Meade County news., 1916-11-02

Wv having captured the South
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
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 its way, which was standing recent
ly-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,
In these days, rather 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 its rocks by
proud .Assyrjan conquerors. The rock
Of Van has been q fortress since ever
fortresses were. 1t has passed down
the ages from conqueror to conqueror,
yet when the Russians captured it its
lapse from Ottoman control passed al
most unnoticed. 1t was none the less
a considerable event. When the for
tress of Van changes hands the clock
of history strikes the passing of an
age.
1t 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
turtles 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
Its Christian, but its Mussulman as
soclatlons. There was, indeed, an old
Christian city there, situated in q ra-
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 a small state
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
but history Ia very silent about it at
the time when 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 a mile inland from the port on
slightly rising ground was the site
chosen for the mausolea OF the princes
OF Akhlat. 1t was the pleasing fashion
or the Moslems to erect their tombs
amid gardens and to take their pleas
ure beside the remains of their be-
loved. Hence, for instance, the beau
tiful garden round the Tai at Agra. ]
nave 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 a fertile patch
In the midst Of dry and dusty region,
where gardens once were. Some of the
mausolsa still stand, and one of them
Is thing Of great beauty.
tomb of this kind Is called a KUN
bet. 1t Is a polygonal or circular build.
Ing Of stone, standing on solid base
and surmounted by a pointed stone
roof like an extinguisher. Evidently
enough the type was borrowed from
the earlier Christian tomb-churches OF
the tenth and perhaps preceding cen.
turtles, 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 Erzerun
Is still like dome crowning part of Q
church, though the building has shrunl
together beneath 1t and Is represented
only by a ring Of Dedimented facqdes