354 Miscellanies, 



supplied chiefly from Kufri. Near to the wells is a pool of muddy 

 stagnant water, covered with a thick scum deeply tinged with sulphur. 

 A iew hundred yards to the east of the top of the same hill is a tlat 

 circular spot, 50 feet in diameter, perforated by 100 or more small 

 holes, whence issue clear smokeless flames, smelling strongly of sul- 

 phur. In fact, the whole surface of this perforated spot of ground 

 appeared as a crust of sulphur over a body of fire within ; the sur- 

 face being perforated by a dagger, a flame instantly issued, rising, 

 sometimes, even higher than the others. 



The government derives a revenue from the sale of the sulphur from 

 this place ; it is called by the natives Baba Gurgur — gur being their 

 name for naptha or bitumen. Between Baba Gurgur and Kirkook were 

 observed innumerable spots of native sulphur, and a great many pools 

 sharing its properties, which might be converted into excellent medi- 

 cinal baths. 



25. Naptha Springs op Bakon.— N. Lat. 40°— 20, E. Long. 49°— 

 50 The peninsula of the Caspian is called Absheron- These foun- 

 tains of light and heat are even more productive than those of Kir- 

 kook, and like them are deemed inexhaustible. 



Near the springs spreads the celebrated burning plain, almost a 

 mile wide. To this place the disciples of Zoroaster resort, by thou- 

 sands, to adore the eternal blaze, and to convey to their own hearths 

 a portion of the sacred flame. At the distance of one mile and three 

 fourths from the naptha springs is the fine temple of the Gubres, 

 nearly a mile in circumference, from the centre of which arises a 

 bluish flame. Some small houses have been built on the spot, and 

 the people smother the flame by covering the earth with a thick coat- 

 ing of loam ; on perceiving this, they light a flame at the orifice and 

 apply it to culinary purposes, and the flame is easily extinguished by 

 closing the aperture. A sulphurous gas arises from the flame, and a 

 strong current of inflammable air continues to issue even after the 

 flame is extinguished, and leathern bottles are frequently filled with it. 



The whole country around Bakon appears sometimes as if envel- 

 oped in flames ; the fire appears to roll down from the mountains 

 with incredible velocity and in large masses, and during the clear 

 moonshine nights of November and December, a bright blue light is 

 observed at times to cover the whole western range. Jonas Hanway 

 mentions six springs of white naptha near Niezabad ; there were wells 

 of dark naptha not far off". When the weother is thick and hazy, the 

 springs boil up higher, and the naptha sometimes taking fire, runs, 

 like burning lava, into the sea. In boiling over around the mouths 

 of the pits, the oily substance sometimes becomes of the consistency 

 of pitch. The poorer people sometimes use it as we do oil, to boil 



