Baku and its Petroleum.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2033, 18 July 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

Baku and its Petroleum.

Nine Miles ok I'lowincj Napiitua. Heue the all-prevadmg peaoleum asserts its presence at every tuin. Tue fus:i Dre'.za which steals through our open window »c daybreak bears wish it the f intrant breath of the countless factory chimneys, whose Bnioke han?,b m one eternal cloud over our entire suburb of Baku. I'rom Cape Baitofl, on the other aide of nbe town, to our location on these ridyy uplands, nine nules beyond ie, the hillsides arti furrowednoi with " purung stseams," but with soeiningly endleos lengons of iron tubing, through which llotf unsetn riverb 01 petioleum. Lakes of thu precious lnjuid redeot the auu from every hoilovv aad the iuighty reaervoir, which towers abovu the '•JJlticb Town" like modernized Ouluauui, ooatiim.u^, a-3 the residents proudly tell me, ]o,oui),oUO gallotH, Jd tilled to ihe brim, uot wuh watsr, but witu patroleum, aug^edCin fa ' unpleasant thoughts of a posiibla deluge that would combine all the terrors of thd flood with those ol the destructian of tiodom.. Whether the exquisites of the town iwe theic boots "shined" wuu labnoating oil, and fcout their handkerchiefd with uopntna I have not yet inquired. But after being otlered clanned oil to taste as a gre&c treat M one oi the faotones, I should hardly be tutpn^ed to bee pecrolouui selliug in sue ferooera 1 ator«3 in place of mola3Be3, and to and my opposite neighbor at dinner pledging n»e in u brimming gIdHS Ol keroaine or seasoning £!»=. ti^h wltli "leaiiiue fat" instead of meited batter. 1 wonder what the aacient fira worshippers o Baku would say if they ouuia coui- to iut> agun once moic upon thdir o.vu sa^r^d lull ana see how rnoiet* civilisation h-ia irtiuisfurmed it. One can ftiucy how amazddiy the poor Zoroastnana would utare at sniekebreathing ohimney«, ruonator bonars, claQiimg engines, reaervoiru aa big as a barrack yard, aistilhng machines, and ateam-worked pomps, lines of rail running down to tue sea from the principal factoriaa. And great would ba their dismay to lud the " eternal fires " of their aacienc worsnip gaing out otto by one from the draining uf Che naphth*,, springs that feed them. — Coiitio^uydence Neio Yoik Times.