The Winter Night. 267 



morning, when we had very slight north-easterly wind, I 

 even ventured to prophesy, from the direction of the 

 streamers, that it would go round to the south-east, 

 which it accordingly did. On the whole there has been 

 much less of the aurora borealis lately than at the 

 beginning of our drift. Still, though it may have been 

 faint, there has been a little every day. To-night it is 

 very strong again. These last clays the moon has some- 

 times had rings round it, with mock-moons and axes 

 accompanied by rather strange phenomena. When the 

 moon stands so low that the ring touches the horizon, 

 a bright field of light is formed where the horizon cuts 

 the ring. Similar expanses of light are also formed 

 where the perpendicular axis from the moon intersects the 

 horizon. Faint rainbows are often to be seen in these 

 shining light-fields ; yellow was generally the strongest 

 tint nearest the horizon, passing- over into red, and then 

 into blue. Similar colours could also be distinguished in 



O 



the mock-moons. Sometimes there are two large rings- 

 the one outside the other- and then there may be four 

 mock-moons. I have also seen part of a new ring above 

 the usual one, meeting it at a tangent directly above the 

 moon. As is well known, these various ring formations 

 round the sun, as well as round the moon, are produced 

 by the refraction of rays of light by minute ice crystals 

 floating in the air. 



' We looked for pressure with full moon and spring- 

 tide on 23rd of November ; but then, and for several days 



