RECORD OF AURORAL PHENOMENA. 91 



Baffin's Bay.— Lat. 12° 52' 45" N. Long. U° 15' 35" W. January 28, 1851. Kane. 



"1 a. m., light Aurora from W. to S. W. Two arcs of light, the southern being about 10°, the 

 western 20° from the horizon at the middle point. About two-thirds of the sun's disk visible 

 from the topgallant yard." — 1 Kane, p. 525. 



Baffin's Bay.— Lat. 73° 09' 13" N. Long. 72°02' 21" W. January, 1851. Kane. 



"26th. Aurora visible to the northward, 9 p. m. 

 27th. Auroras to the southward and westward, near the horizon, 2 a. m. and 8 a. m."— 1 Kane, 

 p. 525. 



Port Bowen.— Lat. 73° 13' 39" N. Long. 88° 54' 49" W. October, 1824— March, 1825. Parry. 

 "The Aurora Borealis, which constitutes one of the peculiar features of a polar winter, occurred 



with nearly the same frequency as on former occasions. The number of nights on which it is 



registered are — 



2 in October, 15 in January, 



5 in November, 13 in February, 



7 in December, 5 in March ; 



being, in the whole, forty-seven from October to March. 

 It may have appeared faintly on a few other occasions, not noticed in our Journals, and unques- 

 tionably would have been seen more frequently but for the height of the land on the south side 



of Port Bowen, which intercepted our view to the altitude of five or six degrees. 

 By far the greater part of these phenomena assumed one general character, and occupied nearly 



the same position. 

 It usually consisted of an arch, sometimes tolerably continuous, but more frequently broken into 



detached irregular masses or nebulae of light, extending from about W. to S. E. (true) ; which 



bearings correspond with N. E. by N. and W. by S. (magnetic). 

 It sometimes, however, extended a few points beyond these bearings, but very rarely occupied any 



of the northern part of the heavens. 

 Its termination to the S. E. was never exactly visible, owing to the height of land in that quarter; 



but, upon the whole, the arch seems to have been more frequently bisected by the plane of the 



magnetic, than by that of the true meridian. 

 The altitude of the upper margin of a permanent arch seldom exceeded ten or fifteen degrees, and 



from this coruscations were generally observed to be shooting towards the zenith. 

 In a few instances, the arch itself passed as high as the zenith; and on a single occasion, on the 



28th of January, its direction was from true north to south. 

 The lower edge of the arch was generally well defined and unbroken, and the sky beneath it 



appeared, by contrast, so exactly like a dark cloud (to me often of a brownish color) that 



nothing at the time of viewing it could well convince one to the contrary, if the stars shining 



there with undiminished lustre did not discover the deception." — 3 Parry, 59. 



N. B. — 1. Number of nights on which Aurora was seen. 



2. The greater part assumed the same general character. 



3. Usually consisted of an arch extending from "W. to S. E. 



4. Coruscations seldom occupied any of the northern part of the heavens. 



December 21, 1824. 



" This winter certainly afforded but few brilliant displays of the Aurora. The following notice 

 includes all that appear to me to require a separate description. 

 Late on the night of the 21st of December, the phenomenon appeared partially, and with a variable 

 light, in different parts of the southern sky for several hours. 



