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IB¥

BIOGRAPHY

ELISHA KENT KANE.

WILLIAM ELDER.

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

(9
V)

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

The
h
I
C

Sei

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

It
tj

i
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i

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

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

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.

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

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—

4
<

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.

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

II'
i

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-*

U
i

<
2

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

... 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,

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.

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-

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.

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.

III'
<

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.

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-

11'
<

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.

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-

14'

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.

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."

i
X

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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

POLAR PRACTICE.

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. ■

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.

"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.

X
i

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.

V)
02

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.

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.

lid
\id

a
3

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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

3
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I-
5

FAC-SIMILES of COLO MCDAH,

Vrftfnlfd tn Dr. Kane hy the Kni/ul Gtmiiruphiail Snciely, and by llw. liriluth Gm'trnmfnt

mi
tu

sel
thi
hi]

lie
mi
en
sti
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he
we
pre
nai
we
wh
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we
the

for

DANGEROUS ILLNESS.

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.

ft
4

a
r

5
3

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.

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

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.

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-

%•

K
Q

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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.

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

14'
<

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.

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

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.

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 !

X.
K

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.

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

<
2

Q
2

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.

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

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.

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' %B
•J

Lb'
<

i:^

Q
3

ELlSnA KENT KANE.

•1

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.

: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

(!0

U.'
U.'

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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.

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

Ui'
LI'

Q
3

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.

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-

: It*,

U.'

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-

U.'

14'

Z
CC

I,
h

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.

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^
^

X
h

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.

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.—

z
a

■\

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.

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."

I Si

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.

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.

2
H

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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.

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

X
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a
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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.

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.;
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X
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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.

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

<
<

X
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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.

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."

t/1

at
<

Urn
Urn

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.

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

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,

'■X.

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.

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.

uu
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.laaw,

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.

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

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.

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

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ELISHA KENT KANE.

will ride on top of a water-skin, with a retinue of two
dromedaries instead of fifty-two

"From this moment (the professor's return from the
Blue Nile) he rested, or rather labored, at Thebes : the
great temple of Karnak became his lodging-house, and
Joseph's sanctuary his kitchen ; and here, dear father, I,
supping coffee in the temple of Sesostris, would scribble
notes to my Karnak friend on the other side of the river,
or pay running visits to a couple of Germans who
lodged up the hill in an excavated tomb.

" My Thebes life is a very wild one : I am in native
dress, with a beard so long that I have to tack it in.
My lodging is on the hot ground, and I walk on an
average twenty-six miles a day. Cartilaginous pigeons
— delicious young squabs — form the basis of a meal or
series of meals, which, numbering five per diem, com-
mence at four A.M. and end at nine in the evening,
coflfee being the great diluent, — tea without sugar."

Sitting in the temple of Rameses II., whose reign
Lepsius puts in the fourteenth century before Christ, or
about the time when Jael the wife of Heber drove a
nail into the temple of Sisera, and nearly two centuries
before Samson pulled down the temple of Dagon upon the
aristocracy of the Philistines, it was but natural for him
to give himself up for a while to the wonderment of that
eternity past which bewilders the Egyptian traveller;
but the brain that would not freeze at the North Pole
did not melt at Thebes, and he came away as little
intoxicated by the thirty-six thousand five hundred and

EGYPTOLOGY.

twenty-five years of the E^^^ay.^,,,^ ,hich ended

era began, a« tf he intended to wait till Lepsius and
WJk,nson a„d Gliddon should a,ree with tCeLe
and each other, within a few hundi^ds of years aTlen T
about the date of the fourth dynasty ' '"''

Bas deference for the authorities seems to have secuz^d
h.s assent to the date 23C0 b.o. for Menes the firstpZ!

raoh. but he turns from the chaos of chrondjlnd
osmogony with instinctive avidity to the terra^'firt
fa^ s of t,mes changes which lay befo. him and pr^"
cally concerned his specialty of study and enterpr^""
One of the most remarkable discoveries is as to th„
Phys.cal conformation of the old mother-riverWpl.
offsprmg, the Valley of the Nile. Mention this tTMr
Rogers unless his correspondence may have prelded
you. Lepsius paid particular attention to some hit

Semna, for, m a country as old as this, antiquity is
engraved upon antiquity, and the scribblin. insciL
of traveUers often give information of the highe t ydue
He saw here the highest rise of the Nile, at th! ^l'
dunng cghteen diffcnt years under the government of
Menes and his successors, from which we eTn thai
nearly two ,housand two hundred yea. I^ Chn^

evel the Nde at that place was twenty-two feet high r
ban at present; while Wow the first cataract at SiMs
" »PP- fro- the grottoes in the rocks, the level f ^

'4
iJ«:

ir^PHQ

•1l

ELISHA KENT KANE.

river was at least three feet, and probably more, below
its present condition.

" This struck me as especially curious, for my own
observations at Manfalout, (27° north latitude,) and the
excellent conclusions drawn from the great Colossi of
Thebes, prove with almost absolute certainty that the
Valley of the Nile at Luxor is nearly seven feet higher
than at the date of their construction. . . .

" The changes which have occurred in this belt are of
the highest interest; for, after all, whether it be the
coast-line of the Delta, or the beautiful Fayoum, or the
narrow strip which leaves by-gone cities crumbling in
the encroaching sands, the source is the same : the
great mother scatters her blessings and her curses at
each inundation, and a fixed rate of increase or decrease
would be of practical importance almost beyond calcu-
lation.

" Your society will be the gainer if I succeed in
passing my collection at Alexandria. I have two royal
ovals in colors as fresh as my Chinese miniatures; and
yet their groundwork is the limestone wall of an
excavated sepulchre, and the artist some Pharaonic
worthy of three thousand years' antiquity. The statue
trunk, coming, as it does, from Tel-el-Amaina, will be of
great interest."

The accident by which his journals and baggage were
lost is thus related : —

" I wrote from Gizneii by special messenger, informing
you of tlie melancholy loss of my baggage. Sympathize

BOAT-WRECK.

Jith this poor, very poor, devil, who, alone in a sandy
deserl, rejo.ce. ,n three shirts, a pair of sUppers, and a
boat-cloak. I rehearse in duplicate its details

" Dendera is but six miles from the ancient Tentyrus
a pleasant walk, which intending to enjoy before the
sun heated the sands, induced me to bivouack on aslope
of the nver-bank in order to start in the smaU hours
of the morning. Preparatory to a house^leaning during
my absence, I drew the boat upon the land-slope, and
then, ^ wa. my custom, placed my baggage on a plat-
form of boards,-one end of which rested on the shore,
tto other, dry and comfortable, on the gunwale of the

"My pilot laid his :,.ge carcass over this Kttle
isthmus of household goods; and your son, cloaked and
carpeted, went to sleep upon the sands. In the mom-
ing-Lord help me.-.I was the first to rise; but boat,
platform, baggage, all was gone. Nothing met my eyes

desolatT' ""'*""' ""''' ''"*''"'''' """ ^"P'^'^
"I cannot fill up an old woman's letter, of the how
and the why and the when,_how I felt and what I
did. AH that I can say is that my boat was recovei^d
two miles down the stream, and that, as far as my mys-
tified senses can account for the affair, the rapid current

Sd t? '/"'"', '*"*""'' ""'^''™'"«'^ -3' boat,'
.1 d the side weighed down by my trunks, noiselessi;

canted them mte the stream, and then, relieved of the
"•eight, floated silently away.

I
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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

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-

STATUE or MEKNOir.

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

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.

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^

-^
^

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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.

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;

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.

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

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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 ^

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.

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

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

<15

■4.

.;: I'i! I!
t 111

liiiijji.

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

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

110

ELISHA KENT KANE.

passed the evening as if its enjoyments sufficed him.
The company congratulated him npon the prospect of
a speedy and complete recovery from his long illness:
many good \rishes and much good advice were bestowed
upon the valetudinary, and the festivities went on as if
his prudence could be relied upon and all solicitude
might now be discarded, for he looked just as if he were
clearly pledged to a conformable behavior. But he was
missed at the close of the entertainment, which was
readily accounted for by the supposition that he had
crossed the street to escape the fatigue of late hours, and
would spend the night in the quiet whioh he needed.

He did not return till the middle of the week. He
had taken the night train for Washington City, effected
his object there, and announced to his friends that he
was under orders for the seat of war.

He had pressed his application for worthier service
upon the President, and enforced it by the complaint
which he had to make of his African appointment.
Mr. Polk afterward said that he had this in his mind
xvhen he gave him the opportunity of seeing service in
Mexico.

The city of Mexico had surrendered a month before
to General Scott; but Colonel Childs was at the time
besieged in Puebla, and the communication of the com-
mander-in-chief with the Gulf coast was otherwise inur-
rupted by the presence and hostilities of the enemy.

An important despatch which had been forwarded in
triplicate by the Secretary of War had each time failed,

DESPATCHED TO MEXICO.

Ill

* These orders ran thus :—

«StE-_T(„l, .1 N«vomber 5, 1847. 7

»t«toios, a, may co»e under ,„„ T' 7' "* '"'«'""' "«« ""I

.0" -^0 a f„„ and ^...r^^^^Z^:^ "-,." '' "^ «■»'' '^a.

"Rospectfnilv, °'''"™^-"f»"-"»'o.hi»B„«„.

^ •" -I- Harris^

"Assistnnf 9„ ' JY ""^ ^'"'''"' "-^ ^^^^''^^'^^ ««^ ^«r7er,. "
Assistant Surgeon E. K. Kane, U.S.N." '^"'^ery.

" To the Officer, of Z\77Tr"'' ^""^' ^°^^™''- «' 1847.

b. a laudable .eal for professional i.pro;e.t":! /"^"-'"P^"^^
pate in active field-service has ohf„; ^ ' ' '^'''''^ *« P"^*^"^-

^^« N-, to proceed to tl,: ^:^Zrt "'"' ''' ''-''-^ '^
to the connnanding general for duty """ ""^ ^"'^ ^^^^^

" i^'- ^""'^ '-^ ^^''t'-ucted to visit the general and fl n . •
-^ bus route; and I feel assured that thf '^P'^''^' *°-

- the „r.y will afford hi. 1 h^ iv" ' ^^ '" "'^''^"' «^"^
objects he n.ay have in vie^ "" '"''^''^'^ '^ P-'-te the

" I beg leave to conunend hiu: to your friendl. • ,

" I bave the honor to ha ^ consideration.

bouoroe,.peetfull,,,our obedient servant,

<U3

112

ELISHA KENT KANE.

With these official and numeroas private letters from
"Washington friends, he set out on the 6th of November
for Mexico. On his way he procured a horse, bred by
Colonel Shirley, of Kentucky, every way worthy of the
adventurous service which lay before him. The doctor
was a brilliant horseman, and no knight-errant could
have been better matched with a charger. He bore his
master bravely through a hotly-contested fight; and in a
very curious way, by a posthumous service, he has been
as serviceable to that master's biographer in a field as
stoutly debated. If the reader knew exactly how we
have been beleaguered, he would see clearly how the
"gallant gray" bears his friends through a guerilla
skirmish.

The horse and his rider reached New Orleans on
the 22d, and sailed for Vera Cruz, in the United
States steamer Fashion, on the 23d. Their companions
were a mixed multitude, — ladies, officers, gentlemen,
volunteer soldiers, followers of the camp, horses, and all
the lumber of military equipage. Colonel Seymour, of
the Georgia regiment, and Major Roth, of the volunteers,
then holding a subordinate rank, were among the pas-
sengers.

They had a rough time of it in the Gulf, — encountered
one of its severest northers, and were for some days in
imminent peril. Their bulwarks were stove, the hull
strained badly, and the pumps all broken or choked.
The doctor took a very active part in backing the deck-
load of dragoon-horses overboard, and was in the act of

ARRIVAL IN MEXICO. jjg

the submermon, and had his name chan..d ,' ^
r^m, on the spot, from Tom to Mc ' ' ""*
The gale continued: the .teamer was sinkin.- scuttle
holes were out in her deck and ,11 I, ,
under Dr. Kane'. supe.ltion 1 ' ^ 7" ""''"''''''
camp-kettles. The to" 2 7 '''""■'^'^'^^ "'"^

when, driving before t t vT' '™" '"'"^"'"^''
two sots of reefstd T, "™ '"'"^^ ''^'-«"

San Juan It ' "'''^ "''"^ *'- C-"« of

J"an. It was a miraculous escane- fnr .i i. ,

no other access to nn.t , , ^ ' ^'^"^ '""^

outside. ' ' ""' •^'" ~"'^ ""' have survived

LandiiiG: at Vom Pru-, n rr

o^<.-r;,,„r;:;cr,tm^Jrr^;'--°'-

W .oved to the interior a few CbXe^r^^-'

;jS.enight,„rpartofthe„igL,ar^^^^^^^^

tlien, with a party of officers who hnrl l.„

from accompanvino. fUn' ■ ^" prevented

The rest of this storv is «5n fnll c .1

to require ^ .1 , T ""^ *'^^ ^^"^'^"^io as

^«-tjuire a close slielter fm- ifc c ^

authentic data i„ our po li!: W ^ ""'" '"
''■''' we ma, get safel/thri:;;;, """''" ""^'•'•■^■'

Dr. Gofirtrn T^"* n

assistant surgeon

States

arniv writ

"^S at Philadelphia, Decenih

Suited
«'>"1,1SJ8.

114

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

i 1

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.^ , ^<tona, with two

iu nurtj-eight rank and fAe of fhp M. •
party, were taken prisoners. '*^'''""

In the first notice of tlii« nW i • ,

"elphia, published n.Tetr'-""'^' ^""'^
February, 1848 it wn V! f ""'>''^»'''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'';;."->'-^-»<Hhe,did

of the advance n ei ' it': T'' "' "'''' ^""^
"r(ournr-^T 1 '^^■^'"P'^^y' ''••'Ving killed th^-e

'•» th I :t;:i7'"''i '*"^' ^---'^ '^'"' » --

..cceededCr -"'•■■"'"' " '"" "'^««^"' ">e ...i.hs.
" "■^'^"•SPn-ners General Torrojon, General

116

ELISIIA KliNT KANE.

mil
111

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

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

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."

*■

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.

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

*-:

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

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<?s, a

"'3 own !'::",;: t "■"' '"^^ ''™ --"^ ^^-'^'^

At Pu. 1,,,, 1 ! f'""*'' '" ^•''•-'-S '"-
kn

upon the spot „,,ere u.^ f„e,, „,„„ ^

own, and seven weoks after th

occurrence, wlion the

Mi*

127

128

ELISIIA KEIS'T KANE.

incidents had full time to settle into certainty, the best
authorities add their testimony to the facts of this story
and record their understanding of them.

Colonel Chillis, American Commandant at Puehla, to

General Gaona.

"Office of the Civil and Military Governor,
TuERLA, February 9, 18-18.

}

" General : — For more than thirty days I have been an
eye-witness to the kind and affectionate treatment of your-
self and amiable family to Surgeon Kane, of the United
States navy, bearer of despatches to the general-in-chief.

" In the name of the general-in-chief of the American
army, and especially in the name of the Secretary of
the Navy of the United States of America, to whose
arm of the service this officer more particularly belongs,
I give you my most sincere thanks.

"It appears that Dr. Kane, of the United States
navy, was marching under an escort of a native spy-
company, when a detach tnent of Mexicans who were
escorting you fell in with said company; that a fight
immediately ensued, resulting in the capture of several
Mexican officers; yourself and your son, Major Gaona,
were of the number of the captives, the latter severely,
and for a time considered mortally, wounded, — possibly
by the hands of the officer to whom you extended sucli
noble hospitality. It further appears that this officer,
after the excitement of the battle was over, and yon
and }our comrades were prisoners of war, interposed

COLONEI^HILDS' LETTER. ■ ]29

his person to save the ll^^T^ t,,, eaptured officer^-
that .n dcng so he received fro. one of the spy- on!

and that the blow, too-ethpr xKriih +i .

' lUfeetner with the excessive fafiVnA

Foduced the sickness that can.e so near tornriraM:
earthly career; that ,vhile smarting under the circum
stances wh.ch occasioned your capture, as was feL ,'
mortal wound to your son, and you at the san.e Ze a
lose pnsoner, insisted on Dr. Kane being taken to v ur
house, where he was attended by your ami!,
aecomplishedwife and daughters Jitflu h 'attl
fta« kindness and sisterly love could diet!:

L t tt? '""^"^'°^«' '" *•- -"'ice of his country
and to the arms "• an affectionate family ^

"To th,s noble and magnanimous conduct on your

g neial.m.ch,ef, and the Government of my countrv
-'- I say that yourself and son are released frlyou;

r,:::r'r'^-'-^--'''^-ytorem:irn

«A Tf "'T™^ """ '* "'''^' 1^^ y°" pleasure.
As the commander of the department ofPu.bh I

tenderyoumypersonal thanks, co,.sideration.a„d tern
»nd have the honor to be your most obedient se^vlnt

" Tiio,\tAs Childs,

^0 ijiig. Gen I Antonio Gaona,

Mexican Army, Puebla."'

erf

%/1

-4
X

130

ELISHA KENT KANE.

TRANSLATION OF GENERAL GAONA's ANSWER.

"PuEBLA, February 12, 18-18.

" Colonel : — In due reply to the very courteous and
kind note of your Excellency under date of the 9th mst.,
I am bound to say that. ii. receiving Dr. Kane into our
dwelling and afibrdin^ he aid which the lamentable

state of his health required, I did nothing more than
to comply with the duties of hospitality and gratitude ;
for most assuredly I shall always most gratefully acknow-
ledge the inestimable services rendered by Dr. Kane to
myself and those of my company, in saving our lives
when his escort threatened us with death after taking us
prisoners.

" I offer a thousand thanks to Divine Providence for
saving the life of the much-esteemed Dr. Kane ; for the
opposite result would have been a most deplorable and
fatal blow to myself and my family, who are now
rejoicing in the expectation that ere long, as you say,
he may once more have the gratification of embracing
his excellent ftimily, and being restored to the usefulness
for which his conduct has proved him fit in the service
of his nation, which, it is to be hoped, will continue as
grateful towards Dr. Kane as I shall ever feel to him, as
well as I shall to the general commander-in-chief and
the Government of the United States for the distin-
guished and unparalleled favor with which it has been
pleased to honor me. Tendering at the same time, also,
to your Excellency, with all the warmth of my heart.

"THE FLAG OF FREEDOM." I3J

-bounded thanks for y^i^^, ,^^^^^^^^ .^
matter, pray.ng you to communicate the same to his
txcelleney w.th my sincere gratitude, and a"o to the
^^.ng„,shed officers of your garrison, from ll

We ece,ved so many attentions, and placin. i Hhe
mean , ,„„, ,,^^^.^^^^ ^^ ^^J .J h

'0 -^ " To retr ^'"' '"^ '— ^'-^"-

^""^ J^xcellency assurances of the irrifpfn]
attachment with which I h.vp +1. i. grateful

myself *^' ^^"^' ^« ««bscribe

" Your obedient servant,

''Bonirrcr;:"-^''^^^^'-^^-^'^'
%i:t:,aXtro^rr^^™^^--^«---

they occupied the nhce I « """ '™"'" "''"'^

United StLsinthX«-^f^^^^^

-/'at the instance Of?:::: f:;7 3^

"- note to the editor, says, among other t. b ', ^T
Pc»nally knowing to the facts :hich ied o t
spondencp n^ 1.- • , ^ *"® ^o^^^e-

United 8tat s n? fi '"'^'^^^^"^^ ^^^ -^^eon of the
Officer doelt 3' ^^::tr"^ ! ^- -^ better

not live." "TheFIagofFreedc

fvn editorial note unon the

om" lias also

;23

correspondence, endorsing the

132

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

W:^:

commendation of Dr. Kane's chivalric service to his
Mexican prisoners, and their gratitude to him, and
applauding the handsome acknowledgment by Colonel
Childs.

The Wistar party which he surprised by his desertion
in the midst of their festivities in the autumn of 1847,
when he left them for Washington City and wrenched
from the President the last chance for distinguished
service in the Mexican campaign, had a more pleasing
surprise when they met a year afterwards, reinforced
by the most distinguished citizens of Philadelphia, to
honor the gallant and generous improvement he had made
of the slender opportunity which the appointment had
afforded. More than seventy gentlemen of the city, the
popularly-accredited representatives and exponents of
its spirit and feelings, signalized their ajDpreciation of
their young townsman's achievement in the manner
which the following correspondence displays :—

" Philadelphia, February 8, 1849.

"To Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, United States Navy:

" Dear Sir : — We are honored in being permitted by
your friends and fellow-citizens of Philadelphia to offer
in their name, for your acceptance, the accompanying
sword.

" This modest testimonial is tendered as a record of
their high appreciation of your conduct in the service
of our country, whose proud boast is that their sons, in
every grade, have proved themselves gloriously prompt

COMPLIMENTARY SWORD. 133

-ITIrE "^"^^^^ ~» .ua the

'o the vanquished. ^ ^ ^' ""^^"'^ ''"'"•^""^

the archives of vol ' T "''""'■' "'" '^'' *'""'! '«

.our own hoi i ^ rr^-^ K ^^ ^"^^ —'
sense of your co„r. T ^ """ *" '''"^'"■'l "'"if

n-e^orialCorr ""'"'"'"' ""-"""^ " ^'^

y^^:^ '°' '"- '^^^--^ - -i^e and
honor to be """^ ^"" '"'''™' - ''ave the

"Your fellow-citizens,

"T. DuN^LAP,

"JoiwM. Read,
..^ . "N. Chapman.,

a>..-«.. 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

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.''

