34 The American Geologist. January, 1904. 
A valuable bituminous rock found at Val de Travers, 
Switzerland, has been extensively used as a paving material. 
Elaterite, or elastic bitumen, is found in south Australia. 
Baker on the Caspian sea has been celebrated for ages for 
its ever-burning naphtha springs. Those on the shore have 
long been attended by thfe fire-worshippers from India. Oil 
also rises from beneath the sea to the surface. Some wells 
have prod viced as much as 100,000 barrels a day. From some 
of these have flowed great showers of naphtha. 
Bifiiiitcii in Ancient Tune. 
Far back in the remote uncertainty of time, we find that, 
in building the tower of Babel, "shme had they for mortar,'' 
that the ark of Xoah was coated Avithin and without with 
pitch; also that the mother of Moses "took for him an ark of 
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. Herod- 
otus* informs us that the walls of Babylon 'were of brick, laid 
in bitumen. It was heated and used as a cement instead of 
mortar. Herodotus also says that it was mixed, with the tops 
of reeds, and placed between the bricks at every thirteenth 
course. Some travelers say that they have found bitumen used 
in everv seventh or eighth course, and at one place was found 
between everv two courses of brick. .Some bricks were laid in 
lime and sand, or only clay, others in bitumen. 
Bricks from Hillah, with bitumen still adhering to one 
side, were examined by Parkinson about the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, and the bitumen was found to be still com- 
bustible, and would burn when brought into the flame of a 
candle, yielding a strong bituminous odor. The village of 
hillah, or Hellah, is said to occupy the site of the ancient 
tower of Babylon, and the city of Babylon must have been on 
or near the present site of Hillah, which is known to have 
been built of the bricks of the ancient city, and it even may 
have been built upon the very site of ancient Babylon. The 
bricks examined 1)v Parkinson, must, therefore, have lieen at 
least 3500, or perhaps 4000 years old. 
Bitumen flows out of the ground at Babylon. It is also 
dug u]) in S;.ria : liut that used at Habylon was obtained at 
Hit or it, or on ihc river Is, of Herodotus, eight days journey 
above Babylon. 
• In Clio. 
