The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-02-05
AN ANCIENT VILLAGE.
A Son of Noah According to Its ,nhabi-
tants, Said to BE the Founder.

from Teheran:
1--WE had not proceeded far on our
way when vestiges of the former condi-
ton of things met our eyes. 1t was at
place only 100 miles from Teheran
that we first realized the dreadful state
of danger in which the people had
lived. We found most remarkabl
village at which we encamped. Sup
posing no information could have been
procured and an archaologist 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, son of Noah, drew on the
the plan of the structure. The hero #
this legend is not very familiar to BIZ
blical scholars in the West, but he is
not unknown in Afghanistan. The
Colosseum 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 recollected
that the one belongs to period of good
architecture, of which it is a celebrated
monument, while the other may be said
to be entirely destitute of any preten-
siOns 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 a
small window between them By
means of projecting beams, or branches
of trees, over which smaller branches
are laid, kind of gallery is produced,
bearing a strong resemblance 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 roll over, or that the
chicks do not tumble down to destruc-
ton. So it is with the galleries of Las
| glrd-there Is no protection on the
edge. Yet we saw women and children,
sheep and goats, upon them-a 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 ap-
peared to be three All had these gal
leries in front, either to communicate
with the next house, or, as some did
not communicate, they were only of
use to come out upon to sit, or work, or
for the children to play upon; to US
these places seemed the brink of de-
structiOn, while to the women and chill
dren it all appeared as safe and COM
Portable as if they had been monkeys.
Of course there was no getting up to
these galleries from the outside; that
would have suited the Turkomans The
means OF going up were all on the in
side. In some instances there are rough
steps of mud, and in others there are
inclined planes, half ladders and half
road, made in the same way as the gal
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,
ali old woman, of at least 20 years of
age, passed me, with 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. It would
have done for fowls to 60 up to their
roosts upon. She clambered up on this
to the gallery above, but that was not
her destination; her house was one up
| still higher IN corner, and to reach it
she h"d to crawl up on the edge of
| crumbilng mud wall, not above eight
cen inches wide; on her left hand was
2 perpendicular descent, enough to
make any one dizzy, and death at the
bottom of it, if fall should occur; al
thougl the other side there was only
few feet, if the old creature had Slip
ped. the chances are that she won d
have rolled down, and fallen over the
gallery with the baby on her back. The
old lady went up very steadily, and
reached her crows nest in perfect safe
ty. | could not help thinking that
few generations of this kind of thing
would undo all our development, and
that we would 90 back again to our
original Simian condition.
| The dwellings of the people 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 Iurkomans.
These places We're for containing the
grain of the village and for receiving
| the live stock of the villagers when a
raid occurred. One of Il number of
wells was pointed out to us within 4
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 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 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 a 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 lk-
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 kplace 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
NeaUS.