Stfj Account of the Natural Fire Temples of the Goehr es^. 
sive, but instantaneous deflagration takes place ; and from this 
cause houses have frequently been burned, and even men ex^ 
posed to danger. 
If a hollow cane, or merely a tube of paper, is sunk about 
two inches into the ground, and if we blow upon a burning coal 
brought near its upper orifice, there will issue a slight dame, 
which will neither burn the cane nor the paper. This method 
is employed by the inhabitants for illuminating houses that are 
not paved ; and by means of these hollow canes from which 
the fire issues, they boil the water in their coffee-urns, and even 
cook different articles of food. In order to put out the flame, 
it is necessary only to plug up the orifice. The most rocky parts 
of the ground furnish the most active and brilliant flame. The 
smell of naphtha is diffused, but, after being accustomed to it, it 
ceases to be disagreeable. 
The inhabitants employ this natural fire even in calcining 
lime. The stones are placed one above another, in a place open- 
ed to receive them, and in less than three days they are general- 
ly perfectly calcined. Sulphur is dug up near the same spot 
where the springs of naphtha are found. 
The small Island of Wetoy is the principal place where the 
black petroleum and naphtha of an amber colour are obtained ; 
but it is substituted only when the workmen go to procure these 
substances. The Persians carry away great quantities in their 
vessels, but they are generally in such a bad condition, that the 
naphtha finds its way into the sea, which is often covered with it 
to the distance of several leagues. In gloomy weather, or when 
the heavens are covered with stormy clouds, the springs are in a 
state of greatest ebullition, and the naphtha, which often takes fire 
spontaneously at the surface of the earth, flows burning to the 
sea, in quantities, and to a distance which is quite inconceivable. 
When the sky is clear, and the weather serene, the ebullition of 
the springs does not exceed two or three feet. 
In consequence of boiling, tbe petroleum acquires, by the 
evaporation of the more volatile naphtha, a degree of consistence 
that obstructs bv degrees the orifice of the spring, which then 
becomes surrounded with small heaps of maltha or earthy mi- 
neral pitch, a black substance, as hard and tenacious as pitelw 
When the resistance of this accumulation overcomes the force of 
