THE OILFIELDS OF PERSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 225, 28 October 1909, Page 4

THE OILFIELDS OF PERSIA.

HOW TO REACH TIIE 01LF115T,DSTHE "HIGHWAY OF THE KINGS" —THE FIRST SIGN OF FORTUSATE WASTE - E DEJ'TH 01' THE WELLS A CAPABLE WONEER - A SEW TOHANNESIiUIti; - THE ONLY I DRAWBACK.

iliy Perceval Lsui(l<>iii in tin; World.Work llagaune.) The world gets its oil-supply fi'""' three sources-the Baku disinet, I'mnm oilliclds, and the hWudaid Companv Now there is anothei. While I was in Teheran in July, l'JOb, 1 heaid for the lirst time that the long-eoutiuueu ellorts of -Mr. W. K. D'Arcy to discover petroleum among the mountains oi aouth-wes'.ern Persia Imtl at last beui eiowned with success. Hut Iherfc was an air of mystery »<>' l » |;o ™'. V illl " ut ,, U " ! entire enterprise, and even lioni the Ii.UKISO diploma tie representatives 1 com,l not oluam very aecurate. infonnaUo". In fact, Wc iiad dilliculty in identifying, ur.on any one of tile somewhat impeile t auiis ot southern Persia that could be produced, the piveise locality ot these now famous field*. Hut ttio value or t"'discovery was beyond question. It Mi. jVArcy s* energy and perseverance had succeeded in discovering in Peisia a ne'« and important source ot mineral oil, he hud indeed conferred a betieiii upon humanity in general ana upon the DritUU

Liupire ami Persia in particular. Iheie weie before this dale only three centra where pctioleuin was discovered in unylike abundance. One of these was, of coulee, the lamous petrolileroue district in the Caucasus surrounding the Caspian seaport oi JSaKU. Tile other was in Burma and centred in thy reliniug plant of Uangoon, and the third was the American fields. JL'uf political unrest and private outrage has gon<- far to wreck the raiieasian oil wells. Murder . and brutality has frightened away men w,o would otherwise have been available as workers at the wells. Moreover, ) mere seeme. considerable evidence that, in any case, even had it been possible to continue the development, the natuial reservoirs ol oil in ine distriet'werc de- ' U'riorating in quality and lessening perJ ceptibly iu llow. the Consul at iiatoum intornied nie iu«st .year that less than ono-third ot the old annual number ot

oiiships liad leu JJatuum during the previous twelve months. Disorganisation , reigns supreme, and it may well be I doubted whether the Caucasus will cve v | be able to recover in even a leaser degree j the prosperity wiiieh she enjoyed al une time sus one of the oil eonues of (lie plauct. far as IJunim com-cnieil Uifc case is gomewlmi diflerent. Tlic oil there is found in abundctnee, and every year it is handled more economically ami uith greater expedition. J>ut the fact that Burma has at iier very gates a nation of 30U,QUU,UUU people, every one ol whom aspires either to light lxis o.vn evening lamp or to burn a kerosene candle or a ehiragh to hiis own personal god. means that Uu» entire produce 01 -jisriua not only linus an immediate and ready sale in India, but that it wouJd i-uutiuue to do so were the output much greater than it is now. U had, therelore, beeoine a very jjerious (|iiestion a& to where tile necessary uil ot the wur.d was in future lu be found, and the Persian fields are u welcome addition to those in the United .States. A month or two later it was my good fortune tc pay a personal visit to tliu-se suddenly famous springs of naptha. Owing to the unrest, it 1101 the actnn:

rebellion, whlt-l) was upsetting tilts whole O; the south of Persia, J was compelled, after my arrival in Ispahan, to make my way to the Persian Cull', ihroii"h tl:o country of the llakhtiaris, instead ol tu-ing the ordinary route which runs southward from Ispahan to Shiraz. and thence in a south-westerly direction u> Pushire. ] was persuaded to adopt this ( route by the advice of an experienced . and shrew;' Englishman in l«palian. The Bnkiitiar'S were rendering impassable

