230 ELECTRICITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND AURORA BOREALIS. 



evening, at 11 o'clock 30 minutes, a pale, wandering light moving dis- 

 tinctly along the ridge of the mountain. The light appeared for a few 

 moments in the form of rays of a clear and brilliant yellow, following 

 every detail of the sinuosities of the mountain. The j^ale glimmer of 

 light seemed to follow the ridge of the mountain, and I was convinced, 

 from the movement of the mists, that the luminous phenomenon was 

 formed upon the ridge itself. 



On the 30th of September, at 9h. 30 ni., I witnessed on the island of 

 Amsterdam a very intense luminous phenomenon, during which every 

 peak and ridge, the most elevated, was illuminated with a pale light, par- 

 ticularly when covered with a vail of mist. We could clearlj' distinguish 

 the contour of the mountains, and above them an efl'ect of light, which 

 frequently rose to a great height, and ended by gradually diminishing iu 

 intensity until lost in the upper strata of the mist. This light appeared 

 during the whole of the harvest season, while we were stationed at 

 Spitzbergen. Upon some peaks, overlooking a glacier which descends to 

 the very bottom of Smeerenburg Bay, the light was still stronger. We 

 even perceived upon one point reddish rays resembling flames, in which 

 the spectroscope evidently .indicated the presence of the yellow ray. 

 On the days when this phenomenon was observed the wind was very 

 strong, with a variable direction difficult to determine. We were, how- 

 ever, sure that there were two contending currents of air — the one from 

 the north or east, the other from the south or west. 



While the Sophie remained at Kingsbay, during the first fifteen 

 days of October, every night fog-like mist covered the summits and ridges 

 of the mountains, and their brilliancy seemed to increase as the season 

 advanced. Besides this general phenomenon, we observed on the 9th 

 of October, at 5h. in the morning, a brilliant polar light in the south, about 

 1,000 feet above the chain of mountains, which gradually faded away 

 toward the north. A similar light appeared on the 11th of October and 

 on the 12th, beneath a cloud upon the mountains, ready to be dissolved 

 into snow, appeared a pale-yellow light with points at its edge. This 

 himinous phenomenon had an undulatory movement, in addition to the 

 forward motion given to it by the course of the clouds toward the west. 

 Soon the light disappeared, and was replaced b^ a light fall of fine snow. 

 On the 14th and 15th of October, in the evening, a cloud appeared, (on 

 the llth in the west-southwest, and on the loth in the southeast, from 

 the upiier edge of which, when at a sufficient height above the horizon, 

 emanated an intense yellow light, soon transformed into rays of genuine 

 polar light, yellow at their base and red at the top. These rays, which 

 moved with the cloud, rose with it nearly to the zenith, where they 

 tended to form a crown. 



On the entrance of the Sophie into the Norwegian archipelago, on the 

 evening of the 18th of October, we saw some patches of polar light scat- 

 tered here and there over the skj', iu the north and east, which after- 

 ward formed a continuous ring around the horizon. The rays of this 



