October, 1864.] Afi AuTora. 83 



more, and watched his chronometers close at his side, that ]\e miirht 

 shelter them if the roof should foil. Awaking next morninn^ he found 

 a dozen large windows which had been made by the melting snow. 

 The premises were then vacated, and his friends took down the old 

 walls and rebuilt him a house, handling the snow-blocks with great 

 care, as they lacked their usual compactness. Again anxiously watch- 

 ing the thermometer, at 8 p. m. he found it read 31°, the wind being 

 from the southeast with snow, which, if it changed to rain, would bring 

 down every igloo in the village; but, at 1 a. m. of the 16th, the wind 

 shifting to the northeast brought the thermometer down to 0°. The 

 weather cleared up. 



An aurora, seen on the night of the 18th, is thus described in the 

 journals : 



At 10 p. m. I went out, and the aurora was spanning the azure vault. A 

 smart breeze from the north was blowing nearly the whole night. This seemed 

 to add to the briskness of the merry dancers as they crossed the heavens to and 

 fro. An hour before, the sky was clear, not a cloud or an aurora ray to be seen; 

 now, a belt extended across the heavens, arch-like, some 25° above the horizon, its 

 direction being from southeast to northwest. I watched the rising arch. Every 

 few moments gave varied and magnificent changes. At length patches of aurora 

 burst forth here and there. Graduallj' the main arch reached the zenith, and tljen 

 was the grand part of the scene. Much of what was before in perpendicular rays 

 shot athwart and across the heavens swiftly like a river of molten gold, here and 

 there forming vast whirlpools, here and there an eddy, here and there a cataract 

 of stupendous fall. When above my head, it seemed less than a pistol-shot <lis- 

 tant. Indeed, it was near by. When I moved quickly, running up to tlic toj) of 

 the hill by the igloo, making a distance of less than 50 fathoms, the arch of the 

 aurora, that seemed stationary while I was by the igJoo and in transitu, was now 

 several degrees to the southwest of me. I returned as quickly to the it/loo, and 

 the auroral belt was diiectly overhead. So small a base, with so palpable a 

 change in the bearing of the aurora, proved that it must have been quite close to 

 the earth. A ball of fire fell during the display, and burst just before it reached 

 the earth, throwing out prismatic scintillations in every direction. 



