117 The Russian Shamilheld by the governor of Khar’kov province, the stunned Shamil re-
treated several paces upon seeing the dresses of the Russian women.
“You will not go to heaven,” he told his hosts after he performed a
quick prayer, as “you have here on earth that paradise which
Muhammad has promised us in the sky.”^46
By mid-September Shamil was in Kursk, where his exposure to the
world of Russia continued. He told the provincial governor, Nikolai
Petrovich Bibikov, that his previous estimation of Stavropol as the
most beautiful and remarkable city he had ever seen now had to be
reserved for Khar’kov and Kursk.^47 There he listened with great in-
terest to stories about the railroad and the telegraph and other “suc-
cesses of our civilization,” as I. Besiadovskii of Kursk said.^48 Shamil
thanked Bibikov for his fine treatment and then, “according to Euro-
pean custom,” performed a “chake-hands [sic]” with his host.^49
Shamil’s trip to the Kursk Theatre was of particular interest to Besia-
dovskii: “Is this not a dream? Is this not amazing? Shamil is in Kursk!
... at the theatre! ... at the Italian opera!” “Una voce poco fa!” rather
than the sounds of Russian artillery met the ears of Shamil.^50 He
enoyed Italian opera scenes from Il trovatore, Il barbiere di Seviglia, and
Columello. During intermission the crowd whispered to one another
in the lobby and boxes:
“Voyez ce grand Chamil!”
“Qu’il est beau! Qu’il est magnifique!”
“Voilà le type d’un héros!”
“D’un brigand!”
“D’un martyr!”
“How he is so sadly silent!”
“How he grandly muses!”
“Quel sublime silence!”Upon leaving the theatre, Shamil informed the crowd that he pre-
ferred the tragic scenes to the comic ones, since in them the “strength
of feeling and energy of passion” were most evident.^51 He moved on,
leaving Kursk to more mundane matters and the Italian opera to
emptier houses in the typically slow summer season.^52
The culmination of this exposure to Western culture and the world
of Russia took place in StPetersburg. The inhabitants of the city were
by this time well prepared for Shamil’s arrival. A poem called “The
Subjugation of the Caucasus,” accompanied by a portrait of the
imam, appeared on the StPetersburg streets, and books such as The
History of the Transcaucasus, Verderevskii’s Prisoner of Shamil, and
Shamil in Paris and Shamil Close Up were prominently displayed in the