[For the Spy.] 
Aurora Borealis. 
Harrison. ( 0 .) ISth October, 1819 
ssrs„ Mason and Pahner, 
1 last evening witnessed, in this place 
a, id the neighborhood, one of the most 
splenuid appearances of the Aurora Bo- 
reahs I ever had opportunity to observe. 
• -iaci, from my youth, been accustomed 
w these phenomena. I had seen them red, 
white and changeable; but, for splendor, 
Magnificence and duration of the corus¬ 
cations, I never saw them exceeded. 
About 6 o’clock, the sky in the north, 
i oin Is. \\ . to E. N. E. appeared more 1 u- 
romous than usual, in about three fourths! 
ti an hour, I observed Something like a 
bnght cloud near tne N.W. point, at a- 
bout twenty degrees of elevation. Not be- 
mg yet quite dark, 1 at first supposed if 
to he a cloud, illuminated by the. sun; but 
in two or three minutes it extended itself 
towards the pole star, while, at the same- 
time, another luminous spot appeared in 
the L, or E. by N. which also extended 
itself, until they met and formed a beauti¬ 
ful luminous arc, occupying about one ©r 
two degrees above and below the pole star j 
—appearing to the eye a true segment of j 
a circle,cut off in its western limb by a sine, 
which was marked by a bright silver col¬ 
ored streamer, not convergent but per¬ 
pendicular t® the cord of the arc. The 
pole star was in the zenith of the arch— 
Below this luminous arc, »c belt, appear¬ 
ed a crescent of a dark, rather dismal, 
hue, in which the stars were partially ob¬ 
scured; while, neither ho its luminous con¬ 
cavity, nor in the belt above, could I per¬ 
ceive. any impediment to a view of the 
stars as usual. This operation, if I may so 
term it, was repeated a little before 8 
o’clock, as l judge, but commenced at a 
point a little to the S. of 35. and extended 
thro’ the pole as before, resling its imper¬ 
fect. limb on a collumn of light considera¬ 
bly larger and more briliant than before. 
About 9 o’clock a brilliant streamer shot 