every road which led out of Ispahan; and, though it seemed at linst like putting one's head into the lion's mouth to travel straight through the midst of them, the man knew ilie race well, ami ce advised me to g.. straight out in the mountains and make friends with the Jikhani Iking) of the fiakhtiaris. lie ' assured me that lie would grant me a , safe conduct and an escort through to Sinister on the Kama river, if for no other reason than that I was an Eng . lishniau. From Sinister I knew that 1 could make my way down to the head ' of the Pe-sinn (lull'. 1 tool; his advice, and was afterwards grateful indeed to hmi for nothing could have Ween more

.varlc.ms than my reception at Clieiiakiior. and, indeed,'at.every halting-place f.( in one cinl of my journey to the"other. Alter a day or two of ceremonial visits ■U I'liegakhor, 1 left the llkhani. and. under the most capable and most conrtceus of escorts. I made my way for three week? or a month through the Mile known mountains of lihuzista'i. After passing Malaniir. 1 determined to make a short delict-lion to the north in order that I might inspect these new oilfields upon whic/i so much seemed to depend.

MOW TO REACH THE OILFIELDS. I lie oillields of Persia may he reached either from the Karun river, via the Persian Itulf. or can be approached, as 1 was approaching it, from the land side. Naturally enough, the heavy goods needed for the oil company's industry are sent round by sea, but there can be no doubt that for the traveller who has an interest in thing.-, nricutai""ilie overland ri nte is by fare the more attractive of the two. Once Ispahan is left benilhi, the track for it can hardly be called a lo.id, winds far from civilisation, except lor an occasional Kiian's palace frrll.shed from Paris boulevards. It strike, s through some of the most beautiful and rugged mountain scenery in the wor'd. I <uls of it are well wooded, party abare of trees as the sea itself. N mv am j ttleii the traveller halts for the lii"ht at some tiny collection 0 f huts wlHoli scarcely deserves the name of village mfh. a !nir hUll iJas ' s "" t1,,! I bttUing-piaees where a bubblinspnng ill the deserl, lias cncoura-cd a hjw's On ? f Pul ' li,rs lu,l! wil " lo«» Onco provided with the sanction 0 the 1 tuiaiii, he will not he molested, 1-l ,1 !, Ul /, ' lt . Ihe odds a'.s considerably hivor of his beii," 1 U P' ur later, bv one of Die it.ani bands of bandits, either Liirs Kiibsclus. or liiikhtiaris, „ earn H j^ w : mdefe,n n | ,le ,i XP. 1 4 iI "«"Iliving upon • i-r . f * v 'f Lo lllis i I ■ill of the earth. The length 0 f his "laichcs will be decided for tl lc most I o t uy the presence or tl,e absence of •I'vmgs ot water. ITe will early hav '•aincd not to drink from tiie brook in »a.\, r.ud he will not be' Ion" in Hi*, covering also that even (he "freshed !>• springs letting from the rock itself ,~ this country, of a nature not greatly reMoved from those of Carload and its sibtcr sp.as

the "iirnrnvAY of the kixos."

•Should the traveller be in archaeology, lie will not be low* in recalling the tact thai he is travelling by One of (,i, oldest known routes in"tile world. The "Highway of (he Kings" rei present j ihe route connecting Susn and farther Babylonia with ]'cr"epoli« and Ispahan. This track, which will be found rnnrked u|jod mn«t ia commonly dignified 1-y tin- na?>n.' of ;i rojid. {mt, n? a matter of fact, it is for the most part a mere traditional course along riveibees and round mountain spurs. Now aed then one meets Ihe vestiges of early read work upon the I lack, hi (he shape of sharp-edge.! blocks oi s(r>nc nri»insii!v .rn well enough (og.-lher. but now"twistill all directions and so painful to I walk or rule i,n that. ju<t as is the ease with the better known r"ads outside Ihe | Constantinople, both beast and man instinctively ,1.--,.i-t it for the kin:l- ---| r surface or (he aakcl rock. The two most imnorfanl leatnres of Ihe track I arc. of course, the (wo bridges which | M<-ssr=. T.vm-1t ha\e rill-own across the two main river crossings of th- llakl]t;an country. It is a curious Ihing.afler some davs of tnidgni" iSir. the unrelieved savagery of flic-,, forgot len wolds to tiri.l I ne neal. inqi Knglish girdering of these kindly spans. spot in the road deserves » brief uolic". Alalamir. (he winter eapilal of the llakhtiaris. is well kiiOTvn to readers of Layard and T'awlinson as a mysterious survival that still possesses 'noble prehii tons sculptures on its mountainou-

