managed than sheet-lead in such
a situation. As a further defence against the weather the whole exterior
of this temporary residence was painted with three coats of white-lead
paint. Between the timber framing of the habitable part of the beacon
the interstices were to be stuffed with moss as a light substance that
would resist dampness and check sifting winds; the whole interior was
then to be lined with green baize cloth, so that both without and within
the cabins were to have a very comfortable appearance.

Although the building artificers generally remained on the rock
throughout the day, and the millwrights, joiners, and smiths, while
their number was considerable, remained also during the night, yet the
tender had hitherto been considered as their night quarters. But the
wind having in the course of the day shifted to the N.W., and as the
passage to the tender, in the boats, was likely to be attended with
difficulty, the whole of the artificers, with Mr. Logan, the foreman,
preferred remaining all night on the beacon, which had of late become
the solitary abode of George Forsyth, a jobbing upholsterer, who had
been employed in lining the beacon-house with cloth and in fitting up
the bedding. Forsyth was a tall, thin, and rather loose-made man, who
had an utter aversion at climbing upon the trap-ladders of the beacon,
but especially at the process of boating, and the motion of the ship,
which he said "was death itself." He therefore pertinaciously insisted
with the landing-master in being left upon the beacon, with a small
black dog as his only companion. The writer, however, felt some delicacy
in leaving a single individual upon the rock, who must have been so very
helpless in case of accident. This fabric had, from the beginning, been
rather intended by the writer to guard against accident from the loss or
damage of a boat, and as a place for making mortar, a smith's shop, and
a store for tools during the working months, than as permanent quarters;
nor was it at all meant to be possessed until the joiner-work was
completely finished, and his own cabin, and that for the foreman, in
readiness, when it was still to be left to the choice of the artificers
to occupy the tender or the beacon. He, however, considered Forsyth's
partiality and confidence in the latter as rather a fortunate
occurrence.

Wednesday, 19th July.

The whole of the artificers, twenty-three in number, now removed of
their own accord from the