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.

-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'

•*^i

dehghted to le

ain trom

138

ELISIIA KENT KANE,

fe-
r-

tile head of the bureau that the clever thing could be
doiiCj and without the least delay he did appoint —
another man to the post!

Dr. Kane never fattened on favoritism. With the grand
exception of the Honorable John V. Kennedy, Secretary
of the Navy, when he was preparing for his second
Arctic Expedition, he was left at perfect moral liberty
to be as ungrateful for nothing to the functionaries of the
Government as he might i)lease to feel.

Dr. Kane was not a West-Pointer: he was only an
assistant navy surgeon; and it was not regular nor
orderly for him to be always dislocating the honors of
the service by illustrating it above his degree.

In Jaiuuiry, 18-11), we find him at Norfolk, Virginia,
attached to the store-ship Supply, Commander Arthur
Sinclair, — destination Lisbon, the Mediterranean, and
Kio Janeiro. The ship sailed in February.

At sea, "beating tediously between Spezzia and Gib-
raltar," on the IGtli of May, he wrote to one of his
friends. The letter has matter in it of nuich value in
making up a medical judgment upon the disease Avhich,
never wholly leaving him, was at lust fatal : —

'•I have been sick, and, indeed, am not yet well. . . .
The good people at home — God bless them! — cannot
realiy-e, perhaps, that a man riding wild horses and pre-
paring for medical examinations may yet need every
hygienic influence to keep him from malignant disease.
Yet BO it is; and 1 only blame myself for not actiug up
to my own convictions. The fact is that I did wrong in

LOCKED-JATv.

139

gcng to sea. Tho exposure and wear and tear have
proved too ™uch for a eonstitution already enfeebled bv
Afnea and Mexico, and no. the same Lra^eon-
t oil ng tj,rant which has kept you so long a .lave i,

onto tend hi. eW. over „e. The ^enti.e. t
bu k . fast laps,„s into a conn„nod valetudinarian >
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

140

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

the

.'li

1)1

less dc

This feel

ing was

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^

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!^

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."

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

14-

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

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-

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

Its

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

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

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

■!■' 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"°"'^ "'' <l'«™™ry

can ot L ,1 " '"^' "' '^^"'"="'°» «<"-->

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

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

■%.

*w.

(/> lill

r
J ■<

X.'

4> ■<■■•,

<!'

AHR01VS.VIT.^^ANDJ^E ADM.BALly. 161

Of De Haven's di^ov^^i^;;;^,^, reached England
"t b, the fact, open on the face of the doc„„.ent that
Mr. Arrows»ith, sitting in his office at No. 10 Soho
Square London, did, Iun.se,f, then and there, discover
Albert Land, nunc pro tunc, on the 26th of August 1850
.honor of Wnee Albert's birthday, and in" di 2
d.cred.t of De Haven's discover,, „.ade, in latitude

No 10 S r' '""^""'^^ ''^-' 93*° ^^- of the position of
No. 10 Soho Square, twenty-seven days true time after the
computed fame of Mr. Arrowsmith's map

But, If both these unwarranted claims are to be over-
looked in the complaint which we make, the Hydrl

Apnl, 1852, stands f„lly exposed to the charge of insist-
">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

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

■ ■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

168

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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

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 ;!

^.o*^*

172

ELISIIA KEXT KANE.

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.

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!

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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;

:3C

■ s

\ t-

176

ELISHA KENT KANE.

No humaii quantity of omniscience and providence
would have been a full match for the duties with which
this one man was burdened, and no other man would
have performed them half so well. It was a "perfectly
thought-out organization" and a wonderfully endeavored
preparation. Moreover, it must be recollected that he
was well warranted in relying upon Mr. Grinnell's ability,
generosity, and responsibility for all those arrangements
of the vessel and outfit which did not appropriately^ anj
especially devolve upon himself.

In a note to the first page of this chapter, the doctor's
English sympathies are indicated; his American enthu-
siasm is as well entitled to a presentment : the one sprang
from the generous breadth of his liberality; the other
rooted itself in a patriotism as intense ac^ ever was
covered by the banner of his country.

England had almost monopolized the honors of Arctic
exploration on the American continent. The North-
west Passage was her achievement. Under De Haven,
Dr. Kane had helped to plant the stars and stripes upon
the most northern land then discovered upon the Western
hemisphere; and now he would carry it to the open sea,
if it was in the power of man to accomplish that feat.

He had announced his plan of search for Sir John
Franklin, and his prospect of reaching the open Polar
waters by the route of Smith's Sound, early in the
autumn of the preceding year; but, three months before
he can be ready for the enterprise, he in aroused by the
fear that England may pluck the honor of this acbieve-

THE HONORS IN DANGER.

177

ver was

ment from the American service. Let us see how it
aflfected him.

On the 26th of February, 1853, confined to bis room
and too 111 to write, he dictated the following letter to
Mr. Kennedy: —

« My DEAR Sir:-I take the liberty of sending for your
perusal a letter which I have just received from Lady
Franklin, to assure you of the gratitude with which she
re gards your kindness.

"The same mail, to my great mortification, brings me
the news that the British Admiralty have adopted my
scheme of search, and are about to prosecute it with the
aid of steam. Nothing is left me, therefore, but a com-
petition with the odds agairct me; and for this, even, I
must hasten the preparations for my departure. I will
be in Washington, with this object, without the delay of
an hour, and sLall do myself the honor of reporting to
you."

6th of March, he writes to Mr. Grinnell :— " You l- news
that the ^Advance' is in dock came pleasantly in accord-
ance with my wishes. The only means by which we
can compete with the screw-steamer of Inglefield is by
an early presence in Melville Bay, which may, by a for-
tunate season, enable us to enter the North Water with
the whaling-fleet by the June passage. I am very
anxious to reach the Duck Islands by the last of May.

"My own impression as to Smith's Sound is, that it is
seldom open until late in the 8ummer,~say last of August,
-unless the winter be what is termed an open ''one'

178

ELISHA KENT KANE.

Should this latter good fortune be the case this season,
we may, by an early presence, get the start even of a
steamer : but I am discouraged.

"Should the ice, however, be *fast' across the Sound,
and my plan of sledge and boat progress come regularly
into play, I ask no favors : steamer or no steamer, we
shall do well."

17th of May: "Every hour saved is of importance
with regard to Inglefield."

19th, to Mr. Kennedy : "You will be glad to hear that
n> 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.

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

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.

.||if

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

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.

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

^r^-iSi

»-ymm

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^

196

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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

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

•

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

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

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.

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.

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

209

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,

.fjTA.

•"■Mb,

rsss^

214

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

" There, now ! we have had all our hard work for nothmg."
"What!" said Dr. Kane, turning sharply on him; "are
you sorry that we owe our deliverance to our own exer-
tions?"

It was the knight and the squire, the seer and his ser-
vant, over again, — the joint adventure, the equal peril, the
fellowship of daring, doing, and enduring, with all the
difference between the spiritual and natural in the re-
spective characters of the inspiration and impulse.

The parties to this brief dialogue, alas ! knew not then
how much they had yet to pay for the honors which
they had purchased. McGary, who once stood to his
oar for twenty-two unbroken hours, without relaxing his
attention or his efforts, in a frenzied sea, and his com-
mander, who stood at his unresting toil for thirty months,
have both paid with their lives the price of the strength
they borrowed for the demands of that terrible service.

De Haven commanded the first American expedition
to the icy ocean of the North; Dr. Kane, ihe second;
Hartstene, the third and last : the navy lost no honor by
either of them.

When Hartstene was on his way, with all the dangers
of his search immediately before him, he wrote to the
Secretary of the Navy, "To avoid further risk of hu-
man life in a search so extremely hazardous, I would
suggest the impropriety of making any efforts to relieve
us if we should not return."

That will do for the character of the man : a single
incident will serve for u sample of his conduct. Wiicn

AUTHORSHIP AGAIN.

215

his ship was in peril he coniied her for thirty-six hours,
without a moment's rest. His position was at the mast-
head : he had a sprained ankle and a lame arm,— his
only diversion through the long and anxious watch !

Our readers by this time will be thinking that there
are some chances for heroism in the navy without blood-
shed. If they do, they may hurrah, without reserve or
protest, for Hartstene and De Haven, who still adorn the
service.

Dr. Kane announced his safe return to the Hon. John
P. Kennedy by letter written before he landed in New
York, dated "Entering Sandy Hook, Bark Release,
October 11, 1855." He says, "We are back again safe
and sound, after an open-air travel by boats and sledges
of thirteen hundred miles." Soon after this, when he
met his friend he told him, " My health is almost absurd :
I have grown like a walrus."

This stock of unwonted strength was now to be
employed in the composition and illustration of the book
which he entitled "Arctic Explorations: The Second
Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin
1853-54-55." '

The labor upon it was soon commenced and long sus-
tanied. The toils and risks under which its materials
were gained were not greater to him than this task of
artist-authorsliip in which he was now engaged. Nine
hundred pages of book-matter carried through in little
more than six months is, in his own language, " no fun ;"
but add to this three hundred engravings made from his

'*ii»<hI

&.JU.'

ciii]

216

ELISHA KENT KANE.

own sketches, whose execution, from the moment they
went into the hands of the designer till the last proof-
impression came from the printer, required his own
upervision, and complicate all this with the thousand
demands made upon his time and toil by the celebrity-
tax levied upon him at this time, and an Arctic voyage
will appear almost as nothing to the travail of his last
cruise in the troubled waters of " authordom."

The narrative was finished some time in June ; but
the Appendix was a worry till September, when the book
was issued.

The j)ains and penalties arc graphically rendered in
his letters to Mr. Childs, of the publishing firm of Childs
& Peterson. Brief extracts, grouped in the order of
their dates, are expressive enough, and sufficiently
explain themselves : —

" The Avretched book ! there is no reason that the whole
incuhus should not be off" our hands this week. — 3i A.M."

"The rest of your requests shall be complied with.
At present the letters are dancing up and down, and
think that bed is the best place for me. — 3 a.m."

" My wish is to make a centre-table book, fit as well
for the eyes of children as of refined women."

"Now that the 'exploration' is over, I attempt to be
more popular and gaseous : this latter inflated quality in
excess. Most certainly my eflfort to make this book
readable will destroy its permanency and injure me. It
is a sacrifice. — May 25."

" Very glad the poor book meets your views. Author

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHERS.

217

dom has again overdone me. I will have to take a spell
soon. — June 7."

"My health is nothing extraordinary under this
extreme heat; but T think that I have accumulated
enough of nerve-force to carry me through to that omi-
nously pleasant word, * Finis.' — June 14."

"With little spirit of congratulation, and much weari-
ness, I send you the prefare, which completes my text.
I am not the first who has manufactured an antecedent
ex ijost facto; and there is a sort of moral conveyed by
this ending of my labors. Now that the holy day is at
hand, I am ungrateful enough to complain that it finds
me without the capacity to enjoy it. — July 4."

" Do send in rapidly the proofs of the Appendix, and
thus shorten my slavery. — July 23."

"My health goes on as usual. Something is the
matter, for I get weaker every day. I tried Long Island
bathing, but I could not stand it.— July 30."

" I am now convinced that my enemy is a combina-
tion of rheumatism and the Arctic scourge of scurvy.—
August 9."

" My motion being impeded by my maladies, I would
regard it as a favor if you could come to me for a few
minutes. — August 21."

" I am unable to announce any improvement in my
health.— September 18."

" At present I see no possible chance of being able to
work in any way ; and the unanswered letters which
crowd nrorrnd me might well appall an abler man. I

218

ELISHA KENT KANE.

leave in a fortnight, probably for Europe, as a sort of last
resource, to catch my lost blessing. The book, poor as
it is, has been my coffin. — September 23, 1856."

His own unaifected opinion of the book is to be
gathered from what we have quoted, a.. 1 from another
equally private and earnest utterance which the letter-
book of Mr. Childs furnishes. Mr. Childs took the
liberty of striking from the proof-sheet of the preface the
following paragraph, after it had passed through the
author's hands to go into type : — " I might excuse myself
for the thousand imperfections which haste and official
preoccupation — and something, too, of the indisposition
which a weary man may feel to retrace in the closet
what was either exciting or irksome in the field — ^liave
no doubt impressed on my pages. But my apology
would be of little worth ; for I know how imperfect the
book is while I am giving it to the public."

His fight for freedom in the preface, which he inno-
cently supposed to be the author's preserve, — his own
absolute domain, — was a vigorous one; but the auto-
cracy of the press would not allow the modesty of the
author to depreciate the book in the market.

He has his last word with them in another note. He
says: — "After the opus magniun now in your hands, I
hope to publish, f^ither through the Smithsonian or the
Government, a work on Ice, for reputation sake."

This purpose and its motive put its whole meaning
into the first sentence of the published preface : — " This
book is not a record of scientific investigations :" anrl it

DE. Kane's drawings.

219

makes us understand, besides, how much of the best fruits
of his life's studies and achievements were reserved for
a fitting presentment to the world.

Of the engravings of the work. Dr. Kane says, in his
preface, "Although largely, and in some cases exclu-
sively, indebted for their interest to the artistic skill of
Mr. Hamilton, they are, with scarcely an exception,
from sketches made on the spot."

Their excellence has had a large share of the admira-
tion given to the work. Reviewers have turned aside
from the drift of their argument to give them due com-
mendation. Taking one from a hundred criticisms
entitled to high respect, that of Blackwood's Edinburgh
Magazine may stand for the whole of them: — "The
engravings of Dr. Kane's book," says this high authority,
"are eminently happy as the productions of a man who
is a real poet in art, Mr. Hamilton, whose good taste
scatters beautiful vignettes like gems through the two
volumes, and invests the whole work with a halo of
romance mysterious as the effects of light in those
Northern regions, and which could scarcely have been
produced by the power of words or the letter-press."

For more than a month of the time during which the
artist was engaged upon these illustrations, he occupied
the doctor's own rooms, that night and day might be
given to their execution. Such were Mr. Hamilton's
opportunities for forming an opinion of the autlior's
capabilities as a sketcher: his competency is attested by

■:imm»

MfmMmm

^■|,

220

ELISHA KENT KANE.

til

his ,'i.dmitted pre-eminence as a landscape and marine
painter.

He has kindly and cheerrally furnished me with the
following letter: —

"July 1,1857.

" Dear Sir : — Your notr. requesting me to transmit to
you my impressions - : ';ting the late Dr. Kane's
sketches is received.

"Although fully conscious of the very small import-
ance which can attach to any thing I can say in refer-
ence to any matter connected with the illustrious
explorer, it nevertheless affords me great pleasure to
communicate to you my ' opinion' on this subject.

" One of the most prominent features of the doctor's
sketches, and one which I think must strike the most
cursory observer at all conversant with art or nature, is
the air of simple, earnest truthfulness which pervades
them. These qualities, without which the most labored
efforts are comparatively worthless, exist to an extent
which confers importance on the most insignificant of
them, — the great bulk of them being directly from
nature, and embracing scenery and incident not only
from the Arctic regions, but from the four quarters of
the globe, made during his various journeys and explora-
tions.

" In glancing over Dr. Kane's drawings and sketches,
it will be perceived that, whether executed with every
appliance and facility which modern ingenuity can

ARTISTIC SKILL.

221

furnish, or with the half-thawed ink and greasy paper
or pasteboard accidentally picked up among the rubbish
of the ship's store-room, there is distinctly traceable in
all the ever-present influence of one all-absorbing object,
—the faithful record of the most essential features and
qualities of the subject or scene before him.

"Hundreds of illustrative instances might be readily
selected from his well-filled folios and note-books. I will
refer to a few of those which furnished the material for
some of the illustrations of the 'Arctic Explorations.'

"First, we will select that of 'the great green minaret/
Tennyson's Monument. The original sketch is of the
slightest description, and in lead-pencil.

"Now, everyone accustomed to study nature practi-
cally is aware of the extreme difficulty of rendering the
peculiar texture and tone of old, time-worn, wealher-
beaten rock, sandstone, crushed debris, &c. Its success-
ful rendition is one of the most difficult achievements of
landscape art. In the sketch of the subject alluded to,
these qualities (notwithstanding the 'coldness and sick-
ness' suffered at the time of executing it, mentioned by
the lamented navigator in his journal) are secured to an
extent that would be creditable to the most skilful artist:
every fragment is jotted down with a perception and
feeling which seize the pecial character of the minutest
particle defmed, and yet its minutiie in no way conflict-
ing wii^i the grandeur of the subject.
"In the subjects of the Three Brother Turrets, the
1-..., ,..,,^_„_ v,,v.^i^u ••■lUiMUii, viipeuorneiiua lirin-

%^n

222

ELISHA KENT KANE.

i
I

nell, Northumberland Island, Thackeray Headland, The
Cliffs, Glacier Bay, Beechey Island, and in scores of a
similar kind, he has been quite as successful.

"With the exception of the shattered ice-belt and the
piles of frozen rubbish which are incessantly accumulating
on the Arctic shores in the most picturesque combiner
tions, ice and its numberless formations present fewer
difficulties to the draughtsman (owing to its sharply
defined forms and striking contrasts) than any of those
mentioned. Yet in this department we find the doctor
exercising the same observance of local peculiarities as
in others presenting more complicated difficulties.

" Most of his ice-studies are in pen-and-ink outlines,
with a wash of the same material — common writing-ink —
for background. Some of them are extremely good and
imposing in their effects.

"The Icebergs near Kosoak, the Great Glacier of
Humboldt, Weary Men's Rest, are all done in this man-
ner; together with numberless others, such as Ice-foot,
Ice-hills, Ice-rafts, Ice-belts, Ice-plains, &c. &c. Many of
them are far better adapted, pictorially, for engraving
than any in the ' Explorations.' This applies especially
to some of the great glacier-scenery.

" I have no hesitation in saying that, could his sketches
be placed before the public, they would add still further,
if that were possible, to his reputation as an Arctic
explorer.

" From these few straggling and imperfectly expressed

'vu uaxx xxixcx. XXX r -■

FACILITY AND FIDELITY.

223

an amateur artist, which is, as I understand you, the
object of your inquiry."

In a postscript Mr. Hamilton adds:— "Another very
note-worthy feature of the doctor's sketching was the
extreme rapidity with which it was executed. In
illustrating his wishes upon any particular subject, I
have frequently seen him make slight drawings which
required but a very few additional touches to render them
complete."

Mr. Hamilton has given the deserved emphasis to Dr.
Kane's artistic fidelity. His moral veracity was akin to
it, if not its source and spring. There is a wide differ-
ence between them, or there may be; but they were but
one in him : he frequently exacted as many as a dozen
successive drawings of the same subject before he was
satisfied with the accuracy and truth of the representa-
tion. In a note at the end of the first volume he repu-
diates two of the prints for the reason that his sketches
had been modified by the artist.

I need add nothing to Mr. Hamilton's opinion of the
sketches, which number hundreds, running up into the
thousands, except that many of them were made in the
open air, under a killing temperature, by a sick man,
with the broad shoulders of Morton, Stephenson, or
McGary for his easel, and lead-pencils for his imple-
ments.

Have we given an adequate idea of the art'st and
author work that went into the book?

w nen tne pur.lication was so far uuder way as to insure

'•tri

I-

224

ELISHA KENT KANE.

.ii,:a^'„ki>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.

'3»»,

226

ELISIIA CENT KANE.

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.

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\ *

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

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.

242

ELISHA KENT KANE.

I
I

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

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.

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

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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.

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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

250

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

•hi,,

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.

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.

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254

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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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!"

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256

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

I....

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.

258

ELISHA KENT KANE.

ft
I-

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
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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'

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260

ELISIIA KENT KANE.

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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-

262

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,

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264

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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

It*.'

266

ELISIIA KENT _-ANE.

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

i>'.'k am
it

aw**
M

1
i**'j

268

ELISUA KENT KANE.

§0K

«!»<"

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

..-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!

.^3

• •■«£

•INMI-

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

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

.If

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276

ELISHA KENT KANE.

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<iucntly, too,
after a previous long exposure of himself in the ciow's nest. liut
u murkvd ch;,nyc' for the worse took place about this time,— perhaps

litiM

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278

ELISHA KENT KANE.

■ml

owing to the excessive exertion, — and his health seemed very unpromising
for an Arctic winter. In spite of it, he made his fall-journey to investi-
gate the feasibility of sledging over the ice beyond. He returned quite
broken down, but thoroughly persuaded that it was his duty to remain,
notwithstanding the almost impassable character of the ice around us,
and to make an attempt to travel along the somewhat better paths ho
had reconnoitred.

Ail winter, though he never relaxed or intermitted his rigid personal
supervision of the ship's affairs, it was only too evident that he was
Btruggling with disease. As well as I can describe his case, his circu-
lation was deficient : his face and hands would be swollen, — the capil-
lary action being very sluggish. Sometimes he required Mr. Morton'c*
assistance to enable him to rise; but, once on his legs, he would go
about as if he were not seriously ailing, making some facetious romurk
as he stretched out his swollen hands, or glanced in his glass at his fiico.
His only allusions to his ailments were in a tone of pleasantry or gayly-
afieoted complaint.

A slight apparent improvement was visible in his health about the
date of the departure of the first party, soon after the return of the sun
in 1854:. He took daily drives with the dogs, whom he was training;
but his condition was any thing but suitable for the prodigious exertion
of the rescue-party; and the training which he had had, since the light
returned, of perhaps a dozen drives and as many walks^ together with
light daily exercise, — these 'vere altogether but a poor preparative for a
forced march of forty miles over the roughest possible ice at a tempera-
ture of from 40° to 50° below zero.

