The present North Unst lighthouse is a massive masonry building, standing in the centre of the small flat space on the top of the pinnacle, with heavy masonry walls bounding it on all sides. The tower is 64 feet in height, while the red and white light may be seen from a distance of twenty-one miles in clear weather. That the winter storms of 1854 were by no means exceptional has been proved up to the hilt on several occasions since. When the nor’-wester is roused thoroughly, the breaking waves curl up the cliff and rush over the lantern. Such a climb of 260 feet conveys a compelling notion of the force of the sea. The weight of the water thrown into the air has threatened to overthrow the massive boundary walls, while now and again the invader leaves tangible evidences of its power by smashing the windows of the lantern. Upon one occasion it burst open the heavy door, which weighs the best part of a ton. The light-station is served by four keepers, two on duty simultaneously, their homes being on the island of Unst, four miles away. For the conveyance of water, fuel, provisions, and other requirements, from the landing-stage to the lighthouse 200 feet above, an inclined railway has been provided on the easier slope, so that the men are no longer called upon to pack their provisions, like mules, from the water-level up a steep cliff, as was formerly required. Rounding these island dangers, the navigator picks up the light of Cape Wrath, glimmering from a height of 370 feet above the water-level and standing at the western corner of the rectangular head of the Scottish mainland. Going south, he has two passages available--the inner, which extends through the Minches and inside the Hebrides; or the outer, which lies beyond the latter rampart. In making the outer passage he comes within range of the light shining from the summit of a lonely group of rocks standing some twenty-two miles out to sea off the Isle of Lewis. These are the Flannen Islands, or Seven Hunters, one of many similar lonely Scottish stations. The tower is mounted upon the crown of one of the highest points, and the white group-flashing light is visible over a radius of twenty-four miles. Farther south the seafarer picks up and drops the Monach Islands light, likewise lying out in the Atlantic, some ten miles from the nearest land. Finally, rounding Barra Head, the most southerly point of the reef lying off Barra Island, the light from which is cast 580 feet above the water owing to the height of the cliff, the vessel slips into a huge indentation, where isolated rocks peep above the Atlantic, one of the most dangerous of which is indicated by the Skerryvore lighthouse.