St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-08-20
4 LAND or NAPHTHA
SnAamnaable Nature of Everything -
the Daka PetrOleum Wells.

5 .
SnAamnaable Nature of Everything -
she Daku Petroleum Wells.
Probably there Is no spot on earth
where more highly infammable matter
lies exposed to such terrible confagra-
tions as that just reported from Baku.
than in the district lying just beyond
that town ON the shores OF the Caspian.
Every thing seems saturated with pc.
troleum; the air one hreathes is laden
with q greasy odor. and the waters OF
afhs bay are covered with an iridescent
sheen which at night may be set on Are.
with most weird effect. Not only Is
black naphtha to be seen In monster;
fountains playing from the very earth,5
but white nRphtha 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 ZoroaEtrian
Ares. No wonder that the ancient Per-
slams looked on this as holy ground,
where the eternal heaven-fed flames Of
life burst forth in sacred buildings, the
remains OF which are still extant, and
the modern Persian or Parsee Of Bonn
bay and Guierat kindles the oil shipped
to him from Batoum without sigh tor
vanished belief. When the late shah
OF Persia visited Baku it was necessary
to import number Of priests for the
occasion, that be might witness In the
portion Of the Persian empire that had
been wrested from 1t by Peter the Great
specimen Of the worship that his
predecessors had ell but stamped out In
the portion they had conqured and re-
tained. For less disting guished visitors
DO 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
Are. and some ancient Inscriptions.
Everything round is saturated, and i
have stood Ia those sheds the only dry
object, with naphtha spout playing
above and falling deafeningly upon the
roof. No one objects to naphthn there.
and the men even wash IN 1t, using sand
Herewith, while all employed have u
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 palpitating 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 enc 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
10 is pumped the lengthof the firebox,
forming bright tongues OF heat-giving
flames. Railways and steamers alike
are 30 heated In Russia. Pail Mall Ga
NgSn Be- g95 R