As is well knowu, in less than three hours after the messengers, breath-
less and almost crazy with cold and fatigue, came to the brig, the
heroic leader started out with a party of eight men, including Ohison,
whose sensoH wore bewildered by having had but an hour or two of rest
from the journey, to enter the trackless frozen sua. J'jvory man on board
accumpaniod him, except the i^urgoon, one in the cabin with a leg drawn
up with scurvy, two men whose condition was unfit for a sledge-journey,
and two out of the three returned party, — making six left beiiind.
Despatch was all-important. But they had to drag a sledgo laden
with a tent nnd restoradvos, and, part of the way, their oxhanstod
guide. The returned party, with nothing to carry but one ril'o, had
reached the ship in one march; but they had known uo ultcruutivo except
to perish in the snow.

It was ii HuhiGct of melaneholv R^eoijlat-tii!! \i\ i}\{^. f^i^bin "tnons? thoso

h about tlie

LETTER. FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW. 279

who remained, as to whether the tent could be reached in a single march
The returned travellers thought it utterly impossible. There was a
difaerent opinion entertained with equal strength, which was borne out
by the result.

The history of that party has already been told. It was not a very
good discipline for a sick man who looked forward to starting out a-ain
at a temperature below zero, a month later. The wear and tear of "hos-
pital, amputations, and the counteracting of the depressing effect of
death, together with the actual privation arising from the rec'ent reduc-
tion of coal to an allowance only sufficient for one lire, and an occasional
extra oiic,-all taxed to the utmost the nervous system of the com-
mander, and called for a rare union of firmness with oentlcness.

Throughout the entire cruise the government of the crew was truly
benign. On board ship, the food-.-or grub, as it is universally called
at sea— IS a much more important matter than it is on shore. Food
and drink, with tobacco, stand in the place of all other recreations and
pleasures for the sailor, and form the great element in Jack's estimate
ot a ship. . After a hard exposure, while working in the cold, a mere cup
of coffee has a taste and value which it would be difficult for one whose lot
has always been a life of ease to associate with such an apparent trifle.

On board the Advance, the allowance to the crew was varied and
liberal to a degree seldom known in ships. There was very little differ-
ence between the cabin-table and the forecastle-mess. Sugar and butter
of excellent (luality were furnished almost ad liUfmn. After we had
gone into winter.(iuarters, the daily fare was absolutely the same at
both ends of the ship, in substantial materials, the only difference
being the few trifling stores purchased by the cabin-mess, such as Wor-
cester sauce, olive-oil, ligs, &c. The dinner of the men was prepared
chiefly by the cabin-steward, and consisted of soup, meat, ;. i dessert-
courses. If there occurred any dissatisfaction.— and no sybarite can be
more critical than the sailor,— the dinner was inspected by the first
officers, accompanied by a culinary staff of cook and steward, or by the
commander, who always invited the men to make their complaints to
hun freely. The second winter, as it is hardly necessary to remind you
wo had but one mess. '

It was remarked more than once by Dr. Kane that the crew in an
Arctic expedition wore entitled to a great deal of indulgence as they
bore their full share of the work -nd hardship, but by no nreans received
nn equal share of th,. laurels, and could not be expected to feel quite the
Baine zeal that the officers did.

»«■•

280

ELISHA KENT KANE.

He could Lu severe when necessary. He was always firm, but desired
to be lenient. The ability in a commander to gratu_, a kindly disposi-
tion must depend in a great measure upon the character and behavior
of the crew themselves But, unfortunately, it does not require a very
wide acquaintance with human nature to know that there are men who are
at times, and some who seem always, utterly insensible to any arguments
or appeals except those of fear and force. It was not until repeated
admonition and expostulation, and appeals to the manly instinct of the
individual, had failed, and until a second or third offence was committed,
that even so mild a punishment as confinement was resorted to; and
this means was adopted without the accessory of placing a man in a bolt-
upright posture, or mast-heading him, as it is called when a man is com-
polled to hang on for a long time in the rigging,— punishments which
may all be very well sometimes, but which were excluded from Dr.
Kane's scheme of government. This mercy was at the expense of the
loss of the prisoner's service to the always short-handed crew. When
instant coercion was necessary in the extremity of circumstances. Dr.
Kane did not hesitate to adopt a proper course.

The idea of tying a man up to gratings and flogging him, as
practised in the American marine before the abolition of corporal
punishment in the navy by act of Congress, was revolting to every
sentiment of his soul; and, when compelled to witness punishment
during his naval career, he always had stood by in abhorrence. He had
been an earnest advocate of reform in this matter, and always freely
expressed his detestation of the practice of corporal punishment.

In the control of others. Dr. Kane evidently exercised a painful con-
ficientiousuess. His actions were subjected to severe self-scrutiny.

His generosity led him to a peculiar demeanor toward the Danish sub-
jects in the party. He regarded Petersen (the interpreter) in the light of
a guest, and sought to maintain the amenities of that relation iu hishiter-
course with him, while ho made it a pretext to extend to him all the
indulgences and attentions within his power. Poor Hans ho looked
upon as his own personal charge, and humored his whims and wishes aa
he might have done a child's.

His consideration for the entire crow was indeed beneficent. He
made constant personal inspections of the men's quarters, and kind indi-
vidual inquiries respecting their welfare,— sought to promote their amuse-
ment and provide for their instruction. The cabin-library was open to
them, and instruction in matliematics, &c. offered. His care for the
sick was delicate, unremitting, and constant. He never omitted, so long

inp; hiin, as

LETTER FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW. 281

as he could move, Lis round of visits or relaxed in hia efforts to invent
some dish out of the reduced resources which might be palatable to them.
That he was the nurse as well as physician of almost the entire ship's com-
pany at one time or another is well known ; but how well he performed
the duty can only be known to those who were the recipients or wit-
nesses of his benevolent actions. It was no uncommon thing for him to
send away some savory dish of the intestines of a ptarmigan, which
the steward had cooked with artistic skill and offered to him in a silent
night-watch, and, thus refusing it, to direct it to be given to some sick
comrade who could relish it.

The paramount idea of Dr. Kane was the search for Sir John Franklin.
A religious anxiety to do something to promote discovery bearing upon
the whereabouts of the lost sailor was his ruling passion as I com-
mandcr. Nothing but the most earnest desire to conduct discovery in
person could have prevailed upon him to take the field in April, in his
state of health. The result must almost have been foreseen by himself;
and he certainly had strong forebodings of it. He was brought back
delirious and very ill; but the disease seemed to have reached its crisis on
bis return to the brig, and soon he began to mend apace.

I think it was in the highest degree fortunate tliat he undertook the
adventurous trip in an attempt to reach the British .station at Beochey
Island, as nothing within our reach could have so effectually recruited
his health as the fresh game, eggs, and cochlearia, and the summer sea-
breeze.

To this voyage he owed that recuperation which made him a sounder
man on his return than he had been before during the cruise, or at
least from the setting in of the first winter.

At the inevitable approach of a second winter. Dr. Kane knew full
well the terrible perils from scurvy that it threatened; but he was only
nerved to stronger effort, and worked with trebled energy. In com-
bating the scurvy in himself and others, providing for the difficult
economy of the ship, and giving the assistance of his own hands in all
Us labors, his nervous system was wrought to a supernatural tension;
and, when wo remember the contrivance, invention, and mental laboi
required for providing the appointments of the sledges and boats of that
remarkable journey, and his exposed sledgo-travel, the mind is oppressed
m the attempt to appreciate his immense power of endurance. To his
vigilant foresight and minutely-circumrr .-t providence,— certainly only
the more remarkable if acquired,-hy vuich all the wants and con-
tingencios of the journey wcr^j provided for, ao less than to hid vigiiauco

£««

«;

282

ELISHA KENT KANE.

CI
ml

and decisive judgment and his genius for prompt action or combination,
the success of that remarkable boat-journey was undoubtedly due.

During my sojourn for ten days at Anoatok I had a good opportunity
of observing bis unwearied diligence in sledging between the boats, Etah,
the brig, and Anoatok, conveying flesh to the boats and to our hut from
Etah, and bread and baked flour from the ship, as well as his unfailing,
kind consideration f^r the sick at a time when all his energies uiiffht
have been taxed by the superintendence of the eiForts of the main party
for escape. From the ship to the hut and back was no unusual journey
for him, — a distance of fifty or sixty miles. When he brought me down
from the ship with him, notwithstanding his labor in driving and alter-
nately with me running b'jside the sledge to lighten the weight, and
lifting the sledge over high hummocks, or running before the dogs to
keep them in the track, he started on his return without sleep. This
labor kept up for a week involves no trifling exertion.

The next most conspicuous trait in our commander was his indefati-
gable scientific research. He never took a walk, much less made a
journey, — not even the desperate march for the relief of the first party,
— without looking intelligently at the ice, the land, the atmosphere, the
effect of the temperature on the men, and obtaining results for his note-
book. It may be some proof of his sanguine confidence in the ultimate
safety of the party during the most trying periods, that, while he was ever
disposed to cheer and encourage the spirits of those around him, at the
same time he did not relax in the prosecution of his journals and registers.

His private journal was regularly written by his own hand at the close
of each day; or, if unavoidably postponed a few days, it was brought up
at the earliest practicable moment. He reviewed the log in the after-
noon, and generally added some notes of his own to the remarks of the
watch- officer.

His sketches were nearly all made on the spot, — the more elaborate
of them finished in the cabin. They bear, I think, an intrinsic truthful-
ness in their appearance which speak." for itself. They certainly far
surpass any illustrations of Arctic .scenery which I have ever seen.
The landscapes are as faultless fur general inspection as photographs. It
is difficult to conceive that the picture of Sylvia Headland and the Floe
is not engraved from a photograph. The portraits of the Esquimaux are
equally excellent. During the first winter Dr. Kane frequently occupied
himself with painting in oil ; but, during the long night of the second,
chart-making was substituted, as being more in keeping with the lack
of conveniences.

LETTER FROM HENRY GOODFELLOW. 283

The social demeanor of our commander wa3 cheerful and affable, even
gay. He did h.s best to devise recreations and promote the most bar-
momous sociaUntercourse. He patronized the ship's newspaper, edited

Lste TheT r;-:' "T'^' *'^^^^"°^"^ and caption with 'artistic
taste, i he best of Its articles were by him

It WM hi, usual praolieo to pla, a game or two of cheB, after supper,

he 6,.t wuter Cards were permitted ooly , , Wednesday aud SaL

day eveu.„gs. Th., rule was adopted to prevent too great { devotioo to

the fascinating pasteboards.

from ZZ^^^ ""'• ^'": "" '" *'^* "^°^' ^'-« ^-'^ -P-ted
f om his event ul career and varied attainments. He seldom referred

reser e, but his descriptive powers were frequently employed for the
entertainment of the little circlo around him. P y « lor tne

He made a great point of urging the use of lime-juice and the other
anti-scorbu ics, and habitual exercise, upon the officers, and the keepin"
up of a cheerful tone of mind. His cheerfulness composure, 'anS
aelf-command never flagged at the worst period. His own custom of
exercise was regular and systematic. He frequently took long walks by
moonhght, inviting one or two of the mess. One litter cold evening in
the middle of the first winter, after expatiating upon the importance of

xereise, he playfully chaUenged the first officer, Mr. Brooks, to go witl
hmi and build a fox-ti^p at the head of a fiord, two or three mUes off.
Mr. Brooks accepted the challenge, and to the question, "But are you in
arnes. Brooks r answered ''Yes, by George, I am, sir," wi'h an
earnestness noc to be mistaken, and spociaiiy chuncteristic of the stal-
wart boatswain They went and accomplished their purpose. But
although Mr. Brooks was the largest and perhaps the most powerful
man belonging to the Expedition, he ever afterward declined accepting
a similnr challenge from his commander, alleging that Dr. Kane's powers
of endurance far exceeded his own.

Dr. Kane's dietetic habits were the triumph of principle and will
over nature His palate was delicate ; yet he accustomed himself to eat
puppies and rat., as he had always before accustomed himself to the diet
of he country in which he sojourned. He sometimes remarked that he
bad eaten of almost every animal which is used as food in the various
countries through which he had travelled. The advantage of being able
overcome one s repugnance to the flesh of proscribed animals is very
vident to anyone who has been in situations making its use an impera-
tive necessity. When our Expedition arrived in Greenland, not moro

••,

284

ELISHA KENT KANE.

•MBS*

than one-third or one-fourth of the ship's company could eat seal-meat
with any satisfaction ; and, even till the close of the cruise, some of our
party ate their raw walrus or seal meat ".ith little zest.

Even during the second winter, with all its squalid discomfort and
privation, Dr. Kane's thoughts would revert to the Northern regions of
search. His desire to look upon the open water there was unabated j
and, when Petersen returned from the south, in December, 1854,
he questioned him closely respecting the possibility of obtaining
dogs. When afterward he had obtained them, he confidently hoped to
pass the limits of the farthest explorations of the previous summer;
but the defection of Hans dashed these hopes to the ground. A
sight of the Great Glacier of Humboldt was sufficient reward for two
days' absence from the brig. He still clung to the hope of passing the
glacier, and he started on a fine morning in March or April, while active
preparations for escape were going on, accompanied by Morton ; but this
time the team of dogs was unequal to the task, and the sledge returned,
I believe, the same evening.

Henry Goodfellow.
Philadelphia, December 7, 1857.

1 eat seal-meat
se, some of our

discomfort and
bern regions of
was unabated;
icember, 1854,
■ of obtaining
ently hoped to
mus summer;
e ground. A
reward for two
of passing the
•il, while active
orton ; but this
[edge returned,

ODDFELLOW.

\anop iff ^r. ^m^.

REPORT

OF THE

JOINT COMMITTEE

APPOINTED TO

RECEIVE THE REMAIN'S AND CONDUCT THE

OBSEQUIES

or THE LATE

TT T n ^ Philadelphia, April 7, 1857.

Hon. Joseph R. Chandler. , r <» "«(.

Dear Sir :— It has seemed to the gentlemen composing the Committees of the
City Councils and of the citizens of Philadelphia, which have had the direction
of the public solemnities attending the funeral of the late Dr. Kane, that a report
or narrative of these solemnities should be written and preserved.

It has been thought that this is due to the constituencies of the respectivb
Committees which have united in directing them, and it has also been thought
that thus an enduring record may be preserved of those remarkable and im-
pressive demonstrations of public respect which attended the passage to tho
tomb of the remains of a citizen so gifted and so renowned.

I have been instructed to request you to prepare this narrative, and I trust
that it will comport with your feelings and your duties to comply with the
wishes which I have much satisfaction in conveying to you.

I am, dear sir,
' ' Truly, yours,

Theodore Cutler,
Chairman Committee of Coundlt.

•"•■J*

m ^ -r, Philadelphia, April 27, 1857.

Theodore Cutler, Esq. f " *', '■oo,.

Dear Sir:— In compliance with the request which your favor of the 7th
instant has conveyed to me, I have the honor t6 present a report of the proceed-
ings of the Joint Committee appointed to receive the remains and conduct the
obsequies of the late Dr. Elisha Kent Kane. All of us who united in those
arrangements must feel how eminently due they were to the deceased, and yet
how feeble an expression were they of the deep feeling of respect and regret
entertained by our fellow-citizens for Dr. Kane.

Very truly, yours',

Joseph R. Chandler,
Chairman of the Joint CommiUee.

286

3^mi 4 M ®h^m^%

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

pril 27, 1857.

To ordinary record we may safely trust the ordinary occurrence of the
day; and the chroniclers of passing events will not fail to do justice to
whatever is deemed worthy of commemoration. But the record of
unusual occurrences, it may be admitted, is entitled to more than the
ordinary means of perpetuation, and especially when public demonstra-
tions denote a full appreciation of great and good acts. The public
press reflects, with wonderful accuracy, ordinary and extraordinary pro
ceedings which daily take place ; but, with a fidelity that constitutes its
excellence and its power, that press reflects all alike, and the perfection
of the whole seems to render it difficult to contemplate with desirable
abstraction any single event which it presents. There are circumstances,
too, which render it proper to make a speciality of some extraordinary
demonstration,, not merely to augment the honors bestowed upon the
person or fame of a distinguished individual, but to do justice to the
purity and correctness of public sentiment in which those honors origi-
nated, and by which they were made the reward and stimulus to distin-
guished public virtue.

The deep and general interest manifested in the proceedings relative
to the honorable reception of the remains of the late Dr. Elisha Kent
Kane, and in the solemn public obsequies which followed, renders it
appropriate that those to whom was delegated the duty of arranging
and conducting those ceremonies should make public report of^ho
origin of their power and the manner in which it was exercised: and
the following statement of the proceedings of the several bodies which
were represented in the "Committee of Arrangements" will show the
teelings in whicn the solemnities originated in this city, and the senti-
ment which it was the duty of the several committees in their joint notion
to illustrate.

287

I'mt

'31

lilt

iv*

288

'mt"

OBSEQUIES OF

CITY COUNCILS.

At a regular meeting of the City Councils of Philadelphia, held Feb-
ruary 26, 1857, Mr. Cuyler, in Select Council, upon unanimous leave,
submitted the following preamble and resolutions, prefacing them with
the following remarks : —

Mr. President :— I beg leave to ask the unanimous consent of the
Chamber to an interruption of its accustomed duties, for the purpose of
offering a preamble and resolutions. They are expressive of the high
sense the city of Philadelphia entertains of the glory and renown which
attend the achievements of one of the noblest of her sons in the cause
of science and of humanity; and, alas! they are expressive, too, of her
sadness at his early death, and of her desire to do honor to his memory.
The death of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane has added another name to that list
of great and noble men, born among us, whose cherished memorie?
the city of Philadelphia places among her crown jewels.

It has happened to us, sir, often before, that we have been called upor
to mourn the death of citizens who have won for themselves a prouc
distinction, sometimes in military affairs, and sometimes in statesman
ship or diplomacy, or perhaps in the higher walks of professional life-
but not before this, within my recollection, has it happened to us, as ii
this instance, where he, whose body is now borne hither that his ashei
may mingle with his native soil, was a martyr in the cause of science
and of humanity. I do not propose, sir, to speak of the career of Dr.
Kane. The great events of his life are known to all' of us. They
were wrought out by the high faith and the noble impulses of a pure
heart and an earnest nature. These steeled his heart to the delights of
life, when the sad cry of suffering humanity called him to deeds of noble
daring. These raised his feeble frame above bodily weakness, and
enabled him to triumph over cold and hunger, and kept bright and
warm within his breast the flame of pure humanity amidst th^ never-
melting ice of Polar seas and the dreary horrors of an Arctic wiutc.

Mr. President, there is something due from the city of Phllsi Iol].h(a
to the memory of such a man. He whose eventful life was carried
through so many strange vicissitudes in all quarters of the globe will
find at last in death that repose which seems in life to have been denied
him here among us. Other cities through which his remains have been
ccrried on tlieir ^/.mey toward this their place of burial have received
them with ;n|irc».nate honors. I am persuaded that the city of Phila-
delphia will ;l)(3!re to .bestow upon them also her tribute of respect, and

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

289

will feel a melancholy satisfaction in receiving and committing to the
tomb the remains of one of her sons, who has in his lifetime shed so
much of lustre upon her annals.

J^fT'TrJ f ''' "'' ''' '^^'''''''' '^ *^««« sentiments, and 1
ask of the clerk that he will be kind enough to read them.

Whereas, The body of the late Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, of Philadel-
phia, who d.ed in a foreign country from disease, contracted or enhanced
by exposure to the severity of an Arctic climate, during a journey
prompted by a high-toned and chivalric feeling of philanthropy, and
anoyoued by the Government of our Union, is on its way to his'native
city for the purpose of interment, and it seems to be fitting that some
expression should be uttered by the representatives of the° citizens "f
I hiladelphia, indicative of their sense of the great merit of their deceased
el ow-citizen, and of the renown and glory which have attached to the
entire country from his admirable achievements in the cause of science
and humanity, an expression which is responsive to similar sentiments
coming from various parts of the Union : Therefore

Resolved, That the city of Philadelphia will ret'ain in ever-rateful
memoxy the noble services of Dr. Kane in the cause of science and
humanity, which have reflected glory and renown upon his native city
and upon the whole country. ^'

Resolved, By the Select and Common Council of the City of Philadel-
phia, that a joint special Committee of five members of each Chamber
of Councils be appointed, whose duty it shall be to cause such measures
to be taken upon the arrival of the remains of Dr. Kane as will comport
with the dignity of the city of Philadelphia, and be a fitting testimonial
ot her respect for the memory of Dr. Kane.

[The above resolutions were adopted by both Chambers and approved
by the Mayor, February 27, 1857.]

To the President and Members of the Select Council.
Gentlemen :-Information has been received in this city that Elisha
Ken Kane departed this life at Havana, and that his remains are on the
way to the place of his birth for the purpose of burial. A citizen of Phila-
delphia has made a sacrifice of his life in a service dedicated to philan-
thropy and science. To honor the memory of such a man is worthy
ot an enughtcncd community. In order that the City Councils may

'p.

290

OBSEQUIES OF

have an opportunity to take such action on the fcubject as to them shall
seem appropriate, I have considered it proper to address them this com-
munication. Richard Vaux.

