Waves of the Western Ocean, and of the Biitish Seas. 115 
To convey an idea of the astonishing rapidity and impetuosi- 
ty of the surges of the German Ocean, we shall quote a letter 
addressed to the Engineer for the Lighthouse Board by Mr 
Alexander Macdonald, one of the superintending artificers, who 
was residing at the Bell Rock Lighthouse during the storms in 
the month of October last. 
The gale, at N.NE., which commenced about the 8th (Oc- 
tober), has been fully more severe, and the storm of longer du- 
ration, than any I have hitherto met with while at the light- 
house. The water came upon the house, in an unbroken state, 
to the height of the kitchen- windows (61 feet above the Rock), 
and the green seas as high as the bed-room windows (76 feet). 
At times seas, for I cannot call them sprays, though of a whitish 
colour, came above the library-windows, and struck the cornice 
(90 feet high) with such force, that, on separating, they darted 
to the leeward of the house, which was left, if I may so express 
it, at one end of an avenue of water. Indeed the appearance, 
in all directions around us, was at times more dreadful and ter- 
rific than I have ever before seen it. I really think, upon the 
whole, the house feels more firm and entire than when I first 
knew it, shortly after it was finished. I cannot perhaps better 
express my meaning than by saying, that, when the seas struck 
it hard, the sensation now, more than formerly, resembled the 
tremulous motion of a perfectly sound substance. The lamp- 
glasses in the light-room, and the utensils in the kitchen, were 
frequently heard to make a tingling noise during the gale, owing • 
to the vibrations of the tower.**’ 
The violent impetus of these German Ocean waves, which, ac- 
cording to the graphic and forcible description of Mr Macdo-. 
naldj darted to leeward of the Bell Rock lighthouse, and left 
the building, as it were, “ at- one end "of an avenue of water,” 
forms a striking contrast to the solemn march of the wide-swell- 
ing billows of the Bay of Biscay, which exhaust themselves in 
comparative tranquillity around the Tour de Corduan. 
We think Mr Macdonald’s idea regarding the increased firm- 
ness and stability of a building so situate, is probably correct. 
It is evident, that, for a year or two after the erection of this 
edifice, the mortar could hardly have taken sufficient band, and 
that the fabric would in effect not possess that degree of unity 
H S 
