CHAPTER XIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS PHENOMENA OF THE POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS 

 THE AURORA BOREALIS ICE-BLINK OPTICAL ILLUSIONS 

 ANECDOTE OF SCORESBY HALOS CORONA MOCK SUNS 

 REFRACTION FROSTS. 



j| WING to the intensity of the cold in the 

 arctic regions, there are, as we may readily 

 believe, many singular appearances con- 

 nected with the ocean and the atmosphere, which 

 are worthy of special notice. 



Chief, perhaps, among the phenomena of those 

 regions is the Aurora Borealis. 



Ever mindful of the welfare of the creatures 

 whom he has formed, the Almighty has appointed 

 a light to mitigate the darkness of the polar regions 

 when the sun, in its appointed course, withdraws 

 for a season. 



What the aurora borealis is no one knows, 

 although many have hazarded opinions regarding it. 

 What it is like is known even to ourselves, though 

 the faint indications of it which sometimes beam in 

 our own heavens are not to be compared to the 



