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 230 BAKHTEGAN BAKU territory from the Danube to the Caucasus. Gradually, however, Russia undermined their authority, until in 1783 it became extinct. During the siege of Sebastopol (1855) Bakh- tchiserai was the headquarters of the Russian army. BAKHTEGAN, a lake of Persia, in the prov- ince of Fars, in lat. 29 30' N., and between Ion. 53 30' and 54 30' E. ; length E. and W. upward of 60 m. ; breadth 8 m. It dries up in summer, leaving immense quantities of salt. BAKHTISHVVA, the name of a Christian Nes- torian family, which during the 8th, 9th, 10th, and llth centuries gave six famous physicians to the court of Bagdad. Caliph Al-Hadi, after having been restored to health by the skill of Ben Giurgis Bakhtishwa in 786, proposed that all the physicians who had unsuccessfully prac- tised upon him should be put to death; but Bakhtishwa saved the lives of his colleagues by administering poison to the caliph. At the beginning of the 9th century Giabril ben Giur- gis ben Bakhtishwa, after helping Haroun al- Kashid over an apoplectic fit, was sentenced to death because the caliph had a relapse. His life was only saved by the death of the caliph. The most learned of the Bakhtishwas was Abu Sa, who flourished about the middle of the 10th century. He is the reputed author of a medical work in 50 chapters, dedicated to Caliph Motaki, and entitled the "Garden of Medicine." BAKONY, or Forest of Bakony, a mountain range in Hungary, S. of the Danube, between the Raab and Lake Balaton, separating the great and little Hungarian plains. Its ave- rage height is about 2,000 ft. It is crowned with dense forests, and has quarries of very fine marble. Immense herds of swine are fed in the forest, and the keepers figure as robbers in Hungarian literature. BAKU, or r.akuo. I. Formerly an indepen- dent khanate, now a government of Russia, in Transcaucasia, bordering on the Caspian sea, and comprising the territory of Shirvan and part of Daghestan; area, 14,922 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 486,229, including Russians, Caucasians, Armenians, and Parsees. It is traversed by the easternmost ranges of the Caucasus, and watered by the Kur and the Aras. The penin- sula of Apsheron, 'comprised within this gov- ernment, is remarkable for its mud volcanoes and naphtha springs. Near the town of Baku there are about 100 bituminous springs, seve- ral of which are worked, producing white and black naphtha. The principal sourcestire situ- ated at a spot called Balegan, about 6 m. from the city of Baku. The quantity annually ob- tained in the district amounts to about 36,000 Ibs. of the pure and 9,600,000 Ibs. of the black naphtha. The naphtha is used by the natives for illuminating purposes. The country for seve- ral miles round the town of Baku is impreg- nated with inflammable matter. About 15 m. N. E. of the town is a fire temple of the Gue- bres nearly a mile in circumference, from the centre of which rises a bluish flame. Here are some small houses, and the inhabitants when they wish to smother the flame cover the place, enclosed with walls, by a thick loam. When an incision is made in the floor, and a torch applied, the gas ignites, and when the fire is no longer needed it is again suppressed by clos- ing the aperture. Not far from the town there is a boiling lake which is in constant motion, and gives out a flame altogether devoid of heat. After the warm showers of autumn the whole country appears to be on fire, and the flames frequently roll along the mountains in enor- mous masses and with incredible velocity. The fire does not burn, nor is it possible to detect the least heat in it, nor are the reeds or grass affected by it. These appearances never pccur when the wind blows from the east. In for- mer times the burning field was one of the most celebrated ateshgahs (shrines of grace) among the Guebres. Previous to its occupation by the Russians a voluntary human sacrifice was annually offered here a youth who leaped with his horse into one of the fissures. A few adherents of this sect still make pilgrimages to the great ateshgah to worship the fire and perform penitential exercises, chiefly by night. The place is a walled quadrangle with an altar raised on a flight of steps in the centre. At each of the four corners stands a chimney 25 ft. high, from which issues a flame 3 ft. long. Round the walls of this sanctum are a number of cells in which the priests and Guebres re- side. The peninsula is also remarkable for its salt formation : in different parts of it there are 10 salt lakes, only one or two of which are worked, yielding annually about 10,000 tons. There are no trees in this peninsula, but por- tions of the territory have a layer of mould on which are raised wheat, barley, maize, melons, fruits, rice, cotton, and saffron. Opium is pre- pared, and a species of red and highly flavored onion not found elsewhere is cultivated. II. A seaport town on the W. coast of the Caspian, the capital of the preceding government, in lat. 40 22' N. and Ion. 4940' E., situated on the southern shore of the peninsula of Apsheron ; pop. in 1867, 12,383, chiefly Mohammedans. The houses, terraced like those of other oriental towns, are built of naphtha and earth. The town is protected by a double wall built in the time of Peter the Great, has a custom house, mil- itary school, 16 Mohammedan private schools, 23 mosques, Russian, Greek, and Armenian churches, and a palace of the ancient khans built about the 7th century, and now used as an artillery arsenal. The walls were once washed by the Caspian, but they are now 15 ft. from it ; and in other places the sea has en- croached upon the land, and the ruins of sub- merged buildings are discovered at a depth of 18 ft. The port of Baku is the most important on the Caspian, and a principal Russian naval station. The chief articles of trade are naph- tha, iron, silk, shawls, linen and woollen goods, cotton, tobacco, indigo, fruits, fish, salt, and