rocks. I had myself the pleasure of discovering tlie «ite of a buried city a few j miles farther west. The extraordinary prevalence of inscribed bricks—which are notoriously signs of a -wealthy ant leisured community —makes it certain thai any excavations on the spot wouid wirll repay an archaeologist. The track to the oilfields,branches oil I) the mirth, thirty or forty miles weit of Malainir. Long before the actual plain of naptha is reached then* are abundant indications that Nature is in no ordinary mood in this forsaken mountain land. For tv\vo days i travelled beside the bed of a stream strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydro

gcn. The unpleasantness may be imagined of riding continually along the hauks of a river that all day and J' 11 niiiht smelt like a cataract of rollmi | eggs. Th-.' waters of this terrible litt'o i stream leave a deposit of white alkali | upon the stones of its banks, until either by precipitation or by the dilution of its rank flood by tiny tributaries the slmigth of the sulphuretted mixture is reduced. Xo vegetation will grow beside it. At last, however, the smell begins t < dhnnii-li:'rihrub-* and stringy grass grow here and there upon the banks, ami just before 1 left its waters one ot my servants shot with a ride a g<inlsized barbel which proved that the water hin' partially, at least, regained iU Wiiolesomeness. Hut its period of purity is out scanty, for before another twenty miles is traversed by it the iridescent black stain of uapntha sullies its'waves anew.

A WARNING SMELL. - Long before the oilfield is reached, the sjneli of raw petroleum warns the trawler of its existence, and a man could almost find his way up hill and down dale across the sun-baked, treeless expanse by his very nose. At last one turns a cornel aud tlie first signs of human activity is seen in the shape of some we!l-built drillers' houses, and across the relleclions of a little stream the blacK wc'l-hcad and attached pipe, through which the naphtha released from the bowels of the earth ia conveyed to the newly-dug reservoir some hundred yarns away. TiJib is the No. i, or D'Arcy well,' and before proceeding to describe the ! plan and management of the new field it ;nay be interesting briefly to recall tlie long and plucky atr.emjvts of Mr. D'Arcy lo justify his contention that petroleum in large ami paying quantities was to be iiud in south-west Persia.

It, now >ome veilrs since Mr. D'Aroy (acting willi the support of bir Henry Drummond Wolff) obtained the necessary concision from the Persian Government and sank his first well in the search for the mineral oil which he lias at, last found in such abundance. The first .scene of .Mr. D'Arey's energy was several hundred miles a wsl'v to the north. Trie-re are indications of the presence uf the oil stretching over an extent of terri'.<h \ four or live hundred miles long from norlli-we.sL to south-east. It was at the e.sircme northern pomt" of the lield thus iniucatvd >hitV Mr. D'Arey "began, 0»i tit.* frontier between Persia and Turkey, not far from where the main road between Baghdad and Ilauuulau <rosi*cs i!,

is a smaller town called Kasr-i-Khirrin. and it was hem that the great «'e;uvli began. The eil'orl was fruitless, though the Syndkate has by no means eh:n i-,j hope of eventually obtaining belter results in ti'is certainly petroliferous di*li.ct. Another attempt was then made fivt hundred miles south-cant, at a pl.ice eal'ed Manna tain. There can he litt'e dcuht that the oil district stretchrs much farther south-east even than thin place, which is within n few mile* of

