Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-01
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
THE TWO AZERBAIJANs

~AZerbaijan" still is a novelty in a
newspaper date line, so when cable
dispatches begin carrying stories on
the same day about both Azerbai-
jams the results are confusing.
s long as the man in London,
Peking and Calcutta feels he is pay
ing too much for gasoline because
the Bolsheviki hold the reins at
Baku, Azerbaijan's capital and Eur
ope's Tampico. the newborn nation
of the Caucasus will gain frequent
mention" says a bulletin from the
National Geographic Society.
However cable reports telling
about the uprising of Lur tribesmen
In Azerbaijan and the proclamation
of martial law there, refer. not to
Georgia's neighbor country but to
the northwest province of Persia.
Now a Soviet Asset
National Azerbaijan approx
mately comprises the two old Rus
sian provinces of Elizabethpol and
Baku. 1t evolved from the effort,
in 1917. of the peoples of Transcau-
casia to form a federated state. This
experiment was as short-lived as the
more recent Republic of Central
America. and in the spring of 1918
Azerbaijan declared herself indie
pendent. Early in 1920 Great Bri-
tain recognized the de facto gov
eminent of Azerbaijan and only a
few months later that government
was ousted by the native Bolshevists
and a treaty was concluded with
Soviet Russia while relations with
all other countries were severed.
Russia thenceforth used AZerbaijan
as her calling card when she de-
sired admission to international con-
ferences to which she had not been
cordially invited.
"Baku became the balance wheel
Of the worlds oil supply because
Europe considered that its petro-
leum prevented a worldwide Amer
.can oil monopoly. Long before oil
fabricated world commerce Azerbai-
JAMS oil wrote history. Not sc many
years ago n might have found
among the derricks and shafts and
tank cars- of Surakhani a solitary
priest performing the solemn ritual
Of fire worshipers for $500 years.
The eternal fires of Baku's burning
oil contributed the symbolism of
Zoroaster's cult; the thick water
which burst into flames when pour
ed upon an altar stone finds mention
in the Old Testament of the He
brews; and many authorities believe
tlAdl PClI OlCQlh was tlc DdSlo I'll
Greek fire.
When Sea Was Set on Fire
1.-THE priest has gone and his fires
that were supposed to have burned
since the flood have been extinguish-
ed. Neither may the sea be set on
fire. any more lest the demonstra-
ton of the ancient miracle may work
another holocaust like that which
has several times devastated Baku.
But the temple of the fire worship
ers, built in Marco Polo's day and
restored in the century Of Shake
speare, still stands.
THE other Azerbaijan, a province
Of Persia, Is the historic soil of the
~skyrocket kingdom of the Modes and
the whirlwind conquest of Tanner
lane. In this Azerbaijan Zoroaster,
who was content with one convert
In the first two decades in his min
istry, is supposed to have been born
and here the modern adherents of
his ancient religion, the Ghebers,
survive. The faith of Zoroaster has
its latter day stronghold in India,
however, among the Parsis.
Sanctuary for Racial Fragments
Persian Azerbaijan adjoins the
Independent Azerbaijan upon the
latter's south. The national Aver
baijan Is nearly as large as Indiana
and has an estimated population of
more than two millions. Outside
Baku. and aside from the busy rail-
road lines out of Kabu to Tiflis and
the internationalized Black Sea port
Of Batum. the country is typical of
the Caucasus which has been most
APPLY compared to a Stone-pile in q
New England pasture where mice,
gophers, woodchucks and cotton
tails creep for safety. Numerous
tribes and fragments of races have
found shelter in it's mountainous
labyrinths, and live sequestered from
the tides and modes of civilization.
Mohammedanism is the dominant
religion in the towns but in the hills
curious sects persist; even the pag-
ans who hold weird feasts to nature
gods in sacred groves.
Persian Azerbaijan has a slightly
smaller area, about that of South
Carolina, and about three-fourths as
many people as it's northern neigh
is capital of the province. 1t is
bounded on the north by the Aras
river, formerly a political demarca-
ton line between Asia and Europe.
The slopes of the Caucasus to the
north of the Aras merge so gently
into the billy country to the south
OF the river that the outstanding
distinction between the two Azerbai-
jans-that n was generally con-
sidered to be in Europe until the
time of the World War and the other
In Asia-becomes academic when
one traverses the two"
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS