562 FARTHEST NORTH 



from the bend farthest away in the northeast. The iUu- 

 mination was now at its highest, the color being princi- 

 pally a strong yellow, though at some spots it verged tow- 

 ards a yellowish red, while at other places it was a greenish 

 white. When the upper wave reached the zenith the 

 phenomenon lost something of its brilliancy, dispersing 

 little by little, leaving merely a faint indication of an 

 aurora in the southern sky. On coming up again on 

 deck later in the evening, I found nearly the whole of 

 the aurora collected in the southern half of the sky. A 

 low arch, 5° in height, could be seen far down in the 

 south over the dark segment of the horizon. Between 

 this and the zenith were four other vague, wavy arches, 

 the topmost of which passed right across it; here and 

 there vivid streamers shot flaming upward, especially 

 from the undermost arch in the south. No arch was to 

 be seen in the northern part of the sky, only streamers 

 every here and there. To-night, as usual, there are 

 traces of aurora to be seen over the whole sky ; light 

 mists or streamers are often plainly visible, and the sky 

 seems to be constantly covered with a luminous veil,* in 

 which every here and there are dark holes. 



* This luminous veil, which was always spread over the sky, was less 

 distinct on the firmament immediately overhead, but became more and 

 more conspicuous near the horizon, though it never actually reached 

 down to it ; indeed, in the north and south it generally terminated in a 

 low, faintly outlined arch over a kind of dark segment. The luminosity 

 of this veil was so strong that through it I could never with any certainty 

 distinguish the Milky Way. 



