THE AURORA OF THE COMING STORM 67 



on board as the other had been. Through this winter, 

 as before, the auroral displays were remarkable, and 

 they are excellently described by Payer. Of one of 

 them, he says : " It is now eight o'clock at night, the 

 hour of the greatest intensity of the northern lights. 

 For a moment some bundles of rays only are to be 

 seen in the sky. In the south a faint, scarcely observ- 

 able, band lies close to the horizon. All at once it 

 rises rapidly and spreads east and west. The waves 

 of light begin to dart and shoot ; some rays mount 

 towards the zenith. For a short time it remains 

 stationary, then suddenly springs to life. The waves 

 of light drive violently from east to west ; the edges 

 assume a deep red and green colour and dance up and 

 down. The rays shoot up more rapidly ; they become 

 shorter ; all rise together and approach nearer and 

 nearer to the magnetic Pole. It looks as if there were 

 a race among the rays, and that each aspired to reach 

 the Pole first. And now the point is reached, and 

 they shoot out on every side, to the north and the 

 south, to the east and the west. Do the rays shoot 

 from above downwards, or from below upwards ? Who 

 can distinguish ? From the centre issues a sea of 

 flames. Is that sea red, white, or green ? Who can 

 say ? it is all three colours at the same moment. The 

 rays reach almost to the horizon ; the whole sky is in 

 flames. Nature displays before us such an exhibition 

 of fireworks as transcends the powers of imagination 

 to conceive. Involuntarily we listen ; such a spectacle 

 must, we think, be accompanied with sound. But 

 unbroken stillness prevails, not the least sound strikes 

 on the ear. Once more it becomes clear over the ice, 



