Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-04-16

leries. These lead up to galleries com
municating with the houses, which were
an exact repetition of those on the out
side, the only difference being that they
were not so high up, and there were
walls at places which did duty as a par
apet, hence the certainty of falling over
did not seem so great from the inside
as on the outside.
''While looking at this strange struc-
ture from one of these upper galleries,
an old woman, of at least 20 years of
age, passed me, with a child stuck in
some primitive way on her back; few
yards from me was one of these means
of ascent formed of sticks with the re-
mains of mud hanging to it. 1t would
have done for fowls to 90 up to their
roOsts upon. She clambered up on this
to the gallery above, but that was not
her destinations; her house was one ND
still higher III a corner, and to reach It
she had to crawl up on the edge of a
crumbling mud wall, not above eight
cen inches wide; on her left hand was
a perpendicuja ar descent, enough TO
make any one dizzy, and death at the
bottom OF it, if fall should occur: al
few feet, if the old creature had sIip-
ped, the chances are that she Won d
have rolled down. and fallen over the
gallery with the baby on her back. ] he
Old lady went up very steadily, and
reached her crows nest in perfect safe
ty. | could not help thinking that q
few generations of this kind of thing
would undo all our development, and
that we would 90 back again to our
original Similar condition.
The dwellings of thepeople were all
in the upper part Of the great circle,
and the center was filled up with
strange moss structures, which are now
falling to decay, as there is no longer
any danger from the Turkomans.
These places were for containing the
grain of the village and for receiving
the live stock of the villagers when
raid occurred. One of a number of
wells was pointed out to us within a
circle, and we were told that they had
three or four which were all kept in
good order in the days of danger.
There is only one entrance to this cir
Gle, and that is by small entrance
scarcely four feet in height, to which
there is a stone door working with a
pivot and socket similar to the ancient
stone doors found in the Hauran and
other parts of the Soudan. This stone
door of Lasgird is d very rude one, be-
ing eight inches thick in some parts,
and it tells its tale of the existence of
great danger and the necessity for pro-
lection.
''Sir Peter Lunsden had long con-
versation with the Khet Khodah and
some of the principal villagers, and it
seemed that they not only ascribed the
origin of Lasgird to the Son of Noah,
'Nu,' as they called him; but they Xix
ened their strange dwelling-place to the
Ark. Extreme theologians, who iden-
tify the church with the Ark, say all
who were in the Ark were saved; all
without were destroyed. This was ex-
actly the case with Lasgird. When a
Chupao took place all who got in were
secure; all who were left outside be-
came victims. A chronic state of war
existed, and this fortified village was
the result. The Government either
could not, or would not, defend the
people, and they had to take means for
their own safety. "-London Daily
NeaCS.