I. The Lighthouse-keepers, 276 APPENDIX. I. A List of Lights on the British and Irish Coasts, 289 II. A Night in a Lightship, 312 Index, 315 [Illustration] [Illustration] LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHTSHIPS. BOOK I. _ANCIENT HISTORY OF LIGHTHOUSES._ CHAPTER I. THE FIRE-TOWERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. We are apt to look upon the lighthouse as completely a modern invention, but a little reflection would convince us that the early navigators, in their arduous struggle against the ocean, could not have failed to establish some sure indications by which to guide their adventurous course. Undoubtedly, the first rude signal would be no more than a huge fire blazing on the wave-washed promontory, or on the summit of hoary hill or grassy mound nearest to the more dangerous parts of the shore. But it can easily be conceived that the difficulty of keeping these fires kindled on stormy nights would soon suggest to man’s ingenuity the idea of erecting a suitable structure for their shelter. The value of this kind of coast defences was so apparent, that the ancients felt unable to ascribe them to simple human invention. And thus the Greeks attributed their origin to the demigod Hercules. But there seems some reason to believe that, long before Greece became a maritime nation, light-towers had been built by the Lybians and the Cuthites along the coast-line of Lower Egypt. These towers, we are told,[1] served as landmarks during the day, as beacons during the night. Their purpose was a holy one, and accordingly they were also used as temples, and each was dedicated to a divinity. The mariner, who naturally held them in great veneration, enriched them with his votive offerings. It has been conjectured by some authorities that their walls at first were painted with charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the navigation of the Nile; these charts being afterwards transferred to papyrus. The priests of these singular but valuable institutions taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and the art of steering a vessel’s course by the aid of the constellations. On the summit of each tower a fire was continually burning; the fire being placed in a machine of iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all bound together by skilful decorative work. The machine was attached to the extremity of a stout pole, and so placed that its radiance was directed seaward. [1] Renard, “Les Phares” (Paris, 1867).