Lashkar

Lashkar. See Gwalior.

Las Palmas

Las Palmas, chief town of the Canary Islands, on the north-east coast of Gran Canaria, is the seat of a bishop. Pop. 47,800.

Lassa

Lassa. See Lhassa.

Lassodie

Lasso'die, a collier-village of Fife, 4 miles NNE. of Dunfermline. Pop. 1300.

Lass wade

Lass wade', a Midlothian village, on the North Esk, 6 1/2 miles SSE. of Edinburgh. Drummond of Hawthornden is buried in the churchyard (memorial, 1893); and Scott and De Quincey lived here. Pop. 869.

Latakia

Lataki'a (Turk. Ladikiyeh; anc. Laodicea ad Mare), a decayed seaport of Syria, with a sanded-up harbour, stands on a rocky cape 75 miles N. of Tripoli. It possesses remains of Roman buildings, and was still a wealthy city at the time of the Crusades. Pop. 20,000, who export the Latakia tobacco, grown on the hills in the interior, and some grain, silk, sponges, oils, etc.

Lathom House

Lathom House, the seat of the Earl of Lathorn, in Lancashire, 4 1/2 miles ENE. of Ormskirk. It is a Grecian mansion, built about 1750. Its predecessor was splendidly defended by Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby, in 1644.

La Trappe

La Trappe. See Trappe, La. Lauban, a town of Prussian Silesia, on the Queiss, 15 miles B. of Gorlitz. Pop. 14,336.

Lauder

Lauder, a quaint little royal burgh of Berwickshire, on Leader Water, 25 miles SB. of Edinburgh. Near it is Thirlestane Castle, the seat of the Earl of Lauderdale. Till 1885 with Haddington, etc. it returned one member. Pop. 719.

Lauenburg

Lauenburg, or Saxe-Lauenburg, a German duchy, formerly united to the crown of Denmark, and lying on the Elbe's right bank between Hol-stein and Mecklenburg. In 1876 it was incorporated with Sleswick-Holstein, of which it is now a district. Area, 457 sq. m.; pop. 52,000. - The town of Lauenburg, once capital of the duchy, stands on the Elbe, 25 miles SE. of Hamburg. Pop. 5748. - Lauenburg, in Pomerania, 38 miles NW. of Danzig, has a pop. of 10,500.

Laugharne

Laugharne, or Llaugharne, a market-town at the Corran's influx to the Taf estuary, 12 miles SW. of Carmarthen. It has a fine church and a ruined castle. Pop. 1150.

Laurencekirk

Laurencekirk, a Kincardineshire market-town, 30 miles SW. of Aberdeen. The ' minstrel' Beattie was a native, and Ruddiman the grammarian was schoolmaster here. Pop. 1526. See Fraser's History of Laurencekirk (1880).

Laurentian Mountains

Laurentian Mountains. See Canada, p. 148.

Lauriston Castle

Lauriston Castle, a Midlothian mansion, 3 3/4 miles WNW. of Edinburgh. It was the seat of the famous financier, John Law.

Laurium

Laurium, a mountain (1171 feet) of Attica, NW. of Cape Colonna, and connected by a railway with Athens. It was famous for its silver-mines, already exhausted in Strabo's day. Since 1874, however, the great heaps of slag have been profitably worked, and fresh deposits found of argentiferous lead and of zinc ore. The modern mining-town has a pop. of over 8000.

Laurvik

Laurvik, a seaport of Norway, at the head of a small fjord on the west side of Christiania Fjord, 98 miles by rail SSW. of Christiania. It has several sawmills. Pop. 11,261.