1^'

Mr. Perkins rose to second the resolutions, and said : — I know nothing,
sir, I can say in relation to the rosolutions which have just been offered,
and which I rise with some unction to second, that has not already been
better e- pressed ; aud ^c}, sir, I cannot but feel I owe it to the high
esteem aud regard I have ever felt for that distinguished man, to offer
my humble tribute to his memory.

Dr, Kane graduated at our University^ I think, in 1 843, as a physician,
but very soon extended his usefulness far beyond the usual sphere of au
ordinary physician, and in the short space of fourteen years has built
up for himself and for hi: country a world-wide reputation which three-
score year;? and ten have rarely attained : this is the condensation of
manly ambition ; and I feel pride in ca&ting my feeble effort to add
something to that respect and regard which, as a fellow-citizen aud
fellow-countryman, are so justly his due. I trust the resolutions will ba
unanimously adopted.

In the Common Council, February 2G, 1857, Mr. Ilolman offered the
following, which were adopted previous to the resolutions of Select
Council being introduced into that chamber ; —

Mr. Holman, on leave granted, offered the following : —

AVhereas, We have heard with unfeigned regret of the death of Dr.
Elisha Kent Kane, a native of Philadelphia, whose brilliant career, as an
officer and explorer, has rendered his name dear to every American citizen;

And whereas. The character of Dr. Kane, his indomitable courage,
his untiring zeal, his enthusiastic love of science, and his sympathy for
the suffering, have embalmed his memory iu the hearts of all who cau
appreciate the noblest and loftiest qualities of human nature : Therefore,

Rtsoheil, That Dr. Elisha Kent Kane was not only an honor to this
city, but to the nation at large, \nd that his genius, his toils, his self-
denial, his patience, and his perseverance throughout a most arduous
career of duty and philanthropy, are calculated to adorn the American
character.

Resolved, That we sincerely condole with his bereaved relatives and
friends, aud that u copy of these resolutions bo tendered to his afflicted
family.

Mr. Henry offered the following joint resolution : —

Eesoived, By the oeiect and CommoQ Cuuuciid of the City of Pliiia-

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

291

delphia, that a joint special Committee of five members of each Chamber
of Councils be appointed, whose duty it shall be to cause such measures
to bo taken upon the arrival of the remains of Dr. Kane in this city, as
will comport with the dignity of the city of Philadelphia, and be a
fitting testimonial of her respect for the memory of Dr. Kane.

The joint special Committee appointed under the above resolutions is
as follows : —

Select Co««c^7. -Messrs. Theodore Cuyler, T. J. Perkins, Isaac N.
Marsehs, John Welsh, Oliver P. Cornman,and George M. Wha-ton

Covimon aHn.i7.-Messrs. Alexander Henry, Andrew J. Holman,
Henry T. King, Joshua T. Owens, and D. S. Hassin-er.

MEETING OF CITIZENS.

In pursuance of a call issued by Hon. Richard Vaux, Mayor of the
city of PL.ladelphia, the citizen, assembled in the District Court-room
on l^riday evening, March 27, 1857, for the purpose of uniting with the
municipal authorities in making arrangements fo- the reception of the
remains of the late Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, and fo appropriate funeral
solemnities.

At seven o'clock the meeting was called to order by Prof John F
Frazer, of the University of Pennsylvania, and, on motion, his Honor'
Mayor Vaux, was called to the chair. '

On motion of Mr. Isaac Elliott, the following gentlemen were ap.
pointed ^

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

HON. HORACE BINNEY, rev. H. A. BOAHDMAN, D.D.

HON. J. 11. INGERSOLL, joHN A. BROWN, ESQ

DR. ROBLEY DUNGLISON, FREDERICK FRALEV

HON. ELLIS LEWIS, john WELSH,

ppn.^J^^'^-n'^^^'"^' ""^- "»^0««E SIIARSWOOD,

PROF. A. D. BACHL, CHARLES HENRY FISHER

COMMODORE CHARLES STEWART, SAMUEL V. MERRICK

On motion of the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, the following gentlemen
were appointed

SECRETARIES.

J. FISHER LEAMINQ, g. AUSTIN ALLIBONB,

EDWI^ COOLIDGB.

On taking his place as Chairman, Mayor Vaux stated the object of
the gathering : —

The occasion of our assembling is to pay, on behalf of this commu-
uity, a tribute of respect to the memoiy of Elisha Kent Kauo. He

•J

292

OBSEQUIES OF

lived for his country, philanthropy, and science. He died a victim to
tbe devotcdness of his life to his life's purpose. A citizen of Philadel-
phia, with a fame coextensive with learning and humanity, his mortal
remains are about to be placed in a grave of his native soil. The
nobleness of his self-devotion, the heroism of his contests, the results of
his exertions, the cause of his early death, have placed his name amon"
those of whom it is justly said, " Dulce ct decorum est pro patria mori."

REMARKS OF HON. WILLIAM B. REED.

The first speaker of the evening, Hon. William B. Reed, then rose
and said : —

3Ia. Chairman : — The duty has been delegated to me to offer to this
meeting the draft of a few resolutions expressive of the feclin" which
animates it. I perforr that duty with melancholy pleasure. The reso-
lutions are meant to describe in precise and unexaggcrated terms the
pervading sentiment of this community, of sorrow, of pride, of gratitude.

Two hundred years ago, the greatest poet (save one) that ever spoke
the English language said, —

" Pence hnth her victories,
Not less ronowiiM than wars."

And we have met here to-night, in this, the city of his birth, to do honor
to him who was emphatically one of the heroes of peace and peaceful
enterprise. His victories wore won in dismal solitude and amidst silent
suffering, — in the gloom of Arctic winter, and the greater peril of
Arctic summer. His were peaceful conflicts, away from humanity,
while the rest of what is called the civilized world were embroiled in
fiercer and more ambitious struggles j for in the three years of Dr.
Kane's last adventure, from IMay, 185,'], to September, LSSo, when
Hartstciie (to whom be all honor, too) found the wayfarers at Jjieveley,
the outer world was either convulsed, or with interest watching the
bloody strife in Southeastern Europe. I do not pause to ask whoso
was the greater heroism : those who fought within and without Sevas-
topol, or those eighteen American men who, clustered in the little
cabin of the Advance, watched and suffered during two Arctic wintorc,
and hoped and struggled for but one reward, — the discovery and n soiio
of the gallant men who, right years before, had sutight and encountered,
and, as the result has shown, had been sacrificed to, the same perils.
Our rhihidelphia hero was with the heroes of peace, in solitude, in
iiloncc, and suffering. Hcnco, wo have reason to bo proud of hlni.

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

293

patria mori.

We have gratitude, too, to express. The wasted frame of the dead is
brought back to us, but «e, his friends and townsmen, have been made
aware .i.,t the last hours of his life were passed in foreign lands
among those who were personally strangers, and yet that first in
J^ngland where no American gentleman can long be a stranger, and
afterward in Cuba, which peaceful affinities are every hour binding
closer to us, our Philadelphia man, untitled, undistinguished except b^
whao he has done and suffered for humanity's sake, was nursed, and
cai^d for and consoled, with as much tenderness and affection as if his
bed of sickness had been within the limits of his native land. In this
our gratitude is due.

Our sorrow it is not easy to describe, simply because what we as fellow-
citizens feel seems feeble in comparison with the sharper grief of rela-
tives and intimate personal friends. The community mourns for an
eminent citizen We mourn with selfish sorrow, because we craved
other honors which he might have won for us. The latent hope is
frustrated that our American explorer-our Philadelphia adventurcr-
rn.ght had h.s life been prolonged, yet have solved the problem of
l-rankhns fate, and carried back to our fatherland that which would
have been mure precious than the abandoned Ile.soIute,-son.e survivor
of poor Franklin's band, or some authentic intelligence (for there is
real y none such) of their actual fate. We sorrow not without hope,
wlHle su<:h men as Ilartstene, and Simms, and De Iluvea are left
with us.

Let us, then, citizens of Philadelphia, do honor to the memory of the
dead-our Illustrious doad-in the manner which host becomes lli and
us ; with dignity, with moderation, with decorum, with no exaggerated
ostentatmn, with no effort to make mere ceremonial transcend thc^ limits
of actual feeling. Let us show we feel this blow deeply. While other
counnun.t.es^may exceed us in display, let Philadelphia~the city of
Kane s b.rth, and education, and manhood-show the deepest and most
earnest feeliiiff.

Mr. Koed then submitted the following preamble and resolutions —

The citizens of Philadelphia, convened in general town meeting, at the

ad of their Chief-Magistrate, desire to unite with the constituted

utl.orit.es induing honor to the me.uury of their disti,.guished towns-

Jmm, Dr. Kl.sha K.nt Kane, who .•ocently died in a foreign land, and

whoso mortal remains now appi-uach their final rosting-place in his

nat.vo c.ty. With this view, they have

Resolved, That r-hiiuUelphia discharges the simplest duty of self-

294

OBSEQUIES OF

&.-. .-■ >

MB*"

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;

Mi
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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.

»m

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OBSEQUIES OF

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.

t
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300

•*•••*
^M,"**

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

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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 : —

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

^ -»

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

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-.lin<r«
and create cordial friendships: when to courtesy is added tho exalted

#•'

306

OBSEQUIES OF

sentiment of humanity, such actions are the result as command our grate-
ful admiration. AYith great pleasure I say to you, my countrymen, that
for all these benignities we are under great obligation to those in authority
here. Again, sir, in behalf of the people I represent, I return to you,
and the other officers of your Government who have so generously parti-
cipated with us in these sad rites, our sincere thanks.

The whole proceedings at Havana, from the arrival of Dr. Kane, sick
and suffering, until his remains left the harbor of that city, were marked
by delicacy and kindness toward him and his friends while he lived, and,
when he died, honors that reflect honor upon the officers and people, and
appeal to the finest feelings of the human heart for appreciation and
gratitude, were bestowed upon his memory and remains.

CEREMONIES AT NEW ORLEANS.

The Catawba arrived at New Orleans on the 22d of February, and, as
soon as the steamer reached her berth, his Honor, Mayor Waterman,
promptly proffered to the relatives of the deceased the city's guardian-
ship of the hallowed remains while they remained within its limits;
and, th ■ offer being gratefully accepted, the company of Continental
Guards escorted the body to the City Hall, where it lay in state under
the honorable guard of the company that escorted it thither. Every
pains were taken to make expressive the demonstrations of respect; and
the manifestations of regard on the part of the citizens of New Orleans
were such as to do honor to that city.

The procession to convey the remains to the steamer Woodford, that
was to ascend the river, was composed of an unusual display of the niili-
tary of the two brigades in full uniform, the Sons of St. George, a large
and imposing body of Englishmen, the Masonic Order, the corpse, with
twelve pall-bearers, being officers of the Army and Navy, and represen-
tatives of Civic Societies, the ^fnyor and Recorder and Foreign Consuls
following in carriages. The Keystone Club, composed of Pennsylvaniuns
and citizens in general. The whole proceedings in New Orleans were
most expressive and honorable to all.

The progress of the steatner that conveyed up the Mississippi and the
Ohio the remains of Dr. Kano was watched with intense anxiety, and
whenever it was possible the attempt wag made by the people to give
sppnt which the lofty character and cauobliuK Bcrviee

nYnrnaaion t/i t1i

£\ t*/)0»>Alf

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 :—

\f0

308

OBSEQUIES OF

..I

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.

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

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.

t?d

1— (

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

■

312

OBSEQUIES OF

C^«''

CH"'

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

Ml"'

..»

#«•

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."

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*

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

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

OBSEQUIES OP

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OJJ

^' ac

|««»

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

incss of the midnight-hour, the

322

OBSEQUIES OF

>••*•*

l»i™*

€3C'
% ,1-*

«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

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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.

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.

•SSL

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

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

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

"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 c<iually with cncrjry und bruvi-rv. (Jnn,>r,.„. l,. ,.., -_^-_

Monate, ho who never was overcome by dangers and difficulties and

336

OBSEQUIES OP

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

338

OBSEQUIES OF

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

!!>►***

'idC

■■MMi

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

|\*

■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.

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

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

•■MM
I WW

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 !

!;-

■

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'

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.

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

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

•mm
•JLa

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

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358

OBSEQUIES OF

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 "

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

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

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.

M
Hi

Ah
O

^^
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.

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,

mmm_

ijgBMt

X
I-

<
z ^

/?.:

■

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^'^'-'^^^' ''' ''''' '''''' '"'' "^'^^ ^^ -°-''"*^<i ^- -If!
I surrender to you, in his native eity, the remains of our late brother
I jybe pernnttcd to say it is with deep regret, and that you cannot
exclusively eall him yours. We felt, whilst he was with us^whi t h

us to do. Although this is his native city and his native State his

ame. extends throughout the civilized world' In the icy roln wW

he sacn ced himself in the cause of humanity, even the ^ild EsJ-

Time will never obliterate the name of one who administered so much
to their comfort while himself suffering so much for the cause f
humanity and science. Permit me now, gentlemen, on behalf of th
city and of the citizens of Baltimore, in this hall eonLcrated to liber
to commit to your charge the remains of Eli«ha Kent Kane, wh sacri-
ficed his life in the cause of humanity.

r.!!-' ^T"^^"' «f f-™au of the Joint Committee of Arrangements,
received the sacred deposit with the following remarks :^

In the name of the corporation and citizens of Philadelphia, I receive

oTanTr^f ''"' P""'°" """^•^^' '^"^ '^ *h---- I thank
you and those whom you represent for the honors you have conferred

up n one who has so honored his native eity. While we know that it

IL^r ^'"7''^r *^^PP^-•^^« --"-- that you have distin-
guished yourselves by munifieent consideration of the great departed

^rth f 'f ^"' '"^ ''-'' ''''' ^"^ '^'y enjoys a LectedC;
from the fame of our townsman, we must assume the obligations which
your generous attentions create.

achieved early immortality; and he returns in the fulfilment of the alter-

1 1; >•;

364

OBSEQUIES OF

1' ,^
'*

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

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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.

w •-

Governor Pollock,
Hon. Horace Binney,
Commodore Stewart,
Major C. J. Biddle,
Bishop Potter,
Chief-Justice Lewis,
Doctor Dunglison,
J. A.. Brown, Esq.,

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

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.

Esq.,

I, Esq.,

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U.S.A.,
rdinan, D.D.,
fe, M.D.,

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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.

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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,

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.

oi,
Q

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

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-

nation, that it is diffieuk to circct tl

leir analysis.

374

OBSEQUIES OF

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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

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376

OBSEQUIES OF

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bewilderment appeared only to enhance his self-collection and develop
his versatile genius. Whether he hud to deal with the humors of a sick
and desponding crew, or to provide subsistence and amusement in tho
midst of a lifeless solitude, or to snatch the flower of opportunity at the
dizzy brink of peril, — iu every form of crisis he displayed the same keen
perception of surrounding realities, with the same quick and nice adjust-
ment of himself to their demands. Even the wild inmates of that icy
world, from the mere stupid wonder with which at first they regarded
his imported marvels of civilization, were at length forced to descend
to a genuine respect and love, as they saw him outwitting their expe-
rience by his ingenuity and competing with thorn iu the practice of their
own rude, stoical virtues.

We love goodness; we admire courage; but when both are found
armed for practice with an adaptive faculty which was as the skill of a
strong hand that drew its pulse from a warm heart, there is nothing left
us but to wonder at a combination so symmetrical and rare. From our
contemplation of the man we revert to the occasion to which he is
to be adjusted; and as we picture the genius of philanthropy leading
forth her trained votary after a perilous prize which has been planted
sheer beyond the boundaries of all local jealousy and pride, and at tho
magnetic centre of a universal sympathy, we L:now not whether more
to admire the fitness of the scene to the actor, or of the actor to the
scene. So docs Providence, with poetical rectitude, arrange the drama
of a good deed.

To such more sterling qualities were joined the graces of an affluent
cheerfulness, that never deserted him in the darkest hours, — a delicate
and capricious hwmor, glancing among the most rugged realities like the
sunshine upon the rocks, — and, above all, that invariable stamp of true
greatness, a beautiful modcstij, ever sufficiently content with itself to be
above the necessity of pretension. These were like the ornaments of a
Grecian building, which, though they may not enter into the effect of
the outline, are found to impart to it, the more nearly it is surveyed, all
the grace and finish of the most exquisite sculpture.

And yet, strong and fair as were the proportions of that character in
its more conspicuous aspects, we should still have been disappointed did
we not find, albeit hidden deep beneath them, a firm basis of rclujious
sentiment. For all serious and thoughtful minds this is the purest
charm of those graphic volumes in which he has recorded the story of
his wonderful escapes and deliverances. There is everywhere shining
through its pages a chastened spirit, too familiar with human weakness

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

377

of an affluent
•s, — a delicate

nan weakness

to overlook a Providence in his trials, and too conscious of human insi--
nificance to disdain its recognition Now, in his lighter, more pensive
moods, we see ,t rising, on the wing ,f a devout fancy, into that re-ioa
where piety becomes also poetry : — *

"I have t.-odden the deck and the floes when the life of earth scorned
suspcnded,-its movements, its sounds, its colorings, its companionships;
and as I looked on the radiant hen.isphere, circling above n)e, as if
rendering worship to the un.een centre of light, I have ejaculated, in
hum.hty of spirit, 'Lord, what is man, that thou art miudml of
him/

Again, in graver emergencies, it appears as a habitual resource, to
which he has come in conscious dependence :—

" A trust, based on experience as well as on promises, buoyed mo up
at the worst of times. Call it fatalism, as you ignorantly may, there is
that in the story of every eventful life which teaches the inefficiency of
human means, and the present control of a Supremo Agency. See how
often relief has come at the moment of extremity, in forms stranody
unsought, almost at the time unwelcome; see, still more, how the back
has been strengthened to its increasing burdens, and the heart cheered by
some conscious influence of an unseen Power."

And at length we find it settling into that assurance which belon-s
to an experienced faith and hope : — °

"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 darld not
hope for all— to bear back the tidings of our rescue to a Christian land "
Those Arctic Sabbaths were " full of sober thought and wise resolve."
We hear no profane oath vaunting itself from that little ice-bound islet
of human life, where man has been thrown so helplessly into the hands
of God; but rather, in its stead, murmured amid the wild uproar of the
storm, that daily prayer, ''Lord, accept our thanks, and restore us to
our homes." And when at length that prayer is graciously answered,
It IS the same spirit which brings him whither now, alas! can only be
brought these poor remains,— under the devout impulse, " I will pay my
vows unto the J.ord in the presence of all his people." Let us believe
that a faith which supported him through trials worse than death did
not fail him when death itself came.

Into that last tender scene both religion and delicacv alike forbid that
we should too curiously intrude. Affection will prize its melancholy
though sweet reminiscencos, long after the more public grief has sub

1 f li,|L

378

OBSEQUIES OP

-1

en
<

sided. Enough only of the veil may be drawn to admit us to a privileged
sympathy.

The disease by which Dr. Kane was prostrated was that terrible
scourge of Arctic life, some seeds of which remained in his system on
his return, but wore afterward developed and aggravated by the
exhausting literary labors incident to the narrative of the Expedition.
Entirely under-estimating those labors, (of which but few of us are pre-
pared to form an adequate conception,) he was quite too thoughtless of
the claims of a body he had so long been accustomed to subject to his
purpose, and only awoke to a discovery of the error when it was too late.
With this melancholy conviction, he announced the completion of the
work to a friend in the modest and touching sentence : — " The book, poor
as it is, has been my coffin."

He left the country under a presentiment that he should never return.
For the first time in his life, departure is shaded with foreboding. It
was indeed an alarming symptom to find that iron nerve, which hitherto
had sustained him under shocks apparently not less severe, thus be-
ginning to falter. Yet it will enhance the interest that now gathers
around his memory to learn that even then the great purpose of his life
he had not wholly abandoned, but, in spite of the most serious entreaties,
was already projecting another Arctic expedition of research and rescue.
This object of his visit he was not destined to mature. Neither was it
to be his privilege to enjoy the honors that awaited him. Successive
and more virulent attacks of disease oblige him to recur to the last
resorts of the invalid. In hope of repairing the wounds inflicted by
the fierce rigors of the North, he is borne to the more genial South,
where at length, beneath its ardent si ies and amidst its fragrant airs,
supported by the ministries of love and the consolations of religion, his
life drew gently to a close.

In the near approach of death he was tranquil and composed. With
too little strength either to support or 'u nc;tte any thing of rapture, he
was yet sufficiently conscious of his cocdition t?^. perform f im.; last acts
befitting the solemn emergency. 1.. ref-.M-encc to those ^^hom he con-
ceived to have deeply injured him, he expressed his cordial forgiveness.
To each of the watching group around him his hand is given in the fond
pressure of a final parting; and then, as if sensible that his ties to earth
are loosening, he seeks consolation from the requested reading of such
Scripture sentences as had been the favorite theme of his thoughtful
hours.

Now he hears those soothing beatitudes which fell from the lips of

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

379

the Man of Sorrows in succossivo benediction. Then he will have re-
peated to him that sweet, sacred pastoral, —

^ " The Lord is my Shepherd : I shall not want. lie maketh mo to
lie down in green pastures : he loadeth me beside the still waters.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil ; for thou art with me : thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
At length are recited the consolatory words with which the Savior
took leave of his weeping disciples : —

"Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God; believe also in
me. In my Father's house are many naansions : if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

And at last, in the midst of this comforting recital, he is seen to expire,
— so gently that the reading still proceeds some moments after other
watchers have become aware that he is already beyond the reach of any
mortal voice. Thus, in charity with all mankind, and with words of the
Kedcemer in his ear, conveyed by tones the most familiar and beloved
on earth, his spirit- passed from the world of men.

