to spare us for the work I will yet give one manly tug to search the sliores of Kennedy Channel for memorials of the lost and then, our duties over here, and the brig still prison! bound, enter trustingly upon the ta^k of our escape " In March, 1856, ten full years after the last date of franklin's record among the living, he wrote to Mr (jrinnell: "In my opinion, the vessels cannot have been suddenly destroyed, or at lea.t so destroyed that provisions and stores could not have been established in a safe and con- venient dep6t. With this view, which all my experience 01 ice sustains, pornoq fVi^ ^^ii-x i ,. --, —.1...,^ ta^ v^uiiaiuriii questiou as to the 18 ^r^-iSi »-ymm o 194 ELISHA KENT KANE. safety of the documents of the Expedition. But this, my friend, is not all. I am really in doubt as to the preservation of human life. I well know how glad I would have been, had my duties to others permitted me, to have taken refuge among the Esquimaux of Smith's Straits and Etah Bay. Strange as it may seem to you, we regarded the coarse life of those people with eyes of envy, and did not doubt but that we could have lived in comfort upon their resources. It required all my powers, moral and physical, to prevent my men from deserting to the walrus-settlements ; and it was my fixed intention to have taken to Esquimaux life, had Providence not carried us through in our hazardous escape. "Now, if the natives reached the seat of the missing ships of Franklin, and there became possessed, by pilfer or by barter, of the articles sent home by Rae and Ander- son, this very fact would explain the ability of some of the party to sustain life among them. If, on the other hand, the natives have never reached the ships, or the s,3at of their stores, and the relics were obtained from the descending boat, — then the central stores or ships are unmolested, and some may have been able, by these and the hunt, even yet to sustain life. "All my men and officers agree with me that, even in the desert of Rensselaer Bay, we could have descended to the hunting-seats, and sustained life by our guns or the craft of the natives. Sad, and perhaps useless, as is this reflection, I give it to you as the first outpouring of my conscientious opinions." !■ SIE E. MURCHISON. 195 We are concerned now only with the earnestness of Dr. Kane's own convictions, and the reasons which held his judgment in harmony with his heart to his la^t hour m the dedication of his life to the enterprise of rescuing the missmg mariners; but this is the right place to give the opinions of those high authorities who held the same hope, and for the same reasons, after his had gone with him, unfulHUed, to his grave. Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geo- graphical Society of London, delivering the anniversary discourse, on the 25th of May, 1857, holds the following language: — "Lastly, Dr. Kane performed those extraordinary re- searches beyond the head of Baffin's Bay which obtained for him our gold medal at the last anniversary, the high- e«t eulogy of our late President, and the unqualiBed admiration of all geographers. "At that time, however, we had not perused those thrilling pages which have since brought to our mind's eye the unparalleled combination of genius with patient endurance and fortitude which enabled this youn.. American to save the lives of his associates. "With what simplicity, what fervor, what eloquence and what truth, he has described the sufferings and perils from which he extricated his ice-bound crew, is now duly appreciated; and you must all agree with me that in the who e history of literature there never was a work written which more feelingly develops the struggles of humanity under the most intense sufic-rings, or demon- 'ca (f:i^ o sJ 4' 196 ELISHA KENT KANE. 1 etrates more strikingly how the most appalling difficulties can be overcome by the union of a firm resolve with the never-failing resources of a bright intellect. " In all these soul-stirring pages there is no passage which comes more home to the Englishmen who are still advocating the search for the relics of the Erebus and Terror than that in which, after judging from the expe- rience of his own companions how men of our lineage may be brought to bear intense cold and trail on their existence among the Esquimaux, he thus soliloquizes: — 'My mind never realizes the complete catastrophe, — the destruction' of all Franklin's crews. I picture them to myself broken into detachments, and my mind fixes on one little group of some thirty who have found the open spot of some tidal eddy, and, under the teachings of an Esquimaux, or perhaps one of their own Greenland , /balers, have set bravely to work, and trapped the fox, speared the bear, and killed the seal, the walrus, and the whale. / tJdnJc of them ever with hope. T sicken not to he able to reach them' "These generous and lofty sentiments, as I shall after- wards point out in dwelling on Lady Franklin's final search, are shared by that distinguished Arctic officer of the United States navy, our associate. Captain Hart- stene; and they have justly awakened the hope in the breasts of many of my countrymen and myself that some of the fine young fellows who sailed with Franklin may still be alive, and must, for the honor of our country, be sought for, as well as the debris and records of the Ere- bus and Terror." THE BRAVE TRUST THE BRAVE. 197 If the events of the search now on foot under the con- duct of Captain McClintock, directed as it is, by the thorough but hitherto unsuccessfnl explorations of all the region round about, to the spot where Franklin and his companions must have gone, shall disprove Dr. Kane's inferences, his mistake will be explained, to all who under- stand his character, by the tendency of an ardent mind to believe every thing possible which, in the like circum- stances, he could himself achieve. Franklin's party could not have fallen into more hopeless circumstances than his own encountered; and why should they utterly perish when he escaped ? or, failing to accomplish so grand an enterprise as his retreat to a place of security, how could he believe that they should perish helplessly where he and his little crew could survive? The leader of the retreat from Smith's Sound was not the man to appre- hend impossibilities for resolute men. For the objects of this voyage, other than the rescue of the Franklin party, and subordinate to it, but in them- selves worthy of the man and of his heroic endeavor to achieve them, I must, perforce, refer the reader to the clear and effective display which they have, in the well- known volumes which Dr. Kane has given to the public. Especially would I call the attention of all who are capable of such inquiries, to the Appendix of the Kane Expedition : it occupies nearly two hundred pages of the second volume. The mass of Dr. Kane's million readers has been, I am safe in supposing, only -too much absorbed by the ^a 198 ELISHA KENT KANE. I til narrative of the Expedition to turn patiently to the scientific results so elaborately and yet so attractively presented in the Appendix. If it were possible, and at the same time conformable to the purpose and limits of this memoir, to digest the results which are in danger of being overlooked by the general reader, it would be a labor of love to endeavor its accomplishment; but that service must be rendered to the public and to the memory of Dr. Kane as an author and cultivator of physical science under other conditions. I expect, as I hope, that it will be done by a more competent hand. The mass of inedited manu- script left by Dr. Kane will some day be material for a work such as he would have executed, whenever the man shall be found to supply the loss which natural science sustained by his early removal from his own great field of labor. Variously endowed as he was for observing and resolv- ing the phenomena of nature, and skilled as he was, beyond all men equally qualified for collecting the data, in the art of writing for general instruction, the loss to the public in this unfulfilled purpose of writing a book of Arctic science such as would have satisfied himself, is beyond estimate, and, it is to be fear -J. ^^ill neve^ be wholly supplied. We are concerned now only with Dr. Kane's personal history, and not otherwise with his scientific achieve- X :^nts than as they illustrate the man. This involves his Vjeory of an open sea at or near the North Pole, and his THE OPEN SEA. 199 announcement of an actual discovery of such a body of open water, beginning above the eighty-first degree of north Latitude and extending to an unknown distance northward. The grounds upon which he rested this doctrine are fully set forth in his lecture delivered before the American Geographical and Statistical Society, at New York, on the 14th of December, 1852, to which we beg leave to refer, because it cannot be condensed effectively for any pur- pose here. It is published in the Appendix to his " First Expedition," page 543. The open sea discovered by the party sent out in June, 1854, from the brig lying then ice-bound in Rensselaer Harbor, latitude 78° 37' 10" North and longitude 70° 40' West from Greenwich, is located at a little above lati- tude 81°; the linear distance from the brig being one hundred and ninety-six miles, and the travel-distance, following the indentations of the coast-line of the bay and channel intervening, about three hundred and twenty miles. William Morton and Hans Christian, a half- breed Esquimaux, constituted the party who discovered and reported it. Dr. Kane and the astronomer, Mr. Son tag, were at the time ill of scurvy; Dr. Hayes had just returned from his survey of the coast of Giinnell Land, worn out and snow-blind; and of the whole crew and officers there were but six well men on the health- roll. Four of these were despatched in advance, with pro- visions, to the base of the Great Glacier, (one hundred and twenty miles' travel-distance,) to endeavor to scale 1?00 ELISHA KE\^T KA!^E. li, v f w f I • anc^survey it; and Morton and Hans were sent with them, under instructions to push to the north across Peabody Bay and advance along the more distant coast. The period for exploration was passing rapidly away. The party were in the hapless condition described; but the summer and the objects of the voyage must not be lost. The journal has it: — "I am intensely anxious that the party shall succeed. It is my last throw. They have all my views; and I believe they will carry them out unless overruled by a higher Power. "But I am not without apprehensions that, with ail their efforts, the Glacier cannot be surmounted. "In this event, the main reliance must be on Mr. Mor- ton : he takes with him a sextant, artificial horizon, and pocket-chronometer, and has intelligence, courage, and the spirit of endurance in full measure. He is withal r. long-tried and trusty follower." This character Mr. Morton had earned by every form of trial to which it could be put through four years of close relations, beginning with the Arctic voyage of the first Grinnell Expedition, in 1850, of which they were both members; and the after and equally trying expe- riences of his worth, which continued unbroken up to the death of the leader, loft the faithful follower and friend with an ample confirmation of all this conlidonce and trust. He needs no other certificate of character to secure our confidence ; and he does not need even this with those who knov/ him well. THE DISCOVERT. 201 Both to the accuracy and veracity of his report Dr. Kane gave unreserved credence. But he speaks of the inferences to be drawn from Morton's narrative with his characteristic caution,— the caution of that mental and moral truthfulness which led him to utter the remark- able sentence that closes the introductory chapter to his ".First Expedition:"—" I might have done more wisely if I had been content to substitute sometimes the educated opinions of others for those which impressed me at the moment. My apology must be that / do not profess to he accurate, hut iruthful" And nov/, when summing up the points bearing upon the great question of an open Polar sea, he says, "I am reluctant to close my notic of this discovery without adding thnt the details of Mr. Morton's narrative har- monized with the observations of all our party;" and then continues, "I do not proceed to discuss here the causes or conditions of this phenomenon. How far it may extend,— whether it exists simply as a feature of the immediate region, or as a part of a great and unex- plored area communicating with the Polar basin,— and what may be the argument in favor of the one or the other hypothesis, or the explanation which reconciles it with established laws,— may be questions for men skilled in scientific deductions. Mine has been the more humble duty of recording wliat we saw. Coming as it did, a mysterious fluidity in the midst of vast plains of soHd ice, it was well calculated to arouse emotions of the highest order; and I do not believe there was a man Ka 202 ELISHA KENT KANE. among us who did not long for the means of embarking upon its bright and lonely waters. But he who may be content to follow our story for the next four months will feel that a controlling necessity made the desire a fruit- less one." The three following pages of the book* are given to the consideration, or rather to the suggestion for the reader's use, of certain facts involved in the issue; but he betrays no overweening desire to lodge an affirmative conclusion in the minds which he is addressing. Ou the Contrary, he disclaims any such inclination, defer- ring, gracefully as modestly, the theoretical argument to Lieutenant Maury, Superintendent of the National Ob- servatory, who has made the physical geography of the sea, and the currents of the ocean of air, his own province by the cultivation of their science with such success as has given him a world-wide ftime, and an authority among physicists growing, it may be said, daily by the constantly advancing attainments of his labor. Moreover, in the notes appended to the brief discussion in which he indulges, he takes care to guard the un- learned in Arctic phenomena against the hasty conclu- sions which they might draw from the imposing array of facts that support the doctrine of an open water from the point observed to the Pole. He says, indeed, "I do not see how, independently of direct observation, this Btate of facts can be explained without supposing an ice- I; Si * Second Expedition, vol. i. pp. 30G-309. Kane's official report. 203 less area to the farther north;" but, he interposes again, *'How far this may extend— whether it does or does not communicate with a Polar basin— we are without facts to determine. I would say, however, as a cautionary check to some theories in connection with such an open basin, that the influence of rapid tides and currents in destroying ice by abrasion can hardly be realized by those who have not witnessed their action." In his official report made to the Navy Department after his return, he states the whole matter thus ;— " This precipitous headland, the farthest point attained by the party, was named Cape Independence. It is in latitude 81° 22' N. and longitude 65° 35' W. It was only touched by William Morton, who left the dogs and made his way to it along the coast. From it the western coast was seen stretching for towards the north, with an iceless horizon, and a heavy swell rolling in with white caps. At a height of about five hundred feet above the sea this great expanse still presented all the appearance of an open and iceless sea. In claiming for it this cha- racter I have reference only to the facts actually observed, without seeking confirmation or support from any deduc- tion of theory. Among such facts are the followinfi--— o ■ "1. It was approached by a clianncl entirely free from ice, having a length of fifty-two and a mean width of thirty-six geographical miles. "2. The coast-ice along the water-line of this channel had been completely destroyed by thaw and water- action; while an unbroken belt of solid ice, one huii- : %ju ' Mtmm o 204 ELISHA KENT KANE. t«¥ dred and twenty-live miles in diameter, extended to the south. "3. A gale from the northeast, of fifty-four hours' duration, brought a heavy sea from that quarter, without disclosing any drift or other ice. "4. Dark nimhus clouds and water-sky invested the northeastern horizon. " 5. Crowds of migratory birds were observed throng- ing its waters." In his summary of the operations of the Expedition in the same document, thus :— " The discovery of a large channel to the northwest, free from ice, and leading into an open and expanding area equally free. The whole embraces an iceless area of four thousand two hundred miles." Immediately after his return from the region in ques- tion, after closing an extemporized report of his voyage and its results before the Geographical Society of New York, he was asked by Mr. Chauncey, "Is it possible, in your opinion, to reach this open sea with boats and explore it?" He answered, " That is coming rather near home. I think, with a proper organization, it might be reached ; and I have no doubt it will yet ber reached and be explored." He never said or claimed more for a circumpolar open sea discovery than this. It was not in the nature of the man at thirty-six years of age, who wrote the Kyestein thesis at twenty-one, to confound hypothesis with dis- covery, or to mistake inferences for facts observed. Bui BRITISH ACHIEVEMENTS. 205 that he believed theoretically in a navigable Polar sea is abundantly proved by his adoption of the Smith's Sound route of search, relying, as he did, upon an open path- way from its northern outlet, east and west, to the Green- land Sea or Wellington Channel, as the search might eventually determine. And when, after all his expe- riences, and his own failure for lack of the necessary means, he said that he had no doubt it would yet be reached and explored, he uttered a predlctiori based ujion known facts, which, we may safely venture to believe with him, will yet be fulfilled. The best corroboration of this expectation accessible to the general reader to which 1 can refer is the eighth chapter of Maury's "Physical Geography of the Sea," edition of 1857. Kane has left this legacy of honorable adventure to his countrymen, and they will yet, and that ere long, prove themselves worthy of the trust. The magnetic pole in the Western hemisphere has been discovered and definitely located ; the Northwest Passage, with a i^ortage mserthn, has been found, — a channel sealed solid by Jack Frost, or a submerged isthmus of obstructing rock, sheeted with ice, — no matter : the question is solved, and the discoverer duly honored, putting that old worry to rest. But, whether the magnetic pole fluctuates, with the frost-pole for company, or the water between Banks' Land and Melville Island will not, British enterprise has carried off the honors of these achievements. It is very certain now that this passage will never be lea >— ; 206 ELISnA KENT KANE. ploughed by the keels of commerce, or otherwise answer to the venerable old hopes which hung upon its discovery. It cannot be made a track for the missionaries of religion, civilization, and learning, nor does it open a gate for military invasion ; but the search for it has given us the geography and natural history of almost all the land- masses of the Western hemisphere ; and the long endeavor has fully repaid all the incident expenditure of wealth, labor, and life, so generously lavished upon it. The whale-fishery of the Greenland seas alone has cost a hundred times more of sacrifice; and we dare not even compare the benefits which trade reaps in whale- bone and fish-oil with the treasures of useful knowledge gathered by the liberal labors of science led by benevo- lence in the Arctic regions. Since 1848, when fears for the safety of Sir John Franklin and his crews began to be entertained, twenty- five expeditions, employing thirty-one vessels and costing four millions of dollars, have attempted to solve the mystery of his fate. The enterprise to which he gave himself is now known to be a vain one, so far as com- merce or travel is concerned, and all the hopes of his rescue are still unfulfilled; but the world has not lost the treasure or the lives which have been expended in the search for the Northwest Passage and for the long- lost mariners. The results of these explorations make up a grand library of useful knowledge. Geography, geology, me- teorology, have gained largely by the great undertaking; 11: WASHINGTON LAND. e answer ^ 207 and, when the contributions which it has made to our stock of knowledge come to be thoroughly understood, it will be time to estimate adequately the worth of Arctic adventure. The two American expeditions in which Dr. Kane participated and of which he was the historian, and that of Captain Hartstene, of which he and his companions were the object, have secured some of the grandest prizes of geographical enterprise which the nineteenth century has aimed at: De Haven baptized the most northern land of the American continent with an American name, and Kane has put that of Washington upon the most northern land on the globe ! It is something, surely, to have discovered the position of the magnetic pole and the geographic range of the lowest temperature. It is something to have traced the great current-system of the ocean,— to have demon- strated its circulation from the earth's tropic heart to its polar extremities, bearing out its arterial heat, and re- turning the great centripetal tides, as the veins return * the Hfe-currents to their source for revivification. Arctic exploration has, within the last forty years, done as much for physical geography as the labors of the same period have accomplislied in any other depart- ment of natural knowledge; and, much as it has yielded of mature fruit, it has brought us, besides, to the open portal of a new world of terrestrial discovery. The Polar sea opened to observation by the Kane Expedition of 1854 promises still more than all that has yet been secured. c> 208 ELISHA KENT KANE. For there, within the barrier of perpetual ice, is the treasury of the ocean-tides; there is the nursery of that migratory life which fills the seas and air of the northern temperate zone; there the wondrous compensations of polar and tropical forces are displayed ; there stands the observatory of the globe, its chemical laboratory, the theatre of its meteoric exhibitions, and a thousand secrets besides, to enrich the natural sciences, and to correct and adjust all that we already know of the system of our planet in accordance with the truth and beauty of its paramount laws. None of these things are so remote as the movements of the solar system. They cannot be of less moment to us. They must be available for extending the control of man over the material agencies by which he is sur- rounded; and they are all here put within our reach. The way is opened; the route is charted; its practica- bility is proved; and it is impossible to doubt the grand results of a well-appointed expedition, guided by the suc- cesses, and guarded by the failures, of that one whose first- fruits are the assuring promise of the full harvest. ft CHAPTER XII. THENATURALSCIENCES-GLACIOLOGY-RELIEP-FXPEDmON-CAPTAIN HARTSTENE-DR. JOHN K. KANE-THE KNIGHT AND HIS SQUIRE- THE THREE CAPTAINS-AUTHORSHIP AGAIN-PAINS AND PENALTIES -AUTHOR AND PUBLISHERS-THE UNWRITTEN BOOK-ENGRAVINGS -MR. HAMILTON-DR. KANE's DRAWINGS-ARTISTIC SKILL-FACI- LITY AND FIDELITY-CONGRESSIONAL SUBSCRIPTION-POPULAR AND PUBLIC PATRONAGE-THE AUTHOR'S INVOLVEMENT -THE SECRE- TARY'S COMMENDATION— TESTIMONIALS AND MEDALS. It has been my proper business to study Dr. Kane's published journals with care. Whoever will do the same thing with the interest in their contributions to natural science which they deserve will feel something of the reluctance with which I forego their presentation in this work. But it was not until I was alarmed by the vast '•ange of these topics to which the drift of the last chapter had well-nigh committed me, that I felt at once the full force of the onward impulse, and the severity of those restramts of my plan and limits which compel me to break away from the seductive entanglement. There are treasures of tribute here to the sciences of physical geography, zoology, meteorology, climatology, and anthropology, which their cultivators will do well to 11 14 209 2a 210 ELISHA KENT KANE. ¥ avail themselves of. Some acquaintance with the pre- sent state and requirements of these departments of physical philosophy warrants me in directing attention to these books, — more especially to his first journal of exploration, which, after all, is the book of the two. The savam are just now very earnestly engaged, as upon a fresh field of inquiry, with that branch of phy- sical geography which may be called glaciology. They may find in Dr. Kane's publications a mine of wealth ready and available for their use. For nine months of his first voyage the "Advance" lay docked in an ice- cradle, and at the same time adrift, making a tour of a thousand miles on the Arctic sea under bare poles. The daily study of the ice, through this long period, by a man qualified as he was to observe, digest, and report, is necessarily full of instruction. In his second voyage he had the opportunities of two winters nearer to the Pole than any other observer with his means and capa- bility for exact observation has ever been. His zeal and industry in the study of the phenomena presented, and his exactitude in recording the results, have no parallel in the history of Arctic exploration. We venture, for these reasons, to advise those who have gone through his volumes under the influence of their other fascinations, to read and re-read them till they can see through the enchant- ment the substance of the physical truths which the genius of the writer has veiled with its brilliancy. Even the principal incidents of the last voyage must be allowed to pass without a record here. Indeed, the}' OMISSIONS SUPPLIED. 211 may well be trusted to his own report, which has been, and will be, read by millions who will never opon the lids of this mere supplement to the Ufe of Kane uncon- sciously written into the texture of his own publications. There are some things, however, omitted in that "epic of manly endurance"--things which he would not record : they are those which wholly concerned himself. Some- thing of all this has been supplied by three of his com- panions in the Expedition, and they are given at the close of these chapters, for their importance as the testimony of men well qualified to speak to the points, and worthy of all reliance. It is due to these gentlemen to say here that these letters were not prepared for publication ; but I use my liberties at my own discretion. The reader will thank me for presenting, and I will thank the writers for fur- nishing, them; which must settle the account between all parties, as it must settle all the others which I have opened so freely in the compilation of these pages. In our narrative we left Dr. Kane and his party, on their way to the unknown North, on the verge of that fearful ice-ring which environs the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the revelations of its prophet made known to all nations. This allusion is neither irreverent nor unwarranted; for the courage and virtue which inspire the knight- errants of noble adventure are the selfsame qualities which made Israel to prevail with the angel, and gave Paul his victories over the spiritual foes which beset '■■ ' ' in 212 ELISHA KENT KANE. liim. The good purposes of a great soul rise orderly into the supernatural : they are always sacrificial; they have cv^r the tone of devotion and the spirit of martyr- dom; and they lake its risks, too. W.y should they be levelled in our apprehension to the plane of a common- place life, or be muddit 1 with its low-pitched motives, or be measured by its stana.^rds? When the second winter set w without bringing home the Advance and her crew, the most serious alarm for their fate was felt by the friends of tiiC adventurers and by the whole mass of their countrymen. These fore- bodings were darkened beyond the ordinary apprehen- sion of danger in Arctic service by the fact that their first winter had been an unusually severe one, and by the known deficiencies of their outfit for the endurance of a second one in the ice. Congress was memorialized by the learned societies who stood sponsors for the under- taking; and the general sentiment of the people pressed upon their representatives and public servants for a relief-expedition in the spring. It was frankly accorded, and well provisioned, and better manned and officered. Two vessels, the bark Kelease and the propeller Arctic, under command of Lieutenant Hartstene, U.S.N., with a brother of Dr. Kane,— Dr. John K. Kane,— and Lieutenant W. S. Lovell, an Arctic expert and former companion of Dr. Kane, among the volunteers. They left New York on the 31st of May, 1855, exactly two years after the Advance had taken her departure from the si< aiue yvib. DR. JOHN K. KANE. 213 After a run round J3aflf]n's Bay, including encounters witli icebergs, ice-fields, hummocks, and the usual assort- merit of circumstances which characterize that sea of troublos,-made in the best time, in the best style, and to the best purpose of all the voyages into that region,- they picked up the lost adventurers on their homewird way, after they had achieved for themselves a deliverance from all their dangers. For the story of this relief-trip by Ilartstene we refer to Putnam's Magazine for May, 1856, written by Dr. John K. Kane. It is well worth the reading for all the usual and unusual reasons, and for this besides: that it is rich with the relish of the Kane pluck which there is in it, and for those relief-touches of happy authorship which distinguish the style and movement of his elder brother's pen. A word of our own gossip, to mark the conjunction of things at Lievely, where Hartstene found the Kane party just on the eve of making their way home in a Danish vessel by way of the Shetland Islands, and we finish this - voyage of sufiering and success, defeat and victory, strangely mixed till they landed in safety at New York' on the nth of October, 1855, after a thirty months' absence. When the first news of the relief-vessels of Hartstene were announced to the forlorn survivors of the Arctic crew, McGary, Dr. Kane's "iron man," sore with the toils and dangers of a thirteen-hundred-mile trip in an open boat through Smith's Sound and Melville Bay, said, M its early completion, the publishers undertook, with the author's assent, to secure a subscription from Congress for a certain number of copies. A bill, under the conduct of the Honorable J. K. Tyson, and with the hearty co- operation of Colonel Florence, of Philadelphia, Judge Pettit, of Indiana, Governor Aiken, of South Carolina, Speaker Banks, of Massachusetts, and many others . among the leading men of the House, was passed. In the Senate it was ablj'' supported by Governor Bigler, Judge Douglas, Governor Seward, Mr. Sumner, and Judge Butler, but was not passed. The reports of other explorations had been published at a lavish expenditure of money by the Government: the publishers thought that the purchase by Congress of a limited number of copies would come within the rule of these precedents, and Dr. Kane felt like asking it on the plain grounds of justice to his enterprise; but he was governed by the interests of the firm which had undertaken the publication at an expense exceedi.^g seventy thousand dollars for the first edition of the work, in giving his consent to the application, more than by any other motive. He could not persuade himself that they would be able to replace their liberal outlay by the unassisted sale of the book; and he could not, therefore, withhold his consent from a measure which they thought so important to their security. If he or they had dreamed that the first year's sales would reach the enormous number of sixty-five thousand ^copies, — one hundred and thirty thousand volumes, — at THE author's ItNVOLVEMENT. 225 the retail price reaching the sum of three hundred thou- sand dollars, and affording sixtj-five thousand dollars copyright to the author, neither of them would have given a fig for any thing that the treasury of the nation or the endorsement of Congress could do for it. The issue proved that the patronage withheld was no loss to the parties interested : the purchase solicited would not have added a dollar to their income, as its refusal did not take ono from it. A letter of Dr. Kane's to Mr. Childs puts this affair upon its right grounds :— "I had, like a fool, looked upon my approaching nar- rative as that of a voyage of discovery undertaken by order of the Governn:ent, and it seemed to me, under the circumstances, open to purchase or adoption by our Na- tional Legislature. With this view only, I had sanctioned an indirect connection with your movement, feeling that it was net a pecuniary recompense, but a direct transac- tion, for which a full equivalent was extended in the work itself But Mr. Broadhead's* letter implies that I am acting with you to carry out a Congressional act of pecuniary reward, which is in every respect repugnant to my instincts as a gentleman and an officer. " The late Expedition I have taught myself to consider asameasureof humanity; and I cannot forget that, what- ever it may have done for mere geography, it involved * A Senator, at that time, from Pennsylvania, who did not surprise his acquaintances by Lis conduct in this allair. 16 '3»», 226 ELISIIA CENT KANE. 4 i the risk not only of my own life, but that of my com- panions. It gives me pain to look back upon it; one- sixth of our little party perished in the field, and, of those who survive, a majority are mutilated or broken down. f cannot mingle with the associations of this cruise any thing so degrading as that of a pecuniary recompense; and I can only trust that my hard-earned labors will • establish their own and best claim to the sympathy and consideration of good men. An honorary testimonial would have gratified me ; but even that I now desire not to have mooted. — April 30, '56." " I beg of you to leave unmolested the action of Con- gress; for this coupling of my name with the book will interfere with any expression of disinterested feeling on the part of the Senate, and thus stand in the way of that which I value far beyond either books or money, — viz., an honorary testimonial in recognition of our party, and such as has already been extended to me by England. —July 30, '56." Mr. Dobbin, Secretary of the Navy, in his annual report of 3d December, 1855, speaks of the cruise, explo- rations, and report, in the following language : — "It was well known that Dr. Kane left the United States in the humane search of Sir John Franklin, in June, 1853, under orders from the Navy Department, and at the same time under the patronage of distinguished philanthropists. His report is brief, but full of startling incidents and thrilling adventures. A more detailed and '.'laborate report will ultimately be made. The discove- THE secretary's COMMENDATION. 227 ries made by this truly remarkable man and excellent officer will be regarded as valuable contributions to science. He advanced in those frozen regions far bevond his intrepid predecessors, whose explorations had excited such admiration. His residence for two years with his little party far beyond the confines of civilization, with a small bark for his home, fastened with icy fetters that defied all efibrts for emancipation, his sufferings from intense cold, and agony from dreadful apprehensions of starvation and death for that space of time,-his miracu- bus and successful journey in open sledges over the ice for eighty-four days,~not merely excite our wonder, but borrow a moral grandeur from the truly benevolent considerations which animated and nerved him for the task. "I commend the results of his expl^-ations as worthy of the attention and patronage of Congress." How the attention and patronage of the Government acted upon these "results" has been seen: those of the public have been a full compensation. "The sym- pathy and consideration of good men," to which their author appealed, have abundantly supplied the plentiful lack of inspiration under which the responsible function- aries of the Federal Government disposed of the great claim. Even the extra pay and emoluments made to the officers and men of the Hke rating in the Exploring Expe- dition to the South Seas, and granted also to the officers and crow of the De Haven Expedition, have never yet •■im,.mi ■ ^ .^ 228 ELISHA KENT KANE. been extended to the poor fellows of the Kane party. Who is responsible for this excuseless neglect ? Mr. Dobbin handsomely put Dr. Kane on full pay while he was engaged in writing his "more detailed and elaborate report." This, indeed, was but a common grace, dispensed to the historians of all the national expeditions; but it deserves to be especially acknowledged in a history of relations to the Government of which it is the single example of a personal indulgence. Congress, having failed at its first session after his return to appropriate, by a national recognition, the honors he had won for his country, had no other oppor- tunity for repairing the neglect till after his death; then a gold medal was ordered, — of which, I believe, nothing has been heard since the passage of the resolution. But resolution* duly honoring the enterprise and achievements of the Expedition were unanimously passed by the Legislatures of his native State, Pennsylvania, and by those of New Jersey and Maryland. A large gold medal was voted by the Legislature of New York, which was not finished till after his decease. The Royal Geographical Society of London gave him their gold medal and an honorary membership. The Queen's medal, designed for the Arctic explorers and searchers between the years 1818 and 1856, was presented; and a handsome testimonial, appropriately and specially exe- cuted, was given to him by the British residents of New York City, CHAPTEE XIIL KANE'S SEA-THE CHART-SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS-LAST WILL- VOYAGE TO ENGLAND-HOPING AGAINST HOPE-RECEPTION IN LON- DON-LAST LETTER-DISEASE OP THE HEART-VOYAGE TO ST THOMAS-ON HIS WAY TO CUBA-ATTACK OP PARALYSIS-AT HA- VANA-LONGING FOR HOME-LAST SCENE OF ALL-HE SLEEPETH- INTERPRETATION-CHURCH RELATIONS-FREE-MASONRY-THE OBSE- QUIES-LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTIONS-LEARNED SOCIETIES-ENGLISH TESTIMONIAL. The narrative of the book was finished, as we have seen, before the 4th of July, the Appendix at the close of August, and the work was published in September. The chart exhibiting the discoveries of the Expedition was put into the hands of the printer, and appeared in all the copies issued before Dr. Kane's departure for England, without his own name attached to any of the lands, channels, capes, or bays which it embraced. Colonel Force, in the exercise of an authority held by right of undisputed pre-eminence in Arctic science and sound discretion in the distribution of the honors won in its service, printed the words Kane's Sea with his own hand upon a copy of the chart, coveiing the large -' "'^ ""'^^^ ""'^^^ i^^'« Detween ^smith's Strait and 229 IW^i 230 ELISIIA KENT KANE. f # Kennedy Channel ; and the publishers, without hesita- tion, altered the pla^e accordingly. The discoveries and surveys embraced in the chart are, in brief: — 1. Nine hundred and sixty miles of coast-line de- lineated ; which was effected by two thousand miles of travel o i foot or by the aid of dogs. 2. Greenland traced to its northern face, where it is connected with the farther north of the opposite coast by the Glacier of Humboldt. 