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TO ARPA-CHAI AND LENINAKAN 159
was heavier, there was said to be a fair amount of green grass.
Would it not, then, be more reasonable to move up there with
all the cattle, instead of making the cows go such a long way
up to the mountains and back, and lose their milk ? But the
difficulty was that there was no water up there—neither
streams nor springs—and they would still have to come down
to the expensive water-pipe to get the water that they could
not do without. If only another water supply could be got
it would open up new possibilities.
A good milch cow, giving from 14 to 16 quarts of milk a
day, cost several hundred roubles, while an ordinary cow,
giving from 2-| to 4 quarts a day, cost 100 or 120 roubles. A
milkmaid was paid 20 roubles a month, and a herdsman
30 roubles without food.
They made gruyére and another excellent cheese known
as Alagoz cheese. The price of cheese was 35 kopecks the
Russian pound,and of butter 75 kopecks, i.e. about 87 kopecks
and 1-83 roubles respectively per kilogram (2*205 lb.).
The Russian had once been a rich peasant in the Don
district, worth something like a million gold roubles. But
he had been robbed of everything, and had now tåken on this
job. He did not think the Armenians knew how to make
the most of a farm. In his opinion much could be done with
the plains and mountain slopes. They were now going to
strike out a fresh line by breeding pigs on their farm.
Two pretty girls came walking along the railway-line.
They had typical narrow Armenian faces, with slightly hooked
noses. As they walked, they were spinning cotton with a
single hand-spindle, holding it in one hand while they spun
the yarn with the other. This seems to be the usual way of
spinning in Armenia ; I never once saw a spinning-wheel
there. It was quite a common sight to see the peasant
women spinning busily with their hand-spindles as they walked
along the country roads. Several children were running about
near the station, and one or two of them were very good
looking. They looked bright and roguish, quite unconscious
of the cares of life.
On the plain north of the station were several square stone
cottages with flat roofs, belonging to some of the herdsmen.
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