78 ELISIIA KENT KANE. 



rican heroism, valor, and philanthropy, which alone 

 had heen able to deliver the lost navigators from 

 their icy prison : they listened, promised assistance 

 turned away, and forgot all about it. The truth 

 probably was, that Dr. Kane would not and did not 

 deceive, bribe, feed, and liquor extensively enough 

 to engage the serious co-operation of the mercenary 

 and sensual legislators of the people ; and therefore 

 all his exertions in that quarter ended in total fail- 

 ure. The only result of his efforts at the seat of the 

 Federal Government was the acquisition of severa 

 thousand dollars' worth of materials for outfit from 

 the Medical Bureau at Washington. Nor can any 

 intelligent observer fail to appreciate the moral, as 

 well as the historical and personal, grandeur which 

 characterized the great object of Dr. Kane's intense 

 efforts, the rescue of Sir John Franklin. Ten 

 years had elapsed since the last recorded date of his 

 destiny was known until the commencement of Dr. 

 Kane's second expedition ; and yet he never doubted 

 for a moment that even then some of that lost com- 

 pany still survived. He based this conviction on 

 the fact that the expedition of Franklin had been 

 amply provided with every possible convenience 

 and means of support ; that animal life can always 

 be sustained in the Arctic clime to some extent by 

 animal food procured by hunting; that the utmost 



