THE FIRE-TEMPLE AT SURAH KHANI. 167 



obtain, by merely sticking an iron tube in the earth 

 and applying a light to the upper end, the mineral oil 

 will burn till the tube is decomposed, or for a vast 

 number of years." Small wonder that in such sur- 

 roundings the creed of the Zend Avesta^ took root 

 and flourished, or that a glamour of romance should 

 still hang over the old fire-temple at Surah Khani, 

 where there abound fissures in the earth where the 

 mere application of a lighted match is all that is 

 required to restore the once holy flame of the disciples 

 of Zoroaster ; but the revered figure of the aged high 

 priest, a once familiar sight in the precincts of the 

 temple, is now no more seen, and with the removal of 

 the last of the fire-worshippers twenty years ago, the 

 care of the sacred flame came to an end, all sentiment 

 being finally destroyed by an enterprising company, 

 who now collect the gas and send it by a pipe to 

 Balakhani, there to be used as required at the wells ! 

 There is something pathetic in the sight of the hallowed 

 places of the past converted into a means of assisting 

 the universal craze of modern money-making, and I 

 hastened from this scene of dissipated religious fervour 

 to the noisy activity of the wells themselves, which at 

 least are devoid of illusion, and make no pretence to 

 having ever been anything else but what they are. 



As I have said, the oil-fields present an extraordinary 

 sight, and as you breathe in the lurid atmosphere of 

 Balakhani and gaze on the weird scene which sur- 

 rounds you while you listen to the uncanny noises 

 which proceed from the interior of the grimy derricks, 

 you might well be excused for supposing that you had 

 inadvertently tumbled prematurely into some peculiar 



^ The Bible of the Parsees, by whom, however, it is called simply Avesta, 

 the word Zend being especially employed to denote the translation and 

 exposition of a great part of the Avesta which exists in Pehlevi. 



