"4. Dark nimbus clouds and water-sky invested the north-eastern horizon. "5. Crowds of migratory birds were observed thronging its waters."" There is much in Dr. Kane's wonderful narrative to remind the reader of the story of old William Barentz, who, two hundred and fifty-nine years ago, wintered on the coast of Nova Zembla. His men, seventeen in number, broke down during the trials of winter, and three died, just as of the eighteen under Dr. Kane three had gone. Barentz abandoned his vessel, as the Americans abandoned theirs, took to his boats, and escaped along the Lapland coast to lands of Norwegian civilization. The Americans embarked with sledges and boats to attempt the same thing. They had the longer journey, and the more difficult one, before them. Barentz lost, as they did, a cherished comrade by the wayside. But one resemblance luckily does not exist: Barentz himself perished - Dr Kane lived to write an account of all that he suffered in a noble cause. No mere abstract of his narrative can give an idea of its absorbing interest. His book is above all common praise, on account of the simple, manly, unaffected style in which the nar rative of arduous enterprise and firm endurance is told. It is obviously a faithful record of occurrences, made by a man who was quite aware that what he had to tell needed no extraneous embellishment. There is, however, so much of artistic order in the mind of the narrator, that the unvarnished record has naturally shaped itself into a work of distinguished excellence upon literary grounds. The scenes which it describes are so vividly and vigorously brought before the reader, that there are few who sit down to the perusal of the narrative but will fancy, before they rise from the en grossing occupation, their own flesh paralyzed by the cold one hundred degrees greater than frost, and their blood scurvy-filled by the four months' sunlessness. It is only just also to remark, that there is unmistakable evidence, in the pages of this interesting book, that the doctor was no less eminently gifted for the duties of his command than he has been happy in his relation of its history. Every step in his arduous path seems to have been taken only after the exercise of deliberately matured forethought. A few illustrations must be gleaned, from the many that are scattered through the pages of his journal, to direct attention to this honorable characteristic. When the doctor had formed his own resolution to remain by the brig through the second winter, he made the following entry, under the date of August 22: "I shall call the officers and crew together, and make known to them, very fully, how things look, and what hazards must attend such an effort as has been proposed among them. They shall have my views. unequivocally expressed. I will then give them twentyfour hours to deliberate; and, at the end of that time, all who determine to go shall say so in writing, with a full exposition of the circumstances of the case. They shall have the best outfit I can give, an abundant share of our remnant stores, and my good-by blessing." On the 6th of April the Esquimaux auxiliary, Hans, was gone to Etah, with a sledge, to seek a supply of walrus-meat, when, as we have already stated, William Godfrey deserted from the ship; and, the commander suspected, with some sinister design upon Hans and the sledge. Dr. Kane then wrote: "Clearly, duty to this poor boy calls me to seek him; and, clearly, duty to these dependent men calls me to stay. Long and uncomfortably have I pondered over these opposing calls, but at last have come to a determination. Hans 460 was faithful to me; the danger to him is imminent, the The Esquimaux lad was proof both against the violence and the seduction of the deserter. The commander found him invalided, but safe, at Etah. Hans, however, did not return to Fiskernaes with the expediVenus Victrix tion. His fate is involved in romance. has a representative even in frost-land. The reader must go to the pages of Dr. Kane to know what became of Hans. When the preparations for the final escape were under consideration, the following record was made in the doctor's journal: "Whatever of executive ability I have picked up during this brain-and-body-wearying cruise warns me against immature preparation or vacillating purposes. I must have an exact discipline, a rigid routine, and a perfectly thought-out organization. For the past six weeks I have, in the intervals between my duties to the sick and the ship, arranged the schedule of our future course; much of it is already under way. My journal shows what I have done, but what there is to do is appalling." Appalling as it was, the heroic man who had to look the necessity in the face was equal to the position. There can be no doubt that it was "the exact discipline, the rigid routine, and the perfectly thought-out organization," which restored the sixteen survivors of the expedition to civilization and their homes. CHAPTER XX. ACTION OF CONGRESS. RELIEF EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF DR. KANE.HARTSTEIN THE COMMANDER. ICE ENCOUNTERS. -SEARCHES. THE LOST FOUND. - NARRATIVE BY JOHN K. KANE. ICEBERGS. BIRDS.ESQUIMAUX.—THE MEETING. THE RESOLUTE. FOUND BY AMERICAN WHALERS. -INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. DEMAND FOR NEW EXPEDITIONS.- SPECULATIONS. THE apprehensions caused at home, by the detention of Dr. Kane and his party, produced a resolution of Congress, approved February 3d, 1855, authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to despatch a suitable steamer and tender for the relief of the absent voyagers. The 'bark Release and the steamer Arctic were accordingly procured and equipped, Lieut. Hartstein having been appointed to the command. He was accompanied by a brother of Dr. Kane. They reached Lievely, Isle of Disco, Greenland, July 5th, 1855, having encountered the first iceberg in latitude 51° 30′ north, longitude 51° 40′ west. With seaman-like generosity, Hartstein, in his letter from this place to the Secretary of the Navy, says: "To avoid further risk of human life, in a search so extremely hazardous, I would suggest the impropriety of making any efforts to relieve us if we should not return; feeling confident that we shall be able to accomplish all necessary for our own release, under the most extraordinary circumstances." Entering the closely-packed floe of Melville Bay, the relief vessels forced a passage into the North Water on the morning of the 13th of August. Passing in good view of the coast from Cape York to Wolstenholme Island, Hartstein, in the steamer, examined Cape Alexander and Sutherland Island. Passing on to the most north-western point in sight (Point Pelham), he noticed a f a few stones heaped together, which, on examination, gave assurance of Kane's having been there; but no clue was afforded. Pushing on to latitude 78° 32′ north, the steamer was opposed by a solid, hummocky field of very heavy ice, to which no limit was visible, interspersed as it was with bergs, all drifting to the southward. Taking now a retrograde course, they examined Cape Hatherton and Littleton Island, and finally took refuge under a projecting point, some fifteen miles northwest of Cape Alexander. Here they were startled by the hail of human voices. Going on shore, they found a party of Esquimaux, and among them various articles that must have belonged to Dr. Kane and his men. An examination of the most intelligent of the natives led to the understanding that Dr. Kane, having lost his vessel somewhere to the north, had been at that spot, with his interpreter (Carl Petersen), and seventeen others, in two boats and a sled, and, after remaining ten days, had gone south to Upernavik. After some more reconnoitring of the coast, Hartstein, in the Arctic, found himself firmly beset by the ice, and thought, for a time, he was in winter quarters; but, after twenty-four hours' heavy battering, he got out. After having made nearly the whole circuit of the northern part of Baffin's Bay, with the exception of a deep ice-locked indentation between Capes Cowbermere and Isabella, he returned, and, in company with the. Release, examined Possession Bay and Pond's Bay, firing guns, burning blue-lights, and throwing up rock |