3. The survey of this great glacial mass, — "the mighty crystal bridge which connects the two continents of America and Greenland," — sixty miles in length. 4. The discovery and delineation of the coast-line of "Washington Land, separated from the American land- masses by a channel of but thirty-five miles in width, while the Great Glacier puts at least sixty between it and Greenland, and therefore regarded as in geographical continuity with the American continent. 5. The discovery and delineation of a large tract of land forming the extension northward of the American continent. 6. The discovery of a large channel to the northwest, free from ice, and leading into an open and expanding area equally free, — the whole* embracing an iceless area of four thousand two hundrel miles. Of these surveys ho speaks in this confident language, which from him is a sufficient assurance that they will not disappoint the utmost reliance which thev invito:— HIS WILL. 231 "I may be satisfied now with our projection of the Green- land coast. The different localities to the south have beer, referred to the position of our winter harbor, and this has been definitely fixed by the labors of Mr. Sontag, our astronomer. We have therefore not only a reliable base, but a set of primary triangulations which, though limited, may support the minor field-work of our sextants." The unrelenting ice that forms the crystal link between the known and the unknown Northern seas, thus defi- nitely measured and delineated, bears the name of its conqueror. It is poetically appropriate; and the spon- taneous consent of the world awards it. He sailed for England, "in search of his lost blessing," in the steamer Baltic, on the 10th of October, 1856, accompanied by the faithful Morton, who had gone with him to the world's end, and was now to go with him to the end of his life. Immediately before leaving New York, he made his will. He was at the time entirely unaware of the large pecuniary results which his last work was to yield to its author. His expenditure for his current support, and in his customary liberal givings to the objects of his charity .and kindness, left him nothing which may be very well called an estate; and he knew not at the time that he had certainly much of value to bequeath, for he had antici- pated the receipts which he mi<^ht confidently rely upon, and only felt assured that the expenses of his proposed trip to Europe were handsomely provided for, and that he was not in danger of debt. iSi 232 ELISHA KENT KANE. € He never in his life had been restricted in funds for his ordinary or necessary uses, and only felt their limit in his ardor for the great undertakings of his geueroua ambition and the indulgence of a large-hearted muni- ficence. It is because the world will be glad to know that poverty was not among his heavy burdens that this piece of very private history is given to it. On the voyage to Liverpool an ominous change in his constitutional habit was manifested : he was not sea- sick. This strange exemption is sadly interpreted to us, by the issue, to indicate the strength of disease over- mastering his idiosyncrasy. But the menacing symptoms of his malady were perhaps plain enough to any well- informed judgment not controlled by affection and its hopefulness. His wonderful tenacity of life — a sort of heroic vitalitj^ of his system — had so often restored him from hopeless illnesses, that his family, who knew his case best, entertained solacing expectations of benefit from the voyage. His father, writing to Mr. Grinnell on the 1st of De- cember, after the receipt of alarming news from London, says : — " I need not say to you how heartfully I share your fears, and how grateful we all are for Mrs. Grinnell's sympathies and your own. But — I hardly know why it should be so — I cannot rid myself of a confidence that our son will be spared to us. I have waited in suspense for weeks, wbon the arniv surireon's letter had assured HOPING AGAINST HOPE. 233 me that he must die before morning of his wounds in Mexico. I have heard of him prostrate and hopeless with the fever of the African coast, and, before that, with the plague; I have twice bidden him a last good- bye, when he sailed upon his cruises for the Arctic; and but little more than a year ago, when he was fairly out of time, I gave him almost up for ten days before he reached New York. And now I cannot realize that so noble a spirit, so well tried in suffering and peril, so full of love and fortitude and daring, is to be the victim of ordinary disease. I cannot but hope, and trust even, that the same wise and beneficent Providence that has shielded him so often and so manifestly has other good work for him to do among his fellow-men." Providence has otlm- spheres of service for the capable; and a good man's work goes on in this one after his death, as the seed grows while the husbandman sleepeth; else this fond trust would have been fulfilled in the form which our human hearts craved. Dr. Kane himself was fiir from sanguine of his recovery; yet, after his manner of controlling his appre- hensions without betraying the effort, he seemed to enjoy the voyage. Dr. Betton, of Germantown, who was an old acquaintance, and now his fellow-passenger in the Baltic, sa3 s that, "when his strength would permit, he .seemed to rise above his maladies and enj^y all around him, contributing his share to the general happiness." Even the watchful and well-schooled Morton was half •wo iwMnn J2S 234 ELISHA KENT KANE. i I deceived bj the well-supported aspect of cheerfulness habitually worn by his friend. They reached Liverpool on the 24th, and after three days went to London. Of his brief stay in the city, (about eight days,) Sir Koderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, says: — "It was a subject of much regret to me that when Dr. Kane visited England the metropolis (as is usual at that season) was not inhabited by many of the persons who most valued his character, and that none of those attentions could then be paid to him which, had his stay been prolonged, would doubtless have been showered upon him, from the sovereign downwards. But, alas! the hand of death was already upon him ; and, when I had the honor of an interview, I at once saw that his eagle eye beamed forth from a wasted and all but expiring body. " As geographers, we were not, however, remiss in our endeavors to honor him ; and, although his malady pre- vented his attendance at our apartments to receive our heartiest welcome, I then proposed that resolution expres- sive of our admiration of his conduct which you passed with acclamation, and which was communicated to him personally by our lamented President, Admiral Beechey." While in the city he visited the office of the Admi- ralty upon invitation, and called once or twice upon Lady Franklin and Mrs. Sabine ; but the fogs of London, 60 thick at mid-day that the street-lamps were invisible and flambeaus were carried before the carriages, over- LAST LETTER. 235 came him: he grew worse rapidly. Upon the kind and hospitable invitation of Mr. Cross, he removed to his resi- dence in Camberwell, about four miles distant from the Thames, where he remained from the 2d till the 17th of November, recovering a little in its better air, but only to the extent that enabled him to dine with the family, and requiring to be almost carried to the table. On the 15th he wrote the letter of latest date from his hand which I have seen. It is addressed to his friend and frequent medical adviser, Dr. S. W. Mitchell, of Philadelphia :— "Mt dear Friend Weir .-—Perhaps it would comfort our dear people at Pern Rock* if you would mention that I have seen and consulted Dr. Watson with Sir Henry Holland. The former ausculted my lungs and pronounced against any vice other than the cold on the chest which now so depresses me. My inability to throw it off is explained by my extreme want of power and this wretched land of fogs. "They all urge the 'exaltation' of vital function to be expected from a warmer climate. " Talk over this, and add your excellent father to the consultation. You see the effort with which I write this note : I wish you could see the overflowing kind feelings to you and yours with which I close it. " Your friend, " E. K. Kane. "London, November 15, 1850." * nis father's residence near Philadelphia. 236 ELISHA KENT KANE. l\ * i i f € The opinion of Dr. Watson, formed probably upon a thorough examination, is supported by that of Dr. Mitchell, which, however, he states to be the result of a single exploration, and that a rather slight one, or at least not sufficient to warrant a confident diagnosis. But the history of the case, running through a period of twenty years, without depending upon the results of auscultation, is perhaps sufficient to confirm this opinion. It is scarcely conceivable that exercise of the most violent kind, under the most unfriendly circumstances, would be practicable, much less remedial, in a case of organic disease of the heart so considerable as it must have been to account for all the appearances. The opinion of Dr. Hayes seems to offer a theory that better unites and explains the symptoms manifested throughout the long continuance of the case. It consists well enough with an inordinate volume of the organ and its frequent rheumatic attacks, while it denies any struc- tural derangement greater or other than frequent inflam- mation supposes ; and it accounts, besides, for their inter- mitting character and for the symptoms— bellows-sound, palpitation, and difficult respiration — by ascribing the paroxysms to serous effiision in the pericardium, or sack which loosely invests the heart ; oppressing and disturb- ing its action until, by absorption, or whatever process nature employs in such exigencies for working her own cures, the fluid was removed. The facts of the case point in this direction : — Quiet increased, and active exertion decreased, his liabilitv to DISEASE OF THE HEART. 23T palpitation and dyspnoea. The surgeon of the "Ad- vance" was called frequently during the winter of 1853-54 to his bedside, to find him suffering with these symptoms without any apparent cause for their occur- rence. These attacks sometimes happened when he had been for hours lying in his bunk; and they were often so violent that he had to be propped up with pillows, and so protracted that they threatened a fatal issue. But the next day he would be moving about with his accus- tomed alacrity, not hesitating to start off alone upon a two hours' walk on the ice. On his return there would be no reappearance of the symptoms ; and never, at any time, did he suffer from them by any excitement or exertion, however violent. The ordinary rules for the management of a patient laboring under organic disease of the heart were not only unsuited to his case, but posi- tively injurious. His experience of these facts clearly warranted the manner of life to which his impulses prompted him, and the maxim "do or die" was with him a physical as well as a moral necessity. Nervous excitability was a marked character of his temperament, and may have had a large share in his chronic ailments, as it was the Torm of their final and fatal exhibition; but the opinion of his case which ascribes his cardiac troubles and their symptoms to serous effusion, occurring either independently, or as a result and resolution of a rheumatic affection of the "•"Hi •t 238 ELISHA KENT KANE. £ C heart, looks like the better explanation of the anomalous symptoms so often exhibited. On arriving ir. London, Dr. Kane had thought at one time of going to Sicily, at another to the South of France; but Cuba was determined upon, as equally promising, and nearer home in the event of requiring its consolar tions under disappointed hopes of recovery. On the 17th of November he left the hospitable mansion of Mr. Cross, and went down by rail to Southampton. Mr. Cornelius Grinnell and Mr. Wood, both of New York, came down from London for the purpose, and saw him on board the Oronoco, bound for St. Thomas, which he reached on the 2d of December. He remained there, waiting for a passage to Cuba, until the 20th. Again on this voyage he escaped his usual sea-sickness. But he suffered acutely from rheumatism in his limbs, shifting into every part of his body. At St. Thomas he was hospitably entertained by Mr. Swift. He was able to walk from room to room in the house, and once drove out with his kind host. He had fever here nearly every day, and suffered greatly from night-sweats; but, upon the whole, he was considerably improved by his stay on the island, and this advantage of the climate determined him finally to continue his journey to Cuba. He had provided himself with woollens before he left England, under the feeling that he might determine to go direct from St. Thomas to the United States, risking the cold- ness of the coast to get home, and there abide the issue. ATTACK OF PARALYSIS. 239 On the 20th, in the evening, he sailed for Havana. It was blov^ing a half gale at the time, and the sea was boisterous. The next day he complained of nausea after breakfasting. In the afternoon he slept, and Morton engaged himself in " overhauling their luggage." While thus employed, the doctor waked and sat up, gazing at him for a moment or two, then lay down again, and called "Morton," in a thick voice. He rioaned as in great pain, and said «yes" when he was asked if the ship's physician should be called. When he came, the doctor said to him, "Do give me anodyne." A few minutes after, when they were alone, Morton said to him, " What is the matter ? you scare me, sir." He replied, "You may well be scared, poor fellow: you will not have me to trouble you long." About twenty minutes after saying this, Morton dis- covered that his right arm and leg were paralyzed. He asked him what this meant ; but the tongue would not do Its office. He was, however, conscious, and only inca- pable of vocal utterance. By the 24th he had revived considerably ; he was able to sit up with support, and looked out with interest upon the shore of Cuba, which was n'^w in sight. On the 25th, the vessel landed at Havana, where he was received by his brother Thomas, who had gone out to meet him there as soon as the family were advised of his destination. The next day he went ashore, and on the 29th was reported as considerably improved,— able to use the paralyzed leg n.« well as the other; but '«<>,$ 240 ELISIIA KENT KANE. I I c mm Km f the arm remained powerless, and utterance imperfect, yet sufficing for the simple communication of his wants. On the 7th of January, his mother and his brother John left New York for Havana. They arrived on the 12th or loth. His mother, having been exposed to the contagion of smallpox immediately before leaving home, abstained from seeing him for four or five days, under fear of communicating the disease ; but after that time he had her, his two brothers, and Mr. Morton in con- stant attendance upon him to the end. His anxiety to get home was, however, but little abated. It had all the urgency and impatience of a dying man's longings. He was quite able to make the journey, he could stand while he was dressed, could walk with but little support to a chair; he could ride out if the day were but favorable, and they need have no fears for him! H*^ was a child again in these importunings. He had come back from the long voyage of a lifetime to his xuother's knee, with all the pretty little ways and trivial troubles of the nursery. Heroism had not hardened him ; the world had not weaned him from his heart's dependency upon home affections ; and his very inquiet- udes were disguised pleasures: they veiled while they indulged his overflowing fondness. Every day — two or three times every day — he must hear the words of life from the lips that had taught his to lisp his infant prayer; and, if Morton's occupations LAST SCENE OF ALL. 241 interrupted her, "Go on, mother: never mind Morton," expressed his interest and its impatience. A month by the calendar-^an age to the watchers-^- wore away in this manner, and they were ready to sail; but the weather was unfavorable, and the journey was postponed till the next steamer-day. That next steamer brought him— brought his corpse— to his country. He had left it for " that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns." On the 10th of February, suddenly and without warn- ing, he was seized with " apoplexy,"— inaccurately described, for he was not unconscious nor insensible; only paralyzed, with the power of emotional expression left, the power to indicate his sympathies, sufferings, and wants. The tenacious vitality of his frame held him to earth till the 16th,* and then released him so gently that the Bible-reading went on for some minutes after the other watchers had been made aware of his departure. When death invaded the little family at Bethany and struck down the brother, Jesus said to his disciples, " Our friend sleepeth." They answered, not knowing what they said, " If he sleep, he shall do well." They must be told in the language of their own blindness, plainly, «He is dead." How hard it is for mortal man to understand the proper language of immortality ! And the sister (not Mary, who had loved herself into the "to*"*! * 16th of February, 1857. He was born 8d February, 1820. 16 242 ELISHA KENT KANE. I I C secret of the Savior's life long before his disciples divined it, but Martha, the worldling) hoped only that her brother should rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said unto her, " I am the resurrection and the life; whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this ?" Yet at the grave of his friend He wept ! Neither Faith nor Hope forbids the griefs of Love bereaved. It is their office to heal, not to harden, the heart. They sit by the just-opened tomb, as Mary saw two angels in white, the one at the head, the other at the feet, to answer the plaints of grief-blinded aftection. It is sown in cor- ruption. — It is raised in iucorruption ! It is sown in dis- honor. — It is raised in glory! It is sown in weakness. — It is raised in power! It is sown a natural body. — It is raised a spiritual body! Here the real meets the actual, the true confronts the apparent, and Life answers the argument of Death. One of the incidents of these last days of lingering in life has been reported and received as an act of Christian forgiveness for wrongs he had suffered and was still suffering in their consequences. I owe it to his memory to record here my own apprehension of it. He had settled that account two years before, forgiving then what was to be forgiven, and accepting what was to be borne without blame to the party offending. It was the indignation and threatened revenges of his attendants that wakened his noble heart with the pang wlfioh attented hi". consciouHnpss, cloarno«H. of siDnrc- «> CHURCH RELATIONS. 243 hension, and persistency of purpose to keep the peace he had made. And, when his best-loved and nearest cried out, " Elisha, I will forgive them," his smile of satisfaction was not the clearance of his own heart of a grievance, but the gladness of knowing now that the hearts where his image must rest had been disburdened of an incongruous feeling. He settled a similar trouJe with me, for the same cause, long before ; and, if I know any thing assuringly, I know that he did not trail with him to his death-bed a grievance which he had met and disposed of in the spirit of manly justice and Christiar generosity when he first encountered it. The history of these la-st days is given here with careful reference to its proper effect. Nothing is strained in statement or colored in description for any purpose or to any end. And it is only necessary now to add that no clergyman of any denomination visited him at Havana, and that he never held membership in any church other than that by birthright and baptism, in his infancy, in the congregation to which his parents belong,— the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. It is proper also to state that immediately after his return from his last Arctic voyage he requested his pastor, (as he once called him,) Rev. C. W. Shields, to make public thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Expeditionists from the perils of their cruise, attended the service, and warmly thanked the pastor for perform- ing it. 244 ELISHA KENT KANE. I I C ti He had requested public prayer to be made in one of the churches in New York for the well-being of the crew and the prosperity of the enterprise, before he set out. He was prayed for by name in one at least of the Catholic churches of his native city during his absence ; and he and his party may have been the object of other congre- gational supplication and thanksgiving elsewhere. It is safe to say that he valued at its highest worth the devotional so!^icitude of all men for .lis welfare who gave it in the spirit which makes prayer acceptable to God and helpful to man. In the summer of 1852 he entered the Franklin Lodge of Free Masons in Philadelphia. What Masonry meant to him and he meant by it is apparent from an address, evidently extemporized, on the night before he left New York upon his last Arctic voyage. The occasion was a special one, having re- ference to his enterprise and search for Sir John Franklin, who was a brother Mason. The whole speech is given in the appendix of this volume ; but we call attention to an extract, now that we are on the subject of his religious and societary connections, for the illus- tration it affords of his character in this aspect. Answering the address from the Grand Master, he says : — " With regard to your remarks directly associated with my name, I should be embarrassed could I not refuse to believe them addressed to me in any other capacitv than that of the roDrosentativo of a cause H FRKTil-MASONRT. _^ 246 which, perhaps, may claim to associate Christian charity with American enterprise,— the attempt to save a gal- lant officer and his fellows from a dreadful death, Avith- out inquiring whether he or they and ourselves are citizens of the same or of another race, or clime, or nation. " Worshipful, I have heard upon this floor to-night our party characterized as a Masonic expedition. And is it not this ? And is its work not substantial Masonry? Are you, sir, or you, brothers, here, that are gathered around me,— are we blindly attached to this or that ritual of this or that form or order of the Masonic insti- tution ? Say, is it not rather that we see reflected in Free MaLonry the cause of free brotherhood throughout the world, and that our signs and our symbols, our tokens, legends, and passwords, are only honorable in our eyes, and honored because they are a language in which affection can securely speak to sympathy, and humanity safely join hands with honor. "Brothers, we are called in our day, perhaps, to make Masonry what it should be,— not a sectarian society, to garb, or rank, or enroll men, to separate them from their fellows, but a bond to unite the good and true in a com- mon union for the common defence and welfare of all who are good and true men." To the " Obsequies of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane," pre- pared for publication by the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, and appended to this narrative, I am glad to refer for all that can ho dnpn h^ vannM fViQ 4»:Im'-^£& -%r — I- • ■> ' — — — i — „ |"_-t t Liit muuie 01 nurixjvv paia oy 246 ELISHA KENT KANE. 1 t t his country to his remains through their long journey to their final resting-place. The recollection of my readers needs not to be re- freshed : they were witnesses, they were the mourners, of that national procession ; and they have it by heart, richer, fresher, better than my pen could portray it. The newspapers and journals of the day echoed the general mourning of the public ; the pulpits responded to the common feeling of the worshippers; and the Le- gislatures of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, and other States, adopted resolutions expressive of the national feeling which honored his life and mourned his death. The flags of the capitols were ordered at half-mast; and the municipal governments of all the principal cities of the Union united in corre- sponding testimonies of respect. The Philosophical Society of Pennsylvania ordered his portrait to be painted for their hall, and appointed Professor A. Dallas Bache, one of their Vice-Presidents, to prepare a memoir for publication. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the learned societies of the Union generally, joined in their several appropriate v/ays in commemorating his wort}) and services. Dr. Hawks, President of the Geographical Society of New York, pronounced a eulogy upon him before that body ; and the venerable Dr. Francis paid a similar tribute in behalf of the Medical Society of that city. The Royal Geographical Society of London, through their Presidents cravo the heartiest evpreHsion. ENGLISH TESTIMONIAL, 247 of their appreciation of him as a man and an explorer. A page from this eulogy must conclude—without in any adequate degree completing— the summary of the tributes laid upon his tomb. Sir Koderick Murchison closes his review of the life and achievements of their medallist and honorary member thus : — " ' The long procession of mourners, (as it is written in the Philadelphia Evening Journal of March 12,) the crowded yet silent streets through which they move, the roll of muffled drums, the booming of minute-guns, the tolling of passing bells, the craped flags at half-mast, and all the solemn pageantry of the scene, proclaim that it is no ordinary occasion which has called forth these im- pressive demonstrations of public respect.' "Agreeing entirely with this eloquent writer, that few men have ever lived who have earned a better title to the admiration of his race, and also warmly commend- ing to your notice the sentiment proceeding from a great commercial city of our kinsmen, ' that we are not to look to the mere utilitarian value of Dr. Kane's labors and adventures for the claim to that bright and unfading glory which must ever surround his name,' let me say that, by re-echoing the voice of America on this occa- sion, England can best cherish the memory of one who dared and did so much to rescue her lost navigators. " Having thus imperfectly glanced at the feats which our deceased medallist accomplished in the short hfe- thue of thirty-seven years, unu.r the impulses of hu- — i.--j .i,K, rviLii^t, 1 Lttiinui otiiui sum Up iiiH virtues MkxJi a-: 248 ELISHA KENT KANE. than in the words of the divine* who preached the funeral sermon over his bier. *He has traversed the planet in its most inaccessible places, has gathered here and there a laurel from every walk of physical research in which he strayed, has gone into the thick of perilous adventure, abstracting in the spirit of philosophy yet seeing in the spirit of poesy, has returned to invest the very story of his escape with the charms of literature and art, and, dying at length in the morning of his fame, is now lamented with mingled affection find pride by his country and the world.' " *Rev.C.W. Shields. ft i %. c c ':«| iched the -^ersed the ered here I research f perilous 3ophy yet nvest the literature ' his fame, ide by his r ^^ '!X^ tZ *^% i I I c C i't* nlfinps.. hfiff fat h -'ti •' F^.? ^=;lt>ftO|. vet«!Ti '■nv,' . v,il ' + S *| «t%-3 ■WdR lOMB OF DR. KANE, /// Uiint Iia Caii./vry, luur J'/,il,„/,lji/,i. •«l «i£: m b( fi^ h{ th flc ac sc: fri th sis fee da CHAPTER XIV. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION-SOCIAL BEARING-SPIUIT-POWEU-PORTRAITS -HYPERTROPHY-KINDNESS FOR ANIMALS-GUN-MURDER-DOO- PEOPLE— MAN AND BEAST- GODFREY— NORTH BRITISH REVIEW- WITHDRAWING PARTY-MANNERS AND CUSTOMS-TOODLA-MIK- TASTES AND ANTIPATHIES-NOVELS AND PLAYS-PROSE-POETRY —MENTAL METHOD— MEDICAL SKEPTICISM-BENEFITS OF THE STUDY -GOVERNING-POWER-THE OUTSIDE PASSAGE-ROUTINE aND OR- GANIZATION-ESQUIMAUX ALLIES-FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN-JUS- TICE TO SUBORDINATES-ALL ELSE SUBMITTED-THE END. Dr. Kane was five feet six inches in height: in his best health he weighed about one hundred and thirty- five pounds. He had a fair complexion, with soft brown ban-. His eyes were dark gray, with a wild-bird light in them when his intellect and feelings were in genial flow; when they were in the torrent-tide of enraptured action, the light beamed from them like the flashing of scimetars, and in impassioned movement they glared frightfully. All these phases might be displayed within the selfsame hour that he had laid his head upon his sister's knee, and in a cooing voice, soft as the music of feeling could make it, said, "Pet me, Bessie; love me, 249 I 250 ELISIIA KENT KANE. •hi,, c In company, when the talk ran glib and everybody would be heard, he was silent, but tense and elastic as a steel-spring under pressure. He had a way of looking attentive, docile, and interested as a child's fresh wonder; but no one would mistake the expression for the admi- ration of inexperience or incapacity; yet it cheated many a talker into a self-complaisance that lost him his opportunity of learning something of the man which he wanted to know. This was the thing in his demeanor which people call his reserve: the reserve of absorbed attentiveness he had; but there was nothing of strained reticence in his manner. An Irishman would not think him a humorist, nor would a Frenchman call him a wit; a Yankee would give him a high character for both; an Englishman would call him clever, — leaving you to guess what that might mean ; and almost anybody who met him in the intervals given to easy intercourse would say that he was a delightful social companion. He was shy of the probe : he shrank like a sensitive- plant from any rude ransacking of his sanctuary of feeling and opinion ; but his caution was not cowardly. He only would not be nipped ; and he had skill enough among the hummocks and slush of society to find his own lead and keep an even keel. He was a gentleman, and had absolute possession of himself. Idle curiosity never made any thing of him, and he did nothing at gossip ; but inquiry with an aim was never disappointed. Sitting one day at his father's table, after R:l| SPIRIT-POWER. 251 his return from his last Expedition, some one closed the narrative of a dangerous adventure with the words, «I never encountered any thing so awful in my life." The doctor had been for an hour silently attentive to all that was said. At this point one of the guests turned i;o him and asked, "What is the most awful thing that y(m ever experienced ?" His face took a devotionally deep expression; and he answered, "The silence of the Arctic night!" His answer might pass for sentiment, poetry, or worship, as you would receive it. His company read it to their own several depths, and all so far aright; for his character lay in him in concentric rings, all concurring and all according, and you could have it in your own measure. A vein was opened here; and after dinner, alone with him, I asked him for the best-proved instance that he knew of the soul's power over the body,— an instance that might push the hard-baked philosophy of material- ism to the consciousness of its own idiocy. He paused a moment upon my question, as if to feel how it was put, and then answered, as with a spring, " The soul can lift the body out of its boots, sir. When our captain was dying,— I say dying: I have seen scurvy enough to know, —every old scar in his body was a running ulcer. If conscience festers under its wounds correspondingly, hell is not hard to understand. I never saw a case so bad that either lived or died. Men die of it usually long before they are as ill as he was. There was trouble '"•It 252 ELISHA KENT KANE. fw mv mt r C aboard : there might be mutiny. So soon as the breath was out of his body we might be at each others' throats. I felt that he owed even the repose of dying to the ser- vice. I went down to his bunk, and shouted in his ear, 'Mutiny, captain! mutiny!' He shook off the cadaveric stupor: 'Set me up,' said he, 'and order these fellows before me.' He heard the complaint, ordered punish- ment, and from that houv convalesced ! Keep that man awake with danger, and he wouldn't die of any thing till his duty was done." Keader, if there is a curl on your lip now, turn over another page: this story is not for you. The doctor with his eye on you would not have made the mistake of throwing such a pearl under your feet. The most fatal prognostic of the doctor's own last illness was that he said to Mrs. Grinnell, as he was going on board the Baltic for England, " I cannot say that I will come back to you this time." But we were talking of his personal make and quali- ties. To my eye he was as handsome as the finest com- bination of form, features, expression, and action could make a man. His profile portrait in his last work — not the full-face on our first page — presents him as he was best seen. They are both as true as art could make them; but if you loved the man you would see the reason for it clearest in the one we prefer. His fine head (a feature never wanting in a fine character) was so well set, nnd his chest was so large, that, as a perfectly proportioned miniature gives the HYPERTROPHY. 253 impression of full size, one never felt in his presence any deficiency in his stature. It will be recollected that from sixteen years of a-e he was reported by medical men to be laboring under hyper- trophy of the lieart,-a term of art meaning excess of nourishment, and consequently increase of volume in the organ, and that increase usually im^^lying disease in its muscular tissue. Dr. Jackson, of the Pennsylvania University, who was on. of the earliest and ablest of our physicians who fol- lowed Laennec in his method of exploring the chest, is perhaps responsible for this opinion ; but he tells a curious story about this case now. He was in Paris some years smce, and, observing that the statue of Julius Ca3sar gave a smiilar conformation of the chest, remarked toayoun- friend who was with him, "Ca)sar had hypertrophy" The fi-iend said, "No: on historical authority you are wrong." Soon after he returned to Philadelphia, in com- pany Avith the same young gentleman he one day met Dr. Kane in the street, was struck with the resemblance, and called the young gentleman's attention to it. But upon subsequent reflection he yields his earlier opinion, and is rather inclined now to ascribe the thoracic fulness of both cases to a disproportionately large heart, without referring either to any diseased change of size or Ibrm. No post-mortem examination was made in the case under consideration ; and we have none of the facts which It would have aiforded for the settlement of this very curious question. it-*!* •MM 254 ELISHA KENT KANE. it % r I-- C Dr. Kane w«is a marksman, a brilliant horseman, and a first-rate pedestrian. Foot-tramps, and the chase with- out the usual relish for its accompaniments, were a pas- sion with him. Horses and dogs were something more than pets and indulgences to him; for, much as he enjoyed the exercise and excitement of the forest and field, he was tender to the objects and instruments of the chase to an extent that verged on sentimentalism; but there was nothing of this in his composition. His attachment to dogs and horses was a strongly marker"! feature in his character. He called them by their given names always, with a feeling which kindly, almost respectfully, accorded to them their poor claims to a distinct individuality, if not personality, with its incident rights and the resulting relations with their masters and among themselves. In his journal of "The First Grinnell Expedition" he seems to have been the expertest hunter of the party; yet almost as frequently as the incidents of this service are recorded, some protest is uttered, indicating the activity of this sentiment of fel- lowship and sympathy with the birds and beasts " slaugh- tered," as he styles their killing, under necessity of an overruling humanity towards his patients among the crew needing such anti-scorbutic diet. There are two instances of seal-shooting, or, as he calls it, giin-murder, (at pages 221 and 232 of that volume,) which would help the reputation of Sterne himself for tenderness and beauty of sentiment, and would have given him, moreover, as good a personal cha- KINDNESS FOR ANIMALS. 255 racter, if he had had the honesty and earnestness of our author. The diction of these passages, it must be noticed, is used to dash the confession with a little of that evasive deference for unsympathizing criticism to which publica- tion exposed the sentiment. But it is plain enough that the gentle gentleman hoped somebody would find his feeling under its cover, and be encouraged in kindliness to the jpoor leasts. Moreover, there is nothing in it cf the floridness of parade sentimentalism. The languao-e has the very tone of conscious misdemeanor in °it :1 "Scurvy and sea-life craving for fresh meat led me to it," -the commonplace of the police-office justifying mis- conduct by the plea of a beggarly necessity. In the year 1848, 1 ihink it was, the elephant on exhi- bition at the Philadelphia circus killed his keeper, and went on a spree generally in the menagerie, making a general jail-delivery among the tiger and lion cages, with such zeal that he broke one of his tusks in the perform- ance of the day. The alarm roused the police, and the Mayor ordered out a company of muskets to kill the enraged animal. Dr. Kane lieard the rumor, and went into the excitement, but in his own way. " The cowardly tyrants," he exclaimed, " to call the elephant mad ! An animal with the intelligence of an elephant has a right to be iudhjnant: that's the word for it. He has b^en outraged by a brute with less than his own intellect, and "othing of his sense of right; and now he must be mur- ilered to check his just revenge!" ^1 '•■'mi 5 '•■mi '■rttM'. 