; Tr.;m Hormuz, but the attempt, here also ; was doomed to failure, tliough an enor--12 moos flhafl two feet in diameter was

> sent down for -Wift, and the boring wa- » afterwarl.v continued by a smaller'""shaft. '! ff,r another 1300 ft. Tliis operation wae 1 abandoned in March. 10(18. These two

I unsuccessful attempts were not, as mar ! * V imagine?, earf-ieri out i'\ecpt at enorII moitß expense. Tt is nn open secret that

Mr. D'Arcy'* loss was nearer £250.000 ll fmn C 200.000.

TTIE FIRST SKiX OF OIL, I'ndeterred. however, by this second failure, Mr. DWrcy, acting upon the recommendation of M. de Morgiin. the wellknown French archaeologist at Susa, and vurmly supported hy Mr. Preece. British Consul-general at Ispahan from 1000 to H'OC, merely pushed on his operations 'more vigorously ihnn ever at a new place, Meidan-i-Xaftun. in latitude 111 decrees no minutes north, longitude -I!' degrees ?ti minutes east, and at la«t found what he had sought so long. Here th" indications of oil were unmi-Uak übie: Lord Cnrzon had referred to the petroliferous nature of the district seven, j twit war* Wfrre. The little strnm l«' I which 1 have ju<t referred ?s coated with a thick an* brilliant coai of blaek nnidttha. Thi* is a natural exudation fr.»m ihv hiibterranean springs, and i! ias heon collected for many *eulurie« r.y the inhabitants of the neighboring town of Sinister. Weirs of wifker-work are sTuns across the strea-r .it two or three points, and the refilling •nteh of bitumen. partly evaporated by tne heat of the sun and further reduced by a further treatment by fire, formal, and still form-, a small but valuable in flie markets of (lie Karum river, ft is used for caulking boat*, and as a somewhat drastic cure for the «ore back* of mules. Some little difficulty was originall'- found in coming to an agreement •Vth the proprietors of this little indueti\. but the matter is now successfully adjusted to the' satisfaction of bo*h

tor a ton** time the new boring seemed little likely to respond as had Mr. DA ivy's previous ventures, lint at a de.fdh of about 12O0f( the underground IM'C of nmieral oil was reacned, and in ..biy. l!)0S. the liist ru«h of black naptha spouting up in a fountain 80ft hi-h a ho v < the mouth of the hole put to "rest for ey< r all doubts as to the foresight of tWEni'lish venturer.

I.' N'FOUTUICATH WASTE. This final proof of llic presence ct pelroleum involved, of course, coneidey-i.-ije material loss. Tile black stream ,'i , f°.i' 1 111 11 "leady .jet, every drop of uMi was wasted. It flooded the lillie-black river to which I have just re erred, and ii|ion its waters made its way to a tributary of the Karun, which falls iuti) the main river a little w above Shunter. A reservoir was at once dug two hundred yards from tlic wi'H; and afll'r some difficulty the entracers managed to cap the jet and di , i v"* 1 ' "■ t'l'" iuto t ' lle ,le «' «• coplaele, where night and day a steady Jrenm of petroleum Ihrmvs itself into he black sea of naphtha scummed over «-th a loam of iridescent elirvsolile It WIS clear that, i„ order to'avoid the "•I"' 'turn »t .similar waste, „ pip,,]],,,, AUM'ld have to be constructed from tile ''.. le d tr, the rclineries, wherever th"v might be placed. This is ITy no mean's '• 'J 1 " 1 ™ 11 '• l-l'oiigh the length of 1..-e fio„i lleiden-i-Xaftim ( 0 titl-,1 <>- 11, nillicld, ion tle „ea ro ,t waters of the Persia,, Jillt Pipfi-lmes do not travel like a now and the temptation to inisehiel on], be irresistible to nomad Lurs. II IJ'c hue is to be properly policed—wlucli can only ■ouomieallv from the river- it. will sary n som> measure to follow the curve', „f Ihe river Karmi. that mo,t undecided "I streams. There can hardly be a ilonbt that the island of Abadan. formed by the Banneshir estuary and the ShaU-el-Ar.i >. will be the olace selected. H worth a passing UioiHit that, ncco riling to the tradiiim, and the linn belief of |)u> .Alohaiiiiuediin dwellers ill Mesopotamia and Arabistan. this piece of ground, watered by Ihe l-u i'.'iratcs. Tigris, and the Karnii. am] ,| cs lined within live years to become a prosaic settlement, paved and tin-roofed the home of men sinking both the Weill,re of the wo)|,l and their own prolits by one of the most disfiguring and cvilsnielling known to modern science n no other Hum I lie veritable silo of tlic (.'arden iif Kden iisolf!

