AURORA BOREALIS. 385 



instance of the wonderful variety of the phenomenon 

 than in the hope of conveying anything Hke an 

 adequate idea of its beauty, — that I feel to be 

 impossible. 



"At 1050 P.M., Aurora appeared in a broad 

 transverse band of dull diffused light, extending from 

 E. by S. to W.N.W., passing through the tail of the 

 Great Bear : two narrow bands of faint light from 

 the same points passed through the zenith, as 

 perfectly and regularly defined as if two ribands 

 were stretched athwart the sky : the space between 

 them, of equal breadth with themselves, appeared 

 very dark, either materially so or by contrast. 



" To the northward a faint diffused light appeared 

 over dark haze or clouds on the horizon ; through 

 this haze stars were not perceptible. 



"At 11, Aurora was further displayed in an 

 immense mass or bush, which, occupying the space 

 between E.N.E. and E.S.E., and covering the entire 

 constellation of Ursa Major, gradually narrowed after 

 passing the zenith, and thence continued in a ser- 

 pentine band of moderate breadth to the west, passing 

 in its route a little to the northward of the Pleiades. 

 The eastern extremity was of * scroll ' or * curtain ' 

 character, with considerable motion (easterly), and 

 in it prismatic colours were finely developed, red and 



