270 



BAKU BALLYSHANNON. 



worshippers ; it was made by one of them who 

 happened to raise his torch near the ceiling of his 

 cell, where the gas rises in consequence of its 

 levity. It exploded, a large portion of the build- 

 ing was thrown to the ground, and several persons 

 were severely wounded. Since that time they 

 have been very cautious about lifting up a light in 

 their cells, and they ran away terribly alarmed at 

 seeing the Russian traveller do so. But they are 

 very willing to perform the experiment at any 

 time for the amusement of strangers, at some dis- 

 tance from their dwellings. The place they choose 

 for this object is the well whence they get water. 

 They usually keep this well open, to allow the gas 

 to escape ; but when they cover it, a sufficient 

 quantity is evolved in half an hour to produce an 

 explosive mixture with the air that was previously 

 in it. When this is effected, a person takes off 

 the cover of the well and throws into it a handful 

 of lighted straw. The explosion which follows is 

 said to be terrific, which may be easily imagined, 

 the well being 100 feet deep. 



Many theories have been formed to account for 

 the vast development of gas at Baku: the most 

 probable seems to be, that the naphtha which 

 abounds in and beneath the soil is decomposed by 

 some internal fire. That there is such a fire at 

 no great distance from the surface, there can be 

 no question. There are a great many hot springs, 

 and in some crevices of the calcareous rock near 

 the perpetual fire the heat felt is so great that it is 

 impossible to keep the hand there. The whole 

 territory, as well as some of the islands in the 

 neighbourhood, are constantly subject to mud vol- 

 canoes. On one of those islands, named Svinoi 

 Ostrov (Isle of Pigs), Mr Vatsenko, Russian con- 

 sul at the court of Persia, was wrecked in 1826. 

 The island, he says, is quite covered with volcan- 

 oes of mud ; they are little heaps or swellings in 

 the tenacious soil, which rise gradually with a pe- 

 culiar noise to the height of two or three feet ; 

 they then burst like bubbles, water is thrown out, 

 and their sides fall in. Outside they look like 

 moist clay, and inside they have the appearance of 

 burnt bricks : naphtha begins to flow out of the 

 opening as soon as the water has ceased spouting. 

 When one heap has disappeared, another rises near 

 it, but not in the same place, and in this manner 

 the whole island is covered ; it has the appearance 

 of an .immense field grubbed up by pigs, which has 

 induced the Russians to give it the name it bears. 

 The whole of the surface is soft, and imbibes 

 water like a sponge ; after a shower of rain, it is a 

 complete marsh, which will not bear a foot upon it. 



The volcanoes of the continent are much larger, 

 and more worthy the name than those little ele- 

 vations on Svinoi Ostrov. They have been fre- 

 quently described, and Koempfer has given a strange 

 drawing of one in his " Amoenitates Exoticae." 

 They have occasionally thrown out large stones 

 and flame as well as water, which may account for 

 Massudi's description. 



The chief riches of the country consist in its 

 naphtha. This useful bituminous oil is of two 

 sorts, black and white. The latter is the most 

 valuable, and it is also much rarer than the other ; 

 it is found only at one place, about a mile from 

 the village of Sarakhan, where it is gathered in 

 sixteen wells or pits. Of the black sort the num- 

 ber of wells worked in 1833 was 109. Notwith- 

 standing its name, this is by no means all black- 

 ;t varies in quality from a coarse pitchy substance, 



which ran be used for little letter than caulking 

 ships, to a clear greenish oil, which serves admira- 

 bly for lamps. The earth and sand in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the wells is so thoroughly impregnated 

 with iiiiphtba, that it forms an excellent fuel, and 

 is used exactly like our coal : when it is found in 

 large slabs, it is used like slate-; or tiles lor roofing 

 houses, for which purpose it is admirably fitted by 

 its toughness and impermeability. 



The naphtha is drawn from the wells, which 

 vary from one to fifteen fathoms in depth, by means 

 of buckets and windlasses, which are moved by 

 men or horses. It is almost invariably found 

 mingled with water, from which it is separated bv 

 being thrown into large ditches constructed near 

 the wells, in which it is allowed to stand until the 

 water by its superior gravity falls to the bottom. 

 The naphtha is then gathered up in flat wooden 

 scoops, and poured into large sheepskin bottles 

 which are then deposited in cellars well lined with 

 cement, until they are wanted for exportation or 

 home consumption. The production of black 

 naphtha is computed to be about nine millions ot 

 pounds per annum, while that of the white sort is 

 under thirty thousand pounds. 



BALLINA; a seaport of Ireland, in the county 

 of Mayo, and province of Connaught, situated on 

 the river Moy, 125 miles W. N. W. from Dublin. 

 The river runs through the town, and here separ- 

 ates the counties of Sligo and Mayo. The part of 

 the town on the Sligo, or right bank of the river, 

 is called Ardnaree, but is generally included under 

 Ballina. In point of trade and population, it is 

 the third town in Mayo. Value of exports in 1835, 

 70,568; of imports, 13,532. Population 70 In 

 In 1798, General Humbert, who landed with the 

 French troops in Ireland, took possession of this 

 place. 



BALLYMENA ; a town of Ireland, the second 

 in the county of Antrim in point of population and 

 trade, is situated on the small river Braid, which 

 unites with the Maine water two miles below the 

 town ; distant 24J miles N. W. from Belfast and 

 105 N. from Dublin. The linen trade is carried 

 on extensively here ; brown linen sales alone 

 averaging 70,000 annually. In the vicinity of 

 the town are a variety of bleach-greens, at each of 

 which, on an average, 15,000 pieces are annually 

 bleached. At the weekly markets, much business 

 is done in linen, corn, &c. The linen-market is 

 on Saturday, and there are two weekly markets 

 for grain, pork, and other provisions, great quanti- 

 ties of which are bought, chiefly for exportation. 

 Numbers of horses, cattle, and pigs, are also dis- 

 posed of on the market-days. Altogether, the 

 place is thriving, and the houses are generally 

 commodious and well-built. Population. 5549. 



BALLYSHANNON ; a town of Ireland, in the 

 county of Donegal, is situated at the mouth of the 

 river Erne, distant from Dublin 102 miles N. W. 

 The Erne, which is here crossed by a bridge of 

 fourteen arches, divides the town into two parts, 

 that on the south side being the suburbs and called 

 the Purt. The town is within four miles of Lough 

 Erne, which embraces an inland navigation of more 

 than fifty miles. The commerce on the river 

 Erne has been impeded by barriers of rock, and 

 plans have been proposed for opening a communi- 

 cation with the Lough, either by a canal or a rail- 

 road, to avoid the rapids on the river. A distil- 

 lery and a brewery are carried on here on a larg<- 

 sca'le ; the salmon fishery is also extensive. The 



