_a_, _a_, had, at each end, double knobs, and were pushed up along the beams, until they squeezed the timbers _x_, _x_, _x_ between them; plates _p_, _p_ (having holes in them through which the double knobs of the braces were made to pass), were then put on and keyed and screwed, as shewn in the figure, so that each beam was quite enclosed by fixtures, which were thus independent of spikes or bolts. Thin hardwood wedges were afterwards driven in, wherever they could be inserted between the iron and the timber; and those wedges were “_stitched_” to the beams with common nails, merely to prevent their dropping downward, after any temporary contraction of the timber from the state of the atmosphere. In all this, I have anticipated what more properly belongs to the works of the season 1839; but I consider it best, for the sake of clearness, to connect this account of the new with the destruction of the old Barrack. * * * * * ~Works at Hynish.~ While the operations already described were in progress at the Rock, various works were going forward at the workyard in Tyree. About 16 masons, 12 quarriers, and 4 carpenters, were employed in building the barracks for the workmen and in erecting smiths’ and carpenters’ shops. A large room, paved with a stone floor, for drawing out at full size the courses of the Tower and making the moulds for dressing the stones, was also provided; and a platform of squared masonry was set in the workyard, on which the courses were to be laid, before being shipped for the Rock. During the season, the pier had also been carried out 256 feet, to a point 15 feet within the low-water mark. It was also necessary to provide depositories for the security of tools and other implements, as well as a large coal-shed for the supply of the Steamer which was then in the course of being built. It had, as already noticed, been determined that the stores were to be served out at the cost prices of the Greenock market, to be paid for once a month, at the same time that the wages of the men were paid. That arrangement had been carried into effect on a small scale, from the very beginning of the works; but this season it became necessary, owing to the increased number of men, to conduct it on a more extended and systematic plan; and, for that purpose, a person was required to act as storekeeper and clerk. In order also to preserve the provisions from injury by damp and to secure them from the inroads of the needy Celts and from innumerable rats which overrun that part of Tyree, it was found necessary to set apart, as a storehouse, a large room on the second storey of one of the workshops. The chief articles served out in the store were meal, molasses, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco and butter. The establishment of the store entailed a great deal of trouble, and led to some expense for carriage and packages, as well as to occasional trifling losses in serving out the allowances or from injury sustained