Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-10-18
The Kane Expedition.

subject IN their primary meetings.
The Kane Expedition.
The deep suspense and fear that has long per-
vaded the whole country, as to the fate of DIR.
Kane and his expedition have at length been re-
lieved. by the safe return Of those whom the ma
ton had almost mourned rs lost. The news of
his return has been hailed with unfeigned delight
wherever i, has been announced, and the gener
Gus warmth with which he is received is almost
sufficient recompensc for the terrible hardshps
he has undergone.
DR.. Kane has made important discoveries in
his Arctic nayieation- lie pushed his examina.
ton far enough, says the New York Times, TO
satisfy any reasonable spirit Of i,sluiry to the
surroundings of that interesting point, 90o north
latitude. Ifbe did not penetrate 10 the last linn
its OF nature. he went TO the extreme verge Ct
utility. Lieut.. MCCLrNE solved the veteran doubt
as to the possibility Of a northwest passage in
the affirmative, bat showed its impracticabty
for all commercial uses DIR. Kane has found
that great circum- polar seauf which we had con
iectural rather than assured information preyi-
ously, derived from the peculiar appearance of
the sky when spanning water, and not from pos
new capes, new channels and seas, new lands,
perhaps new continent; he has engraved the
names Of the, friends aud patrons Of his enter
prise. tba giant glaciers of those bleak regions,
and a4iised his own internationally 10 every point.
With these results he has come back to us; and
ends that long series of gallant, unwearied,
and even wonderful achievements which have
placed the names of the worlds greatest sailors
upon the map of the Arctic Zone, and imperisha-
bly, in the minds of men, To look back at the
history Of northern discovery is TO view a ca,a-
logue of suffering and horror and death, encoun-
tered with unexampled fortitude, such as no 9th
er chapter of history supplies. A fair specimen
is furnished by the expedition just returned
Intense cold, anticipated starva,ion; diet in
which walrus flesh and talow ranked as lux
uries; an ever present anxiety with regard to the
future: an abandoned vessel; sickness in its most
disgusting form Of scurvy or its more terrible
form of tetanus the necessity of amputation to
preserve the exiremities darkness, solitude tor
por, death-these terrors have been the daily ex-
perience of DR. kane's heroic companions.
The two great problems of the north west pas
sage and the fate of the gallant Franklin having
been solved, there no longer exists any sach con
trolling motives for undertaking tho expeditions
which have been sent into the Arctic Ocean du-
ring the present century. Though we do not
imagine that love of adventure and devotion
to science will never again lead to such perilous
enterprises as have been undertaken by the bold
Arctic navigators of our times, yet for the pres
ent voyages of discovery in the north are at an end
The utter hopelessness OF accomplishing more in
those eternal solitudes of ice, where night and
darkness reign during half the year, than has been
don't already will deter Governments from fitting
out expeditions which can promise no profitable
or practicable results. There is nothing more t.
be learned at the north and the barren honor o.
erecting flagstaff on that point which we cal
the North Pole for our stars and stripes to hang
from, will hardly be sufficient to repay the cost o
such possible achievement. DIR. Kane, then
may be regarded as the last of the Arctic explo.
rers and it is no little satisfaction to US to know
that though his object to suocor or learn tn
fate of one of the nobest and most unfortunate
of the fraternity of polar adventurous he reache,
more northern point than any other human be
ing has done, our gallant countryman Wike,
penetrated to a more distant point in the Antarc
tic Ocean than had been done by any other nav
igator.
Though he failed to add any thing to what W,
have learned of the fate of Sir JOHN Frankie
since he left, Doctor Kanes expedition will no
prove a fruitless oneand science will be benefite,
by his researches and intelligent observation. HI
discovered new tribe of Esquimaux but tn,
aborigines ofthe extreme north appear to be DIV
ing out, gradually disappearing from the inhospi
table region in which they have gained hard an
precarious subsistence, and it is not improbabl
that in few years they will become who'll
extinct, like the early inhabitants of Green
land. Below we give DIR. Kanes official report
Official Report Of Dr. Kane
Our little party have returned in health an
safety.
We reached the Danish settlements of Upern
ivik on the 9th Of August after an exposing ira,
ell of thirteen hundred miles. During this lou
ney. which embraced alternate zones of ice an
wator. We transported our boats by sledges. ar
sustained ourselves on animal food exclusively b
our guns. We entered port after eighty -fol
days exposure in the open air.
| have the honor to subjoin hurried outliq
OF our operations and results. in adAance of MOI
detailed communications.
My previous dispatches make the DEPARTING,