256 ELISIIA KENT KANE. r' I.... CI c; # But he had no contempt for any of God's creatures, — not even for men in the depth of their debasement. To a friend who was patting a dog after he had been abusing some of the lowest and loathsomest of our own species and the tulprit-side of human nature generally, he said, "I like your kindliness to the poor dog-people: I have that feeling more than moderately strong myself; but I never saw a man who Avas not higher than a dog." This was after he had seen humanity in its lees in every quarter of the globe. He was not incapable of taking human life for cause requiring it. He held it at a much lower value than the rights, dignities, and liberties which belong to it. These he scrupulously respected in all his actions and' utter- ances. It was indeed a reverence, as for a sacred thing, which he gave to the majesty of manhood and to its proj^er defences : he never indulged even in irony, and was as incapable of detraction as of petty larceny. He was always thoughtful — carefully thoughtful — of his action and influence upon the minds of those around him. He sent a bullet after the deserter Godfrey, " at long but practicable dir^tance," — whether with the purpose of executing summary justice upon him, or not, is not clear, much less conclusive, in the circumstances j and the state- ment by no means supports the severest construction of which it is capable, for he was not the man to propitiate illiberal criticism. IJut tak«i it that he did not count upon the chances of a long distance and a spent ball, and that his aim failed his purpose; then recollect that he NORTH BRITISH REVIEW. 257 afterwards brought the delinquent a prisoner to the brig, at the expense of a desperate journey of one Iiundred and forty miles, when Bonsall, Petersen, and himself were the only men on board capable of working for the rest; and is it not plain that his motive is found in his duty to prevent the ruinous intluence which the wretched fellow would exert over the Esquimaux at Etah, upon whose friendly ofTices the crew under his command and care at the time depended for their very existence ?=•' Governed by a magnanimous deference for other men's rights, which was not a weakness or a factitious senti- ment, but a ruling principle, with him, ho was heroically patient and forbearing towards those whone defection in the hour of his sorest need put his goodness and great- ness of heart to the severest proof. * It is worthy of notice here, (hat of more than a thousand reviews of Ills book, the North British Review is the only journal that has found fault with his conduct in this affair — or in any other. And it is just as re- niarkablo that this reviewer suppresses the justifying reason, the impo- rativo necessity, in his statement of the case. I say suppresses, for ho quotes every thing else in the passage which contains it, as by a careful soloction. Dr. Kane's language is, 'aicnrned, too, that Godfrey was phiying the great man at Etah, defyin-; recapture; and I was not xdlUng to (rust the iiijiucnce he mijht exert on my relations with the tribe." Tlio reviewer has it, '< Godfrey was at Etah with the Esquimaux; and the moment Dr. Kano heard it he resolved 'that he should return to the ship.' " The writer, in every particular of his censorious strictures, was eviiL i{\\ ;u the condition of a man who does not see what he neither undersf.nds nor desires to find iu the case before him, however plain it may be to everybody else. 17 41 m 258 ELISHA KENT KANE. ft I- c: Turn to the first volume of his second voyage, at pages 83 and 348; estimate the pressure of the conditions in which he was placed ; and then look where you will for an equally imposing exhibition of generous justice. He was not a coward ; he could bear all his own bur- dens : he was not an egotist, and did not pile censure upon otlier people's heads to save his own. In wo3'k, exercise, and mental application, he was intense, and, therefore, not systematic. He was remark- able not only for getting along with very little sleep, but for irregularity also in its indulgence. He was as httle as possible subject to habit or periodicity; and he seemed rather to engineer his faculties by his will than to give up .my of his conduct to the rule of custom. He fought hard for his freedom from himself, and, resultingly, he had always at coirmand a loose foot, a free hand, and stood in ready adjustment to exigencies. He conformed to usages for convenience' sake, without any struggling, but without any submission ; and, having no imperious neces- sities of hib own, he had no conflict with those of other people. Whether he retired early or late, he rose early, taking long walks before breakfast when no pressure of engage- ments threw him out. But when he had something on hand which must be done to time, — as writing his last book, — he worked till three in the morning, and then took out the tuck of the long constraint and relieved himself of its weariness by a dashing ride of five or six miles, or by cracking his dog- whips in the yard for an hour or two, ^^i kf TOODLA-MIK. 259 -—whips with lashes from sixteen to thirty-three feet long, which not one man in a thousand could unfold; but he could crack them like a pistol. They were the whips used in driving his Esquimaux dog-teams. And what a wild carouse old Toodla-mik, the leader of his Arctic sledge-hacks, would have with him in the frosty mornings of their last winter's fellowship ! It was a rough communion, and not quite a complete one. Toodla was an -Injin," every inch of him,— hyena, wolf, and slave in a mixture,— fierce as the boldest of the t/Npes, and cowardly and treacherous as the worst. At the first call he would look out of his kennel and hesitate a moment; then, without the usual all-hail of the civilized canine,— for he had not learned to bark,— with a bound he was upon the doctor's shoulders, looking a sneaking compound of felony ai'd fondness. Then for the play: the whip was the attraction, not the compulsion. It looked Arctic and Esquimaux enough to see him springing like mad to receive the lash wherever it fell; no fear of the crackei-. There was no place exposed to it except the eyes, nose, and fore-feet. Under defence of such a coat of hair, nothing but a cudgel could reach his sensibilities. Toodla had his virtues, whether he intended them or not. He had rendered services made high and noble by their appropriation. His name is connected with many memories which will not soon perish; and he stands now, liisown monument, preserved in that Westminster Abbej' *■*» ■ « mm. 260 ELISIIA KENT KANE. € K C of representative animals, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. In personal habits Dr. Kane was nice even to dainti- ness ; temperate and delicate in diet, and abstinent from wine as a beverage, taking it only as a form of table or social courtesy, nor then, if refusal would cost less than compliance. He had a horror of tobacco in all its forms. When a friend defended its use with the remark, " Its cost is trivial, a mere nothing," he retorted, "But what does your tobacco-function cost your body, and, per conBe- quence, the agent within?" His intellectual tastes expressed his character and conformed to it. He was not a novel-reader; and for the stage he had no relish. "The theatre," he says, "has always been to me a wretched simulation of realities; and I have too little sympathy with the unreal to find pleasure in it long." His favorite books are in the ice of Smith's Sound : they modified him less than they enter- tained him. In fifteen hundred pages of book-matter, he never makes a quotation to assist himself in expression, except one from Bunyan; and even that is used for its allegori- cal effect as much as for its beauty and power. He wrote his own poetry in the higher form of prose : for two instances out of many hundreds, read the fol- lowing gems, wrenched as they are from their exquisite settings : — " I am afraid to speak of some of these night-scenes. I have trodden the deck and the floes when the life of PROSE-POETr.Y. 261 earth seemed suspended, — its movements, its sounds, its coloring, its companionships; and as I looked on the radiant hemisphere, circling above me as if rendering worship to the unseen Centre of light, I have ejaculated, in humility of spirit, ' Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?' And then I have thought of the kindly world we had left, with its revolving sunshine and shadow, and the other stars that gladden it in their changes, and the hearts that warmed to us there, till I lost myself in memories of those who are not ; and they bore me back to the stars ai:;ain." He finds a poppy, green under seven feet of snow. A lucidly simple explanation of its securities in a climate that runs down to 50° below zero warms his fancy into poetic sympathy with its delicate life : — " No eider-down in the cradle of an infmt is tucked in more kindly than the sleeping-dress of winter about this feeble flower-life." His logic was nothing akin to the legal method of rea- soning. It was amusing to hear him answer a lawyerly ' argument which had run away from the sharply severe sequence and drift of the fiicts involved, — "I don't understand you." An edifice of assumption and generalities went down under his touch like a card house, however systematically built. His demand upon his interlocutor was, " What do you know ?" and his reservation seemed to be, " I can do my own thinking." Nor was his method merely the analogical, although it was chiefly by contrast and resemblance. He trusted implicitly to nothing but the accuracy of observation em- m 262 0f I* C ELISHA KENT KANE. ployed upon the subject itself, guarding himself against the risks of resemblance, on the suspicion that the process often unconsciously conceals vicious speculations. And he was as cautious with induction ; for he was well aware that it is much given to putting distance over-boldlj between the truths which it connects, and is often unsafe both in data and demonstration. Nor did he jumble induction and analogy after the manner of the current philosophizing in which there is so little philosophy. " Then, in the name of all that is rational, how did he think ?" Take this for a reply, and in it or by it find the answer:— He believed all that he hnew, and he trusted his whole weight upon the legitimate inferences as for as they would carry him, but '11 holding deductions for mere hypotheses until he h proved them by their trial upon the facts, all the while proceeding as reso- lutely as the simplest credulity could do; and so, his characteristic audacity of belief was never misguided by inferences mistaken for certainties. His faith in medicine was decidedly thin, but not lim- ber. He says of it, "I am, I fear, heterodox almost to infidelity as to the direct action of remedies, and rarely allow myself to claim a sequence as a result." For routine-practice and the highest professional suc- cess he perhaps had not a just appreciation. He preferred the achievements of an explorer, mixed with adventure, to the reputation of Hunter or Harvey. His skepticism in drug-practice had a basis in his own make, which put life, in his idea, out of and above the reach of che- BENEFITS OF HIS MEDICAL STUDY. 263 inicals. This feeling, which was to him a fountain of opinion as well as a spring of action, shows itself just in the right place. When the Advance party were reduced to ten men, and four of them were on their backs, the thermometer at 30° below zero, and prospects even lower, he says, speaking of Morton and Hans, " I can see strength of system in their cheerfulness of heart. le best prophylactic is a hopeful, sanguine tempera- ment ; the best cure, moral resistance, — that spirit of combat against every trial which is alone true bravery." Yet he was not unaware of the advantages Avhich his medical attainments gave him. In his darkest day he says, " I am glad of my professional drill aj^d its com- panion-influence oyer the sick and toil-worn. I could not get along at all unless I combined the offices of physician and commander." Anatomical and physiological study, in fact, had done more for him than he knew. There is nothing like the former for art in observing and describing the physical properties of things; and no method of inquiry goes more directlj^ or thoroughly into the phenomena of forces and the dependency of actions than that of the latter. Dr. Kane's descriptive powers gained greatly by his training in the study of anatomy and the practice of the dissecting-room and the laboratory ; and his applica- tion of the doctrine of endosmose to the explanation of Arctic ice-thaw while the thermometer is still below the freezing-point, and its happy help to the understanding of that paradox of fact, the viscous flow of the glaciers, £ it a ft«M« :ail*f .B»'| I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) « 4' 1.0 I.I • 50 "^ ■^ 140 25 2.2 2.0 1.25 1.4 1.6 := = ^ ■^ f,' ^ o /, r e 7F '♦/ z;^ w 4/ PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 33 WSl'T MAIN STRUT VVIKTIR.N r I4S80 (716) •73-450'* 4^ ^. J i/j 264 ELISHA KENT KANE. c is a splendid example of the extension of physiological science to one of the most remote fields of physical in- quiry. Dr. Kane's trouble with medicine was that hypothesis must be so largely accepted for facts, and agencies hazardously credited with efficiency upon grounds but slightly supported by evidence. In a word, his mental integrity was something too stubborn for the authority of oracles. His power to govern his subordinates and to lead his equals was not overmeasured by his reliance upon it. He went out on his last voyage without any of the rules and regulations which govern our national marine, or authority to enforce them. The men were volunteers, and the expedition was a private venture. Yet on deck, in dan- gerous and difTicult navigation, he held the respect of the sailors. Tried every day by the rough standard of these regular-bred routinists, they felt and conceded his superiority. When he bravely ventured upon tlie outside passage of Melville Bay on his outward-bound trip. Brooks and McGary thought he must be right, though they had never heard of such a thing before; and, when two years of daily trials had habituated thom to a frank obedience, they followed him in an open boat through the same perilous passage which the little brig had first found by the instincts of her commander. It was like inviting a score of draymen to make an ascension in a paper balloon through a snow-storm j but they trusted, for tiiey had ESQUIMAUX ALLIES. 265 learned a habit of dependence bj a thousand instances of assuring experience. He was at once indomitable and irresistible; but the spring in his spirit was neither a blind temerity nor an irreflective transport, for he never took a step undirected by fji-cthought : his boldness was reliance upon the anticipations of caution, and just because he looked so carefully ahead he never looked back. I. was not as a phrase-maker, but as a law-maker, he uttered these max- ims of order :_" I realize fully the moral effects of an un- broken routine." " Whatever of executive ability I have picked up during this brain and body wearing cruise warns me against immature preparation or vacillating purposes. I must have an exact discipline, a rigid t'outine, and a perfectly-thought-out organization." But, wonderful as the history of his reign over his own lesperately tried crew through all the adventures of the cruise appears, his management of his Esquimr.ux neighbors of Etah varies, if it does not otherwise en- hance, the evidence of his mental mastery over his fellow-men. These animal-men began by robbing the brig, and at one time would have been willing to destroy the crew : they ended by helping them to purpose on their retreat from the scene of their sufferings. He says of them, ''As long as we remained prisoners of the ice, we were indebted to them for invaluable counsel in relation to our hunting-excursions; and in tiie joint hunt we shared alike, according to their laws. Our dogs were, in one sense, common property; and often X It*.' 266 ELISIIA KENT _-ANE. f they have robbed themseb. es to offer supplies of food to our starving teams. They gave us supplies of meat at critical periods : we were able to do as much for them. They learned to look on us only as benefactors, and, I know, mourned our departure bitterly." Their own statement and explanation of the relations subsisting so long and so happily between themselves and his party has matter in it to dwell upon : — " You have done us good. We are not hungry; we will not take [steal]. You have done us good : we want to help you : we are friends." Savage superstition and the marvellous six-shooter had some share in this influence ; but he observed a jus- tice in his dealings with them which secured their con- fidence, and exhibited a superiority, in all the qualities of manhood which they understood, that could not fail to impose respect. His" emotions at parting with these poor creatures were the earnings of his admirable management of them through all their strange intercourse : — " I blessed them for their humanity to us with a fervor of heart which from a better man peradventure might have carried a blessing along with it." The heart so tender and true to objects so repulsive as these could not be insensible to the charm that there is in childhood, in its beauty and innocence, or indifferent to its claims to the consideration and care which may minister to its culture under the influences of Chris- tian civilization. FONDNESS FOK CHILDREN. 267 Dr Kane loved children with a woman's tenderness and a man's forethought. When he was about leaving for England, and a course of popular lectures was proposed to him in the event of his early return to the United States, with the tempting assurance of ten thousand dollars for the ensuing winter's work, he answered, I will not talk about that now; bat if I do come back, and have but the strength to deliver one lecture, it shall be to an audience of children." He was once urged to write a RoUnson Crusoe story of his adventures. He looked up at first with the sur- prise of his habitual self-depreciation and despair of strength for such a task ; but the idea brightened^-doubt- less with this cherished reference to the service of the youth of the country, and he said, "But could I doit?" The answer was, « Yes, and without exhaustion, or risk of failure in the effect: that is your style exactly," "I'll do it," said he, and walked off in a glow of pleasure as If to indulge the anticipation to the full and enjoy it unobserved. The loss is fellow to the sorrow of all the disappoint- ment which shrouds these buried hopes. His death ims untimely j for he could have lived to the end of his days however prolonged. * The liberal spirit and considerate feeling towards the men under his command-all' of them-that marks the book which immortalizes all its subjects is in perfect keeping with the character he displayed where his tastes were gratified and his aftections secured. It proves that m i>'.'k am it aw** M i: 1 i**'j 268 ELISUA KENT KANE. §0K K, «!»<" CX C his virtues were not the caprices of feeling, but held the rank of principles in his character. It was magnanimity without its pride. He rendered justice by the rule that exacts little where little is given; and he did not so much forgive as justify the deficiencies of limited cr^par bilities, moral as well as mental and physical ; and it was not in disappointment or suffering, however severe, to warp his justice or sharpen his judgments. But this chapter of personal characterization must close. His scie. ific attainments, great and varied as they were, were as nothing to him except as they could be worked into his practical life. They must be overpassed in his biography ; for it must not give them a prominence which he refused them. And his literary acquirements and achievements, — they are rendered by a thousand pens, whose several authorities each one outweighs the worth of my opinions. Success was the measure by which he judged his own strivings. The generation which he addressed and aerved shall judge the works that survive him, remem- bering only that, had he lived, he would have written a book of Arctic science for his peers, and a hand-book of natural history, travel, and adventure levelled to the intellectual capacities of childhood and lifted to the rank of its requirements. Credit him with the purpose of such a service to the world as this, and estimate his capability by the evidence he has afforded in that which he has done. iion mmt i written a LETTER FROM DR. HAYES, SUROEON OP DR. KANE's EXPEDITION. DR. KANE'S PLAN OF SEARCir_AI>VENTURES 0- THE DEPOT-PARTT-RETURN OF PART OF THEM-STARTINQ OF THE RELIEF-P.^ITT-INADEQITATE APPLIANCES- SPECIAL PROVIDENCE-TIIEIB RETURN-DEATH OF BAKER AND 8CHUBERT-DE KANE 8 SICKNESS-WANT OF DOOS-APPEARANCE OF ESQUIMAUX-AN EXCHANGE EFFECTED — BREAKING DOWN. On the opening of the spring of 1854, Dr. Kane's health was much improved, and his plan of search was fully developed before the return of the summer. A depot of provisions was to be established to the northward of the vessel, upon the most northern point of the opposite coast of the strait- and, upon the return of the party sent out f ,r the purpose, it was his intention to push forward at the head of his grand party, and, making this depot or cache his final starting-point, descend in as nearly the direction of the Pole as circu.ustancos would admit, until reaching the extreme north shore of the American continent, when he would tura to the westward in search of the missing expedition. This depot-party was sent out under charge of Mr. Brooks; and as you know, it resulted only in disaster. They encountered tremendous ridges of hummocks in the centre of the channel, from ten to forty feet in height. After battling with these for eight days, and finding it ira- possible to pass them, they set out on their return ; but on the first dny of their retreat four of them were frozen and rendered helpless. Placing the sick in their sleeping-bags within the tent, and leaving Hickey to look after their wants, the remaining three (Ohlsen, Petersen, and Son- tag) put off for the vessel, forty miles distant, in a bee-line, which they reached in thirteen hours without a halt. Immediately upon their arrival, Dr. Kane organized a relief-party — consisting of all the well men in the ship except myself, I being left behind to be in condition to receive the sick when thoy should arrive. There were at the time five on board incapable of duty. The relief-party therefore consisted of eight, besides Dr. Kane. Ohlsen 269 1,2 a ..-mm WMrtI 270 ELISIIA KENT KANE. "WkK ♦••5 M was of the number, and acted as guide, starting back after a rest of but two hours. This relief-expedition was (7ie heroic performance of the cruise ; and when we are made acquainted with the plain facts connected with it, when we reflect that it was triumphantly successful against all odds, (and sitch odds,) we are astonished at the endurance of the actors in the drama, and of the responsible person. The leader oi the band— he who took them out and brought them safely back — looms up in our imagination as something more than human. At that time we were inured to hardship and scarcely realized the magnitude of the deed. The calmer reflection of later days makes n.e shudder at the bare thought of the condition of this party wben I first saw them, after a march of nearly a hundred miles without sleep or rest, and for seventy hours constantly exposed to a temperature ranging from 20° to 50° below zero. Dr. Kane had not yet taken the field for exploration, but was pre- paring himself for his grand journey upon the arrival of the party of Mr. Brooks at the vessel. He was in no condition to hazard such an enter- prise; and he certainly would, under the circumstances, have been excusable had he despatched the party under command of Ohlsen or some other competent person. But that was not the metal of the man. He was not the one to shirk danger, greater though it might be to him than to others. The rescue-party set out in two hours after Ohlsen arrived. They carried only three pounds of lard, twice as many of pemmican, and a small tent (our only one) that barely sufficed for the accommodation of the relief-party. There was one being made which would have held the entire party; but it would have taken eight or ten hours to finish it; and, said Kane, '' in those eight or tea hours our comrades in the wilderness may die." If they had been provided with a good tent, provisions for four or five days, sleeping-fixtures, and a strong guide, they would have been prepared for any emergency. As it was, God only knows how they reached the tent on the ice. The tracks were obliterated ; their compass was sluggish ; their only guide-boards were the bergs, and these were almost all identical in shape. Every thing depended upon Ohlsen. Had he lost his way, or broken down, or become stupefied with cold and exposure, there would scarcely have been one chance in a hundred that they would ever reach the tent; and in their efforts to find it— groping about without the slightest knowledge of where they were, out of sight of land, ill disposed to give up the search — I saw little chance of their doing other than LETTER FROM DR. HAYES. r a rest of but 271 wtVa° thtv wT ''''°'" .""'^ ""«" ™"" ""= '''^ "'"»' i^w- ituj,c ^;nat tiiey were remembered invalid .hat he ™; ^ „ l ^l ' 1 "'■ "" ™^^"°« done which required nerve aJUahtl^ T ° ™'""""°= ™ "' ^ within him, which ,en mil ? >, ' " "'""« P""""' ™ "'""^"'^ Joint, and .nn-rnrhl^'tir'' f*^ "'■-k'- ">e.na«„ He Inf] . i.J T . 7^ ''^ ^"""S a greater part of the day poor Schubert's death to him I, ,ff ,7^- ™ ^""^ "> "nnonnce lis cardiac troublel ""'' """ ''°™"^'^' ""^ «newed 4 nt tit;;:iX?x r:»" - ^^^ p-- 'o -. ».- ro.™ rfthTfit' °'/P""S :? '»^ fc"' *™o <108»; and, after the was p,-epari„g to take the field. But i„st in t me .W "p appea.d,-.„ men, with .„. sled,; fnd t";:;!:::,^::;;:" life' llTV" 7,,"",* "''" ^"^ ""' "" "' *'' l"'PPi«« of Dr. Kane's Wo, and certainly the happiest h. had seen for man/a week. "Esqui! t .^3 • •■«£ ^n 4r •INMI- re c 272 ELISnA KENT KANE. maux alongside !" shouted McGary down the hatch. The person foi whose ears the words were intended might with great propri-ty have answered with an interrogative " Whatl"' or stopped to think what good could como of it. But the word " Esquimaux" was enough. It was significant of dogs; and for dogs he had prayed. I would give much to see the picture which shot out meteor-like upon his imagination, trans- forming him from a weak, quiet invalid lying on his back, reading a volume of the Naturalist's Library, into a strong and vigorous man standing upon the shore of the open sea, or on the floe, with Sir John Franklin's hand fast locked in his own. He was lying in his bunk. "Esquimaux alongside!" had hardly been caught by the half-slumbering crew; but no such sound could be lost on the ears of Kane. Quicker than a flash he was out upon the deck. His only words were (and these, I believe, he got off between leaving his blankets and alighting upon the deck with an emphasis you will be well able to appreciate) " Thank Heaven ! I'll make my journey now." His clothes were on in a twinkling ; he was oat upon the floes in less time than it takes to tell it ; and in half an hour he was richer by a team of dogs, and poorer by a couple of butcher- knives and a few needles. He was a sick man no more, and in a few days was in the field with a train of seven men and a team of seven dogs. But the spirit and enthusiastic devotion to duty which had carried him through the rescue, and the consciousness of responsibility which bore him up through the trying days which followed, could not give bim muscle, nor recharge the over-exhausted electric-battery of his nervous system. To break down at last was inevitable : yet he would not " give in." For two days he was carried forward on the dog-sledge, unable to walk, or stir hand or foot. Sinking, and almost insensible, his party put about, and, by forced marches, reached the vessel at last. We met our commander at the gangway supported by his companions, and apparently dying. At that moment his resuscitation seemed to me impossible. mm* Truly yours, with respect, I. I. Hayes. West Chester, Pa., July 18, 1857. LETTER FROM AMOS BONSALL. 273 ith Sir John LETTER FROM AMOS BONSALL, A MEMBER OP DR. KANE's EXPEDITION. EARLY ACQUAINTANCE WITH DR. KANE-VOWNTEKKINO FOR THK EXPEDmOK- CHARACTKR OF THE SAILOES-DR. KANE's ALLEGED CRUELTY TO HIS MEN-, rir"'"'''''"'"' ««^^-"«NIAL AND KINDNESS TO THE SICK-DEATH OF JEFFERSON T. BAKER AND PIERRE SCHUBERT-CHARACTER OF BAKER. Dear Sir :-Knowing that you are engaged in the publication of a Life of Dr. Ehsha Kent Kane," written by Dr. Wm. Elder, I thought perhaps It would be proper for me to give you some of my impressions of him as a friend, a commander, and a man. In speaking of him as a fnend, I shall pass over the earlier period of our acquaintance during my own boyhood, merely remarking that I had a great admiration for his achievements in India, China, and other parts of the Eastern Conti- nent,-incidents and anecdotes of which I had heard from himself and others. Having expressed a desire, if he ever made a second voyage to the Arctic region, to accompany him, he wrote me early in December of ibi>.; and i volunteered immediately on his informing me that he could secure me a situation on board his vessel. From that time I was in daily intercourse with him, and always found him kind and courteous in the highest degree. After I left home for . pJ'^i ^-"V^" ''"'"^ °^ '^' Expedition, he, during a short visit to Philadelphia, having a few hours to spare, drove out to visit mv parents, and gave them my last adieu and brought me their blessing and last charges; and that at a time when he was suffering verv severely from chronic rheumatism and scarcely able to rise from his bed. After we were fairly embarked, he sank for a time from sea-sickness, and was always ill whenever there was breeze enough to create the slightest swell. In fact, I believe no man but Dr. Kane would have persevered in the voyage under the accumulated diseases from which he suffered at that time ; and I scarcely think there was one of the Expe- dition who thought his recovery possible. On account of his sickness at the time of the fitting out of the Expe- dition, a great deal was necessarily intrusted to others, and we sailed, very imperfectly prepared to encounter the perils and privations of an 18 274 ELISHA KENT KANE. Arctic winter; air], worse than all, the men had been shipped from the ordinary class of sailors in port, without regard to their moral cha- racter or physical ability; and before reaching Greenland we had diffi- culties with some which should not have occurred, and others were comparatively useless on account of sickness. Here I may with propriety speak of a charge which has been promul- gated since his decease, — that of " cruelty to his men." I must say that, 80 fur from being cruel, in many instances I considered that the punish- ment was by no means commensurate with the offence; and had he been more severe at the beginning of the voyage he would have had less trouble at the latter part. His course was always to incite to exertion with the promise of rewards. To those who had not ambition to exert themselves for the common good, the punishments were, unfortunately, of such a nature as to have no terrors. Indeed, I have known individuals to commit offences for the express purpose of being put in confinement and thereby escape their daily routine of duty. In many cases of extreme suffering which occurred during our absence on journeys, he always used ever}- means in his power to alleviate the condition of the patients. He gave up his own bed to those who were sick and frozen; and during the second winter, while crowded together in ^le little cabin of the Advance, by his indomitable energy and activity he prevented the last spark of hope from dying out, and, under Provi- dence, enabled us, by obtaining fresh meat from the Esquimaux, to support life and strength until the season opened sufficiently for us to escape. At the time of our leaving the brig, by his exertions with the dogs and Esquimaux he not only conveyed the sick (six in number) to the open water, thereby relieving of the burden those who worked at the boats, but carried down a great portion of the provisions, besides return- ing to the ship several times for bread, by these means saving the provisions wo had prepared and packed for the journey. During our passage through the ice in open boats on that perilous journey of more than eighty days, by his judicious management he not only cheered the dispirited and quieted the querulous and discontented, but he so dis- pensed the provisions as to give no one the slightest cause for complaint, (a most difficult operation, as any one who has had to do with starving men can testify.) Looking back upon it now, after a lapse of more than two years, with a shudder, I can freely say that it was to his careful organization at the LETTER FROM AMOS BONSALL. 275 first, and his cautious progress during the journey, that we owe our dehverance and restoration to our h'>nies. Restraining a party of men on a homeward journey, after undergoing the penis of two Arctic winters, cut off from communication witS r ' :r\' ^^"«"''' ^' *^°^^' ^^ ^^ ™-^ -- ^^ffi-it matt' than urging them forward at a ruinous rate would be; yet often it was more essential to our safety that we should lie still aid recruit our exhausted energies and await the favorable movements of the ice, than exhau^ ourselves ,n fruitless endeavors to surmount difficulties ^hich" by waiting patiently a short time, would be removed from our path In writing, I find a difficulty in avoiding the description of traits .pokenof by others and perhaps would have said as mvfch to the pu pose If I had stated that to me he was invariably a kind friend an .n ulgeot commaiKler, and always manifested a warm intere^ n'mj welfare for which I shall be forever grateful ^ death of Jefferson T. Baker, which, occurring as it did, (he being the farst of those of our comrades who left their bones to bleach on the barren coasts of Smith's Sound,) made more impression upon us than any subsequent death; and, without considering the relations which he .r ^^^ \ 7^ 7 '^'' ''''■^' ^"" ^""^ '^''' i° '^' «1»P felt as though he had lost a brother. It is unnecessary to speak of the occur! rences preceding his death, as Dr. Kane, in his -Explorations," ha. given them to the world in a manner which leaves nothing to be said by me. After the fearful journey which we made to rescue those of our comrades who were frozen on the terrible 25th of March, we were so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that it required several days for us to recover our wonted tone of mind and bodily habit, so violently deranged by exposure and hardship. The sick men, on their arrival at the brig, were kindly cared for by those who were expecting us; and every thing possible to alleviate their intense suffering was done by our skilful and warm-hearted surgeon, Dr. Hayes. All that he could do or us in the emergency was done, and after some hours of rest we began to be comfortable once more. Short respite! The next day Dr. Kane eal ed me to him and, with tears in his eyes, told me his fears in regard to two of the sufferers, J. T. Baker and Pierre Schubert, as their wounds were worse, and symptoms of aberration of mind in Baker's case were manirest. I did not realize the frightful result for some hours, and then, after it broke in its full force upon me, (that there was no hope of saving him, m-tm c .If 1*1 276 ELISHA KENT KANE. c and that he must die,) it was necessary to keep every thing as quiet as possible, to prevent th'i°i in the same condition in the other berth of the cabin (which had been devoted to the sick and wounded) from learnicg the truth so long as it could be concealed from them, and theri to prepare them for the sad reality. Every preparation was made for the burial which could be done in our situation ; and the next day we carried him to his last resting-place on Observatory Island, and placed him in the SLow-house, (where one month after we placed Pierre beside him,) the state of the ground not permitting us to make a grave for t,vo or three months afterward. Jefferson Baker volunteered as a member of the Expedition, and always bore out the character which he had gained for atte ition to hia duty, and was beloved alike by the officers and men of our little Land. He was personally known to Dr. Kane before the time of onr departure j aiid he had always felt more deeply interested in his welfare than per- haps any other member of the Expedition, and had huped to aid him, on cur r>3turn, in achieving something of advantage to himself. Yoars, respectfully, A. BONSALL, Mr. G. W. Childs, Oct. 13, 1857. Upper Darby, Pa. LETTER FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW, jl member of dr. Kane's expedition. PR. KANr's flBA-SIOKNESS — HIS »7AHIT9 ON BOAHIP — TATI.TNO HEALTH — THS HESOUE-PABT : — A BAD RrSTORATIVK — nOVF.IlNMENT OF THE CEEW — ALIOWANCB OF FOOD PtU KANB'R ABHOnRENO^ OF OORPuR/.L PUNISHMENT — HI!" ATTENTION TO THE SICK — HIS SPIRIT OF SCIENTIFIC IIIQUIRY — HIS BOOIAii DEMEANOR AND OONVEKSATION— KXtilCISE — DIETETICS. WnKN, about a month prior to J-^q sailing of the Expedition, I saw Dr KflHo on bis retui-n to Philac'-clphiii from New York, where he had b-jon seriously : M for several weeks with, ''s T was informed, inflamraatyiv rheuma- tism, ho was as much changed in appearance as it .3 possible for a man to be when convalescent. Instoal of the former restless and intense vitality of eye, he had the subdued look of .. broken-down invalid. In the intcrvs! between thig period snd that of hi? departure bt- bad recovered ^ ,* / " 1 y, LETTER FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW. 277 in a great degree the tone of his bearing; but he was far from bein« either well or vigorous. . ° He had always been subject to sea-sickness in a very acute and dis- tressing form, manifesting itself in a constant retching without power to obtain relief, and giddiness, which a comparatively slight roughness of the sea-for instance, a four or five knot breeze— invariably brought to him, and which scarcely abated in severity through the longest voya-e • it was therefore infinitely worse than the short, violent, and spasmodic form. The occurrence of this malady increased his general debility, but did not prevent his frequent presence and activity on deck. He superin- tended the work upon the sledge apparatus and equipments, and inte- rested himself in the course and speed of the brig. lie was fond, on fine afternoons when the sun shone out, of reclining on a large tarpaulin-covered box on the quarterdeck, where, wrapped in a bufi-alo-robe, he would write his journal or watch th« working of the ship, and seem to forget his exhausted frame. At night he would suddenly appear over the combings of the cabin compnnitu- way, dressed in his gown of cashmere, lined with the wool of the foetal lamb, a favorite garment which ho had received from a Hindoo priest. After inquiring the course and examining the log, and asking whether more sail could not be carried, he would return to his bunk, but not always to sleep. The recorder of the watch, descending to write the hourly observations, would generally be met by an imiuiry from him. Indeed, throughout the entire cruise be seldom foil asleep until late in ;he morning, and four or five hours was in general his maximum of rest. His sleep, too, was very light. It was scarcely ever necessary to more than uttc his name to make him open his eyes; and if it was accident- ally mentioned in the cabin, within hearing of his bunk, he would awake immediately, As wo advanced along the coast of Greenland, he seemed stronger, and underwent the exposure belonging to boating among the settleme^ats with the alacrity of a well man, without evincing any sign of ill health, except a more than his usual sensitiveness to cold, making him recjuire more clothing than he would otherwise have wanted,~for ho seemed to be in uoed of a heat-making power. W;i,„ we reached the waters of Smith's Sound, Dr. Kano spent much ot his time in open boat, looking for harbors,--frc f 294 OBSEQUIES OF &.