Dersu Uzala

Dersu the Trapper is the title of a book written by a Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev. It was published in 1923. The book tells about his travels in the Ussuri river basin in the Russian Far East.

Dersu was a Nanai hunter who lived in 1850–1908 and acted as a guide for Arsenyev's surveying crew from 1902 to 1907. Dersu saved them from starvation and cold.

Arsenyev portrays him as a great man.

In 1907, Arsenyev invited Dersu to stay at his home in Khabarovsk, because Dersu lost his eyesight and could not longer live in taiga.

In the spring of 1908, Dersu said farewell to Arsenyev and walked back to his home in Primorsky Territory. According to Arsenyev's book, Dersu Uzala was murdered near the villade of Korfovsky and was buried in the unmarked grave in taiga.

The monument to this person was set up at one of crossroads on the way from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok.