Arctic Explorations: Volume 2

Originally published in 1856, this two-volume work by Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57) recounts the second Grinnell expedition in search of the lost explorer Sir John Franklin. In Volume 2, Kane describes the life of the Inuit who aided him, their rites, and their survival skills in a hostile environment.

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Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57) was a medical officer in the United States Navy, best known for the so-called 'Grinnell voyages' to the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin's expedition. Originally published in 1856, this two-volume work documents his second expedition, between 1853 and 1855, during which his ship became ice-bound, and he and his men survived by adopting Inuit survival skills, such as hunting, sledge-driving and hut-building. In Volume 2, Kane continues to describe the Inuit people by whom he was aided, their birth and death rites, their survival skills in times of famine, and their rescuing of his crew. Accompanied by an extensive appendix containing his meteorological and geological surveys of the area, Kane's writings reveal his own controversial personality, his scholarly and navigational abilities, and his admiration of the way in which the Inuits' life was adapted to their environment.