only two cabins, one for the
engineer, and the other for the foreman. In the third compartment were
three rows or tiers of beds, capable of accommodating about thirty
men. Below these three floors was the temporary floor at the height of
twenty-five feet above the rock, used for preparing mortar and for the
smith's workshop. The beacon was connected with the building by a
gangway, or bridge of timber.

Mr. Stevenson has given an interesting description of his cabin in the
beacon, where he had passed many weeks 'in a kind of active
retirement, making practical experiment of the fewness of the positive
wants of man.' This cabin measured not more than four feet three
inches in breadth on the floor; and though, from the oblique direction
of the beams of the structure, it widened towards the top, yet it did
not admit of the full expansion of his arms when he stood on the
floor, while its length was little more than sufficient for suspending
a cot-bed during the night. This was tied up to the roof during the
day, thus leaving free room for the admission of occasional visitants.
'His folding-table was attached with hinges immediately under the
small window of the apartment, and his books, barometer, thermometer,
portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools, formed the bulk of his
moveables. His diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the table were
proportionably simple, though every thing had the appearance of
comfort, and even of neatness, the walls being covered with green
cloth formed into panels with red tape, and his bed festooned with
curtains of yellow cotton-stuff. If, in speculating upon the absolute
wants of man in such a state of seclusion, one was reduced to a single
book, the Sacred Volume, whether considered for the striking divinity
of its story--the morality of its doctrine--or the important truths of
its Gospel, would have proved by far the greatest treasure.'

As the building rose in height the action of the sea upon it was
regarded with much interest. When the wind was blowing, accompanied
with a heavy surf upon the rock, the appearance towards high water is
described as being very grand and wonderful. Waves of considerable
magnitude rose as high as the solid or level of the entrance-door
which was to the leeward; but on the windward side the sprays flew
like lightning up the sloping sides of the building, occasionally
wetting the artificers, and interrupting their operations on the top
of the walls.

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