162 BAKU. 



same time, the price of kerosene in New York was 

 Sjd. a gallon. 



I have been at some pains to give statistics of the 

 oil trade, partly because, owing to the difficulty of 

 obtaining reliable data, they are seldom placed be- 

 fore the public, and partly because, without adducing 

 figures, it is impossible to give any idea of the 

 magnitude and importance of the industry.^ Let me 

 now invite any one who is wearied by the contem- 

 plation of so imposing an array of statistics to accom- 

 pany me across the Caspian to that land where facts 

 and figures have ever been shrouded by a veil of 

 mystery and romance. 



1 It is worth while drawing attention to the rapidly increasing demand 

 for liquid fuel Engines on the Transcaspian railway and steamers on the 

 Volga have long been driven by naphtha residues. It is already in use in 

 the Russian navy, and is being experimented with in more than one ship 

 in our own. 



