Xii INTRODUCTION. 



done to make their position and that of their families a 

 comfortable one. They have a liberal allowance of holidays ; 

 and, if sickness overtakes them or any member of their 

 families, medical attendance and medicines are furnished by 

 the Board practically free. Comfortable dwelling-houses, 

 with a certain amount of furniture, are supplied to all of 

 them, with uniform clothing, bedding, cooking utensils, coal, 

 and oil for lighting purposes. When men are doing duty 

 on rock lighthouses, their food and all their wants are, as 

 a matter of course, supplied. At stations remote from 

 schools, a boarding allowance is given to enable light- 

 keepers to get their children boarded and educated else- 

 where. Nor must I omit to mention that all are liberally 

 supplied with illustrated and other newspapers, monthly 

 periodicals, and books of useful and general literature. 

 Lightkeepers and their families at most island stations have 

 also means afforded them for occasional attendance on Divine 

 ordinances. They have time to indulge in hobbies, such as 

 handicraft of various kinds, from the making and mending 

 of shoes to the construction of beautiful models of light- 

 houses and ships, or, like that of the writer of the Notes, 

 the studying of the natural history of the objects around 

 them. I knew one who, on the eve of his retirement, built 

 for himself a small boat of plate iron, in which he after- 

 wards used to go fishing. 



The lights shown from lighthouses have all special 

 characteristics such as fixed, flashing, or a variation in 

 colour to distinguish them from each other, and to enable 

 the mariner when he sights them to know exactly off what 

 part of the coast he is. Unfortunately, this does not always 

 prevent shipwrecks occurring; for, although he should not 

 do so, sometimes the mariner mistakes his light, and runs 

 into danger instead of out of it ; or fog may render a light 



