MUD AS A BUILDING MATERIAL. 



767 



than that of rule of thumb. I was still more surprised when I 

 learned that these vaulted roofs were constructed without centers. 



In Persia the mud walls are covered over with a mixture 

 called JcahgiU* which is composed of mud and chopped straw; 

 this serves to prevent the rains from washing away the walls, as 

 it hardens the surface. The application of this mixture is gen- 

 erally repeated every two years. 



The general impression in most minds will no doubt be that 

 mud-building only belonged to a rude condition of civilization, 

 and produced houses that were little better than hovels. I have 

 now to point out that this manner of building was developed into 

 a highly decorative style which in itself would entitle it to a 

 place in the history of architecture. This position, it appears to 

 me, has been almost entirely overlooked by those who have writ- 

 ten histories of architecture. Architectural writers always treat 

 upon primitive wood constructions, because forms can be traced 

 from it up to the highly developed styles of Greece, Egypt, and 

 India. The same process can now be gone through with the primi- 

 tive mud as a building material. At present my purpose is to 

 show that it was carried to a pitch of finish and refinement that 



Fig. 4. Persian Mid Village. 



rendered it worthy for the palace or the temple. The following 

 letter sent to me by General Sir Charles Wilson would in itself 

 be a sufficient evidence. Sir Charles is well acquainted with west- 

 ern Asia, and, being an engineer officer, he may be trusted as an au- 

 thority. He says : " It may interest to you know that in Anatolia 

 there is much mud-building ; and that most of the great build- 

 ings of the Seljuks, more especially their great palace at Konieh, 

 were of mud faced with glazed tiles. Some of the minarets of 

 their mosques, built with sun-dried bricks, arranged in patterns 

 and faced with glazed tiles, or with the ends of the bricks glazed, 



* The word is Irak = straw, and gill = mud. In Indian villages the mud floors are 



washed over with a thin mixture of mud and cow-dung. 



