'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎132] (185/905)

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BA'KU AND APSHERON, SOIL, ETC. [CHAP. VII.
its mouutains, are chiefly of limestone, but they are occasionally mixed with
gravel, freestone, and clay. Three of these arms may be
distinguished from the rest: the most northern penetrates
Tarku in an easterly direction, and on its crest, near the
Caspian, stands Tarku itself, the capital of the district. The
second and central offset terminates with the city of Derbend
and the Albanian Gates; and, lastly, the southern branch
traverses Kuba, in which district it terminates near the sea
with the remarkable mountain of Bechebarmak. Derbend,
Karakai'takh, Tarku, and Tabasseran, are very mountainous;
but an open country commences with the plain of Kuba :
this extends about 25 miles southward of the river Samour,
and almost 40 miles westward, from the Caspian Sea to the
mountains; 1 and it presents, everywhere, a rich soil, which
bears most abundant crops. The mountains westward inclose
some level tracts, but of very limited extent, with the excep
tion of the plain of Hiobdon, which is nine miles square. 2
Bituminous^ Southward of the Mount of Bechebarmak are the mineral
' districts of Baku and Apsheron. Around the capital of the
former there are nearly 100 bituminous springs, some of
which are worked, and these afford, in addition to petrolium,
an inexhaustible supply of black and white naphtha ; whilst
other fountains have, for ages, emitted a burning stream,
which is known by the name of the Indian fire. 3 Over these
spots have been erected the principal temples of the Guebres;
and Baku, in consequence, has become the Mecca and Medina
of Parsee pilgrimage,
and Apsheron. The peninsula of Apsheron is equally remarkable for its
salt formation, the usual concomitant of bituminous beds. In
different places there are ten salt lakes, only one of which is
worked, and this yields, notwithstanding a defective manage
ment, 10,000 tons of salt annually.
The eastern shores of Daghestan are washed by the shallow
waters of the Caspian, and along the coast are numerous
small islands.
The district of Baku has but one permanent river, the
1 Aperqu des Provinces Russes, &c., Tome IV., p. 96, &c.
e Ibid., pp. 96 to 98. 8 Ibid., pp. 89 to 91.