The Evening Telegraph

SUBURBAN.

—A phenomenon of a most extraordinary nature has lately been witnessed by the inhabitants of the borders of the Caspian Sea. This huge salt lake is dotted with numerous islands which produce yearly a large quantity of naptha, and it is no uncommon occurrence for fires to break out in the works and burn for many days before they can be extinguished. Early last month, owing to some subterraneous disturbances, enormous quantities of this inflammable substance were projected from the naptha wells, and spread over the entire surface of the water, and becoming ignited, notwithstanding every precaution, converted the whole sea into the semblance of a gigantic flaming punch bowl, many thousands of square miles in extent. The fire burnt itself out in about forty-eight hours, leaving the surface strewed with the dead bodies of innumerable fishes. Herodotus mentions a tradition that the same phenomenon was once before observed by the tribes inhabiting the shores of the Caspian Sea.