The quantity of naphtha procured in the plain near the city is enormous. Some of the wells are computed to give from 1000 to 1500 pounds a day. It is discriminated as black and white. The white naphtha appears to be used chiefly as a remedy for allaying pains and inflammations. The flat roofs of Baku are covered with the black naphtha, and it is made into balls with sand as a fuel. (See Forster’s Journey from Bengal to England, London, 1798; and Macdonald Kinneir’s Geog. Memoir of the Persian Empire, p. 359.)
From Haxthausen we learn that the Átish-gáh or Átish-jáh has been altered since Forster’s time. The flame now issues from a central opening, and from four circumjacent hollow pillars within the temple, which is a building of a triangular form, and of about one hundred and ninety paces to the side, erected by a Hindu merchant in the present century. The flame is described as being about four feet high, bright, and “waving heavily to and fro against the dark sky, a truly marvellous and spectral sight.” The Átish-gáh of Baku appears to be the “Castle of the Fire-worshippers” spoken of by Polo (ii. 9). He says they revere the fire “as a god, and use it for burning all their sacrifices; and when at any time it goes out, they repair to that well, where the fire is never extinguished, and from it bring a fresh supply.”
[178] Some trace of the practice here alluded to is to be found among the Nestorians. “Once a year there is a kind of Agapæ to commemorate the departed, in all the mountain villages. For days previous such families as intend to contribute to the feast are busily engaged in preparing their offerings. These consist of lambs and bread, which are brought into the church-yard; and after the people have communicated of the holy Eucharist, the priest goes forth, cuts several locks of wool off the fleeces, and throws them into a censer. Whilst a deacon swings this to and fro in presence of the assembled guests, the priest recites the following anthem:
“‘The following is to be said over the Lambs that are slain in sacrifice for the dead:—
...
“‘When ye present oblations and offer pure sacrifices, and bring lambs to be slain, ye should first call the priests, who shall sign them with the sign of the cross before they are slain, and say over them these words: He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter,’” etc.
... “‘O Lord, let the oblation which thy servants have offered before thee this day be acceptable, as was that of faithful Abraham the righteous, who vowed his son as an oblation, and stretched out the knife upon his throat, whereupon he saw a lamb hung on a tree like his life-giving Lord who was crucified,’” etc. (Rev. G. P. Badger’s Nestorians, i. 229.)
See also Dr. Stanley’s account of the cruciform spit used by the Samaritans in roasting the Paschal lamb, in the notes to his Sermons before the Prince of Wales.
The Yezidís also have some mixture of Christian names in their superstitions, and sacrifice to Christ. Of the Ossetes of the Caucasus also we are told that the majority are nominally Christians, but in fact semi-pagans, and rarely baptized. They offer sacrifices of bread and flesh in sacred groves, and observe the Christian festivals with various sacrifices, e.g., a lamb at Easter, a pig on New Year’s Day, an ox at Michaelmas, a goat at Christmas. Both Georgians and Armenians are said still to be addicted to the practice of sacrifice in their churches. (Haxthausen’s Transcaucasia, p. 397.)
[179] “The Georgians are the Christian, the Circassians the Mohammedan, cavaliers of the Caucasian countries; they stand in the same relative position as the Goths and Moors of Spain.” “The bases and principles of the organization and general condition of the Georgian people bore great resemblance to those of the Germanic race, comprising a feudal constitution, perfectly analogous to the Romano-Germanic. In this warlike country the Christian hierarchy was constituted in a perfectly analogous manner to the temporal feudal state,” etc. (Haxthausen, pp. 113, 117.)