The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-16 00:00:00

PERPETUAL FIRE OF BAKU.

The little promontory of Absheron on the Caspian Sea is one
of the most singular regiona in the world. It is situated in
Georgia, and was once considered a part of Asia; but since
it has becoine a province of Russia, it has been reckoned as
forming a portion of Europe. The surface of the promontory
is barren, almost destitute of water, and utterly bare of trees.
Its soil is seturated with naptha, a very inflammable bituminous
oil, which, in some parts, rises to the surface of the earth spon-
taneously, and may be found by digging almost every where.
In many places enormous quantities of gas, similar in nature to
our coal or oil gas, issue in orifices in the earth; this gas the
inhabitants employ to light their houses, by conducting it
through tubes, similar in principle to our gas pipes, though
more clumsy in construction. They use it also as fuel to dress
their food, to warm their dwellings, and for many other pur-
poses. The centre of action of this fiery matter is near the town
of Baku, the chief place of the territory.
The ancient Persians were worshippers of fire ; they adored
the sun as its source, and in his absence they kept up perpetual
flies as his representative. The advance of the Mohammedan
religion extinguished, in a great measure the faith of the fire-
worshippers ; but some remains of the ancient believers are still
found scattered in Persia, and many of their body have been
long settled in India, particularly at -Bombay, where they con-
stitute a very respectable and influential portion of the popu-
lation. The perpetual fire of Baku would naturally be an
object of attraction to these people; and we accordingly find
that they have, from a remote period, had an establishment
there. They-have enclosed with a high wall a spot of ground,
from which a vast quantity of gas issues, which they always
keep burning. This place has been described by several travel-
lers, the most recent of whom, a Russian, whose journal was
published in 1833, arrived on the spot by night. "We saw the
flame," he says "at a considerable distance before our arrival.
It was a singular spectacle; four principle jets of flame were
first visible, and as we got nearer, a considerable number of
smaller ones began to sow themselves springing from the
ground. The four jets rose to a great height, and illuminated
all the surrounding country, which is barren and desert. At
last we saw a high wall of white stone, above which rose four
great tubes like chimneys; from these tubes issued the columns
of flame we had first seen. We thought ourselves in the neigh-
bourhood of a palace of fairies."
Nothing is known of the state of this place in very remote times;
but it is described by the Arabian author, Massudi, who wrote
900 years ago. He speaks of a mine of white naptha at Baku,
from which a column of flame rises to a great height, visible on
every side at a distance of 100 farsangs. As one farsang on the
lowest computation, must be much more than a mile, and pro-
bably three or four, the oriental style of exaggeration is evident
in this estimate, as it is in what follows, unless the state of
things bereatly altered; "It makes a noise like thunder, and
throws up inflamed masses of rock beyond the reach of sight."
We are not aware of any European writer who mentioned
this place earlier than the Russian traveller, Alexander Nikitin,
who saw it on his way to India in 1470; and he mere:y says
that be saw at Baku the tire which burns eternally.
The fire-worshippers at Baku generally reside at that un-
healthy spot a longer or shorter time, according to the fervour
of their faith. The shortest residence is five years; many stay
there eight; and very few, who are considered in the light of
saints, remain there until death. As the Russian writer calls
them Hindus, they are probably all from India. They live
solely on vegetables, cultivated by their own hands; and each
man dresses and eats his food alone in his cell. Their mainten-
ance is derived chiefly from the charity of their fellow-wcrship-
pers, one of whom, named Otumd, now residing at Astrakhan,
furnishes the greatest portion. The owners of vessels navigating
the Caspian Sea also frequently send them considerable presents,
as a sort of payment for the benefit received from the fire main-
tained in the four lofty chimneys before mentioned, which cons
stitutes an excellent lighthouse.
Our traveller describes the appearance of the interior of the
enclosure as very imposing. "We were struck with astonish-
ment," he says, "et the sight before us. We found ourselves
in a vast square perfectly light, and in the midst we saw a
building, from which issued four large and lofty tubes vomiting
flame. The cells of the Hindus are placed all round the walls.
* • • The Hindus, with no other covering than a girdle
and a turban, came not of their cells. The dark colour of
their skin, their loose hair (for, as many of them had no turban,
it hung at full length in disorder), and the leanness of their
bodies, which showed nothing but. bones, produced on us very
singular seosatinns. The first who accosted ns introduced us
into his cell: the only furniture was a miserable carpet and
two pitchers; but a beautiful rose-bush stood outside the door.
• * * The cells were mostly small; flames were spouting
out in nearly all of them, either directly from holes in the floor,
or from clay tubes driven into the ground, which answer the
purpose of candles."
In the midst of the enclosure is the place where these people
burn their dead. It is a cave dug in the earth, about six feet
square and three deep, and is covered with broad flat stones.
' This vault, like every other opening made in the ground, is al-
ways filled with gas. When a fire-worshippee dies, the survi-
vors smear his body with butter, and place it over the vault :
they then set lire to the gas, which comes through the interstices
between the stones, and the body is thus consumed. They
afterwards _carefully gather up all the ashes which have fallen
through into the vault, and throw them to the winds. Thus
ends the ceremony.

The gas is evidently of a similar nature to what we use, though,
as it is sail! to be without smell, and to have no effect on the
breath, it is probably purer than that which our establishments
produce. Its flame is of a yellowish white, and very brilliant.
This shows that it cannot be pure hydrogen, which burns with
a faint blue flame. -'The heat it gives out in burning. is very
great. sufficient to calcine lime ; andiit is largely used for this
purpose by the people of the country. When mixed with co►a-
mon air, it becomes explosive.

)polio.

AFRICA.
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elopliaots' teeth, qty B goods retd. T Harrison and co—la D

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