the most frequent colour, the aurora borealis has
often been observed with blue and red hues; and the sky has been seen
suffused with an intense crimson colour by it.

Captains Parry and Lyon saw these northern lights in full splendour
during their residence in the arctic regions. They tell us that "the
aurora had a tendency to form an irregular arch, which, in calm weather,
was very often distinct, though its upper boundary was seldom well
defined; but whenever the air was agitated, showers of rays spread in
every direction with the rapidity of lightning, but always appearing to
move to and from a fixed point, somewhat like a ribbon held in the hand
and shaken with an undulatory motion. No rule, however, could be traced
in the movement of those lighter parcels called the `merry dancers,'
which flew about perpetually towards every quarter; becoming in stormy
weather more rapid in their motions, and sharing all the wildness of the
blast. They gave an indescribable air of magic to the whole scene, and
made it not wonderful that, by the untaught Indian, they should be
viewed as `the spirits of his fathers roaming through the land of
souls.'"

We are told by some that the aurora borealis is accompanied by a loud
hissing and crackling sound and Captain Lyon says that the sudden glare
and rapid bursts of those wondrous showers of fire make it difficult to
believe that their movements are wholly without sound. Yet such would
seem to be the case, for the same authority tells us that he stood on
the ice for hours listening intently and could hear nothing. He was
thoroughly convinced that no sound proceeds from the aurora, and most
intelligent voyagers support him in this opinion.

That the aurora dims the lustre of the stars seen through it, is a fact
which was ascertained clearly by the same gentleman; and that it moves
in a region beyond the clouds is also evident from the fact that when
the latter covered the sky the aurora disappeared.

But some of the most singular appearances of the sea and sky in the
polar regions are presented in summer. During that season the perpetual
presence of the sun and the large tracts of ice floating about on the
sea exert their opposing influences so as to produce the most
astonishing results.

One part of the sea being covered with ice, produces a cold atmosphere;
another part being free from ice, produces a warmer atmosphere.
Refraction is the result of viewing objects through thos