erved the driver making a
signal to him. He had just time to spring on to a wooden platform at
the edge, when another engine, coming from the opposite direction,
passed over the spot on which he had been standing. In an instant he
would have been crushed to death. "How grateful did I feel to God that
I had been thus mercifully preserved!" he said.

At the outer end of the breakwater there is a lighthouse, with a single
fixed red light, so that it cannot be mistaken for any other of the
neighbouring lights. At the end of the south pier-head of Weymouth
Harbour is also a single red fixed light; but it is far away to the
northward of the breakwater light, and cannot be seen at any great
distance.

The Portland Breakwater is indeed a magnificent work. The plans were
designed by Mr Rendel, and the estimated cost was six hundred thousand
pounds. The first stone was laid by Prince Albert, in July, 1849. The
whole length is nearly a mile and a half. It first runs out from the
Isle of Portland for 1,800 feet, when it is finished by a circular head
of solid masonry. Then, for about four hundred feet, there is an
opening through which vessels may enter or run to sea in case of
necessity. Then comes another circular head similar to the first, from
which the principal part of the breakwater extends in the same straight
line for about three hundred feet, and then curves round to the north
for 5,400 feet. It was formed--in the first instance--by extending
stages in the direction required, on which rails were laid down to
support the stone-wagons pushed by locomotives to the outer end. The
wagons, on reaching their destination, were tilted up, and the stone
dropped down to the bottom. Thus the work was continued gradually until
the outer end was reached. The stones after they were thrown down were
placed in the required position by divers, who worked with crowbars. A
dangerous employment it must have been. A man employed on the
breakwater who accompanied us told us that on one occasion the air-pipe
burst, and that, although the diver immediately gave the signal, when he
was hauled up he was nearly dead. Another poor fellow did not answer
the tug, which a man in a boat above gave every half-minute. When he
was hauled in it was found that the water had run under the joints of
his helmet and drowned him. There were five lines of rail laid down,
each carrying trucks pushed by locomotives. We were told that 2,500
tons