Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/360

330 was already frozen to the thickness of half a foot.

In the course of the winter we received from London, by way of Canada, a dipping-needle, made by Jones, and had to regret the destruction of a mountain barometer, applied for by me in 1836. The friendly attentions of Chief Trader Ross supplied us with an assortment of periodicals, which served to beguile the almost unsupportable tedium of a second Polar winter. This season, as I have already remarked, was less severe than its predecessor; and, as if it were a consequence of the difference, the aurora was more brilliant, displaying on several occasions the prismatic hues; but the same arched form, from north-west to south-east, predominated. Every clear night, when not eclipsed by the moon, it was to be seen; but was brightest and most active in the mornings, some time before daylight. At a quarter to 4 A.M., on the 5th of March, Ritch witnessed a most brilliant exhibition. It formed a quadrant, issuing from west-north-west, and extending to the zenith. There it doubled on itself, and terminated in a semi-elliptical figure, apparently very near the earth, in rapid motion, and tinged with red, purple, and green. The half ellipse seemed to descend and ascend, accompanied by an audible sound