J 20 THE OCEAN. 



the upper sky nearly unoccupied. The arch also was 

 now totally gone, and in its place there were only 

 irregular patches of yellow light, of varying radiance. 

 At a quarter-past nine the upper sky was again filled 

 with pale flashes : in the north were perpendicular 

 pillars of light, comparatively stationary. At half- 

 past nine there was no material change, and at ten 

 all had assumed a very ordinary appearance, merely 

 large clouds of pale light being visible."* The cause 

 which produces these beautiful coruscations of light in 

 high latitudes has not yet been satisfactorily known : 

 it seems pretty certain that their origin is in general 

 far above our atmosphere. 



Montgomery alludes to the Aurora in the following 

 beautiful lines : — 



"Midnight hath told his hour : the moou, yet young, 

 Hangs in the ardent west, her bow unstrung : 

 Larger and fairer as her lustre fades. 

 Sparkle the stars amidst the deepening shades : 

 » Jewels more rich than night's regalia gem, 



The distant Ice-blink's spangled diadem ; 

 Like a new nio7-n from orient darkness there 

 Phosphoric splendours kindle in mid-air, 

 As though from heaven's self-opening portals, came 

 Legions of spirits in an orb of flame, — 

 Flame that from every point an nrrow sends, 

 Far as the concave firmament extends : 

 Spun with the tissue of a million lines, 

 Glisteniug like gossamer the welkin shines: 

 The constellations in their pride look i),vle 

 Through the quick trembling brilliance of that veil; 

 Then suddenly converged, the meteors rush 

 O'er the wide south ; one deep vermilion blu^h 



Canadian Naturalist, p. 47. 



