The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1916-11-02
Y Y HEN news came a year or
u more ago that the Russians,
" " having captured the South
Armenian city Of Mush,


Armenian city of Mush,
4 had pushed on rapidly and won vic
4 tory at Akhlat On the shore Of Lake
Van, there were probably not half a
II dozen people IN the British islands who
II received a thrill at sight of that last
4 name. But those half-dozen, if there
were so many, had instantly summoned
! up to their minds eye one of the most
perfect little buildings in the world,
in it's way, which was standing recent
Ny-let us hope is still standing-by
the waters of the romantic lake, writes
Sir Martin Conway, in Country Life.
Van and Titicaca are perhaps the two
most romantic lakes in the world. They
lie far remote from the ways of most
people, even of most travellers, both on
high plateaus near great mountains;
both the sites of great ancient civiliza-
tons; both destined to be the scene of
no little future prosperity; and both,
in these days, ratt&r sorrowful and
fallen. One is the jewel Of the Armeni-
an highlands. The other lies far away
between the two great ranges Of the
Cordillera Of the Andes.
Always Fortress.
The importance Of ancient Van is
proved by the triumphant cuneiform
inscriptions left upon it's rocks by
proud Assyrian conquerors. The rock
of Van has been a fortress since ever
fortresses were. It has passed down
the ages from conqueror to conqueror,
yet when the Russians captured it it's
lapse from Ottoman control passed al
most unnoticed. It was none the less
a considerable event. When the for
tpess of Van changes hands the clock
pof history strikes the passing Of an
age.
It is not, however, of Van that we
mar the island close to the south shore
of the lake, which has been for CEN
turtles a kind of Holy island to the
Armenians cherishing it's old church,
still fairly well preserved and in use
before this war burst upon even that
most secluded retreat. Akhlat alone
will suffice us today, and that not for
it's Christian, but it's Mussulman as
sociations. There was, indeed, an old
vine some distance from the shore. The
Mussulman conquerors set up their
fortress not there, though the site was
naturally strong, but on the shore be-
tween two small ravines. The city they
built was the capital Of small state
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
but history is very silent about it at
the time wien its existing monuments
were raised. We know the names of
the builders, but nothing whatever
!, about them beyond what they tell US
themselves.
Tombs Are Called Kumbets.
Half mile inland from the port on
slightly rising ground was the site
chosen for the mausolea of the princes
of Akhlat. It was the pleasing fashion
of the Moslems to erect their tOmbs
amid gardens and to take their pleas
ure beside the remains of their be-
loved. Herce, for instance, the beau
tiful garden round the Tai at Agra.
have heard Mrs. Grundys of sorts
criticizing visitors for making merry in
that garden, but that was exactly what
it was made for. There are no gar
dens left at Akhlat, only fertile patch
in the midst of q dry and dusty region,
where gardens once were. Some Of the
mausolea SILL stand, and one of them
is thing Ct great beauty.
A tomb Of this kind is called KUN
bet. It is a polygonal or circular build
Ing of ston7, standing on a solid base
and summarized by a pointed stone
roof like an extinguisher. Evidently
enough the type was borrowed from
the earlier Christian toElb-churches Ct
the tenth and perhaps preceding CEN
turtles, whereof ruined examples may
be seen st Ami and elsewhere. There
are, or were, three kumbets at Erzerum
near or attached to the Chifteh Min
arch. The older kumbet at ErZerum
is still like a dome browning part of a
church, though the building has shrunk
together beneath it and is represented
only by ring Of pedimented facades.