46 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



forth, as to need no stretch of imagination in the sea-worn 

 mariner, to convey to him the idea of land. I used to look 

 upon the scene, till I could scarcely persuade myself it was 

 unreal ; it reminded me of that bright and beautiful land, 

 which the Indian hopes for " beyond the mountains," the 

 land of the blessed, the land of spirits. It was in the same 

 voyage, that I observed a more singular, though not a more 

 lovely sunset. The sun, as he approached the horizon, gra- 

 dually became laterally elongated, until the form of the disk 

 was a perfect oval. The atmosphere was clearer than I recol- 

 lect to have ever seen it, and the appearance of the sun, like 

 burning gold, without a cloud or mist to intercept his rays, 

 as he sunk slowly beneath the waves, was very beautiful. 

 When about half hidden, he appeared like a hemispherical 

 island of fire in the sea ; and as the light diminished to a 

 thin line, it w^as tinged distinctly green by the blueness 

 of the waves. The total absence of those fleecy clouds, 

 generally visible at sunset, and which reflect a brilliant 

 glow, even after the sun has disappeared, contributed not 

 a little to the singularity of the spectacle. 



C. — The northern lights are beginning to play : can you 

 tell me the origin of that splendid phenomenon ? 



F. — Its cause and nature, notwithstanding the observa- 

 tions and researches of the most acute philosophers of the 

 present age, are still, I believe, a mystery. That hypothe- 

 sis which attributes it to the agency of electricity appears to 

 be most reasonable ; it is true the officers and savans of the 

 North-west expeditions, who had excellent opportunities for 

 observing the Aurora, could never detect the slightest influence 

 on their electrical and magnetical instruments ; but this 

 may be accounted for by the fact that its usual elevation is 

 very far above the atmosphere. 



