The foundation-stone of the tower was laid on the 7th of July 1840, by the late Duke of Argyll, who, as proprietor of the adjacent Island of Tyree, took a great interest in the success of the works, and granted to the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses free permission to quarry granite on any part of the Argyll estate-a freedom which was generously continued by the present Duke of Argyll. The light was exhibited for the first time in February 1844. It is a revolving light, and reaches its brightest state once every minute. It is produced by the revolution of eight great annular lenses around a central lamp with four wicks, and belongs to the first order of dioptric lights in the system of Fresnel. The light may be seen from a vessel's deck at a distance of eighteen miles. The entire cost of the lighthouse-including the purchase of the steam-vessel, and the building of the harbour at Hynish for the reception of the

small vessel (which now attends the light house) was £86,977: 17:7.

"In such a situation as Skerryvore," says the engineer, "innumerable delays and disappointments were to be expected by those engaged in the work; and the entire loss of the fruit of the first season's labour in the course of a few hours was a good lesson in the school of patience, and of trust in something better than an arm of flesh. During our progress, also, cranes and other materials were swept away by the waves; our attending vessels were driven by sudden gales to seek shelter at a distance from the rocky shores of Mull and Tyree; and the workmen were left on the rock desponding and idle, and destitute of many of the comforts with which a more roomy and sheltered dwelling and the neighbourhood of friends are generally connected. Daily risks were run in landing on the rock in a heavy surf, in blasting the

splintery gneiss, or by the falling of heavy bodies from the tower on the narrow space below, to which so many persons were necessarily confined. Yet had we not any loss of either life or limb; and although our labours were prolonged from dawn to night, and our provisions were chiefly salt, the health of the people, with the exception of a few slight cases of dysentery, was generally good throughout the six successive summers of our sojourn on the rock. The close of the work was welcomed with thankfulness by all engaged in it; and our remarkable preservation was viewed, even by many of the most thoughtless, as in a peculiar manner the gracious work of Him by whom the very hairs of our heads are all numbered."

We close by noticing the floatinglight used where no footing can be had whereon to found a tower; and though it fulfils its object less perfectly than a

lighthouse, yet, as admirably organised

by the Trinity House of London, it is an indispensable part of our British Lighthouse system. The Lightship is a wellfound vessel of one hundred and fifty tons burden, made fast to secure moorings. It costs, including all equipments, about £4000, and is maintained at a cost of about 1000 per annum. The lantern, which is five feet six inches diameter, surrounds the mast, on which it is raised when hoisted. The vessel is manned by a crew of eleven in number, so as to work the ship in case of her breaking adrift; and to their praise be it said—although there are forty-seven lightships on the coasts of England and Ireland—there is no instance on record in which the brave crews of these vessels have voluntarily run from their station in bad weather. Whether we consider, therefore, the important position which our lightships occupy among the

tortuous channels leading to our great ports of London and Liverpool, or the calm endurance of their ever-tempest-rocked inmates, they cannot fail to arrest our interest, and inspire us with thankfulness that men are found ever ready to discharge the most unenviable duties in the important and humane work of protecting the lives of our hardy seamen.