The heart refuses to deal with such a reality. Death never seems so
much a usurper on the domain of life as at the grave of the young and
the gifted. In fancy we strive to complete that brilliant fragment of a
history so abruptly ended. We are carried forward into the future, in
an effort to picture all that he might have been to his country and the
world, until, drawn back again by these sad shows of our loss and sorrow,
we pronounce nothing so visionary as this fleeting life, and nothing so
empty as human glory.

And thus is it ever the same trite lesson we learn at each new-made
grave.^ There was never any human life so complete that it could
be finished on earth. There was never any human spirit so gifted
that it could accomplish its destiny here. The most illustrious actions,
the most varied attainments, the most disciplined virtues, are at best but
crude, elementary trials of a novitiate state. Could we follow the regen-
erate spirit as it emerges from its earthly pupilage; could we trace
its career from scene to scene of expanding effort and from accession
to accession in knowledge, love, and joy; could we pause with it, at
length, on some far-distant peak of high attainment, whence, as in re
trospective fancy, it looks back upon rolling worlds with their changing
climates and histories,— how would the science, the philanthropy, the
heroism of this vanishing life have dwindled away to the merest play-
things, the mimic smiles and tears, of the childhood of our immortality!
Lot the chaplet be woven, let the banner be shrouded, let the dirge be

380

OBSEQUIES OF

wailed, and, with fair, fond pageantry, let dust be rendered back to its kin-
dred dust ; but wo shall not have soared to the highest moral of the elegiac
spectacle, until, from that cternitj which lies beyond this tomb of blighted
hope and buried glory, we return to write upon it — This also is vanity.

Alas I the hand of the victor drops in death at the moment it is
exterided to grasp the laurel.

At the conclusion of the sermon the Rev. Dr. Boardman delivered
the following impressive prayer : —

Lord our God, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God ; and
besides thee there is none else. In the name of thy beloved Son, our
Mediator, Jesus Christ, we come before thee, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in this time of need.

We acknowledge the righteousness of that sentence which has gone
out against us, — '']")ust thou art, and unto dust slialt thou return;" for
wc have sinned against thee and done evil in thy sight, and we are justly
exposed to the penalty of thy holy law. It is of thy mercies that wo
are not consumed, because thy compassions fail not. Oh, deal not with
us according to our desert, but according to the plenitude of thy grace
and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We bow down under this afflictive dispensation of thy Providence,
wherein thou art staining the pride of human glory and admonishing
us of our frailty. All flesh indeed is grass, and all the glory of man as
the flower of the field. We feel, as we gather, a stricken people, around
these precious remains, that thou art a great God, and a great King
above all Gods. Thou doest thy will in the army of heaven and aniong
the iuhabitanti-f of the earth; and none can stay thine hand, or say unto
thee, " What doest thou ?"

We render thanks to thee for all thy goodness to thy servant departed.
For the radiant gifts with which thou wast pleased to endow him, wo
prai.se thee. For that beneficent Providence in which he trusted, and
which never forsook him, we praise thee. For all that lie was enabled
to do for humanity and for science, we praise thee. And above all do
we praise thee for those divine supports and consolations Wu; ih sus-
tained him in sickness and in death.

And now, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee to ! onl the wound which
thou hast made. Pind up the hearts of this afflicted household, and
jomfort them under their great bereavement. Help them to look, away
irom every earthly solace, to Him wlio is the resurrection jukI the life,

DR. ELISIIxV KENT KANE.

381

man delivered

and send the Holy Spirit, the divine Comforter, to assuage their c^rief to
inspire them with resignation, to fill them with the fulness of God and
to enahle them to say, - The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away •
blessed be the name of the Lord."

Be merciful also, we entreat thee, to thy servants, the surviving com-
pan.ons of our brother beloved, who shared his duties and his dangers
Comfort their hearts, and lead them to seek in Jesus Christ an endudng
portion. °

And may this mournful visitation be sanctified to this great com-
jnunify ! Let it not be in vain that we are assembled to-day around the
bier of one upon whom earth had so accumulated its honors and to
whom so many hearts were drawn in loving confidence and affection.
Kspecally may the monitory lessons cf this event be impressed upon
the hearts of those who, like him, are engaged in the pursuits of science.
3Lny the men of genius, and the men of skill, and the men of hi^h
renown, feel that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a^d
thatse-ence is then fulfilii. , its noblest mission when it is unfolding the
glories ot the Creator in the .orks of his hands, and revealing to his
creatures that beneficent Pro /idence which is over all and in ail- And
may they joyfully and gratefully come with their gifts and their tri
umpljs, and lay them at the feet of Jesus of Naza.oth, who is over all,
(jrod blessed forever I '

May it please thee to preserve us all from the idolatry of the world
and from the neglect of things eternal ! So teach us to number our
days that we m.iy apply our hearts unto wisdom. Euable us to follow
those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises-
and receive us at length into thy »ieavonly kingdom.

These and all other mercies needful to us" we humbly ask, in the
name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our .Mediator. Amen.

At the close of the prayer the beautiful and appropriate -Solo" com-
l.«.^d by J)r. Calcott was sung by Prof. T. Eishop, with striking effect,
as lollows : — '' '

" Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear

That mourns thy exit from a world like this;
Forgive the wi,«h that would have kept thee hero
And Ktay'd thy progress to the seat oi bliss.

"No more confined to grovelling scenes of night,
No more a tenant pent in mortal clay ;
Now we would nithcr I:iii1 tl>v irl.!,-!!!!- M—i t
And trace thy journey to the realms of day."

Il'

382

OBSEQUIES OF

The dirge, "Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb," was then performed;
and, after a benediction by Rev. Mr. Shields, the large congregation
commenced to disperse.

Urn
<

ioi

I
K

The imposing public demonstration necessarily terminated with the
dismissal of the military escort and the civic societies at the church, and
the subsequent solemnities were in some degree of a private character.
Yet the Joint Committee considered that their appointment included
direction to assist in the concluding rites, and to represent those by
whom they were appointed even in conveying the remains of the deceased
to the family vault. Thither also went the pall-bearers and the Arctic
companions of Dr. Kane, and numerous citizens: and there, witii
befitting service by the reverend clergy, the body of Elisha Kent Kane
was laid at rest, amid the manifestations of grief and respect which
have distinguished the burial of few men of his years in any country.

In reference to the formation of the funeral cortege, the committee
deem it proper to state that they did not feel it incumbent upon them
to issue invitations to any particular society to attend and participate in
the ceremonies; and their confidence in the proper feeling of their
fellow-citizens was justified in the numerous notices of societies, public
institutions, scientific, literary, and philanthropic associations, and other
bodies, of their intention to join in the services, and an expression of
desire to have a place assigned them in the procession. All were accepted ;
and, though some notices were received after the completion and publi-
cation of the programme, yet it is bolievcil that a place was assigned to
all those who desired admittance to the ranks.

Of the distinguished gentlemen invited to act as pall-bearers, all not
prevented by absence or illness accepted; and the terms of acceptance —
or, where the necessity of the case rendered acceptance impossible, the
expression of regrets — were such as to give additional proof of the high
estimation in which Dr. Kane was hold, and of the conviction of duty
to make public demonstration of that estimation.

Only two persons resident beyond the limits of Pennsylvania were
invited to act as pall-bearers. Those were Henry Grinnell, Ks(|., of
New York, and George I'eabody, Esq., a citizen of the United States
resident in London, but now in this country. lioth these gentlemen
were so intimately connected with the .\rctie I'lxpeditions of Dr. Kano
as to associate their names inseparably with the history of those great
enterprises. It was to be regretted that Mr. Poabody ha.l, before the
arrangements for the obsequies were made, let\ Washington tor the

DR. ELISIIA KEXT KANE.

383

len performed;

Southern part of the Union, and did not even receive the invitation to be
present. Mr. Grinnell came from New York, and assisted in the funeral
services of one whom he so highly valued.

As it rarely happens that such civic honors are paid to the memory
of those who have not been distinouished by lofty political places or
some rcn>arkable achieven.cnt in war, it may not be improper to add
that the whole manifestation of respect by the corporation and citizens
of Ih.ladelphia to the remains of Dr. Kane seems to be remarkable
from Its expression of public feeling, which presented itself in a form
and with a universality that demanded an extraordinary demonstration,
and to sanction all that the Joint Committee could devise and execute
under existing circumstances; and, while this same feeling was evident,
and Its utterance more remarkable, at Havana, wliero Dr. Kr.ne
breathed his last,-at New Orleans, where his remains first touched the
shores of our country,-and all through the long '< funeral march" from
the mouth of the Mis.sissippi to the banks of the Delaware,-it wa.- most
certainly appropriate that hero, in Philadelphia, illustrated by his achieve-
ments, here, where his science and humanity had added new di-nity to
the distinction of his native city, his memory should be honored by
those who can appreciate the excellence which he manifested, and who
though they mourn the loss to science and philanthropy which his early
death has caused, can comprehend the merits of one who accomplished
the work of ages in what was a short life in all respects save its useful-
ness. No city in the Union has a richer treasury in the fame of its sons
than rhila.lelphia. In literature, in science, in the arts, in the achieve-
ments of war, in the beautiful works of peace, in enlarged provision for
the destitute, and in general philanthropy, the examples of I'hiladel-
phians are beautiful precedents of all that is great in plan and ennobling
in execution ; and on the roll of their civivj fame she now records the
name of Elislia Kent Kane, and the whole civilized world attests the
correctness of the appreciation and does homage to the merits that
secured the record. At home the influence of the good example of those
who have preceded us has been always operative for good: henceforth
there will bo an additional incitement to enterprise and philanthropy
in the noble daring and self-sacrificing philanthropy of Dr. Kane; and
Philadelphians abroad will have a new distinction in their civic' rela-
tions with one whose actions have cast so much lustre on generous enter-
prise, and so magnified the value of practical benevolence.

Nor can the committee omit to remark that the sonorous couraL'o -md
the unfailing urbanity of Dr. Kane awakened, even iu the hearts of the

384

OBSEQUIES OF

Urn

uncivilized with whom he came in contact, a sense of lofty regard for
the possession and praetieo of those qualities; so that, wherever Provi-
dence allowed him to gratify his desire for research, he excited feelings
and left impressions that will keep alive profound admiration for his
talents and secure ineffaceable gratitude for his kindness.

While it is understood that the same feeling of civic pride animated
all who chared in the solemnitier of the occasion, it is considered an act
of justice to express gratitude to the chief-marshal, who assisted the
committee in the arrangement of the plan of the procession, and who so
successfully carried out the whole arrangement; while thanks are also
duo to his aids and assistants, who secured the most perfect fulfilment of
his and the committee's arrangement in the details submitted to their
care.

The procession derived much of its solemnity from the striking displny
of military, who, under Brigadier-General George Cadwallader, assisted
as escort. The commanding officer was prompt in complying with the
wishes of the committee ; and the whole arrangement was a beautiful and
meritorious tribute of respect by the citizen-soldiery to the citizen of
arms and arts and sciences and generous impulses.

The company of Washington Graj's, in addition to the escort-duties,
earned the gratitude of the committee and of the public by the gentle-
manly delicacy with which they discharged the duties of guard of honor
to the body as it lay in state in the Hall of Independence. Where all
the citizens seemed concerned to have the demonstration such as would
be expressive of the deepest grief at the loss deplored and the most
profound respect for the memory of the honored dead, it would seem
unnecessary to make especial reference to the particular classes who
joined in the manifestation of the day ; but it is deemed due to the
proper spirit of our citizens to say that the gicat mercantile interests of
the city were represented not only by those who were invited to take
some special part in the proceedings, but by a great body of merchants
from the Corn Exchange, who did honor to their pursuits by the spirit
and liberality with which they seconded the ciforts of the Committee,
and the numbers by which they were represented in the procession.
Dr. Kane was not, in any of his various professional relations, directly
connected with the commercial calling; but he was a man of enterprise,
of science, of generous daring on the seas; he was a philanthropist; ho
was a rhiladelphian ; and the Association of the Corn Exchange showed
its power to appreciate the honor which the fame of the deceased threw
upon all professional pursuits, and they deserve the special thanks of the

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

385

oomm.t ee for naamfctlng tl.eir gonero™ sympathies for one wl,o a, a
Pa,ladelph,an l,a, th,w„ lustre upon nautical enterprise and i„ Id
the^nan,e and charaeter of .nan „it,. „ew and .o'e beautiful "l!:-

Clairninf! spoeial proprietorship in the fame of Dr. Kane, the eitizeus
of Ph,Iadelph,a„,ustfeel that such honors as were in NewOlosn
Lou,sv,:ie, Cncmnati, Colun.bu.,, Balti.nore, and other places b tow d
upon the re,na,ns of „„r towns.nan, devolved upon then, the du y at
least of pub ,c ack„owled,n,ent; and, while they Inow how spontanfol
were these tokens of rcpeet, and how specially'pald to and doservedr
the dead, the eo„„„„tee feel it incun.benl upon horn ,o express n the
name of those when, they represent, a profound ,ra„tude for the st rit'!

"rn^L: "'° ■'""""' e-'tusiasn. of their fellow-ei.i.en trf
uisiance lound expression.

ccct™ of ';S """' r I'" '"""''°"" "' " ""•■"■"™' -- °" -

studied eulogy of hnn who was the object of those hono4 for the

:r:;D °, l: " ''Trr -"■' "p-"""'- ""--y^- '

° . p ■„ V "*''™'"''S«<i i everywhere his fune is re-^arded

a part of the d.stme.ion of this age; and the in.,pirati„n of the poet

he power of the pen and the press, and the voice of the public speaker
W been o..erc,.sed ,o give utterance to those sentin.en.s'of adltiou
whteh a I fee , and to wh.ch all respond when thus uttered. But, had such
beer, a duty devolved upon the connuittee. that duty could n„t hav b „
more gra .fyngly discharged than it was by the 1^: Mr. Shields, and o
supply the dehceuey of their own e..pressions, the comn,ittee adopt h
language „, that d.v.ne, and have ineorponUed into their s,atcu,ent of th
, ro^ed.ngs of the day that n,o,,t interesting part which, in the grandeur
of snnphcty, gave utterance to a well.prep.red eulogy, and which held
up for a m,ratnm the strong characteristics of thetlogi.ed, and dis
plajcJ lh,,se characler,st,c« so blonued with the bcaulifuland the good
« to cxh.h.t " a con.bina.ion and a forn. indeed that gave the world
assurance of a num." ^

In the opinion of the comn.ittce, tlie proceedings which marked the
who progress ot the remains of Dr. Kane, from his doath-bod to the
sepulchre, were then.selves one of the .nost distinguished eulogies that
.1 people has over pronounced upon one who eh.imod no distinction as a
loader of arnues or as a director in staten.anship; and the single record
ot the outburst of public feeling, and the domon..trati.n of ^eneral
regard that had place in this country aud are still to be noticed, will be

386

OBSEQUIES OF

^^^H

^^H

^^^^^H

•MB

^^H

^^^B

^^^H

^^^^^^^^^H

^^^H ' '

^^B

^^V 1

^^^^^B

^^^B m-^s.M

the proudest monument that can be raised to the lofty and the gentle
qualities, the enterprise, the philanthropy, the science, and the friend-
ship, of Elisha Kent Kane.

But the committee ore reminded of a subject submitted to one part
of their body by the public meeting by which the committee from the
citizens was appointed, viz. : the collection of funds to erect a monu-
ment, at some appropriate place, to the memory of Pr. Kane, — not simply
to do him honor, but rather to do our community the justice to show
that it could appreciate the noble character of their townsman; and,
while the nation may possibly boast of the merits of the honored dead,
our own citizens may proudly point to the recorded proof that he was
of their own number.

It is not the opinion of the committee that the corporation of the
city should be asked to assist in the erection of the proposed monument.
The sum that would be worthy of the giver in such a case would deprive
citizens of the opportunity of expressing their admiration of the cha-
racter of the honored dead, and make the monument itself an emblem
of civic pride rather than a token of popular admiration. The monu-
ment, if erected, must be the exponent of general sentiment individually
expressed. And the young aspirant for fame and honor must learn, from
that column, that greatness is the result of noble enterprise and self-
abnegation, and that the virtues which secure permanent distinction
and unfading honor are those that appeal to the affections of the people,
and that no monument is so honorable or so enduring as that which
records the triumphs of science by the aid of benevolence.

It is a part of the instructions of the solemnities and public proceed-
ings which are here noticed, and the part most useful to the young and
gratifying to all, that public sentiment in our country is most healthful,
and that people of all pursuits and conditions can appreciate the merit
that rests on the achievements of peace and the sacrifices to duty ; and
that the pomp and circumstance of war, or the distinction of lofty political
station, appealing as they do to the patriotic pride of the people, are not
the only claims to public applause. The young, by such demonstrations
as have been made to the memory of Dr. Kane, see that there is a sub-
stantial worth in virtue and generous enterprise, and that the avenues
to great distinction and to general gratitude are open to tlie man who
can divest himself of calculations of solfi.sh gain, and exercise the
noblest sympathies of his nature in acts of public beneiit, which call for
the sacrifice of personal ease and safety to the comfort and convenience
of others. And it is as much upon the character of the generous self-

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

387

sacrificing philanthropy as upon that of a daring and successful contribu-
tor to science, that Dr. Kane has built his lofty reputation.

It is no inconsiderable portion of the great fame of Dr. Kane, that
he had achieved the position which he must ever occupy in history, at
an age when, in general, men are but undergoing the discipline which
prepares them for the enterprise and endurance necessary to great
success. And though he undoubtedly fell a sacrifice to his generous
enterprise, and to his noble eff-orts to mitigate for others the conse-
quences of perils and deprivations to which he and his companions
were necessarily exposed, and suffered immensely from the voluntary
assumption to himself of burdens that might have appropriately been
left to others, yet it is not found that such manifest consequences led
him to regret the sacrifice. On the contrary, his history exhibits not a
single page of selfish thought or action, from the moment he entered
upon the career which has given him the praise, sympathy, and grati-
tude of a world, to the hour when, afar from home, yet amidst cherished
relatives and friends, he calmly yielded up all earthly ties, with a Chris-
tian's confidence and submission to his Creator's will. It is perfectly
manifest that in all his undertakings, his privations and perils, and their
obvious effect upon his system, he acted upon the ennobling sentimci.t
that " the duties of life are greater than life."

The publishers would express their obligation to the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler
for his admirable taste and skill in the preparation of the foregoing account of
the obsequies of Dr. Kane. The various addresses, discourses, &c, have since
been carefully revised and corrected by their authors,

ChILDS & P2TER8ON,

! t* *

EULOGY

DB. ELI8H1 KENT KANE,

PRONOUNCED BY

BRO. E. W. AISDREWS,

BEFORE THE GRAND lODGE OF THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE FRATERNITY OF
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK,

TUKE 5, 1857;

TOaETHER WITH THE

BY THE M. AV. GEAND MASTER,

*^D LETTERS RECEIVED ON THE OCCASION FROM

EDWARD EVERETT, WASHINGTOX IRVING, GENERAL WOOL, JUDGE KANE
COMMODORES PERRY, STEWART. AND READ.

AND MANY OTHER DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMEN IN VARIOUS PARTS

OF THE UNION.

I '1)11

1,1 i

LL'
<

Office of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge
OF Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York.

New York, June 22, 1857.
Dear Sir and Brother: — At the Annual Communication of the M.W. Grand
Lodge of the State of New York, held in this city on the 6th of June, a.l. 6857,
the following resolution was adopted : —

"Whereas, the members of the M.W. Grand Lodge of the State of New York,
in Annual Communication assembled, having listened to the eulogy, pronounced
on the evening of the 6th instant, to the memory of our distinguished and beloved
brother Dr. E. K. Kane, do desire to express to our worthy and esteemed brother
E. W. Andrews their high pleasure and satisfaction with the ability and fidelity
with which he has discharged the duty imposed upon him : therefore,

"Resolved, That our brother E. W. Andrews be requested to place his manu-
script in the hands of our R.W. Deputy Grand Master and R. W. Grand Secretary,
to be published under their supervision, for distribution among the members of
the Grand Lodge."

To enable us to carry out the wishes of the Grand Lodge, will you be kind
enough to furnish us with a copy of said eulogy ?

Very \ruly and fraternally, yours,

James M. Austin,
To Hon. E. W. Andrews. Grand Secretary/.

X
K

New York, June 24, 1&57.
R.W. James M. Austin, Grand Secretary.

Dear Sir and Brother : — Your letter of the 22d instant, enclosing a copy

of the resolution adopted by the New York Grand Lodge on the 6th of June last,

was duly received, and is gratefully acknowledged.

In accordance with the wish embodied in the resolution, I herewith send you

my manuscript and place it at your disposal.

