The race to discover and exploit new sources of oil was perhaps the last gasp of the Victorian colonial adventure story. Small teams of geologists and explorers trekked across desert wastelands, dense jungles, and other difficult terrain, cutting deals with tribal chiefs, kings, and tsars. One explorer in what is now Iran realized that the best places to look for oil were in locations where locals worshiped fire, as a spiritually significant eternal flame might indicate a geologically significant deposit of natural gas. 261
