THE

MASSACHUSETTS TEACHER,

AND

JOURNAL OF HOME AND SCHOOL EDUCATION.

AUGUST, 1857.

ELISHA KENT KANE.

BY EPES SARGENT, ESQ.

(With a Portrait of Kane.)

IN presenting the accompanying new and well-engraved portrait of Dr. Kane, for which we are indebted to the liberal publishers of his works, Messrs. Childs & Peterson, of Philadelphia, we shall attempt little more than an outline of the leading events of his brief, but crowded career. Full justice is likely to be done to it by his biographer, Dr. Elder, in the Life of Kane, soon to be published; a work which will probably command an amount of public attention equal to that bestowed upon the brilliantly successful "Arctic Explorations." Meanwhile we can but glance at some of the rich materials which lie in the path of the biographer and justify his task. Fitly may a portrait of Kane find a place in a journal devoted to the cause of education; for the history of his life shows what may be done by energy of will in training a man for dif ficult trusts; and it illustrates the importance of discipline in every school of enterprise and adventure, humble or high, physical or intellectual.

Elisha Kent Kane was born in Philadelphia, on the 3d of February, 1822. With a frame far from robust, he manifested from an early age that spirit of exploration which distin

guished him throughout his life. "Adventures are to the adventurous would seem to have been his motto. While yet

a student he accompanied Professor Rogers in a geological survey of the Blue Mountains of Virginia. Thus early did he show a taste for the natural sciences. Both in geology and botany he became a proficient. In 1843, he graduated from the University of Philadelphia, having gone through the regular course in the medical department of that institution. In chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, and surgery, his attainments were respectable, and he was a fair classical scholar. The report of those who knew him during his collegiate career is, that he had the rare faculty of acquiring knowledge with rapidity and of summoning it readily from memory for use when needed.

Soon after the completion of his medical studies he obtained an appointment as assistant surgeon in the United States Navy, and solicited active service forthwith. His application was successful. The first American Embassy to China was about to depart; and he accompanied it as assistant physician. His position enabled him to gratify his passion for travel and adventure. He traversed the accessible parts of China; and subsequently visited the Philippines and Ceylon, and penetrated to the interior of India. While in the Island of Luzon, the largest of the Philippine group, he sought with characteristic daring, to see, what the natives assured him no white man had ever seen, the inside of the crater of Tael. Suspended by a bamboo rope from a crag which projected over the abyss, he was let down some two hundred feet to the bottom. Here he remained long enough to make a drawing of the place, and collect some specimens of the scoriæ and débris by which he was surrounded. Great excitement was caused among the natives by this feat. They regarded it as of a sacrilegious nature. With the exception of some unpleasant sensations from the gases of the crater, Kane experienced no ill effects from hist descent.

He subsequently visited the Ladrone Islands with Baron Loe, of Prussia; but the travellers were molested by the savage inhabitants, and underwent dangers and hardships which

were too much for the frame of the Baron, who sank under them and perished. Nothing disheartened, Dr. Kane still indulged his indomitable thirst for adventure. He ascended the Himalayas; he passed alone over to Egypt, tracked the Nile as far as the confines of Nubia, and, during some three weeks, explored the tombs of the Pharaohs, in company with the celebrated Professor Leipsius and his associates, who were then engaged in their archæological researches. Wrecked while passing down the Nile, and wounded in an encounter near Alexandria, Kane made his way to Greece, which country he traversed on foot, visiting every scene of classic interest. He returned home by the way of Italy, France, and England, arriving in the United States in the year 1846.

But the repose of a few weeks was quite enough for his active spirit. The war with Mexico broke out, and he sought employment in the campaign; but the War Department had occasion for his services on the coast of Africa, and sent him there. He made an attempt to pass up into the interior and visit the slave-marts of Wydalf; an attack of coast fever obliged him to turn back; and in 1847 he was sent home by Commodore Read, invalided. From the effects of this illness he never entirely recovered.

On his arrival in the United States, he found the Mexican war still in progress. Although physically feeble, he applied to President Polk for permission to take a part in the campaign. The request was granted. Kane was sent to Mexico with important dispatches for General Scott. At Vera Cruz he procured as an escort the notorious Colonel Dominguez, with his company. As they were approaching Nopaluca, near Puebla, they learned that a large body of Mexicans were on their way to intercept them. Dominguez here showed the white feather. He refused to proceed any farther, and declared his intention of retreating. By dint of entreaties and threats, Kane finally persuaded him to remain and face the enemy. Kane placed himself at the head of the escort, and took advantage of a rising ground to sweep down upon the advancing enemy, and throw them into disorder. The Mexicans rallied, however, and made a good fight. They were defeated after a