THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 321 



to "strike"', as they say in Baku, and the naphtha 

 must now be pumped up from the bottom of the 

 boring. The boring -towers are accordingly left stan- 

 ding, in order to be used subsequently as pumping- 

 towers. It is hard to explain, how it happens, that 

 at a very slight distance from a boring, where the 

 elasticity of the gases, which at first pressed up the 

 petroleum, is already quite absorbed, a new and strong 

 fountain can arise, as it must be assumed, that all the 

 wells spring from a single stratum of naphtha. Alto- 

 gether the origin of petroleum is still veiled in darkness, 

 and therefore one cannot say whether it will maintain 

 a permanent place in the field of human civilization. 

 How large an influence the naphtha wells of Baku 

 already exercise on the life and industry of Russia is 

 obvious from the long rows of reservoir waggons for 

 the transport of petroleum and masut, which are met 

 with on all the Russian railway-lines. As the forests 

 of Russia have almost everywhere been largely cleared, 

 and coal is only found in quantities on the Don, 

 masut and raw petroleum have quickly attained great 

 importance as cheap and easily transportable fuel. 

 A large part of the Russian locomotives and river- 

 steamers are even now heated by petroleum, and for 

 many branches of Russian industry this has proved 

 a great help in need, as was the case in the working 

 of our Kedabeg copper-mine. 



The old town of Baku is beautifully situated on 

 the abruptly rising shore of the Caspian Sea. Besides 



the district of the naphtha wells with the very 



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