The Turcomans in Mushkur
We
passed to the south over a dreary tract along the sea, where we saw mines of
Naphta in seven places; it boils up from the earth on the seashore, and in the
district of Musekker in hot springs, on the surface of which it collects. It is
a Royal lease, let for seven thousand tomans of aspers per year. The men
belonging to the inspector of the Naphta collect it from the surface of the
springs and small lakes, fill jacks of goatskin with it and sell it to the
merchants; the yellow is the most esteemed; the black Naphta is carried as a
Royal revenue to the fortresses, and used to light the walls on dark nights,
and to be thrown on the besiegers. It is also used by the Mihmandars for torches;
all the torches at the Court of the Shah and at their great houses are made of
Naphta of Baku; if it catches fire it burns to the last drop; to prevent,
therefore, the destruction of the mines, heaps of earth are piled up near them,
and if one of them should be ignited by a spark, all the people flock together
and throw earth upon it to quench the fire. There are also mines of Naphta in
other places, which, however, I did not see. We advanced to the south, and
halted in the district of Musker, beneath tents of felt belonging to Turcomans,
who with Moghols and Kumuks pass the winter here; it is a fertile tract of
country.
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in
the Seventeenth Century by Evliya Efendi, Vol. II (1850)
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