AURORA AUSTRALIS. : 253 
light, from this light flashes or rays soon shot upwards, and in 
every direction increasing in length and brilliancy, until at 7-30 
p-m., they were shooting across the sky to within 30° of the 
northern horizon. Cones and circles of light travelled rapidly 
over. the whole sky, and flashing beams of intense light darted 
from one to the other. This continued until 8:30 p.m. 
A remarkable change then occurred, the sky being cloudless, 
moon and stars shining brilliantly; an arch of bright green light, 
fading off into yellow, formed over the southern horizon rose 
rapidly toa higher and higher altitude, and was followed by 
similar arches in regular succession, until there were six arches 
quite distinct, their apices being from 10° above the southern 
horizon to 60° above the northern horizon ; these arches appeared 
to be formed of vertical bars of light side by side, thus building 
the arches of light, which varied in width from 5° to 20° each, 
and all of them were bright green and yellow at the tops of the 
arches, and of a rosy hue where they touched the horizon. Sub- 
sequently these arches changed their shapes in all parts of the sky, 
forming remarkable bands of light, and in some cases patches of 
light, which in all cases seemed to be fragments of the original 
arches, from the curves they presented, with the exception of two 
places, where the bands seemed to meet at right angles, 
Up to 8°30 p.m. the flashes of light which came from the 
southern centre of action seemed to shoot along the eastern horizon, 
and then rise up like bands of light on hinges at the north and 
south points of the horizon, sweeping across the sky to the west ; 
after 8-30 the flashes of light seemed to shoot vertically upwards. 
A circle of light about 30° in diameter now formed about the 
zenith, and the rays of light before referred to seemed to rise up — 
to the circle, but did not touch it exactly at right angles, but — 
slightly tangential, so much so that they suggested the picture of — 
a cyclonic centre with winds blowing tangentially round it.’ 
—_—~. 
1 This is more like the Aurora observei in Melbourne 2/9/1858, then — 
any other I know. ; 
