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Dr. Hayes’s Aurora, 6th January, 1861.

‘Recent Polar Voyages’ contains a narrative of the voyage of Dr. Hayes, who sailed from Boston on the 6th of July, 1860, and wintered at Port Foulbe. He witnessed a remarkable display of the Aurora Borealis on the morning of the 6th January, 1861.

Development of Aurora.

The darkness was so profound as to be oppressive. Suddenly, from the rear of the black cloud which obscured the horizon, flashed a bright ray. Presently an arch of many colours fixed itself across the sky, and the Aurora gradually developed.

Rays changed to glow.

The space within the arch was filled by the black cloud; but its borders brightened steadily, though the rays discharged from it were exceeding capricious, now glaring like a vast conflagration, now beaming like the glow of a summer morn. More and more intense grew the light, until, from irregular bursts, it matured into an almost uniform sheet of radiance. Towards the end of the display its character changed. Lurid fires flung their awful portents across the sky, before which the stars seemed to recede and grow pale.