Volcanoes of Central Asia' 1 57 



described the last fiery eruption, in 1794, from the reports of 

 Tartars, is, according to the very sensible remark of Mr Eich- 

 wald, " a dependency of Baku, and of the whole peninsula of 

 Absheron.'" Eruptions take place where the volcanic forces 

 encounter least opposition. On the 27th November 1827, crack- 

 ings and tremblings of the earth, of a violent character, were 

 succeeded, at the village of Gokmali, in the province of Baku, 

 three leagues from the western shore of the Caspian Sea, by an 

 eruption of flames and stones. A space of ground, 200 toises 

 long and 150 wide, burned for twenty-seven hours without in- 

 termission, and rose above the level of the neighbouring soil. 

 After the flame became extinct, columns of water were ejected, 

 which continue to flow till the present hour. I am gratified at 

 being enabled to state here, that Mr EichwaWs periplus of the 

 Caspian Sea, which will soon appear, will contain some very im- 

 portant physical and geological observations, more particularly 

 upon the connexion of fiery eruptions with the appearance of 

 naphtha-springs and strata of rock-salt, on the blocks of calcare- 

 ous rock hurled to considerable distances, on the elevation and 

 depression of the bed of the Caspian Sea, which still continue ; 

 on the passing of black porphyry, partly vitrified and contain- 

 ing garnets (melapyres)^ through granite, red quartzose por- 

 phyry, very dark calcareous syenite, in the Krasnovodsk moun- 

 tains washed by the bay of the Balkan, to the northward of the 

 ancient mouth of the Oxus (Amoo-doria). We shall learn from 

 the geognostic description of the eastern shore of the Caspian 

 Sea, where the island of Chabekan discovers naphtha-springs 

 the same as Baku and the isles between this town and Salian, 

 what species of crystallized rocks are hidden beneath the rocks 

 in horizontal strata in the peninsula of Absheron, where the ac- 

 tion of subterranean fire is always felt, and where it has not yet 

 been able to reach the open air. The porphyries of the Cauca- 

 sus, which run from W. N. W. to E. S. E., a position and a di- 

 rection which I have already mentioned as the reason of the 

 presumed connexion of this chain with the rent of the Teen-shan, 

 discover themselves again, traversing all the rocks nearly to the 

 centre of the great depression of the old world, to the east of the 

 Caspian Sea, in the mountains of Krasnovodsk and Kurreh. 

 Recent researches and the traditions of the Tartars inform us, 

 that the existence of naphtha springs has always been preceded 