Truly and fraternally, yours,

E. W. Andrews.

890

OTEODUCTION.

ill you be kind

ine 24, 1867.

ewith send you

V. Andrews.

_ When the painful intelligence of the death of Dr. Kane was received
m the United States, the brethren of Arcana Lodge, in the city of x\ew
iork, immediately adopted measures to pay suitable public honors to
the memory of the illustrious deceased, as a worthy brother of the Fra-
ternity of Free and Accepted Masons and an honorary member of that
Lodge, by adopting the following preamble and resolutions :—

Whereas In the removal of Bro. Kane from our midst we recognise a dispensa-
tion of the Great Architect of the Universe, to which we bow in humble submis-
sion, wh. e as mortal beings we mourn the loss to mankind of so much worth
beyond that with which Supreme Wisdom has endowed a large majority of His
earthly intelligences ; and

Whereas, In his decease we are sensible of the loss of a true and valued
Brother; viewing it as an event of no ordinary sorrow, not to us alone as a Fra-
ternity, but to the country in whose service his life has been sacrificed, after a
short but brilliant career, to place a new and beautiful chaplet on her brow and
to the world, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments in science, bravery,
and worth, having inscribed his name on the great scroll of time, to be read and
respected by future generations ; and

Whereas, His devotion to the Fraternity and to humanity was so nobly
exhibited m his untiring efforts to rescue a lost brother, in the person of Sir
John Frankhn, and in planting, with the American flag, Masonic emblems to
arrest the attention of travellers and voyagers in the desolate region of eternal
ice : Therefore,

Resolved, That a Lodge of Sorrow be holden, at such time and place as may be
hereafter designated, in honor of our cherished and lamented brother. Dr. Elisha
K. Kane.

Upon subsequent consultation, however, with the officers of the Grand
Lodge of the State, it was adjudged proper that this body, at its Annual
Communication, to be held in June, should take the lead in giving
expression to the profound grief of the brotherhood at the early death

C91

■'M'

392

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

of one of its most distinguished members, and their respect and affection
for his memory; and the following-named brethren were appointed a

COMMITTEE OF ARKANOEMENTS.

14.

2
U

R. W. ROBT. MACOY,
" JAMES M. AUSTIN,
" CIIAS. L. CHURCH,
" JOHN Vr. SIMONS,
W. WM. GURNEY,
" CHAS. A. PECK,
" A. P. MORIARTY,
" HENRY W. TURNER,
« CHAS, F. NEWTON,

Bro. SIDNEY

W. CHAS. S. WESTCOTT,
" THOMAS S. SOMMERS,
" THOMAS E. GARSON,
" NEHEMIAH PECK,
" ARTHUR BOYCE,
" GEO. C. WEBSTER,
" J. B. Y. SOMMERS,
« ANDRES CASSARD,
" JAMES B. TAYLOR,
KOPMAN.

The evening of the 5th of June was designated as the time when
some appropriate public demonstration should be made, and the church
of the Eev. Dr. Chapin, on Broadway, was selected as the place. Bro.
E. W. Andrews, of New York, was invited to pronounce the eulogy on
the occasion, which invitation ho accepted. The music was placed
under the direction of Bro. James B. Taylor; and other arrangements
were made which the dignity and solemnity of the occasion demanded.
When the appointed evening arrived, a large and most respectable audi-
ence assembled : the church was draped in mourning ; a fine bust of Dr.
Kane was placed prominently in front of the pulpit, resting on a pedestal
draped with ^he tattered flag of the two Arctic Expeditions, and in the
rear of it was hung a beautiful banner, emblazoned with symbols of Free
Masonry. The music, both vocal and instrumental, was in harmony
with the mournfulness of the scene, and deepened the solemn impression
it produced. The officers and members of the Grand Lodge appeared
in full regalia and wearing badges of mourning. As in sad procession
they entered the centre-aisle of the spacious church, and with slow and
measured step passed up beneath its lofty arches toward the sacred altar,
while the deep-toned organ pealed forth its solemn notes, and the voices
of the choir, in the mournful dirge, seemed the breathings of bereaved
hearts, the scene was deeply impressive. Every heart seemed touched
with the spirit of sadness. When the music ceased, amidst the profound
stillness that prevailed through the large and thoughtful assembly, tho
Grand Chaplain, R. W. and Rev. R. L. Schoonmaker, arose, and in a
most tarvent and touching prayer addressed the Throne of Grace. Tho
following

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

593

ODE,

WniTTEN BY BRO. JAME8 HEERINQ, WAS THEN
BVm BY MRS. SPROSTON, MISS GEER, AND MESSRS. TAYLOR AND W,LUAM3.

Here let the snored rites decreed

In honor of departed friends
With solemn order now proceed,

While living faith with sorrow blends.
Now let the hymn, the humble prayer,

From hearts sincere ascend on high,
And mystic evergreen declare

The /ioj>e within us cannot die.

The mortal frame may be conceal'd

Within the narrow house of gloom,
But God in mercy has revcal'd

Immortal life beyond the tomb.

The friends wo mourn we still may love:

Then let our aspirations rise
To that brij^lit spirit-world above

Where virtue lives, love never dies.

The M. W. Grand Master, John L. Lewis, Jr., then briefly addressed
the audience upon the melancholy nature of the occasion which had
brought them together.

ADDRESS.
Brethren of the Masonic Fraternity

Ladies and Gentlemen :—
A few hours since I was first informed, by reading the printed pro-
gramme, that it was announced that I was to take an active part in the
exercises of this evening. My Masonic brethren need not be told that
my engagements elsewhere, till within the last hour, have prevented me
from making any preparation, or reflecting upon the subject-matter of
what I should here speak. But this consideration did not-could not-
restrain me from being present and contributing my humble aid in this
public testimonial to the services and worth of him who is wrnioped in
the silent slumber that knows uo waking, in a distant city. I n.i^ht
indeed catch inspiration from the scene presented before and around
me. This large and attentive assemblage, intent on doing homage to
departed genius, the fervid and thrilling petition to the Throne of
Grace, just off-ered, the rich harmony pealing from yonder skilled choir,
all awaken deep emotions; but I will not attempt to give them utterance.'

394

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

z
u

K
O

My simple duty will best be discharged by a brief allusion to tlie reasons
that have brou<«;ht us together.

This respectable and intelligent auditory scarcely require to be
reminded of the cause of this assemblage. These emblems of Masonry,
these drooping flags, these mute yet speaking evidences of sorrow,
remind us that we are in the house of mourning. The Grand Lodge
of the State of New York, now assembled in Annual Communication,
have resolved to set apart a portion of their time to do public honor to
the name and memory of Dr. Elisha K. Kane, as not only indicative
of their own feelings, but as due to his character. And why
should we thus honor his name and memory? He was not a citizen of
our State, nor a regular member of any Lodge under this jurisdiction ;
and we have apparently only the feelings of sorrow entertained in
common by the entire Craft, that a distinguished and beloved brother
of our world-wide Fraternity has passed away. It would be sufficient
to base our action alone upon this. While we claim that a connection
with the Masonic Fraternity reflects credit upon each individual member,
it frequently occurs that the character of its distinguished votaries also
reflects a brighter renown upon our institution. Their fame becomes
our fame ; their honor is our honor, their renown our renown ; and in
this instance wc feel that the achievements of Kane have shed a halo
of glory around the Masonic brotherhood " bright as the mystic aurora
of the clime he braved." The distinguished and eloquent brother from
whose glowing lips wc are to hear a truthful eulogy upon the life and
character of Dr. Kane will tell how he loved our institution; how its
lessons cheered the rigor and gloom of Polar night; and how, erecting
his country's standard as at once a shield and a signal, he spread to the
blast beneath it a flag bearing the peculiar devices of the Craft, that it
might perchance catch the eye of some wanderer in that frozen clinio
and urge him by its mute appeal to more vigorous exertions to cheer and
save. It is proper that I should remind you (as I have once already
done at the opening of the Annual Communication) that the Grand
Lodjje of New York thus publicly pays tribute to his merits and genius
because ho was an honorary member of one of the Lodges under its
jurisdiction, (Arcana Lodge,) and because his last spoken farewell,
previous to his departure upon his latest perilous expedition, was to this
Grand Lodge, assembled in special cuinmunicatiou to exchange parting
salutations and to cheer him onward in his hazardous enterprise of
seeking for au eminent lust brother iu tho regions of perpetual wintry
dvsoiutiuQ.

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

11 to the reasons

305

It is as much the province of our ancient Fraternity to gather around
the open grave and silent tomb of a brother as it is to meet upon festal
or ceremonial occasions, where mutual smiles and innocent f^.^Jvitv
denote the joyousness of the heart. We gather in our Lodges of
Sorrow when the loved and honored have departed and sit in the
chambers of death, to give expression to the emotions which stir our
sou^; and oars is the mournful duty of strewing the grave of a brother
with the weeping acacia, as a token that, while we witness the mortality
of the body, we aleo believe in the immortality of the soul, and lingering
around the little mound of earth which crowns his last resting-place!
while we speak of his virtues and our own bereavement. Ours is the
niournful task of weaving chaplots for the sepulchre as well as garlands
for the living brow, and of planting the shady cypress in the cemetery
of the silent dead. We have thus met, as in a Lodge of Sorrow, to-
night; and, while our spirits kindle at the recollection of what our dis-
inguishPd brother has done fur the cause of our common humanity and
for the fresh honors he has shed upon our gallant navy, we mourn at
he remembrance that he has passed away from earth forever, but yet in
the fulness of his fame and the brightness of his early renown.

We do not mourn alone. Listen to what his former distinguished
and gallant commander, Commodore Perry, that brave and renowned
veteran, Commodore Stewart, the enlightened Maury, and others of
high meritorious character, say of their lamented brother-officer. Nor
a one does the voice of sorrow come up from the surges of the sounding
sea. Ihe gallant soldiery of the country delight to honor skill and
daring, whether by sea or land. Hear the language of the distinguished
and renowned second in comn.and of the United States army, Major-
Gencral Wool. Hoar also the voices of our statesmen and men of litera-
ture,-the accomplished Everett, Irving, Willis, Halleck, Lester, and a
host of other celebrities, from the pulpit, the bar, and the mystic circle
The Grand Master then read a number of letters which had been
received in response to the following invitation :—

Office of the Guano Lodge of
Free and Accepted Masons of tub State of New V(

Dkau Sm :.-T he frntornity of Freo and A.cepto.l Masons of tho State of New
York, desn-ous of te.t.fyin, „.eir high appreciation of tho lamented and distin

P t' :: ; r • "'^'^ '"" •''""'• '"^^ ""^^^ arrangements for approp.-ia e
pubhc honors to In. memory. The ceremonies to take nlano „n F.i.l..; ov-'nin.

'Z J-cloct '''""" °' "" ""• "'• ''• "• '""'""• •" ''-adwayrnt' half-pa:;

I'ORK, V

.iiiiii

306

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

Eulogium by the Hon. Bro. E. W. Andrews, and other appropriate exercises.
You are respectfully invited to attend and join in this tribute of respect to the
memory of the departed.

Chas. a. Peck, "\

RoBT. Macoy, > Committee on Invitation.

Sidney Kopman, )

LETTERS.

!*'

fid

{From Charles Stewart, Senior Commodore, United States Navy.)

Philadelphia Navy-Yard, June 3, 1857.
Gentlemen:— I have the honor to receive your kind invitation of the 1st
instant, in behalf of the Honorable the Frue and Accepted Masons of the State
of New York, to attend in the contemplated public honors to the memory of the
lamented ami distinguished brother Dr. Elisha K. Kane.

Could I have been spared from the duties of this post, without public incon-
venience, on the 5th instant, it would have afforded me the most grateful feelings
to have united with our brethren of the State of New York by my attendance on
the occasion of their tribute of respect to the memory of on') so honorably dis-
tinguished and self-sacrificed for the benefit of the humar family.

Accept, gentlemen, with the assurance of my regret, from inability on this
occasion, to comply with your interesting wishes, that I have the honor to remain,

Most respectfully.

Your affectionate brother,

To Brothers Charles Stewart.

Chas. A. Peck, -

lloBERT Macoy, \. Committee on Invitation.
Sidney Kopman,

{From Commodore Perry, United States Navy.)
88 West Thirty-Second Street, New York, June 3, 1857.
Gentlemen :— I regret exceedingly that a protracted illness, which has confined
me to my house for several weeks, will deprive mo of the gratification of joining
you in doing lienor to the memory of our departed brother, "the lamented and
distinguished" Dr. E. K. Kane.

Be assured, gentlemen, of my warmest sympathies being with you on the
occasion of your melancholy ceremonies.

Most respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

M. C. Perry.

{From CoMMODoiiE Read, United Slates Navy.)

Philadelphia, June 8, 1857.
flcvTT.rMFV r— I brtve the honoF to aeknowk-dgc the polite invitation received
from you to-day to attend and join in a ceremony the object of which is to

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

397

tee on Invitation.

RLES StEWAIIT.

with you on the

bestow appropriate honors on the memory of the lamented Dr. Elisha K
Kane.

Allow me to say that I feel highly flattered by this mark of attention, and that
I would with much pleasure attend and join in the tribute of respect to the
memory of an old shipmate, were it not ac present out of my power to do so.

I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

George Read.

{From LiEuiENANT Madry, United States Navy.)

Observatory, Washxnqton, June 3, 1857
Gentlemen :-It will not, I regret to say, be in my power to participate with

you ,n the melancholy satisfaction of rendering homage to the merits of our

Illustrious fellow-countryman, the late Dr. Kane.

Did not occupations and engagements which"lam not at liberty to set aside

prevent, I would surely be with you on Friday evening.

Respectfully, &c.,
M. F. Maury.

{From Major-General John E. Wool, United States Army.)

Head-Quaiiters, Department of the East, )
Troy, N.Y., Junes, 1857 J
^ Gentlemen .-I had the honor to receive your invitation of the 1st instant to
jom m the coremonies intended as a testimony of the high appreciation onter-
uined by the free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York for their
lamente.1 and distinguished brother, Dr. Elisha K. Kane, to take place on
iridny evening, June 5. '

I deeply regret that my official duties will not permit me to avail mvself of the
opportunity of doing honor to the memory of your brother, who was' no less dis-
tinguished than he rendered great and important services to his country.

I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
John E. Wool, U. S. Army.

{From Hon. Jodqe Kane, P. M.. father of Dr. Kane.)

n „ Philadelphia, Gth June, 1857.

Gentlemen :-My absence from home when your note of invitation arrived
prevented my receiving it till this morning; but I cannot omit to thank you for
i , and to say how deeply I have been moved by the justly fraternal feeli,,: .vhieh
. represents. I believe I can speak of Dr. Kano as ho was, for I knew^him in
the n .it.ons that determine the judgment ns well as in tlm-e that affect the heart
I cannot suspect myself of a father's partiality when I say that our order never
n... a ,r:g„,rr representative,— (hat there was never a bettor son or brother a
truer friend, n purer man, or a more expanded and self-sacrificing philanthropist.

■

398

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

That his memory is honored by those who can emulate his virtues, and by that
brotherhood especially which adopts them as its symbols, gives assurance that he
did not live or die in vain. With grateful respect,

I am, gentlemen.

Your obedient servant,

J. K. Kane.

'tl

X
K

(From C. Edwards Lester, Esq.)

Spencertown, Columbia County, New York, June 4, 1857.

Gentlemen and Brothers : — I thank you for remembering me in connection
with the honors you are to show to the memory and achievements of our beloved
and heroic brother. Dr. Kane. I shall be with you if I can.

No more befitting or touching occasion could occur to call out our friendship
or our grief. Thousands knew him as a friend: the uncounted hosts of the
Masonic Fraternity knew him as a brother. His contributions to science laid the
whole world under obligation ; his writings embellish literature ; while his whole
life is radiant with the divine spirit of humanity. We should feel a new glow of
gratitude and pleasure as we commemorate his virtues. lie was a cherished
member of a brotherhood on which the sun mid the stars never go down ; and
from the genial air of our lodge-rooms and firesides lie carried our banner of
peace to the frozen children of the Pole. Such are the men who have transmitted
the torch of light from age to age.

Most faithfully, yours,

C. Edwards Lester.

(From Hon. Edward Everett, Mass.)

Medford, Mass., June 4, 1857.
Gentlemen: — Your letter of the 1st has been forwarded to me at this place,
inviting me to attend the commemoration-ceremonies in honor of the late lamented
Dr. Kane, on the evening of the 5th, under the auspices of the " Free and
Accepted Masons of the State of New York." I much regret that it is not iu my
power to be present on the interesting occasion.

I remain, gentlemen, with great respect,

Your obedient servant,

Edward Everett.

(FVom Washington Irving, Esq.)

SuNNYSiDE, June 5, 1857.
Gentlemen : — Your obliging invitation did not reach mo until last evening. I
regret to say that engagements which detain mo in the country will prevent my
attendance at the interesting ceremonies with which you propose to testify youf
high appreciation of the merits of our illustrious and lamented countryman.

Very respectfully,

Your OOHgru and liUmvie nrrvaTit,

Washington Irving.

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

399

KTLoa Lester.

(From Fitz-Greenk Halleck, Esq.)

Guilford, Connecticut, July 18, 1857.
Gentlemen :-I deeply regret that your letter, inviting me to be present on the
5th June ultimo, at the ceremonies, under your auspices, in remembrance of the
late Dr. Kane, did not reach mo in time to enable me to avail myself of its cour-
tesy and to unite with you in doing public homage to the memory of a good and
gallant brother of the brotherhood you represent, whose life was on honor to that
Brotherhood and to humanity, and whose heroism of head and heart and hand
was worthy of all homage.

With grateful acknowledgment of the compliment your invitation paid me I
am, gentlemen, '

Your obedient servant,

Fitz-Greene Halleck.

(From Joseph D. Evans, P. G. M.)

Nfw York, Jun» 5, 1857.
^ Brethren :— I have the honor of receiving your kind invitation to attend and
join in the tribute of respect proposed to be paid to our lamented and distinguished
brother, Dr. E. K. Kane, by the Masonic Fraternity of this State.

Although I find it impossible to be present this evening to participate in the
ceremonies of the occasion, I nevertheless fully sympathise with you and the
brotherhood generally in our irreparable loss.

Dr. Kane not y stood high in the estimation of his countrymen and with
the world at large, but, by the noblo traits of his social and moral character, won
the affection and respect of his Masonic brethren.

It is due to his memory that tlie Fraternity generally should do honor to so
estimable a gentleman and so true and warm-hearted a Mason.

With the highest respect, I remain, dear brethren,
Yours, truly and fraternally,

Joseph D. Evans.

ill

GTON IrVINO.

(From R. L. Sohoonjiaker, Grand Chaplain.)

Grand Lodge Room, New York, June 4, 1857.
WoRSHiPFOL Brothers:— I have roc ived your kind communication of yester-
day, inviting me to be present and officiate on the occasion of the funeral obsequies
to be observed in memory of our beloved and deceased brother. Dr. E. K. Kane, ,
in the church of the Rev. Dr. Chapin, of this city. It will afford me high satis-
faction to bo present with you on that occasion, so deeply interesting to us as
American citizens, but especially as members of the great Masonic Fraternity.
It is well thus to do honor to the memory of one who has so deservedly gained the
.t:..|i.,. I ,..,., .,.,.„,, „J,.^^ r., ,1,,. rr--!ri ivi ttt- ui-tiuguj-ncti rciciitinu .iitainmonts,
for his indomitable energy and perseverance in the prosecution of those high

HIS

400

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

purposes upon which his heart was fixed, for his sterling and excellent qualities
as a man, and his warm devotion to the best interests of our beloved and cherished
institution.

May it be our aim to emulate him in all those respects, and with him at last
end our weary pilgrimage here on earth in a triumphant faith in God !

Truly and fraternally, yours,

11. L. SCHOONMAKEE,

Grand Chaplain,

fit

u.
u.

Z
ci

(Ft > . JOHN D. Wi:,LAiiD, p. G. M.)

New YottK, June 4, 1857.

Gentlemen : — Should it be possible for me to remain in town, it will afford me
very great satisfaction to accept the invitation with which 1 have been honored,
and join in the Masonic tribute of respect to the memory of our departed
brother. Dr. Elisha K. Kane.

There are low men of our age who, in my estimation, are so worthy of every
public and «very Masonic honor. His whole life was an exemplification of the
beautiful tenets of our noble institution. The principles of our Order took deep
root in his heart ; they were entwined in all his affections, and they brought forth
fruit in all his acts. How remarkably is this exhibited, to the eye of a Mason,
in his last great contribution to the literature of our country,— his touching nar-
rative of the Expedition that he commanded ! How often, by little remarks and
by the narration of little incidents, does he show his attachment to Free Masonry 1
How ready was he to peril life in the discharge of duty and for the relief of a
brother! And how proud was ho to bear the " Masonic Banner," beside the stars
and stripes of our p;loiious Union, to the unknown regions of the North, and
plant it, amid eternal ice and snows, where the footsteps of civilized man had
never before trod !

But 1 am saying more than I intended. I meant simply to express this senti-
ment, which we all feel in our hearts : — that the rendering of these public Masonic
honors is alike duo to ourselves and to the moiuory of the illustrious dead.
Very respectfully and fraternally, yours,

John D. Willaed.

{From Rob Moeiis, Kentuchj.)

LooGFTON, Kkntitcky, Juno 5, 1857.

SiES AND Brothers : — It is with profound regret that I have to express to you
my inability to accept your kind invitation of the 1st instant. To join in a
tribute of respect to one whose character I have so much admired as Dv. Kane's
were a duty I should make any reasonable sacrifice to perform, — how much more
to unite with so ciistinguished a body of the Masonic Fraternity as the Grand
Lodge of New York ; but other engagements render it impossible.

Aiinw rac to say to you, gentlemen of the Committee, and through you to the

DR. ELI SUA KENT KANE.

