Eliseev, A.V.: Lion Nights. About a Trip to North Africa

Title

L’vinye nochi. Iz puteshestviia po Severnoi Afrike, Sankt-Peterburg 1900

Lion Nights. About a Trip to North Africa

Keywords

Summary

The book includes the hunting notes of Aleksandr Eliseev, which he took after his journey to North Africa. The author shares recollections of his adventures, meetings with Arabs in little villages, descriptions of the African landscape and wildlife. Special attention is paid to lions, as they are the goal of his hunting expedition. In particular, he recounts his visit to the village of Keffr-Zaouiah with an old local man, Isafat, a true expert of the forests and of lion hunting. Eliseev shares his impressions from hunting these animals, and also describes the traditions and customs of the Arab population in Africa. He devotes special attention to the relationship he develops with Isafat, a man deeply connected with nature and possessing profound knowledge of it.

Bio

Aleksandr Eliseev was a Russian doctor, traveller, and writer. Having served as a military doctor in Turkestan, the Baltic region, and Finland, Eliseev explored the northern regions of Russia, Finland, and the Urals. In 1881 he explored the Nile valley. In 1883 Eliseev crossed the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea and travelled along the sea coast to Suakin, Massawa, and Aden. His most important journey to Africa began in 1884 from Tripoli. He travelled deep into the Sahara, crossed the Hamada el-Hamra plateau, but soon had to return to Tripoli. From there Eliseev went to Tunisia and visited the southern cities of Algeria, such as Constantine, Batna, Biskra. He also visited the oases of Ghadames, Touggourt, Ouargla, among others. In 1885 he went back to Algeria and subsequently returned to Russia. In 1893 Eliseev travelled to the Libyan desert, and in 1895 to Ethiopia, collecting anthropological, ethnographic and geographic material. He was a representative of the Palestine Society as physician at the military-medical department. Starting from 1878, he extensively described his travel experiences publishing them in Russian periodicals. For his contributions to geographical and anthropological research in Africa, the Russian Geographical Society awarded Eliseev with a silver medal.

Sources

M. Rait, Russkie ekspeditsii v Efiopii v seredine XIX-nachale XX vv. i ikh etnograficheskie materialy, “Afrikanskii etnograficheskii sbornik”, 1956, 1, p. 220-281;

M. Zabrodskaia, Russkie puteshestvenniki po Afrike, Moskva 1955;

B. Val’skaia, Vklad russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva v izuchenie Afriki, “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1969, 9, p. 5-18;

M. Gornung, I. Oleinikov, Geograficheskoe izuchenie Afriki v Rossii, in Izuchenie Afriki v Rossii (dorevoliutsionnogo perioda), ed. by A. Davidson, G. Nersesov, Moskva 1977, p. 30-71;

M. Zabrodskaia, Puteshestviia A.V. Eliseeva po Sakhare (1881-1893 gg.), “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1987, 25.

M.E.