The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-02-08
A Son of Noah, According to Its In
habitants, Said to be the
Founder.


been procured, and an arch@ologist had
come upon it by accident, he would
have had a profound puzzle to unravel
and explain. The name of the village
is Lasgird. The people ascribe an i'm
mense antiquity to it. and say that Las,
or Last, a son of Noah, drew on the
ground the grid, or circle, which Is
the plan of the structure. The hero OF
this legend is not very familiar to BIZ
bical Scholars in the West, but he Is
not unknown in Afghanistan. The
Coliseum at Rome, although an oval,
would convey some idea OF the general
appearance of Lasgird, only It must be
conceived as built of mud, which Is al
most the only building material OF this
country. 1t should also be recoIected
that the one belongs to period OF good
architecture, of which 1t Is celebrated
monument, while the other may be sald
! to be entirely destitute OF any preten-
tons 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
| line of doors, with here and there
small window between them. BY
| means of projecting beams, or branches
of trees. over which smaller branches
are laid, a kind of a gallery is produced,
hearing a strong resemblance to those
simnIe forms of birds nests which are
formed of sticks placed on the upper
branches of trees. The wonder is how
tbe eggs do not roll over, or that the
chicks do not tumble down to destruc-
ton. So it is with the galleries OF Las
| oird-there is no protection on the
edge. Yet we saw women and children
sheep and goats, upon them more
frail and dangerous-looking arrange
ment it would be hard to conceive. :,
There are two tiers of houses all
round, and in some places there APP
neared to be three. All had these gal,
, ieries in front, either to communicate
with the next house, or, as some dlo
! not communicate, they were only Of
: use to come out upon to sit, or work, OF
5 for the children to play upon; to Us
r these places seemed the brink OF de
struction, while to the women and chill
7 dren it all appeared as safe and com,
S Portable as if they had been monkeys
Of course there was no getting up tt
these galleries from the outside; tina
2 would have suited the Turkomans. The
means of going up were all on the in
side, the only difference being that they
were not so high up, and there were
, walls at places which did duty as par
apet, hence the certainty of falling owe
did not seem so great from the inside q
/ on the outside.
, "WhiIe looking at this strange struc
ture from one of these upper galleries
: and old woman. of at least 70 years 0
| age, passed me, with child stuck IL
{ bsome primitive way on her back; a few
wards from me was one OF these mean
: of ascent formed of sticks with the re
mains of mud hanging to it. It-woul'
have done for fowls to go up to thel
reosts upon, She clambered up. on thi
to the gallery above, but that was no
her destination; her house was one u
still higher in corner, and TO reach
she had to crawl up on the edge OF
q crumbling mud wall, not above eight
teen inches wide; on her left hand wa
! perpendicular descent, enough t
make any one dizzy, and death at tn
bottom of it, if fall should occur; a
though on the other side there was only
few feet, if the old creature had sliI
ped, the chances are that she woul
have rolled down, and fallen over tn
gallery with the baby on her back. Th
e old lady went up very steadily, an
: reach her crows nest in perfect safety
\ / could not help thinking that fe'
i, generations of this kind OF thing woul
s undo all our Development, and that "
f would go back again to our origin;
s Simian condition.
Y The dwellings of the people were a
e in the upper part OF the great circl,
and the center was filled up wit
strange moss structures, which are no
falling to decay, as there is no longe
. any danger from the Turkoman
. These places were for containing til
y grain OF the village and for receivin
y the live stock of the villagers when
y raid occurred. One of anumber {
y wells was pointed out to as within
y circle, and we were told that they ha
. three or four which were all kept
good order in the days of DANCE
There is only one entrance to this CT
N Gle. and that is by a small entrant
d scarcely four feet in height, to whit
n there is stone door working with
= pivot and socket similar to the anciel
q stone doors found in the Hauran ar
other parts of the Soudan. This stoI
n door of Lasgird is very rude one, b
~ ING eight inches thick in some part
and it tells its tale of the existence
great danger and the necessity for pr
d lection.
:. Sir Peter Lunsden had a long co
y yersation with the Khet Khodah al
m some of the principal villagers, and
d. seemed that they not only ascribed 4
origin of Lasgird to the son OF Noa
M as they call ed him; but they L
ened their strange dwelling-place to {
y Ark. Extreme theologiahs, who ide
hfy the church with the ARK, say
who were in the Ark were saved;
without were destroyed. This was c
sctly the case with Lasgird. When
st ChupaO took place all who got i'll we
: secured; all who were left outside |
10 came victims. A chronic state of W
or existed, and this fortified village was t
be result. The Government either cor
be not. OF would not, defend the Poop
he and they had to take means Ter TIL
i IL Il. A.-....