PROCTOR ON THE AURORA. 103 



the light extended itself to the northeast, while the eastern end 

 enlarging and travelling faster than the northern, the mass soon 

 presented a singular and nearly circular appearance in the north- 

 east ; ten minutes after this massing together of the light the whole 

 disappeared, and the sky was entirely overcast with a light, thin, 

 luminous curtain of this mysterious, electrical, vaporous substance. 

 I saw many very pretty auroras while here, but none surpassed the 

 one just described. I found some of the inhabitants of this region 

 singularly superstitious regarding this aurora, in that they fully 

 believed that it danced to the sound of any musical instrument. 

 It was solemnly declared to me that if I should blow the flute, or 

 play upon the violin, the cloud would descend and dance in the 

 air just above me and out of reach. On the subject of this 

 curious phenomenon, Mr. Richard A. Proctor says : — 



" One of the most mysterious and beautiful of Nature's manifes- 

 tations promises soon to disclose its secret. The brilliant stream- 

 ers of colored light which wave at certain seasons over the heavens 

 have long since been recognized as among the most singular and 

 impressive of all the phenomena which the skies present to our 

 view. There is something surpassingly beautiful in the appearance 

 of the thin "Auroral curtain." Fringed with colored streamers it 

 waves to and fro as though shaken by some unseen hand. Then 

 from end to end there passes a succession of undulations, the folds of 

 the curtain interwrapping and forming a series of graceful curves. 

 Suddenly, and as by magic, there succeeds a perfect stillness, as 

 though the unseen power which had been displaying the varied 

 beauties of the auroral curtain were resting for a moment. But 

 even while the motion of the curtain is stilled we see its light mys- 

 teriously waxing and waning. Then as we gaze, fresh waves of 

 disturbance traverse the magic canopy. Startling coruscations add 

 splendor to the scene, while the nobler span of the auroral arch 

 from which the waving curtain seems to depend gives a grandeur 

 to the spectacle which no words can adequately describe. Grad- 

 ually, however, the celestial fires which have illuminated the gor- 

 geous arch seem to die out. The luminous zone breaks up. The 



