99 
Account of the Natural Fire Temples of the Guebres. 
nions from Zoroaster. They had their origin in Persia, but, in 
consequence of different persecutions with which they were as- 
sailed, many of them quitted the kingdom, and, after various 
migrations, they found an asylum in Surat, Bombay, and other 
settlements on the Malabar Coast. 
Those who remained in Persia experienced even a harder 
fate than their migratory brethren, and, by the oppressions and 
exactions of the government, have been reduced to a state of 
the most abject degradation. 
The Persian Guebres inhabit principally the shores of the 
Caspian Sea, and the cities of Ispahan, Yezd* and Kerman. 
Their great Fire Temple, however, called Attush Kudda , 
Atashghak , or Atechgah , is in the neighbourhood of Badku, 
which, before the conquest of the Saracens, was annually visit- 
ed by thousands of pilgrims. 
The town of Badku, which is one of tlie largest and most 
commodious ports on the Caspian Sea, stands in the Peninsula 
of Abscharon, in Lat. 42° 22' North. The earth in the neigh- 
bourhood of this ciry is completely impregnated with naphtha. 
The inhabitants of Badku have no other fuel, and no other 
light but that which they derived from this substance. The 
black petroleum, when formed into small cakes or balls, with 
a mixture of sand, is used as fuel. Three of these balls is suf- 
ficient for heating an oven for baking bread, but the bread in 
this case contracts a very disagreeable odour as well as taste. It 
supplies also the lamps, and forms the fires of the lower classes, 
and it is used as a covering for the flat roofs of their houses, 
which it effectually protects from rain. 
About ten miles to the north-east of the town, are still seen 
the ruins of the ancient temples which the Guebres had erected. 
The religious retirement, according to Forster, where the devo- 
tees worship the deity in the resemblance of Fire, is a square of 
about 30 yards, surrounded with a low wall, and containing 
many apartments. In each of these is a small volcano of sul- 
phureous fire issuing from the ground, through a furnace or 
funnel, in the form of a Hindoo altar. This fire is appropria- 
ted to the purposes of cookery as well as of worship, and for 
* There are no fewer than 4000 Guebres in the town of Yezd. 
