Ill 
the author and disposer of all things, under the symbol of fire. 
Zoroaster, and the ancient magi, whose memories they revere, and 
whose works they are said to preserve, never taught them to con- 
sider the sun as any thing more than a creature of the Great 
Creator of the universe: they were to revere it as his best and 
fairest image, and for the numberless blessings it diffuses on the 
earth; the sacred flame was intended only as a perpetual monitor 
to preserve their purity; of which this element is so expressive a 
symbol. But superstition and fable have, through a lapse of ages, 
corrupted the stream of their religious system, which in its source 
was pure and sublime. 
Some of the Parsee tribe still reside in Persia, near the city of 
Baku, on the shores of the Caspian sea, about ten miles from the 
everlasting fire which they hold in such veneration. This fire issues 
from the cleft of a rock, five or six feet in length, and three in 
breadth, appearing like the clear flame over burning spirits; some- 
times it rises to the height of several }mrds, at others only a few 
inches above the aperture. It has continued thus for ages without 
intermission, and the rock is said not to be in the least affected, 
either by the fire consuming its substance, or changing its colour. 
Travellers mention, that if a hollow tube is put a few inches into 
the ground, for some hundred yards around this rocky opening, a 
similar flame issues through the orifice: the poorer people, who 
live in the neighbourhood, frequently cook their victuals over the 
flame. What the cause may be I know not, but the effects of 
subterraneous fire, which I observed at Sol fate rra, near Naples, 
greatly resemble those on the border of the Caspian. 
In their nuptial ceremonies, and many other particulars, the 
