among the rocks at his feet, stayed his further progress."

Strong presumptive evidence, all this, that there is an ocean of open
water round the pole, and a milder climate there than exists nearer to
the arctic circle. Had the short barrier of ice that intervened between
the brig and that mysterious sea been removed, as, perchance, it is
sometimes removed by a hot summer, Dr Kane might have been the first to
reach the North Pole. This, however, is reserved for some other
navigator. The gallant Kane now lies in an early grave but some of his
enterprising comrades have returned to those regions, bent on solving
this problem; and it is possible that, even while we now write, their
adventurous keel may be ploughing the waters of the hitherto untraversed
and mysterious polar sea.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

MISCELLANEOUS PHENOMENA OF THE POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS--THE AURORA
BOREALIS--ICE-BLINK--OPTICAL ILLUSIONS--ANECDOTE OF SCORESBY--HALOES--
CORONAE--MOCK SUNS--REFRACTION--FROSTS.

Owing to the intensity of the cold in the arctic regions, there are, as
we may readily believe, many singular appearances connected with the
ocean and the atmosphere, which are worthy of special notice.

Chief, perhaps, among the phenomena of those regions is the _Aurora
Borealis_.

Ever mindful of the welfare of the creatures whom he has formed, the
Almighty has appointed a light to mitigate the darkness of the polar
regions when the sun, in its appointed course, withdraws for a season.

What the aurora borealis is no one knows, although many have hazarded
opinions regarding it.

What it is like is known even to ourselves, though the faint indications
of it which sometimes seen in our own heavens are not to be compared to
the brilliancy of the spectacle that is occasionally presented in the
northern skies.

The most ordinary aspect of the aurora is that of a band of pale-green
light extending irregularly over part of the sky, and marked by wavy
motions, as well as by varying brightness. Sometimes one part of this
band becomes more bright than another part. Sometimes the whole seems
to move gently, like the undulations of a flag in a light breeze; at
other times more vigorous action takes place, and pointed tongues of
light shoot vividly up into the zenith. This sometimes takes place so
frequently, and the tongues are so long and numerous, that the aurora
has been popularly termed the "northern streamers."

Although pale-green is