. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. i' RECENT NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. 241 out with inconceivable swiftness, but always appearing to move to and from a fixed point, somewhat like a riband 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; becomi
. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. i' RECENT NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. 241 out with inconceivable swiftness, but always appearing to move to and from a fixed point, somewhat like a riband 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 mor^ 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 ; Several questions have been agitated with respect to the Aurora. It has been said to be accompanied with a hissing and cracking noise ; and indeed Captain Lyon observes, that the sudden glare and rapid bursts of those wondrous showers of fire make it difficult to fancy their movements wholly without sound ;—yet nothing was ever really heard. Captain Parry complains that he could not expose liis ears to the cold long enough com- pletely to ascertain the point; but his colleague de- clares that he stood for hours on the ice listening, and at a distance from every sounding body, till he became thoroughly satisfied that none proceeded from the Au- rora. It has also been questioned whether this meteor ever comnletely hid the stars; and it was generally decided, on this occasion, that it dimmed the lustre of those heavenly bodies, as if a thin gauze veil had been drawn over them,—an effect which was augmented when several luminous portions were spread over each other. In a clear atmosphere these lights shone with a brightness which gave the impression that they were nearer than
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
