26 Account of ' the Natural Fire Temples of the Guebres. 
ish clay which they suspend, and they are said to be of a 
strengthening nature, and to excite the appetite of those who 
use them, and at the same time drink the waters. From these 
causes, persons of distinction, and invalids, are attracted from 
distant countries to make use of the springs. 
To the east of the Peninsula of Apcheron, there are several 
islands which produce also naphtha of different degrees of purity. 
The Russians call them Svetoi otrophi , or the Holy Isles. Ac- 
cording to Mr Kinneir, the quantity of naphtha procured in the 
plain to the south-east of Badku is enormous. It is drawn from 
wells, some of which yield from 1000 to 1500 lb. a-day. The 
wells are in a certain degree inexhaustible, since they begin to 
fill as soon as they are emptied, and the naphtha increases till it 
attains its former level. 
In the middle of the Pass, between the district of Kerkook, 
in the Pachalick of Bagdad, and the fine plain of Altun Kupri, 
are a number of naphtha pits, which yield an inexhaustible 
supply of it. Many of the pits are in the bed of a small stream, 
which forces a passage through the rocks. They are about 
3 feet in diameter, and some of them from 8 to 10 feet deep. 
It is here in a liquid state, and perfectly black, and is conveyed 
from the bottom to the top in leathern buckets, and is then sent 
over the country in earthen jars. 
Mr Kinneir considers the white naphtha as a substance entire- 
ly different from the black kind, resembling tallow more than 
any thing else. It floats like a crust on the surface of the wa- 
ter, while the black is procured by digging a small pit in the 
ground. The only fountain of white naphtha which Mr Kin- 
neir saw was at the foot of the mountains of Bactiari, half way 
between the city of Shuster and the valley of Ram Hormouz. 
We shall now conclude this article with an account of the 
Naphtha Wells at Rangoon, in the Kingdom of Pegu, the parti- 
culars of which are taken from the account given by Captain 
Hiram Cox, formerly resident at that place. 
At Rangoon there are 180 wells ; and about four or five miles 
to the N. E. there are no fewer than 340 more. Before sink- 
ing a well, the hill is cut down into a square table of 14 or 20 
feet, and from that table a road is formed by scraping away an 