-. .-■ > MB*" O respect in doing honor to one who, on the great theatre of the enlight- ened world, has attracted the interest and the applause of all who sym- pathize with the noblest impulses of humanity and watch the progress of scientific discovery and gallant adventure. Resolved, That, aside from the debt of gratitude we owe for the fame he has gained for Philadelphia, as Christians and citizens of the world, we honor him for the persevering resolution with which he conducted the second American Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, with no superior officer to control or direct him, and no other support in lon^ years of trial and privation than his own moral and intellectual rcaources, and the sympathies of the gallant men under his command. Resolved, That the English people owe (and we doubt not will gladly pay) to Dr. Kane this especial gratitude : — that be, more than any other, by the power of his pen and the influence of his example, awakened the interest of America to the career and fate of those heroic men whose undiscovered destiny is yet the problem of this age of active enterprise. Resolved, That Philadelphia, sorrowfully but proudly welcoming the mortal remains of her dead son home again, thanks with earnest sin- cerity the distant communities whose kindness consoled his latest hours upon earth, those who strove by all the appliances of professional skill and domestic comfort to arrest the progress of disease, and, when in another land the hour of final agony came, those who mourned with tender sympathy around the bed of death. Resolved, That the citizens now assembled, thus inadequately express- ing the general sentiment of the community, will unite with the Councils and the other authorities in such funeral ceremony as may be determined on, and that the Mayor be requested to appoint a committee of sixteen citizens to act as a committee of arrangement. Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting, duly en- grossed and authenticated, be communicated to the family of the deceased, and to such of the authorities of the British and Spanish Governments as may hereafter be dotermincd on as best representing those whose kindness to our lamented townsman we desire to com- memorate. MAJOR BIDDLE'S SPEECH. Major Charles J. Biddle, in seconding the resolutions, said : — I am requested to .second the resolutions which have been offered to the meet- ing. In BO doing, I shall not tre.«ipa(sS long upou your iudulgouoe, foi" I DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 295 see present many gentlemen whose eloquence may find an appropriate theme in the event which now brings us together. This meeting is not an assemblage of the professional associates or the personal friends of the deceased-such as are convened on occasions of ordinary bereavement,— but it represents the citizens of Philadelphia, who desire to join with the municipal authorities in paying the last honors to one whose career rcticeted honor upon the city of his birth. For, at this moment, there is no man, native to our city, whose name and fame are so widely spread as his whose untimely fate we deplore. At an age when a man has done much if he has acquired local distinction, Kane's celebrity extends throughout— nay, beyond— the limits of the civilized world, for even in the ice-bound regions of the North Pole his name is recalled with reverence and affection. But it will not be inappropriate for me to leave to others those general reflections which his career suggests, and to mention a circumsta^nce of which I had particular opportunities of hearing. During the war with Mexico, Dr. Kane obtained a release from other duties a^nd came out to that country to join the American army. With his ardent and chival- rous teiuperamont, I can suppose him to have heard with regret that battles which decided the issue of the war had been already fought and won. But Providence reserved for him a distinction so appropriate to his philanthropic character, that all will perceive how much more it became him than ordinary military honors. At that time, there was employed by General Scott, for purposes of communication and intelligence, a company of Mexicans, who had attached themselves to the American cause. Dr. Kane arrived at the city of I'uobla at a time when this company was returning from an expe- dition and on its way to join the army. In his eagerness to reach that destination, he did not wait for a worthier escort, but placed himself under their guidance. Upon the road they met with a Mexican force, and the mutual hostility of the two parties led to an immediate encounter] in which our adherents, aided by Kane and encouraged Ly his example' were victoriou.s. But the enmity of these renegades against their own countrymen was not restrained by the rules of ordinary warfare, and their first impulse was to improve their advantage by a massacre of the prisoners. Against this I need not say that Kane remonstrated ; and, when his remonstrances proved vain, ho threw himself before the intended victims, and made his own body the barrier between them and the death that menaced them. Single-handed, his dauntless bearing prevailed in that struggle; Ml Mi J o 296 OBSEQUIES OF but when I saw him, not long afterward, he bore upon his person a wound from an intercepted blow aimed at the life of one of the prisoners,— a wound from which he had not then recovered, if indeed he ever entirely recovered from the effects of it. Here, then, I say, he won an honor consistent with that benevolence of character which was to impel him to those arduous researches the end and aim of which wore to carry aid to suffering humanity. Doubt- less all of us thought with regret and sympathy of Franklin and his comrades, lost, starved, frozen up iu living death, ''in the thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;" but their cry for aid seemed to reach the very heart of Kane, and he girded himself up, and roused the enthu- siasm of others to noble and powerful and persistent efforts for their rescue. It is in this forgetfulness of self, in sympathy for others, that I recog- nise the traits of a noble character, worthy, fellow-citizens, of all the honors we can pay to it. PROF. FRAZER'S ADDRESS. Major Riddle was followed by Professor John F. Frazer, of the University of Pennsylvania, who spoke in eloquent and impressive lan- guage of the scientific attainments of Dr. Kane, and of the name and fame which he had acquired by his industry, his energy, his trials, and his sufferings. My own personal acquaintance with Dr. Kane, said he, dates from comparatively a late period. I became acquainted with him shortly before his first expedition ; but I know few persons, and in the course of my reading came across few sources of such abundant, tliorough, well-digested information, as Dr. Kane brought back with him from every expedition he made. His was truly, sir, a scientific mind,— a mind quick in its observations,— a mind enthusiastic in its appreciation, — a mind full of that brilliant genius of induction, by means of which he was enabled to see the connection which lay between phenomena which, perhaps, might have been passed unappreciated and been for- gotten by (itliers. Rut it was not merely in recording science that Dr. Kane excelled, but it was in that beautiful di.sposition which enabled him to see some- thing beyond what is ordinarily considered science. He was enabled to see that this portion of his study was, in effect, nothing but preparation for a LHoater and more full knowledge of more grand and sublime myste- ries hereafter. BR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 297 that I recoo:- MR. CHANDLER'S SPEECH. The Hon. J. R. Chandler said:-After what has been said, and well said, the object for which we assemble this evening will find its -reatest approval. Indeed, sir, the public grief for the cause for which we assemble on this occasion is of a character which words fail to express. I appear sir, at the request of the gentlemen r,f tlie committee, or I would not have trespassed upon your time. While I was without that intimate per- sonal relation with Dr. Kane which others here possessed, I was deeply interested in his public movements, and greatly concerned for his last voyage to the North. And it was my good fortune to concur in a reso- ution by which the intrepid g.ntleman should go at the public expense, iiut, sir, I stand here, as a meniber of this community, to say how deeply every member of it feels the loss that the nation has sustained in the death of Dr Kane, and to express our appreciation of his great worth, and his noble, generous daring, and his benevolence, which outstripped nil, to give expression to those feelings which such acts and such motives cxcite.-cxprcssion, sir, which will not be complete until every individual benefited or honored by his exertions shall also utter his sentiments and until impartial history shall have handed to future generations, for admiration, the name and the deeds of one who is so honored by the present generation. His life will bo the history of private griefs; it will be the history of many sufferings, and a statement of deep and of abiding interest. But, sir, lustory will do justice to these, ana demonstrate the propriety of any movement to do honor to the memory of one who was so distinguished. It would be scarcely proper in any public meetin- to attempt to follow Dr. Kane through his interesting movements by which he has connected his name with the history of this age. The gentleman preceding me has given an edifying anecdote concerning him. " It would be interesting to every Philadelphian to follow him upon his track across the frozen ocean, to fancy one's self with him when he looked down on the calm,.peaceful Arctic Sea from a point upon which perhaps no man had ever rested, and the existence of which had been recorded by no pen but his, and then to follow him from that cold frozen region down to the sunny climate of the Antilles, and to see there, festering in his heart the arrow which had been planted there at the North, already wasting his life in disease, and now looking across the barrier of time upon the great ocean of eternity, which he could not describe, making those last discoveries, and the only disonverio. „„de by Dr. Kauo that were not for the benefit of those whom he loft behind. c »m M « 298 OBSEQUIES OF f O I speak now, sir, because I believe it proper on an occasion of this kind to do honors such as this meeting is called to do. I do not sup- pose, sir, that we shall add any thing to his fame ; but it is to our own credit as Philadelphians, it is to our own credit as citizens of the city that gave him birth, that we appreciate his deeds; and it is a source of gratification to every Philadelphian, and the friends of Dr. Kane espe- cially, that while he was busily engaged in those vast pursuits which gave him a world-wide fame, that while he was looking from the Equator to the Poles, and making himself familiar with all that concerned this earth, it was a providential blessing that he was not unacquainted with the fickle tenor in which his life was held. I will not trespass longer. I have other duties to perform ; but this was a solemn one to me. There are those who will do more honor to his principles, but there are none who can feel more deeply the honor and glory that was reflected on our beloved city by such a man. REMARKS OF REV. DR. BOARDMAN. Rev. Dr. H. A. Boardman said : — I am here, sir, on the invitation of one of the gentlemen of the Committee. I should have been here under any circumstances, (Providence permitting;) and I am here on that invi- tation simply to express my concurrence in that object for which this meeting has been assembled, and my sympathy in the great bereavement which an All-wise Providence has seen fit to visit upon us; and, if I rightly interpret the feelings of this community b^ my own, there can be but very little of the mere pageantry of grief. We are not here simply to express our admiration for Dr. Kane. There is not a man in this assembly, — no ! there is not a man in this broad land, or any other land, — who has read those picturesque and beautiful volumes, whose heart has not gone out in love as well as in admiration for him. It is impossible for a man who is susceptible of any generous sentiment to read the simple and graphic records of his labors and his trials without love, and not feel it to be a privilege to cast if it be but a single flower upon his grave. Dr. Kane, sir, has established a name and a place for himself among our men of science, and he will be held in high and honorable remem- brance by the scientific associations and institutions of Christendom; and they will not fail to pay every homage to his memory, in fitting terms and with becoming honors. Dr. Kane, sir, has gone down to the grave lamented ; and this bereave- DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 299 brm ; but this ment will go home to thousands, to millions of hearts, just in propor- tion as that work-I refer especially to the last work-whose circle tljroughout the civilized world, like the tide, is continually swellin- and swelling to receive new appreciations. Philadelphia may well mourn Let us not forget the intrepidity, the indomitable energy and perse- verance, of Dr. Kane. Sir, there is not an act recorded in his volumes which is in the leas, degree tainted with the element of selfishness. He stood amon- that company not as their leader and captain,-not as their guide and teacher simply,-but as their friend and their father; and it was his daily care- yes, sir, and his daily prayer-that they might be sheltered and protected at whatever hazard of personal inconvenience or peril to himself. The speaker concluded by referring to the scientific acquirements of the deceased, and in a life of so short duration. Mr. John A. Brown suggested that the citizens should adopt some measure to secure the erection of a suitable monument to be placed over th(; final resting-place of the deceased, and something to that effect should bf embodied in the resolutions. Mr. Coolidge moved to refer this to the committee to be appointed under the resolution. Mr. Brown acquiesced in this motion, and it was agreed to. The preamble and resolutions were unanimously agreed to. The Mayor announced the Committee of sixteen, as follows :~ HON. JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, HON. CHARLES J. INGERSOLL, PROF. JOHN S. HART, AVILLIAM B. FOSTER, EDWARD WARTMAN, THOMAS S. STEWART, HON. WILLIAM II. WITTE, ALEXANDER CUMMINGS, CHARLES HALLOWELL. On motion of Hon. William D. Kelley, the meeting adjourned at about 8 o'clock. ISAAC ELLIOTT, MAJ CHARLES J. RIDDLE, HON. WILLIAM D. KELLEY, ' "4ZLEHURST, •.vGE CADWALADER, IS . ""AKER, JOo . HOMAS, CORN EXCHANGE. A meeting of the members of the Corn Exchange was held February 27, 1857. Colonel S. N. Winslow, after a few remarks in regard to the decease of Dr. E. K. Kane, moved that ]\Ir. Alexander G. Cattell bo culled to the Chair, and Mr. W. S. Pierie be appointed Secretary, which was agreed to. % M # w m *. t * 300 s •*•••* ^M,"** O OBSEQUIES OF Mr. George L. Buzby moved that a comiuittee of three be appointed to submit a preamble and resolutions expressive of their views upon the subject, which was agreed to. Messrs. George L. Buzby, Johu Wright, and William B. Thomas were appointed on the committee, who submitted the following : — Whereas, It has pleased an All-wise Providence to remove from his earthly career Dr. Elisha Kent Kane; and, Whereas, The mercantile and commercial community, having a proper appreciation of the eminent abilities of the deceased, and of his enthu- siastic and untiring efforts in behalf of science and philanthropy, feel, in common with the rest of our fellow-citizens, the irreparable loss which not only Philadelphia, but Pennsylvania, and every other city and State in the Union, have suffered by his demise : Therefore, Resolved, That the members of the Corn Exchange Association tender to the parents and relatives their sympathies in the day of their alfliction. Resolved, That the officers and membero of the Corn Exchange Asso- ciation will join with the civic and military authorities in rendering an appropriate mark of their respect to the memory of the deceased, and that a committee of five be appointed to confer with similar committees from other associations upon the .subject. Resolved, That the Secretary furnish an authenticated copy of the above preamble and resolutions to the family of the deceased. Mr. Buzby, in moving the adoption of these resolutions, appealed to that proper pride which ought to exist in the bosom of every Philadel- phian when a distinguished fellow-citizen has won the applause of an admiring world. There certainly was that strength of public spirit in the Corn Iilxchange Association which insured their prompt desire to render the last tokens of respect to the memory of the remarkable man who has left this world young in years but full of honors. He had, then, he was sure, only to propose the resolutions, without the necessity of any lengthened remarks, which, whilst unnecessary to move them to a proper action on this occasion, must necessarily fall short of the tribute due to the departed. A community which fails to respect the memory of her own great children, and to furnish those outward tokens so appropriate at such a time as this, has lost its own claims to the respect of mankind. On motion of George McIIenry, seconded by E. G. James, the pre- amble and resolutions were unanimously adopted, and Messrs. James Steel, C. J. Hoffman, J. J. Black, George Raphael, and James Barratt, were appointed on the committee. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. ra B. Thomas nove from his 301 On motion Messrs. A. G. Cattell and Samuel L. Ward were subse- quently added. On Saturday, February 28, the Committee from City Councils, and the Committee appointed by the meeting of citizens, and the Committee on the part of the -Corn Exchange," assembled in the Select Council Chamber w.th a view of uniting their exertions to promote the objects for which they were severally appointed, when, on motion of Theodore Cuyler, Esq Chairman of the Committee of the Select Council, Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, the Chairman of the Committee from the meetin<. of cifzcns, was appointed Chairman of a Joint Committee, and H G Leisinring wns appointed Secretary. The Joint Committee determined to do all in their power, with such means as they possessed, to fulfil the intentions of the several bodies by which they were appointed, and to make such arrangements as would allow to the citizens of Philadelphia an expression of their high regard for the merits of the distinguished dead, doing honor at once to^the greatness of his enterprise in the cause of science, and to the beauty of his example ,n the exercise of benevolence. And the Joint Committee DOW respectfully report their proceedings under that organization. At the time of the appointment of the Committee of Arrangement, he remains of Dr. Kane had been brought from Havana, wherQ he died the cty of New Orleans, where they were received with distinguished honors, which were continued on the whole route from that city to Phi- lade phia making the passage of the body of the deceased one continuous display of public regard ; and so intimately connected were these demon- strations that each seemed to be one link in a lengthened chain of admi- ration and affectionate respect : so universally felt and expressed, and so m unison with public sentiment, were they, that the concluding ceremonies m 1 hiladelphia may be regarded as a natural termination of the demon- strations of regard commenced at Havana. And hence die Committee have deemed it consistent with the objects of their appointment to notice briefly the testimonials by which other communities manifested their respect to the character and services of the deceased. The death of Dr. Kane, it is known, occurred at Havana, on the 16th of February, 1857; and the citizens of the United States, resident in that city or transiently there, availed themselves of the earliest oppor- tunity to express their grief at the loss and their respect for the charac- ter of their distinguished countryman; and it is gratifying to notice that C % i 302 OBSEQUIES OF the highest authority of the island of Cuba has commended himself to the grateful acknowledgment of every American by his promptness in oflFers of aid in the demonstrations of respect to the deceased. The subjoined is an abstract of the proceedings in Havana on the death of Dr. Kane : — O PROCEEDINGS AT HAVANA. Havana, 17th February, 1857. The citizens of the United States resident and transient in Havana were this day called together at tlie Consulate, by A. K. Blythe, Esq., for the purpose of making a public demonstration of respect to the memory of our much-lamented fellow-citizen, Dr. E. K. Kane. At two o'clock, a very large number being assembled, were called to order by General Patterson, of Pennsylvania, who, after a few remarks, nominated the Hon. A. K. Blythe, United States Consul, as Chairman, and Henry Tiffany, of Maryland, as Secretary. Mr. Blythe explained the object of the meeting, which the assemblage heard with deep sensation; and he also submitted the following note from the Goveruui- Captain-General : — [copy — TR A NSL ATION.] OJice of the Governor Captain- General and Superintendent of the Exchequer of the Ever-Faithful Island of Cuba. (seal.) Government Secretary s Office — Section of Government. I have received the communication that you have addressed to me, under this date, soliciting permission that the American citizens residing in this city may meet at your residence for the purpose of making a public demonstration on the decease of your fellow-citizen. Dr. E. K. Kane. I have the greatest satisfaction in acceding to the wishes ex- pressed by you, and beg of you to make known to me the result of the meeting indicated, that I may unite with you in the manifestation that shall be resolved upon to the memory of that distinguished man of 8cienc». God preserve you many years. Havana, 17th February, 185/. (Signed,) Jose de la Concha. DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 303 the assemblage >wins note from To the Commercial Agent in Charge of the Consulate of the United States, A. K. Blythe, Esq. :_ "^''^^'' ^'^'"""'y ^^' 1867. Dear Sir :-His Excellency, the Captain-General, having been in- formed that Dr. Kane's body is to be taken to his native country, and wishing that Its transportation to the vessel selected for that purpose may be effected with the respect due to his merit, has resolved to place at your service, -nd that of his friends, the Government barge, particu- larly as there are no American men-of-war in port whose boats might perform this sad duty. His Excellency, for this reason, would wish you to inform him beforehand of the day when the ceremony will take place, in order that he may give the corresponding orders to the boat, and thai some of the members of the Scientific Corporations of this city may accompany the remains. (Signed,) Manuel Aquire y Tejador, Secretary. On motion of General Patterson, a committee of five was appointed by the Chairman, to present resolutions expressive of the sympathy of the meeting. The committee, consisting of General Patterson, of Penn- sylvania, Governor H. W. Cushman, of Massachusetts, C. C. Thomn- son of New York, Colonel Robertson, of Havana, and James Battle, of Alabama, reported the following, which were adopted unanimously :-l The late Dr. E. K. Kane, having, by dispensation of divine Provi- dence terminated his brief but eventful career, we, citizens of the United States resident and transient in Havana, desiring to express our grateful sense of his distinguished services to his country and mankind do resolve, ' First, That in the death of Dr. Kane our country has lost a valuabl^^ and world-renowned citizen, who has adorned her annals; science has been deprived of an ardent advocate, ever ready, by self-abnegation, to advance her interests; and humanity a devotee, who yielded his life in obedience to her commands. Second, That, whilst we deeply deplore his loss as a public calamity, we tender our heartfelt condolence to his parents, brothers, and distressed relatives. Third, That these resolutions, with the letter of the Governor Cap- tam-Oeneral m relation to this meeting, be presented to the family of ir^. 304 OBSEQUIES OF o ^ -» the dccoasod. and a copy of the same bo made public through the press of the Unittd St..ucs. To the same committee that had introduced the resolutions was re- ferred the duty of assisting the family, as mourners, in removing to the steamer the body of Dr. Kane, for conveyance to the United States. On the 20th of February, the body of Dr. Kane was borne on men's shoulders to the Plaza de Armes, followed by upward of eight hundred persons, citizens of the United States and subjects of other countries. At the Plaza, the body was received by His Excellency the Governor of the city and suite; also, by various associations, who joined in the procession to the place of embarkation, — namely : Tlie Inq^cvtion of Piillic Instruction. — Messrs. Dr. Don Nicolas Gutierrez and Don Jose Luis Casascca. The University/. — Dr. Don Antonia Zambrana, Rector thereof; Dr. Don Fernan Gonzales del Valle, Dr. Don Angel J. Cowley, Dr. Don Jos6 Joaquin Sibou, Dr. Don Jos6 Sanchez, Dr. Don Jos6 Ignacio Rodriguez. The Economical Society/. — Don Manuel Ramos Izquicrdo, Don Eu- genic de Arriaza. The Prq>aratori/ and Eqiecial Schools. — Don Pelayo Gonzalez, Director. The Roijal Board of Imjirovcments. — Don Francisco Campos and Don Jose Valdes Fauli. The Superior Board of Health. — Dr. Don Manuel Jose Valero, Secre- tary thereof. 27(6' Mrdical Department of the Armi/. — The In.'?pector of the Corps, Don Fernando Bastarrcche, Chief of the .same in the island. A band of military music accompanied the procession from the begin- ning, and another band joined it at the Plaza. The State barge received the body and the mourners at the place of embarkation, and conveyed them to the steamer Catawba. The boats of the steamer and of private American vessels, as well as those belonging to the ships of other nations, followed in solemn procession. The Spanish flag, which had been hoisted at the Cabaret, was lowered as the body was received into the barge; and, on board of the Catawba, Brigadier Don Jos6 Ignacio de Echavarria, Civil and Military Governor of Havana, addressed to the Committee of Arningements and thcperson>f present the following discourse: — Gentt.kmkn ; — Enlightened communities always feel themselves bound to render a tribute of respect and of affection to those privileged beings DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 305 ough the press Don Nicolas who, m the elevation of their ideas, are ready to sacrifice themselves to acco,nph«h an object of interest to all humanity. Dr. Kane bclo,K.s, undoubtedly, as we all know, to this class of celebrities. His ardc''nt scientific zeal, his fervent enthusiasm fur the exaltation of his country and his love for mankind, impelled him to investigations in the frozen regions, where, through imminent perils, immense privations, and with a self-denial as exemplary as it was enviable, nothing deterred him from the accomplishment of his object lor which he offered his health as a sacrifice He came to this land for the restoration of his health: and when the hope began to be entertained of accomplishing it, the sad event has occurred which assembles us in this place. All the inhabitants of Cuba would have shared in the satisfaction, if his life had been spared ; but Providence, in Ilis high designs, ordained that here he should breathe his last, and to-day all deplore a loss so important. His Excellency the Governor Captain-General, entertaining these sentiments, has wished to offer a public and solemn testimony thereof, of the sympathetic interest that this lamentable event has awakened, and of the share which his Excellency, together with the scientific corporations of the island and the whole country, take in the just grief of the fellow-citizens of Dr Kane who will ever bo honored by the memory of this illustrious man 3Iay be rest in peace, and may all coming generations be faithful aud constant to his memory, to preserve and cuhanco it as it merits ! Mr. Blythe, United States Consul at Havana, responded to the above, in the folio Wi.g terms : — 4 m m m I Sm:— I regret much that wo have not a common language, in which on behalf of my countrymen, I might express to you our deep gratitude tor this, the closing act of so great and generous kindness shown to the memory of our deceased fellow-citizen. I cannot forbear, however, to avail myself of the occasion to declare to tho Americans hero a.ssemblod that his Excellency tho Captain-General, and all the authorities, have done every thing suggested by us, and much dictated by themselves, to the honor of lum whose loss wo all deplore, and who in his life so honored our native land. I rejoice that it has been so, for two reasons: it is a just tribute to him who faithfully served his country and mankind, and IS evincive of a spirit of amity on tho part of those who have so gene- rously co-operated with us in our ,snd duties. The mild amenities of life, whether socially or nationally extended, do nnidi to mollifv tb... f-.linAlf n r DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 307 of the deceased had exeited. Only one feeling seemed to animate the pubhc mind through the whole progress of the remains,-deep and abiding respect for the memory of Dr. Kane, and anxiety to give such an expression to that feeling as would be most to the honor of him who had so honored his country and his kind ; and many anecdotes are related ot gentle and delicate expressions of regard. At Louisville, Kentucky, preparation's worthy the high credit of that city had been made, to do honor to the deceased. In anticipation of the arrival of the remains, the Mayor of Louisville issued a call for the Councils of the city to meet, with a view of making proper arrangements to do honor to the fame of the hero of peace, and public meetings of citizens were also held to unite in these demonstra- tions. The Order of Free Masons had also made arrangements to lead in this manifestation of respect. CEREMONIES AT LOUISVILLE, KY. At a meeting of the respective committees on the part of the Masonic fraternity, the city authorities, and the citizens of Louisville, held at the Merchants' Exchange, March 2, 1857, for the purpose of makin.- all necessary arrangements for the reception of the remains of Elisha Kent Kane, M.D., Captain Thomas Joyes was appointed Chairman, and John I). Pope Secretary. His Honor the Mayor presented a communication from Gcorc-e L Fcbryir, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, Cincinnati^ Ohio, stating that extensive arrangements had been made by the citizens of Ohio for the reception of the remains of Dr. Kane in that State, and asking that a committee of escort from Louisville be appointed, which would bo met at the Miami River by a committee from Cincinnati. Which was read, and thereupon Dr. U. E. Ewing, Col. Thus. Ander- son, Col. L. A. Whiteley, Capt. Thos. Joycs, Dr. Palmer, Dr. N B Marshall, Dr. Lewis Rogers, James S. Lithgow, and Moses Dickson, were added to the escort heretofore appointed to convey the remains to Cin- cinnati. Captain Lovcl IL Rousseau was appointed Chief-Marshal on the part of the^ citizens, and authorized to appoint assistant marshals at his discretion. The following programme was adopted, and ordered to be published :— m I m f \f0 308 OBSEQUIES OF ..I <3 o PROGRAMME FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE REMAINS OF DR. E. K. KANE. Upon the signal being given, the respective committees of reception will assemble immediately on horseback, at the court-house, and pro- ceed thence to Portland, where, in conjunction with Lew's Lodge. No. 205, they will take charge of the remains and accompany them to the intersection of Maine and Twelfth Streets. At the same signal, all the associate bodies and the citizens who intend to participate in the procession will assemble as follows : — The Masonic fraternity at their hall, corner of Market and Third Streets. The firemen at the Union Engine House. The various other civic associations at their respective places ot^ meeting. The citizens on foot, in carriages, and on horseback, at the court-house. Within one hour after the signal for assembling the procession will be formed at the oourt-house, and proceed, in such order as may bo directed by the Chief-Marshal, to the corner of Twelfth and Main Streets, where, upon the arrival of the cortege from Portland, the pro- cession will be formed in the following order : — Chief-Marshal and Assistants. Music. Masonic Fraternity. Pall-Bearers. Pall-Bearers. \% Family and Relations of Deceased in CarriajT^eg. Ileception-Coniniittce and Escorts. Members of the Medical Faculty. Members of the Legal Profession. Municipal Authorities. Chief of the Police and Assistants. Music. Fire Department. Civic Associations. Citizens on Foot. Citizens in Carriages. Citizens on Horseback. DB. ELISHA KENT KANE. 809 lEMAINS OF The sign, ' for assembling will be the tolling of tbe fire-bella and the firing of the minute-guns. The citizens generally, and the civic associations of New Albany, Jeffersonville, and the adjoining counties, are invited to join the proces- sion. Masonic Reception Committee.— IL W. Barr, Frank Tryon, John D. Pope, Syl. Thomas, B. A. Flood. Citizen Reception Committee.— Qo\. Thos. Anderson, Capt. Thomaa Joyes, Dr. T. S. Bell, Dr. U. E. Ewing, Col. L. A. Whiteley. Pall.Bcarers.—^avand Griffith, S. Hillman, J. C. Hoffman, G. P. Schetkcy, David L. Beatty, David T. Monsarrat, D. Marcellus', C. C. Spencer. Masonic Chief-Marshal. — Edwin S. Craig. Assistants.— li. C. Morton, J. H. Shroder. Citizens' Chiif.MarsJud.—Gn^t. L. II. Rousseau. Route of Frocession.—Thc procession will move, under the direction of the Chief-Marshal and his assistants, up Twelfth Street to Walnut, up Walnut to Second, along Second to 3Iain, down Main to Fourth, and out Fourth to 3Iozart Hall, where the Reception Committees and Pall- Bearers will take charge of the remains until they are delivered to the escort tc accompany them to Cincinnati. The body of Dr. Kane was received with great ceremony, and con- veyed to the Mozart Hall, where it 1, in state, attended by a guard of honor. On the following day the remains were removed to the steamer. The procession was headed by the Masonic Fraternity, and was composed of the city authorities and the numerous associations of the place. The whole arrangement of reception and transmission of the remains in the city of Louisville was of the most liberal kind. From Louisville the remains of Dr. Kane were conveyed to New Albany, Indiana, and appro- priately received there. A Committee from the city of Cincinnati here met the New Albany und Louisville Committee, and received the charge of the sacred remains and conveyed them by steamer to Cincinnati, accompanied by deputa- tions from the cities below. The feelings of deep respect expressed in the remarks of the various Committees, as they resigned or received th« charge, were eloquent homages to the great merits of the dead. 310 OBSEQUIES OF CI*- I o CEREMONIES AT CINCINNATI. PROGRAMME AND ORDER OF ARRANGEMExNTS. MILITARY AND CIVIC PROCESSION. FORMATION AND LINE OF MARCH. Grand Marshal — Gassaway Brasheara. Assistant Grand Marshals. General C. H. Sargent, Colonel J-Tin W, Dudley, Charles Hartshorne, Ca"*;' . n. v^. Eu.dsall, E. N. Fuller, E. • • son, J. P. Epply, W. L .rien, J. B. Covert, Theopiiilus Gaines, Theodore Cook, Thomas McBirney, C. W. Rowland, Joseph Myers, Ambrose W. NeflF, General John McMakin, Joshua H. Bates, L. Laboyteaux, George Bogen, Jr. MILITARY. In order as follows : — United States Troops, from Newport Barracks. Volunteer Uniform Troops, from abroad. Volunteer Uniform Military of the Third Brigade, First Division, Ohio Volunteer Militia. Independent Uniform Military Associations. Clergy, in carriages. Mexican Volunteers. Independent Guthrie Grays, Captain W. K. Bosley. Masonic Fraternity. Pall- Bearers. Judge James Hall, John Swasey, Geo. K. Shoenberger, James F. Torrence, Dr. O. M. Langdon, Dr. J B. Smith, Dr. J. D. Dodge, General James Taylor, Larz Anderson, William J. Schultz, Captain C. G. Pierce, Joseph Jones, William Iloon, Joseph Raper, C F. IlanKehnan, C. Moore. ^ Cl td t^ t?d w &^ ^. w > > 1— ( » M t^ CO > Pall-Bearers. N. W. Thomas, Judge Van Hamm, Captain George Hatch, James Wilson, Dr. A. S. Dandridge, Dr. J. F. White, Dr. George Fries, Thomas Porter, C. W. West, James II. Walker, E. S. Haines, C. B. Smith, John D. Jones, Bellamy Storcr, F. Bodmaa. