ants. attack of a tribe of mountain Indians, by an opportune notice of their intention. Before the attack, however, Dr. Richardson's party met several parties of Esquimaux, and had friendly communications with them; and it may, in some measure, be ascribed to the small number of the party, (twelve in all) and the apparently distressed situation of the boats grounding on the flats of the Mackenzie river. But after the attack was defeated, and fortunately without injury to the natives, presents were made to, and barters with, some individuals who belonged to the same tribe, but who had not been engaged in the affair, and who had signified their disapproval of the conduct of the assailThe eastern party, under Dr. Richardson, who was accompanied by Mr. Kendall, an intelligent and distinguished young officer, succeeded in reaching the Coppermine river on the 8th of August, and returned to Fort Franklin, Great Bear Lake, on the 1st of September. Like that under the command of captain Franklin, they experienced repeated obstructions from ice, and occasionally from strong breezes; but they were spared the foggy weather, except on parts of two days, which had caused the western party so much anxiety and difficulty in their progress. The object of Dr. Richardson's party was to examine the intermediate coast between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine rivers. After separating from captain Franklin, on the 4th of July, they pursued the easternmost channel of the Mackenzie, until the 7th of that month, when, finding that it distributed itself by various outlets, of which the more easterly were not navigable for their boats, they chose a middle one, and that night got into brackish water, with an open view of the sea, in lat. 69 deg. 29 min. N. long. 133 deg. 24 min. W. On the 11th in lat. 69 deg. 42 min. N. long. 132 deg. 10 min. W. the water was perfectly salt, the sea partially covered with drift ice, and no land visible to seaward. They experienced considerable difficulty in crossing the estuaries of several rivers, which were deemed to be outlets of the shallow channels of the Mackenzie, that had been left. to the eastward. They suffered, besides, some detention from ice and bad weather; and it was not until the 18th of July that, in lat. 70 deg. 37 min. N. long. 126 deg. 52 min. W. they got entirely clear of the widely-spreading mouths of the Mackenzie, and of a large lake of brackish water, which seems to receive one of the branches of that river. The navigation across these wide estuaries was rendered embarrassing from extensive sandy flats, which occasionally compelled them to go nearly out of sight of land, and left them exposed to a frequently dangerous surf, in boats too slight to venture out into deep water, amongst heavy ice, in stormy weather. These dangers were gladly exchanged for a coasting voyage in the open sea. They rounded Cape Parry, in lat. 70 deg. 8 min. N. long. 123 deg. W. Cape Krusenstern in lat. 68 deg. 46 min. N. long. 114 deg. 45 min. W. and entered George the 4th's Coronation Gulf, by the Dolphin and Union Straits (so named after the boats), which brought them. within sight of Cape Barrow, and two degrees of longitude to the eastward of the Coppermine river. Their sea voyage terminated as before-mentioned, on the 8th of August, by their actually entering that river. With the exception of a few hours on two or three days, Dr. Richardson's party experienced contrary winds during their entire progress, and latterly were delayed, and compelled to round every inlet of a deep bay, by thick ice driving in from sea ward, and packing closely on the shore. The boats' crews, how ever, without suffering their exertions to flag, and taking every advantage of wind and tide, cut a passage with the hatchet; and by four days of hard labour cleared this obstacle, the most troublesome that occurred during their voyage along the coast. Although they saw much heavy floe ice, some of it aground even in nine fathom water, yet none of it bore marks of being more than one season old; and from the heights of land they could discern lanes of open water outside-so that a ship, properly strengthened for such a voyage, could make way through it with a favouring breeze. Throughout the whole line of coast they had regular tides, the flood setting from the eastward; the rise and fall being from a foot to twenty inches. In the Dolphin and Union Straits, the current in the height of flood and ebb exceeded two miles an hour. They found drift timber every where, and a large portion of it, on many parts of the coast, lay in a line from ten to fifteen, and in some places upwards of twenty feet, above the ordinary spring-tide water-mark, apparently thrown up by a heavy sea. The coast in such places was unprotected by islands; and the inference is, that in some seasons at least, if not every year, there exists a long fetch of open