al.

In order to give some idea of the interior, we shall describe the cabin
of Mr Stevenson. It measured four feet three inches in breadth on the
floor, and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the
beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the full
extension of the occupant's arms when he stood on the floor. Its length
was little more than sufficient to admit of a cot-bed being suspended
during the night. This cot was arranged so as to be triced up to the
roof during the day, thus leaving free room for occasional visitors, and
for comparatively free motion. A folding table was attached with hinges
immediately under the small window of the apartment. The remainder of
the space was fitted up with books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau,
and two or three camp-stools.

The walls were covered with green cloth, formed into panels with red
tape, a substance which, by the way, might have had an _accidental_
connexion with the Bell Rock Lighthouse, but which could not, by any
possibility, have influenced it as a _principle_, otherwise that
building would probably never have been built, or, if built, would
certainly not have stood until the present day! The bed was festooned
with yellow cotton stuff, and the diet being plain, the paraphernalia of
the table was proportionally simple.

It would have been interesting to know the individual books required and
used by the celebrated engineer in his singular abode, but his record
leaves no detailed account of these. It does, however, contain a
sentence in regard to one volume which we deem it just to his character
to quote. He writes thus:--

"If, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man in such a state of
exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the Sacred Volume, whether
considered for the striking diversity of its story, the morality of its
doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel, would have proved by
far the greatest treasure."

It may be easily imagined that in a place where the accommodation of the
principal engineer was so limited, that of the men was not extensive.
Accordingly, we find that the barrack-room contained beds for twenty-one
men.

But the completion of the beacon house, as we have described it, was not
accomplished in one season. At first it was only used as a smith's
workshop, and then as a temporary residence in fine weather.

One of the first men who remained all night upon it was our friend