SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 267 



netic needle, have put this disputed point 

 beyond all question. The conclusion is at 

 variance with that which Captains Parry and 

 Foster arrived at, from their observation at 

 Port Bo wen, — those officers being of opi- 

 nion that the aurora does not influence the 

 motion of the needle ; but Captain Franklin, 

 we think, has satisfactorily explained this 

 discrepancy. He states that it required 

 brilliant and active coruscations almost in- 

 variably before a deflection of the needle 

 was observable; — that to render it so they 

 should appear through a hazy atmosphere, 

 and that the prismatic colours should be 

 exhibited in the beams of arches. When, 

 on the contrary, the atmosphere remained 

 clear, and the aurora presented a steady, 

 dense light, and without motion, the needle 

 remained unaffected. Now, it appears, that 

 at Port Bowen the aurora was without much 

 motion in its parts, and never exhibited the 

 vivid prismatic colours, or the rapid streams 

 of light, which are constantly recorded in 

 the registers kept at Fort Franklin. Hence 

 Captain Franklin infers, what we always 



