Miscellanies. 355 



their food ; it burns best when mixed with a small quantity of ashes ; 

 and to avoid accidents, they preserve it at a distance from their houses 

 in earthen pots, under ground. Both the black and white naptha are 

 used for varnishes. When the naptha has been kindled accidentally, 

 the eiFects have often been fatal, and Strabo says the flame cannot be 

 extinguished by water. 



The flaming soil, or everlasting fire, as it is called, of Bakon, is 

 not less famous than its naptha springs. According'^ to Mr. Rich, 

 the principal bitumen pit at Hit,* (which place must have furnished 

 the builders of Babylon,) has two sources, divided by a wall, on one 

 side of which the bitumen bubbles up, and on the other tke oil of 

 naptha. 



In order to enable the bitumen to adhere to the bricks, as a cement, 

 it must be boiled with a certain proportion of oil ; the principal ob- 

 ject is to guard against dampness, especially in the lower parts of 

 buildings ; it is at present used for caulking cisterns and boats, f &c. 

 Rock salt and sulphur are obtained in the naptha country (near Nie- 

 zabad.) 



26. Yellow Transparent Marble of Tabriz, near L. Oroomia. 

 — This is found in the heights near Deygurgan. It is a kind of pet- 

 rifaction (calc sinter) formed by water flowing from the rocks above 

 and depositing itself, by a gradual sinking through the surface of the 

 earth, to a certain depth beneath. A sort of incrustation covers the 

 whole far spread mass, which extends down the slope of the hill, and 

 over the level of its valley for a considerable way ; it is found some 

 few feet below the crust, in thin layers, which are cut into long and 

 wide slabs, about ten or twelve inches thick ; they are used for skirt- 

 ing decorations for the saloons of the opulent, bordering the room all 

 around just above the floor. When cut into very thin sheets it is 

 translucent, like ground glass, and is used for windows of baths, &c. 

 Pieces of it are also cut into small tablets for tomb-stones, to be im- 

 pressed with words from the Koran. 



27. Enormous Calcareous Deposit — Near the ruins of an an- 

 cient city called Tact i Solomon, is a lake 60 yards by 30 ; its water is- 

 sues from a channel and strikes down the side of the hill ; it is so high- 

 ly charged with lime, that the courses through which it has flowed are 

 now transformed into long serpentine ridges of stone, running not 

 only down the hill, but to a considerable distance along the valley, 

 and then standing nearly three feet high above the level of the ground. 

 The overflowings of the lake have incrusted the earth and ruins, and 



* About four days journey N. W. of Bagdad. 



\ And now (1839) for making pavements and roads. — B. S. 



