104 LUNDY ISLAND. 



quickly set their clothes on fire, if brought into the 

 focus ; blinds are therefore necessary, which are always 

 kept down during sunshine. 



The lamp is a large Argand burner, of four circular 

 wicks, placed concentrically, or surrounding each 

 other, with intervals between. In descending, we 

 were shewn into a chamber filled with the large cylin- 

 drical glass chimneys to be used for the lamp : here 

 they are kept in store, arranged on shelves round the 

 room. Eighteen dozen, as we were told, was the 

 number that we saw. The stores are replenished at 

 certain intervals from a vessel loaded and sent round 

 by the Trinity House, to visit in succession all the 

 lighthouses on the coast. 



At the bottom of the edifice there is a second light- 

 chamber facing the sea. Here are placed nine hemi- 

 spherical reflectors, made of copper, polished and 

 silvered within their concavity. They are set in two 

 rows, four above five, arranged in the arc of a large 

 circle. A lamp is placed in the focal centre of each, 

 the smoke from which is led off by a tube, passing 

 through each reflector to a common chimney behind. 



This lower light is chiefly of use to ships when 

 near the island. As long as it continues in sight, 

 when approaching the shore, they are safe ; but the 

 moment it is shut in by the intermediate summit of 

 the precipice, they are in dangerous proximity to the 

 rocks, and must haul off till they see it again. 



The fogs, which are so prevalent on this coast in 

 winter, are the most fatal occasions of shipwreck. 



