SALSES. 201 



peninsula, Apscheron. The magnitude and connection of 

 this phenomenon was, however, first discovered by Abich, 

 distinguished by his profound knowledge of this part of Asia. 

 According to him, the mud volcanoes and naphtha fires of 

 the Caucasus are arranged in a distinctly recognizable man- 

 ner in certain lines, which stand in unmistakable relation 

 w^ith the axes of elevation and the directions of dislocation 

 of the strata of rock. The greatest space, of nearly 4000 

 square miles, is occupied by genetically-connected mud vol- 

 canoes, naphtha emanations, and saline springs in the south- 

 eastern part of the Caucasus, in an isosceles triangle, the 

 base of which is the shore of the Caspian Sea, near Balacha- 

 ni (to the north of Baku), and one of the mouths of the Kur 

 (Araxes), near the hot springs of Sallian. The apex of such 

 a triangle is situated near the Schagdagh, in the elevated 

 valley of Kinalughi. There, at the boundary of a dolomitic 

 and slate formation, at an elevation of 8350 feet above the 

 Caspian Sea, close to the village of Kinalughi itself, break 

 forth the perpetual fires of the Schagdagh, which have never 

 been extinguished by meteorological occurrences. The cen- 

 tral axis of this triangle corresponds with the direction which, 

 the earthquakes^ so often experienced in Schamacha, upon the 

 banks of the Pyrsagat, appear constantly to follow. When 

 the northwestern direction just indicated is traced further, it 

 strikes upon the hot sulphurous springs of Akti, and then 

 becomes the line of strike of the principal crest of the Cau- 

 casus, where it rises up into the Kasbegk and bounds Daghes- 

 tan- The salses of the lower region, which are often regu- 

 larly arranged in series, gradually become more numerous 

 toward the shore of the Caspian, between Sallian, the mouth 

 of the Pyrsagat (near the island of Swinoi), and the penin- 

 sula of Apscheron. They present traces of repeated mud 

 eruptions in earlier times, and often bear at their summits 

 small cones, from which combustible and often spontaneous- 

 ly ignited gas is poured forth, and which are exactly similar 

 in form to the hoimitos of JoruUo, in Mexico. Considerable 

 eruptions of flame were particularly frequent between 1844 

 and 1849, at the Oudplidagh, Nahalath, and Turandagh. 

 Close to the mouth of the Pyrsagat, on the mud volcano 

 Toprachali, "black marly fragments, which at the first glance 

 might be confounded with dense basalt, and extremely fine- 

 grained doleritic rocks" are found (a proof of the exception- 

 al, greatly increased intensity of the subterranean heat). At 

 other points on the peninsula of Apscheron, Lenz found 



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