The Monticellonian., 1916-10-26

Armenian city of Mush, had pushed on rapidly and won vic tory at Akhlat on the shore of Lake Van. there were probably not half Il dozen people in the British islands who received thrill at sight of that last 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 1y-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- tions; both destined to be the scene of no little future prosperity; and both i'll these days, rather s0rrowful and fallen. One is the jewel of the Armeni- an highlands. The other lies far away between the two great ranges of the Gordillera of the Andes.
 Always a Fortress.
 The importance of ancient Van is proved by the triumphant cunefform inscriptions left upon it's rocks by proud Assyrian eonquerors. The rock of Van has been a fortress since ever fortresses We're. IL 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 considerable event When the for tress of Van changes hands the clock of history strikes the passing of an age.
 It is not, however, of Van that We must here treat, nor even of Akhtha- mar. the island close to the south shore of the lake, which has been for cen turies 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. Akklat alone will suffice us today, and that not for it's Christian, but it's Mussuman as sociations.
 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 hnSi1a tho of |, loved. Hence, for instance, the beau tifuI garden round the Tai at Agra. I have heard Mrs. Grundys of sorts criticizing visitors for making merry in that garden, but that was exactly what 1t was made for There are no gar dens left at Akhlat, only fertile patch in the midst of Il dry and dusty region. where gardens once were. Some of the mausolea still stand, and one of them is q thing of great beauty
 A tomb of this kind is called a kum- bet. It is polygonal or circular build ing of stone, standing on solid base and surmounted by Il pointed stone roof like an eNtinguisher. Evidently enough the type was borrowed from the earlier Christian tomb-churches of the tenth and perhaps preceding cen turies, whereof ruined examples may be seen at 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 d dome crowning part of q church, though the building has shrunk together beneath it and is represented