90 RECORD OF AURORAL PHENOMENA. 



urinated. From its eastern margin, rays or processes were seen stretching as high as fifty- 

 degrees, and as far as due east. 

 Before the sun had reached his meridian altitude, the prolongations had become faint, and passed 

 into detached feathery clouds, when collected at the zenith and lost the radiated arrangement 

 altogether. The mass of cloud stratus to the south (magnetic), also, had blended with the usual 

 bank about the horizon.' " — 1 Kane, pp. 319-323. 



Baffin's Bay.— [Lat. 72° 30' N. Long. 69° W.] February, 1851. Kane. 



"2d. 1 a.m., Aurora visible to the southward and eastward (true); beams of light covering 

 the whole of the eastern half of the heavens, most of them parallel to the plane of the meridian. 

 Aurora extending to within 30° of the horizon to the N. W." — 1 Kane, p. 526. 

 "Between the hours of six and eight p. m., we had an interesting display of the Aurora. It was of 

 a luminous white, not much more marked than any of the isolated nebula? seen through a 

 telescope, which it indeed resembled. This white light stretched in cumulated masses from the 

 northwest to the southeastern horizon, forming to the northward an arch of some regularity. 

 From the inner circumference of this great arch proceeded a series of scintillating processes, at 

 apparent right angles to the plane of the horizon, and constantly shifting their positions, so as 

 to produce an effect nearly like that of the 'merry dancers.' To the south, however, the arch 

 became irregular and changing ; its diameter varied from five to thirty degrees, the augmenta- 

 tion being a broken series of parallel bands, no one exceeding six or eight degrees. 



At the period of its greatest intensity, 7h. 10m., it enveloped Procyon and the Pleiades, obscuring 

 the larger portion of Taurus, and actually hiding Aldebaran. A process extended obliquely 

 from about twelve degrees above the horizon to Castor and Pollux, whose brightness it sensibly 

 dimmed. The zone then narrowed, passing about eleven degrees to the west of Polaris, and 

 ascending in a regular arch to the northwest. It faded gradually, and by 9h. 20m. had dis- 

 appeared. 



Neither a silk-suspended magnetic needle, nor our rude electrometers, detected any disturbance. — 

 Ibid., p. 316. 

 " 5th. Faint Aurora seen to the southward and eastward. 



6th. 7 a. m., a faint Aurora to the southward, near the horizon. 



7th. 2 a. m., faint Aurora seen to N. N. E. and S. S. W. 7. a. m., Aurora to the S. E. and E. 

 (true)."— Ibid., p. 526. 



Somerset House, Prince Regent's Inlet.— Lat. 72° 48' N. Long. 95° 41' W. Ross. 



December, 1832. 



"The Aurora Borealis had been seen but seldom, and was inconspicuous, while its position was 

 generally opposed to that of the sun. But, to end with the summary of this month, the weather, 

 variable and severe as it had been, became calm and clear, though cold; and thus did we termi- 

 nate the month of December, and the year 1832." — 2 Ross, 688. 



March, 1833. 



"We had taken but three foxes and two hares in the whole month; which, as food, amounted to 

 nothing. At the end of it, after all the changes had taken place under the gales, the ice was so 

 rough that it was impassable on sledges, and even on foot. No Aurora Borealis had been seen ; 

 and, indeed, we had scarcely noticed one the whole winter." — Ibid., p. 694. 



Baffin's Bay.— Lat. 72° 49' 15" N. Long. 70° 59' 15" W. January 29, 1851. Kane. 



"6 a. m., faint Aurora near the horizon. One-third of the sun's disk visible from the deck. 11 

 p. m., faint Aurora near the horizon, to the S. W. and N." — 1 Kane, p. 525. 



