Mr. Sturgeon's Account of an Aurora Borealis. 127 



high degree; and so accustomed are they to exercise of an 

 active description, that their swiftness becomes remarkable, 

 and their power of continuing it truly astonishing, being such 

 as to enable most of them to keep pace with horses even for 

 days in succession, and often to drive off cattle with more 

 celerity than pursuers can follow. The disposition to laziness 

 so decidedly characteristic of the more regular Hottentots, is 

 equally developed in the Bushmen ; and were it not the ab- 

 solute necessity of daily exertion to procure the scanty means 

 of subsistence, they would doubtless pass their time in indolent 

 practices similar to those pursued where resources are more 

 certain and productive. 



The continual use to which they apply the eyes and ears, 

 not only as means of discovering their food, but also as useful 

 agents in self-preservation, renders their senses of seeing and 

 hearing amazingly acute, and capable of furnishing a degree 

 of assistance quite unknown to the inhabitants of quiet and 

 civilized countries. In situations where the eye is unavailable, 

 it is wonderful with what certainty and readiness the ear directs 

 to an object; and again where distance renders sound inaudible, 

 the eye often operates with a precision and force which a 

 person who has never witnessed the like would scarcely be 

 disposed to credit. By the latter alone, they will often discern 

 with distinctness what others require a telescope to distinguish, 

 and discover the nature and appearances of particular objects, 

 when persons less versed in observation would scarcely be 

 able to perceive the figures themselves. 

 [To be continued.] 



XXIII. An Account of an Aurora Borealis observed at Wool- 

 wick on the Night of January 7th> 1831. By MR. WIL- 

 LIAM STURGEON. 



A BEAUTIFUL display of the aurora borealis was ob- 

 ^ served at this place on Friday night, Jan. 7th, 1831. The 

 aurora commenced with the evening, and was very distinctly 

 seen at about half-past five o'clock, exhibiting an arch of faint 

 yellowish light, bordering a dense black area, which was 

 bounded by the arch and the northern horizon. The aurora 

 became more brilliant as the evening advanced and got darker, 

 darting occasional faint flashes of light upwards from the bright 

 and comparatively steady luminous curve. About half-past 

 six a second, and apparently concentric, bright arch made its 

 appearance at a greater altitude than the former, and conti- 

 nued nearly the whole time of the remainder of the display. 



These 



