126 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



appeared at first sight to be almost impracticable. 

 After their third season of labour, the workmen com- 

 pleted the foundations of the tower and fixed the 

 key-stone of the cupola. In vain did difficulties of 

 every kind combine with the winds and waves to 

 oppose the work ; human industry has come forth 

 victorious from the struggle, and although a thousand 

 difficulties and dangers beset the labourers, no serious 

 accident to them or their work troubled the joy of 

 their triumph. Only on one occasion was science at 

 fault. In order to facilitate the arrival of the stones, 

 which had to be brought from a distance of several 

 leagues and cut at Brehat, the skilful engineer, who 

 had furnished all the plans and superintended their 

 execution, wished to construct a wooden pier for the 

 disembarkation of the stones at the spot where they 

 were required. Several of the older seamen objected 

 to the plan as impracticable, but M. Reynaud, who 

 was not familiar with the sea, and who, moreover, 

 was proud of having stemmed the current of rapid 

 rivers, trusted to the stability of his massive piles, 

 clamped together with iron and bronze. But he was 

 soon compelled to admit his mistake. The first 

 storm sufficed to scatter over the waters the whole 

 of these ponderous and solid materials, like so many 

 pieces of straw. The learned pupil of our scientific 

 schools could no longer refuse to adopt the advice of 

 the humble workmen of Brehat. A crane was 

 attached to the summit of a rock, to which boats 

 could be moored, and the materials for building were 

 then drawn up to a railway which had been thrown 



