Among the few pleasures which reward the traveller for the hardships and dangers of life in the Far North, there are none which are brighter or longer remembered than the magnificent auroral2 displays which occasionally illumine the darkness of the long polar night, and light up with a celestial3 glory the whole blue vault4 of heaven. No other natural phenomenon is so grand, so mysterious, so terrible in its unearthly splendour as this. The veil which conceals5 from mortal eyes the glory of the eternal throne seems drawn6 aside, and the awed7 beholder8 is lifted out of the atmosphere of his daily life into the immediate9 presence of God.
On the 20th of February, while we were all yet living together at Anadyrsk, there occurred one of the grandest displays of the arctic aurora which had been observed there for more than fifty years, and which exhibited such unusual and extraordinary brilliancy as to astonish and frighten even the natives. It was a cold, dark, but clear winter's night, and the sky in the earlier part of the evening showed no signs of the magnificent illumination which was already being prepared. A few streamers wavered now and then in the north, and a faint radiance like that of the rising moon shone above the dark belt of shrubbery which bordered the river; but these were common occurrences, and excited no notice or remark. Late in the evening, just as we were preparing to go to bed, Dodd happened to go outside for a moment to look after his dogs; but no sooner had he reached the outer door of the entry than he came rushing back, his face ablaze10 with excitement, shouting: "Kennan! Robinson! Come out, quick!" With a vague impression that the village must be on fire, I sprang up, and without stopping to put on my furs, fan hastily out, followed closely by Robinson, Harder, and Smith. As we emerged into the open air there burst suddenly upon our startled eyes the grandest exhibition of vivid dazzling light and colour of which the mind can conceive. The whole universe seemed to be on fire. A broad arch of brilliant prismatic colours spanned the heavens from east to west like a gigantic rainbow, with a long fringe of crimson11 and yellow streamers stretching up from its convex edge to the very zenith. At intervals12 of one or two seconds, wide, luminous13 bands, parallel with the arch, rose suddenly out of the northern horizon and swept with a swift, steady majesty14 across the whole heavens, like long breakers of phosphorescent light rolling in from some limitless ocean of space.
Every portion of the vast arch was momentarily wavering, trembling, and changing colour, and the brilliant streamers which fringed its edge swept back and forth15 in great curves, like the fiery16 sword of the angel at the gate of Eden. In a moment the great auroral rainbow, with all its wavering streamers, began to move slowly up toward the zenith, and a second arch of equal brilliancy formed directly under it, shooting up a long serried17 row of slender, coloured lances toward the North Star, like a battalion18 of the celestial host presenting arms to its commanding angel. Every instant the display increased in unearthly grandeur19. The luminous bands revolved20 swiftly, like the spokes22 of a great wheel of light, across the heavens; the streamers hurried back and forth with swift, tremulous motion from the ends of the arches to the centre; and now and then a great wave of crimson would surge up from the north and fairly deluge23 the whole sky with colour, tingeing24 the white snowy earth far and wide with its rosy25 reflection. But as the words of the prophecy, "And the heavens shall be turned to blood," formed themselves upon my lips, the crimson suddenly vanished, and a lightning flash of vivid orange startled us with its wide, all-pervading glare, which extended even to the southern horizon, as if the whole volume of the atmosphere had suddenly taken fire. I even held my breath a moment, as I listened for the tremendous crash of thunder which it seemed to me must follow this sudden burst of vivid light; but in heaven or earth there was not a sound to break the stillness of midnight save the hastily muttered prayers of the frightened native at my side, as he crossed himself and kneeled down before the visible majesty of God. I could not imagine any possible addition which even Almighty26 power could make to the grandeur of the aurora as it now appeared. The rapid alternations of crimson, blue, green, and yellow in the sky were reflected so vividly28 from the white surface of the snow, that the whole world seemed now steeped in blood, and then quivering in an atmosphere of pale, ghastly green, through which shone the unspeakable glories of the two mighty27 crimson and yellow arches. But the end was not yet. As we watched with upturned faces the swift ebb29 and flow of these great celestial tides of coloured light, the last seal of the glorious revelation was suddenly broken, and both arches were simultaneously30 shivered into a thousand parallel perpendicular31 bars, every one of which displayed in regular order, from top to bottom, the primary colours of the solar spectrum32. From horizon to horizon there now stretched two vast curving bridges of coloured bars, across which we almost expected to see, passing and repassing, the bright inhabitants of another world. Amid cries of astonishment34 and exclamations35 of "God have mercy!" from the startled natives, these innumerable bars began to move back and forth, with a swift dancing motion, along the whole extent of both arches, passing one another from side to side with such bewildering rapidity that the eye was lost in the attempt to follow them. The whole concave of heaven seemed transformed into one great revolving36 kaleidoscope of shattered rainbows. Never had I even dreamed of such an aurora as this, and I am not ashamed to confess that its magnificence for a moment overawed and almost frightened me. The whole sky, from zenith to horizon, was "one molten mantling37 sea of colour and fire;—crimson and purple, and scarlet38 and green, and colours for which there are no words in language and no ideas in the mind—things which can only be conceived while they are visible." The "signs and portents39" in the heavens were grand enough to herald40 the destruction of a world; flashes of rich quivering colour, covering half the sky for an instant and then vanishing like summer lightning; brilliant green streamers shooting swiftly but silently up across the zenith; thousands of variegated41 bars sweeping42 past one another in two magnificent arches, and great luminous waves rolling in from the inter-planetary spaces and breaking in long lines of radiant glory upon the shallow atmosphere of a darkened world.
