Account of an Aurora Borealis. 



133 



Its first appearance, after darkness had completely set In, was by 

 the luminous arch above mentioned assuming its wonted place. 

 From this arch, in the north, arose almost incessant streamers of 

 bright white light, which shot upwards to the zenith, and streaked 

 the dark sky with their silvery lines. 



Once a mass of light suddenly opened in the zenith, and from it 

 darted out innumerable pencils of bright rays, overspreading the dark 

 vault of heaven with their glories, and seeming for a moment to illu- 

 minate the sky with a star which its vast space was scarcely capable 

 of containing. 



Again, rods of white hght would dart forth from the northern hori- 

 zon, and one single one, in particular, spanned the whole arch of 

 heaven, touching the southern horizon over the great lake. 



This play of the Aurora continued from seven until near nine, 

 and was most brilliant and magnificent about nine, when it assumed 

 another and not less singular attitude, of which the following is a 

 faint attempt to delineate. 



These arches are not so flat as they should be, but the space is 

 insufficient to shew them exactly. The lower one was usually the 

 boundary of a very dark black, changing mass ; between the lower 

 arch and the second, the space was not so dark ; and between the 

 second and third, or Upper arch, it was still lighter, excepting where 

 the coruscations shot upwards out of the second arch, and there it 

 was very dark. The second arch was incomplete. 



The ray shooting up on the right was brilliant in the extreme. 

 Stars were partially visible above the third arch, but the bright ones 



