AURORA BOREALIS. 173? 



heavens, every star blazes forth like a diamond, and a thousands 

 icy pinnacles throw back their light, accompanied with magnifi- 

 cent prismatic displays. The bold hunters who penetrate the- 

 arctic circle in the pursuit of the silver fox and the sable, witness 

 its grandest exhibitions. The whole sky is lighted up with the j 

 bright coruscations, and it is said that a rushing sound, like that 

 of winds sweeping over a distant forest is heard. The inhabit- 

 ants of the Shetland island's call the streamers merry dancers. 



The appearance of the aurora, and the emotions it excites, are 1 

 thus beautifully described by Whittier: 



A light is troubling Heaven ! A strange, dull glow 

 Hangs like a half-quench'd veil of fire between 

 The blue sky and the earth ; and the shorn stars 

 Gleam faint and sickly through it. Day hath left 

 No token of its parting, and the blush 

 With which it welcom'dthe embrace of Night, 

 Has faded from the blue cheek of the West ; 

 Yet from the solemn darkness of the North, 

 " Stretch'd o'er the empty place** by God's own hand,. 

 Trembles and wave.s that curtain of j>tile fire, 

 Tinging with baleful and unnatural hues 

 The winter snows beneath. It is as if 

 Nature's last curse the fearful plague of fire, 

 Were working in the elements, and the skies 

 Even, as a scroll consuming./ 



Lo, a change ! 



The fiery wonder sinks, and all along 

 The dim horizon of the clouded North 

 A dark, deep crimson, rests a sea of blood- 

 Untroubled by a wave. And over all 

 Bendeth a luminous arch of pale, pure white,. 

 Clearly contrasted with the blue above, 

 And the dark red beneath it. Glorious ! 

 How like a pathway of the Shin-ing Ones, 

 The pure and beautiful intelligences 

 Who minister in Heaven, and offer up 

 Their praise as incense ; or like that which rosa- 

 Before the pilgrim Prophet, when the tread 

 Of the most holy angels brighten'd it, 

 And in his dream the haunted sleeper saw 

 The ascending and descending of the blest ! 



And yet another change ! O'er half the sky 



A long, bright rlame is trembling like the sworcS 

 Of the great angel at the guarded gate 



