Abstract
THE St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Times writes as follows:—The question of the existence of volcanoes in Central Asia, especially on the Kuldja frontier, has always been a matter of doubt and discussion among geologists and Russian explorers. The Governor of Semiretchinsk, Gen. Kolpakofsky, had already fitted out expeditions to settle the question—once in 1878, and again in 1879; but owing to the difficulties of reaching the mountains, which the Chinese consider impassable, and also to the disorders which were then taking place in Kashgar, both expeditions were unsuccessful. This year General Kolpakofsky again set himself to the task, and now reports that he has at last discovered the perpetual fires in the Thian Shan range of mountains. He telegraphs that the mountain Bai Shan has been found twelve miles north east of the City of Kuldja, in a basin surrounded by the massive Ailak Mountains, and that the fires which have been burning there from time immemorial are not volcanic, but proceed from burning coal. On the sides of the mountain there are caves emitting smoke and sulphurous gas. The Official Messenger, referring to this interesting telegram, observes that the question as to the existence of volcanic formations in Central Asia, which has so long agitated the learned world, is now irrevocably decided in the negative, and bears the testimony of many Russian explorers. Mr. Schuyler also, in his “Turkistan,” mentions that these perpetual fires in the mountains referred to by Chinese historians were considered by Severtzoff, who explored the region, as being caused by the ignition of the seams of coal or the carburetted hydrogen gas in the seams. The same author further mentions that Capt. Tosnofskey, another Russian explorer, was told of a place in the neighbourhood from which steam constantly rose, and that near this crevice there had existed from ancient times three pits, where persons afflicted with rheumatism or skin diseases were in the habit of bathing.
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Geographical Notes . Nature 24, 612–613 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/024612b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/024612b0