The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-10-28

Armenian city of Mush,
mad pushed on rapidly and won a vic
tory at Akhlat on the shore of Lake
Van, there were probably not half Il
dozen people in the British islands who
received a 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 civilian
tons; 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 a Fortress.
The Importance of ancient Van is
proved by the triumphant cuneiform
inscriptions left upon Its rocks by
proud Assyrian conquerors. The rock
of Van has been a fortress since ever
fortresses were. 1t has passed down
the ages from conqueror to
yet when the Russians captured it its
lapse from Ottoman contro 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 he lake, which has been for CEN
turtles a kind of Holy island to the
Armenians cherishing its 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 it's Mussulman as
so%ciations.
Tonbs 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
of h 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 ut 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 q fertile patch
in the midst of a dry and dusty region,
where gardens once were. Some of the
mausolea still stand, and n of them
is a thing of great beauty.
A tomb of this kind Is called a KUN.
bet. 1t is a polygonal or circular build
Ing of stone, standing on a 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
les or attached to the Chifteh Min.
arch. The older kambet at Erzerum
is still like a dome browning part of q
church, though the building has shrunh
together beneath 1t and is represented