BAKU AND ITS

CHAPTER XI.

PETROLEUM

SUPPLY, FROM THE

EARLIEST TIMES.

Night and Morning Impressions of Baku-Hotels-The Shipping in the Bay-The Real Russian Base of Operations against India-Proposal for supplying the Town with Water from the Volga-Life at Baku-Stephen GulishambaroffThe History of Baku-The Ancient Fire-Worshippers-Baku Petroleum during the Zoroastrian Period-Marco Polo and Baku Oil in the Middle Ages-Conquest of Baku by Peter the Great, and the Export of the Oil up the Volga-Jonas Hanway's Account of the Industry in the Time of George the Second-The Worship of the Everlasting Fires-Cooking Food and burning Lime with HydroCarbon Gas-Natural Kerosine-The Deposits on Holy Island and TchelekenVarious English Travellers at Baku since the beginning of the present Century-Descriptions of the place by Major Marsh, General Valentine Baker, Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., General Sir Frederic Goldsmid, Mr. O'Donovan, Mr. Gallenga, Professor A. H. Keane, and others-Reason assigned for giving such prominence to the Statements of so many English Authorities.

My first acquaintance with Baku was not of a very encouraging character. The train dropped us at a wretched little shanty station in the midst of a wilderness, and, confiding ourselves with great misgivings to a Tartar phaeton-driver, we were bumped for a couple of miles over a perfect curiosity in the way of bad roads, the surface consisting of alternate sand and rock, full of fearful ruts and undulating like a sea. When at length we reached the town, the driver took us through gloomy streets of low, forbidding houses, and landed us at an hotel, the London, of which perhaps the least said the better, since it proved to be a villanous café chantant, and as dirty a gostinnitza as it has been my fortune, or misfortune, to put up at in the course of

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my many travels in Russia. But, in justice to Baku, I must say that we saw it under very disadvantageous circumstances. An Italian, arriving in London in a dense November fog, and putting up for the night in Wapping, would not send off by the next post a very flattering or very accurate account of the metropolis. As regards Baku, a railway terminus is now completed close to the town, which, for beauty of design and excellence of accommodation, is one of the finest in Russia. From the station to the best part of Baku a regular stonepaved road is being constructed, and if the traveller remembers to ask for the Hotel d'Europe (Yevropaisky Gostinnitza), or the Hotel Dominique (Gostinnitza Dominik), he will find at either very decent accommodation. Of course, Baku being so far east and its civilization so new, he cannot expect to be as well lodged as he would in London; but at either of the two hotels I mention, and particularly as regards the former, he will find spacious and tolerably comfortable rooms, and a cuisine which might be worse and is gradually becoming better. That we should have gone to such a den as the London at all, was due to an ill-natured passenger who travelled with us from Tiflis, and who, I think, must have maliciously misled us.

But the next morning, when we got about a bit, we found Baku to be a very different place, not only from our bad impression of the night before, but from the good impressions previously prevailing.

Baku, indeed, fairly amazed me. The numerous reports that had appeared in the Russian press of late years, describing and extolling its progress, had prepared me for a spectacle of rapid development, but I must confess that I had no idea Baku was such a large place. To most English people, the Caspian is a sort of Dead Sea. They think there is little or no activity

there. They forget that it is the natural outlet of the stream of life, of commerce, and of progress flowing down the Volga-the main artery of the Russian Empire. To such people a glimpse at Baku would be what Dick Swiveller would term a "regular stunner." What was ten years ago a sleepy Persian town is to-day a thriving city. There is more building activity visible at Baku than in any other place in the Russian Empire. It possesses more shipping of its own than Odessa or Cronstadt, and it has commenced the construction of a fine stone quay, of which about a mile is open for traffic, which beats the quay of the Neva at St. Petersburg, and is no unworthy rival of the Thames Embankment. Already the principal town and port of the Caspian, Baku in a few years' time will be the leading commercial centre of the Caucasus, and a dangerous competitor of Tiflis. How significant a bearing its development has on the future of the Central Asian Question may be seen by a glance at the map. Krasnovodsk is often spoken of as the base of the new Transcaspian movement towards India, and being a small place, that movement is decried. But this is a misconception arising from putting the base on the wrong side of the sea. Baku is the base of the new movement, not Krasnovodsk. It is from Baku that troops are sent, supplies despatched, and munitions of war furnished for the garrisons in Akhal and Merv. Krasnovodsk is only a point en route. Baku people refer to it as merely "across the water," a trifling run of sixteen hours by steamer; isolated and distant a few years ago, but now "as close as in the palm of your hand;" having a telegraph cable to join it to Baku, a Government ferry service, and a railway beyond to carry on troops to within a short distance of the outposts of Central Asia.

PROGRESS OF BAKU.

161

Baku is situated on a magnificent bay, in the shape of a crescent, seven miles across from point to point, and about fifteen in circumference. Across the mouth

of the bay, well out to sea, is disposed an island, much in the same fashion as the the Plymouth breakwater, thoroughly protecting it from adverse winds, and enabling it to give secure anchorage to thousands of vessels. I was astonished at the amount of shipping lying in the bay. Several hundred vessels were riding at anchor, and a large number of big steamers, many 200 feet long, were taking in oil or other cargoes at the twenty-five long piers which stretch out into various parts of the bay. Starting from the extremity of the Black Town, where the petroleum is refined, one can walk a good eight miles along the strand or quay, with shipping always on one side and buildings on the other; and everywhere there is just as much activity as on the strand of the Volga at Nijni during the busy period of the Great Fair. From one end of the town to the other, we saw the character of Baku being transformed. Everywhere old houses were being pulled down and new ones being built; streets were being laid out in regular lines, and paved with stone or asphalte; the wretched booths of the Persians were being replaced by spacious Russian shops; and the great old Persian fortress was being exhumed from the mass of surrounding buildings, and laid bare to the gaze of the world. Much of this improvement had been in progress before the Batoum railway was opened, but the movement has been accelerated since, and, in two or three years, Baku will be a new city, with most of the comforts and luxuries of civilization, including even tramways, for the construction of which a syndicate is now being formed in Russia. As the place As the place develops, its disadvantagesthe heat, dust, absence of good water, rainlessness and

M

the want of vegetation-will be largely mitigated. In regard to the water, for instance, Ludwig Nobel has offered that, for a moderate sum, his oil steamers shall bring back fresh water from the Volga, which, on arrival, could be pumped into a reservoir, purified, and distributed throughout the town. The adoption of such an arrangement would provide Baku with an abundant water-supply, and not only enable the inhabitants to use it freely in their homes, but permit of the irrigation of gardens on an extensive scale.

At Baku one can make himself tolerably comfortable during a short stay, and obtain anything in the shops he may have forgotten in starting on his journey. Amusements there are none, beyond spending the evening over cards or billiards in the select town clubs to which admission is readily obtained-located near the Governor's house. The bay is full of fish, and there are plenty of craft to sail in. Moored off the new quay are the Caspian Baths, an excellent roomy structure, where for a few pence one can bathe under the most favourable circumstances, or make it a base for a pleasant swim in the bay. The water in the Caspian is clear and salty, and for the greater part of the year maintains just the temperature that suits most people's taste. There are only two drawbacks-the bay is so full of fish that one never loses the impression that he is in an aquarium; and when the wind lies in a particular direction, it blows inland the oil spouting up to the surface outside, causing a black scum to gather on the top of the water and prevent bathing for a day or two. The Governor's house is situated on the quay, and his Excellency is always ready to receive any day travellers visiting Baku. Such visits should be made in the morning, and it is better that the caller should wear a dress coat-Russian officials in the Caucasus