Note 10 — Chapter VII · GORELOVKA AND QUEEN LUKERIA

Gorelovka is the largest village in the district; it contains 150 houses and a population of some 1500 souls. The inhabitants said it was fifty-two years since they came hither from Russia, and were allotted lands. Each house pays fifteen roubles (about thirty shillings) annually to the State for the rent of their lands. Snow lies on the ground for about eight months in the year, and, like the Armenians, they heat their houses with tezek fuel, or cakes of dried manure. I admired their ploughs and spacious waggons; they are their own handiwork. You do not see such ploughs and waggons among their neighbours—Armenians, Tartars and Turks. On the other hand, they have not improved upon the usual threshing implements—the flat beams encrusted with sharp stones. They said they had found this method in use in the country, and that it satisfied their needs. Their markets are Alexandropol and Akhalkalaki. Cereals struggle for existence at this altitude; yet the patches of plough and stubble, spread upon the hillsides, climb higher every year.10 It is pleasant to watch the waggons, loaded with hay, winding homewards over the springy turf.