Smyrna times., 1884-12-31
A Village Founded By Noah's
Son.

dreadful state of danger in which the
people had lived. We found most
remarkable village at which we en-
camped. Supposing no information
could have been procured, and an
archGOlOgist had come upon it by ac
cident, he would have had a profound
puzzle to unravel and explain. The
name of the village is Lasgird. The
| people ascribe an immense antiquity to
it, and say that Las, or Last, a son of
Noah, drew on the ground the " grid, :"
circle, which is the plan of the struc-
ture. The hero of this legend is not
very familiar to Biblical scholars in the
West, but he is not unknown in At
ghanistan. The Colosseum at Rome,
although an oval, would convey some
idea of the general appearance Of Las
grid, only it must be conceived as built
of mud, which is almost the only
building material of the country. 1t
should also bs recOllected that the one
belongs to period of good architec-
ture, of which it is celebrated mOnu-
ment, while the other may be said to
be entirely destitute of any pretensions
of this kind
"The rude mud walls are thick
and solid all round at the base, and
rise some thirty or forty feet, where
there is a line of doors, with here and
there small window between them
By means of projecting beams, OF
branches Of trees, over which smaller
branches are laid, kind of gallery is
produced, bearing a strong resem-
blance to those simple forms of birds
nests which are formed of sticks placed
on the upper branches of trees. The
wonder is how the eggs do not rol
over, or that the chicks do not tnmblC
down to destruction. So it is with the
galleries of Lasgird-there is no pro
lection on the edge. Yet we saw
women and children, sheep and goats
upon them-a more frail and danger
/ Gus looking arrangement it would bC
hard to conceive. There are two tier
of houses all around, and in som,
places there appeared to be three. Al
had these galleries in front, either t
communicate with the next house, OF
as some did not communicate, they
were only of use to come on
upon to sit, or work, or for the chill
dren to play upon to us these place
seemed the brink of destruction, Will
to the women and children it all aT
peared as safe and comfortable as
they had beeu monkeys. OF cours
there was no getting up to these ga
leries from she outside; that wOul
> have suited the TurkOmans. Th
means of going up was all on the il
side. In some cases there are roug
!, steps of mud, and in others there ar
inclined planes, half ladder and ha
: road, made in the same way rs the ga
leries. These lead up to galleries con
municating with the houses, whic
were an exact repetition of those o
the outside, the only difference bein
that they were not SO high up, an
there were walls at places which di
duty as parapet, hence the certaint
of falling over did not seem quite S
great from the inside as on the Outsid
While looking at this strange structul
from one of these upper galleries, a
= old woman, of at least seventy yeal
of age, passed me, with child stuck
some primitive way on her back
few yards from me was one of the,
means of ascent formed Ofsticks wit
, the remains of mud hanging to it.
would have done for fowls to go up t
their rOosts upon. She clambered u
on this to the gallery above, but thi
+ was not her destination; her hOu'
was one up still higher in a corner, al
to reach it she had to crawl up on IL
edge of a crumbling mud wall, n
above eighteen inches wide; on h
left hand was a perpendicular descen
l. enough to make any one dizzy, al
= death at the bottom of it, if a fa
NJ should occur; although the other SIT
J there was only few feet, if the 0
creature had slipped, the chances a
that she would have rolled down, al
fallen over the gallery with the bal
on her back. The old lady went I
Nv very steadily, and reached her crO'
ief % nest in perfect safety. I could II
Die help thinking that few generatiO
~, of this kind of thing would undo
Of our development, and that we wOI
ice go back again to our original Simi
as condition.
we we "The dwellings of the people W.
to all in the upper part of the great {
Gle, and the centre was filled up wi
igh strange moss structures, which are n
lti- falling to decay, as there is no lonj
liz liz any danger from the Turkoma
will These places were for containing
ur- oI,- grain of the village and for receiv
han the live stock of the villagers whel
lars raid occurred. One of a number
wells was pointed out to us with
rer. circle, and we are told that they
- three or four which were always k
in good order in the days of dang
n There is only one entrance to this Gil
u, scarcely four feet in height, to VIII
thero is stone door working wit
pivot and socket similsr to the anci
'0i' stone doors found in the Hauran
other parts of the SOudan. This st
door of Lasgird is n very rude {
. being eight inches thick in some pi
and it tells its tale of the existence
great danger and the necessity for |
er. lection. Sir Peter Lunsden had
!, ,,'aS, aSo conversation with the Khet Kho
,70.32 and some of the principal villagers,
~ it seemed that they not only ascri
rna. the origin of Lasgird to the Sol
n.diay Noah, 'Nu,' as they called him
they likened their STANCE dwell
3rice. place to the Ark. Extreme the
II gians who identify the Church with