Live Wilderness Adventure

Chapter 764

In the time when human beings were not enlightened, the giant trees in the forest grew wildly, towering into the sky.

Until the flash flood broke out, the big tree was knocked down and floated on the water, and the human beings who were caught in the flood could not survive at all.

Only a very lucky few can climb the trees in the water, so as to seek a narrow escape and cross the river.

Gradually, humans understood that giant trees can make themselves float on the water.

After that, humans developed more usages. They learned to use trees to actively cross dangerous rivers, but using primitive trees is still very dangerous. They are slippery and easy to roll. People simply cannot stand on rolling logs for a long time. You may encounter attacks from some dangerous creatures in the river.

So people learned a simpler method: tie several logs with ropes, so that a small floating ground is formed, which will not roll over and is safer.

But such a raft is easy to fall apart, and only skilled people can master a good enough raft-making method.

Until after long-term practice of crossing the river, a clear consciousness emerged: as long as a section of trees is leveled and hollowed out, it can become a sturdy, durable and easy-to-operate carrier—a canoe.

"A canoe makes a boat, that's how the canoe was developed."

As the second big tree fell to the ground, Bi Fang sat on the tree, panting slightly.

Using an ax to cut a giant tree with a diameter of more than half a meter is still exhausting, and it took hours to cut the tree alone.

"It is recorded that people mainly used rafts in Fuxi's era, and boats did not appear until the time of the Yellow Emperor. In other words, there were rafts first and then boats. Of course, there is no way to verify whether this statement is true or not."

"Canoes appeared about seven thousand years ago at the latest. In 2002, a section of canoe wreckage was unearthed at the Kuahu Bridge site in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang. The wreckage was more than five meters long and half a meter wide. Year."

Canoe wrecks are very rare. The wood is buried in the soil, and it is extremely easy to decay and fester under the action of microorganisms.

"The original is a whole piece of masson pine wood, first scorched by fire, and then processed with stone adzes. The whole body of the boat is relatively well preserved, and it is one of the oldest canoes in the world."

[What is a stone adze? 】

"Stone adze is a kind of polished stone tool. It is rectangular and has a single-sided edge. Some stone adzes have a piece of the upper end ground off, which is called 'one-section stone adze'. It can be used for felling and planing soil with a wooden handle. It was a kind of stone adze at that time. A typical tool for making a canoe."

"This thing is one of the most distinctive production tools in the vast area along the eastern coast of China. It has been unearthed in large quantities in many sites including the Hemudu site. It can be used in the manufacture and production of boats, and it has also been found in many places in the world. , has become one of the important physical evidences for exploring the migration of early humans across the ocean."

[Historian Fang, online]

[Another day of learning wasted]

[Although I don’t know what is the use of learning, but I will talk after learning]

[You can brag when you chat with friends in the future (laughs)]

After resting for a while, Bi Fang, who recovered some strength, stood up and looked at the two big trees lying across the ground.

The visual effect of the fallen palm trees is even stronger. These two trees may not only exceed fifteen meters, but even be close to twenty meters!

Bi Fang swung the ax again and chopped off the excess branches.

"The structure of the canoe at the beginning was very simple. Generally, a section of trough-shaped rotten wood was taken and the interior was sorted out a little, or a section of tree trunk was cut and dug into a trough, and then the side branches and branches outside were cut off."

"At that time, the main tools for making canoes were stone knives and stone axes. It was of course very difficult to make a canoe with such crude tools, especially digging grooves on the entire tree trunk, so fire must be used when making a canoe."

After cutting off all the excess branches, Bi Fang dug a hole next to the two trees.

The tree was so big that he couldn't move it by himself, so he had to make it on the spot.

The resort manager did not have any opinion on this, but welcomed it.

"The canoe is not simply to cut a groove with a tool. The wood is hard, and it is difficult for us to grasp our own strength when chopping, so it is very likely that if we accidentally chop a leak, all previous efforts will be wasted. It takes too long to dig a bit."

"And canoes were generally invented in the late Paleolithic period, and did not enter the Iron Age. The tools used are basically stones, and the efficiency of cutting wood with stones is extremely low."

"At that time, the method of making canoes was to apply wet mud on the outside of the whole log, burn the dry wood part in the middle of the log into charcoal, and then chisel it off with stone tools. Layers were chiseled out with stone tools, and finally a canoe was made."

Bi Fang dug two large pits with a shovel in the nearby land, piled branches in one of them, and then lit it with flint and steel to make a campfire stand.

The other one received water, made a puddle, poured soil into it, and mixed it into mud.

He is also going to burn first and then chop.

"Of course, this is a relatively common method, and there is another less common method that is unique to the local Australian Aboriginal people."

"Compared with the one I just mentioned, the Australian Aboriginal method is lighter and more imaginative."

"They will first find a thick tree, use a stone knife to break the bark at the bottom of the tree in a circle, and then break the bark in a circle at the height of the trunk. The length of the up and down distance depends on the length of the canoe they want to make. , and then peel off the whole bark."

"Soak the peeled bark in water for a few days to make the bark fully swell, and then roast the bark in fireworks to soften. Fold one end of the roasted bark in half."

"The baked bark is often very elastic. You need to find two small trees whose trunks grow side by side, and use them to clamp the bark at the folded end."

"In order to prevent the volume of other parts from becoming narrow due to one end being folded in half, you can use a short stick to support it. After a few days, the shape of the clamped bark is fixed, and then drill holes along the edge with a stone knife, and sew the front and rear ends with rattan. Get up, and a canoe is built."

"The soaked bark has a lot of water and is very heavy. It often takes several adults to successfully build a canoe."

"Of course, I can't choose this production method. On the one hand, I only have one person, and it is too laborious to make it. On the other hand, it takes a long time for him. Whether it is removing the bark and soaking it, or fixing the shape, and then sewing, It takes a lot of time and money.”

"If you are not careful and something leaks, all previous efforts will be wasted and the cost will be too high, so I still choose the simplest and most common firing method."

Bi Fang smears mud on palm trees.

Everyone is looking forward to it.