Daghestani

Daghestani (that is, Highlanders), a term applied collectively to all the peoples of the Eastern Caucasus. The term Lesghi, the Ligyes of Herodotus, is often applied in a general way to these populations, of which the Lesghians proper form one of the chief branches. But these are quite distinct, at least in speech, both from the Andi, Dargo, Dido, Duodez, Ude, and Kubachi, who are usually grouped with them, and from the Chechenzes, who form another great division of the Daghestani peoples, and with whom are more or less closely connected the Ingush, Galgai, Karabulak, Kist, and Tush tribes. Total population (1890) of all the Daghestani aborigines, 708,000. All observers comment on the extraordinary number of apparently fundamentally distinct languages still current among the aborigines, some common to large groups, such as the Avars, Lesghians, and Chechenzes, but others confined to quite small communities, such as the Udes, Kubachi, and Dido, occupying a few isolated villages in the more inaccessible parts of the Eastern Caucasus.