Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-02-21
DAY, FEBRUARY 81, 1856.

Philippine Islands, which he effected mainly
on foot He was the first man who descen-
ded into the crater Of Tael; lowered more
than hundred feet by bamboo rope from
the ovcrhanging cliff, and clambering down
some seven hundred more through the scorie,
he made Typographical sketch of the inte-
rior of this great volcano, collected bottle
of sulphurous acid from the very mouth Of
the crater and, although he was drawn up
almost senseless, he brought with him his
portrait of this hideous cavern, and the spe-
cimens which it afforded.
Before he returned from this trip, he had
assembled the Himalayas, and triangulated
Greece, on foot. He had visited Ceylon, the
Upper Nile, and all the Hydrologic region Of
Egypt, traversing the route, and making the
acquaintance of the learned Lcpsius, who
was then prosecuting his archaeological re-
searches. -.
At home again, when the Mexican war
broke out, he asked to be removed from the
Philadelphia Navy Yard to the field of a
more congenial service, but the government
sent him to the coast of Africa. Here he
visited the slave factories, from Cape Mount
to the river Bonny, and through Da Souza,
got access to the baracoons of Dahomey, and
contracted, besides, the coast fever, from the
effects of which he has never entirely recov-
cred. ..
From Africa he returned before the close
of the Mexican war, and believing that his
constitution was broken, and his health rap
idly going, he called upon President Polk,
and demanded an opportunity for service
that might crown the little remnant of his
life with achievements in keeping with his
ambition the President, just then embar.
rassed by temporary non-intercourse with
General Scott, charged the doctor with dis.
patches to the general, of great moment and
urgency, which must be carried through a
region occupied by the enemy.
In Mexico, he distinguished himself on
many occasions. He was severely wounded,
and for long time his recovery was unlock
ed for.
When he recovered and returned, he was
employed in the Coast Survey. While enga
ged in this service, the government by its
correspondence with Lady Franklin, became
committed for an attempt at the rescue Of
Sir John and his ill-starred companions in
Arctic discovery. Nothing could be better
addressed to the Doctors governing senti
ments than this adventure. The enterprise
of Sir John ran exactly in the current o.
one of his own enthusiasms; the service o.
natural science combined with heroic per
sonal effort, and, added to this, that sort O
patriotism which charges itself with its OWL
full share in the execution of national en-
gagements of honor; and besides this cordial
assumption Of his country debts and duties,
there was no little force in the appeal of q
nobly brave spirited woman to the chivalry
of the American navy.
He was "bathing in the tepid waters Of
the Gulf of Mexico, on the 18th of May,
$780," when he received his teIegraphic or.
der to proceed forthwith to New York fnr
duty upon the Arctic expedition. In nine
days from that date he was beyond the limits
of the United States on his dismissal voyage
to the North Pole. Of this first American
expedition, as is we'll known to the public,
he was the surgeon, the naturalist and the
historian. It returned disappointed Of its
main object, after winter in the regions of
eternal ice and fifteen months absence
Scarcely allowing himselfa day to recover
from the hardships of this cruise, he set on
foot the second attempt, from which he hes
returned after verifying by actual observation
the long questioned existence Of an open sea
beyond the latitude of 81 deg, and beyond
the temperature, also, Of 100 degrees below
the freezing point. His personal Narrative,
published early in 1858, recounts the adven-
lures of the first voyage, and discovers his
diversified qualifications for such an enter
prise.
DR.. Kane's Narrative of the Expedition,
now preparing, and in process Of publication
by Messrs. Childs & Peterson, Of Philadel-
phia, will embrace the important discoveries
made in the frozen regions far beyond the
reach of all predecessors of the American
exploring party, and their perilous adventu-
res, crowded with romanticincidents, which,
in thelanguage of the Secretary of the Navy,
"not only excite our wonder, but borrow a
novel grandeur from the truly benevolent
considerations which animated and nerved
him to the task"