Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/271

Rh in deep valleys, others nearly nine hundred feet above the sea-level. In some places the gas bubbles up through pools and lakes, which are covered with a rainbow-tinted scum; in others, the thick oil oozes from rock-crevices or bubbles up in mud-volcanoes. In some valleys there are regular terraces of a thick paste resembling asphalt, and smelling of petroleum. Rich deposits of ozokerite and flowing wells of petroleum have been partly worked, and it is noted that the oil here is of a yellowish-green color, while that at Baku varies from very dark green to transparent lilac. These Kouban deposits are as yet quite undeveloped, but it is evident that, from their local position on the shores of, the Black Sea, they must soon attain to considerable importance. In all this region the character of the soil differs essentially from that of the oil-region of the States; here layers of solid limestone are comparatively rare, and the general formation consists of thick layers of clay, sand, quicksand, and sea-shells, telling of a period when the whole formed the ocean-bed. The methods of drilling and pumping have, of course, been adapted to suit these different conditions.

While Ludwig Nöbel continues to be the acknowledged oil-king of the Caspian, his marvelous success has given a tremendous impetus to the whole life of the oil-trade, and numerous capitalists have pressed forward to follow in his footsteps; so that Baku has rapidly developed into a large city, having a coast-line of about six miles sweeping round a well-protected harbor, crowded with shipping. At the close of 1882 the Russian papers noted this increase of shipping as altogether marvelous, seven thousand vessels having cleared the port within the previous six months, and of those fifteen hundred were actually Caspian vessels, chiefly hailing from Baku itself. Of course, many of these were merely small sailing-vessels; but no less than seven hundred steamers are now employed on the regular passenger and freight service of the Caspian and Volga, and some of these are splendid vessels, one at least being lighted throughout with Edison's electric lamps.

These are quite apart from the large and rapidly increasing oil-fleet. In addition to those belonging to Messrs. Nöbel, a Russian company (the Caucasus and Mercury Company) owns nineteen steamers, and other firms possess many, and are rapidly importing more and more from Finland and elsewhere. Forty new steel steamers, specially fitted with great tanks, were to be delivered to various firms before the close of 1883, and several hundred sailing-vessels have been constructed for the same purpose.

For the accommodation of all these, twenty-five piers have been run into the harbor, many of them fitted with pumps and pipes, in order to fill the great cistern-steamers with the least possible delay. Sixty miles of pipes connect these piers and refineries with the wells.