The wealthiest of those in Elbashï, who lived by farming alone -had considerable incomes. If my guess for global cash income is correct, then one purely agricultural household of six people had a total income in 1952 of about T.L.6,000 (£750, or $2,100), after having provided directly for much of their household and farming needs in kind. Another household head, with seven in his household, gave me an estimate of about T.L.3,000 cash income. 1951 and 1952 were good years, and of the twenty-six households assessed in the top class for village contributions (p. 53), quite a number must have had incomes comparable with these.
Even in Sakaltutan, the wealthiest household (Table 6, No. I) would on a rough estimate have in a good year enjoyed an income not far less, about T.L.2,500, but this with a total population of thirteen, including two middle-aged heads of growIng families. Another villager who had enough land claimed that in a good year, on the side of the village on which more than half his land lay, he would make T.L:3,000, though he was immediately contradicted. In answer to direct questions several people in Sakaltutan said that in a normal year, an average household would make between T.L.500 and T.L. 1,000, and this seems to be about right for the majority of ordinary middling households.
We may compare these figures with the earnings of skilled craftsmen. The most successful and regular migrants made somewhere about T.L.2,000 a year. On the other hand, finding work is chancy, many did not stay the full nine months, and all admitted spending on frivolities in town. Perhaps T.L.600 to 900 for the actual annual contribution to the household budget would be right in most cases.
Where personal incomes of this order came into a farming household they brought reasonable comfort. One household