72 PAUL KANB, THE CANADIAN AKTIST. 



and groups, now in the Hon. G. W. Allan's collection at Moss Park. 

 There also a very curious collection of Indian implements, weapons, 

 masks, drums, carvings and other specimens of native art, obtained by 

 Mr. Kane, during his travels in the North "West, is now preserved. 



In 1857 he revisited Europe, and superintended the execution of 

 the chromolithographic illustrations of his travels. On his return to 

 Toronto in the following year, he resumed his pencil, and indulged in 

 the long-cherished hope of being able to follow up that volume by a 

 more extensive work, illustrative of the characteristics, habits, and 

 tribal peculiarities of the Indians of British North America, and the 

 scenery of the regions they occupy. But soon after his return to Canada 

 his eye-sight began to fail ; and he had scarcely completed the liberal 

 commission of Mr. Allan, when he was compelled entirely to abandon 

 the favourite art, which till then he had pursued with such energetic 

 zeal, in defiance of every impediment. 



Mr. Kane had, at least in his later years, somewhat of the quiet, 

 unimpressible manner of the Indians, among whom he had spent some 

 of the most eventful years of his life. A reviewer in the Athenaeum, 

 in noticing the published narrative of his travels, described him as 

 " an American artist, who had studied in Europe, and apparently unites 

 the refinement of the Old World with the Indian energy of the New." 

 His memory was singularly retentive; and, in spite of his reserved 

 manner, his descriptive powers were great, when he could be induced 

 to give them free scope. In the company of those who did not 

 sympathise with his favourite pursuits, his words were few and abrupt ; 

 but he was a man of acute observation, and, when questioned by an 

 intelligent enquirer, abounded with curious information in reference to 

 the native tribes among whom he had sojourned. His published 

 narrative is a modest, but interesting and vivid description of novel 

 scenes and incidents of travel; and his career is a creditable instance 

 of the pursuit of a favourite art, by a self-taught artist, in spite of the 

 most discouraging impediments to success. D. W. 



