FORT PAMIR 
191 
long earthen structure, covered in with beams, and 
containing barracks, kitchens, hospital, bath-rooms, work- 
shops, and so forth. The commissariat stores and 
ammunition are kept in yurts. There is also a little 
meteorological station, where observations are taken 
three times every day. In the corners of the longer 
side which faces the north are two platforms, each 
furnished with a battery of Maxim-Nordenfeldt machine- 
guns. The fort occupies a commanding position on a 
terrace of conglomerate, which overlooks, but at some 
distance away, the right or northern bank of the Murghab. 
Between the two extends a marsh or morass, out of which 
gush a great number of springs of clear water. Fort 
Pamir is a striking testimonial and proof of the energy 
and spirit of the officers who built it. For it w'as any- 
thing but an easy task to erect such a structure at that 
high altitude and at such an immense distance from the 
resources of civilization. Every inch of timber and every 
ounce of other building material had to be transported 
on horses’ backs all the way from Osh in Fergana, pretty 
nearly by the route I have described. The months in 
which the work was done were unusually stormy ; furious 
hurricanes of blinding snow, mingled with fine sand, being 
of frequent occurrence. Part of the time both officers and 
men dwelt in Kirghiz yurts, which were again and again 
blown over by the wind. 
Within the last few years a new route has been opened 
to Kashgar, and the merchants of that town now resort 
to the southern Pamirs, where they traffic with the Kirghiz, 
bartering the wares they bring with them for sheep. 
They then drive the sheep down to the market-towns 
of Fergana, where they make a good price of them ; 
and so return home to Kashgar by way of the passes 
of Terek-davan and Talldik, with a substantial profit in 
their pockets. 
The commandant of Fort Pamir, Captain V. N. Saitseff, 
was a settler of long standing in Turkestan. As aide-de- 
camp to General Skobeleff he took part in the campaign 
against Khiva in 1873, and in that against Kokand in 
