380 KXPEDITIOX TO POINT HARROW, ALASKA. 



Aj.ril 1<>. I)v s 2. o " in- to -i ii. . The sky was ba/y and partly covered with foggy slratua 

 clouds, so that only the larger stars were visible, and then only near the ;:enith: b-sides,the twilight 

 was so bright behind the clouds that it was sometimes very dillicult to say which was twilight and 

 which aurora. At .'! a. in. several pale white bands, probably anrural, extended from SE. to 

 N. and to the E. of xenith. At 3.15 a. in. a pale yellow arch, certainly auroral, appeared in the SW. 

 with an altitude of about 20. At 4 a. in. there were luminous traces in the SE., but the clouds 

 soon afterwards became too dense, and nothing more was seen. Needles slightly disturbed. 



A/'fil 11. 1882. 4 . m. to G (i. m. About the usual time as a faint ray running from SE. to 

 X\V~. with au altitude of about .30 above the SW. horizon. At 5 a. m. it had moved up to the 

 zenith, where a kind of elongated corona was formed, the elongation being in direction of the 

 length of the arch. This had been the general form of all the corona' that have appeared. Elon- 

 gated in direction of the arch and compressed at right angles to it. I may here remark that the 

 auroral light is almost always something more, apparently, than simply so many areas of light of 

 various shapes. It is composed of luminous medium which seems quite tangible, more like lumi- 

 nous cloud or dense vapor than anything else. Its distinctness of character and outline strongly 

 tends to give it an appearance of nearness which I had never noticed any place else, but at the 

 same time I have never been able to observe a case of where it appeared below any cloud strata. 

 The clouds are often rendered luminous by it, but I am almost certain that in every case it was 

 by transmitted light. At G a. in. a faint streak was visible in the ZSE., but the twilight soon 

 became too strong to permit its being visible. 



April 12, 1882, 4 a. m. to 6 a. m. Very faint, but interfered with by the increasing brightness 

 of the twilight. At 4 a. m. there was a pale narrow arch running from the SE. horizon, S. of zenith, 

 to NYV. with an altitude of about 30. After a short time this broke up into hazy patches which 

 occasionally emitted a few rays, and appearing and disappearing from time to time until G a. m., 

 after which the daylight was too bright to .allow them to be seen. Magnets steady during the 

 time display was visible, but some time after sunrise they were largely disturbed, the disturbance, 

 however, lasting only for a short time. 



April 13, 1882, 5 a. m. ?. A few patches appeared in the SE. at 5 a. m.. exhibiting consid- 

 erable inotiou. The highest and brightest was immediately below a Boo'tis. They being imme- 

 diately afterwards overcast, no more was seen. The needles were considerably disturbed for sev- 

 eral hours after. 



A2)ril 15, 1882, 5.50 a. HI. to ? .Weather cloudy, but about 5.50 a. in. (12.30 a. m. local) 



auroral light appeared a little southward of zenith and apparently in rapid motion, the direction 

 of motion being from S. to N. From the character of the light when in zenith there was a corona 

 formed possessing a rapid gyratory motion. The magnets were largely disturbed, the horizontal 

 force decreased, and vertical intensity being increased, and the easterly declination also increased; 

 the needle swinging out of field, but afterwards there was a westerly deflection, but not so pro- 

 nounced as the easterly. Xo more of the display was seen, but the needles continued unsteady 

 for several hours afterwards. 



April 1C and 17, 1882, magnetic xtorm. On the IGth, about 1 p. in. (8 a. m. local) a very intense 

 magnetic storm set in, which continued at intervals until about 9 a. m. of the 1 7th. The night was 

 cloudy and no aurora was seen; the greatest disturbance, however, took place in the daytime. At 

 lirst there was a strong E. deflection attended by a decrease in the horizontal and an increase in the 

 vertical intensities, but about 7 p. m. there was a great change, the deflection changed to the W. 

 KO that the azimuth circle had to be moved several degrees to bring the needle into the field. An 

 increase took place in horizontal force and an increase in the vertical intensity. Again, after a 

 period of about five hours another change took place to the E., the vertical intensity increasing 

 and the horizontal decreasing as usual, which conditions continued to the end. 



AI-;I 20, 1882, 5 a. m. to ? . At 5 a. m. auroral light was discernible a little S. of zenith. 



The twilight was too bright to allow a distinct view to be had. The magnets were considerably 

 disturbed. A very intense disturbance, however, took place some hours previously, commencing 

 at 1 1 p. m. (5.4^5 p. in. local) of the 19th. and continuing more or less to (i p. m. (12.43 p. m. local) 

 of the 20th. The range of the various changes of declination amounted to over 10, while that 

 of the dipping needle amounted to 7. The greatest deflection was westerly, but the K. was 



