24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nearest land; our horizon was everywhere lined by the towering heights 

 of icebergs which were separated by level fields of sea-ice. 



Over this sheen of hard ice and soft snow there rested a haze of 

 ice crystals which was curiously suspended in the air. As the sun 

 sank through this haze it lost its luminous character, and before it 

 vanished into its bed of snow it appeared as a great, distorted, rayless 

 ball of crimson. The play of light in this icy haze is a Joy experienced 

 in no other part of the globe. Over the departing sun there remained 

 a band of orange running into rose at the sky line and into gold at 

 its upper edge. At the same time there rose in the east an arc of 

 dark purple-blue, edged with orange. This is the twilight curve which 

 is here strikingly noticeable. As the purple of twilight ascended 

 towards the zenith, the snow westward had a delicate lilac hue, and 

 eastward there was a bright purple-blue over everything, which finally 

 deepened into a gobelin-blue. 



At about eight o'clock the Southern Cross was clearly visible over 

 the masts. The purple twilight curve was absorbed into the homoge- 

 neous blue of the, sky. At the zenith there were a few waves of light 

 which had the appearance of high cirrus clouds. These darted across 

 the heavens with lightning swiftness, fading, vanishing and reappearing 

 with augmented force each time, until at ten o'clock the phenomenon 

 settled into a waving, luminous arc Avith a fringe, causing it to look 

 like a curtain hanging low on the southern sky. Still later the fringe 

 work gave place to a steady luminous arc, whose highest altitude was 

 about 30°. 



The evening of the 14th was also clear and calm. There was a fas- 

 cinating sunset, followed by a long purple twilight. The temperature 

 had fallen to — 20 C. The glassy character of the air, the paleness 

 of the sky and the absence of wind were to us indications of a very 

 cold night. Such nights are always favorable to auroral displays, and 

 we were early on a lookout for them. At about nine o'clock there 

 appeared a bank of luminous fog in the southwest. Soon after, there 

 rose an arc over this which was at first imperfect. Now the eastern 

 portion was illuminated, then the western portion, and, again, only 

 a fragment of the center was visible. So rapid were these changes 

 that we found ourselves unable to record the fleeting forms. 



Everybody was on deck or pacing the ice about the 'Belgica,' 

 making notes and sketches of the phenomenon. The scene was such 

 as would delight the heart of any lover of nature. The good old 

 'Belgica,' the home of the only speck of human life within the icy 

 under-surface of the globe, was buried in a bed of snow which so 

 completely covered her body that only the rigging projected. Even 

 the masts and the ropes were encased in a heavy plating of hoar-frost 

 and hard ice, Aihich glittered like gems in the silvery light of the 



