, 1889-05-22

SA0oO . IA Sui UuUAO pdIuSJ SOuLS, CTdmpS1
&C., but it must be put to the part affected
only; it penetrates instanteneously into
the blood, and is apt for a short time to
create pain. 1t has also the property of
spirits of wine to take out greasy spots
In silks or wOOllens, but the remedy is
worse than the disease, for it leaves all
abOminable OdOur. They say it is carried
into India as a great rarity, and being
prepared as a japan is the most beautiful
and lasting of any that has yet been
found"
Since that time Baku and it's wonders
have been frequently described, and the
Importance of the place with respect to
the Central Asian question has been re-
peatedly pointed out by such travellers
as Marsh, Valentine Baker, O'DOnOvan,
and Arneld. Up to 1879 the extraction
of the oil was a monopoly, but i'll the
following year it was thrown open TO the
world, and hundreds of wells have since
been sunk, mainly by the energy of Swe-
des and Russians. GeOlOgiCally speak
ing, practically nothing is known about
this extraordinary district, and even the
engineers who bore for the oil and work
the wells are ignorant of the conditions
which affect the supply of petroleum. At
the present time there must be ut least
FIVE hundred wells aud fountains situated
close together on less than a thousand
acres of ground, but the sources seem to
be absolutely independent of each other.
The supply is simply Ito use Dominic Samp-
sons wOrd) ''prodigiOus" and every year,
as the behring's get deeper, the fountains
become more prolific. These borings are
nothing ike so deep az in America not
a single BAku we'll has yet approached
a depth of 1000 feet. In 1888 two flowing
wells each sent out nearly 10000, 600 gall
lOus in less than q month from a depth
of TOO feet. In America there are said
to be q, 1000 drilled petroleum wells, but a
single Baku we'll has thrown up as much
oil in q day rs nearly the whole of the
$4,000 in America put together. Mr.. Mar
win thus describes one of these ''spOuting"
wells
{" In PennSy lvania that fountain would
have made itN owners fortune there's
$4,000 worth of oil flowing out of the we'll
every day. The actual value was at
least ELI 200 a day Here it has made
the owner n bankrupt These words were
addressed to me by All American petroleum
engineer, IA | stood alongside a we'll that
had burst the previous morning, and out
OF which the oil was flying twice the height
of the Great GeySeT in Iceland, with a roar
that could be heard several miles round.
The fountain was a splendid Spectacle-it
was the largest ever known at Baku.
The derrick itself was 70 feet high, and
the oil and sand, after bursting through
the roof and sides, flowed fully three times
higher. forming a greyish-black fountain,
the column clearly defined on the southern
side, but merging into 4 cloud Of spray 80
yards broad OH the other -. The diameter
of the tube up which the oil was rush
ing was ten inches. On issuing from this
the fountain formed q clearly-defned stem,
about Is inches thick, and shot up to the
Top of the derrick, where, in striking
against the beam, which was already worn
half through by the friction, it got broaden
ell out a little. Thence, continuing its
course more than 200 feet high, it curled
over and fell in IL dense cloud to the
ground on the north side, forming a sand
bank from the amount of admixed sand
over which the olive-cOlOured oil ran in
innumer able channels towards the lakes
of petroleu that had been formed on the
surrounding estates. Standing on the
top of the sand -shoal, we could see where
the oil, after flowing through a score of
channels from the ooze, formed in the dis
lance, on lower ground, a whole series OF
oil lakes, some broad enough and deep
enough to row a boat in. Beyond this,
the oil could be seen flowing away in a
broad channel towards the sea.".
Flowing wells yielding from 10000 to
100 600 gallons of oil daily are common