वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. · 49
deduct these days from the duration of the night, the period of
darkness is reduced from six to two, or at the most, to two-and-
half-months. It is, therefore, erroneous to suppose that the half
yearly Polar night is such a continuous period of darkness as
will make the Polar regions uncomfortable. On the contrary,
it will be the peculiar privilege of the Polar man to witness the
splendid spectacle of a long continuous dawn with its charming
lights, revolving, like the stars at the place, every day in hori-
zontal planes, round and round him, as long as the dawn may
last.
The dawn in the the tropical or the temperate zone is but
brief and evanescent, and it recurs after every 24 hours. But
still it has formed the subject of poetical descriptions in different
countries. If so, how much more the spectacle of a splendid
long dawn, after a darkness of two months, would delight the
heart of a Polar observer, and how he will yearn for the first
appearance of the light on the horizon, can be better imagined
than described. I quote the following description of this long
Polar dawn from Dr. Warren's Paradise Found, and invite
special attention to it, inasmuch as it forms one of the princi-
pal characteristics of the North Pole. Premising that the splen-
dours of the Polar dawn are indescribable, Dr. Warren pro-
ceeds :—
“First of all appears low in the horizon of the night-sky a
scarcely visible-flush of light. At first it only makes a few
stars' light seem a trifle fainter, but after a little it is seen to
be increasing, and to be moving laterally along the yet dark hori-
zon. Twenty-four hours later it has made a complete circuit
around the observer, and is causing a larger number of stars to
pale. Soon the widening light glows with the lustre of 'Orient
pearl.' Onward it moves in its stately rounds, until the pearly
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