(il my ion. i fn» pipe-lin - ...uld hardly be than ISO mile- m b'ii<;|h wilhoui a Indole <;Y!iril v Ihil thai in it-elf j* of >,. r ;, lM v difficulty. a mm-h farther di<tai-e bring tr:i\ersc)j by tfo» main pipe-line ( ,f i| M > Ihirina oil Toinpaiiy. The fail is ampk and there are no engineering difficulties whatever.

TIIK UKITII OK TIIK In onfor to avni ( | furilier (os* from waste, the other oil we!N un the pro-

perty have been left uulinished, thoiign the drilling lias been curried to tlie farthest p'onu possible without actually breaking ml.o tlie buoterranean oil reservoir. When I was oil the lields the U-Hrcy well was in liow. .No. 2, a mile or a mde and a-half lo the north, near the aneieni remains called j or feoloiuoiU fteat, I wuich gives the common name to the whole district, needed a week a work for the oil to be reached. In this case the drills had to descend to a depth of liiuOlt, The average depth of a Canadian or American-oil well is about o'HMt,

and iliai of a Murineae spring between WOft and 7WHt. it will therefore be aeon that the Persian oilfield lies at a considerably greater depth than either, ,i luct winch is regarded by oil miners as guaranteeing both the quality and the permanency of the oil. Much value was iu consequence attached to the recent discovery of oil in Mexico at 1400 ft. No. 3, although at. a very much lesa* depth, was already giving unmistakable signs of the close proximity ol ihe oil. ihig well is remarkable tor a characteristic whka is at the same time promising and distinctly unpleasant.

\\ herever oil is found under pressure ot gas sufficient to n.ake it rise to the -urface williout pumpiug, there is always some trouble witii the gas which is found permeating the rock long before the oil itself is rcuihcd. i»..u no where in the world has gas of siun poiI sonous strength been encountered a* I during the boring of -No. S. It was even found impossible to continue working this drill at night. Kverv now and again, without warning, an invisible Hood of heavy poison*-us gas would burst from the orifice of the well, and there was no satcly for the men employed except in immediate Might. One Canadian driller told me tiliat on one suc'h occasion, although lie ran at once and ran uphill, he was knocked oyer like a. rabbit by the gas at a distance of eighty yards. Foxes, jackals, hens. | chickens, and even cows have repeatedly ; been found dead in the morning round the derrick, "owing to their unfortunate inquisitiveness and trespass into the little vale during the previous night. Hut as against this temporary difficulty it should fairly he remembered that, the existence of gas of such strength a~id quality is the happiest possible promise for tiie quality and quantity of the oil when found.

A OAPABLE PIONEER. The late manager of the oilfields, Mr. 11. E. Bradshuw, was an extremely capable and resolute man, exactly of the right type t.o deal with the inevitably recurring occasions of friction with the natives employed on or living near the lields. He is one of the men who are lilted, and almost compelled, by nature to do the pioneer work of this world. To organise and pull into shape this vast new venture, is exactly the. work which he is best (jualified to perform, I and, though he will probably leave to other hands' the more ostentatious and 1 prosperous chapters of the oilfields* history, it would be difficult to express the debt which not. the company only, .ml possibly the whole world, owes to this level-headed Englishman. Dr. Young's work in the dispensary has also smooi-lied lite way of the pioneer*' to an extent Dial deserves warm recognition.

