KIRKOOK. Naphtha is obtained near here. It is scooped out with ladles into bags made of skins, which are carried on the backs of asses, for sale. It is principally consumed in the south west of Kurdistan, while the pits not far from Kifri supply Baghdad and its environs. The Kirkook naphtha is black. On the summit of a hill is a flat circular spot measuring fifty feet in diameter, with a hundred at least of small holes, whence issue as many clear flames. The natives call the place Baba Gurgur, Gur being an Arabic name for naphtha or bitumen. The bitumen pit at Kit must have furnished the builders of Baby lon; to qualify the bitumen for use as a cement, it must be boiled with a certain proportion of oil. Its chief use appears to have been in the lower parts as a preservative against damp ; at present it is used for coating cisterns, baths, caulking boats, etc. The black naphtha springs at Baku, on the Caspian, are similar. Jonas Flan way mentioned that when the weather is thick and hazy, the springs boil up higher, and that the naphtha, sometimes taking fire on the surface of the earth, runs like burning lava into the sea.
In boiling, the oily substance gradually becomes a thick pitchy mass all round the mouth of the pit. The poorer people use it in lamps and to cook their food. It burns best with a small mixture of ashes ; but., for fear of accidents, they preserve it in earthen vessels under ground, and at some distance from their dwellings. There is also a white naphtha, a thinner fluid than the black, and not found in such great quantities. This is sometimes recommended, inwardly for chest complaints, and outwardly for cramps and rheumatism. Both it and the black are Used for varnish. Strabo calls it liquid bitumen, and asserts that its flame cannot be extinguished by water. The experiment tried by Alexander was horrible in its effects. The flaming soil, or everlasting fire, as it is called, of Baku, is not less famous than its naphtha springs.—Porter's Travels.