BAKU, or BAccou, a sea-port town of the Cas pian Sea, sitnated in the province of Schirvan in Per. ma. Although the entrance to the harbour is beset with shallows, islands, wad sand banks, yet it is reckoned the safest in the Caspian, as ships can be moored head and stern, in seven fathoms of wa ter, at the distance of forty fathoms from the short, under the command of two strong bastions. The town, which is said to have been built by the Turks, is defended by a double will, by strong redoubts, and by a dry ditch, which can be tilled in twenty-four hours with water from the adjoining mountains. On the north and west of the town are several lofty and rugged mountains, with strong watch towers built upon their summits. The rock-salt, brimstone, and naphtha, which are found in the neighbourhood of Baku, are carried to Gltiland, Mazanderas, and the surrounding countries. Saffron is also produced in great quantities. The trade of Baku is chiefly car-, ried on with Shamachy, from which they receive an excellent red wine, and silks and silken stuffs.
Among the curiosities in the neighbourhood of Baku, is what is called the everlasting,fire. About ten British miles north-east of Baku, where the land is dry and rocky, there are several small ancient temples, or arched vaults, about ten feet high, sup posed to have been dedicated to fire. In one of these where the Indians now worship, a large hollow cane is fixed to the ground near the altar, and from the extremity of it issues a blue flame, more gentle than that which is produced from spirits of wine, which the Indians suppose has burned since the flood, and will continue till the end of the world. From a hori zontal gap on an adjoining rock, about 60 feet long and three broad, there issues a blue flame of a simi lar kind. According to Gmelin, soil is a coarse marl mixed with sand, and effervesces with acids. The following interesting account of the naphtha springs is taken from Hanway's Travels, and shall be given in his own words. The revenue arising from them to the Khan of Baku has been computed at no less thane forty thousand rubles.
" The earth round this place, for above two miles, has this surprising property, that by taking up two or three inches of the surface, and applying a live coal, the part which is so uncovered immediately takes fire, almost before the coal touches the earth : the flame makes the soil hot, but does not consume it, nor affect what is near it with any degree of heat.
Any quantity of the earth carried to another place does not produce this effect. Not long since eight horses were consumed by this fire, being under a roof where the surface of the ground was turned up, and by some accident took flame.
If a cane, or tube even of paper, be set about two inches in the ground, confined and close with the earth below, and the top of it touched with a live coal; and blown upon, immediately a flame issues without hurting either the cane or the paper, pro vided the edges be covered with clay ; and this me thod they use for light in their houses, which have only the earth for the floor : three or four of these lighted canes will boil water in a pot, and thus they dress their victuals. The flame may be extinguished in the same manner as that of spirits of wine. The ground is dry and stony ; and the more stony any particular part is, the stronger and clearer is the flame ; it smells sulphureous like naphtha, but not very offensive.
Lime is burnt to great perfection by means of this phenomenon; the flame communicating itself . to any distance where the earth is uncovered to receive it. The stones must be laid on one another, and in three days the lime is completed. Near this place brimstone is dr9,., and naphtha springs are found.
The chief place for the black or dark goez naphtha is the small island Wetoy, now uninhabited, except at such times as they take naphtha from thence. The Persians load it in bulk in their wretched vessels, so that sometimes the sea is covered with it for leagues together. When the weather is thick and hazy, the springs boil up the higher ; and the naphtha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea, in great quantities, to a distance al most incredible. In clear weather the springs do not boil up above two or three feet : in boiling over, this oily substance makes so strong a consistence as by degrees almost to close the mouth of the spring ; sometimes it is quite closed, and forms hillocks that look as black as pitch ; but the spring which is re sisted in one place breaks out in another. Some of the springs which have not been long opened form a mouth of eight or ten feet diameter.