MOUNTAIN PANORAMAS FROM THE PAMIRS AND KWEN LUN
M. AUREL STEIN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Thc pliotographic panoramas from the Kwen Lun range south of Khotan, and on 
the Pamirs, of which a selection is here published, date from my journey of 
1900-01 in Chinese Turkestan, made under the orders of his Majesty's Indian 
Government. They were taken with a Bridges-Lee photo -theodolite, primarily 
with a view to supplying photogranimetric materials which would usefully supple- 
ment thc surv'eys by plane-table and theodolite carried on, under my direction and 
with my assistance, by Surveyor Ram Singh, of thc Survey of India Department, 
along the routes followed. Subsequent to thc publication of the maps embodying 
these sur\'cys and of my ' Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan,' in which I have described 
for a wider public the main results of my e.\pedition, geographical friends, who 
had e.\amined the original records of my photogranimetric survey work, repre- 
sented to me the advisability of reproducing a scries of my panoramas, on account 
of the interest they possessed, from a geogra]jhIcal and geological point of view, 
as illustrations of typical features in the orography of those regions. 

It was a source of special gratification to me tliat, with the assistance of a grant 
sanctioned by his Majesty's Secretary for India, the Council of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Socict)' in 1903 undertook thc relatively e.\pensive task of reproducing 
and publishing the series of selected panoramas here presented. The work of 
preparing positives suitable for reproducing, which was commenced by Mr. H. W. 
Simpson, of the Royal Geographical Society's office, towards the close of that 
year, has proved a distinctly difficult one. Among tiic technical reasons for this 
it will suffice to mention two of which 1 have personal knowledge. Owing to the 
tr)*ing conditions under which the photo-theodolite had to be worked, generally 
on great heights and in exposed positions, thc taking of a complete round of 
accurately levelled photographs with that exact but delicate instrument was a 
slow process. Intervening changes in atmospheric conditions and light have thus 
often caused the negatives of the same panorama to vary greatly in intensity and 
photographic value. Thc negatives had suficred further from the fact that, 
owing to the great pressure at which my archajological explorations Iiad to be 
carried on, and owing to my prolonged camping in the desert, ihcir development 
had to be delayed for a long time, in some cases for nearly a year. 

Thc preparation of positives capable of effective reproduction by half-tone 
process from negatives affected by these and other deficiencies must have greatly 
taxed Mr. Simpson's skill, and I appreciate all thc more the patient care and 
attention he has bestowed on thc work. -Though, owing to my absence on thc 
Indian North-West Frontier, I had no opportunity of examining thc finished prints 
from which thc process-blocks have been produced, 1 have convinced myself by 
a comparison of the 'latter with my original photographs tliat no essential feature