nating display was watched, and how much longer it
continued cannot be said. It was a grand general aurora, high in the
heavens, not vividly coloured save for the prismatic fringes, but of
brilliant illumination, and remarkable amongst all the auroras observed
since for its sudden changes and startling climaxes. Draped auroras are
common in this country, though it has been wrongly stated that they are
only seen near open seas, but their undulations are generally more
deliberate and their character maintained; this one flashed on and off
and changed its nature as though some finger were pressing buttons that
controlled the electrical discharges of the universe. Yet it was noticed
that even in its brightest moments the light of the stars could be seen
through it.

[Sidenote: A LOCAL AURORA]

The next aurora to be described was of a totally different kind. It
occurred on the 18th of March, 1905. The writer, with an Indian
attendant, was travelling on the Koyukuk River from Coldfoot to Bettles,
and, owing to a heavy, drifted trail, night had fallen while yet the
road-house was far away. There was no moon and the wind-swept trail was
wholly indistinguishable from the surrounding snow, yet to keep on the
trail was the only chance of going forward at all, for whenever the
toboggan slid off into the deep, soft snow it came to a standstill and
had to be dragged laboriously back again. A good leader would have kept
the trail, but we had none such amongst our dogs that year. Thus,
slowly, we went along in the dark, continually missing the trail on this
side and on that. We did not know on which bank of the river the
road-house was situated, for it was our first journey in those parts. We
only knew the trail would take us there could we follow it. All at once
a light burst forth, seemingly not a hundred yards above our heads, that
lit up that trail like a search-light and threw our shadows black upon
the snow. There was nothing faint and fluorescent about that aurora; it
burned and gleamed like magnesium wire. And by its light we were able to
see our path distinctly and to make good time along it, until in a mile
or two we were gladdened by the sight of the candle shining in the
window of the road-house and were safe for the night.

Now, one does not really know that this was an aurora at all, save that
there was nothing else it could have been. It was a phenomenon
altogether apart from the one first described; not occupying the