frame made with a number of steps, by means of which people ascend, as by a stair, to places otherwise inaccessible.

Scalings Ladders, in the military art, are used in scaling when a place is to be taken by surprise or escalade.

laden, in nautical language, the state of a ship when she is charged with a weight or quantity of any sort of merchandise, or other materials, equal to her tonnage or burden. If the cargo with which she is laden be extremely heavy, her burden is determined by the weight of the goods; if it be light, she carries as much as she can stow, that she may be fit for the purposes of navigation.

As a ton in measure is generally estimated at 2000 lbs. in weight, a vessel of two hundred tons ought accordingly to carry a weight equal to 400,000 lbs. when the matter of which the cargo is composed is specifically heavier than the water in which she floats; or, in other words, when the cargo is so heavy that she cannot float high enough with so great a quantity of it as her hold will contain.

laden in Bulk, the state of being freighted with a cargo which is neither in casks, boxes, bales, nor cases, but lies loose in the hold, being defended from the moisture or wet of the hold by a number of mats and a quantity of dunnage. Such are usually the cargoes of corn, salt, or such materials.

Ladernojepole, a circle in the Russian province of Olonez, extending over 660 square miles. It is so woody, marshy, and cold, that a small part only of it is capable of cultivation, and it contains not more than 23,500 inhabitants. The capital is the town of the same name situated on the river Swir. Near to it, Peter the Great formed his establishment for building his fleets. It is now a small place, with few and poor inhabitants. Long. 34. 23. E. Lat. 60. 45. N. It is about 170 miles from St Petersburg.

Ladik, or Ladikieh, a town of Asia Minor, which occupies the site of the ancient Laodicea. The only vestiges that remain of this ancient place are fragments of marble columns, and a few capitals and pedestals of pillars, which the Turks have converted into tomb-stones. The modern town is built of mud, and contains 400 or 500 inhabitants. It is thirty miles west of Konieh.