401

r D. WiLLARD.

illustrious body you represent, that avo Western nnd Southern Masons have fol-
lowed the body of Bi'other KHhU:! K. Kane from New Orleans, where it was landed,
to the point which separates the Eastern from the Western States. At every land-
ing on the great rivers, at every railway-station on our iron roads, crowds of
loving Masons have gathered around that body, weeping that one so young should
have thus passed beyond us, triun.phing tliat his departure was not too soon for
his own glory. Thus we claim that, though we caunot bo with you in person, we
will not be absent in admiration and respect.

For myself, my admiration for the intrepid navigator has made his history a
familiar theme in my household. My children were taught to follow him upon
his dangerous track, and they rejoiced with him upon his glorious return. As far
back as 1853, I ventured to express that admiration publicly in these poor words
The prophecy truly has failed ; but the sentiment is eternal. " Sir John Frank-
lin, whose protracted absence upon an expedition to the northern coasts of
America has aroused the solicitude of the world, is a Free Mason. Dr. E. K.
Kane, the young and enthusiastic traveller, whose recent departure in search of
Franklin has been chronicled throughout the land, is bound in the same holy com-
munion, and in token thereof bears our symbol of the square and compass upon
his foresail. What a meeting will it be, when, amidst Arctic night and desolation,
these two Masons shall come together and grasp the brotherly hand !"

" Midst Polar snows and solitude.

Eight weary years the voyager lies
Ice-bound upon the frozen flood,

Till expectation vanishes.
Ah 1 many a hopeful tear is shed
For him thus number'd with the dead.

•' Midst joys of home and well-earn'd fame,
Young, healthful, honor'd, there is one
Who pines to win a nobler name.
And feels his glory but begun :
His heart is with the voyager lost
Midst Polar solitude and frost.

" Is there some chain of sympathy

Flung thus across the frozen seas ?
Is there some strange, mysterious tie

That joins these daring men? There is I
This, honor'd, healthful, free from want,
Is bound to that in covenant !

"For though these twain have never met.
To press the hand or join the heart,
In unison their spirits beat,
Brothers in the Masonic art I

Qnp in ♦li.i b'-^nt* .^f J--. . 1 , ,«

T 1 ^.i- !..,.!! .,! J.. J „,„, p^ace.

One in the hour of deep distress.
20

1^ "^

;, y

<
u.

402

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OP

" Tho voice from oflf the frozen flood

Appeals in trumpet-tones for aid :
'Tis heard, 'tis answer'd : swift abroad

The flag is flung, the sail is spread, —
That flag, that sail, on which we see
The emblems of Free Masonry.

"Away on glorious errand now,

Thou hero of a sense of right !
Success be on thy gallant prow.

Thou greater than the sons of might!
Thy flag the banner of the Free,
Oh, may it lead to victory !

" And by that symbol, best of those
Time-honor'd on our ancient wall, —
And by the prayer that ceaseless flows

Upward from every mystic hall, —
And by thine own stout heart and hand
Known, mark'd, and loved in every land, —

" Thou shall succeed : his di'ooping eye

Shall catch thy banner broad and bright ;
Those symbols he shall yet descry
And know a brother in the sight.
Ah ! noble pair, who happier then
Of those two daring, dauntless men ?"

Very fraternally, yours,

Rob Morris.

{From N. P. Willis.)

Idlewild, June 4, 1857.
Gentlemen : — I received your polite and honoring invitation to-day, and am
exceedingly sorry that it is out of my power to accept it. The ceremony is one
which everyway interests my respect and sympathies ; and I rejoice in witnessing
the tribute to such a man, paid by so estimable and honorable a society.

With thanks for the compliment to myself expressed in your valued invitation,
I remain, gentlemen,

Yours, with highest respect,

N. P. Willis.

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

403

A HYMN,

WRITTEN BY BRO. GEO. P. MORRIS, WAS THEN SUNQ
BY MRS. SPROSTON, MISS GEER, AND MESSRS. TAYLOR AND WILLIAMS.
"Man (lieth and wasteth away,

And where is he ?" Hark ! from the akies
I hear a voice answer p,nd say,

" The spirit of man never dies :
His body, which came from the earth,

Must mingle again with the sod ;
But his soul, which in heaven had birth,

Returns to the bosom of God."

The sky will be burnt as a scroll.

The earth, wrapt in flames, will expire ;
But, freed from all shackle j, the soul

Will rise in the midst of the fire.
Then, brothers, mourn not for the dead,

Who rest from their labors, forgiven :
Learn this, from your Bible, instead: —

The grave is the gateway to heaven.

Lord God Almighty ! to thee

We turn as our solace above ;
The waters may fail from the sea.

But not from thy fountains of love.
Oh, teach us thy will to obey,

And sing, with one heart and accord,
" The Lord gives ; the Lord takes away ;

And praised bo the name of the Lord !"

The M. W. Grand luaster then introduced the distinguished orator,
Hon. Brottffer E. W. Andrews, who proceeded, for more than an hour,
to delineate the life and portray the character of our lamented Brother
Kane,— the audience testifying their deep interest in the theme by the
most undivided and rapt attention, only broken by an occasional murmur
of suppressed applause at the impassioned eloquence of the speaker.

At the close of the eulogy the bonedictiop was fonounccd by the
Grand Chaplain, Rt. W. and Rev. John Gray, and the audience dis-
persed as the rich, full harmony of the Governmental Band resounded
through the arches above in a sad requiem to the memory of Kane.

Uin I

i04

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

\%:

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H^NI^^^^^^H

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( 'i

EULOGY.

BY HON. BROTHER E. W. ANDREWS.

Most Worship/ul Grand Master, Brethren of the Grand Lodge, and of
our Ancient and Honorable Fraternity yenerally.

Ladies and Gentlemen :— We are assembled within these sacred
walls to-night to render our humble tribute of affection and honor to the
memory of our lamented brother, Dr. Kane. Rarely has a death occurred
which has touched with so deep and universal a sorrow the heart of man.
Cut down in the morning of his active life, and in the midst of a career
which had already given him place among the most beloved and hor;ored
of men, and which was rich, almost beyond parallel, in its promise for
the future, his untimely fall has called forth the strongest and tenderest
expressions of grief throughout the civilized world.

Science mourns the loss of one of her most earnest and successful
votaries ; Philanthropy weeps the death of one who was ever eager to
obey her heavenly behests; and Rel-^ion, sad at the necessary sacrifice
of such a life, but joyful at the signal triumph of her own divine power
in his peaceful death^ stands by his tomb pointing to the skies.

And; brethren, our own venerable Order, whose mystic tie spans the
earth, binding in sweet and sacred unison thousands of hearts in every
aWmQ,— our own venerable Order, ever the true friend and ally of Science,
Philanthropy, and Religion, — everywhere bow their heads in grief, lament-
ing the early fall of a brother whose life, already illustrious by its beau-
tiful harmony with our pure and exalted principles, promised to give
them in the future even a brighter illustration, a more commanding
power.

Under this impulse of grief, we meet in " a Lodge of Sorrow" to-
night. We meet to spend this hour in the calni though mournful con-
tcHiplation of a history crowded during its bii<!f continuance with the
mjst interesting events, marked by the noblest deeds, adorned by the
purest virtues. We meet not to praise the dead : our praise could add
not the faintest ray to the brightness that encircles his memory; we
meet rather to study a life which we laay safely imitate, — a character
formed to give higher elevation and dignity to our nature, — a death that
may teach us how to die.

)|« « >|c 9|( jK iK

^For want of space, a portion of this beautiful eulogy is necessarily
omitted : the extracts which are here given will, we fear, scarcely do
justice to the distinguished orator. — Publishers.']

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

405

A few days before the sailing of the Expedition, the fact was
announced to Arcana Lodge, of this city, that Dr. Kane was a member
of the Masonic Fraternity. This announcement produced a deep sen-
sation among the members, and resolutions expressive of their high
admiration of his character, and their profound sympathy with his
generous self-sacrificing plans and labors for the rescue of a lost brother,
were unanimously adopted and transmitted to him in Philadelphia. He
returned the following reply: —

Philadelphia, May 12, 1853.
Dear Sir and Brother :— I have received your eloquent letter enclosing the
resolutions of the Free and Accepted Masons of Arcana Lodge. These resolu-
tions, expressive of the sympathy of our brethren with the object of the expedi-
tion under my command, are to me especially pleasing. I shall communicate
them formally to tl e officers and men, as an indication of valued sympathy at
home, aL'd a useful stimulus in the search after our lost brother, Sir John Franklin.

I ha\e the honor to be.

Faithfully, your friend and brother,

E. K. Kane.

To Sidney Kopman, Sec'y Arcana Lodge.

On the evening of the 80th of May, 1853, being the night previous
to his sailing, the members of the Grand Lodge of New York, and a
large number of the personal friends of Dr. Kane, assembled in this
city to testify their high appreciation of his character, and to express
their deep sympathy with his heroic purpose of Christian philanthropy
in again venturing forth amidst the perils of an Arctic voyage. Judge
Kane, the father of Dr. Kane, Henry Grinnell, and other distinguished
gentlemen, were present. Dr. Kane was seated, during the evening, by
the side of the 31. W. Grand Master ; Masonic exercises of an appro-
priate and interesting character were performed. Among these was an
addrcs? to Dr. Kane by the Deputy Grand Master, embodying, in the
most eloquent and touching language, the sentiments which the body
entertained toward their distinguished guest. To this address Dr. Kane
replied in the following appropriate and beautiful terms : —

" In behalf of myself and my associates in the American Arctic
Expedition, I thank you, sir, most cordially, for the tone and language
of your very appropriate and feeling address, and the pleasure I have ex-
perienced in, hearing it. With regard to your remarks directly associ-
ated with my name, I should be embarrassed could I not refuse to believe
them addressed to me in any other capacity than that of the representative

III

40G

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

of a cause which perhaps may claim to associate Christian charity with
American enterprise, — the attempt to save a <j;allant ofiicor and his fellows
from a dreadful death, without inquiring whether ho or they and our-
selves are citizens of the same or of another race, or clinic, or nation.
Worshipful, I have heard upon this floor to-night our party characterized
as a IMasonic expedition. And is it not this ? And is its work not
substantial 3IasonryV Are you, sir, or you, brothers, here, that aro
athered around me, are we blindly attached to this or that ritual
of this or that form or order of the Masonic institution ? Say, is
it not rather that we see reflected in Free Masonry the cause of free
brotherhood throughout the world, and that our signs and our symbols,
our tokens, legends, and pass-words, arc only honorable in our eyes, and
honored because they arc a language in which aff'ection can securely
speak to sympathy, and humanity safely join hands with honor ?

" Brethren, we are called in our day, perhaps, to make 3Iasonry what it
should bo, — not a sectarian society, to garb, or rank, or enroll men, to
separate them from their follows, but a bond to unite the good and truo
in a common union for the common defence and welfare of all who are
good and true men. Our brother Franklin, he was one who ruled his
conduct by the compass and the square, and the accents of woo never
for him fell on an unpitying ear. It may be he cannot hear your voice
to-night, calling to him, ' Brother, be of good cheer.' ]Jut there aro
others living — other Franklins yet to live and to be born — whom your
example and your sympathy will help to encourage and excite to emulate
his example when they too peril their lives for the advantage and
advancement of their species. These will not fall unnoticed ; they shall
not shrink while a brother's outstretched hand can save them. The
Mason, the true man, — wherever is the Grand Lodge that the Most Wor-
shipful has built up for our habitation, wherever is it that the cry of
afiliction is heard, — hastens to the rescue of the widow's son."

Such are the sentiments that reflect, in true colors, the character of
Dr. Kane as a man, a Mason, a Christian !

At the close of this address, a delegation from the Grand Lodge of
New Jersey was presented to Dr. Kane, who communicated to him reso-
lutions which had been adopted by that body, expressing its warmest
sympathies with the holy enterprise in which he was engaged, and giving
to him, "as a Mason, on a worthy brother Mason's errand, and to his
officers and men, an aff'ectionate God-speed on their voj-age." To this
communication Dr. Kane made a brief but thrilling reply, and the meet-

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

407

! character of

ind Lodge of
d to him reso-

ng soon after adjourned. The whole scene was one of deep and tender
ant cst,-one the m.pression of which can never fade from the hearts
of those who had the privilege to witness it. As the brethren gathered
around the dopart.ng hero to give hi.n the farewell hand, many' man y
breast heavo.l w.th deep emotion. nn,l n..ny a manly cheek was wet w h
he e brotherly affection. All felt that it was ' . trutk, the hand
a h^oth.r they graspod,-of a true man,-a faithful Mason,-a n,e„.ber of
a fann y whose children are bound together '< by a mystic cord, who
every thread is woven in the loom of Love " '

The next morning ho snilod. Ifis departure was an event which,
as you well know cxcuod a deep infrost through the nation. Frcn
thousands of fam.ly altars and ten thousand silent hearts there went up
that mornmg intense aspirations to the Cod of the sea and the land
invoking h,s watchful care over the fearless mariner. Vast crowds
gathered on the battery and on the wharves to take a parting look a
the adventurous bng, her honored con.mander and galhvnt crew The
waters of our spacious bay everywhere swarn.ed with steamers and sailing,
craft of every descnptum, bearing the flags and emblems of ^Lnsonr?
and bidding God-speed to the calm but determined and noble banj
Irue It was no novelty to see a vessel go forth from these secure and
beautifu waters to a voyage upon the great deep. Ships of almost
every nation ot the earth are daily to be seen borne away, by the breezes
of heaven, from this port to different seas and the remotest climes • but
here was not one among the thousands who gazed that morning upoa
the httle brig of one hundred and forty-four tons, manned by a crew of
only e,ghteen men, as she slowly moved down the bay, who did not feel
that the sight was noble and august; there was not one who was not
conscious of unusual emotions at that hour and at that sight There
was mora sublimity in it. It was a triumph of what is great and pure
and Godlike in our nature. It was the commencement of a voyage, not
for the gains of commerce, nor for the crimson glories of war, nor yet
for the advancement of science, but the commencement of a vovajre of
ove,-a voyage for the rescue of a band of strangers of a distant nation
from a dreary grave. It was a beautiful, an impressive recognition of
he worth of man as man,-a noble tribute offered to the transcendent
ties of our humanity,-a deed of lofty charity for coming ages to ponder
upon and emulate. ^

At length, amid salutes and cheers of farewell, they cast off from th«
steamer, and were soon out upon the Atlantic, ploughing their w..
toward the eternal winters of the North. Their destination was to tj"e

408

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

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highest penetrable point of BaflBn's Bay, and from thence, by means of
dog-sledges, to attempt a search for the missing expedition by following
the trend of the coast.

******
After gazing for some time in silence on the scene, [speaking of the
open Polar sea,] and remembering that the hour was not only one of
triumph for his noble commander, but for the Republic he represented,
Mr. Morton raised upon the summit of the cliff where he stood the
stars and stripes,— the flag of our Union. This flag Dr. Kane calls
" The Grinnell Flag of the Antarctic,— a well-cherished little
relic which had now followed me on two Polar voyages. This flao- had
been saved from the wreck of the United States sloop-of-war Peacock when
she stranded off the Columbia River. It had accompanied Commander
Wilkes in his far-southern discovery of an Antarctic continent. It was
now its strange destiny to float over the highest northern land, not only
^,f America, but of our globe. Side by side with this flag were placed
our own Masonic emblems of the compass and the square. Here,
mingling their folds, they floated from the black cliff over the dark,
rock-shadowed waters which rolled up and broke in white caps at its
base." By the kindness of IMr. Grinnell, I am able to-night to unfurl
that memorable little flag in your presence, — " a flag which," in the
language of Mr. Grinnell, in his note accompanying the flag when he
sent it to me, " has been farther South and twice farther North than
any other in existence." Hero it is, [the flag was here unfurled by
Mr. A. ;] and I am authorized by its distinguished owner to say that
whoever will plant this flag at any point farther north than that on
which Dr. Kane planted it shall be entitled to its possession.

******

I have thus traced in its faintest outline the life of our lamented
brother. The prominent events of his career were of a nature fitted to
develop and place in a strong light the leading traits of his chnracter.
That these traits, as combined in hiiii, formed one of the most remark-
able men of the age, is nowunivcrsally acknowledged,— one of the truest
and noblest whose name adorns the page of American biography. 2'he
nnconqucmlh encrgi/ of his nature was one of his most prominent and
striking tmits. This element of power never failed him : from his early
childhood it stamped his career. Although small in size, (his ordinary
weight being about a hundred pounds,) and with an organization singu-
larly delicate and refined, yet ho exhibited an activity, physical aud
mental, a capacity for labor, a power of endurance, a resoluteness of

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

409

purpose, nnd an iron will, such as the stoutest and strongest, the Goliaths
of earth, have rarely shown. When an object was before him to the
accomplishment of which duty pointed, he shrank from no labor, was
disheartened by no obstacles, refused no sacriGces. If for the moment
baffled, he seemed to rise from his defeat in renovated strength to renew
the struggle. Whether toiling up the precipices of the Himalayas, or
lighting his way through the ranks of the embattled hosts of Mexico or
contending amidst the wild war of elements on a stormy Arctic sea, or
from his ice-enchained little brig, going forth alone amid the darkness
and dreariness of a Polar night to secure, if it may be, a mouthful of
food that can minister to the strength of one of his dying crew,-,:,Aa^
ever his purpose, u-hcrevcr the scene of his efforts,-nothing seemed to
daunt or discourage him: omcard, straight onward to his object he
directed his course, and, if within the compass of human power to reach
It, success was the result. It has been truly said, "Our victory is in
Its nobihty somewhat as are our enemies in their stren-th." The foes
of an Arctic explorer are among the most terrible that man can encounter;
and tnumphantljj to meet them demands a physical courage, a brave
endurance, a moral heroism, higher and nobler than any battle-field
whose scenes redden the page of history. Justly, therefore, to appre-
ciate the mighty energy of his nature of whom we speak we must follow
him through the fearful conflicts to which he was called in that zone of
mystery and terror. We must see how the mightiest powers of nature
were arrayed against him; how the wildest elements encompassed him
with fatal arms of death; how the sea raged, and the blinding snow fell
and the sun sank out of sight for months, and the mountain-icebergs
are seen in the spectral twilight approaching to crush his little vessel Fn
their mighty embrace. We must see "how contrivance was defeated
by accident; how foresight proved insufficient to provide; how human
strength was wasted in attempts that failed;" how bread was wanti.K.
and fuel was not found; how famine and disease came with ghastly
terrors; how the strong man laid down despairingly and died; and then
how he rose up against all this, and, assorting the supremacy of that
nature which God had given him, triumphed over ail, and bore back
tho remnant of worn and wearied men that was left him to the fair
havens of their homo in the South ! Well has it been asked, " Are not
the Arctic explorations a Christian Iliad, and is not our Achilles nobler
than Thotis's son V

But this controlling element of liis nature, while it crowded his brief
career with brilliant achievements and noblo results, yet shortened his

•ill I!

410

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

\^jmmr^htm

life. His constitu ion, never the most vigorous, yielded nnd finallv
gave way under the overwhelming burdens which his insatiate energy
imposed upon it.