With the separation of the two arches into bars the aurora reached its utmost magnificence, and from that time its supernatural beauty slowly but steadily43 faded. The first arch broke up, and soon after it the second; the flashes of colour appeared less and less frequently; the luminous bands ceased to revolve21 across the zenith; and in an hour nothing remained in the dark starry44 heavens to remind us of the aurora, except a few faint Magellan clouds of luminous vapour.
The month of February wore slowly away, and March found us still living in Anadyrsk, without any news from the Major, or from the missing men, Arnold and Macrae. Fifty-seven days had now elapsed since they left their camp on the lower Anadyr, and we began to fear that they would never again be seen. Whether they had starved, or frozen to death on some great desolate45 plain south of Bering Strait, or been murdered by the Chukchis, we could not conjecture46, but their long absence was a proof that they had met with some misfortune.
I was not at all satisfied with the route over which we had passed from Shestakóva to Anadyrsk, on account of its barrenness, and the impossibility of transporting heavy telegraph poles over its great snowy steppes from the few wooded rivers by which it was traversed. I accordingly started from Anadyrsk with five dog-sledges48 on March 4th, to try to find a better route between the Anadyr and the head-waters of the Penzhina River. Three days after our departure we met, on the road to Penzhina, a special messenger from Gizhiga, bringing a letter from the Major dated Okhotsk, January 19th. Enclosed were letters from Colonel Bulkley, announcing the landing of the Anadyr River party under Lieutenant49 Macrae, and a map showing the location of their camp. The Major wrote as follows: "In case—what God forbid—Macrae and party have not arrived at Anadyrsk, you will immediately, upon the receipt of this letter, do your utmost to deliver them from their too long winter quarters at the mouth of the Anadyr, where they were landed in September. I was told that Macrae would be landed only in case of perfect certainty to reach Anadyrsk in boats, and I confess I don't like such surprises as Colonel Bulkley has made me now. For the present our duty consists in doing our utmost to extricate50 them from where they are, and you must get every dog-sledge47 you can, stuff them with dog-food and provisions, and go at once in search of Macrae's camp." These directions I had already anticipated and carried out, and Macrae's party, or at least all I could find of it, was now living in Anadyrsk. When the Major wrote this letter, however, he did not suppose that Dodd and I would hear of the landing of the party through the Wandering Chukchis, or that we would think of going in search of them without orders. He knew that he had told us particularly not to attempt to explore the Anadyr River until another season, and did not expect that we would go beyond the last settlement. I wrote a hasty note to Dodd upon the icy runner of my overturned sledge—freezing two fingers in the operation—and sent the courier on to Anadyrsk with the letters. The mail also included letters to me from Captain Scammon, commander of the Company's fleet, and one from my friend W.H. Dall, who had returned with the vessels51 to San Francisco, and had written me while stopping a few days at Petropavlovsk. He begged me, by all the sacred interests of Science, not to let a single bug52 or living thing of any kind escape my vigilant53 eye; but, as I read his letter that night by the camp-fire, I thought with a smile that snowy Siberian steppes and temperatures of 30° and 40° below zero were not very favourable54 to the growth and dispersion of bugs55, nor to efforts for their capture and preservation56.
I will not go into a detailed57 account of the explorations which Lieutenant Robinson and I made in search of a more practicable route for our line between the Penzhina River and Anadyrsk. We found that the river system of the Anadyrsk was divided from that of the Penzhina only by a low mountain ridge33, which could be easily passed, and that, by following up certain tributaries58 of the latter, crossing the watershed59, and descending60 one of the branches of the Anadyr, we should have almost unbroken water communication between the Okhotsk Sea and Bering Strait. Along these rivers timber was generally abundant, and where there was none, poles could be distributed easily in rafts. The route thus indicated was everything which could be desired; and, much gratified by the results of our labours, we returned on March 13th to Anadyrsk.
We were overjoyed to learn from the first man who met us after we entered the settlement that Macrae and Arnold had arrived, and in five minutes we were shaking them by the hand, congratulating them, upon their safe arrival, and overwhelming them with questions as to their travels and adventures, and the reasons of their long absence.
