Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-02
m A P H T q A L A N D
FACTS ABOUT THE GREAT OIL
CITY OF BAKU.
Ugly Town in a Country of Desolate
Appearance-Rock and Vol
canic Mud.
From the London Mail.


very ugly.
Approaching it by sea the whole character
of the landscape changes as soon as the
steamer rounds the point of the Apscheron
peninsula, thirty miles from the town
North of the point there were vineyards and
gardens running down to the shore and
white, two-storied houses, the summer
homes of the rich merchants Of Baku. South
of it lies the naphtha land; and where God
planted the naphtha He lets nothing else
grow say the Tartars. Gray rock and yell
low sand, white patches of salt crystals,
black patches of naphtha outcrop; fantastic
upheavals of volcanic mud-such is the
country round Baku. One can imagine such
a landscape in the moon.
The first impression is a dismal one; nor
is closer view much more inviting. Round
about and over the town hangs dense
black cloud of smoke; and long before you
reach it you perceive the al-pervading
smell of oil, which you will breathe every
where and taste in everything so long as
you remain at Baku.
The Tartar Way Out.
The town itself lies right in the angle
formed by the Apscheron peninsula and the
mainland its suburbs stretching away on
both sides along the coast, east and south.
The brick walls of the old Persian citadel
in the middle of the town are still standing
almost intact and below them rises the
Maiden's Tower, a double structure also of
brick about $50 feet high. According to
the legend, a Tartar Khan and his son We're
both enamored of the same maiden and
being unable to decide which should marry
her, solved the question by throwing her
down from the top of the tower.
Through the middle of the citadel ran the
Tchorni Ryad (Black Row, the bazaar 1t
was a dark, narrow, winding arcade, with
prrTa ~
knives, carpets and silks We're made or sold
But the Tchorni Ryad was considered in
sanitary, as it probably was, and was re-
formed out of existence few years ago
West of the citadel lies the public garden,
where some dusty-looking trees do their
best to keep up appearances, and the
asphalt walks are soft like India rubber in
the heat. In the middle of the garden
stands the club-pronouneed 'kloob-
where fabulous sums are said to change
hands at "vint' "a species of bridge) or
another native game bearing the suggestive
name of ramps The Tartar Bey who
has sold his land to the willy Armenian ex-
ploiter in the morning may be brought here
in the evening to lose the price back again
The building stands on a slope, and the roof
forms terrace on which supper and sweet
champagne are served all through the sum-
mer nights Broad steps at the side lead
down to the garden. Up those steps one
night-or rather about o'clock in the
morning-a Cossack officer once brought
half troop of his men on horseback; and
then after they had drunk the health of the
emperor, rode down again at the head of
them and round to the governors palace
on the quay at the foot of the garden
There he bade them sing the national an
them; and they went on singing until the
governor, fearing lest his loyalty might he
1mpeached If he remained in bed, came out
on the balcony in his dressing gown and
sword and returned thanks.
Polyglot Market Place.
East of the citadel are the business quar-
tiers, the shops and the market where, it is
said. you may hear sixty different Ian
guages spoken at once. Further away are
the refinery suburbs, spreading along the
coast of the peninsula. First and dirtiest
comes Black Town CTchorni Gorod) Sc
lect the dirtiest town in the black country
at nome. imagine something three times
grimier and you have Tchorni Gorod. Baku.
Black dust covers everything, and lies
foot and a half deep in the so-called roads.
Here and there water and oily waste es-
Gaping from refinery have turned the dust
Into filthy morass, in which your phaeton
floor. Struggling through, you reach villa
Petrolia. and then White Town (Bieli Go
rod, so called. presumably, to distinguish
1t from Black Town.. and not because of
any particular superiority in cleanliness
The great bulk of the oil wells are situ
ated on a plateau in the center of the pen
fnsula, to the north and east of the town
and the refinery suburbs The western part
of the plateau is known as Balakhany.
from the village of that name; this was the
earliest exploited district Further east
lies Sabounchi, and then Romany. making
up total area of about four square miles.
The natives sometimes call it "the Baku
forest" About 1,500 or 1900 derricks are
crowded together in this area set so close
ly sometimes as almost to touch each other
Built of wood, at first white, but soon turn
ing brown from saturation with oil, they
look not unlike forest, and they burn like
finder.
Warlike ELL Tribesmen.
Here 1t is that the fiercest fighting is TAX
ing splace. The workmen employed about
the wells number from 10000 to 10000, d.
vided. roughly. into three yaces-Armenian.
Persian and Tartar. The Armenians are