e use.

[Illustration: FIG. 61.--Armenian "Lantern;" from Botta.]

"The houses of the Armenian peasantry," he says, "are sunk into the ground,
so that their walls stand up but little above the level of the soil. They
are lighted by an opening that serves at once for window and chimney, and
is placed, as a rule, in the centre of the roof. The timber frame of this
opening is often ingeniously arranged (Fig. 61). Four thick beams, but very
roughly squared, intersect each other in the middle of the house. Across
their angles slighter joists are placed, and this operation is repeated
till a small dome, open at the top, for the entrance of light and the
escape of smoke, has been erected."[225]

[Illustration: FIGS. 62-65.--Terra-cotta cylinders in elevation, section
and plan; from Place.]

In the case of vaults how are we to suppose that the rooms were lighted? We
can hardly imagine that rectangular openings were left in the crown of the
arch, such a contrivance would have admitted very little light, while it
would have seriously compromised the safety of the structure. According to
M. Place the desired result was obtained in more skilful fashion. In
several rooms he found terra-cotta cylinders similar to those figured
below. These objects, of which he gives a careful description, were about
thirteen and a half inches in diameter and ten inches in height. We may
refer our readers to the pages of M. Place for a detailed account of the
observations by which he was led to conclude that these cylinders were not
stored, as if in a warehouse, in the rooms where they were afterwards
found, but that they formed an integral part of the roof and shared its
ruin. We may say that the evidence he brings forward seems to fairly
justify his hypothesis.

Penetrating the roof at various points these cylinders would afford a
passage for the outer air to the heated chamber within, while a certain
quantity of light would be admitted at the same time. The danger arising
from the rains could be avoided to a great extent by giving them a slightly
oblique direction. To this very day the Turkish bath-houses over the whole
of the Levant from Belgrade to Teheran, are almost universally lighted by
these small circular openings, which are pierced in great numbers through
the low domes, and closed with immovable glasses. Besides which we can
point to similar arrangements in houses placed both by their date and
character, far nearer to those of Assyria