478 J}!S TOR V OF COHA SSE T. 



until, reaching the third, the last of the bed rock was covered, 

 and the courses proceeded with regularity and greater speed. 

 When it is considered that each stone must be cut to fit its neigh- 

 bors above, below, and at either side, and exactly conform to the 

 next inner row upon the same level ; that eight iron piles, taper- 

 ing as they ascended, must be allowed for in certain of the stones ; 

 and that those of the innermost row, the ends of the eight great 

 "headers," must be finished each as a fragment of the bore of 

 the well that drills its way from the first floor nearly to the bed 

 rock, it will be seen that nothing short of perfect cutting and 

 flawless joining could be tolerated. Each stone was secured to 

 the course under it by two or more bolts or dowels of three-inch 

 gun metal, that material having been selected from a variety of 

 metals which had received an under-water test of more than a 

 year. The hole in the undermost stone was drilled flaring at the 

 bottom, and the bolt, its end split into two 

 ..«d?^7^^^^~ tiny clefts, was spread 



and cHnched when '^^s.. 



driven home. Strap ^ --^-^-^ 



iron inserted between /- . / 

 the courses kept the 

 stones apart sufficient- 

 ly for the flowing in 

 Twenty-second course, of Portland cement, ^ . . 



*i,a flo^r ^f fi,,^ ;r,o;^«> Ihntieth course, floor 



r, ruu which becomes almost oi bedroom 



of the lighthouse. °' Deaioom. 



literally a part of the 

 solid stone. Each stone is dovetailed to those upon either side. 

 This process holds good up to the twenty-third course, which, 

 forty-four feet above the rock, serves as the first course of the 

 "shell" or hollow portion containing the keepers' rooms. Here 

 each course is "joggled" by a middle annulus to the course 

 which it rests on. At the top the interior is arched over, and 

 upon the outside the top course flares outward in a severely plain 

 but shapely cornice. 



As the hammers clinked ashore, the busy chisels were slowly re- 

 ducing the ledge to a condition to receive the fitted stones ; but 

 the progress out at sea was of necessity tedious and protracted. 

 " Frequently," says Captain Alexander, " one or the other of the 

 conditions would fail, and there were at times months, even in 



