THE AURORA AU STRAUS. 29 



rays \\liich played over the main are; above there were al^u occasional 

 fragments of an arc and a prolongation of horizontal rays. This dis- 

 play continued until about three o'clock in the morning. 



The color of this aurora, as of all those which preceded and followed, 

 with but one exception, was a faint flesh color edged with a pale green- 

 ish-3'ellow. "\\^e saw no prismatic colors. The exception was a frag- 

 ment of an arc in the southeast early in the evening of April 10. 

 Tliis was for a few moments noticeably green, but it quickly faded 

 and vanished. Later in the evening it reappeared in tlie same form 

 and place, but the color was nearly white. 



In the latter part of April we saw a few auroras, especially after 

 storms, on clear nights, but instead of increasing in number and 

 in brilliancy, whieli we expected, as the veil of winter darkness was 

 spread over us, they diminished steadily as the long night advanced. 

 On May 17 we saw the autumnal sun for the last time. Its cold, 

 distorted and seemingly wrinkled face lingered for a few moments on 

 the northern ice and then sank into the frozen sea, from which it did 

 not ascend for about seventy days. It is curious that we must say about 

 seventy days, but this uncertainty is due to the fact that for several 

 days before sunset the sky was obscured by storm clouds, and our con- 

 stant drift with the pack-ice made our latitude uncertain. 



During this long night auroras were but rarely seen, but the weather 

 was clearer and steadier than before and after. On May 21 and 22 there 

 were faint auroral bands in the south, on the 20th there was a feeble 

 arc in the southeast, and on the 29th there was a feeble double arc. 

 On the 22d, 23d and 24th of June there was a similar phenomenon in 

 the same position, and this curiously enough reappeared one month 

 later, in July, on the same dates. The long antarctic night, then, as 

 experienced by the observers of the 'Belgica' was not apparently lighted 

 by the Aurora Australis. 



During August we saw but one bright display, which was a double 

 arc, on the 20th, for most of the month was so stormy that the clear sky 

 was seldom visil/le. The last week in August, however, was a remark- 

 able period of clear weather. Bright sunlight, charming moonlight 

 and fascinating halos were among our delights in these life-giving 

 days of the south polar spring. The sea of ice was made doubly 

 interesting by the increasing number of penguins and seals, crying 

 and grunting and making manifest in various ways the contentment and 

 satisfaction of the new sunny splendor of their usually cold and cheer- 

 less abodes. From the 'Belgica' the budding passions of a new life 

 were bursting forth; songs and laughter and a noisy commotion were 

 audible and visible during the evening hours. 



The moon often so illuminated the skies that it was difficult to 

 distinguish between ordinary cirrus clouds and bands of auroras. On 



