From this we can infer that the nature of the oil was entirely unknown, for it was a "liquor like oil," and was also, strange to say, "unprofitable for the seasoning of meat"! In another place in Armenia, Marco Polo states that there was a fountain "whence rises oil in such abundance that a hundred ships might be at once loaded with it. It is not good for eating, but very fit for fuel, for anointing the camels in maladies of the skin, and for other purposes; for which reason people come from a great distance for it, and nothing else is burned in all this country." The remedial effects of the oil, when used as an ointment, were thus early recognised, and the far-famed vaseline of the present day may be regarded as the lineal descendent, so to speak, of the crude medicinal agent to which Marco Polo refers. The term asphalt has been applied to so many and various mixtures, that one scarcely associates it with natural mineral pitch which is found in some parts of the world. From time immemorial this compact, bituminous, resinous mineral has been discovered in masses on the shores of the Dead Sea, which has in consequence received the well-known title of Lake Asphaltites. Like the naphthas and petroleums which have been noticed, this has had its origin in the decomposition of vegetable matter, and appears to be thrown up in a liquid form by the volcanic energies which, are still believed to be active in the centre of the lake, and which may be existent beneath a stratum, or bed, of oil-producing bitumen. In connection with the formation of this substance, the remarks of Sir Charles Lyell, the great geologist, may well be quoted, as showing the transformation of vegetable matter into petroleum, and afterwards into solid-looking asphalt. At Trinidad is a lake of bitumen which is a mile and a half in circumference. "The Orinoco has for ages been rolling down great quantities of woody and vegetable bodies into the surrounding sea, where, by the influence of currents and eddies, they may be arrested, and accumulated in particular places. The frequent occurrence of earthquakes and other indications of volcanic action in those parts, lend countenance to the opinion that these vegetable substances may have undergone, by the agency of subterranean fire, those transformations or chemical changes which produce petroleum; and this may, by the same causes, be forced up to the surface, where, by exposure to the air, it becomes inspissated, and forms those different varieties of earth-pitch or asphaltum so abundant in the island." It is interesting to note also that it was obtained, at an ancient period, from the oil-fountains of Is, and that it was put to considerable use in the embalming of the bodies of the Egyptians. It appears, too, to have been employed in the construction of the walls of Babylon, and thus from very early times these wonderful products and results of decayed vegetation have been brought into use for the service of man.