156 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



January bridge-like ^ orm 1 ever saw - I* extended from S.E. to N.W., on the south - 

 ^rs*j era side of the heavens, both its edges being well defined, which is very 

 rarely the case. At seven A.M. on the following morning, it appeared again 

 in a form still more novel, three complete arches being now visible;; the 

 middle one, which was the brightest, passing through the zenith and the 

 others, which were in the centre about 20° distant from it on each side, gra- 

 dually closing till they joined it at the east and west points of the horizon. 

 It was impossible not to be struck with the general resemblance in the iorm 

 of this phenomenon to that I have frequently mentioned, as assumed by the 

 clouds in the polar regions at particular seasons * : this coincidence may 

 possibly serve to throw some light on the nature and peculiarities of the 

 Aurora. For several hours on the same night, this meteor formed a tole- 

 rably well-deiined arch from E.S.E. to W.N.W., being 6° high in the 

 centre, reaching from one horizon to the other, and confined entirely to the 

 southern side of the heavens. Early on the morning of the 16th, it was seen 

 for an hour and a quarter much in the same situation, and on the following 

 evening it appeared faintly in almost every part of the heavens. 



From eleven P.M. till past midnight, on the 18th, it once more appeared 

 very bright from W. to S.E., having at times a very rapid and irregular 

 motion. Whenever the light was most concentrated it was also the brightest, 

 and almost always, in that case, we observed it assume an arch-like form in the 

 southern part of the heavens. This was particularly the case on the evening 

 of the 19th, when there appeared two concentric though not altogether con- 

 tinuous arches, extending from S.E.b.E. to W.S.W., the highest being 8° to 

 10° above the horizon, but in this respect at times slowly varying. At eleven 

 P.M., after thus remaining without any very remarkable alteration for above two 

 hours, it suddenly became extremely variable, shifting its place laterally with 

 a prodigiously rapid motion, but still keeping within the general limits above 

 mentioned, both in bearing and altitude. In this lateral motion, which was 

 somewhat of the kind I have endeavoured to describe on the 14th of Decem- 

 ber, it seemed, as it were, to roll over from one end of the arch to the other, 

 while at the same time numberless lighter and less brilliant coruscations were 

 emitted from its upper margin. Whenever the phenomenon occupied the 

 smallest space in the heavens, the light was invariably the most intense, and 

 often when several sheets of it appeared to unite, in the manner before 



* Account of the Voyage of 1819-20, pp. 141, 144, 164. 



