BAKU.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3278, 30 March 1885, Page 2

BAKU.

Baku, the port where the Bussians are stated to have massed 50,000 troops is, as described m the cable message, a strongly fortified town on the western shore of the Caspian sea. It is, m fact, one of the chief stations of the Russian navy m that sea. It has a population of twelve or fourteen thousand inhabitants, chiefly Persians and Armenians. There are immense tracts of petro-leum-yielding land m the vicinity ; indeed, the oil wells of Baku are among the wonders of the world. Some of the springs havebecomeignited, and the existence of these "fire-formations" has caused Baku to be esteemed a holy city by the Parsces or fire-worshippers, to whom it is a kind of Mecca. The district was ceded by the Persians to Eussia m 1813. A good deal of ship-building is carried on m the town, which is an important centre of trade. The troops assembled at Baku are m a favorable position for descending on Afghanistan either through Persia, if, as is believed the case, Russia is secure of the alliance of the country, or, if not, through Turkestan.