consisted in using a kind of shovel, formed of a rod, armed with a hollow half-cylinder of sheet copper, which contained the powder, and being inverted by giving the rod half a turn round its axis, made the powder drop out when the cylinder reached the bottom of the bore. It was, in all respects, excepting size, the same as the charging-rod used for great guns. The amount of materials removed by blasting, as nearly as I could ascertain, was only about 1000 cubic yards; and, taking all the circumstances into account, it may be doubted whether there be any instance in modern engineering of an operation _of so small an extent_ occupying so much time, and involving so great risk. The blasting of the Rock, however, was not the only difficulty with which we had to contend, for it also became necessary to remove the quarried materials, amounting to about 2000 tons, into the deep water round us, to prevent their being thrown by the waves upon the Rock, and so endangering the future temporary Barrack. That was rather a laborious work, and occupied two cranes, with temporary runs and trucks, during the greater part of the time we spent on the Rock. I am well aware that the quantity of materials which I have just mentioned, will be apt to produce a smile from those who have been chiefly conversant with the gigantic but simple operations which generally characterize the great railways of this country; but if it be remembered that we were at the mercy of the winds and waves of the wide Atlantic, and were every day in the expectation of a sudden call to leave the Rock, and betake ourselves to the vessel, and on several occasions had our cranes and other tools swept into the sea, the slowness of our progress will excite less surprise; and still less will those who duly weigh the dangers of our daily life, both in our little vessel and on the Rock, and who, at the same time, reflect on the many striking proofs which we almost every hour experienced of the care of an Almighty hand, be disposed to withhold their sympathy from the heartfelt expressions of gratitude which often went round our little circle in the boats, as we rowed in the twilight from the Rock to the ship. Isolation from the world, in a situation of common danger, produces amongst most men a freer interchange of the feelings of dependence on the Almighty, than is common in the more chilly intercourse of ordinary life.