contributed so materially to a correct knowledge of
the Arctic regions. In ethnology it gave the first full account of
the Etah Eskimo, the northernmost inhabitants of the world; in
natural history its data as to the flora and fauna of the isolated
and ice-surrounded extremity of western Greenland were original,
and have been to this day but scantily supplemented; in physical
sciences, the magnetic, tidal, and climatic observations remained
for twenty years the most important series pertaining to the Arctic
regions. Kane's voyage not only extended geographically Inglefield's
discoveries a hundred miles to the northward, but it also opened up
a practical and safe route for Arctic exploration, which has been
more fruitful of successful results than any other.

Kane was a man of generous impulses, enthusiastic ideals, and kindly
heart. His chivalric nature, indomitable will, and great courage
often impelled him to hazardous enterprises; but he stands out in
this modern age as an unselfish character, willing to brave
hardships and risk his own life on a vague possibility of rescuing
Franklin and his companions.

[Signature: A. W. Greely.]

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS[16]

[Footnote 16: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

By CLARENCE COOK

(1805-1894)

[Illustration: Ferdinand de Lesseps.]

If, as Dante sings: "There is no greater grief than in a time of
misery to remember happier days," there are few persons in our time
who can testify more feelingly to the truth of the poet's words than
Ferdinand de Lesseps. For many years he was a bright-shining,
sympathetic figure among those who lead in the van of our material
progress; and the accomplishment, by his initiative and energy, of
the long dream of the Suez Canal, made him the hero, not of his own
nation alone, but of all the civilized world; honors were heaped
upon him, and acclamations greeted him on every side. His name
became a household word.

A few years later, and all is changed. At the advanced age of
eighty-eight, Ferdinand de Lesseps is in deep disgrace. Charged with
the chief responsibility for the ruin brought about by the failure
of another of his great enterprises--the Panama Canal--he has been
condemned by the tribunal to pay a huge fine, and has only been
saved from the shame of actual imprisonment by the knowledge of his
judges that, in his feeble state of health, imprisonment would
speedily be fatal. As at the ceremonies on the occasio