THE ARCTIC SEAS. 



131 



those clear skies with peculiar brilliance, and is 

 often visible twelve or fourteen days without set- 

 ting. There is, moreover, a large proportion of 

 the time, in which the Aurora Borealis illumines 





Aurora Borealis. 



The scene is in the vicinity of the Three Crowns on the Coast of 

 Spitzbergen. See p. 106. 



the heavens, and sometimes with an intensity little 

 inferior to moonlight. This interesting; meteor is 

 occasionally seen in England, but very rarely with 

 that brilliance with which it shines in the Frigid 

 Zone, and in the northern parts of America.- In 

 Newfoundland and Canada I have seen many spe- 

 cimens of the Aurora, and some splendidly coloured 

 with blue, green, and red hues; sometimes the 



