565 Strabo, xii. 2. 7, p. 538. Mount Argaeus still retains its ancient name in slightly altered forms (_Ardjeh_, _Erdjich_, _Erjäus_). Its height is about 13,000 feet. In the nineteenth century it was ascended by at least two English travellers, W. J. Hamilton and H. F. Tozer. See W. J. Hamilton, _Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia_, ii. 269-281; H. F. Tozer, _Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor_, pp. 94, 113-131; Élisée Reclus, _Nouvelle Géographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1879-1894), ix. 476-478. A Hittite inscription is carved at a place called Tope Nefezi, near Asarjik, on the slope of Mount Argaeus. See J. Garstang, _The Land of the Hittites_, pp. 152 _sq._ 566 H. F. Tozer, _op. cit._ pp. 125-127. M143 Persian fire-worship in Cappadocia. Worship of natural fires which burn perpetually. The perpetual fires of Baku. 567 Strabo, xv. 3. 14 _sq._, pp. 732 _sq._ A bundle of twigs, called the Barsom (_Beresma_ in the Avesta), is still used by the Parsee priests in chanting their liturgy. See M. Haug, _Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings and Religion of the Parsis_3 (London, 1884), pp. 4, note 1, 283. When a potter in Southern India is making a pot which is to be worshipped as a household deity, he “should close his mouth with a bandage, so that his breath may not defile the pot.” See E. Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_ (Madras, 1909), iv. 151. 568 Baron Charles Hügel, _Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab_ (London, 1845), pp. 42-46; W. Crooke, _Things Indian_ (London, 1906), p. 219. 569 Jonas Hanway, _An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea: with the Author’s Journal of Travels_, Second Edition (London, 1754), i. 263. For later descriptions of the fires and fire-worshippers of Baku, see J. Reinegg, _Beschreibung des Kaukasus_ (Gotha, Hildesheim, and St. Petersburg, 1796-1797), i. 151-159; A. von Haxthausen, _Transkaukasia_ (Leipsic, 1856), ii. 80-85. Compare W. Crooke, _Things Indian_, p. 219. M144 The Burnt Land of Lydia. 570 Strabo, xii. 8. 18 _sq._, p. 579; xiii. 4. 11, p. 628. The wine of the district is mentioned by Vitruvius (viii. 3. 12) and Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xiv. 75). 571 W. J. Hamilton, _Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia_, i. 136-140, ii. 131-138. One of the three recent cones described by Strabo is now called the _Kara Devlit_, or Black Inkstand. Its top is about 2500 feet above the sea, but only 500 feet above the surrounding plain. The adjoining town of Koula, built of the black lava on which it stands, has a sombre and dismal look. Another of the cones, almost equally high, has a crater of about half a mile in circumference and three or four hundred feet deep.