APPLICATIONS OP TIMBEP. 201 



courses of mooi* stone that were in it were mere 

 ballast, and served little other pnrpose than that of 

 keepinp; tlie structure firm by their weig'ht, which was 

 about two hundred and seventy tons. The main 

 column of Rudyerd's buildins: consisted of one sim- 

 ple fig'urc, beini;- an eleijant frustnmi of a cone, un- 

 liroken by any projectina; ornaments, or anything on 

 wliicii the violence of the storms could lay hold ; 

 measuring;, exclusively of its sloping; foundation, 

 twentV-two feet eight inches diameter, on its largest 

 circular base ; sixty-one feet in height above that cir- 

 cular base ; and fourteen feet three inches diameter at 

 the top ; so that the circular base was somewhat 

 greater than one-third of the total height, and the 

 diameter at the top was less than two-thirds of the 

 base at the greatest circle. On the flat roof of this 

 main column, as a platform, Mr. Rudyerd fixed 

 his lantern, which was an octagon of ten feet six 

 inches diameter externally. The mean height of the 

 window-frames of the lantern, above the balcony floor, 

 was nearly nine feet ; so that the elevation of the 

 centre of the light above the highest side of the base 

 was seventy feet. 



This structure was completed in three years ; the 

 light being first exhibited on the 28th of July, 1708 ; 

 and the work was perfected the following year. Not- 

 withstanding that this edifice was of timber, and ex- 

 posed to the most violent swells and storms that can 

 well be imagined, it appears that, in consequence of 

 the simplicity of its form, the skill with which it 

 was framed and fastened to the rock — the base, 

 naturally shelving, having been worked to a series 

 of horizontal steps or terraces, — it would have 

 defied the ocean and the atmosphere for many cen- 

 turies, with only a moderate degree of repair. In 

 the year 1744, a number of the upright timbers were 

 broken, but they were soon replaced by Mr. Jessop, 



