LAR  , a

city of Persia, capital of Laristan, in 27° 30' N., 530 58' E., 18o m. from Shiraz and 75 from the coast at Bander Lingah . It stands at the foot of a mountain range in an extensive plain 'covered with palm trees, and was once a flourishing place, but a large portion is in ruins, and the population which early in the 18th century numbered 50,000 is reduced to 8000 . There are still some good buildings, of which the most prominent are the old bazaar consisting of four arcades each 18o ft. long, 14 broad and 22 high, radiating from a domed centre 30 ft. high, an old stone mosque and many cisterns . The crest of a steep limestone hill immediately behind the town and rising 150 ft. above the plain is crowned by the ruins of a castle formerly deemed impregnable . Just below the castle is a well sunk 200 ft. in the rock . The tower-flanked mud wall which surrounds the town is for the most part in ruins .