CHAPTER XV. 
FORT PAMIR 
F rom this brief g'eographical summary I pass to the 
little Russian outpost of Fort Pamir, and a brief 
account of the very pleasant time I spent there between 
19th March and 7th April 1894. 
Port Pamir, situated on the right bank of the Murghab, 
at an altitude of 11,800 feet above sea-level, was built 
as a check uj3on Chinese and Afghan aggressions upon 
the territories of the former Khans of Kokand. Althoug-h 
the Russians conquered the khanate in 1875 1876, 
for some time they bestowed but little thought upon 
the region of the Pamirs. It was only thinly populated 
and very difficult of access, and possessed nothing to 
invite attention. General Skobeleff, for as far-sighted as 
he was, never seems to have given it a thought. But 
when the neighbouring powers began to stretch out their 
hands towards it, Russia awoke to the necessity for 
energetic action. Colonel Yonnoff’s famous expedition 
was the first result of the change of policy on the 
part of the St. Petersburg authorities. It was an ex- 
pedition which opened up political cpestions of a grave 
and delicate character ; which however were satisfactorily 
terminated by the labours of the Anglo-Russian Boundary 
Commission in the summer of 1895. 
As regards Fort Pamir, I may mention that it was 
built by the men of the fourth battalion of the Russian 
army of Turkestan in the year 1893, between the 
2nd July (O.S.) and the 30th October. The outer 
wall, which forms an oblong, was constructed of sods 
and bags of sand, and encloses a fair-sized courtyard, 
around which are ranged the officers’ quarters, and a 
188 
