42 THE OIL-FIELDS AND THE FIRE-TEMPLE OF BAKU
I have said that * tradition ' has connected the name of the Zoroastrians with the igneous realm of Baku, but I have not been able to trace it back more than two hundred years, as I shall show below, and I believe that some of the sweeping statements made on the subject by modern writers (including myself) may have to be modified so far as Zoroastrianism is concerned. The present shrine is apparently of Northern Indian rather than of Persian foundation, although possibly the site itself may have been a hallowed one in ancient times ; but before I turn to that matter, I shall give a description of the sanctuary and its surroundings.
The sacred precinct consists of a walled enclosure that forms nearly a parallelogram, following the points of the compass. Its length is about thirty-four yards from north to south, or forty on its longer side ; the breadth is about twenty -eight yards from east to west. The central shrine stands nearly in the middle of the court. A square-towered building, ap- proached by a high flight of steps, rises toward the northeast corner. The walls of the precinct are very thick, as they con- sist of separate cells or cloistered chambers, running all the way around, and entered by arched doors. The whole is solidly built and covered with plaster.
The structure in the middle is a square fabric of brick, stone, and mortar, about twenty-five feet in height, twenty feet in length, and the same in width, with arched entrances on each side facing the points of the compass. ^"^ These entrances are approached by three steps each on the north and east sides, and by two steps on the south and west sides, where the ground is slightly higher. In the middle of the floor is a square well or hole (visible in my smaller photograph), measuring exactly forty and one-half inches (1 m. 13 cm.) in each direction. Evidences are seen of pipes once used to conduct the naphtha to this and to the roof. The top of the shrine is surmounted
1 My measurements on the occa- 6 m. 10 cm. x 6 m. 6 cm. or 20 ft. sion of my last visit gave in meters, in. x 19 ft. 11 in.
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