or BADKU, a town, with an adjoining district of the same name, in Persia. Badku is the most spacious and convenient port in the Caspian, and stands in the peninsula of Absharon, in long. 51° 7' E. lat. 42° 22' N. It is a place of considerable trade, and is defended by a double wall and ditch, constructed during the reign of Peter the Great. The town is situated on a declivity, and is of an obtuse triangular form. It was a celebrated resort of the ancient worshippers of fire, and before the conquest of the Saracens was annually visited by thousands of pilgrims. In the adjacent district a great quantity of excellent cotton is produced, and is exported from Badku; together with fruit, opium, rice, silk, wine, rock-salt, and naphtha. Cloths, dye-stuffs, iron, linen, and silk stuffs, are imported from Astracan, from which six or eight vessels arrive yearly, and with which its principal trade is carried on. In the plain to the south-east of the city, enormous quantities of naphtha are produced. It is drawn from wells, some of which yield from 1000 to 1500 pounds in a day. These wells contain inexhaustible springs of oil; and they are no sooner emptied than the oil begins to flow, and continues until it has attained its former level. It is used by the natives for lamp-oil, and emits a clear light, with much smoke and a disagreeable odour. All around the town the country is deeply impregnated with inflammable matter, both above and below the surface. About ten miles to the eastward is a fine temple of the Guebres; a remarkable spot, something less than a mile in circumference, from the centre of which a bluish flame is seen to arise. Here are some small houses; and the inhabitants, when they wish to smother the flame, cover the space inclosed with walls by a thick loam of earth. When an incision is made in the floor the flame arises, and it is again suppressed when it is no longer wanted for culinary or other purposes, by closing the aperture. The whole country around Badku has at times the appearance of being enveloped in flames. It often seems as if the fire rolled down from the mountains in large masses with incredible velocity; and at night a bright blue light is observed to cover the whole western range of hills. This fire does not consume, and no warmth is felt; even though a person be in the middle of it. The jurisdiction extends over thirty-two villages. It was ceded to Russia in 1723, and was restored to Persia in 1735. It was several years under the dominion of a Persian prince, and was taken possession of by the Russians in 1801, by whom it is now retained. Long. 51. 7. E. Lat. 42. 22. N.