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CHAPTER XX

THE BAKU OIL FIELDS

Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train
for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the
world--a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems
almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this
entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to
the Balkan hills.

Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California
fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the
surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities,
passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through
the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to
be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating
purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting
the gas which rises in the tube.

The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for
bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on
its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end
to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.

Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft
in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by
Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of
the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the
fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went
there to pay homage to it.

In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree,
shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of
rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of
interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to
lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a
slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the
sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge
iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has
mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant
to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.

For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum,
and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had
recourse to these springs t