The evening of uty arrival the mananger of the oillicids and 1, returning ir- in well No. il. mounted a small spur of rising ground, jutting out into the plain, from which a good and comprehensive view could be obtained of all the workings of Meideu-i-Xaftun. Iniiiiediatelv in front of us were the shops where the engineering work is diligently pushed on. They are but shanties tomy, tihongh the machinery in ihem is of an astonishing power and thoroughly up to date. A quarter of a mile 'nearer lay the dispensary. No oue who has even a scanty acquaintance with the Hast will be surprised when 1 say that it is to the dispensary that the company chiefly owes its popularity for a. hundred miles around its field of labor. Perhaps, even, it owes its' bare toleration in these early days to it> "White Hakim." Free medical advice, free medicine, situl, wherever possible, I free surgical operations are here given [ by the company to all who care to ! avail themselves of this great and persuasive boon. Even from distances far greater than that which J have suggested, stricken men have come to beg the help of the strange white magicians who make the blind to see and repair in wonderful fashion the broken hones ami the festering flesh-wounds that are never very infrequent in the life of the nomad, whether in the mountains or the plains, Sometimes the strangest i-omplaints are brought the com>anv's medical officer.

AN EAUTII-EATIXd PAT 1 EXT. While I was in this dispensary I' noticed a cadaverous-looking Arab sitting pati'iitly i.n a bench awaiting his turn ior treatment. "That,' said 1) . Young, "is a man who for the last two years has eaten earth in large quantities.'' The craving is not unknown in Europe. .in*l is no doubt akin to the passio i for slate pvneiU which U exhibited in sumo girls schools. Hut this particular victim could only explain his mania by saying that he had suffered acutely from dyspepsia fur a long time, and, as other remedies seemed unavailing, what other was there open to him except to eat earth! The doctor was, of course, able to give some temporary relief, but 1 believe it. to be a fact that a complete cure is very rarely achieved whenever the earth-eating habit has been really formed. A more embarrassing feature of this curious -hospital is the kind of reward that the patients in their gratitude sometimes offer. The doctor has as his first, assistant a native of India, lie is a quick and capable man-, and can ileal with most emergencies, lmt it is somewhat embarrassing for him when gratitude of a wwly healed 'patient takes the form of offering him one of his daughters!

Ureal as is the immediate i-crvice rendered by tills dispensary, it i», perhaps, of even more value as a centre of re soaveli in the still little known department of tropical diseases. 31y attoiilion was drawn lo one curious point. Major l!oss, in his wildest dream of malaria extinction, would never liave dreamed of saturating an entire district with petroleum to t.he extent that "Mcidon-i-Xaftun is drenched with it. The reek of it goes* up .for miles to 'heaven above ami through the empty spaces of the Persian bills on either side. The waterare choked with black iilth, and for leagues' the iridescent scum makes the waters of tlic Karnn's tributary glitter like a dove's neck. There is petroleum everywhere, nut there are also mosquitoes. and. consequently, malaria. Persia is one of those places about which it is dangerous to dogmatise. Kver since (lie outbreak of true hn' - otii<plague among the reed-dwellers in the bed of the Hclnmnd river, twentv-four clear days from the nearest source of infection, the Knropean medical experts , of Persia liave -contented themselves with research rather than dogma. .In a year or two the plain of naphtha will, no doubt, bo entirely cleared of mo><|iiitoes and malaria, but the interveitug months might well lie made use of to study more carefully the apparently exceptional clraructeristics of these parts.

