Large sums are spent in boring operations, and success so often stands off that all available capital is sunk in the ground and swallowed up.

Even with good signs, it is impossible to foresee the results or the extent of production, and there is also an extraordinary irregularity in the outcome of the separate naphtha-bearing plots.

An instance was mentioned to me of a peasant proprietor who had made enough money on which to live sumptuously, but he hungered for more, and engaged in further boring operations.

He was on the verge of losing everything, when oil was suddenly struck, and he made a fortune.

He laboured hard himself, and literally went to sleep a poor working man, and awoke to find his dream of riches realized.
Baku has been immensely improved in every way of late, and now has good streets, hotels, and shops.