"Down to 1870 the oil was taken from pits which were dug like ordinary wells; boring began in that year on the American system, and the first bored well went into operation, the oil being pumped out by the ordinary pumping machinery.
"The first flowing well, or fontan (fountain), as it is called here, was struck in 1873. In that year there were only seventeen bored wells in operation, but by the end of 1874 there were upward of fifty. The flowing wells cease to flow after a time, varying from a few weeks to several months; one well spouted forty thousand gallons of oil daily for more than two years, and afterwards yielded half that amount as a pumping well. The history of many wells of this region is like a chapter from the 'Arabian Nights.'
"We are in the midst of oil, and shall be as long as we remain at Baku. There are pools of oil in the streets; the air is filled with the smell of oil; the streets are sprinkled with oil, as it is cheaper and better than water; ships and steamers are black and greasy with oil, and even our food tastes of oil. Everybody talks oil, and lives upon oil (figuratively, at least), and we long to think of something else."
Note to Second Edition.—Since the first edition of this book was printed the following telegram has been received: "Baku, October 5, 1886. At Tagieff's wells a fountain has commenced playing at the rate of thirty thousand poods of petroleum an hour. Its height is two hundred and twenty-four feet. In spite of its being five versts from the town, the petroleum sand is pouring upon the buildings and streets." Thirty thousand poods are equivalent to one hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons; multiplied by twenty-four it gives the unprecedented yield of three million gallons a day. Estimating thirty gallons to the barrel, we have a well flowing one hundred thousand barrels of oil daily! This is something never dreamed of by the wildest petroleum speculator in America. A single well of the Baku district is producing more oil than the aggregate of all the petroleum wells in the United States.
Plans for a pipe line from Baku to Batoum, with an annual capacity of one hundred and sixty million gallons, have been completed, and the work will be pushed as rapidly as possible. The successful operation of this pipe line can hardly fail to have a serious effect upon the petroleum industry of America.
[CHAPTER XXI.]
A GLANCE AT CENTRAL ASIA.—RUSSIAN CONQUEST IN TURKESTAN.—WAR AND DIPLOMACY AMONG THE KIRGHESE TRIBES.—RUSSIAN TAXES AND THEIR COLLECTION.—TURCOMAN AND KIRGHESE RAIDS.—PRISONERS SOLD INTO SLAVERY.—FORTIFIED VILLAGES AND TOWERS OF REFUGE.—COMMERCE IN TURKESTAN.—JEALOUSY OF FOREIGNERS.—TRAVELS OF VÁMBÉRY AND OTHERS.—VÁMBÉRY'S NARROW ESCAPE.—TURCOMAN CHARACTER.—PAYMENTS FOR HUMAN HEADS.—MARRIAGE CUSTOMS AMONG THE TURCOMANS.—EXTENT AND POPULATION OF CENTRAL ASIA.
When our friends had completed their study of the Petrolia of Europe they looked around for new worlds to conquer. Being in Russia, they followed Russian tendencies, and turned their eyes in the direction of Central Asia.
"Wouldn't it be a splendid trip," said Frank, "to go through Central Asia to India and the Far East? How long would it take, and would it be very expensive?"