Notable Display of Northern Lights. 77 



aurora.) High rolling bars lying almost E. and W. had 

 a movement S.E., while numerous lower cross wisps lay 

 1ST.W. by 1ST. to S. by S.E., and showed some movement 

 N.E., but these wisps were small and many and seemed 

 to fill and back, while the whole mass or field had a 

 motion almost due east at a goodly pace. The form and 

 figure also changed rapidly, so it was difficult to say surely 

 what the component movements actually were. A wavy 

 or rippled appearance would grow in places, and again 

 the wisps would be tossed in great confusion. All this 

 time the body or field of cloud was sailing rapidly east- 

 ward. My impression on the whole was, however, that 

 all the appearances were due to the body of cloud floating 

 between two cross winds, the upper from the £T. by IST.W., 

 the lower current W. by S., or S.W., with a gusty drift 

 layer lying in between and moving to the east, as the re- 

 sultant in which the cirrus clouds mostly floated. 



Immediately below the upper winds there was a dry 

 south wind, at least up to sunrise. I judge this by certain 

 wind flares from the southern cloud bank seen in the 

 early morning, and the behavior of the fluffy clouds that 

 rose in the morning sunshine as noticed. That it was a 

 dry wind I argue from its not carrying vapour, and 

 absorbing cloudlets that rose into its influence. The only 

 question with me is, could the existence of this southern 

 under current be made to explain the markings and 

 motions of the cirrus clouds above, and bearing- to the 

 east, yet I think not altogether, for the high cumulus 

 verging on the lower cirrus clouds were "cotton wool" 

 spindles and cumuli plainly floating in a wind current^ 

 while the high wind swept cirrus clouds were for the 

 most part sharply barred and streaked, of which their 

 eastward motion was evidently a direct composition or 

 drift. Still, in the reckoning of these winds, I may be 

 misinterpreting the indications. Eeading the clouds is 

 never an easy thing, except in their broad aspects. Cer- 



