landing-place as possible, were taken by the boats to the creek, and moored with warps to the fenders at the quay. The first trial of the lighters in landing stones on the Rock was made on the 20th of June, on which occasion both the steamer and the stone craft were decorated with flags; and due honour was done to the occasion of landing the first stone, by firing a salvo shot and drinking success to the works. The landing service throughout the whole progress of the works was one of much difficulty and anxiety and many narrow escapes were made; but it was managed with great prudence, and at the same time with unremitting energy, by Messrs Macurich and Heddle, in their several departments, both ashore and afloat. On many occasions the men who steered the lighters ran great risks; and it was often found necessary to lash them to the rails, to prevent their being thrown overboard by the sudden bounds of the vessels, or being carried away by the weight of water which swept their decks as they were towed through a heavy sea. Sometimes, also, we were forced, owing to the rush of the sea into the creek, which threatened to lift the vessels on the top of the Rock, to draw out the loaded lighters from the wharf without landing a single stone, after they had been towed through a stormy passage of 13 miles; and one day, during the very best part of the season, so sudden was the bounding of the vessel before the sea, that eight large warps were snapped like threads as the lighter was carried violently before a crested wave which rolled unexpectedly into the creek, while those who stood on her deck were thrown flat on their faces and imagined that the vessel had been laid _high and dry_ on the top of the Rock. During the whole season, however, in the course of landing 800 tons of masonry on the Rock, too often in that dangerous manner, none of the dressed stones received any great damage, nor was any other injury of importance sustained. ~Building the first stone.~ The building of the Tower was commenced on the 4th July; but it was not till the 7th that the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was performed by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, who, as proprietor of the adjacent Island of Tyree, took a great interest in the success of the works, and on that day visited the Skerryvore with the Duchess of Argyll, the Marquis of Lorne, Lady Emma Campbell, and a party of friends, in the Toward Castle steamer. On that occasion His Grace expressed himself much pleased with the works and kindly left with me a donation of L.10 for the workmen.