The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-07-07
dhin0s Abruad.
GLIMPsEs OF PERSIAN LIFE.

Persia, IA It's assOClutiOils, Is tue nlOst
.belical and beautiful of all Asian coun-
H.. 1t is also one Of the least known to
Il occidental world Even travellers who
kcceed in making passage through the
hi of Cyrus, see but little of the life of
II people, so closely scaled is the Persian
.pme 10 all foreigners. Mr.. Arthur
i Auold is one Of the most recent roydgeurs
bo has given US an account Of travel in
lat country. He set out from London
! 1915, his wife bearing him company,
Used through Poland, Russia, going
3uthward to Astrakhan, crossing the
kspian Sea, and entering Persia at
Arelli. He rode more than n thousand
les in the country, trayersing nearly its
ole length. His narrative begins at
bnaw, and continues until he quits the
lent at Alexandria. A chapter is added
m former work by the author, treat.
Of the Turks and their religion, which
peculiarly pertinent at the present
neut, For the general reader, how.
i, the chief interest will centre in the
lures of Persian life, and of these we
here and there passage;
OIL WELLS IN PERSIA.
3aku is part of Old Persia. Nine
IBIS Of the population are descendants
ubjects of Shah Abbas. The manners
customs of the baEaars are thoroughly
sian. The old men, in striking con.
to their high hats of black fur, dye
boards bright red with khennd.
b few women Of the superior class are
c seen. We arrived in company with
y men who had been absent from their
les in Baku for months, trading at
hi,Novgorod, but no wives met their
stands boat from Europe. The Per
women in Russian Baku rarely leave
II homes. There were three or four
filing along the quay with slippercd
closely covered from the sight Of
,, aud groups of washerwomen labored
ihe ripples of the shore, who were care
as to any other exposure, so that they
I'D clap something over their faces at
BIT Of a passing stranger.
There is not tree or shrub to be seen
pa the arid hills and stony deppe, and
odor Of naptha is never out of the
ktrlls. Baku has for ages past been
ebrated in the Eastern World for that
lCh every one in the town who can
eak three words Of French calls lie Fen
fgael; and in these days-when her
tive population is sprinkled with sharp
fmenians who would rake profits oat of
+ or any other fire, and some streets are
rdered with houses of European style
Su presents the aspect Of an. Oriental
70, conscious Of coming greatness and
|her civilization under different sys.
when her subterranean riches shall
e become better known, aud more
eely brought forth. Baku has "struck
and before many years are past, the
ID will hear much more Of this obscure
n-this Petrolia in Asia. The engines
be Constantine-the ship in which his
etal majesty the Shah traversed the
phn-were driven with petroleum.
the captain told us, costs eighteen
half rubIes per hour, while petro-
costs only one and half rubles-a
pction from fifty shillings to four shil-
In three years Baku will be uni
BY railway with Tifis aud the Black
and then probably all the Russian
mships on the Euxine will be supplied
the same disagreeable but inexpen-
iaei, The machinery for combustion
lnded US of one Of those pretty contri-
ce' Tor blowing the spray of liquid
about a drawiug-room. As the
Fse residue of the petroleum-for it is
dFess or sediment only which is burned
ours in thin, muddy stream from q
near the door of each furnace, a let Of
IN, generated by coal FIRE, blows it
spray, and thus it is consumed, with
even heat, throughout the furnaces Of
engines.
All day long petroleum rolls into Baku
,afS \, oi the most curious pattern imag-
Ois' A Neapolitan single-horse, two.
eeled carriage for fifteen people is
lue, but it is commonplace in compari-
Sl!h an oil-cart of Baku. Few men
" nave the courage to import Baku
1', and drive it, even for very high
through Regent street or Pail Mall.
'e Is the man who would dare TO pose
eH there, perched and Gagged in
alled cart, big enough to hold one
Oh petroleum, and lifted so high on
y seven feet in diameter, that another
.uo can be slung beneath the axle,
'nole thing being painted with sll the
Of the rainbow, and creaking loudly
y drawn by diminutive horse, the
o. which is hardly up to level with
1lei Yet the erploiteurs say that
Y they pay collectively not much
'nsn one hundred thousand pounds
: 'or The carriage Of oil in carriages
: sort. They were eager to show US
unveils, aud hopeful, as they are
~ want of capital, that we should
'neln some meek aud moneyed En-
men We set out to visit the "ever-
nre and these mines of liquid
IN dust-storm, with horses so &C.
II, ,l' We might suppose they, too, were
'se outskirts Of Baku, where we saw
p,on Tor the first time, the country
uust aud desolation-a desert in
every one with an original turn Of
may make his own road. For two
'ee miles along the shore of the bay,
many buildings in which the petro-
= refined by itself as fuel pour forth
smoke, and at eight miles from the
are the springs The average depth
'Cn The oil is touched seems TO be
hundred and fifty feet. The wells
~ sae most part, nine inches to foot
ane1er, From the first well VIC visi-
small steam-engine, with most primi-
ssar, was lifting about four hundred
my thousand pounds weight Of petro.
u a day. The oil is Of greenish
and as ii is drawn from the earth,
"p''ed into a square pit dug in the
mali naiis,ough Persia by Caravan. BY Arthur
~ NV " author Of "from the Levant,m etc
iOR' Harper 4 Brothers.