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 311 Relatives aud i tiimediate friends of deceased, in carriages. OtScers of the Army and Navy. Coiaraittee of Arrangements. Physicians and Medical Societies. Judges and Officers of State and United States Courts. Governor of Ohio and suite. Pioneers of Cincinnati and Ohio, in carriages. Trustees of the Common Schools. Independent Order of Red Men. Mayor and Public Authorities of Newport. Mayor and Public Authorities of Covington. Mayor and Public Authorities of Cincinnati. Steamboat Association. Turners' Society. Independent Order of Odd-Follows. Officers and Members of the Y. M. M. L. Association. ' Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. United Irish Association. Butchers' Benevolent Association. Citizens in procession not attached to any association. Societies and organizations not yet reported, and participating, will be assigned places by the Grand Marshal. The procession will form, at eight o'clock on the morning of the general obsequies, on Fifth Street, with the right resting on Fron°t Street, displaying east. Upon the arrival of the remains, they will be received and in procession escorted east on Fifth Street to Western Row, south on Western Row to Fourth Street, east on Fourth Street to Broadway, south on Broadway until the right of the procession shall rest at Front Street, where the c(.lumn will halt, and, with honors paid the remains, be dismissed by the Grand Marshal. All associations and organizations designated in the programme of procession, and others intending to participate, will, on the morning of the funeral obsequies, report themselves through each others' own officer, or marshal, to the Grand Marshal, who will be found at the Mechanics' Institute Building, southwest corner of Vine and Sixth Streets, up to the hour of formation of procession. By order of THOMAS TF WEISNER, p. IJNCK BENJAMIN iGGLESOxV, W. S. FLAOG, JOSEPH TOURENCE, W. K. liOSl.EY, W. B. DODD, JOHN D. JONES, JOSEPH DARR, JAMES C. HALL, JOSEPH K. SMITH, (}. L. FRBT(4ER C. H. SARGENT, Committee of Arrangcmeutt, m ' i i ■ 312 OBSEQUIES OF C^«'' CH"' o At twelve o'clock M., March 6, the Committee appointed by the Gene- ral Committee of Arrangements for the funeral obsequies of Dr. E. K. Kane, to receive the remains of the lamented dead from the Louisville and New Albany Committee, in whose charge they were, proceeded to the mail-boat Jacob Strader, and, placing themselves under the charge of Captain Blair Summons and Dr. Dunning, at one o'clock the boat slipped her cables, and moved off, like a thing of life, down the Ohio. The Committee consisted of the following gentlemen : THOS. H. WEASNER, CHAS. ANDERSON, JNO. C. SCHOOLEY, GEO. L. PEBIGER, DR. T. N. WISE, E. B. REED. An appropriate badge had been prepared for the Committee, of which the following is a description : — FIDELIS AD URNAM. WE MOURN THE DEATH OP THE GREAT EXPLORER, RIPE SCHOLAR, AND NOBLE PHILANTHROPIST. WHOSE NAME ADDS LUSTRE TO A MIGHTY NATION. HIS MEMORY SHALL BE IMMORTAL I About five o'clock, as the boat proceeded on her way, she was met by quite a heavy snow-storm, which soon whitened the shore on either band, and reminded the Committee forcibly of their mission. They were to receive the remains of one who had battled with fiercer snow-storms and far kcoacr blasts, not on the bosom of the Ohio, but on the rousrh DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 313 nittee, of which Arctic seas,-no in the midst of civilization, and in sight of land, but where on every hand naught but the dreary iceberg and a frozen sea encompassed him. What more fitting herald of the approaching steamer which bore the remains of the great Arctic explorer than this sudden March snow-storm ? Each one of the Committee felt there was a sig- nificance in it beyond their ken. The Committee at first disembarked at Warsaw, expectin- that it would be the best point to await the coming of the Telegraph, which bore the remains. But Captain Summons assured them that he would place them safely on board the Telegraph, if he did not, as he anticipated, meet her at Vevay, when the Committee again placed themselves under his charge, and in a short time had the satisfaction of reaching Vevay just as the Telegraph was rounding to at that point. They stepped from one boat to the other, and were received by the Committees from Louis- ville and New Albany, who had the remains in charge. The following were ihe gentlemen composing said Committees :— On behalf of the Masonic Fraternity of Louisville, L. T. Sedgwick Frank Tryon. ' On behalf of the City Council of Louisville, Andrew Monroe, D. Sargant. On behalf of the citizens of Louisville, John Barbee, Mayor, Dr Flint, Captain P. A. Key. > J ^ • On behalf of the Masonic Fraternity of New Albany, John K. Ca meron, C. M. Johnstone, F. C. Johnson, G. W. Bartlett. RELATIVES OF THE DECEASED. The Cincinnati Committee was then introduced to the relatives of the deceased, consisting of three brothers. The fa"er and mother, bein- well advanced in years, had returned to Philadelphia, it being thougir* ui^advisable that they should bear the fatigue of travelling with the corpse of their son at the slow rate which was rendered u°ecessary in order that, at difi-erent points, the people might show their respect and receive the remains with appropriate honors. The eldest of the brothers, COLONEL T. L. KANE, Is said to bear a strong resemblance to the deceased. He is rather below the medium height, square but delicately built, with an expansive chest. His hair is dark brown; he wears small side-whiskers, with iiljll Sill,.' mi' ■m K*m 1^ Ml"' ..» #«• O 314 OBSEQUIES OF niustacho and goatee. His eye is piercing and dark. Altogether, his appearance is prepossessing, and ho looks the thorough gentleman. He is apparently in delicate health. His face is at once sad and impressive. By profession. Colonel Kane is an attorney. His age is thirty-two. ROBEIIT 1'. KANK. This gentleman is somewhat taller than his brother, Colonel Kane, though not so squarely built. He is rather slender; has light hair, blue eyes, wcara a light mustache, and has the air of a gentleman who has mingled much in society; converses fluently and well. His ago is about thirty. Ho is also an attorney. DU. JOHN K. KANE. This gentleman is the largest one of the brothers, but is not above the medium height. Ho has a very fresh look, and is the blonde of the family. Ho has an open, frank countenance, with a retiring, unas- suming demeanor. He is by profession a physician, and is connected with the Philadelphia Hospital. His age is about twenty-three. The name of WILLIAM MORTON will no doubt be fomiliar to all who have rend the account, of the last Arctic li^- 'edition under the command of the lamented Kane. This gentleman saileu 'o England with Dr. Kane, and thence to Havana, and now accompanies the remains to Philadelphia. Mr. Morton was born in Ireland, but left his native laud at a very early age, and has now been in America about seventeen years. He first became ac(iuainted with Dr. Kane in California, and, after one voyage to the Polar seas, joined the Arctic Expedition under Dr. Kane, and sailed on the ill-fated ''Ad- vance." Mr. Morton was the one who volunteered with the Esquimaux boy to go north in search of the open sea, and after a circuitous and fatiguing route of three hundred miles, dragging their sledges over the icebergs, the great Polar Sea was discovered, and the noble Morton (in whom every one will I oco-ne interested in reading Kane's account) is now the only living wh,.io man who has ever beheld the great open Polar Sea, whose cold waters roll and toss against the icebergs of the far- distant North. Mr. Morton is now but thirty-five years of age, and has the appear- ance of one who could well undergo the fatigue of an Arctic winter, and in reply to a question if he had any desire to return, he said, "Never, unless I could have gone with my old comrade the doctor." i> DB. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 315 Colonel Kane, bas light hair, gentleman who RECEPTION OF THE REMAINS BY THE CINCINNATI COMMITTEE. The different Committees, after the steamers had got fairly under way, nie together m the centre of the cabin, when Mr. Woisner, Chairman of the Cincinnati Committee, notified the Committees of Louisville and New Albany that the Committee which ho had the honor to represent were ready to receive the remains of the deceased; whereupon Mr. Andrew Monroe, in behalf of the various Committees, made the follow- lug remarks : — Mr Chairman .—The people of Louisville and New Albany are moved by the same melancholy impulses which have brought you here and joi. :ng their voices in that universal wail of woe which has gone up from one end of our bereaved country to the other, in consequence of the death of the disvinguished devotee of knowledge a.d humanity, Dr. Lhsha Kent Kane. Influenced by these impulses, and cherishinc. a holy regard for the now lifeless tenement of a noble soul, and for the mourning surviving friends and relatives who accompany it, they have by a general meeting of their people, their municipal authorities, and Ma^ sonic Fraternity, received the body under their charge, and, after payin« that honor which their high appreciation of Dr. Kane's great qualities demanded, have intrusted it to our charge as their Committee, to be by us transferred to the people of Cincinnati. As the organ of the several Committees, the people, municipal authorities, and Free Masons, I now commit the remains to your charge, as the represontativ^es of your city. Pernut me to say, in discharging a melancholy duty, mingled with that pleasure which we always feel in paying our honors to the distin- guished dead, that the people of Kentucky, in brnoring the dead, have conferred honor upon themselves. Those States, chose cities, appreciate the services of the pioneer in discovery and martyr to humanity, and by the array of numbers which poured forth to meet his remains and escort the body to its place of sepulture, have vindicated their title to all i claim for them. It is peculiarly appropriate just here to remind each other of the cha- racter and extent of the services we are approbating. The thousands Who moved in solemn procession through the streets of Louisville to-day were not actuated by party feeling nor by a love for military renown. Othnr ages and other countries have vied with each other in giving 316 OBSEQUIES OP 'ff •JU* O costly honors and grand displays of pageantry to party leaders and niili- tary heroes. They would shower wealth and applause upon their living heads, and strew their paths with fragrant flowers and cushions of velvet upon which to press their royal feet, and erect costly and magnificent monuments to the memory of victors upon battle-fields and in senate- chamber when dead. But it is reserved for this age and this country to shower their honors and distinguished marks of esteem and enthu- siastic admiration up-n one neither prominent upon the battle-field nor in the political arena Here we have city after city pouring out by thou- sands to meet, and joining in grand procession to escort from one city to another, the remains of a man who never fought a battle, never held a seat in senate-chamber, — a man who was devoted to no political party. But on account of his assiduous devotion to science, his contributions to the general knowledge of the world, and the pure virtue and induuii- table energy displayed in the cause of humanity, in seeking in a tar-ofi" land the lost and wrecked inhabitants of another country, their hearts are filled with love for his virtues, and by their acts they evidence their pride in him as their countryman. It speaks well for the taste and character of our people when we see such regard paid the disciples of science, — to honors won in the peaceful but laborious investigations into the earth's formation. It speaks well for us when we join our voices in the sentiment, — Poaco ! thou source and soul of social life, Beneath whose calm, inspiring influence Science liis views enlarges, Art refines. And swelling Commerce opens all her ports, Blest bo the man divine who gives us theo ! But, quiet and monotonous as his researches may seem to the vulgar and unappreciating, the labors of Dr. Kane proved full of interest to him in life, and, as connected with his death, momentous and disastrous. The warrior whose heart is pierced by the glittering steel or whose head is laid low by the whizzing ball falls suddenly, and in the midst of an excitement that renders death almost pangless. But toiling and labor- ing in the bleak and cheerless wilderness of an icy ocean or snow- covered land, where perpetual winter inflicts perpetual pain, and severe hardships induces a slow but certain death, renders the martyr yet more worthy of sympathy as well as esteem. To this climate and these causes Dr. Kane owes his early and melancholy death. The feeble bodj with which nature endowed him was too frail a support for the vigoi and energy of his genius; and thus the mind wore awav the body. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 317 om our voices Genius ! thou gift of Heaven, thou light divine, Amid what dangers art thou doora'd to shine! Oft will the body's weakness check thy force, Oft damp thy vigor and impede thy course, . And trembling nerves compel thee to restrain The noble efforts to contend with pain. The pc-ple of Louisville and New Albany, having paid all honor the dearest friend of Dr. Kane could desire to his memory, and escorted his remains thus far by the committee, now hand over to you the lifeless body of a noble soul, knowing your desire, and that of the people of Cincinnati, to discharge your melancholy duty; and that from your people the memory of the deceased will be as fully and as freely honored as wo have honored it, in the marks of respect we have endeavored to bestow. RE3IARKS OF CHARLES ANDERSON, ESQ., Upon receiving, from the Louisville and New Albany Committees, the remains of Dr. Kane. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :— In behalf of the Cincinnati Committees, I have the honor to receive from your hands the remains of our deceased fellow-countryman and fellow-man, to whose memory, sir you have just paid a tribute at once so fit and so feeling. As you have so well said, successive crowds, from cities, towns, and farms, in a long procession wending its solemn way across this wide land, have, of their own accord and as individuals, met together to follow this dead corpse in its last voyage on the way to its tomb. And now, to-night, have we also come together, from different and distant States and cities, midway in a long route of its river-travel, and upon this, at once the dividing and uniting line of those several States, — ^you to surrender and we to receive this sad treasure of our nation's regard. On such an occasion, is it not meet, my friends, for us to pause a moment to inquire, Why is all this show of cere- mony and this general and'spontaneous expression of real feeling? This man, whose lifeless form is the object of such emotions and such pageantry, in his life had never distinguished himself neither on the bloody battle- field as a warrior, nor as a statesman in the halls of legislation, nor be- fore listening and applauding multitudes as an orator, nor yet as a founder or leader of any sect or party in theology, politics, or society. And heretofore our countrymen, too much following in the beaten tracks of preceding men and nations, have always paid their deep homage at the graves and to the memories of warriors, statesmen, and leaders of parties, — and, alas ! to them alone. But this man was neither of all these, as the world estimates these things : he lived without infiu- 318 OBSEQUIES OF fjyi o 2Si a* ,# ■% cnco and diea without power. IIo was but a simple and earnest devotee (in all of his short span of life) lo tlic just cause of science and humanity and lie died their common martyr. A quiet student of the laws of nature, ho had diligently and most bravely travelled, and explored, and labored, and endured, in order to test and to verify those propositions which preceding searchers after truth had published, and to discover and for the benefit of the race, promulgc, some of those principles which had not before been revealed. Centle, self-sacrificing, and, like all truly bravo men, tender-hearted, ho pitied the lost and frozen navigators of tho Arctic deserts, of land or ice or ocean, and, warmly sympathizing with the bereaved widow and their kindred, ho consecrated his nund his I.-bors, his sufferings, his life itself,-so able, so arduous, so painful and protracted, so precious to family, to friends, to country, and to his kind —to their rescue. And such only was Elisha Kent Kane. ' And now, my friends, upon tho death of this man whose life was so short and so inconspicuous, what do we behold ? Of what scene indeed are we tho actors or spectators? Villages, towns, cities, and the inter- termediato rural homes, pause from their daily labors or pleasures and pour a h.ng, brond stream of grieved and sincere mourners behind his coffin. How and why is this ? If, my friends, he had conquered great and rich provinces to our commonwealth,-if he had found and poured into our private or national coffers the countless wealth of gold and gems from Californian or Austra- l.an mines,-if he had ..aerificod himself an eager victim to some idea o, pas,sion on which had clustered ar.d crystallized a great an.l fanatic church or party,— if, pursuing the vain dreams and searches of the classic ages, ho had discovered the fountains of perpetual youth and beauty in some sequestered ocean-islo of censoless peace and joy,— then, indeed, would our selfish gratitude teach us the secret of our grief. ]{ut his voyages and explorations have been, to tho exchequers of our ten.pornl and material interests as to the yearning and mourning affoetions of bereaved kindred, n complete failure. Jle brought back t.. tho nation only a dreary and chilling account of a far-off country, over whoso land and air and waters, a.uidst wilderness-plains of snow and mountain- icebergs, hoar Winter reigns in absolute and eternal desolation. And to the .sad an.l wearied heart he brings neither Franklin nor his comrades, nor any trace, or cine, or tidings, of the lost and lovo.l ones, save tho frightful a.ssurancea of that keenest suffering from frost and hun-or through which they lived, in which they died. And yet-nnd yet-wo mourn, all true American., .,d!y mourn, thi,^ man. Nor is it hi^ country. DK. ELISIIA KENT KANE, 319 men alone who shall grieve ^hb death. ^England, Kurope, Chri,len do .,,-ay, wherever, „p„a We or continent, or afloat upon t'h „ etof' ..nd wh.re ha,, ,t not?) every „,an wl,o,o rnind has been kindled „ a " of knowledge, or wh„.se heart retain, it, natural lovo toward hi, ULI 'hTliri-:"' '*'™ '° """" "■"' "« "- "™''' "'" "— '» '- Now, therefore, n,y friend,, may wo not in s^ome conlidonee reolv to ::wT;:twwim,f '°"""° °'" ™-'^^ -^ °" -«« c"' -^^ ..y What the, will) have grown w,»er and better than other land, and " nor ,,g.» of people, that a ,.eh„lar and a philanthropist ,thu, J.'plo cd Let u,, then, ,0 uniting our ,ad tone, in th..,,e („„er e over he dead take eo„,ol„,io„ frou, ,he,e scene,, of ,olen,„ity, a, ej c" to behevc ,n th„ ,n,prove,„e„t of our eountry„,en and our f llow-n* In concl„„on, gen.lcnen, allow „,c ,0 expre,, to you, a, the rep c,c„ ..•mvc,„f„ur„.,„.reitie,,our ration of the ,a,to an,l proItTof your proeecd,ng, ,„ thi, n,„,t delicate alfair, and .0 invite you I 1, cordially, a, well ,n your individual a, i„ y„nr omeial cpaeWe to ccnpany and un.te with u, in those ceremonial., which it Lyt'thc lot of our city and eitizeu, to control. ' At the eonclu.ion of Mr. A.', speech, the Cineinnali Comtnitlec was token down .„ the forecastle of the boat, where the ren.aiosof , " kI z;,:;:!':"' ""■"" ""-'='" -' •"" -"^ f- "■« * »f t,.o ?:;:: THR COFFfN. The coffin which eonlained the oo.hahned body of the deceased wa, closed ,„ an ordinary bo.,, „n the top „f wbLl, were insi, ,ia" Jtaonry, eonsist.ng of apron, glove.,, and a spiig of acacia. Arou ., "hole was the .,,„r.spangled banner, whose a.nple folds covered I It « was n,„r,a of the early and gifted dcad.-Mr. K. K. K„n„. ' " J « lelcgraph rea.d,ed her wharf at this ei,y at her usual hour At n I™i t" C'T'l ''":"''■■■; """"■ "'""«"■•'■• ■■'" ° - «■ "" tc n the f ;, ■""'"""' •'^""'•"■■'"■h- 'l-F ol been erected on the forecastle, upon which the coflln was placed The . n,er then started down ,h„ river unt e arrived a. Lud V Pol, Lore she landed and waited until the u,in„,e..un, announced tht ho (ounu.ttee, were ready ,0 receive the ren,ai„. «he tl en Irt f t^o cty, and landed at the foot of ,iah ,St,.et, where Ihe CWittt 20 OBSEQUIES OP fidC • ^ OJJ i^ ^' ac |««» c^ O iMii who had the body in charge delivered it to the pall-bearers, some twentv four in number. THE PROCESSION. The procession was then formed, and moved in the order as published, through the various streets named. The military was well represented, the Masonic Fraternity, the Pioneer Association, and other societies, as enup^erated in programme. The streets through which the cort^^'o passed were lined with citizens, both old and young. Many of the houses were draped in mourning, and in several places banners were stretched across the streets and appropriately draped. Lieutenant Morton, the faithful friend of Dr. Kane, who stood by him while living, and saw him breathe his last sigh and closed his eyes in death, walked immediately behind the hearse which bore all that wa? earthly of his dear commander, until it reached the Little Miami Depot. The remains will be conveyed to Columbus this afternoon by the cars of the Little Miami llailroad, starting at six o'clock, at which place they will lie in state at the Cupitol over the Sabbath. From thence they will be convoyed to Wheeling, and on to Baltimore, where they will be received by the citizens of the Monumental City with fitting honors. In conclusion, we can but express the gratification we feel in knowing that our citizens have united as one man in showing respect to the mortal remains of one who belonged to no party, was no warrior with sabre stained by blood, or statesman with high-sounding name, but, in the language of one whose lips are wont to breathe eloquent words, was a voluntary martyr to science and to art. AT THE DEp6t The procession reached the dcp6t of the Little Miami Railroad Com- pany about one o'clock. The remains were placed upon a bier in front of the dep6t. where they were honored by the entire column. The pall- beart.-s then removed the body to the car which was to bear it throuf^h the State. It is a magnificent express-car, which was elaborately huiiL' inside and out with mour'iing-restoonery. CEREMONIES AT COLUMBUS. A few minutes before meridian, on Friday, March 0, intelligence was received by telegraph from Cincinnati, that the "omaiiis of the late Dr. Ellsha Kent Kaue would "ass throutrli (^tslunjhus on their "'av to^ftr-l DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 321 Philadelphia; that they would reach this city by the 11.20 night train trd oT^rf *b;/«P-t-e of the 10.10 naorning train of the Cen! tral Ohio Road on Monday. Immediately on receiot of this intelligence, action was taken on the part of each branch of the Legislature responsive to the deep feeling of a 1 classes of the people, to nianifest their regard for the character and services of the lamented dead ; and a joint committee of the two Houses was appointed to make the necessary arrangements to accomplish that The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio was convened m special Communication by order of the Grand Master of that Frater- nity, and a committee appointed on its part to co-operate with such her committees as might be appointed to make suitable arrangements tor the occasion. ° At an early hour in the evening, a meeting of citizens of Columbus was held at the Neil House, and a committed selected to act in eha^ of the citizens of the capital of Ohio in conjunction with other similar committees representing other organizations was held at the Neil House; when two members from each committee were delegated to proceed to Xenia on the morrow, and there meet III to Whldin'!!.^' ''^' "'''"^'"^ '' '' ^^^"^^"«' '''^ t^^'^ce Another like committee was detailed to make suitable arrangements f r the i-occp ion of the remains, for respectful care for them during their stay in the city and for appropriate religious exercises on Sunday' The State lenc.ble., Captain Kearny, volunteered such services as might be required of them,-which were thankfully accepted by the Joint Committee. J ° At Xenia when the train arrived from Cincinnati, at about nine o'clock P.M the throng of people was so dense and so promiscuous as literally to take possession of the road and delay the departure of the train whereby Its arrival at Columbus was postponed to a few minutes pnsj twelve clock. At London, and other places along the route, notwith tanding the lateness of the hour, and that the train had barely time to 1. It, the people were out in numbers to offer their spontaneous tribute ot .sympathy and respect. At midnight the train arrived at the Columbus station-lu.nse, whore t e Joint Committee, the State Fencibles, and a large concourse of 21 incss of the midnight-hour, the 322 OBSEQUIES OF >••*•* l»i™* €3C' % ,1-* O «l rolling of the muffled drum as the remains were launched from the car, the tolling of the bells of the city, the solemn strains of the dead-march by the brass band, the display of flags at half-mast, as seen by moon- light, the respectful silence of the concourse of citizens that thronged the street, — all conspired to impart to the scene an air of grandeur and solemnity seldom witnessed. The solemn procession, accompanied by a civic and military escort, proceeded to the Senate-Chamber, where due preparation had been made for its reception ; and here the remains were consigned to the custody of the Columbus Committees, in the following very neat address from Charles Anderson, Esq., on behalf of the Com- mittee of Cincinnati : — Mb. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen : — A few weeks ago, upon a green and golden island of the Caribbean Sea, green with the verdure of perpetual spring, and golden in the warm sunshine of a tropic climate, and with the ever-ripe and ever-ripening fruitage of an eternal summer, — surrounded by every circumstance of nature and of art to promise and to insure the highest and purest state of ease and health and happiness which this our human life can know, — there lay, languish- ing in feebleness and agonizing in pain, on his bed of mortal sickness, a youth and stranger. And over his starts of keen spasms and the fever-dreams of his faint and flickering mind there watched but three sad sentinels, — his mother, a brother, and a friend, the friend and com- panion of all his labors and wanderings, who had loved him almost with the fondness and constancy of a mother and with the manly attachments of fraternal feeling. This feeble and suffering invalid had begun life in a country far distant, under a climate far diff'ercnt, and with a natural constitution which promised a wholly dissimilar state of health. But a spirit of restless though persistent enterprise for knowledge and usefulness and fame had seized upon his earliest youth, and had drawn his swift and willing feet from this our new and Western continent into the far sunrise lands and islands of the olden hemisphere, among our very antipodes. In the cause of knowledge he had searched the tiger-peopled jungles and the dark and dank mo: tsses of India and China, and ho had hung sus- pended mid-air in the gaping throat of a mountain-volcano, over a rod-hot lake of liijuid and molten metals and minerals, which for ages and cen- turies uncounted and countless had been seething, unseen by man and uuchallougcd by science, like a vast caldron of hell, over its iiifcrnal fires. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 323 In the cause of his country he had as it were "taken the win-s of the morning and flown to the uttermost parts of the sea." Lea^ving that land of the East and those pursuits of civic enterprise, he reappeared almost hke magic, armed and plumed for war in the Valley of Mexico and upon our side of the Pacific Ocean. And there did he signalize his courage and address in battle as much as his most chivalric humanity and magnanimity to his foes and his prisoners. And, in the cause of science mingled with benevolence, again and again had he torn himself from the dear land of his birth and from the dear mother who bore him, disparting the prized links which made that chained and charmed circle around the genial warmth of the family hearth and the purest piety of the family altar, to explore among the icebergs of the untracked Arctics and amidst the desolations of a still bleaker barbarism. From the West to the East, and from the East to the farthest West again, from the Equator almost to the Northern Pole, and from the Pole to the Equator, following and crossing all the latitudes and lon-itudes, circumnavigating and re-circumnavigating the great globe itself, did this pilgrim of science, this knight-errant of benevolence, thus devote himself to the help of his fellow-man and to the improvement of his fellow-men. And now do we see him, laid panting with his pain, and languishing in his weakness, the tortured and sacrificed victim of his herculean task, the dying martyr to his early passion and his lifelong toils. And so lived and so died Elisha Kent Kane ! And then,— a pale, thin, cold corpse, without sense, or pulse, or motion, with no glance to kindle and beam forth from the filmed eye, with no thought to thrill like electricity through the chilled brain, with no kindly emotion to warm and make happy the stilled and silent heart,— there in Cuba lay his remains,- the dust and ashes of that once bright and busy life, now burned out into blank and endless darkness. And is this, then, all there is of life? Is the scene of this drama now closed forever? And can such a life and death teach us no more than this simple and painful lesson,— that dust and ashes and tears is the end as well of men as of their works ? Alas ! alas ! even so ! And yet, my friends, it were not well to submit in dogged despondency io a faith so cheerless and so cold. Let us, with our simple memories, retrace this short story in its mere detail of facts through these last days and weeks to the present hour. Let us, indeed, by our reason and fancy, " follow it, with modesty cnnngh, and likelihood to lead it,'' through the hours, days, weeks, months, years, ages,— ay, centuries,— to come. We too may 324 OBSEQUIES OF *»m ^^■^ CItfS ^M \ *^'' ^^^H ^ ^B^- ^^B <^ ^Hf ^^ ^^m ^ ^ . ^^^B 1"^ ^^B :. Oi. ^H O ^1 ^ ^^^^^^^^^^K 4:-' ^^^^^^^^B ^ . find our explorations not in vain. Like the subject of those meditations, wo too may find our faith and hope in God and man revived and renewed to a higher and holier reverence and love. llccurring to that sad scene in Havana, we see these few friends of the departed slowly and silently starting with his remains for their common country and their family home. They bid adieu to the kind strangers of that foreign island. They cross the Gulf and land upon our own shores, among strangers to themselves and to the deceased. And what now occurs ? The whole population of New Orleans, — without any appeals from a party press, (for he had been no partisan,) without the incitements of a sectarian zeal, (for he had been of no sect,) without any of that wild and fervid enthusiasm which a victorious war ever excites, (for he had been no conqueror, crowned with that wreath of green and red, of bays and blood, which so stirs the hearts of all men,) without the warm impulses of mere simple patriotism to arouse thcni, (for his known labors had not been those of a mere patriot, but he had lived and died as a man and for mankind,) — in the absence of all these the usual causes of popular feeling, that entire people, each man, woman, and child acting outwardly from the living sentiment within, all arose as one man to join in the sad solemnities of that funeral train which trails with undiminished woe across a continci^t. And so, my friends, has it been from that hour to this, — from New Orleans by all the shores of the Mississippi and the Ohio Kivers, and along the lines of the rail- road to Columbus; and so will it be from Columbus to Philadelphia. Not the small devoted band who wept and prayed ovor his dying pillow, — not the absent family, perplexed with various hopes and fears, and grieved by that sorrow which makes the sad heart sore, — not the usual circles of kindred, schoolmates, and friends, — mourn alone for this departed youth. But cities and peopled States — ay, a nation's millions of minds and hearts — have perceived the depth of their loss, and havo felt a"d uttered a spontaneous sympathy with this august and soloum pageant. Our nation has sufiered a national bereavement. And, more, the whole nation feels it as such. Not only so : unless we greatly niis- concci-e the signs of these times, civilized mankind, without distinetiu of tongue or nation, will feel this loss of a true and real inan. And now, my friends, may wo not pause to ask ourselves whether this unforced and earnest regret of a whole nation, and almost of the whole race, for the loss of a mere youth, whose fame was only the fresh reward of genius in science and of enterprise in benevolence, docs not betoken a new and better era in the world's history '{ All nations and fS? DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 325 ese niecHtationa, lan revived and agos have mourned, with grand and gloomy pomp, the dead heroes and monarchs of mankind. But here is the first instance, in all history where simple mind with simple goodness, guided by zeal and energy to gentle and kindly ends, have been at once recognised as constitutin.. a character worthy to be honored by all when living and to be mourn°ed by all when dead. I know not how others may feel; but, as an Ameri- can, I am proud of my country, that she has contributed to the world's long hne of true heroes and martyrs such a character as Kane. But I am prouder far that all her classes, whether of rich or poor, learned and unlearned, old and young, of both sexes, have been thus proved capable in mind and heart truly to appreciate and warmly to feel a nation's loss. And, as a man, I feel proudest of all that this age is worthy to have had such a real hero, and is both able and willing to recognise and acknow- ledge him whilst he was with it and of it. Heretofore, such characters have only been fully valued by the generations coming after them. As for the memorials necessary to perpetuate his fame and purity of character, let us not, my friends, concern ourselves for them. They, like these passing ceremonies in which we now unite, may honor us. They touch not him, nor can affect his fame. His monument is in the imperish- able works of his own mind and heart and hands. More durable than mar- ble, more touching than poetry, sweeter than music, hour after hour, day by day, for years and decades and ages— ay, centuries of ages to come (unless men shall cease to read)— shall his glowing pages excite for him- self and his theme the enthusiastic admiration and love of mankind. Let these, then, the living, the undying thoughts of his various and mighty niind, let the impulses of his gentle and generous heart, which BO inspired him to great activities, to patient endurances, and to bravest deeds,— ie these records his monument. And if an earthly and material Jiiemento more than this love and fame impressed upon the universal mind and heart be necessary to perpetuate, not his glory, but the world's fitting remembrance of him, then let nature, or something most like nature,— let something the most closely associated with his works and life and death,— bespeak at once the world's truest honor and purest taste. And there, upon the crystalline shores of that Polar sea, that green an4 liquid solitude, broad as the Atlantic and lonely as Sahara,— shut in, through all the earth's ages, from the uses or the visits of man, by wide wastes of snow and vast mountains of solid and unmelting ice, re- posing still, as it has ever reposed, in the calmness of its own cold, serene, primeval purity and peace, with its smooth bosom never furrowed by any keel, never shadowed by any sail, and (oh, sad and sweet exception to 326 OBSEQUIES OF ll- pv. O the cruel annals of our race !) never stained by human blood, — there, at the margin of that clear mirror of the circumpolar sky, whose blazing constellations, those stars that never set, circling in their smooth and constant orbits forever around and above it and its crystal horizon, seem fondly to behold themselves, the brightest glory of all the skies, truly reflected in it, the purest spot of all the earth, — there, on such a shore, by such a sea, under such a sky, henceforth and forever so asso- ciated in the whole human mind with his name, — there, on some brave precipice, let there stand " A pyramid of lasting ice, Whose polish'd sides, ere day has yet begun, Shall catch the _^r8« glow of the unrisen sun. The laai when it shall sink, and through the night The charioteers of Arctos wheel ever round Its glittering point." And — though few or none of all the myriads of men living and to livo might ever have the courage to look up at that sapphire wedge of ever- during ice keenly piercing the calm sky of a semi-annual day, or glister- ing now in the sheen of the circumpolar starlight, and anon coruscated with the more-than-rainbow beauties and glories of the Aurora-etful- gences — to me it would seem a most apt and tender fancy, that, though unseen, mankind should ever "/"eeUhatitisthero." With this brief and imperfect expression of those thoughts and feel- ings which have been suggested and excited by these most touching ami appropriate ceremonies, at deep midnight, and in this grand and now most solemn temple of our State's majesty, permit me, sir, as the organ of the Committees from Cincinnati, now and here to surrender to your watchful caro and to your heartfelt reverence these, the earthly remains of Elisha Kent Kane. William Dennison, Esq. responded, on behalf of the Columbus Com- mittee, in a very appropriate address. A detachment of the State Fencibles was then detailed by Lieutenant Jones, as a guard of honor, which remained on duty while the remains were in the Senate-Chamber, except while relieved by a like guard de- tailed for the purpose from members of the Masonic Fraternity. The remains lay in state in the Senate-Chamber from one A.M. on Sunday until nine a.m. on Mondav. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 327 By ten o'clock on Sunday morning, the citizens began to wend their way to the Senate-Chamber, which had been judiciously arranged by Mr. Ernshaw, the draughtsman, for the accommodation of the greatest practicable number of persons. By eleven o'clock, the spacious hall was densely packed, when Colonel Kane, Kobert P. Kane, Esq., Dr. John K. Kane, Jr., brothers of the deceased, and Lieutenant William Morton, his faithful companion in his perilous voyages, entered, and were conducted to seats reserved for them. The religious exercises at the Capitol consisted of— 1st, Prayer, by the Rev. Mr. Steele, of the First Congregational Church. 2d. Music, by the choir of that church, executed with great judgment and skill. 3d. Discourse, by the Rev. Dr. Hoge, of the First Presbyterian Church. 4th. Anthem, by the choir. 