A XKW JOHAXN'KSin/nO

j Hut. as we looked down upon the bare, stretching plain, ringed about, with mountains lutc and there deeply cleft by nearly dvy river-bed*.', it. was Not the pre-ent that appealed chielly either to the manager or myself. "There," he said, pointing to Ihe scanty wheel marks Mint indicated the track from the metalled road to No. 2. "there will be High Street. There will be four large hotels, two clubs, a theatre, two banks, and a racecourse before we know whore mc are. Every inch of this land will be 'hurriedly fought for. and after a year's experience in a ramshackle town, roofed with kerosene

l< : is. in whirh people will not live through even one Persian summer, you will find a new and solid Johannesburg creeping upward from the ground Md! higher even- week.'' This' was a game two could play at, and for the next five minutes he and we jointly plotted out the baked and bare expanse with eye ol prophecy. Jlere were to be the pubbe gardens, there the cricket ground. Polo for a time must be played inside the racecourse, Imt as soon as labor can be spared, a better site would be lev-

| toward* the west. Wabr would have to In* brought from a great distance, and it would be bettor at once Id deflect, into one condemned i?nwer the poisonous little streams that move along the bottom of their deep-cut beds. Water-power was a difficulty, but it was a difficultv that could easily bw overcome. Wood and '■nal jut, indeed. almost <'i|uallv bard in obtain. T ]iad had pointed out to me in my rido t'hrough ilie hills an out crop of so-called coal. T fowl taken the trouble to make a little expedition oil the track to test Mie statement, and 1 found it was nothing of the sort. Coal, of course, there may lie, but it ha* yet to be, discovered, and the scantv timber of the neighborhood would be devoured in a week by the furnaces and ranges of the smallest of manufacturing towns. Hut oil id force, and neither wind, nor water, nor coal, is actually needed here, though the Karun river eould probably be 'harnessed some thirfcyntileß bock^.

The concession would, no doubt, be the occasion for another peciniiury demand on the part of the eminently bu.*.inesslikc Bakhtiaris, but it would be worth paying for.

1 THE ONLY Dlv.VWllAi'K. j The slow release and thump of inc driller of No. 3 came to us l.iintly as we stood. "It is a big proposition.'' said Mr. HratUhaw, "but there is actually one thing only againsl it, and that is the heat iu the Mimiucr months." Here, indeed, i.s the trouble of the Persian oilfields. 1 was there in the . beginning of September, and after maU- I ing a rough water-color sketch between eight and nine o'clock in tlie morning i (which was grievously impeded bv the perspiration which continually dripped from the point of my nose), I went across to breakfast in the mess-house, a solid stone building. At about ten o'clock I looked at the shade thermometer inside the house, and it registered 114 degrees Fahrenheit. • All through August, 1 was told, the average shade heat in the middle of the day ranges between l"2<» and 128 degrees. These are tigures whieh may well make the roughest and hardiest explorer hesitate. In tfpite of many Matements to the contrary, the highest temperature ever recorded iu India is 121} degrees on one 0.-casion at .lacobabad during an exceptional year. When' b reached Kashan on my southern journey in

the end of July last year, which was •dmittedlv the hottest that, had been nown for a long time, the temperature was 128 degrees in the shade. I been tuunht to expect this, as Kashan is proverbial, even in Persia, for its heat, and the day was unusually s'ultrv. But it is another thing to find a regular temperature of this amount all through one summer month in what is destined to be a centre of manual labor. The company's representatives bad wisely given up attempting to light this terrific heat iu their own houses. Once again the troglodyte life W led iu this world, but this time it is led by men of the

highest scientific energy and capacity. It is* a curious example of the meeting of extremes. The oil company's white . officials have given up the struggle with nature, and have had carved for themselves caves ill the sides of the cliffs. Through the middle of oaeh day all the summer long, the white men creep from the dazzling furnace of the bare plain into these caves and wait for the mercy of the slanting rays of the afternoon sun. They arc not uucomfort- 1 able apartments, and might, of course, be greatly elaborated; ns' it is. they resemble bunks on a steamer more than anything else. A punkah is always kept going, and ventilation is secured by a shaft opening up higher "n the cliff face. Tn these darkened holes the temperature rarely goes above 105 degrees, and their construction is the safvation of tlie industry.