For sixty-four days they had been living with the Wandering Chukchis, and making their way slowly and by a circuitous61 route towards Anadyrsk. They had generally been well treated, but the band with which they travelled had been in no hurry to reach the settlement, and had been carrying them at the rate of ten or twelve miles a day all over the great desolate steppes which lie south of the Anadyr River. They had experienced great hardships; had lived upon reindeer62's entrails and tallow for weeks at a time; had been alive almost constantly with vermin; had spent the greater part of two long months in smoky Chukchi pologs, and had despaired, sometimes, of ever reaching a Russian settlement or seeing again a civilised human being; but hope and courage had sustained them through it all, and they had finally arrived at Anadyrsk safe and well. The sum-total of their baggage when they drove into the settlement was a quart bottle of whisky wrapped up in an American flag! As soon as we were all together, we raised the flag on a pole over our little log house, made a whisky punch out of the liquor which had traversed half north-eastern Siberia, and drank it in honour of the men who had lived sixty-four days with the Wandering Chukchis, and carried the stars and stripes through the wildest, least known region on the face of the globe.
Having now accomplished63 all that could be done in the way of exploration, we began making preparations for a return to Gizhiga. The Major had directed me to meet him there with Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, and Dodd, as soon as the first of April, and the month of March was now rapidly drawing to a close.
On the 20th we packed up our stores, and bidding good-bye to the kind-hearted, hospitable64 people of Anadyrsk, we set out with a long train of sledges for the coast of the Okhotsk Sea.
Our journey was monotonous65 and uneventful, and on the second of April, late at night, we left behind us the white desolate steppe of the Paren, and drew near the little flat-topped yurt on the Malmofka, which was only twenty-five versts from Gizhiga. Here we met fresh men, dogs, and sledges, sent out to meet us by the Major, and, abandoning our loaded sledges and tired dogs, we took seats upon the light narts of the Gizhiga Cossacks, and dashed away by the light of a brilliant aurora toward the settlement.
About one o'clock we heard the distant barking of dogs, and in a few moments we rushed furiously into the silent village, and stopped before the house of the Russian merchant Vorrebeof (vor'-re-be-off') where we had lived the previous fall, and where we expected to find the Major. I sprang from my sledge, and groping my way through the entry into a warm dark room I shouted "Fstavaitia!" to arouse the sleeping inmates66. Suddenly some one rose up from the floor at my feet, and, grasping me by the arm, exclaimed in a strangely familiar voice, "Kennan, is that you?" Startled and bewildered with half-incredulous recognition, I could only reply, "Bush, is that you?" and, when a sleepy boy came in with a light, he was astonished to find a man dressed in heavy frosty furs embracing another who was clad only in a linen67 shirt and drawers.
There was a joyful68 time in that log house when the Major, Bush, Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, Dodd, and I gathered around a steaming samovar or tea-urn which stood on a pine table in the centre of the room, and discussed the adventures, haps69, and mishaps70 of our first arctic winter. Some of us had come from the extremity71 of Kamchatka, some from the frontier of China, and some from Bering Strait, and we all met that night in Gizhiga, and congratulated ourselves and one another upon the successful exploration of the whole route of the proposed Russian-American telegraph line from Anadyr Bay to the Amur River. The different members of the party there assembled had, in seven months, travelled in the aggregate72 almost ten thousand miles.
The results of our winter's work were briefly73 as follows: Bush and Mahood, after leaving the Major and me at Petropavlovsk, had gone on to the Russian settlement of Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amur River, and had entered promptly74 upon the exploration of the west coast of the Okhotsk Sea. They had travelled with the Wandering Tunguses through the densely75 timbered region between Nikolaievsk and Aian, ridden on the backs of reindeer over the rugged76 mountains of the Stanavoi range south of Okhotsk, and had finally met the Major at the latter place on the 22d. of February. The Major, alone, had explored the whole north coast of the Okhotsk Sea and had made a visit to the Russian city of Yakutsk, six hundred versts west of Okhotsk, in quest of labourers and horses. He had ascertained77 the possibility of hiring a thousand Yakut labourers in the settlements along the Lena River, at the rate of sixty dollars a year for each man, and of purchasing there as many Siberian horses as we should require at very reasonable prices. He had located a route for the line from Gizhiga to Okhotsk, and had superintended generally the whole work of exploration. Macrae and Arnold had explored nearly all the region lying south of the Anadyr and along the lower Myan, and had gained much valuable information concerning the little-known tribe of Wandering Chukchis. Dodd, Robinson, and I had explored two routes from Gizhiga to Anadyrsk, and had found a chain of wooded rivers connecting the Okhotsk Sea with the Pacific Ocean near Bering Strait. The natives we had everywhere found to be peaceable and well disposed, and many of them along the route of the line were already engaged in cutting poles. The country, although by no means favourable to the construction of a telegraph line, presented no obstacles which energy and perseverance78 could not overcome; and, as we reviewed our winter's work, we felt satisfied that the enterprise in which we were engaged, if not altogether an easy one, held out at least a fair prospect79 of success.
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1
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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auroral
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| adj.曙光的；玫瑰色的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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tingeing
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| vt.着色，使…带上色彩（tinge的现在分词形式） | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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spectrum
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| n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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mantling
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| 覆巾 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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watershed
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| n.转折点，分水岭，分界线 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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circuitous
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| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
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reindeer
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| n.驯鹿 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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haps
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| n.粗厚毛披巾；偶然，机会，运气( hap的名词复数 ) | |
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mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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densely
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| ad.密集地；浓厚地 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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