5th. Collects and Benediction, by Rev. Mr. La Tourrette, of St. Paul's (Episcopal) Church. Notice was given that the Senate-Chamber would be open from two to five o'clock, to afford the citizens opportunity to pay their mournful tribute of respect to the ashes of the dead ; and thousands of all classes and conditions gladly availed themselves of the opportunity,— when the doors were closed, and the silence of the chamber was broken only by the tread of the guard of honor left on duty. !olumbus Com- PRAYER Offered hy Rev. J. M. Steele, on the occasion of the Funeral Solem- nities, u-hile the remains of Dr. Kane lay in state in the Senate- Chamber, Columbus, Ohio. God ! thou art not the God of the dead, but of the living. Thou art the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. We do not all die : the body perishes, but the soul lives. A day is coming when the earth and the sea, the rocks and the ice, will give up their dead. The scene before us brings to our remembrance the promise of the resurrection. We have come hither to pay our last respects to the earthly remains of one of whom when living we had all heard, and whom we had learned to love and revere. Thy thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are thy ways our ways, Lord God Almighty : thou didst hold him in thy hand when wind and waters and all nature were against him. Thou didst bear him through storm, and cold, and darkness, and famine, and fear, and didst sot him down in safety upon the deck of the Release. And, when the cheers of his countrymen welcomed him back to the social world of love which they represented, hope elevated and joy brightened his crest. kl •SSL O 328 OBSEQUIES OF #' Long had he trod the ice-foot in safety. Through two Arctic winters God had kept hiin. And in the third, under the mild light of a genial clime, before the returning sun had gild'^d the topmast of the Advance in her ice-bound home, the floes yielded beneath his feet and he passed into the eternal sea. His sun went down at noon. But age is not measured by the number of years : wisdom is the gra; hair unto a man, and an unspotted life is old age. Bear with us, Lord , if in our addresses to thee we make mention of the virtues of him whose loss we deplore. For he acknowledged God as the author of his powers, and it was a part of his wisdom to know whose gift he was. Much had he seen, and known, and done. His foot had touched the soil of every continent on the globe, and his temples had been laved in the waters of every sea. His life was a voyage of disco- very. Already the benefit of his labors is felt, more or less, in every country. His plans were original, and as full of humanity as they were of genius. He had been endowed with superior powers both of mind and body, and where others perished he survived. But the silver cord is loosed at last, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern. The dust will return to the earth as it was; but tt'e spirit has returned unto God who s^ave it. The shades of a more-than- Arctic night have settled jn his dust, — a night that knows no day ; but the spiril is bathing in the mellow light of day, — a day that knows no night. The Advance is in the ice, the Eric is in ashes, the Hope is on a far- distant shore, the Faith — the "precious relic" — is in possession of his country, and Kane is in heaven. He will need the craft no n.ore, for now he walks with the Evangelists upon the crystal and stable sea. The accurate scholar, the generous commander, the thoughtful Chris- tian, has passed from our sight ind beyond all human rescue. The faithful c'lbles which h(;ld him through so many storms have yielded their stratjds at last. He has seen and crossed the "open sea," and already there have burst upon his view the splendors of the city of God. And we trust he has found those for whom he went out to look, safely moored by those happy shores where the sun never sets and the waters never freeze. And now, righteous Lord, as we remember the mourners, we must pray for the world. His relatives are the children of men. Wo seem to see him standing upon the slope of the glacier in the Arctic snnmier, pointing to the nations and saying, " Behold my mother and my brethren." But his mother has closed his eyes in their last sleep, and the mourners DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 329 go about the streets of every city in the civilized world, aonius will preside at his obsequies, and Learning will weep at his grave. Oh, let us trus^ that the stroke of death which has borne him from us Las not left science and the dignified charities of human nature, as it were, orphans upon the world. To-day, for a few minutes, tne rays of the sun will fail upon the deck of the Advance; but her master has gone to a land where they have no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glury of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And now, O God, preside in these funeral solemnities. Speak through him who will address us. And prepare us all for a meeting with thol- who have gone before us, and with one another, in that future world of which we read in thy word. For it is a bright and happy country, "and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it." ^ Most merciful Father, hear our prayer, through the me^rits and media- tion of thy Son Jesus Christ our I^ord. Amen. THE SUBSTANCE OF A DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF E. K. KANE, Delivered in the Senate-Chamber, at Columbus, Ohio, March 8, 1857. BY REV. JAJIKS IIOOE, D.D. PASTOR OP THE FIRST I'RESDVTEnUN CHURCH, COLUMDUS. " So teach n, to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." . I'SALM XC. 12. Wc are assembled to remember the life and lament the death of one who has attained high disiinction among his countrymen. His name and actions and worth are known, also, far beyond the limits of this nation,-even throughout the civilized world. It is true that the honors we give to his memory cannot aflfect him ; but it will be profitable to us -to the hving-to recall to memory his life, and record our impressions of his worth, under the influence of that truth of God which teaches us, and impresses us with a just view of the brevity and uncertainty of life, and directs our attention to a right improvement of the time which ia allowed to us in the present state of existence. Such instructiou is giveu in the text in a few plain words; and it is 330 OBSEQUIES OF fOJr o ia| the more forcible that it is expressed in the form of a prayer to God, who has endowed us with life and all its advantages, for our welfare now, and for our safety and happiness in another and future world. On this subject we ought to think, to reason, to feel, to act, as those who must be judged by Him who now sustains us in life and will ere long call us to a solemn account. The brevity of life is universally acknowledged; and yet we are apt to feel and act as if it were without an end. In one hour we confess and complain that our days are few and evil, and in the very next hour we forget our confession and live as if we had no apprehension of death. This is not wise. It is not even consistent with worldly prudence. In all our views and feelings, in all our enterprises, we ought to remember that our time is short. Our days are numbered and appointed to us. And what is their num- ber ? " Very many," answers the busy worldling who is immersed in the pursuits and cares of life, the careless spendthrift whose pleasures now engross him, and hopes of other days of gratification lie before him in pros- pect. "Almost innumerable," cries gay, sanguine, thoughtless Youth. *'Why should I now even think their number will ever run out ?" And hoary Age, too, can dream of days, and months, and years before him, which may yet serve him for the purpose of gaining earth or heaven, or both. But what is the true account given by experience and confirmed and applied by Holy Scripture ? " The days of our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow." And now, what are these few years in comparison with the thousand years of those who lived before the flood, — or with the long lapse of time from the creation to the final judgment, — or with the far longer duration of eternity ? A span ; a handbreadth ; a passing present hour. The word of God speaks in this wise respecting our days on earth : — "For what is your life ? It is even a vapor, which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away." " In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth." " The days of the years of my pilgrimage have been few and evil," said aged Jacob in answer to the question " How old art thou ?" When we look back, the time which is past seems very short ; but when we look forward, the coming time promises to be long. The first view is truth, the latter is delusion. We saw the beginning of the past, but we cannot see the end of the future, — if a future in this life remains to us. As our liff is short, so is its movement swift, — rp.pid as the motion of the earth in its orbit. DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 331 How careful, then, should we bo to number correctly the few rapid days of our mortal life ! Uncertainty also enters into the correct estimate of human life. That the hour of our death will come, wo know with absolute certainty; and we are equally sure that it will soon arrive. We may live the threescore years and ten allotted to man as the ordinary length of old age; but how few continue so long ! Perhaps one of a hundred. Often a day, a month, a year, or a score of years, is all that is given us as the number of our days. Death comes, our life is out off, and we are gone, and shall be here no more forever. In the natural world, very often there comes a frost, a blast,— and the bud is blighted, the flower is withered, the unripe fruit is cast worthless on the ground. The sun rises and sets regularly at his appointed times; but the sun of our short life may go down at noon, or in the morning, and so may not reach the evening of repose and preparation for an eternal day on which multitudes found their reso- lutions and hopes of happiness in time and eternity. All we v->f.,n say with confidence is, that the lesson which is taught by the history of the world is true : we may live a day, a year, or a series of years, or we may not. Death will come ; and he snatches away budding infancy, buoyant youth, vigorous manhood, as well as decrepit age ; and at times and dates unforeseen he bears away all as his lawful prey. Truly, our pilgrimage here is a journey along a way beset with dangers, in a world which is°a land of yawning graves,— the one great city of the dead. We may plan and labor for a year, an age yet future ; we may calculate for other results than we have secured by our efforts; wo may hope for other hap- piness than wo have yet enjoyed : but death, with ruthless stroke, buries all in the dust. The very care we take, the precautions we adopt, the means we employ, that we may live long on the earth, may be the occa- sion or the cause of hastening us to the end of our portion of time and launching us on the boundless ocean of eternity. Uncertain, indeed, to us, is the tenure by which we hold our life. It is perfectly known to God, fixed and determined in his foreknowledge and purpose, but hidden from us and concealed in the impenetrable darkness of the future. No eye of mortal can see in that darkness, no wisdom search out the inscrutable future. " Go to, now, ye that say, To-day orto-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow." " Ye know not what a day may bring forth." « Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." ''Be ye ready, also, for your Lord may come at an hour when you look not for him." Life is uneertaiu ; death is certain. " It 832 OBSEQUIES OF ad O Hi is appointed to all men once to die, and after this the judfrnient." Dream not that frieud.s or physicians, strength, or wisdom, or goodness, can delay your departure hence. Life, short and uncertain as it is, most manifestly is nevertheless long enough for the great end for which it is given, on the condition that wo so number our days and consider our end as to improve the present time wisely and faithfully. On this account, the end for which life is given, it is infinitely important to every one of us. It is of incalculable value with reference to ourselves and to others, and to the purposes of liod. To ourselves, as we are rational beings, moral agents, susceptible of constant improvement and real enjoyment, even in our present mortal condition, being capable of continued existence, of intellectual and moral cultivation, of vigorous and wisely -directed action, it is desirable to live as long as Heaven shall please to continue us in this condition. We know, wo feel, that we differ in this respect from the mere animal, and we are sensible that there is much good in our pre.'^ent state, nltlumgh we are exposed to dangers and adversities and must bear afflictions. And, in taking aright the number of our days, wo should inrpiire diligently what we ought to be and do in this life for our own proper advantage. If we improve our time, our powers, our opportuni- ties, as we may and ought to improve them, if we choose and pur.>iuo the true, the pure, the good, in respect of principle and conduct, and if wo reject and avoid the false ami the evil, it will be our real advantage. Such attainment will be to us far better than wealth and pleasure. IJut especially is life, whether long or short, of inlinito worth to every one, as it has a delinite, decisive, certain reference to a future life. Wo are immortal beings, destined to a future and endless existence beyond this life, beyond death, beyond time. As certainly as we die, we shall live again. And we arc placed and continued in this world as the intro- ductory stage of our existence. The character which we form here will determine our character hereafter, as certainly as the nature of the infant man sli.dl still be the nature of the mature man. Our conduct, too, in this life, will be the .subjt(;t of our future and final account and the ground >f our endless recompense. A period of probation, however short, may properly be the basis of retribution. And probation under grace may be as justly and certainly decisive as probation under law. Now the gospel is preached to us ; we are called t(» repentance toward (lod and faith toward our liord Jesus Christ, that we nay be .saved,— .saved from our tins and delivered from the wrath of Ciod, and bo made now creatures and heirs of eternal life. Our eternal hapj)ine.s.s depends on DU. ELISllA KENT KANE. 333 thus appljino. our lioarts to wi,s.l.,in. Tlion; i,s no otlior salvation, no otluM- way of eternal lifo, no otiier .Savior, no other method of receiving salvation. If we are thu.s save.l, all is well; if we ne-lect thi.s salvation, all IS lost. And it is now, while life eontinues,— liere, in this worM, tho phice of our ^n-aoious prohation,— that we may be saved, prepared to die and to enter into that rest which remains for the people of God. "Ikdiold, n,nv in the accepted time; now is tho day of salvation." "Hear, and your souls shall live." J)urin- our days on earth we may do much for tlic welfare of others. God has made i.s social beings. This is seen in our v. -v nature as moral a-enfs, and in our whole condition as intelligent, active beings. The social principle is universal, and strong, and practical, as a part of our moral nature ; and the purposes for which it is imjilantcd in us aro manifest in the numerous and various relations among men. These are domestic, and civil, and religious. On this principle it is that men universally are the subjects of re(-ii)rocal influence for go. i or for evil. As no man is made for himself alone, but all, in some important sense,' for others also, as for themselves, there are mutual duties, which arc obligatory, and by tho perfornianeo of which we may be useful to each other; or, if we neglect those duties which are founded on these relations, or act contrary to them, we infli.'t injury and are worthy of blame! How careful, then, should tho h.-ads and members of the family be in doing good and not evil to each other in the family according to exist- ing relations ! And with what rectitude and truth and benevolence should the members of society act toward one another for mutual advantage! J-^spccially as we have mutual influence, and live together, in this our short uncertain day, with reference to a future, eternal con- dition, as has been already said, wo ought to promote the spiritual and eternal welfare of others, by all projier practicable means, even as our own. « Thou Shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." " Do go jd to all men as yi.u have opportunity, and especially to them who aro of the household of faith." Kemcmber, the time is short, tho night is at hand wherein no man can work. And who can tell in how great a degree the present and future welfare of children may be affected by the example, the whole conduct, of parents /-to what extent tho charact(!r and stuto of neighbor by his neighbor, of inferiors by superiors, of tho higher also by the lower, and of future generations by (he jiresent generation? Combining such views of our true welfare and our usefulness to our fellow-men, wo Icaru tho value of lifo, shoit and uncertain as it is, and 334 OBSEQUIES OF O "Zk. we become sensible of the necessity of " applying our hearts diligently to wisdom, — that wisdom which is profitable to direct." This wisdom is taught by divinely-revealed truth, and is to be sought from Him who is the Father of lights. It is designed and suited to secure our fulfilment of the wise and benevolent and holy purposes of Heaven concerning our present and future condition. These designs of God shall all be accomplished. " God's counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure." But it is by means that he ordinarily effects his will; and these means are, in respect of our life and destiny, our own purposes and works. We are instruments in respect of our dependence and sub- jection to God, and we are agents in respect of liberty and power o choice and action. Fatal necessity, as well as blind chance, is excluded from the administration of the divine government : all is fixed and regular, yet all is just, benevolent, and wise. Of this government we are the rational subjects ; under it we have the allotment of our days, and find our duty and happiness in applying our hearts to true wisdom, under the direction of I'rovidence, the instruction of truth, and the help aad guidance of grace. Then let us live that we may be ready to die, as those who have wisely lived, hoping for pardon and acceptance and eternal life through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And let us humbly and earnestly beseech God to enable us by his grace so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Under the influence of such sentiments respecting life and its duties and advantages and responsibilities, let us pause at the side of the grave, and remember the life, while we lament the death, of Elislia Kent Kane, whose mortal remains now lie before us. "Why docs a nation mourn his removal ? — nay, why do the enlightened, the philanthropic, the scientific, throughout the civilized world, lament the loss? His character, his aims, his deeds, although he marched not at the head of armies nor sat on a throne, answer the inquiry. He was born in rhiladolphia, February IJ, 18132, and consequently at his death in Cuba, February, 1X57, was a few days over the ago of thirty-five years. I will not attempt a narrative of Lis life (this must be left to better-qualified friends) further than to say that, having been liberally educated, and having studied medicine, ho entered the United States service as surgeon in the navy, and in this capacity was attached to the first niissiun from our Government to China. Then he visited also the islands of the Indian Ocean, and some portions of the continent of Asia, — likewise also portions of Africa and Europe. His actions and adventures in his cstensivo travels I ueod not recite. On his return, DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 335 avoiding ease and indulgence at home, he entered our squadron on the African coast, and visited the shive-stations, and was about to make a journey of exploration in the interior of Africa, but was hindered by severe disease. Afterward he was connected with the coast-survey, and engaged in the service of his country in Mexico during the war, and after its close returned with a high character for enterprise and humanity and science. At this time the first Grinnell Expedition was in preparation ; and ho engaged with characteristic ardor and energy in the enterprise desi-ned generally for Northern exploration and particularly for discovering" the fate of Sir John Franklin. In the second Grinnell Expedition for the same purposes, the command was assigned to him, and after an absence of two years he returned, and gave to tlie public a full narrative of all he had endured and accomplished. The hardships and exposure he suffered during this voyage brought on him the disease which laid him on the bed of death in the midst of his days. Ilis character and his deeds will perpetuate his memory. He was a man of genius. 1 osscssing in a high degree the powers of conception, comparison, and scientific analysis, with strong imagination and poetic fancy, he was fitted by nature for those enterprises which demand a master-mind. In every walk of life he must have been con- spicuous, and especially as he had the power of concentrating his faculties on any object to which he was devoted. Great enen-y unrest- ing activity, strenuous effort, always directed by good sense and sound judgment, were manifest in every part of his life from his earliest years. And he was also persevering and patient and hopeful in the greatest dilHcultics and discouragements. Courage of the highest kind was a prominent trait of his cliaracter — physical courage which no danger could appall,-moral co«rai,'o, not often lu any high degree united with physical, which no enemies could daunt - courage such as fits a man for great deeds at the head of armies, on the throne of power, and equally in the labors and difficulties and dangers of discovery by land or sea. And, besides, when exposed to trials and suflerings in which energy and courage avail little, ho ha.l fortitude to bear to the utmost limit of endurance. Thus endowed with those quali- ties winch constitute the basis of greatness, he attracted the notice and secured the confidence of those who knew him. Ho was not, however, stern and rigorous. Kindness entered into the constitution of his cha- racter cr,.„. l,. ,.., -_^-_ Monate, ho who never was overcome by dangers and difficulties and 336 OBSEQUIES OP O sufferings whicli were his own was ready to sink at the view of the suffer- ings of others who wera under his care : he could nvon conquer enemies who were arrayed in battle against him, and then at the risk of liis life pro- tect them, when prisoners, from the rage of his own associates in arms. To complete his character, we may add — and we may be highly gratified to be able to add — that all his high characteristics were elevated and governed by sound and thorough moral principle, and sanctified by the influences of the religion of the IJiblc, which reveals and offers to us Jesus the Christ of God as in all things a Savior. And nothing can more fully exhibit his true character than the three rules which he established when he began his second expedition : — Implicit and unvarying obedience to orders. Entire abstinence from intoxicating liquors. Daily devout worship of God, in all circumstances. In conclusion, while we remember with due esteem the life and services, to humanity and science, of Dr. Kane, and lament his appa- rently-premature death, le: us go on to the end of our course fulfilling our duties with diligence and fidelity. And let us all, now and at all times, lift up our hearts to God with tiio prayer, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." CONCLUDING PRAYERS AND BENEDICTION, BY REV. JAS. A. M. LA TOUllRETTE, EKCTOK OF ST. PAUL's CnURCII, COLUMBUS. In the midst of life wo • ro in death. Of whom may wc seek for succor but of thee, Lord, who for our sins art justly disploased ? Yet, () Lord God must holy ! liord most mighty ! O holy and most merciful Savior ! deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. Thou knowest. Lord, the secrets of our hearts : shut not thy merciful OKB to our prayers; but spare us, Lord most Holy, God most mighty, O holy and merciful Savior. Thou most worthy Judge Paternal, suffer UB not, at our last hour, for any pains of death to fall from thee. Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, arc in joy and felicity : we give tii«e Doanjr thuuks for the good oxumpius of all those thy scrvauta DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. w of the suffer- 337 who having finished their course in fuith, do now rest from thoir labor. And we beseech thee that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of Tliy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory, throu-h Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ° O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, in whom whosoever believcth shall live, thou-^h he die, and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally; who hath also taught us, by his holy apostle St. Paul, not to be sorry, as mca without hope, for those who sleep in him : we humbly beseech thee, Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life ot righteousness, that when we shall depart this life we may rest in him, and that at the general resurrection in the last day we may bo found acceptable in thy sight, and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all who love and fear thee, sayin- - Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepare'd for you from the beginning of the world." Grant this, we beseech tliee, merciful Father, through , Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Kedeemer. Amen. Almighty and merciful God ! we humbly supplicate thy fatherly com- passion in behalf of those parents whom, in thine unsearchable wisdom, thou hast bereaved of their son. Look upon them, Lord, in mercy Sanctify this affliction to their good. Deepen within them a sense of the shortness and uncertainty o^ human life; and let thy Holy Spirit lead them through this vale of misery in holiness and righteousness all the days of their lives. Licrease in then: true religion; nourish them with all goodness, and of thy great uunxj keep them in the same, throu-h Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ° Assist us mercifully, Lord, in these our supplications and prayers nnd dispose the way of thy servants toward the attainment of everlast- ing salvation, that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever bo defended by thy most gracious and ready help, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name : Thy kingdom come: Thy will bo done on earth, a.s it is in heaven: Give us this day our daily bread : And forgive ua our trespasses, as wo forgive those who 22 338 OBSEQUIES OF < 2: O 2j trespass against us from evil. Amen. And lead us not into temptation : But deliver us BENEDICTION. The peace of God, which passoth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen. On Monday, at nine o'clock, a procession was forined in the following order, and, with solemn music by the band from Cincinnati and Goodman's brass-band, with tolling of bells and other appropriate tokens of sorrow, proceeded to the railroad-station, whence a portion of the Joint Committee proceeded with .':0 remains to the city of Baltimore, — whore, by an appropriate address by Professor S. 31. Smith, 31. D., they were delivered to a committee appointed from that city for their reception. OIIDER OF PIIOCESSION. CJu'cf Marshal. — Lucian Butler. Assistant Marshals. — Richard Ncvins, II. 31. Niel, Walter C. Brown. Cincinnati Band. State Fencibles. — Captain Reamy. Columbus Cadets. — Captain Tyler. American Flag. PALL-BEARERS. Medical Profession. Dr. Wm. 31. Awl, Dr. R. Thompson, Dr. S. Parsons, Dr. R. Patterson, Dr. S. 31. Smith, Dr. John Dawson. PALL-BEARERS. Masons. W. B. Hubbard, P.G.3I. W. B. Thrall, P.G.3I. N. H. Swayne, 31.31. G. Swan, Esq. P.G.O. Dr. L. Goodale, P.O.T. D. T. Woodbury, 31.31. » Lieutenant 3Jorton, of the Kane Expedition. Committee to accompany the remains to Wheeling. Cincinnati Committee of Arrangement. Columbus Committee of Arrangement. Relatives of the deceased, in carriages. Reverend Clergy. Goodmau't) Bund. But deliver us DR. ELISnA KENT KANE. 339 Grand Lodge of the Masonic Fraternity of the State of Ohio. Governor of Ohio and Staff. Heads of Departments, and other State Officers. The Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Ohio. Medical Profession. City Council of Columbus. Mayor and City Officers. Firemen. Judges and Officers of Court. Citizens generally. ;er C. Brown. CEREMONIES AT BALTIMORE. On March 10, Baltimore discharged a solemn duty in honoring, tho remains of the lan.ontod Dr. Kane. Upon no occasion had her citizens united more generally or with a greater earnestness of purpose in mani- festing thei^ appreciation of distinguished worth r nd eminent services Ihe arrangements for the obsequies were well designed, and the one puri pose that animated those who participated in them and the vast throne, cal ed out to witness their occurrence gave to the scene an Impressive and grand solemnity. ^ From the Camden station to the Maryland Institute Hall, the streets were wa led with people, whilst windows, balconies, and roof-tops were occupied by spectators. Through this dense mass, preserving, In spite of Its denseness, a quiet decorum that was in itself the most fittin^es- tunonial of the occasion, the well-arranged and imposing proce'ssion passed, gathering up the good-will, affection, and respect which the popu- lation entertained for the noble soul that once animated the cold remains now passing onward to their final resting-place. A juster tribute, more bttingly expressed, never engaged the participation of her citizens From the moment the remains reached the Ohio River and were placed in the cars of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, they have been regarded as committed to the especial guardianship of Balti- more. CROSSING THE OrilO. The remains of the distinguished Arctic explorer. Dr. Elisha K Kane, reached Bellair on Monday afternoon, havim. nn.nn .Uront fh-n-h from Columbus, Ohio, where they had lain in state in the Capitol o^°er 340 OBSEQUIES OF W !!>►*** 'idC ■■MMi O w Sunday, the use of which had been tendered by the Governor as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased. The remains were deposited in a car prepared for the purpose by order of the President of the Central Ohio Railroad, festooned with black inside and out, with white rosettes ; and the locomotive drawing the train was likewise trimmed with badges of mourning. On reaching Bellair, a large number of persons were collected to pay a passing tribute to the memory of the deceased, and the body was removed from the cars to the steamer "Blue Dick," preparatory to cross- ing to Benwood, amid every demonstration of the kindliest feeling by all present. The flag of the steamer was draped at half-mast, and the saloon hung in mourning, in which a cenotaph was raised on which to rest the coffin. Whilst crossing the river the bells of the steamer, and of all the locomotives at the railroad-stations on either side, were tolled, the scene being one of the most impressive character. On reaching Benwood, the remains were conveyed from on board the steamer to a car prepared by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in which to convey them to Baltimore. It was prepared especially for the purpose, and was shrouded with the badges of mourning both inside and out. Among those who crossed the Ohio and entered the cars to accompany the remains to Baltimore were the Cincinnati and Columbus Committees, consisting of the following gentlemen : — Committee from Cincinnati. — H. H. Robinson, G-. S. Bennett. Committee from Columbus.— L. Butler, Dr. S. M. Smith, Dr. A. S. McMillen, S. Long, E. F. Rhinehart, Captain J. 0. Remy, B. H. Nichols, Hon. E. B. Langdon, J. G. Neal. The Committee represents the military, the Masons, and the citi?;en3 of Columbus. There was also, accompanying the remains of Dr. Kane, an uncle of the deceased, and John J. Kane, Jr., his brother. The officers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Central Ohio Railroad, at both Bellair and Benwood, ex* >ded every attention to the family and committee, with the freedom of their roads going and re- turning. The Ohio Committees reported that at Zanesville, and all the principal stations on the Central Ohio Railroad, the people assembled in great numbers, and stood uncovered while the train was passing, whilst at some points the station-houses and dwellings by the side of the road were draped in mourning, indicative of the deep and wide-spread feeling of admiration that prevailed for the character and services of the deceased, and the heartfelt sorrow for his early demise. rnor as a mark )lled, the scene DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. DISAPPOINTMENT AT WHEELING. The announcement received at Wheeling, on Saturday evening, that the remains of Dr. Kane would lie over on Sunday at the State Capitol in Columbus, was a sad disappointment, as ex --ive arrangements had been made to pay a pnssing tribute to his meuiory. The Masonic fra- ternity, the Odd-Fellows, the military, the six fire-companies, and the citizens generally, had, in anticipation of the body passing through that city and remaining there over Sunday, made preparation for its'^proper reception and an expression of the general feeling of the community in honor of the memory of the deceased. Indeed, there is no doubt that Wheeling would, if opportunity had offered, have equalled any other city on the route in an appropriate expression of the national grief for the loss of so distinguished a citizen. 341 ad the citi?;en3 CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS. The train, with the remains, and the Committee, and relatives of Dr. Kane, left Beuwood at half-past-five o'clock on Monday evening, and amid the darkness of night sped its way across the mountains. There was, therefore, but little opportunity for the people to make any demon- stration,^ though a large number were collected at all the stations to see the passing train. At Fairmount the train stopped half an hour for supper, at nine o'clock at night; and, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour and the severity of the weather, a large portion of the citizens were at the depot, and all the bells in the town were tolled whilst the train remained. During the remainder of the night they passed along through the mountain-gorges without further incident. Cumberland was passed just before daybreak, a large number of persons being at the depot at that early hour. At the stations east of Cumberland there were various marks of respect shown the train as it passed. RECEPTION 4BY THE BALTIMORE COMMITTEE. At half.past six o'clock on Tuesday morning the train reached Martins- burg, where a large number of citizens with the Baltimore Committee were in waiting. The remains were then formally transferred to the charge of the following gentlemen, comprising 842 OBSEQUIES OF |\* ^ O ■MX*' 4&ii THE BALTIMORE COMMITTEE. HON. W. GILES, . BENJ. DEFORD, ESQ., JOHNS HOPKINS, ESQ., WM. H. YOUNG, ESQ., PROP. CAMPBELL MORI?'IT, S.nTUEL SANDS, ESQ., COL. THOMAS CARROIT,, V'EaDELL BOLLAaAN, ESQ. After a short delay, during which a large number of the citizens of Martinsburg viewed the remains with mournful interest, the train pro- ceeded on its way. At Harper's Ferry there was also a large and silent assemblage of epectators, as was also the case at Ellicott's Aliils and all the inter- mediate stations. ARRIVAL IN BALTIMORE. The train which was due in Baltimore at ten o'clock was an hour behind timC; and on reaching the Camden Station an immense concourse of persons were assembled to witness the removal of the remains of the distinguished deceased from the cars, among whom were a goodly number of ladies and children, who had remained nearly two hours in waiting. The car in which the body was deposited was festooned with black, and the locomotive bore a flag draped, whilst black streamers were float- ing from difierent parts of the engine. A detachment of the Independent Grays were in attendance, under command of Sergeant John Gibson, who acted as a guard to the cofiin in its transportation from the car to the station-house, where a suitable catafalque draped in mourning was erected in the centre of the large hall, on which it was placed and left in charge of the military detach- ment. The anxiety to see the cofiin was very great, and it was necessary to close the hall. Marshal Herring was in attendance, with a large force, to preserve the regulations adopted by the Committee of Arrangements. Immediately on the arrival of the train at the depot, the bell of the First Baltimore Hose-Company commenced telling, which was responded to by the bells throughout the city, and continued up to the closing of the ceremonies at four o'clock in the afternoon. The hall of the new depot, in whi^li the remains reposed until the moving of the procession, had been appropriately draped in mourning, under the direction of William Prescott Smith, Esq., an intimate and much-loved friend of the deceased, who, being an o^cer of the Baltimore and Ohio Road, had given his personal attention and efibrt to all the arrangements for the tiausfer of the body from Bellair lu Balliuiore. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 343' assemblage of all the inter- THE PROCESSION. ' At half-past two o'clock the remains were removed from the dep6t- building and placed on a gun-carriage prepared for the purpose and drawn by four horses. On the coffin was the sword of the deceased crossed over the scabbard, (the sword was presented by the city of Phila- delphia,) a lambskin apron, and sprig of evergreen. The procession was then formed in the following order, under the direction of Chief-Marshal Anderson : — City Guards. Independent Blues' Band. Lafayette Guards. Company A of Artillery from Fort Henry. Grand Lodge of Maryland and Subordinate Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons. Guard of Honor. Independent Grays, Capt. Brush, wearing crape on the hat and left arm. PALL-BEARERS. Surgeon W. Mason, U.S.N. Surgeon H. S. Harris, U.S.N. George P. Kane, Hon. J. P. Kennedy, Dr. J. R. W. Dunbar, Prof. Campbell Morfit. Pi PALL-BEARERS. Maj. Donaldson, U.S.A. Surgeon Talbot, U.S.A. D. A. Piper, Wm. Prescott Smith, Hon. Thomas Swann, Chauncey Brooks. Detachment of United States Seamen from steamship Alleghany. Officers of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. Officers of the 1st Light Division Maryland Volunteers. The Mayor and City Councils of Baltimore. The Reverend Clergy. The Medical Profession, Dr. Houck, Marshal. Judges and Officers of the various Courts and iMembers of the Bar. Commissioners of Public Schools. Officers au I Members of the Maryland Institute. Linhardt's Band. Male School of Design. Junior Members of the Maryland Institute. Fire-Companies. Marine Band from Washington, thirty-five performei-s. Mechanical Fire Company, A. Brashears, Marshal. Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, F. H. B. Boyd, Marshal. ¥^ 344 OBSEQUIES OF M»4i 2 X a Western Ilose-Company. Literary Society of Loyola College. Faculty and Students of Newton University. ' German Turnverein Association. Citizens. The family of the deceased were not in the procession, although his brother and uncle were in the city, deeming that it would not have been proper, under the circumstances, for them to have done so. The Masonic fraternity turned out in great numbers, and made an admirable display, neat and appropriate to the occasion, being dressed in black suits with white gloves and aprons, only the officers of the lodges wearing regalia and insignia of office. The boys attached to the School of Design attracted great attention. They could not have numbered less than three hundred and fifty, each with a white ribbon in the left lappel of their coats. The officers and members of the Institute were also out in force, and presented a good representation of the solid, substantial, and useful men of the city. The military display was small ; but the three companies of Volun- teers, with the Flying Artillery from Fort McHenry, made an admirable appearance. The officers of the army and navy, with a detachment of seamen from the steamship Alleghany, also formed a pleasing feature of the cor- tege. The seamen, dressed in naval attire, were especially attractive. The Mechanical Fire-Company, with the famous band from the Wash ington Navy-Yard, were, as usual, a prominent and interesting feature. Their foster-children, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, with Lindhart's Band, also made an admirable appearance, and proved them- Belves not only firemen, but gentlemen in the strictest sense of the word. The Washington Hose-Company were also in line, and made a very fine appearance. The procession, thus formed, moved up Eutaw Street to Baltimore Street, and thence to the Maryland Institute. On reaching the Insti- tute, the artillery filed to the left, and the men stood with arms pre- sented until the corpse was removed to the main saloon and placed in the catafalque. The military was drawn up on the east side of the hall, from the south end to the centre, while the Masonic order, the firemen, the members of the Maryland Institute, and other civic societies took positions south of the catafalque and entirely around that portion of the hall. The Inde- pendent Grays, the Committee of the Maryland Institute, the officers of DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 345 not have been the army and the field and staff officers of the first, fiftieth and fifty-third regiments of Maryland militia formed an oblong square. The coffin was then covered with the national standard by the seamen from the receiviug-ship Alleghany. At a signal from the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Rev. James McKenney, the Free Masons gave the grand honors; after which dir-os were played by the band from the Washington Navy-Yard and the Independent Blues' Band. The procession then retired by companies, leaving a detachment of the Independent Grays in charge. While the procession was moving, minute-guns were fired on Federal Hi I by the Eagle Artillery, and the bells of the fire-companies were tolled. APPEARANCE OF THE CITY. There was an immense concourse on the streets to see the cort6-e and all the houses on the line were filled. Balconies and windows, and every available spot, Avas occupied. The flags on all the public buildings and of the shipping in the harbor were hoisted at half-mast, and several buildings were appro- Fiately and tastefully hung with mourning. The houses of the Mechanical Fire-Company, the First Baltimore Hose-Company, the literary depot of Mr. Henry Taylor, the buildings of Messrs. Stine Brothers, and the large building of Messrs. Weisenfeld, were handsomely decorated: and there were others wearing the badge of mourning. The request that business should be suspended on the streets throu-h which the procession passed, was strictly observed and the thoroughfa^'re was cleared of all obstructions. There has seldom been so large a turn-out in the city, especially of ladies, who numbered thousands in the houses and on the sidewalks The event will be long remembered; and Baltimore has paid a just tribute to the memory of one who was worthy of her regard. The remains lay in state at the Maryland Institute Hall last ni-ht, in charge of the Independent Grays, Captain Brush, as a guard of honor, and were visited by an immense concourse of persons durin- the after- noon and evening. We learn that the sword placed on the ''cenotaph at the Institute was sent from New York for the purpose by Henry Grin- ncll, Esq., it being the same that was presented to Dr. Kane by the fetate of New York. It is an exceedingly rich and valuable weapon. The entire hall wore an impressive aspect. At the front door was a draped arch overhung by the national standard. Reaching the landing 346 OBSEQUIES Of 2 •■MM I WW o 2;: the columns at the right and left were hung in mourning. The maip saloon, where tue remains lay in state, had at each end the American flag, while the gallery was draped throughout its entire length and fes- tooned at each bracket with a white rosette. The platform in the rear was also draped and festooned, and the desk wrapped in mourning. In the centre of the hall was a catafalque aovered with black and trimmed with silver gimp, upon which the coflSn was deposited. At each corner of the structure was an American flag, furled upon its staff" and capped with crape. On each side, and sus- pended from the gallory, was a large national standard; and on the left, drooping over the catafalque, was a blue flag covered with wliite stars, and on the right, in the same position, a small American standard. The upholstery at the hall was done by Holland and Conradt, and E. A. Gibbs supplied the scarfs and badges. The tasteful and appropriate arrangements in the undertaking-department were made by 3Ir. A. Jenkins, one of the general committee, and of the firm of A. & II. Jenkins. As Dr. Kane was an active and most esteemed member of the Mary- land Institute, it may not be amiss to give at length the proceedings of that association, preparatory to a demonstration which it made in his honor. MEETING OF THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE. Agreeably to announcement in yesterday's papers, the members of the Maryland Institute assembled last evening in the library-room of the building, for the purpose of testifying their regard for the memory of the late Dr. Kane, and to make necessary arrangements fur receiving the remains. At eight o'clock the chair was takcMi by the Hon. TlioMAH SWANN, Mayor of the city, and one of the Vice-Presidents, (the Presi- dent, Hon. Joshua Vanzant, being absent from the city,) who, in a few words, stated the object of the meeting. He then mad'' the following address : — Gentlemen of the Maryland Institute: — It has become my painful duty to announce to you the death of o\n distinguished country- man, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane. This sad event took place at Havana, on the lOth instant, whither ho had repaired for the bnnetit of his healthy — broken djwn by the exposure and toils of his late exp:Mlition to the Arctic seis. As a member of this Institute, his presence had become DP.. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 347 ,) who, in a few famihar to you all, and I need hardly recur to associations which were alike honorable to himself as they were grateful to the members of this body. He was one of its early contributors and most earnest advocates It was during a recent visit abroad, as I have been informed, that he urged a friend, only loss distinguished than himself, if he ever visited ll^t r^'^'T' 7;.*««y^^^««^ *be Maryland Institute as a prominent obje t of interest. ILs voice has been Iieard in these halls. It was the theatre of many a noble effort of his genius and his loarnina-; and wo may well be permitted to drop a tear over the loss we have sustained, iu common with the civilized world. Iu the midst of a career such as no man had traversed before him- a career marked by da ug and adventure, enriched by useful discovery, and rendered memorable by the most generous impulses of the human heai-t-he has been withdrawn from the scenes of his earthly triumphs : h had reached the last round of the ladder, and his early exit has only added increased lustre to the brilliant record of that modest and un ootrusive career which has astonished both hemisphe-es Dr. Kane was one of those who seemed to estimate life only as a incans of accomplishing some great and useful purpose. When the stoutest hearts quailed, he was unmoved. In the midst of frozen seas where barriers of eternal ice threatened to shut out forever all hope of reunion with the civilized world behind him, he continued to press for- ward with the gallant followers whom his own courage had inspired, until he reached a point upon the earth's surface which no human foot had .'round ' "t1 b^^ T^ '""^' "^•'"^' '' ^^^'^" ^^'""f'^'^ ^ ^-^'^^-^ ground. The bones of the intrepid Franklin, falling in the same peril- ous adventure, lay mouldering upon the outskirts of this great field while the more successful march .f the unsatisfied American bore l.Mn' he utmost verge of human discovery, beyond which no subsequent tiavoller is likely to penetrate. When we look at the extreme youth of this meritorious officer at the time when he entered upon these daring explorations,-when we consider h.s patient endurance, his untiring energy, his profound science,-we cannot contemplate without emotion his brief career, and the many striking incidents of his past history. ^ A mere boy, he took upon himself the responsibilities and duries of bearded men; and, at an age comparatively immature, we find him sink- ng into the grave, crowned with the gli.toring testimonials of princes nd poten ates, ol statesn.en and men ..f lotters, vying wKh each other to honor themselves lu doing homage to this illustrious American 348 OBSEQUIES OF Suel' was Dr. Kane. Wo have mot here to-niglit to pay tlio last tribute to bis moinory. He was the friend of this institution; be had endeared himself to us all. jMay the example ho has left stimulate us to increased efibrt in the useful Held of our labors! IMay wo look with renewed pride to the results of his successful life, and always ronieiiiber Buch triumphs are to be met with only in the walks of untiring industry and spotless virtue ! !;- ■ 2 UJ a p Jlr. Swann then offered the following preamble and resolutions, which had been prepared by a committee of the membership: — Whereas, The Maryland Institute has been apprized of the death, at Havana, on the Kith instant, of Dr. Klisha Kent Kane, an honorary member of this Institute; and Whereas, his name has become distinguished, not only in his own country, but throughout the civilized world, for his contributions to Bcienee and useful discovery, placing him in advance of the most chivalrie, skilful, and enterprising of the navigators who have gone before him, in all that was calculated to reflect honor upon his country or shed a lustre upon his own fame ; and Wlioreas. it is proper and becoming that the whole country should recogniso the severity of the blow which has deprived us of one of our most illustrious citizens, and especially by the Maryland Institute, whose labors he has shared and whoso character ho has contributed so largely to adorn by the close and intimate relationship in which he stood toward us : Jutidlnd, That the members of the Maryland Institute receive with unmingled sorrow the sad intelligence of the death of Dr. Klisha Kent Kane, and that they tender to the family of the deceased their most sincere condolcuco in this heavy bereavement. Jivitohrd, That a conimi*tee of twenty-five of the members of this Institute be appointed in behalf of this body to take charge of the remains of our deceased brother on their arrival in l^iltimore, or at su''li point on the J?altimore and Ohio Railroad as they may deem most cdii- venient and proper, and that they be instructed to make such further arrangements as may be necessary to represent the feelings of the Insti- tute on an occasion of so much Borrow not only to its own members but the whole community. Jir.sufvrtf, That the presiding officer of this Tnstit>ito be instructed to enclose a copy of these resolutions, together with the proceedings of this meeting, to the fauiily of tho doccaseJ. DR. ELISnA KENT KANE. 349 ,0 pay tlie last Lutioii ; he had ft stiiuulate us ly wo look with ways reineiMbor itiring industry ujlutiuus, which )f the death, at 10, an honorary )ly in his own lontributions to c of tho most v'lio have gone on liis country country should i of Olio of our Institute, whoso jutcd 80 hirgcly ;vhich he stood te rpccivo with 'r. Klisha Kent ised their uiost lembors of tliis charge of the norc, or at su'.-h loom most con- co such further gs of the Insti- r'u members but be instructed to ceedings of this Tho paper having been read, Wiliiara II. Young, Esq., arose and seconded tho resolutions, and paid the following tribute to the lamented Arctic Explorer : — 3Iii. Chairman :— The announcement of tho death of Dr. Kane, though not unexpected, comes, nevertheless, right homo to all our hearts. ^ I cannot at this moment call to memory the name of any one in all this broad land whoso death would strike a chord so sympathetic or so universal as that of this young man. I know no name that has become so fondly familiar in tho hearts and homes of tho people as his Admiration at the gallant story of his life, honor and applause for tho noble disehargo of duty, do not express tho deeper feelings with which ho was regarded. The affectionate esteem which usually attends only warm personal attachment can al.,ne adequately represent tho sentiment enter- tained for him by those who, though they knew not his person, respon- sively yiol.l,.d their affections to the holy instincts of his inner life and nature. His high ambition, his noblo zeal, his indomitable energy, were so hUahA with the bo.iest frankness of his disposition, the ten- derness of his love, the generous sympathy of his heart, and all so resplendent, and so enlisted in tho success of the enterprises to which he had lent tho fulness of Iii.s mind, as to distinguish a character to which his friends could desire nothing added. IJis name will ever bo associated with th^t of Lady Franklin, and with her undying devo- tion and love. Unto the untiring hope and praye-ful perseverance of that noble Englishwoman ho seemed almost to have w.^lded himself. Cordial and tender were tho sympathies that had gi.jwn up between them ; and her widowed heart is yet to griavo over his untimely death as though another of her own best-loved ones has been torn from her arms. lie devoted tho early years of his manhood to danger, to toil, and to suffering for a purpose almost hopeless ; yet no man called him ra>Ii. lie sacrificed fortune, healtii, and life itself, that a very shadow might assume reality; and men looked on amazed yet admiring, silent yet exulting. Never did expedition leave the shores of its homo blessed with so many prayers as those which followed the Advance on her last voyage. Never did the public mind more anxiously wait for a result or more ardently hope for its safety. And when those sent to their succor brought tho bravo crow back to their own land again, tho world breathed freer for a while, and the universal heart uttered a prayer of thanksgiving. And now but a brief year ha.? passed, and wo have met Lore to pay u 350 OBSEQUIES OF '-i' 2 of O last tribute to his memory, feebly to express our sense of the loss the world has sustained in his death, and to mingle our heartfelt sorrow with that which the brave and generous everywhere must feel at the event. Dr. Kane has died early in manhood. His career, though short, was eventful and memorable. Forbearance, devotion, sacrifice, submission to toil and the endurance of privation, were the features of his living; but heroic courage and dauntless energy gaA^e crowning glories to Lis young life, and now bring hallowed memories to consecrate his early grave. His was an exalted and earnest nature, with an inborn right to immortality. How greatly hath he achieved it ! Science had "no worthier worshipper, humanity no more devoted spirit. Loyal to duty, he had genius to conceive and power to perform. Pure of heart, truthful and generous, the hearts of those around hmi gathered close to his. The humblest of the gallant crew who shared his fortunes through the long, frozen nights of Arctic winters felt cheerier in his presen°e and hajipier at the sound of his voice. He was unostentatious, and in his manner modest even as became the high behests of his great nature. The friends who knew him best, and the dear ones at home, forget the claims of his mere achievements in the love more precious which tlic.se golden qualities inspired. In more than one land his death shall bo celebrated by throbbing breasts and tearful eyes; and his memory shall ^e embalmed in the hearts of the good of both sexes, and of every a"-c ind of every clime. The history of bis brief life presents a brigiit example to his young countrymen,— a beaatiful memory for the grateful homage of his brothers in the service. We could have wished that his enterprises had been crowned with fuller success,— not, indeed for his fame's sake, (for the glory of his name is secure,) but to have made niore complete his own happiness. iJut lie heeds not these things now. Ho hath laid himself down with the bravo to sleep. Death hath kissed him with lips colder than the north wind's breath. Life, with its behests and hopes, is over. He lives with the immortal dead. The Hon. John P. Kennedy, late Secretary of the Navy, and member of the 3Iarylund Institute, spoke as follows : — I am not willing, Mr. Chairman, to allow the prosent opportunity to pass without a few words from me to express my hearty concurrence in the object pro^^osed by the resolutions which have been ulreaJy so DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. vy, and nieinbor ________ 351 eloquently commended by yourself and other gentlemen who have spoken, and so cordially received by the committee. It is peculiarly appropriate that the leading part of the manifestation of a purpose to do honor to the memory of Dr. Kane should be assumed by the Mary- land Institute. He was a distinguished member of this body, whose fellowship he cherished to the latest moment of his life with a most grateful remembrance of the earnest, and, I n,ight say, affectionate, nterest which It took in the preparation, the progress, and the consumma! ion of both of h.s expeditions to the Arctic circle. It was foremost in the study of his grand design,-the first to cheer him onward to its accomplishment, the first to applaud his achievements. In the hall of the Institute he ever found an overflowing audience to listen to his exposition of his plans; and there, too, he found the largest sympathy m the utterance of his hopes. No associated body in the United States, no section of the general community outside of his immediate and most intimate friends, met him with the same hearty appreciation of his purpose, or with such cheerful tones of encouragem ^nt, as the Maryland Institute, and the great mass of the intelligent citizens of Baltimore who are accustomed to frequent its rooms. The brave explorer felt, through- out all the hazards and toils of his perilous ventures, that he had a host of friends here who thought hopefully of him in his darkest duy, who watched h.s fortunes with an eager solicitude and listened with anxious concern for the first tidings of his return. It was a source of strength to his resolution amidst the dangers of his path, and an ever-present encouragement to his labors, that he had such friends at home ready to welcome the moment which should give him back to his country, and still more ready to approve and applaud the generous aims of his enter- prise, te.r, those sentiments on both sides created an intimate relation between Dr. Kane and the Maryland Institute, and now give a peculiar appropriateness to the purposes of the present meeting Nothing that I can say on this occasion can enhanc^e the hig\ esteem which this community entertains for the character and exploits of the young hero to whom the spontaneous feeling of the country at this moment is according such extraordinary honors. I do not speak with the expectation of adding any thing to that esteem : my purpose in utter- ing a word hero is rather to ^.J : ; a personal wish to perform a duty to a friend with whom I w.. coa.ected under circumstances that fur- nished me many occasions to r-drnre his manly virtues and rare accom- plL^hments. (Sir, I think I may .peak of Dr. Kanu with more intimate knowledge than perhaps any member of this oomn)ittee. My iutercou se 352 OBSEQUIES OF Up. X a with him, both private and official, was of a kind that enables me to recall many interesting particulars touching his ladt expedition. It was my good fortune to be brought into a confidential communion with him at a time when my friendship could be made useful in fur- nishing essential — I might rilmost say indispensable — aid to the success of that most perilous of his Arctic explorations, that voyage of which the result has been to furnish the most remarkable of all the records yet given to the world of Polar discovery. The liberality of two private gentlemen whose names are already highly exalted on the rolls of munifi- cent and public-spirited men --Henry Grinnell and George Peabody — hod contributed the money to the outfit of that expedition j but, not- withstanding their liberality, it still stood in need of many most necessary supplies. Dr. Kane had been invited to take the command. Indeed, I believe the project of this secmd expedition to the Northern seas had originated with himself, stimulated to it by a correspondence with that distinguished lady whose devotion to a hopeless pursuit of the traces of her lost husbjuid. Fir John Franklin, has for years past been the theme of a world-wide admiration and .sympathy. Her acquaintance with Dr. Kane, and her confidence in his extraordinary ability for such an under- taking, had been formed in the progress of his participation in Do Haven's voyage; and she was prompt to advise and encourage our friend's overture by the strongest appeals to that generous aspiration of his which was not less ennobled by the benevolence of its object than the gallantry and skill which he was able to bring to its achieve- ment. He communicated his views and plans to me, sir; but I did not he.si- tate to say to him that I would assist him with every means I might find myself authorized, by my position at the head of the Navy Depart- ment, to put at his disposal. I accordingly suggested to him that I would bring the expedition within the control of the Government l)y adopting it as a public enterprise, and by giving him a special order to conduct it under the direction of the Department. In pursuance of this purpose, I forthwith issued to Dr. Kane the order " to conduct an expedition to the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin," enjoin- ing upon him to make his reports to the head of the Navy Department, Having thus brought him into this relation, he became entitled to what is understood in the navy as " duty-pay," by which he received a small addition— -I wish it had been more — to his means for defraying the expenses of the voyage. I also detailed for hin, in the course of his preparation, some chosen men from the service, consisting in all often oul DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 353 of tl.o entire party of seventeen. These were entitled to their pay and rations fron. the Governnient. Son. other fl.cilities-all that I eould grant from the ordinary resources of the navy without a specific appro- priation by Congress-were added, in the supply of nautical i, sL- mons maps and charts, and, I believe, also some preserved meats vegetables and other provisions. The Department, however, couid noi do so much as was needful ; and I felt, at the departure of the exnedi- lon that no small risk would attend the comparatively scanty amount of upphos for such a voyage. Never, I believe, in the history of exploration has a national adventure so full of peril, and so certain of hardships, been committed to the chances of wind and wave and inho«- pitab.e shores, so inadequately furnished as this,-never one that had more in it to quell the courage and try the hardihood of its commander irom caases attributable to the insufficiency of its outfit. Kane seemed to have a painful consciousness of this fact. Almost his last words to mo were, '^My friend, if I am not home before the second winrer keep your thoughts upon us, and get the Government by all means to s nd in relief We shall stand sadly in need of help." I promised him I would do my part in such an event • and, sir, when the time came I did not forget it. I rejoice to add that the Government in that eme>-. goncy needed no prompting, and that the relief, as you well know in due time went upon its successful errand of grateful duty, under 'the ead of a gallant captain who sped, with the faith of a true co..rado and the characteristic devotion of his profession, to the rescue of that shat- tered htte band whose fate many then thought scarcely les. precarious than that of the unhappy adventurers they had themselves gone forth to seek and succor. Among many letters in my possession I have tvo from Dr. Kane ^hich I preserve with scrupulous regard. One, I L.Hove. is the last he wrote on bidding adieu to an American shore. It was written at St John s xn Newfoundland, on the outward voyage. It was to inform me that a 1 was well at that point, and to relieve me of a solicitude for him- self which he knew .listurbod me at the time of his departure. He had Bpont the previous winter in Washington in almost daily intercourse with myself; and I had seen with conecrn the terrible tax he had unposed upon his health in the unremitting study of preparation for his voyage. JI,.s incessant labor day and night had made a visible inroad upon his strength; and I was obliged often to caution him a^rainst the consoquencos, and to entreat him to desist from work. Ni-ht after mght was spent till dawn of day at his desk. Ho grew thin Tnd pale 23 ' 354 OBSEQUIES OF 2 X o 21 and manifestly enfeebled. At length, when all was ready in April for his voyage, and his appointed time for sailing had come, he was struck down with a rheumatic fever, which confined him for some weeks to his bed, and when he was next reported only convalescent I was surprised to learn that he had gone aboard at New York and stood out to sea. Commencing such a voyage under such circumstances, his friends naturally felt a great concern for his success. His letter from St. John's was written to assure me that he had conquered his malady, and he was ready for the sterner contests that awaited him. This first letter was dated in June, 1853. The second — in October, 1855, two years and four months later — was dated off Sandy Hook, announcing his return. It speaks joyfully of the pleasant days before him, and describes his health as singularly robust. There is in it, too, a playful allusion to a claim made by the British Explorations contem- poraneous with the former voyage of De Haven, which had been a subject of remark in the maps of the Admiralty, in which " Grinnell Land" of our chart is described as "Albert Land." He says now, in this letter, "I found another Grinnell Land," alluding to the most remote region of his recent discovery, "which any man is welcome to who will go after it." It was not long after this when he called upon me. I never saw him looking so well. He said himself, " My health is almost absurd. I have grown like a walrus." I mention these trivial facts to show that it was not his voyage to which we may, with any certainty, attribute his subsequent ill health. The ardor of his spirits and energy of his mind conquered all the difficulties of his expedition ; but, I fear, we may assign to that very ardor the unhappy sequence of decaying strength which has now laid him low and caused this general sorrowing in our country. He set himself immediately upon the laborious task of pre- paring those volumes of surpassing interest which give us the history of his adventures, and which are now in every one's hand. The change from an active life to the sedentary pursuits of his study, his task pursued with that unremitting industry which was the habit of his nature, and which I had so often rebuked and attempted to check in the days of his preparation in Washington, — to this I look as the more probable cause of that decline which advanced with such fearful speed toward the grave. A spirit so eager, determination so intense, over- looked and seemed to forget the repose and the nurture that were essential to health; and Kane, the beloved and the lamented, has fallen a victim to the uncontrollable energy of his own will. What the rigors BR. ELISnA KENT KANE. 355 is welcome to of the Pole, and the long Arctic night, and the ice-bound prison-house ot frozen seas, could not subdue, has been overthrown by the insidious nssault of the midnight lamp and the dead wood of the desk Stern as were the trials of that Polar voyage, neither they nor the subsequent labors of his study had quenched his zeal in the career to wh.ch he had devoted his life. He longed to repeat them in a new endeavor, to which he was instigated by the combined influence of a hope to ascertain something more definite in regard to the fate of Irankhn s party, (concerning which the recent reports of Dr. Rea had accounted, in his opinion, only for a portion of the whole number, leav- mg room to conclude th.t traces of the remainder might still be found,) and of the attractions of scientific investigation in the great field of geological phenomena which these wonderful realms of ice present _ Soon after h,s work was published, (September, 1856,) Lady Franklin intiniated to him her wish to equip another expedition, and obtained, as I understood, the consent of the Admiralty to invite him to take com- niand of it. This ofler fired his imagination with the ardor of new hopes in the cause of humanity and science, and the ambition of still greater achievements. He came to consult me on the subject. I did all I could to dissuade him from further pursuit of an adventure which i thought too hazardous and too hopeless of success. I found that this had been the advice of other friends; and there was a manifest tone of dejection and disappointment in his reluctant acquiescence in these counsels. - I dislike to give it up," he said; " and, if it were not for one consideration that touches me very nearly, I should persist in goin<.. M>/mofheris distressed at it," he added, "and wishes me to abandon the thought. I can resist other persuasions, but that must settle the question with me." And afterward, recurring again to it, he said, -It IS so fla.tering an offer to me, coming from a foreign ]and,-the com- mand of an expedition fitted out in England and intrusted to me upon the invitation of friends there, and sanctioned by the Admiralty : it goes hard with me to decline it." As I was about visiting England myself at the time of this conversa- tion, he asked me to call on Lady Franklin in London and explain to her why he could not accept this offer, and to say how much he prized the honor it was intended to confer upon him. This was the last inter- view I ever had wiMi him. I sailed a few days afterward, and when in London I made several visits to Lady Franklin, and faithfully commu- nicated to her what he had desired me to say. At the Admiralty Kane was well known and greatly esteemed; and it was no small satisfaction 356 OBSEQUIES OF ^| IJU 2: •mm •JLa o to me to find there that his character and services were associated, in the minds of the most intelligent men, with sentiments of the highest esteem for our navy in general. I am convinced that his fame reflected a lustre upon our whole naval service, and that he was regarded, in some degree, as the representative and type of the accomplishment, gallantry, and patriotic devotion to duty of the whole corps of American naval officers, whose character, both abroad and at home, is identified with the highest renown of our republic. Such was the confidence and respect which Kane had inspired in the official ranks of the British n.ivy, and among the scientific men con- nected with it, that the Admiralty did not hesitate to accept and adopt his charts for the correction of their own, and— with a promptitude which no less does honor to their integrity and sense of justice than it evinces their friendly dispositions toward our country — to acknowledge the claim of our first expedition under De Haven to that priority of dis- covery of the '' Grinnell Land" to which I have alluded as heretofore a subject of discussion. The Admiralty have been wanting in no just and grateful recognition of the results and value of both'c" •" expedi- tions, nor in the highest commendation of the public sjnrii ■■ losc who originated and conducted them. It is only by such ini aange of grateful service and liberal appreciation that two great nations allied to each other by kindred of blood and affinity of ambition in promoting the great ends of civilization may hope to confer upon themselves and man- kind that incalculable good which shall make their power a permanent blessing to the world. It should be the desire and policy of both to cultivate this disposition in all their intercourse. Upon my return to my own country, I found that Kane had just sailed for England. His reception there was all that might have been expected. In the midst of the gratulations that were offered to him, and the happy greetings of his reception, we were afflicted with the startling reports of his failure in health, and the still more alarming tidings that he was obliged to seek a more sunny clime. The next news brought us warning from Havana of his quick decay, and, soon afterward, the report of his death . His body is now upon its way to the home of his youth, attended by mourning friends. In its passage through our city let us receive it with such honors as shall announce our high appreciation of his whdle character and service, and express the profound sorrow of this community. The character and services of Dr. Kane are worthy of being preserved in the memory of the nation. A gentler spirit and a braver were never united in one bosom. He DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 357 possessed the modest reserve of the student in combination with the ardent love of adventure and darin. which distinguished the most rornant. son of chivah-y. With e.ual .eal and abili^ he pursued th a t,Mn„H.nt of science and the hardiest toil of exploration. It was pleasant . contemphUe so much defiance of danger, such rugged adven- ture, su.h capab, Uy for severe exposure to the roughest tbor, in a naan ot such dehcato nurture and so nnld and gentle in deportment. and hard.hood of Captam John Smith, of our own colonial history. Such a character is a .del for the training of youth and a subject for the applause of mature age. The early death of Dr. Kane has been recog„,sed as a national loss; and the honors which have been awarded conducted o the.r final resting-place, are such as we have heretofore a corded only to the most eminent men of our country. I find a mourn- fu pleasure Mr. Cha.nnan, in being able this evening to concur with hseouHn.ttee:nthcn.easurcs they have proposed by which this city may unite in this general tribute of respect. ^ Upon motion the Mayor was then directed to appoint the committee of twenty-five, which he did. On motion of Mr. Kennedy, the chairman was added to the committee. The following gentlemen compose the committee :— IlOy. JOSHUA VANSANT, IIOX. JOHN P. KENXEDY, JAMES M. ANDERSON, JAMES MURRAY, JNO. ROGERS, AVILLIAM H. YOUNG, ADAM DENMEAD, HON. REVERDY JOHNSON, JOHNS HOPKINS, J. CRAWFORD NEILSON, SAMUEL IIINDES, GEORGE A. DAVIS, D. L. JNO. DUKEIIART, HUGH A. COOPER, THOMAS TRIMnLE, WILLIAM H. KEIGHLER, WENDELL BOLLMAN, T. M. CONRADT, SAMUEL SANDS, PROF. CAMPBELL MORFIT, HUGH BOLTON, LAWRENCE SANGSTON, GEORGE \V. ANDREWS, ROBERT LESLIE, BARTLETT. On motion of John Dukehart, Esq., the meeting then adjourned. On the morning of Wednesday, the Uth, the remains of Dr. Kane were, with great solemnity, removed from the Hall of the Maryland inS» 'vvJ' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) ■C// 1.0 r«^ •'^■M ||2.5 1^ 12.2 I.I us Iti i; 140 2.0 1.25 1.4 1.6 .4 6" - ► >> ^VSv /% Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRICT WMSTM.N.Y. MS80 (714) i7!2-4S03 M ,\ >^.v% ^r«^ #k\ .•.