74 Orientalism and EmpireRussian narod, possessed the necessary attributes to prosper and
progress. Early Russian writers of ethnography within the Caucasus
Army attempted to convince themselves and their superiors that the
identities of the mountaineer narody were fairly clear. Although he
was unable to determine the origins of the word “Cherkes” or the his-
tory of the various tribes of the northwest Caucasus, Lieutenant Stamm
assured the General Staff that the many Adygei tribes in fact consti-
tuted a single people.^100 They possessed a single physiognomy and
physique, and spoke a similar language.^101 A North Caucasus popu-
lated by narody, Stamm believed, was a more comforting prospect than
the confusing situation that the region typically presented to the
Russians. Russian military commanders, for example, like American
officials in relation to Native tribal organizations, were often surprised
at an attack from an Adygei tribe just days after the negotiation of a
ceasefire, only to discover that the treaty was not honoured by nearby
mountaineers who belonged to a different tribe.^102 In an 1843 discus-
sion of muridizm in the northeast Caucasus, a military official named
Neverovskii despaired of Russian failures to establish peace in the re-
gion and stop the spread of Muslim “fanaticism.” He described how
Sufi leaders told the populace that Russian cannons and bayonets
could not harm the faithful, and that death in battle against infidel rule
was for the Muslim a great honour. Neverovskii remained optimistic,
however, and foresaw a different kind of secular unity in the future.
Religion and the experience of war had merged the diverse tribes of
Chechnia and Dagestan into “one people” (narod), he said.^103 Early eth-
nographers in the military attempted to offer coherent pictures of nar-
ody rather than to emphasize tribal distinctiveness.
Missionaries in the Restoration Society shared their interests.
Teaching and evangelizing meant participation in imperial educated
society, which included the adoption of the traditional modes of writ-
ing about the frontier. Ossetian teacher Nikolai Khatagov from the
Sadonsk school entitled one of his yearly reports to the Restoration
Society in Tbilisi “Travels in the Dargav Valley.”^104 Amateur ethnog-
raphy was the most common format, and teachers routinely included
sections in their reports on “local customs.”^105 Ossetian Boris Khetau-
rov called his 1872 report “An Ethnographic Portrayal of the Ossetian
People.”^106 O. Iosseliani’s description of the funeral, recounted in
chapter 1, was part of his report for 1872. There was nothing unusual
about such a report, except perhaps its quality and liveliness. Some
teachers were too impressed with themselves to communicate any-
thing of interest. The Georgian teacher in Abhazia previously noted
for his condenscension and snobbery entitled his report for 18 72
“Notes of a Young Man.”^107