The intellect of Dr. Kane was of a high order. Quick in percepijon,
rapid both in combination and analysis, sound in deduction, and power-
fully retentive of memory, he acquired with great case, and ever had
his acquisitions at immediate disposal. In a high degree inquisitive,
enth asiastic in pursuit, and favored as he was with abundant means of
early discipline and culture, the range of his attainments was wide
and varied, especially in the boundless fields of physical science, — his
favorite sphere of intellectual effort. Although naturally impulsive, yet
he exhibited in his career great prudence and calm self-reliance ; and,
when the emergency demanded new resources, his fertility of invention
was wonderful. He was capable of the most intense mental concen-
tration. No man, whenever investigation required it, was more
laborious, patient, a'<d unyielding. The paper he read before the
j^merican and Geographical Statistical Society, already alluded to,
affords a fine illustration of his powers in this direction. His con-
clusions in regard to the existence of an open Polar sea, therein
embodied, he had worked out by a chain of induction as severe as
mathematical demonstration. He no more proceeded on mere con-
jecture than did the immortal discoverer of our hemisphere when, in
the face of a scoffing world, he asserted its existence. Indeed, Dr. Kane
may justly be styled the Columbus of the Arctic. His mind also was
of that refined cast which rendered him alive to true grandeur and
beauty, and would have enabled him, had he chosen, to range success-
fully the fiowory jinths and tempt the untrodden heights of the literary
world. To nothing that unfolded the mysterious purposes and illus-
trated the exquisite perfection of nature's handiwork was he ever indif-
ferent. Whether upon the ocean or the land, in the torrid or the frigid
zone, — whether gazing in annized delight upon the Arctic aurora with its
start'ingand beautiful modification.s of light in swiftly-varying succession,
or penct'.ating the caves of his .iwn Alloghanios, and there reading the
history of earth among the hidden rocks and in the successive strata
of her various formations, — whether watching the silent growth of the
tiny flower that, under some overhanging cliff of eternal ice, opens its
modest loaves to the pale beams of a I'olar sun, or measuring the lieavenly
bodies in tluir distant spheres, -^nd with mathematical accuracy marking
out the paths along which they fly in (heir impetuous courses, — whether
wandering amidst the pyramids uf Kgypt or through the chsm ruins

DR. ELISHA KENT KANE.

ore wlien, la

OS, — whether
classic ruins

411

of lovely Greece,-no object of beauty, no scene of sublimity, no illus-
tration of excellence, no proof of virtue, that ever met his eye, failed to
nnnister pleasure to his soul. As we follow him in his Arctii wander-
ings, surrounded as he often was with horrors thick and dark enough to
overwhehn an ordinary mind, we are astonished at the beautiful, glorious
houghts, mvested often with the loftiest poetical in.agery, which abound
on th pages of h,s da.ly journal. Liscen to his language on one occasion,
afterhe had been pacing the deck of his little brig, as she lay motion^
less ,n her icy chains and surrounded by the unbroken silence of her
niys erious solitude :-< The intense beauty of the Arctic firmament can
hardly be imagined. It looks close above our heads, with its stans
niagnified in glory, and the very planets twinkling so much as to baffle
h observations of the astronomer. I have trodden the deck when the

ts companionships; and, as I looked on the radiant hemisphere circli.;:
above me as if rendering worship to the unseen Centre of Light, I have
ejaculated, ' Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of hhn /' Vnd
hen I ave thought of the kindly world we had left, with its revolnn.
sunlight and shadow, and the other stars that gladden it in thei:
changes, and the hearts that wanned to us there, till I lost myself in
he memories of those who arc not; and they bore me back to the stars
again. _ Never have the beauties, the wonders, the terrors of tint
mysterious circle of earth's surface been ,so fully, graphically, and with
such fascinating power of rhetoric revealed as they are in his " Aret c
Explorations, '-a work which, while it will ever awaken the hi.-hes
admiration or its gifted author, will ever be invested with a nieland.oly
nteres as the last monument of his genius, reared with his dyin.
strcii i* til, •' ^

But the moraf ^juaWcs of Dr. Kane constituted the governing, power

and Uie highest adornment of his nature; .. they gav^seful iirX

his n nghty energy, harmony and true wisdom to the workings of his

ofty in ellect, and brought his whole being into unison with the great

Jaw 01 Love. '^

Brethren, brightly and beautifully were the fundamental principles
of our rcnrr„il. OnUr displayed in the life of our lanicnted'brother
Never, perhaps, were justice and truth n.oro perfectly realized by
rnan. Lvcry foot of the wall .hieh he built in the temple was i!
the strictest conformity to the square and the pluninu.t. Decention
nnsropresentation, unjust coucoalment, falsehoo.I, oppre.s.on, wroL in
every torn., seemed his abhorrence. A beautiful instance of this may

412

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

be found in bis narrative of tbe first United States Grinnell Expedition.
It seems that to a tract of land first discovered by Dr. Kane, while on
this Expedition, lying to tbe north of Wellington Channel, Commander
De Haven bad given the name of Grinnell. A year afterward, this land
appeared on the English maps inscribed with the name of ** Prince
Albert;" and the map from the hydrographer of tbe Admiralty not only
inscribes "Albert Land" on this newly-discovered region, but pretends
to explain tbe error of the American claim by stating, in a note, that
" Baillie Hamilton Island is the Grinnell Land of the American squad-
ron." Dr. Kane — after demonstrating from the journals of the English
navigators themselves that the Americans were the actual discoverers
of this region, and so demonstrating it that the hydrographer of tbe
English Admiralty, in a letter to Mr. Grinnell, which I have bad tbe
pleasure of reading, has honorably acknowledged their mistake, and
given assurance that hereafter their maps will be made to correspond with
the facts — proceeds to say : —

" The controversy is perhaps of little moment. The time has gone by when
the mere sighting of a distant coast conferred on a navigator or his monarch
cither ownership of the soil or a right to govern its people : even the planting of
a tlag-stiifF, ■with armorial emblazonments at the top and a record-bottle below it,
does not insure nowadays a conceded title. Yet the comity of explorers has
adopted the rule of the more scientifio observej-s of nature, and holds it for law
everywhere, that he who first sees and first announces shall also give the name.
I should bo sorry to withdraw from the extreme charts of Northern discovery any
memorial, even an indirect one, of that Lady Sovereign whose noble-spirited
subjects we met in Lancaster Sound." Mark now his ingenuousness, his honesty,
his love of justice and truth. " It was only hy accident that we preceded them, under
the guidance of causes that can assert for us little honor, since they were beyond our
control, and we should have been glad n escape them. But we did precede them;
and the most northern land on the meridian of 9t° West must retain, therefore,
the honored name which it received from the American commander."

[in

I have said that Dr. Kano was a man of justice. A British reviewer
has, I am aware, charged him with an act of flagrant injustice toward
Gndfroy, one of bis crew. This man had been disobedient and mutinous
on previous occasions; now he was in the act of openly and boldly setting
at defiance the authority of bis commander, and fleeing from tbe ship.
Dr. Kano, standing on the deck, rai.«iHl bis gun and fired upon him, —
doing him, however, no injury. Subsequently Godfrey returned, and
was restored to his place among tbe crew. Now, any man who, after
reading the account of this matter as given by Dr. Kano and confirmed

DR. ELISIIA KENT KANE.

413

by his officers and men,-aftor hearing the reasons which he boHevod
rendered U h.s miperative though painful duty to adopt the course he
did for the maintenance of that discipline of the vessel which was vital

would blacken the memory of Washing-ton for signing the death-warran
the interesting Andre, although he firmlv believed that the safety of

^ZLr "^r ^' ''' '''^'^'"^ iiopublic-that une.,.,jZlce
ihZ \ i- "'''' ''"' ' ^"'"•"^^"der more just or generous toward

those under his authority; and this is the testimony of the oflicers and
.uen who s ared with him the dangers and sufferings of the p ilous
voyage and gathered around him, under the poor "shelter th'r d

hrough those dismal and interminable winters; and with quiverin. 1 p
W^ng breas, and moistened eye do they speak of his ll.dev^ion;

cf-sacuface, h.s nevor-fa.iing regard for the welfare of his comrades, ia
that hazardous search fur the lost.

Nor was ho less distinguished by our other great principle of love.

Stroig ad binding was this cen.ent of his edifice,-p,astic and soft as

as the culptors adamant which it unites to form the whole outwarS
aspect ot his noble structure." Our brother fell a martyr to the be le-
volence ot his nature. He died-././ .. .y ..._biuse 1 e .': d
rescue others from death. Hun.an suffering, wherever he encountered
^ HI whatever accents he heard its moans, stirred up the deep fountains
ot luvo wulnn lum. His career was full of the most touching manifesta

Ye .1 an r"''f " l "^ ■''"""■^ "' ''^ ''''''"^'^ "^^^ --^^ ^o flow,
les . la an age of predominant avarice an.l mechanical routine, he has

set us an example ot as chivalrous self-devotion and as lofty, . a.nani!

ous enterprise as ever illumined the tracks of the holiest champim. in

worlds best day. See him during the long and dreary mlhs of

he second winter of theu- in.prisonment in Kensselaer Bay' with every
officer and man but one prostrate and helpless wiHi disease Day an J
mght he gives himself no rest. With the tenderness and gontLess
and assiduity of a mother's love he seeks to heal their diseases^ndT
v^atc their sufferings by h.s uncersing ministries of skill and compassion
Now we see liun w,th his gun, going forth alone and toiling his way for
hours hrough the snow-drifts and over the iee-eo .ed rocks to secure
food tha will not aggravate the disease of the si.,k and dving; and now
we see h.m seated by the side of the pale and despondin;. speakin!
words of comfort and hope to sinking hearts. I know of uo record of

414

MASONIC OBSEQUIES OF

hi .

U.'
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human kindness more beautiful, more touching, none which reveals h
spirit in closer syniputhy with His <'who went about doing good," than
does the record of this portion of the Arctic life of Dr. Kane.

Go with me at another time and visit that lonely brig. It is the
month of March, 1855. The hour is midnight. A fearful storm is
raging. The thermometer is at seventy-eight degrees below the freezing-
point. Dr. Kane with a portion of his crew arc in their moss-lined
cabin below, their thoughts, it may bo, far away with loved ones amid
the comforts of home. Suddenly the noise of footsteps is heard on the
deck, and the next moment three, of a party of eight who had gone
forth two weeks before on an expedition of search and survey, enter the
cabin. Their looks are startling : trembling with weakness, swollen,
haggard, benumbed with cold, and but just able to utter a few broken
words, their appearance tells of the terrible sufferings they have endured.
Their story is short and frightful. Weak and faint with fatigue and
hunger, their party were toiling their slow and painful way back to tlio
brig, their only home amidst the mighty desolation around them, when
they were overtiiken by a storm of fierceness and power unusual even in
that region of tempests. After battling against the enraged cMments
for hours, four of their number, exhausted and frozen, sank down on the
ice to die. Of the remaining four, one remained with his dying com-
rades; the others, after many hours (how many they knew not) of wan-
dering and stuwggle, half delirious, reached the brig. W/in-e they have
left their dying comnanions they cannot toll. But, notwithstanding the
terrors of the night, and the faint prospect of success in their fearful
search, and the probability o':' their own destruction in the apparently
desperate attempt, yet the parpose of their loader is instantly formed,
and immediate preparation for the rescue is ordered. Amid the dark-
ness and howling tempest, the band, led by their master-spirit and com-
mending themselves to the protection of Ilim who rides on the storm,
start forth. Ignorant how to direct their course, yet tliey press forward.
Hour after hour, through the mighty snow-drifts, in face of the blinding
tempest, over the frozen and lacerating hummocks, they struggle on.
Twice does the strength of their gallant commander give way, and ho
falls fainting upon the snow. At length, after twenty hours of constant
and incredible toil and endurance, and just as they feel that they must
yield and abandon their comrades to their sad fate, the keen eye of the
Esquimaux boy, Hans, detects the faint, half-filled track of a .sledge in
the snow; following this, they soon perceive in the far distance a little
signal fluttering in the wind; a nearer approach reveals the small tent of

DR. ELISnA KENT KANE.

415

tlio lost party almost buried in the snow, and from the little flag-staff on
the top floats the ensign of the llepublio, and, underneath, the Masonic
Jkuj Irembling with anxiety, they approach the silent tent. Their
eader, dreading to realize his worst fears, slowly works his way throu-^h
the surrounding drifts and enters the tent amid the darkness and omi-
nous sdence that prevail. There the lost party lay, prostrate and help-
ess on the ley floor. He speaks; his voice is recognised : it gives new
lite to their benumbed and torpid senses, and, with reawakened hope and
revived cournge and swelling hearts, they exclaim, "We knew you'd
eome^. we knew you'd come, brother !" And why did they " know he'd
come ^ Why were they sustained by this assurance when the cold
arms of Death were encircling them ? Ah, they knew that the divine
pnnc.ples symbolized by that little Masonic flng that fluttered over their
sinking heads were the principles that ruled the heart and the life of
their beloved and trusted leader, and that, under their power, no dis-
tance, no darkness of the night, no fierceness of the tempest, no terrors
of the cold, no obstacles that human strength and skill could surmount,
would preventhis flying to their rescue even at the expense of the last
pulsation of his great and benevolent heart. " We knew you'd come !"
les frozen men just ready to die, he did come! Your faith in your
noble brother, the true n.an, the faithful Mason, was no delusion. He
dul come! and kindly and gently he bore you back to your oabin-home;
and, although one of your number fell a victim to the stern power of
the frost-king of the NoVth, and his body now lies entombed in sight
of that ''deserted hulk bound in the deathful ice/' ^ou live to tell with
what constancy, fidelity, and beauty he illustrated the principle of love
in his bnet but immortal career.

Flnal/>/. Dr. Kane distinctly and constantly maintained the authority
of religion, and with reverent faith sought its guidance and consolations
Our honored Society, brethren, maintains this open profession, in
carrying ever before us and in our midst, with solemn reverence, the
holy lhhh,-an nj>ru Bible." Our lamented brother had faith in God
and in _h,s revealed word when faith meant something and cost much.
Daily his httle band knelt around hi,n amid the Arctic darkness, and he
ed them in prayer to the Eternal Throne, lie faithfully tau-^ht them
he great trutu of a Providence which presides over the course of events.
lie says, ''Call it fatalism, as you ignorantly may, there is that in the
story of every eventful life which teaches the inefficiency of human
means and the present control of a Supren.e Agency. Sec how often
relief has come at the moment of extremity, in forms strangely unsou-dit

416

MASONIC OBSEQUIES.

k* .

Ui'

almost at the time unwelcome ! See, still more, how the back has been
Btrengthencd to its iucroasing burdens, and the heart cheered by some
conscious influence of an unseen Power!" Such was his faith ; and his
life was in beautiful harmony with it. Strong and fearless before men,
calm and intrepid amidst surrounding perils, yet he humbly asks God's
help, and blushes not to declare his humble trust in Him. When hastily
escaping from his vessel, which is threatened with instant destruction
by the crushing ice, he grasps his "little home-Bible," — inscribed, it may
be, with a mother's hand, — as the treasure ^rs^ to he secured. When
about forsaking his little ice-enchained vessel, which had so long been
his home in that mighty desolation, " he gathers all hands around" and
lifts up their hearts to God. His faith ever sustained him. Guided by
its rules, his work, brethren, from the time that he mounted the wall as
an apprentice, to the glorious day when, as a wise master-builder, he set
the key of his arch and brought forth the top-stone of the moral temple
he built, his work was done and was well done.

Then, translated to a place of blessedness and dignity in that " temple
not built with hands, eternal in the heavens," he still works, os angels
do, — the great God of the Universe being the Grand Master- Builder.

Such, imperfectly, was the life, and such the character, of him to
whose memory we have assembled to render this humble tribute of
honor. He has gone to his grave, but in the fulness of his young
renown. We shall see him here no more; but his noble life, his thrill-
ing story, his beautiful example, his model character, and his precious
memory, are our imperishable inheritance. Brethren, let us guard them
well and emulate them as we may. Let us enshrine them in the
deepest thoughts of our efforts ; and, at,' he still works on the walls of
the temple we build, let us be animated to greater diligence and high
fidelity, that we too may enter in due time the portals of that Upper
Temple, whose proportions of harmony, beauty, and infinite grandeur
shall awaken our admiration and draw forth our increasing praises
through eternal ages.

THE END.

i f

ITEUEOtri'En iir i.. joiinson i co.
ruiL^iUKi.riiu.

3 back has been
heered by some
i faith ; and his
ess before men,
ubly asks God's
When hastily
ant destruction
iscribed, it may
Kured. When
d so long been
ils around" and
in. Guided by
ited the wall as
-builder, he set
le moral temple

n that " temple
'orks, PS angels
ster- Builder.
ter, of him to
ble tribute of

of his young

life, his thrill-

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us guard them

them in the
n the walls of
jnce and high
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inite grandeur
easing praises

DR. KANE'S FIRST NARRATIVE

of Sir John Cl . be?ne the°on]v^'"'""^'' '"""'''""' " '^"^ ^t<--e^ rtmU

Bhoald be owned by all who have nmrlf , 1? '' '"-'^"ll before published. It
Dr. Kane's works comprete. P"'^'^"'*^'^ ^^^ last Expedition as it makes

"Tf ^A ^'■°'" *^« LONDON ATHBNiEUM

tbe excellent and graphic mnner in whiH. , ,''"''" *°.^'""''' ^'- ^ane for
terrible picture, but o?so alT the Ldde^t If tho r" ^T'"^' ""' ""'^ ^his
account of his voyage, which is ful of rtlr^p ^^°. ^^.^Ped'tion. Besides the
at length into the pi ysical geoSaohv o^^^^^^ "icuients, Dr. Kane enters

jvh.ch is profusely aJd'ldrnira' iSst^ated t o"^^^^ t?^""% -"'^ ""^'^^
that we have seen, and deserves a nla, « hi iu ■ J^'*" "°^* interesting
records of Arctic Adventure!" ^ ^ ^^^ "^^ °^ '^"'^ "i°st cherished

Prom HARPER'S WEEKLT

tem;tl\%'S\'L:?.t;ryTure\e^^'i7t;n^ !v '""'r^' ''''' ^ ^'^ -^leat-
Jfbich attaches to theist, he accou"' of w '.i.". "" '^^r"'^ '''' '"'^''^^t
tion, uniform in size and st^le wiStTe eco.rd vorl' ^""^''^"^ '° '^ ^"^^ ^^1"
po,,m M« ;«/,,r. We have always prized hVhni; "f.^'T"'^ '^ "" ""^^
above the other, both on account of ifsSe-tf in^-f f "!f ^''^ expedition
because of the greater progress ^n^lirSl;;^:!^ oTtlf; ^LTct'^^

IN PRESS,
COL. J. C. FREMONT'S EXPLORATIONS

superb?;iTa:e7:^;r,%res^::rrvA ---'--'■ '

hnmediate superintendence of Col FnPMO^Trnn"^ /"^'"T^ ""'^^^ ^^e
taken on the spot, and will be issued i^act J' ? "^ 'f°™ ^loguerreotypes

It will also contain a new Stee Portrait S^. t°hf "*^^' ^'- ^""«''' ^^^k«-
tbe author ever published. ^^"'^'^'t, being tbe only correct likeness of

_ Two VOLUMES, OCTAVO— $6.00.

Ihis work 18 being prepared with great care bv Tot T r- t?
will contain a rdsuni^ of the First and Sponn^ w ■^ r • *'• ^- ^hemont, and
'43 and .44, and a detailed acunrof fhe Thirdlxt.v' ^"/'^ ^^"" ^^42,
1845, '4G and '47, across the Rocky Mountain! f.^. 1?" ''"""g *!'« J'^ars
nia, covering the conquest anf Lttlemen „f ^l^""^^ ^'®°" '"'" ^"'''■°'-
Expedition, of 1848-49, up thrKrasas and A-l- '°""^'^' *'"' ^°"''*^

Mountains of Mexico, down the DeTNorte ttJ, ^q ''''''■''."'*° *''« ^^^l^^
the Fifth Expedition,' of 1853 and '54 acr'o 2 thffi T" m'"*° California!
heads of the Arkansas and Colorado Sers U ro 1,^,°' Yr ^'°""^"i"« '^t the
and the Great Basin into CalifornU The who fl-'i ^'u™'"' settlements
ten years passed among the wilds Sf America ""^''"'' * P'""** °^

Ma^'s! w'S^ilfSi' 'm:";^d.t° 1"^'^° *° '"^"^« *^« -— of the
- 'V i"«-.t.a.« ah the uboTc-naaied Expeditions. "

kml mA th ^xmlims.

By Rev.

D. B. KIDDER, of the Methodist Episcopal Ci.urch.
J, C. FLETCHER, op tub Presuyterian CnuRcn.

This new and splendidly-illustrated work (one Krge volume octavo, in uniform
stylo with the superb volumes of Dr. Kane's Arctic Explorations) is tho joint ctfort
of tho above-named gentlemen, who, &,s travellers and as missionaries, (and one in
an official position as Acting Secretary of United States Legation at llio,) have had
a long and varied experience in a land full of interest, whpther we regard it in a
natural, commercial, political, or moral point of view.

There is no comprehensive book of recent date on the Empire of Brazil, and
it is a great desideratum that the subject should be presented in its whole aspect.

vi is the aim of " BKAZit, and the Bkazilians" to lay before the public a
popular and faithful account of the wonderful phenomena of the tropics, and with
graphic pen and pencil to portray the gorgeous scenery, tho history, peculiar man-
ners and customs, and the political institutions of tho country, and the general con-
dition of tho subjects of tho enlightened Emperor Don Pedro II.

The naturalist should be interested in a region which, as Gardiner, the celel ited
English botaniit, has observed, "is richer than any other in the world in lOse
objects to which he had devoted the study of his life."

The commercial man should know more of a land from whence are deriv ' so
many important staple?, — v hich last year exported sixty million dollars' worth of
her productions, and imported to the amount of fifty-three million dollars. Brazil
is every year indebted to Europe, (which has seven lines of steamers to Pouth
America;) while the United States (with not a single steamer to the south he
equator) is behindhand each year with Brazil more than fourteen millio of
dollars.

The Christian community should know move nf the country where the banner of
Protestant Christianity was first erected in the New World, — a land associated with
the prayers, labors, and names of the French Huguenots, minis' ^rs of the Reformed
Church of Holland, and of the devoted Henry Martyn,— a land open to Bible and
rrissionary eiiort. This work treats of these topics, and contains deeply-interesting
incidents of recent missionary tours.

A great interest attaches to this Empire, whose Constitution is liberal and
tolerant, whose Government is strong, and whose material prosperity is over
advancing.

There are more than 130 engravings, on steel, wood, and stone, from original
and other sketches, and by tho pencils and gr.ivers of the same artists who have so
elegantly adorned the thrillingly-intercsting narrativo of Dr. Kane.

The publishers can only add that the style of letter-pres and of the illustrations
In the " Arctic Explorat'ons" (which is from their establishment) is a surcient
guarantee for the rich typographical execution which characterizes '♦ Brazi v.nd
the Brazilians."

J@" This work is sold exclusively by subscription, and can only be obiained
from our authorized Agents. Price, $3.00 retail.

GUILDS & PETERSON, Publishers, Philadelphia.
4

L Cl.URCH.

URca.

itavo, in uniform
is tho joint effort
ries, (and one in
It Rio,) have had
re regard it in a

re of Brazil, and
■whole aspect.
are the public a
tropics, and with
•y, peculiar man-
the general con-

er, tho celel ited
e world in lose

se are deriv ' so
dollars' worth of
1 dollars. Brazil
earners to Pouth
the south he
teen millic of

)re the banner of
d associated with
of the Reformed
pen to Bible and
ieeply-interesting

n is liberal and
'osperity is over

ne, from original

lists who have so

' the illustrations

it) is a surcient

;cs "Brazi vsv

only be obtained

Philadelphia.