The Holly chieftain., 1898-02-25
ALANp OF NAPHTHA.
Innn IN m n BILE Nature of Everything +"
The Rnkn Petroleum WeIIN.

the HAIKU Petroleum wells.
Probably there is no spot on earth
where more highly intlammable matter
lies exposed TO such terrible conhaSra-
tions as that just reported from Baku
than in the district lying just beyond
that town on the shores of the Caspian
Everything seems saturated with pc
troleum. the cir one breathes Is ladeh
with a greasy odor, ana the waters Oh
the bay are covered with an iridescent
sheen which at night may be set on hre
with most weird effect Not only Is
black uaphtha TO be seen in monster
fountains playing from the very earth
but white naphtha flows of itself IN
places, and short way of are the
natural gas vents over which the natives
do their cooking without coal, and
which once fed the sacred Zoroastrian
fires. No wonder that the ancient Per
slams looked on this as holy ground.
yiere the eternal heaven-fed flames of
fife burst forth in sacred buildings, the
remains of which are still eNtant, and
Me modern Persian or Parsee of Bonn
ray ard Guierat kindles the oil shipped
TO him from Batoum without sigh for
vanished belief. When the late shah
of Persia visited Baku it was necessary
to import number of priests for the
occasion, that he might witness in the
portion of the Persian empire that had
been wrested from it by Peter the Great
specimen of the worship that his
predecessors had all but stamped out in
the portion they had conqured and re-
tanned. For less distinguished visitors
TO see there is only ruined tower, from
the top of which fare natural jets,
through iron gaspipes, and number of
cells, with affairs for the once sacred
fire. and some ancient Inscriptions.
Everything round is saturated, and
have stood in those sheds the only dry
object. with a naphtha spout playing
above and falling deafeningly upon the
roof No one objects TO naphtha there.
and the men even wash in ii, using sand
Herewith, while all employed have
fixed allowance for fuel and light. No
dwellings, more dismal than theirs can
be imagined. Dante should have visited
the spot.
All around between the wells lie lakes
of seething naphtha, which, when clear
of sand and stones. will be pumped into
iron reservoirs. The roads have naphtha
streams by the sides, and naphtha pipes
of all sizes cross and interlace in all di-
rections until they are hardly passable.
One rashly thrown match would set
miles in blaze, and the most stringent
regulations are wisely enforced. But
for them disasters would be terribly
frequent.
A very different appearance is pre-
sented by the palpitatng Black Town,
where in gigantic furnaces the naphtha
is distilled and churned and distilled
again as benzine, kerosene and vaseline,
and many valuable chemicals are one
by one removed, till only the thick,
black residue, of use for fuel. is left. and
much of this is used TO feed the furnaces
themselves. Boilers so heated closely
resemble those intended for coal and
wood. except that on the inside of the
fire doors are stout jets. through which
it is pumped the length of the firebox.
forming bright tongues of heat-giving
flames. Railways and steamers alike
are SO heated in Russia.-Pall Mall Ga
zette.