THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY, 
399 
as they were too weak for field operations; but they concealed their 
weakness by means of constant reconnaissances made with a view of 
keeping the Turks continually on the alert. 
The Turkish Government had made great exertions since 1865 to 
turn Kars into a powerful fortified camp, whose strength should cor¬ 
respond to its importance as a fortress barring the Alexandropol- 
Erzeroum road, situated on both banks of the Kars Tchai, which here, 
as in the whole of its course through the neighbourhood, breaks its way 
in a deep, rocky, and steep-sided valley through the rocky plateau. The 
town had formerly only the old citadel and the town-enceinte, the first 
of which completely commanded the three stone bridges. The citadel 
is built on a rocky conical hill, which forces the river to bend to the 
west, so that the eastern is the only assailable front. The fortifications 
consist of a high brick wall whose re-entering angles are flanked by 
half-towers; the crest line is 277 metres long. The town-enceinte is 
worthless and partly in ruins. The outworks are constructed on modern 
principles, so far as the want of earth permits. The greater part of the 
works—which are hewn out of the rock—have no ditches, there being no 
earth upon the surface; that for the parapets had to be carted up, and 
on account of the great cost of this, few of the works are provided with 
traverses. It was also impossible to sink wells in the forts. The 
following is the list of detached works :— 
A. Right Bank, or East Front. 
1. Fort Arab, 2133 metres N.N.E. of the citadel, on a spur of the 
Karadagh, commands the lower valley of the river. Lunette without 
ditches or traverses, closed by a defensible barrack; 368 metres crest. 
In advance of the right face, a lunette with 190 metres crest. 
2. Fort Karadagh, on the top of the hill of the same name, 1200 
metres S.E. of No. 1, to command the Zaim and Alexandropol roads. 
Lunette without ditches, with a cavalier 6 metres high on an isolated 
mound. Together, 920 metres crest, 
3. Fort Hafiz Pasha, between the Alexandropol and Yezinkoi roads 
(nearer to the latter), 1730 metres from No. 2, and S. of it. A strong 
square bastioned fort, with a ditch, traverses on the main parapet, and 
a covered way; 960 metres crest. 213 metres from the S.E. Bastion, a 
redan-shaped earthwork, called Ekhali, with a crest of 70 metres. 
4. Fort Khanli, to protect the south front and the Magharadjikh 
road, 2840 metres S.W. of No. 3. Lunette of bastioned trace with 
ravelin, ditch 3*5 metres broad, 1'8 deep, covered way with traverses, 
and two small advanced redoubts. Defensible barrack at the gorge. 
1305 metres crest. 
5. Suvari Lunette—an unimportant work barring the upper valley, 
1545 metres N,W. of No. 4. 