*4^ 4^ Z 358 OBSEQUIES OF CD 0^ z Institute, and conveyed mth. becoming accompaniment to the dep6t of the Baltimore and Philadelphia Kailroad, under the immediate direction af the following-named gentlemen : — HON. JOSHUA VANSANT, JOHN DUKEHART, HUGH A. COOPER, THOMAS TRIMBLE, JOHN ROGERS. With them was the delegation from the Philadelphia Joiut Com- mittee of Arrangements. At Elkton, Md., a committee from the Masonic Order, and the citizens of Wilmington, Del., were introduced to the delegation. This committer consisted of the following-named persons : — HON. JOHN M. WALES, CHARLES STEWARD, CAPT. GEORGE N. HOLLINS, DR. J. WHITE, CHRISTIAN RAUCH, J. S. VALENTINE, WILLIAM JORDAN, • DR. JOHN SIMMS, HON. D. W. BATES. At Wilmington, Del., and at Chester, Pa., — the stopping places of the cars, — thousands of cicizens were assembled to do honor to the deceased. A hasty glance at the public proceedings of citizens and corporations of cities and States, on the occasion of the arrival of the remains of Dr. Kane, has been taken. No attempt has been made to record all: a volume would not contain them. It seemed sufficient to note the par- ticular points at which it was necessary for the boats or cars containing the body of Dr. Kane to rest, and to refer, in most cases generally, to the proceedings in reference to the distinguished dead. But demonstrations of high respect were not limited to processions with the body. They were provided for wherever it was supposed the remains would pass, — especially at Pittsburg, in this State. In the Legislature of the State most appropriate and eloquent tributes were paid to the gifted son of Pennsylvania. In the Legislatures of New York, New Jersey, and of Massachusetts, and in almost all the scientific associations of the country, special action was had with regard to the eminent services and early death of Dr. Kane. As aniung the most touching memorials of deep aifection and ineff"aceablo gratitude for the dead may bo cited the resolutions adopted at a meeting of the com- panions of Dr. Kane in his Arctic Expedition, which are subjoined: — PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMPANIONS Ob DR. KANE. The surviving members of the late Arctic Expedition met at the La Pierre House, on Friday evening, for the purpose of taking such DR. ELISHA KiiNT KANE. 359 action as might be deemed appropriate ia view of the regretted death of their late commauder, Dr. E. K. Kane. The meeting was called to order by calling Dr. I. I. Hayes to the chair, and appointing Mr. Amos Bonsall Secretary. On cnliin- the meeting to order, Dr. Hayes said, in explanation of their object iu coming together, — We little thought, comrades, v;hen we so often spoke of the raeetin-s we would have upon our return home, that the first would be to mour'n the loss of our brave commander. Through dangers he has often led us Again we are called to follow him ; but the circumstances how different ! There we followed him through paths forced over a trackless waste by his own energy. Now death is our pilot. It is hard to realize that he IS indeed deaa. He was one of those with whom you could scarcely associate the thought. But the tears uf a sorrowing and grateful people assure us that it is too true. The bright star we have all so often see. just flickering on tlie verge of the horizon has gone down. The frai force which held it to this earth is broken. That soul so strong, tha' body so weak, too much in antagonism long to remain togetlier,-alas ' we shall never know the one but by its influence upon our lives, nor set the other but by its impress upon our memories. But I will not anticipate you. Let us show iu some way, unitedly, our appreciation of his services while living, and our sorrow at his death! Mr. George Stephenson offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: — Resolved, That we have received with pain the sad intelligence of the death of our late honored commander, Elisha Kent Kane, and embrace this the earliest opportunity of unitedly exprt.sing our sorrow Kesalcat, That while we join with our countrymen and the citizens his native State in paying tribute to the memory of one who had ali-ady achieved so much for the world's good and the nation's glory - knowing him as we did well through scenes which try men's nfjral nature,-uur hearts mourn the loss of those high qualities which endeared hnn to us as captain, comrade, and friend. Wo found him Wise in counsel, clear in judgment, bold in danger, fearless in execution ■ ever alive to the calls of humanity, with a firm faith in the protecting care of an overruling Provideuce, which gave him mora! power to rise above physical weakness, filled him at all times with cheerful hope, and inibued him with almost superhuman strength; and we hold his name ia gratetul remembrance. 360 OBSEQUIES OP If " go O I Resoived, That we do deeply sympathize with his bereaved family, knowing full well that, great as is the loss to us of one possessing so many manly virtues, greuter still must it be to those who held to him a nearer relation. Resolved, That, as the only means now left us of showing our respect for the memory that lingers sadly yet brightly with us, we will, in a body, follow his remains to their last resting-place, in such position as may be assigned us by the Committee of Arrangements. Resolved, That the Secretary be directed to forward to the family of the deceased a copy of these resolutions, signed by all the members. The meeting then adjourned. I. I. Hayes, President. Amos Bonsall, Se.cretari/. DEPUTATIONS FROJI OTHER CITIES. A committee of fourteen members from both branches of the Common Council of the city of New York arrived in Philadelphia to manifest the sympathy of that city in the great loss, and her high appreciation of the services and character of Dr. Kane. This delicate attention on the part of a sister city was beautifully consistent with the liberality of one of her distinguished citizens, to whom Dr. Kane was indebted for much encouragement and liberal contributions of means to undertake and accomplish his great Arctic expedition. These gentlemen, with the committees from other cities, wore formally received by a sub-committee, and became the guests of the city of Philadelphia. Such was the expression of respect to Dr. Kane from all parts of the Union, such the proceedings in cities through which the remains of our townsman passed, such the voluntary, the spontaneous expression of regard for the services and memory of the good and great. And while thes^c honors iu other places were, to the passing body, thus distinguished, here iu Philadelphia, where was his home in life, and where was prepared his resting-place in death, tht proper reception of the honorable deposit and the vigilant guard of the sacred remains ought to bo followed by Buch public (solemnities as would enable the authorities and people to express their sense of the respect paid to the memory of their towns- man elsewhere, and the appreciation of the honor conferred on them by the heroic services of the deceased in the cause ot science and philanthropy. DR. ELISIIA KENT KAN E. 361 PROCEEDINGS OF JOINT COMMITTEE RESUMED. ment3 and the preservation of order in all the public prooeedin's st:i, I ^''''T^ "'"'^ '^" ^^"-'^ appointn.ent'of a nLX' X' hould advise with them in the formation of a procession and ex^cu^e the plan adopted; nnd they unanimously selected Peter C. Ellnmker ^1';;!™" ""■''"'' "^'^ ^"^^''""^^ '^ ^pp--^^ -^« -d as.istan; From the many who hastened to offer their services as undertakers, Soore ^"' '^" ^"^^" '^ '^'' P'"'^^ ^^'- ^^'il'-- H. adopted 2l7r '" ""'r^- '""' '"' S""*' ^^ ^«"«''' ^'^^ ^---"ee adopted the following resolutions :— AWW, TLat the offer of the service, of the Artillery Corp, of the Washington Orajs, by Captain Thomas P. Parry, bo accepted. „ act as a guard of honor on the «.,.!„„, if consistent with the arr^agcneoU ot the naval and military authorities. On motion of Mr. Thomas, it was i?..«.W That if consistent with the orders of the commanding officer, the Fn-st City Troop of Cavalry, Captain James, be invited to c as a body-guard on the occasion of the reception of the remains of the late Dr. Kane, and escort the same to Independence Hall It was further AWm/, That the con.manding officer of the First Division l^^nnsylvania Volunteers be requested to detail a brigade to act as a nnhtary escort on the occasion, in addition to the companies mentioned in the foregoing resolutions; and that all the officers of th Division not on duty be invited to attend the solemnities in uniform On learning that the remains of Dr. Kane had reached Baltimore .ho Joint Committee of Arrangement despatched a delegation from theiJ number, to proceed to that city and accompany them hither the remains to be still in the care of the Committee of Baltimore The d„.,,tors of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- road Company promptly nnd generously offered every facility for convey- mg the committee to IJaltimore and bringing thence the body of Dr Kane and those who should attend upon it; and, the kind offer havinci been thankfully accepted, the directors placed two cars at the disposal of to committee who had declined accepting, as less sure and e.podU tious, the alternative of a " special train." i^mmmm^ 362 OBSEQUIES OP z X of Q The remains of Dr. Kane were brought to the depot at the corner of Broad and Prime Streets, at five o'clocli on the afternoon of Monday, the 11th of March, accompanied by some members of the mourning family, and under the care of a committee consisting of the following- named gentlemen appointed by the Maryland Institute of Baltimore : — JOHN DUKEHART, JOHN RODGERS. HUGH A. COOPER, THOMAS TRIMBLE, HON. JOSHUA VANSANT. The Joint Committee proceeded to the dep6t to meet the remains, and they caused them to be taken thence and conveyed to the Hall of Independence, in the following order : — Officers of the Police. First and Second Divisions of Police. Washington Grays, Captain Parry. Band. The First City Troop, Captain James, acting as Guard of Honor. o M Hi N . OS Ah O f4 O < o H H O M ^^ O Pi City Troop. Companions of Dr. Kane in the Arctic Expedition. Committee of City Councils. Committee from Maryland Institute. Committee from Cincinnati. Committees of various bodies from Wilmington and other places. The Committee appointed by the Town Meeting. The Committee from the Corn Exchange. A body of the City Police, consisting of several hundred men, detailed by the Mayor. The body of Dr. Kane, thus escorted, was placed in the Hall of Independence, the coffin resting on a pedestal and covered with a pall, and overlaid with the flag of the United States. The committee were indebted to Mr. Peter Mackenzie for many splended wreaths, formed of the choicest flowers, decorating the coverinf' of the remains. When the coffin was properly disposed in the hall, Mr. Dukohart, )t at the corner of rnoon of Monday, of the jDourning of the following- 3 of Baltimore : — aeet the remains, !d to the Hall of lard of Honor. O M O edition. 1 other places. eting. ;o. :ed men, detailed I in the Hall of 'ered with a pall, :enzio for many ting the coverinj; , Mr. Dukohart, sm mmm_ ijgBMt I < Ul X I- O 25 < z ^ /?.: r ■ ui d DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. ________ 363 the chairman of the delo,at;;;r;i^^ the remains from Balti- Mr Chaikman :-I. behalf of the eitizens of Baltimore, I am now to dehvor to your ehargo the remains of our deceased feUoT men.ber Elisha Kent Kane. I eomn.it to you his ron s hi" whnT , ?''^ ""^ ^' ^'•"'^ ^^""^'^ ^'^^ Mecca of all those governmenr^'^'-'^^^' ''' ''''' '''''' '"'' "^'^^ ^^ -°-''"*^•; m 364 OBSEQUIES OF 1' ,^ '* P 1 2 H a 2i native of the Spartan mother's direction to her son, — " if not behind, at least vpon, his shield." Nay, more : a Christian mother's cares are rewarded, and her hopes more tlian realized, in the life of a son devoted to science and philanthropy, and in that death whose hopes took hold on eternity. Renewing to you the assurance of profound gratitude for the honors conferred upon these remains in jour city and augmented by your presence here, this committee receive the sacred trust, and will watch over the body until it reaches its final resting-place in the grave. Mr. Chandler then placed the remains under the care of the company of Washington Grays, who had volunteered to act as a guard of honor, and, addressing Captain Parry, their commander, he said : — Captain Parry, on behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, I now announce to you that they have determined to place under your guard the remains of one so cherished by us all as a Philadelphian and a phi- lanthropist. We trust that you will exercise a strict guardianship during the night, and restore to the committee the sacred trust which has been confided to your charge. To which Captain Parry replied : — I assure you, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the corps which I have the honor to command, and which you have selected for the guardianship )f the remains of the lamented Dr. Kane, that we are proud to accept /our commission ; and I need not say, on my own part, that I reply to you with all the emotion which may become a man. AVe will vigilantly guard the remains during the night, and return them to you in the morning as pure and unsullied as when we received them. On Wednesday evening and on Thursday morning many hundred citizens were admitted to the Hall of Independence. At ten o'clock Captain Purry and his company were relieved from further duties as a guard of honor. Captain Parry, in a few appropriate remarks, resigned his charge, and received from Mr. Cuyler the thanks of the committee for the services which he and his corps had rendered. A splendid wreath of costly flowers was presented to the committee, accompanied by the subjoined note : — "TO THE MEMORY OF DR. E. K. KANE." FROM TWO LADIES. DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. _________ 365 These were deposited on the coffin with the rich offerin'r of Mr. Mackenzie befo'-g noticed. ° At noon precisely, the military, under Brir^adier-General George Cadwallader, having been formed on Walnut Street, Chicf-3Iarshal Ellmaker proceeded, with his aids and assistant marshals, to form the funeral procession according to the programme which had been adopted by the Cominittee of Arrangements. The coffin was borne, by a detachment of seamen of the United States Navy, from the Hall of Independence down the centre-walk of Inde- pendence Square to Walnut Street, where it was received with appro- priate honors by the military, and was then placed upon the funeral car prepared expressly for the occasion, twelve feet in length and five in breadth, set on low wheels concealed by the rich drapery suspended from the side of the car. On the four corners were upright spears with golden heads, and around these were entwined the American, the British the Spanish, and the Danish flags, craped. Above the centro of the car was a dome of black cloth with white stripes, and from the canopy extended bands attached to the top of the spears at the four corners. The dome was ornamented with white stars, and trimmed with white cord. The inside of the canopy was lined with white silk. Th" coffin being placed in the centre of the car, the American flag was thrown around it, and the garlands of flowers and the sword of the deceased were placed gracefully on the bier. The car was drawn by six black horseS; each being attended by a groom appropriately attired. FIRST DIVISION. This division was heaaed by a strong body of police detailed by the Mayor to secure an unobstructed path to the cortc^ge. The body was headed by the high-constables of the city, and, although the route of procession, covering a large extent of the central portion of the city, was densely packed with spectators, universal order prevailed. The police were also distributed along the line of the procession. _ The military escort, consisting of the First Brigade, made an exceed- ingly creditable and imposing display. The Brigade comprised the fol- lowing companies :-Squadron Cavalry, T. C. James; First City Troop, Captain James; First City Cavalry, Captain Baker; Artillery Battalion. Lieutenant-Colonel Biles, commandant; Washington Grays, Captain Parry; Philadelphia Grays, Captain Rush; Cadwallader Grays, Captain Breece ; National Artillery, Captain Murphy. First Regiment Infantry, Colonel Wm. D. Lewis, Jr., commandant: '1! 366 OBSEQUIES OF s-:^ mi < &0l 0^ 2 T a I State Fcncibles, Captaia Pago; Washington Blues, Captain Gosline • National Guards, Captain Lyle; Independent Grays, Captain Braceland- ^dependent Guards, Captain Cromley; Washington Guards, Captain Wagaer. SECOND DIVISION Was preceded by William H. Moore, undertaker. Then followed the funeral car and procession, in the following order :— PALL-BEARERS. I w •- ll c § Governor Pollock, Hon. Horace Binney, Commodore Stewart, Major C. J. Biddle, Bishop Potter, Chief-Justice Lewis, Doctor Dunglison, J. A.. Brown, Esq., f4 CO PALL-BEARERS. Samuel Gr^nt, Esq., Henry Grinnell, Esq., Commodore Read, Doctor Dlllard, U.S.A., Bev.H.A Bcardraan,D.D., Hugh L. Hodge, 3I.D., Hon. Wm. B. Heed. Erg I ft. Comrades of the Deceased in the Arctic Expedition. Committee of Arrangements. Committee of the Authorities and Citizens of Baltimore. Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York. Reverend Clergy of the City. Mayor and Recorder. Heads of the seveml Departments. Officers of Councils. President of Select ind Common Councils. Select Council. Common Council. Lx-Members of Select and Common Councils. Aldermen of the City, Deputies and Clerks of tlie several Departments of the City. Repntersof the Press. Officei-8 of the State Governui-nt. The Societies of the Sons of St. George and Albion. The Hibernian Society, the St. Andrew's and Scots Thistle Societies Officor.9 of the UnHed States .Vrmy, Navy, and Marino Corps. Represontativea of Fore^sn Governments and other Distinguished Strangers. Judges and Officers of the United States and other Courts. Officers and membera of the Ameriean Philosophical Society. . ^^*/ •' DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 367 Captain Gosline; Japtaia Braceland; I Guards, Captain . Then followed lRERS. M 09 Esq., I, Esq., 'ad. (5 o U.S.A., rdinan, D.D., fe, M.D., E a Qg -?» 9 Eeed. 1 edition. Baltimore. ' New York. Officers and Members of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Wardens of the Port. The remainder of the division paraded in the following order :- THIRD DIVISION. Marshal of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Ills Deputies and As.sis^lnts. ' ^ „ Unitod States District Attorney. Co.ector, Naval Officer, and Surveyor of the Port, Post-Master, and other Officers of the United States Government. Director and Treasurer, Officers, and Workmen of the United States Mint n- u ot. . ^^«'"b«^« «nd Ex-Members of Congress. H,gh-Shenff of the City and County, and other City and County Officers. Physicians. Members of the Bar. Officers and Members of the Corn Exchange. Officers of the Pennsylvania Militia not on duty. FOURTH DIVISION. Medical Faculty and Students of the University of Pennsylvania. Medical lacult,, the Graduating Class, and the Students, of tlfe Jeffer.o« Medical College of Philadelphia. Officers and Students of other Medical Societies. Philadelphia County iMedical Society. Officers and Under-Graduates of the University of Pennsylvania. 1 resident. Directors, and Officers of Girard Colle-e. Principal and Faculty of the High School. The 3Iusical Fund Society. Controllers of the I'ublic Schools. FIFTH DIVISION. The Fire Department. Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. Young Men's American Club. American Protestant Association. Ancient Order of Druiia. SIXTH DIVISION. * Citizens. Police. *aj 3G8 OBSEQUIES OF The procosfjion, which inovod up Wahuit Street to Sevcnteenih Street, up Seventeenth to Arch, down Arch to Seventh Street, terminated at the Second^Presbytcrian Cimrch, North Seventh Street; and, as it was impossible for any considerable proportion of the procession to obtain admittance to the church, the public demonstration was considered as terminating on the arrival at this place. The remains were then taken from the hoarse and conveyed, through the south gate of the enclosure, to the elevation in front of the church, and, while they lay ia that position with the pall-bearers formed in a semicircle in the rear, the whole procession passed, uncovered, down Seventh Street, in view of the coffin. Few scenes have ever been presented of more solemn grandeur. The body then was conveyed into the church, accompanied on each side by the pall-bearers, and followed by the companions of Dr. Kane in the Arctic Expedition, the Committee of Arrangement, the Councils of the city, the Committees from other cities, the officers of the navy, and other citizens. ^^H 2: ^^H €£ ^^^1 UJ ^^^^B f. X ^^H K ^^B OC ■■ Q ^m 21 ^Hl^ ,.^.A The exercises iu the church commenced with the singin" of an anthoui from Mozart : — " I Heard a Voice from Heaven." Then came the following beautiful and impressive invocation, delivered by the llev. Charles Wadsworth, D.l). :— "Holy, lioly, holy. Lord God Almighty. The sinless and adoring Bcraphims veil (heir faces and cry. Holy ! We are worms of tlic dust, sinful, mi.serablo, unworthy, and to us thou art ever terrible iu the glory of thy lioline.s.s, thou who hast thy way iu the whirlwind, and around whoso feet arc thick clouds and darkness. And now, more than is thy wont, thou seemest terrible to us in thy forthgoings in judg- ment. "We lift the eye, and behold a throne set in the heavens, and out of it proceed liglitiiings, and thundorings, and voices, and before it the pestilence and burning coals at its feet, and the smile seems gone from thine awful face; and thou seemest wroth with us, and thou art terrible in thine anger. Death, death, has cast its shadow on us; and this tliy glorious Temple, this Ikdnl where the Heavenly ladder lifts, this altar-side where the Shokinah dwells, this bles.sed Father's house, where we have met thy Sabbath smiles,— alas I it is darkened iiow into a house of mourning. AVe are smitten, we are affiict('d,--the spirit wounded, the heart broken. One we loved,— one wo lionored,— one, it may be* too dear to our afiec-tion.^, oac wc parted with iu ivud hvm, — DR. ELISnA KENT KANE. 339 has con.o again to our sanctunry, the enclosed, tl.o heart pulseless • and wc s and b, thine holy altar stricken, terrified, in V^M presence of God and death. ' "' We think of theo, and arc afraid. thou Ahnighty! Thy ways a fear „1. We arc on the water, and the night is dl/and th'o p b k ..s ten.po.st-tu>sed, and even the forn. of the Redeen.er. walkin^'tho blIows,seen.s phantom-like and dreadful, as it were a Spirit and wo s an haek fearful and trembling fr.n thine awful path, t Lu'g d I chase ,ng; and yet, into thy presence, our God, we come for mfort.ng. Am.d all thy stern and terrible n.anifestJtions, wHn w pe.t, ence and he burning coals at thy feet, thou art still our Fatl our heaveni, Father,-Fathor pitiful of thy children,-tre b ui ei -d not brealung it, the smoking flax not quenching it 'Z -d" ^ a :: ::; t ; ' ''''''"'-'' '-'''-''-' -^ ^^-^ ^« - '-- f: can t ,„t t d.c away, no storm thou canst not still, no Marah in the wilderness thou canst not n.ake sweet as the living water Wo luue nowhere else to go. The world cannot con.fort us. The glory of man seen.s a fading flower, and the voices of earth seem mou.,f, „ , , ,,,,,„^^ ^,,^^ ^^,^^^,^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ con,fort; an w^ on e thee .„ trustful love and faith. We come to sit at thy feJt look up .nto thy face, to cast ourselves, stricken and sorr.wfu' i to % gentle anns lather, our Father, look upon us n.ereifully. Th u nowest where the thorn pierces. Oh, lift the load fron. the wound d bcart; uh, bind up tenderly the wounded spirit t ou Fternal One, gently, tende.l,, i.vingly. Speak the word winch man cannot utter,--the words of eternal life. Tell us of the hough tins dear eye .s shrouded, this dear heart cold in death, ye he k. loved sp.nt hat n.ade the e^e to sparkle and the heart to b und hv s st.II, ,n.sj;n! Thanks, thanks, for the hopes so glorious, so « 1 of eternal hfo, that cluster around this shrouded'dust.-hoprjh" ou be oved one .s even now n.nre than conqueror through that Iledeemer who dcd for h.m. Oh, give fuller power to our faith. Father, heavenly FaJjer, utter with thy gWious voice thine own gloriou; oracles Speak to us of the resurrection and the life. Tell us of the gates of pearl, and the trees of life in the n.idst of the carder -• oP the paim» and white robes, and songs of victory; o." the thrones of power, 1 5N- 370 OBSEQUIES OF and the diadems of splend, - : of the places prepared in the house of many mansions ; '' and the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Father, our heavenly Father, we are listening for thy hlessed voice. Oh, speak to us ! Speak to us gently, joyfully, till faith grows strong in our stricken spirits; so that, time seeming the vapor and eternity the reality, we may look not down upon this sleeping dust, saying farewell, but rather upward to the risen spirit in the firmament, saying, A.11 hail, redeemed one. Oh, comfort us, thou heavenly Com- forter, thou merciful Savior, in whom " whosoever liveth and believeth shall never die." Thou Lamb of God, who takcst away the sins of the world, fill our stricken hearts with thine own glorious grace, so that we may go forth as Mary, to find the grave of our beloved lustrous with the vision of angel, and write over it no sadder words than these : — " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord !" whilst our song of triumphant faith, begun here in tears, shall go on in eternity : — " Unto Ilim who loved us, and washed us in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father," be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen. The same divine also read the selection — " I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord," &c. The hymn " Hark to the Solemn Bell" was then sung by the choir. it oi, Q 2! REV. CHARLES W. SHIELDS, Paxtor o/tJie Church, then (delivered the folhicing Funeral Discourse, It is a noble instinct which prompts us to honor the dead. Humanity joins with religion in suppressing all earthly distinctions and passions at the mouth of the tomb. The mansion may be envied, the hovel may be scorned ; but the grave is alike revered, whether it be adorned with sculptured marble or decked with a simple flower. It would seem that in the mortal remains of a fellow-creature we respect a fate that we know must soon bo our own, and, conscious of the worth of a soul, would do homage even to the ruined temple in which it was enshrined. But when the object of such feelings concentrates in himself the best traits of our nature, and has been conducted by Providence to an DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 371 eminence from which he illustrates them in the view of multitudes, the ordinary cold respect warms to admiration and melts into love We behold the image of our common humanity reflected and mao-nified in hmi as a cherished ideal. Death, which makes sacred every thin., it ouches, throws a mild halo around his memory, and we hasten to bHu. to h,s grave-all that we now have to givc-the poor tribute of oZ praises and tears. We are assembled, my friends, to perform such comely thouo-h .ad duties ,n honor of a man who, within the short lifetime of thirty-five years, under the combined impulses of humanity and science, has traversed nearly the whole of the planet in its most inaccessible pllces : has gathered here and there a laurel from every walk of physical research in which he strayed; has gone into the thick of perilous adventure abstracting ai the spiritof philosophy, yet seeing and loving in the spirij of poesy; has returned to invest the very story of his escape with the charn.s ot literature and art; and, dying at length in the morning of his fame is now amented, with nungled affection and pride, by his country and the world. "^ Death discloses the human estimate of character. That mournful pageant which for days past has been wending its way hither, acros< the solemn main, a ong our mighty rivers, through cities clad in habiliments of gnef, with the learned, the noble, and the good minglin. in its train IS but the honest tribute of hearts that could have no' motives bui respect and love. To us belongs the sad privilege of at length elosin. be national obsequies in his native city and at the grave of his kindred' iMtt.ngly we have suffered his honored remains to repose a few pensive hours at the shrine where patriotism gathers its fairest menmries and choicest honors. Now, at last, we bear th.m-tbankful to the Provi- dence by winch they have been preserved from mishap and peril-to the sacred altar at which he was reared. I do not forget, my friends, the severer solemnities of the place and presence. I remind you of their claim. Dow empty the applause of iiiortals as vaunted in the ear of Heaven ! How idle the distinction, among creatures involved in a common insi.n.ificance by death and sin ! A hat a mockery the liimsy shows with which we cover up the realities of judgment and et-M-nity 1 The thought may well temper the pride of our gnef; yet it ncod not stanch its flow. iNo ! I should but feel that the goodness of : ,. God by whose munificent hand his creature wh endowed had been wronged, did we not pause to reflect a while upon hi, virtues and drop some mai.ly and (^hristian f^ars over his early grave 11 m' Iff 372 OBSEQUIES OF Elisha Kent Kane — a name now to be pronounced in the simple dignity of history — was bred in the lap of science and trained in the school of peril, that he might consecrate himself to a philanthropic purpose to which so young he has fallen a martyr. The story of his life is already a fireside tale. Multitudes, in -idmiring fancy, have retraced his footprints. Now, that that brief career is closed in death, we recur to it with a mournful fondness, from the daring exploits which formed tbe pastime of his youth, to the graver tapks to '^hich he brought his developed manhood. Though born to ease and elegance, when but a young student, used to academic tastes and honors, we see him breaking away from the refinements of life into the rough paths of privation and danger. Through distant and varied regions we follow him in his, pursuit of scientific discovery and adventure. On the borders of China — within the unexplored depths of the crater of Luzon —in India and Ceylon— in the islands of the Pacific— by the sources of the Nile — amid th„ frowning sphinxes of Egypt and the classic ruins of Greece— along the fevered coast of Africa — on the embattled plains of Mexico — we behold him everywhere blending the enthusiasm of the scholar with the daring of the soldier and the research of the man of science. Yet these were but the preparatory trials through which Providence was leading him to an object worthy his matured powers and noblest aims. Suddenly he becomes a centre of universal interest. With the prayers and hopes of his country following after him, he disappears from the abodes of men, on a pilgrimage of patience and love, into the icy solitudes of the North. Within the shadow of two sunless winters his fate is wrapt from our view. At length, like one come back from another world, he returns to thrill us with the marvels of his escape, and transport us, by his graphic pen, into scenes we scarcely realize as belonging to the earth we inhabit. All classes are penetrated and touched by the story so simply, so modestly, so eloquently told. The nation takes him to its heart with patriotic pride. In hopeful fancy, a still brighter career is pictured before him, — when, alas ! the vision, while yet it dazzles, dissolves in tears. Wo awake to the sense of a loss which no cottemporary, at his age, could occasion. Of that loss let us not here attempt too studious an estimate. Thei^e sad solemnities may simply point us to the more moral qualities and actions in view of which every bereavement most deeply afibcts us. As a votary of science, he will indeed receive fitting tributes. There will not be wanting ihoso who shall do justice to that ardent thirst fur DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE. 373 truth which in him amounted to one of the controlling passions, to that intellect so severe in induction yet sagacious in conjecture, and to those contributions, so various and valuable, to the existing stock of human knowledge. But his memory will not be cherished alone in philosophic minds. Ilis is not a name to be honored only within the privileged circles of the learned. There is for him another laurel, greener even than thaf hich Science wreaths for her most gifted sons. He IS endeared to the popular heart as its chosen ideal of the finest sentiment that adorns our earthly nature. Philanthropy, considered as among things which are lovely and of good report, is the flower of human virtue. Of all the passions that have their root in the soil of this present life there is none which, when elevated into a conscious duty, is so disinterested and pure. In the domestic affections there is something of meve blind instinct; iu friendship there is the limit of congeniality; in patriotism there are the restrictions of local attachment and national antipathy; but in that love of race which seeks its object in man as man, of whatever kindred, creed, or clime, earthly morality appears divested of the last dross of selfishness, and challenges our highest admiration and praise. Providence, who governs the world by ideas, selects the fit occasions and men for their illustration. In an age when philanthropic senti- ments, through the extension of Christianity and civilization, are on the increase, a fit occasion for their display is offered in the peril of a bold explorer, for whose rescue a cry of anguished affection rings in the ears of the nations ; and the man found adequate to that occasion is he whose death we mourn. K there was every thing congruous in the scene of the achievement,— laid, as it was, in those distant regions where the lines of geography converge beyond all the local distinctions that divide and separate man irom his fellow, and among rigors of cold and darkness, and disease and famine, that would task to their utmost the powers of human endurance —not less suited was the actor who was to enter upon that scene and eniich the world with such a lesson of heroic beneficence. Himself of a country estranged from that of the imperilled explorers, the simple act of assuming the task of their rescue was a beautiful tribute to the sentiment of national amity ; while, as his warrant for undertaking it, he seemed lacking in no single qualification. To a scientific education and che experience of a cosmopolite he joined an assemblage of moral qualities so rich in their separate excellence, and so rare in their combi- 1 nation, that it is diffieuk to circct tl leir analysis. 374 OBSEQUIES OF at 2 CC ui X K o; 25 ■f ' ^Kl^ HW'^" ^■1. Conspicuous among them was that elementary virtue in every philan- thropic mission, — an exalted yet minute benevolence. It was the crown- ing charm of his character, and a controlling motive in his perilous enter- prise. Other promptings indeed there were, neither suppressed, nor in themselves to be depreciated. That passion for adventure, that love of science, that generous ambition, which stimulated his youthful exploits, appear now under the check and guidance of a still nobler impulse. It is his sympathy with the lost and suffering, and the duteous conviction that it may lie in his power to liberate them from their icy dungeon, which thrill his heart and nerve him to his hardy task. In his avowed aim, the interests of geography were to be subordinate to the claims of humanity. And neither the entreaties of affection, nor the imperilling of a fame which to a less modest spirit would have seemed too precious to hazard, could swerve him from the generous purpose. And yet this was not a benevolence which could exhaust itself in any mere dazzling, visionary project. It was as practical as it was compre- hensive. It could descend to all the minutiae of personal kindness and gracefully disguise itself even in the most menial offices. When defeated in its great object, and forced to resign the proud hope of a philanthro- pist, it turns to lavish itself on his suffering comrades, whom he leads almost to forget the commander in the friend. With unselfish assiduity and cheerful patience, he devotes himself as a nurse and counsellor to relieve their wants and buoy them up under the most appalling misfor- tunes, and, in those still darker seasons when the expedition is threatened with disorganization, conquers them not less by kindness than by address. Docs a party withdraw from him under opposite counsels? they are assured, in the event of their return, of "a brother's welcome." Are tidings brought him that a portion of the little band are forced to halt, he knows not where, in the snowy desert ? he is off through the midniglit cold for their rescue, and finds his reward in the touching assurance, " They knew that he would come." In sickness he tends them like a brother, and at death drops a tear of manly sensibility on their graves. Even the wretched savages, who might be supposed to have forfeited the claim, share in his kindly attentions ; and it is with something of genuine human feeling that he parts from them at last, as ''children of the same Creator." In a cause of humanity like that which he had espoused, we feel that something more was needed than the diffuse and aimless philanthropy which is loud in panegyric upon human nature, while it disdains the details of practical well-dulug ; and, when iu couuectiou with such high, DR. ELISHA KENT KANE. 375 benevolent purpose we find a native goodness of heart disclosing such constant self-sacrifice, we are at no loss to recognise his vocation." Then, as the fitting support of this noble quality, there was also the stauncher, but not less requisite virtue, of an indomitable energy. It was the iron column around whuse capital that delicate lily-work was woven. His was not a benevolence which must waste itself in mere sentiment, for want of a power of endurance adequate to support it through hardship and peril. In that slight physical frame, suogestive only of refined culture and intellectual grace, there dwelt a sturdy force of will which no combination of material terrors seemed to appall, and, by a sort of magnetic impulse, subjected all inferior spirits to its control. It was the calm power of reason and duty asserting their superiority over mere brute courage, and compelling the instinctive homage of Herculean strength and prowess. "With what firm yet conscientious resolve does he quell the rising symp. toms of rebellion which threaten to add the horrors of mutiny To those of famine and disease ! And, all through that stern battle with Nature in her most savage haunts, how he ever seems to turn his mild front toward her frowning face, if in piteous appealing, yet not less in fixed resignation ! We instinctively exult in every triumph of mind over wiattcr, in every fresh aggression of art upon nature, and cannot but feel, even while touched by their sufi'crings, a generous pride in those who enlarge our ideas of human endurance and strengthen our faith in moral as distinguished from material power. But when such intrepidity and fortitude are dis- played in the pursuit of lofty, unselfish aims, it is as if we saw the olden romance of chivalry returning, in a practical age, to enlist the hardiest virtues in the service of the gentlest and purest charities. The heart must applaud in the midst of its pity, and smiles an approval even through its tears. But if, in the conduct of that heroic enterprise, benevolence appeared supported by energy and patience, so, too, was it equipped with a most marvellous i^nictkal tact. He brought to his task not merely the resources of acquired skill, but a native power of adapting himself to emergencies, and a fertility in devising expedients, which' no occasion ever seemed to baflle. Immured in a dreadful seclusion, where the com- bined terrors of nature forced him into all the closer contact with the passions of man, he not only rose, by his energy, superior to them both, but, by his ready executive talent, converted each to his ministry. Cir- cumstances which would have whelmed ordinary minds in helpless '/Mi '■I'M '11 \l-{ 376 OBSEQUIES OF >- ^ < Urn < ui H Q 2! |j