Before passing on to the buried cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, it
may be as well to notice a singular phenomenon, supposed by some to be
of volcanic origin, _viz._, the Yanar, or perpetual fire. Captain
Beaufort, of the British navy, among the interesting details of his
survey of Karamania, on the south coast of Asia Minor, describes this
curious phenomenon; and from his account the following particulars are
extracted, as supplementary to and connected with the details of
volcanoes and their effects.
Having perceived during the night a small but steady light among the
hills, he found that this was represented by the inhabitants as a
_yanar_ or _volcanic light_; and on the following morning curiosity led
him to visit the spot. In the inner corner of a ruined building he came
to a wall, so undermined as to leave an aperture of about three feet in
diameter, and shaped like the mouth of an oven. From this aperture the
flame issued, giving out an intense heat, but without producing any
smoke on the wall; and although several small lumps of caked soot were
detached from the neck of the opening, the walls were scarcely
discolored. Trees, brushwood and weeds, grew close around this little
crater; a small stream trickled down the hill in its vicinity; and the
ground did not appear to feel the effect of its heat at more than a few
yards’ distance. No volcanic productions were perceived near to it; but
at a short distance, lower down on the side of the hill, was another
hole or aperture, which had apparently been at some remote period the
vent of a similar flame. It was asserted, however, by the guide, that,
in the memory of the present race of inhabitants, there had been but one
such volcanic opening, and that its size and appearance had been
constantly the same. He added, that it was never accompanied by
earthquakes or noises; and that it did not eject either stones, smoke or
noxious vapors; but that its brilliant and perpetual flame could not be
quenched by any quantity of water. At this flame, he observed, the
shepherds were in the habit of cooking their food. This phenomenon
appeared to Captain Beaufort to have existed for many ages, and he was
persuaded that it is the spot to which Pliny alludes in the following
passage: “Mount Chimera, near Phaselis, emits an unceasing flame, which
burns day and night.” Within a short distance is the great mountain of
Takhtalu, the naked summit of which rises, in an insulated peak,
seventy-eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. In the month of
August a few streaks of snow were discernible on the peak; but many of
the distant mountains of the interior were completely white for nearly a
fourth the way down their sides. It may hence be inferred, that the
elevation of this part of Mount Taurus is not less than ten thousand
feet, which is equal to that of Mount Etna.
Such a striking feature as this stupendous mountain, in a country
inhabited by illiterate and credulous people, can not fail to have been
the subject of numerous tales and traditions. Accordingly, the captain
was informed by the peasants, that there is a perpetual flow of the
purest water from the very apex; and that notwithstanding the snow,
which was still lingering in the chasms, roses blew there all the year
round. He was assured by the agha of Deliktash, that every autumn a
midnight groan is heard to issue from the summit of the mountain, louder
than the report of any cannon, but unaccompanied by fire or smoke. The
agha professed his ignorance of the cause, but on being pressed for his
opinion, gravely replied, that he believed it was an annual summons to
the elect, to make the best of their way to Paradise. However amusing
this theory may have been, it may possibly be true that such explosions
take place. The mountain artillery heard by Lewis and Clarke, among the
Rocky mountains, and similar phenomena which are said to have occurred
in South America, seem to lend some probability to the account. The
natives have also a tradition, that when Moses fled from Egypt, he took
up his abode near this mountain, which was therefore named Moossa-Daghy,
or the mountain of Moses. Between this story, and the Yanar, as it has
been described above, may there not have been some fanciful connection?
The site of this volcanic opening is at an inconsiderable distance from
the mountain; and the flame issuing from the thicket which surrounds it,
may have led to some confused association with the burning bush on Mount
Horeb, of which we have the account in the book of Exodus.