46 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
forth^ as to need no stretch of imagination in the sea-worn 
mariner^ to convey to him the idea of land. I used to look 
upon the scene, till I could scarcely persuade myself it was 
unreal ; it reminded me of that bright and beautiful land^ 
which the Indian hopes for beyond the mountains/' the 
land of the blessed^ the land of spirits. It was in the same 
voyage, that I observed a more singular, though not a more 
lovely sunset. The sun, as he approached the horizon, gra- 
dually became laterally elongated, until the form of the disk 
was a perfect oval. The atmosphere was clearer than I recol- 
lect to have ever seen it, and the appearance of the sun, like 
burning gold, without a cloud or mist to intercept his rays, 
as he sunk slowly beneath the waves, was very beautiful. 
When about half hidden, he appeared like a hemispherical 
island of fire in the sea ; and as the light diminished to a 
thin line, it was tinged distinctly green by the blueness 
of the waves. The total absence of those fleecy clouds, 
generally visible at sunset, and which reflect a brilliant 
glow, even after the sun has disappeared, contributed not 
a little to the singularity of the spectacle. . 
C. — The northern lights are beginning to play : can you 
tell me the origin of that splendid phenomenon ? 
F, — Its cause and nature, notwithstanding the observa- 
tions and researches of the most acute philosophers of the 
present age, are still, I believe, a mystery. That hypothe- 
sis which attributes it to the agency of electricity appears to 
be most reasonable ; it is true the officers and savans of the 
North-west expeditions, who had excellent opportunities for 
observing the Aurora, could never detect the slightest influence 
on their electrical and magnetical instruments ; but this 
may be accounted for by the fact that its usual elevation is 
very far above the atmosphere. 