water. After the first rapid, in the Coppermine river, Dr. Richardson's party aban doned the boats, with the remainder of their cargoes of provision, iron-work, beads, &c. to the first party of Esquimaux which should chance to pass that way; and on the 10th of August set out by land, with ten days' provisions, and their personal baggage reduced to a single blanket and a few spare mockasins, that they might travel as lightly as possible; and, farther to reduce the men's loads, the tents were left behind, and Mr. Kendall carried the astronomical instruments. They reached the eastern end of Bear Lake, at the influx of Dease's river, on the 18th, and remained there until the evening of the 24th, before the boats arrived to convey them to Fort Franklin. The person to whom the boats were intrusted, and who was sent off from Fort Franklin on the 6th of August, with the necessary supplies, and the strictest injunctions from Mr. Dease to use diligence in getting to the river, did not arrive on the latest day appointed for his appearance (the 20th), from a vague belief that Dr. Richardson's party would never return, and that he should make a needless voyage, and remain long waiting for them in vain. He therefore loitered by the way; and after the 20th Dr. Richardson was obliged to distribute his party into hunting and fishing groups, to procure subsistence. In these operations they were tolerably successful; and they also obtained supplies from a tribe of Indians, so that they had abundance. Dr. Richardson was not able to collect his party for embarkation until the evening o the 28th; and they reached the fort, after an absence from it of seventy-one days, the whole party in perfect health. -- AURORA Borcalis. Gosport Observatory. At nine o'clock, Sept. 26, a bright yellow light appeared in the N.W. quarter, behind a low stationary cirrostratus cloud, and gradually extended from N. to W.N.W. It continued to increase in altitude and width, and at ten had a brighter appearance than the strongest crepuscule that appears in this latitude in a clear sky about the time of the Summer Solstice; but neither lucid columns nor coruscations yet presented themselves. At half-past ten the Aurora had formed itself into a tolerably well-defined arc of intense light, whose base extended from N. to W.; and at a quarter before eleven perpendicular lucid columns and vivid coruscations of this subtile fluid appeared in quick succession. So brilliant was the Aurora at eleven, that it reached eight or nine degrees higher than Polaris, and their apparent base was nearly horizontal with the star Beta in Ursa Major. At this time the coruscations, which appeared to spring up from a much greater northerly distance than the columns were, reached to the constellation Cassiopeia, which was nearly in the zenith. Soon after eleven a column of light, six degrees in width, gradually rose from the position of the beforementioned star, and when it had reached an altitude of seventy degrees it changed from a light yellow to a blood red colour, which, with the more elevated and vivid flashes that frequently reached twenty degrees south of the zenith, gave the Aurora an awfully grand appearance. This wide coloured column remained perfect upwards of an hour, alternately waning and increasing in brilliancy, and ultimately passed through the gradation of colours which is sometimes seen in the clouds near the horizon at sun-set, as lake, purple, light crimson, &c.: it became apparently stationary in the N.E. by E. point, and its eastern red edge was very well defined in the dark blue sky. Two more columns of light, nearly similar in colour and width, soon afterwards sprang up, one in due N. the other in N. W. and passed the zenith several degrees to the southward. These three columns presented a very grand appearance. At half-past eleyen the Aurora suddenly changed to red, but soon resumed its light yellow colour. From about this time till twelve o'clock, the apex of the arc of light was within four or five degrees of the Polar Star, consequently the hemisphere from N.E. by E. to S.W. by W. was exceedingly brilliant, whilst the coruscations which flashed through the atmosphere quicker than sheet lightning in sultry summer evenings, formed whole, but irregularly shaped, arches from these points of the horizon through the zenith nearly. At one A.M. lofty perpendicular columns emanated from the Aurora in the western point, and at this time the northern hemisphere was filled with long and short streamers varying in width and brilliancy, and often terminating in very pointed forms. The coruscations from the N.E. and W. frequently met each other in the zenith, and enlightened the scattered patches of cirrostratus even to within thirty degrees of the southern horizon, and from these clouds being stationary, it is probable that the atmosphere was serene and undisturbed in their vicinity. Soon after two A.M. the Aurora grew faint, and gradually disappeared. The diffusion of the coruscations through the atmosphere caused twelve accensions, or meteors, to appear at intervals in different quarters, but most of them were to the northward; it also had the effect, between the hours of observation, of increasing the temperature of the external air near the ground half a degree, notwithstanding the wind blew fresh from the south. This was the finest Aurora Borealis that has been observed here during the last seventeen years. In sixteen hours after the Aurora, heavy rain and a gale of wind came on from the S.