170 THE WOULD. 



sted : Last night we were regaled with another exhibition of the 

 auroral lights, in some respects even more remarkable than that 

 of the 17th of November, It announced itself as early as a quar- 

 ter before eight o'clock, by a peculiar kind of vapor overspread- 

 ing the northern sky, resembling a thin fog, of the color of dull 

 yellow, slightly tinged with red. From a bank of the auroral 

 vapor that rose a few degrees above the northern horizon, a great 

 number of those luminous columns called streamers ascended to- 

 wards a common focus, situated, as usual, a little south and east 

 of the zenith, nearly or perhaps exactly at the magnetic pole of 

 the dipping-needle. Faint undulations played on the surface of 

 the streamers, affording sure prognostics of an unusual display of 

 this mvsterious phenomenon. The light of the rnoon, now near 

 its first quarter, impared the distinctness of the auroral lights, but 

 the firmament throughout exhibited one of its finest aspects. The 

 planet Venus was shining with great brilliancy in the west, fol- 

 lowed at small intervals by Jupiter and the moon; while the larger 

 constellations, Orion and Leo, with two stars of the first magni- 

 tude, Sirius and Procyon, added their attractions. The sky was 

 cloudless, and the air perfectly still. 



There are but few examples on record of the auroral lights dip- 

 playing themselves with peculiar magnificence in moonlight. 



Notwithstanding the presence of the moon, by half past ten 

 o'clock, the auroral arches, streamers, and waves began to exhibit 

 the most interesting appearances. No well-defined arch was 

 formed, but broad zones of silvery whiteness, composing greater 

 or less portions of arches, were seen in various parts of the heav- 

 ens. Two that lay in the south, crossing the meridian at differ- 

 ent altitudes, were especially observable. From each proceeded 

 streamers, all directed towards the common focus. At the same 

 lime, those peculiar undulations called merry dancers, were flow- 

 ing in broad and silvery sheets towards that point, writhing around 

 it in serpentine curves, and ofteu assuming the most fantastic 

 forms. The swiftness of their motions, which were generally 

 upward, and often with their broadest side foremost, was truly 

 astonishing. Toward the horizon the undulations were compara- 

 tively forhje; but from the elevation of nhout thirty degrees to 



