New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-03-03

reader will of course be suppressed Wewonld glad,
supply it. hut as yet this is impossible to us. Hi
Journal is private property the extracts which W.
may expect will be only too shy Of egotlsm' and hi
viii speak, of his conduct throughout the terrible
struggles which together theysendured.
10 form anything like an adequate estimate Of thi
last achievement it is to be recoected that his who'll
company amounted to but twenty men, and that o
this corps or crew. he was the commander, in nava
phrase andwhen we are apprised that his portfoli
of scenery, sketehed on the spot, in pencil, and il
water-colors, kept fluid over spirtamp, amounts t
over three hundred sketches, we have a hint Of til
extent and variety of the offices he filled this voy
age. He was, in fact the surgeon, sailing master
| astronomer and naturalist, as well as captain ant
leader of the'expedition.
This man Of all work, and desperate daring ant
successful doing, is in height about five feet sever
| inches in weight, say one hundred and thirty
pounds Or so, if health and rest wond but give HIM
leave to fill up his natural measure. His complexion
is fair, his hair brown and his eyes dark gray WIN
hawk look. He is Hunter BY every sllt ana n.1
grace and instinct that makes up the character an
excellent shot, and brilliant horseman. re mas es
capped with whole bones from all his adventures, put
| he has several wounds which are troublesome, ana,
with such general health as ~ f c
i the active duties of life yet lie has won the dis
tinction Of being the first civilized man to stand in
latitude 50 500 and gaze upon the open Polar sea
4 to reach the nortIerm0st point on the globe
to renort tile lowest temperature ever endured-the
heaviest sedge journeys ever perfolmed---and the
widest life that civilized man has successfully under
gone and to return after alto tell the story OF his
| adventures. .
The secret spring of all this energy is in his reli-
gious enthusiasm discovered alike in the generous
spirit Of his adventures in pursuit Of science in his
enthusiastic fidelity to duty and his heroic malnten
anee Of the points of honor in all ms intercourse
with men,
In his department there Is that mixture of shyness
and frankness simplicity and fastidiousness, sand
wiched rather than blended, which marks the man Of
genius and themonk OF industry. He seems confident
IN himself but not Of himself His manner is remark
able for celebrity OF movement alert effectiveness,
quickness of comprehension, rapidity Of utterance,
and sententous compactness of dction, which arise
from habtual watchfulness against the betrayal of
his enthusiasms. He seems to fear he is boring
you, and is always discovering his unwillingness to
sit" for your admiration. Ifyou question him about
the handsome official acknowledgment of his services
by the British and American governments, or in any
way endeayor to turn him upon his own gallant achieve
ments, he hurres you away from the subject to
point of scientific interest which he presumes will
more concern and engage yourself; or he says Or
does something that makes you think he is occupied
with his own iferiority in some matter which your
conversation presents to him. One obliged to strug-
gle with hint maintain the tone of respect which
his character and achievements deserve: and when
the interview is over feeling of disappointment re-
mains for the failure in your efforts to ransack the
man as you wished, and to render the tribute which
you owed him.
We wish we could be sure that he will not, in his
forthcoming work. give the drama without its hero
Or we wish the expedition and its hero had chron-
icer worthy as he would be were he not the prin-
cipal character himself in the story.
DR.. Kane's Narrative of the Expedition now pre-
pairing and in process Of publication by hIessrs Childs
& Peterson of Philadelphia, will embrace the import
ant discoveries made in the frozen regions far beyond
the reach of all the predecessors of the American ex-
plorng party, and their perilous adventures crowded
with romantic incidents which, in the language of
the Secretary of the Navy not only excite our won
der, But borrow n novel grandeur from the truly be-
nevolent considerations which animated and neryed
him to his task .