Ě. by E. (to which quarter the coruscations mostly tended), the common result here of the diffusion of a superabundance of electric fluid in the lower atmosphere. New Comet.-At eleven o'clock P.M. on the 20th of June, Mr. Gambard discovered a small comet, situated in one of the feet of Cassiopeia. It was invisible to the 'naked eye, and appeared to be approaching the pole with great rapidity. Mr. Pons, at Florence, observed the same phenomenon on the 21st, at two o'clock A.M.; that is to say, only three hours after it was seen by Mr. Gambard ;-a striking proof of the zeal and diligence with which the science of astronomy is cultivated on the continent. On the Magnetic Influence of the Heat produced by the Solar Rays, &c.-By Mark Watt, esq. A magnetic needle of about three inches long was used, and was suspended by a hair which hung from a stand, and surrounded by a sheet of pasteboard, to protect it from any slight current of air that might pass through the room. The needle gave similar indications to another, which was boxed in the usual way. It is generally supposed, that when a magnetic bar is placed free to move, it is not easily prevented from evincing the influence of that law which obliges it to rest parallel with the magnetic meridian; although the intermediate body should be applied close to the bar-no body interposed at any distance (if not attractive) having any influence on it whatever. I found, that, by coating the needle with bees-wax, or putty, the directive power might be variously modified; and that, by making the coating sufficiently thick, the polarity of the needle might be so far counteracted, as to produce, for a time, a total cessation of its action. The magnetic bar, however, which was suspended, and balanced from the centre, gave some indications of its polarity, though immersed in the midst of about a pound of putty-a proof, amongst many, of the subtilty of the magnetic fluid. A needle traversing on a pivot is of course unfit for such trials; but when the needle is suspended horizontally by a human hair, and the other end of the hair fixed to the top of a glassbell by a little wax, or suspended in any other way, it indicates much slighter influence than in any other situation; and a human hair doubled will support nearly six-twelfths of a pound, a horse-hair, one pound avoirdupois with ease, and, if loaded by degrees, considerably more. I gradually increased the thickness of a layer of bees-wax around the suspended needle, covering both the poles; and I perceived, that, as the thickness of the coating was augmented, the north pole of the VOL. LXIX. needle seemed to show greater tendency to move westward; and, with a coating of wax of about an inch and a half diameter, the needle pointed N. W. for several hours, and in the course of some days went back to N.N.W., where it remained almost stationary. I repeated this experiment several times, with nearly the same results. I also repeated the experiment with another small magnetic bar of about two inches long, and an eighth of an inch in breadth and thickness, making the needle and bees-wax swim in a large basin of water. I incased the needle in a pound of bees-wax, making it into a cylindrical shape, of half a foot long and two inches and a half in diameter. If the south pole of the bar was placed towards the north, it turned round the pound of wax with ease; and when it became steady, it pointed several degrees more to the westward than the common compass needle. As the tendency of the north poles of these magnets was to verge towards the west, in the direction of the variation, when placed under these circumstances it seems to favour the idea that the cause of the variation is distinct from the law which gives to the magnetic needle its polarity. It appears that, when the magnetic needle finds itself in what may be termed a new situation in respect to the influence that may affect it, a considerable time is often necessary before it can adjust itself to those alterations, making sufficient allowance for the time it would take to settle when any way set in motion. This is exemplified by fixing two magnetic bars on the circumference of a circle, at the distance of 90° from each other, the circle being suspended by a hair from the centre 2 L |