358 MOONLIGHT IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 



that the air of these regions still remains charged with 

 vapour whose temperature must at the very least be 

 100 F. below freezing point and probably a good deal 

 below even that point. It is therefore evident that 

 we have a great deal yet to learn before we can form 

 even an approximate idea of the true conditions of 

 the atmosphere at great heights or of the capacity of 

 watery vapour to exist as such under conditions of 

 intense refrigeration. 



These wonderfully clear nights in the arctic regions 

 are always very cold, very still, and very dry; and 

 their matchless serenity is periodically lit up by the 

 silver light of a moon of such exceptional brilliancy 

 that everything can be seen by her light almost as 

 clearly as if it were daylight. 



" The moon (says Sir George Nares) is truly the presiding 

 goddess of the arctic nights, reflecting to us, during each of 

 her visits, the light of the absent sun, for ten successive days 

 and nights, as she circles round the heavens without ever 

 setting." * 



The stars also shine with a lustre and a brilliancy to 

 which even the beauty of our fine winter's nights at 

 home can display nothing to compare with and these 

 "lesser lights" which, in the language of the Scripture, 

 " rule the nights " are so far reflected from the snowy 

 surface, that the whole landscape is clearly exhibited 

 all round for long distances, white, solemn, and 

 motionless: everywhere wrapped in its winding sheet 

 of spotless snow, and still and silent as the tomb. 



It is at these times that the grand spectacle of the 

 Aurora Borealis is commonly most brilliant. It is an 



* Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George S. 

 Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. i, p. 191. 



