I found the Cossack villages on the Amoor were generally laid out with military precision, the streets where the ground permitted being straight as sunbeams, and the houses of equal size.

Usually each house had a small yard or flower garden in its front, but it was not always carefully tended.

Every village has a chief or headman, who assigns each man his location and watches over the general good of his people.

When Cossacks are demanded for government service the headman makes the selection, and all cases of insubordination or dispute are regulated by him.
A Cossack is half soldier and half citizen.

He owes a certain amount of service to the government, and is required to labor for it a given number of days in the year.