152 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



cloudless. At 4 P.M. there had been seen one solitary and pecul- 

 iar cloud hanging in the heavens to the north about 15° above 

 the horizon. This cloud was a deep dark blue, looking much like 

 the capital letter S. This at last disappeared, and the night set 

 in, still beautiful and mild, with myriads of stars shining with ap- 

 parently greater brilliancy than ever. 



"I had gone on deck several times to look at the beauteous 

 scene, and at nine o'clock was below in my cabin going to bed 

 when the captain hailed me with the words. ' Come above. Hall, at 

 once! The world is on fire!' 



" I knew his meaning, and, quick as thought, I redressed my- 

 self, scrambled over several sleeping Innuits close to my berth, 

 and rushed to the companion stairs. In another moment I reach- 

 ed the deck, and as the cabin door swung open, a dazzling, over- 

 powering light, as if the world was really ablaze under the agency 

 of some gorgeously-colored fires, burst upon my startled senses ! 

 How can I describe it? Again I say, no mortal hand can truth- 

 fully do so. Let me, however, in feeble, broken words, put down 

 my thoughts at the time, and try to give some faint idea of what 

 I saw. 



"My first thought was, 'Among the gods there is none like 

 unto Thee, 0 Lord ; neither are there any works like unto Thy 

 ivorks P Then I tried to picture the scene before me. Piles of 

 golden light and rainbow light, scattered along the azure vault, ex- 

 tended from behind the western horizon to the zenith; thence 

 down to the eastern, within a belt of space 20° in width, were the 

 fountains of beams, like fire-threads, that shot with the rapidity 

 of lightning hither and thither, upward and athwart the great 

 pathway indicated. No sun, no moon, yet the heavens were a 

 glorious sight, flooded with light. Even ordinary print could 

 have been easily read on deck. 



" Flooded with rivers of light. Yes, flooded with light; and 

 such light ! Light all but inconceivable. The golden hues pre- 

 dominated ; but, in rapid succession, prismatic colors leaped forth. 



"We looked, we SAW, and trembled; for, even as we gazed, 

 the whole belt of aurora began to be alive with flashes. Then 

 each pile or bank of light became myriads ; some now dropping 

 down the great pathway or belt, others springing up, others leap- 

 ing with lightning flash from one side, while more as quickly 

 passed into the vacated space ; some, twisting themselves into 

 folds, entwining with others like enormous serpents, and all these 



