The Assassins" Castle of Lammsar
and out the contours of the truncated cone of hill and enclose
a sloping surface about 1,500 feet long by 600 feet wide, where
the remains of buildings are scattered.
There is not much masonry on the long western side; the
natural precipice must always have been a sufficient defence in
itself, and a series of small towers stood here on every out-
jutting point, a bowshot one from the other. On the south
and east the ramparts still exist, built of rough stones taken
from the hillside apparently at different dates, for some parts
are made of much smaller stones than others. They go in
and out, following the natural line of the hill with the effect of
a Vauban fortification long before its time, and the attacking
forces must have had their flank exposed almost at every point.
On the north alone the approach is possible, for here is the
neck which joins the castle to the mountain-side behind it,
and here the water conduit once came down from the upper
village of Viar, visible through a narrow defile of the Naina
Rud. This must have been the most delicate part of the
defence, though I could see no trace of any ditch or outer
fortification to protect the northern gate; but the gate itself
and all this part is very much obliterated, and some strong
defence there must have been, since, once this height were
captured, the whole of the castle enclosure sloping away from
it downhill would lie at the attackers' mercy.
The southern gate, which is 500 feet lower than the other, is
much better preserved. Its outer entrance faces west, then
turns, with the ruins of a guardhouse on its left, north-west
into the enclosure. There is a difference of about twenty
feet in the level of the inner and outer gates, and their actual
doorways are built of big squared stones. In the enclosure
itself are the ruins of a good many buildings, some quite
modern and probably left by shepherds in later times. It does
not look as if the castle had ever been used again after its cap-
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