THOUGH nature generally wears a more stern and forbidding aspect on advancing towards the Pole, yet the high latitudes have many beauties of their own. Nothing can exceed the magnificence of an Arctic sunset, clothing the snow-clad mountains and the skies with all the glories of colour; or be more serenely beautiful than the clear star-lit night, illumined by the brilliant moon, which for days continually circles around the horizon, never setting until she has run her long course of brightness. The uniform whiteness of the landscape and the general transparency of the atmosphere add to the lustre of her beams, which serve to guide the natives in their nomadic life, and to lead them to their hunting-grounds.
A number of icebergs floating in the sea-a familiar scenein polar regions-is one of the most magnificent spectacles in nature. But the wonderful beauty of these crystal cliffs never appears to greater advantage than when clothed by the midnight sun① with all the splendid colours of twilight. In the distance, they seem like masses of burnished metal or solid flame. Nearer at hand, they are like huge blocks of purest marble inlaid with pearl and opal gems. Thousands of sparkling little cascades leap into the sea from their sides, the water being discharged from lakes of melted snow and ice that repose in the quietude of their valleys.
But of all the magnificent spectacles that relieve the monotonous gloom of the Arctic winter, there is none to equal the magical beauty of the Aurora.② Night covers the snow- clad earth; the stars glimmer feebly through the haze which so frequently dims their brilliancy in the high latitudes, whensuddenly a broad and clear bow of light spans the horizon in the direction where it is traversed by the magnetic meridian.③ This bow sometimes remains for several hours, heaving or waving to and fro, before it sends forth streams of light toward the zenith. Sometimes these flashes proceed from the bow of light alone; at others they simultaneously shoot forth from many oppsite parts of the horizon, and form a vast sea of fire, whose brilliant waves are continually changing their position. Finally they all unite in a magnificent crown or cupola of light, with the appearance of which the phenomenon attains its highest degree of splendour.
The brilliancy of the streams, which are commonly red at their base, green in the middle, and light yellow towards the zenith, increases, and at the same time they dart with greater vivacity athwart the skies. The colours are wonderfully transparent; the red approaching to a clear blood-red, the green to a pale emerald tint. On turning from the flaming firmament to the earth, this also is seen to glow with a magical light. The dark sea, black as jet, forms a striking contrast to the white snow plain or the distant ice mountain: all the outlines tremble as if they belonged to the unreal world of dreams. The imposing silence of the night heightens thecharms of the magnificent spectacle.
But gradually the crown fades; the bow of light dissolves; the streams become shorter, less frequent, and less vivid; and finally the gloom of winter once more descends upon the northern desert.
In these desolate regions, which are winter-bound during the greater part of the year, man, elsewhere the lord of the Earth, plays but an insignificant part. He is generally a mere wanderer over its surface-a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman. A few small settlements, separated by vast deserts, give proof of his having made some weak attempts to establish a footing.
In the absence of manufactures and agriculture, man isentirely dependent on the lower animals for the means of subsistence. They constitute his wealth, and occupy all his care. They yield him food and clothing, and materials for shelter and for fashioning his rude implements and weapons. The defence with which nature has furnished them against the rigours of the climate, forms the very attraction which exposes them to the attacks of man. The rich furs yielded by the bear, the fox, the sable, the ermine, the lynx, the sea-otter, the seal, and many other Arctic animals, are valuable articles of commerce; and are, indeed, the only means by which the nomads of Siberia and the Esquimaux of North America can procure the foreign articles they require. The pursuit of the whale, the walrus, and the dolphin, the shark-fisheries of Greenland, the cod-fisheries of Greenland and Norway, and④the eider-downtrade of Iceland, complete the list of themercantile resources of these regions.
