THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

LIGHTHOUSES are strong high buildings of stone, with a gallery and large glass lantern at the top, in which is a powerful light. They are generally fixed on or near some dangerous rocks, that vessels in a storm at night may avoid them. The most celebrated Lighthouse on the English coast is built on the Eddystone rocks, near Plymouth. These rocks are about one hundred fathoms in length, running from north to south. The sea is very deep all round them, and this causes the heavy swell of the ocean to beat on them with greater fury when there is a storm. Indeed, when the sea is calm, the interruption to the course of the sea by these rocks, causes a great commotion and dashing of the waters. In moderate weather the water will fly to the height of thirty or forty feet when the waves are interrupted by these rocks.

In former times seamen avoided these rocks as much as possible, and yet many vessels were wrecked upon them, and many lives were lost.

It is not surprising that the dangers to which navigators were exposed by these rocks should make a commercial nation desirous of having a lighthouse on them. The wonder is, that any one should be found hardy enough to undertake the building. Such a man was first found in the person of Henry Winstanly, of Littlebury, in Essex, gent., who, in the year 1696, was furnished by the master, wardens, and assistants of the Trinity-house, of Deptford Strond, with the necessary powers to carry the design into execution. He

entered upon his undertaking in 1696, and completed it in four years. This gentleman was so certain of the stability of his structure, that he declared it to be his wish to be in it "during the greatest storm that ever blew under the face of the heavens."

Mr. Winstanly was but too amply gratified in his wish, for while he was there with his workmen and light-keepers, that dreadful storm began, which raged most violently on the 26th of November, 1703, in the night; and of all the accounts of the kind which history furnishes us with, we have none that has exceeded this in Great Britain, or was more injurious or extensive in its devastation. The next morning, November 27th, when the violence of the storm was so much abated that it could be seen whether the lighthouse had suffered by it, nothing appeared standing; but, upon a nearer inspection, some of the large irons by which the work was fixed upon the rock still remained; nor were any of the people, or any of the materials of the building, ever found afterwards.

In 1709, another lighthouse was built of wood, on a very different construction, by Mr. John Rudyerd, then a silkmercer on Ludgate-hill. This was a very ingenious structure; but after it had braved the elements for forty-six years, it was burnt to the ground in 1755. On the destruction of this lighthouse, that excellent mechanic and engineer, Mr. Smeaton, was chosen as the fittest person to build another. It was with some difficulty that he was able to persuade the proprietors that a stone building, properly constructed, would, in all respects, be preferable to one of wood; but

having at last convinced them, he turned his thoughts to the shape which was most suitable to a building so critically situated. Reflecting on the structure of the former buildings, it seemed a material improvement to procure, if possible, an enlargement of the base, without increasing the size of the waist, or that part of the building which is between the top of the rock and the top of the solid work. Hence he thought a greater degree of strength and stiffness would be gained, accompanied with less resistance to the acting power. On this occasion, the natural figure of the waist of a large spreading oak, occurred to Mr. Smeaton. He describes it as growing up from the ground with a very thick trunk, which gradually becomes thinner, and then spreads out again to be very thick where the first branches shoot from it. Now he thought if this tree, thus made, can, when all its leaves are on it, stand the fury of a storm of wind, a building made in the same form, would resist the action of the water; and he was right. Whenever we want to do anything, we should always look and see how the Great Architect has done in such cases, and take pattern by Him.

With these views, as to the proper form of the superstructure, Mr. Smeaton began the work on the 2nd of April, 1757, and finished it on August 4th, 1759. The rock is cut into steps, into which are dovetailed, and united by a strong cement, Portland stone, and granite. The whole, to the height of thirty-five feet from the foundation, is a solid mass of stones, ingrafted into each other, and united by every means of additional strength. The building has four rooms, one over the other, and at the top a gallery and a lantern. The

stone floors are flat above, but concave beneath, and are kept from pressing against the sides of the building by a Į chain let into the walls. It is nearly eighty feet high, and since its completion has been often assaulted by the fury of the elements, without suffering the smallest injury.

Young Reader! Does not the lighthouse remind you of something else? What is that bright light, which fixed by a divine hand in this dark and stormy scene, is a beacon to warn us of the fatal rocks on which our fragile barks might perish? THE BIBLE! This light, shining in a dark place, not only warns us of peril, but points to the haven where we may rest in safety,

"And not a wave of trouble roll

Across our peaceful breast."

THE MUMMY-PITS OF EGYPT.

OUR curiosity induced us, during our stay near Thebes, to descend into one of the mummy-pits that abound in this neighbourhood; but it would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the disgusting scene of horror we had to encounter. The entrance was through a very narrow hole, nearly filled up with rubbish, by which we made our way into a small room about fifteen feet long and six wide; beyond, we reached a chamber somewhat larger, and containing two rows of columns. The walls were covered with paintings, and at the farther end stood two full length statues, male and female, dressed in very gay apparel, and having on one side the figures of two boys, and on the other those of two girls.

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The whole of this chamber was strewed with pieces of cloth, legs, arms, and heads of muminies, left in this condition by the Arabs who visit these places for the purpose of rifling the bodies, and carrying off the bituminous substances with which they have been embalmed. From the chamber above described, two passages lead into the interior and lower part of the mountain, and we penetrated about a hundred yards into that which appeared the longest. Slipping and crawling among the various fragments of these mutilated bodies, we were only able to save ourselves from falling by catching hold of the leg, arm, or skull of a mummy, some of which were lying on the ground, but many still standing in the niches where they had first been placed.

A Greek, whom the travellers met at Thebes, informed them that, in pursuit of some predatory Arabs, of the village of Amabdi, not far from Manfalout, he had observed several of them disappear by descending into a mummy-pit. He and his soldiers went down in search of them, but in vain. At the bottom they observed fragments of mummies of crocodiles scattered about; and the pit appeared to communicate with lateral galleries of unknown extent, where were probably deposited the crocodile mummies from among which these fragments had been rifled. Our author and his companions were determined to see what these caves did actually contain, and with considerable difficulty induced some Arabs of Amabdi to become their guides. The descent was a circular hole, of ten feet wide, and about eighteen deep. Our author, Mr. Smelt, and an American named Barthow, descended with three Arabs, leaving one at the top