It was a strip of white and dazzling calcareous rock, about a mile from Alexandria, and 150 stadia from the Canobic mouth of the river Nile. Its northern coast was fringed with small islets, which, in the fourth and fifth centuries, became the resort of Christian anchorites. A deep bay on the northern side was called the “Pirates’ Haven,” because, in early times, it had been a place of refuge for the Carian and Samian rovers. An artificial mound, or causeway, connected the island with the mainland. From its extent (seven stadia, 4270 English feet, or three-quarters of a mile), it was called the _Heptastadium_. In its whole length two breaks occurred, to permit of the passage of the water, and these breaks were crossed by drawbridges. At the insular end stood a temple to Hephæstus, and at the other the great Gate of the Moon. The famous lighthouse stood on a kind of peninsular rock at the eastern end of the island; and as it was built of white stone, and rose to a great height, it was scarcely a less conspicuous object from the city than from the neighbouring waters. Some remarkable discrepancies occur in the accounts of this noble edifice, which have been handed down to us, but after all allowance has been made for error and exaggeration, it remains obvious that the wondering admiration bestowed upon it by the ancients was not unjustified. The statements of the distance at which its light could be seen are, however, most undeniably fictitious. That of Josephus, who compares it to the second of Herod’s three towers at Jerusalem—called Phasael, in honour of his brother—is the least incredible; yet even he asserts that the fire which burned on its summit was visible thirty-four English miles at sea! Such a range for a lighthouse on the low shores of Egypt would require, says Mr. Alan Stevenson, a tower about 550 feet in height.