DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 297 



of an American squadron, under Captain Hartstene, which had 

 been despatched in quest of them, and soon afterwards found them- 

 selves under the shelter of the national flag. At New York Dr. 

 Kane received the honorable welcome to which his courage, his 

 fertility of resource, his patient resolution and his noble purpose 

 had entitled him. And though he had failed to discover Sir John 

 Franklin, he had deserved well of the civilized world, having con- 

 siderably enlarged its knowledge of the Polar regions. 



Yet his suffering and exposure had fatally undermined his 

 constitution. In 1856 he went to England and thence to Cuba to 

 recuperate, but his health was broken beyond recovery and he died 

 at Havana in February, 1857, two years after his return. 



