of Granite House with water. The
opening among the stones and grass was then increased, thus producing
a strong fall at the bottom of the passage, the overflow from which
escaped by the inner well. Below this fall the engineer fixed a cylinder
with paddles, which was joined on the exterior with a strong cable
rolled on a wheel, supporting a basket. In this way, by means of a long
rope reaching to the ground, which enabled them to regulate the motive
power, they could rise in the basket to the door of Granite House.

It was on the 17th of March that the lift acted for the first time, and
gave universal satisfaction. Henceforward all the loads, wood, coal,
provisions, and even the settlers themselves, were hoisted by this
simple system, which replaced the primitive ladder, and, as may be
supposed, no one thought of regretting the change. Top particularly was
enchanted with this improvement, for he had not, and never could have
possessed Master Jup's skill in climbing ladders, and often it was on
Neb's back, or even on that of the orang that he had been obliged to
make the ascent to Granite House. About this time, too, Cyrus Harding
attempted to manufacture glass, and he at first put the old pottery-kiln
to this new use. There were some difficulties to be encountered; but,
after several fruitless attempts, he succeeded in setting up a glass
manufactory, which Gideon Spilett and Herbert, his usual assistants, did
not leave for several days. As to the substances used in the composition
of glass, they are simply sand, chalk, and soda, either carbonate or
sulphate. Now the beach supplied sand, lime supplied chalk, sea-weeds
supplied soda, pyrites supplied sulphuric acid, and the ground supplied
coal to heat the kiln to the wished-for temperature. Cyrus Harding thus
soon had everything ready for setting to work.

The tool, the manufacture of which presented the most difficulty, was
the pipe of the glass-maker, an iron tube, five or six feet long, which
collects on one end the material in a state of fusion. But by means of
a long, thin piece of iron rolled up like the barrel of a gun, Pencroft
succeeded in making a tube soon ready for use.

On the 28th of March the tube was heated. A hundred parts of sand,
thirty-five of chalk, forty of sulphate of soda, mixed with two or three
parts of powdered coal, composed the substance, which was placed in
crucibles. When the high temperature of the oven had reduced it to a
liquid, or rat