d be seen for 40 miles. Pharos long since
disappeared, overthrown, it is thought, by an earthquake. France possesses
to-day the oldest and the most impressive lighthouse--the Corduan tower,
at the mouth of the Gironde, begun in the fifteenth century. In the United
States, the lighthouse system dates only from 1715, when the first
edifice of this character was begun at the entrance to Boston harbor. It
was only an iron basket perched on a beacon, in which were burned "fier
bales of pitch and ocum," as the colonial records express it Sometimes
tallow candles illuminated this pioneer light of the establishment of
which announcement was made in the Boston _News_, of September 17, 1716,
in this wise: "Boston. By Vertue of an Act of Assembly made in the First
Year of His Majesty's Reign, For Building & Maintaining a Light House upon
the Great Brewster (called Beacon Island) at the Entrance of the Harbor of
Boston, in order to prevent the loss of the Lives & Estates of His
Majesty's Subjects; the said Light House has been built; And on Fryday
last the 14th Currant the Light was kindled; which will be very useful for
all Vessels going out and coming in to the Harbor of Boston for which all
Masters shall pay to the Receiver of Impost, One Peny per Ton Inwards, and
another Peny Outwards, except Coasters, who are to pay Two Shillings each
at their clearance Out. And all Fishing Vessels, Wood Sloops, &c. Five
Shillings each by the Year."

When the United States Government was formed, with the adoption of the
Constitution in 1789, there were just eight lights on the coast, namely,
Portsmouth Light, N.H.; the Boston Light, mentioned above; Guerney Light,
near Plymouth, Mass.; Brand Point Light, on Nantucket; Beaver Tail Light,
R.I.; Sandy Hook Light; Cape Henlopen Light, Del.; and Charleston Main
Light, on Morris Island, S.C. The Pacific coast, of course, was dark. So,
too, was the Gulf of Mexico, though already a considerable shipping was
finding its way thither. Of the multitudes of lights that gleam and
sparkle in Long Island Sound or on the banks of the navigable rivers that
open pathways into the interior, not one was then established. But as
soon as a national government took the duty in hand, the task of lighting
the mariner's pathway was pressed with vigor. By 1820 the eight lights had
increased to fifty-five. To-day there are 1306 lighthouses and lighted
beacons, and forty-five lightships. As for buoys, foghorns, day beacons,