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Chapter 210 The Dilemma of the Riverside Tribe

Having said that, the witch Sumire was not as generous as the great prophet on the grassland after all, and everyone in the sky clan did not enjoy the treatment of food and shelter.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of food in the summer forest, and they can support themselves.

In terms of living, the number of empty nests in the riverside tribe is limited. The host does not trust the guests and is unwilling to give up his house to the guests. The guests also cannot trust the host and does not want to live too scattered.

In the end, the witch arranged the guests in the lower reaches of the river and set aside a forest area for their use.

Unlike the prairie people, the riverside people's camp has no fixed boundaries, or even a fixed camp. Population growth, resource reduction, and environmental changes... will all have a huge impact on their lives.

According to the eels, their ancestors used to live in the lower reaches of the river, and later, their homes were swallowed by a flood, and they migrated here.

Now, they are facing another test: the rapid growth of the population.

Rapid population growth is not a recent thing. The population limit of a tribe is closely related to the productivity they have. Long, long ago, when a clever riverside man invented the fishing net, the population limit of the riverside tribe was eliminated. broken.

Things are often as simple as that. A smart brain and the invention of a new tool are enough to push the entire group forward.

Before the appearance of fishing nets, the fishing methods of the riverside people were still in the primitive stage, which can be summed up as "hitting, thrusting, scratching, pinching".

"Strike" refers to wounding or killing fish in shallow water with wooden sticks, stones and other tools; "Hai" is mostly used to catch shellfish and snails that live in the sand.

If the efficiency of these primitive fishing methods is regarded as 1, it is not an exaggeration to say that the efficiency of fishing nets is 100.

The riverside tribe still has the story of the first ancestor who cast a net to catch fish. Today, after several improvements and promotions, the fishing net has already become a must-have for every fisherman. Man's compulsory course.

The rice field eel holds the hand rope, twists its waist, and throws a fishing net woven with flax or ramie with extremely skillful skills. The fishing net is opened in a circle, and the net pendant made of river pebbles drags the fishing net downward. sink.

The forest area assigned to them was very close to the eel's lair, and this young man was very good at coming. Except for Hong Yuan and others, he was the only one who volunteered to help the guests set up a temporary camp.

Despite the language barrier, he quickly bonded with guests with his snappy body language and social terrorist personality.

A few minutes later, guessing that the fishing net had sunk to the bottom of the river, the eel pulled the handle rope, pulled up the net bag, closed the opening of the fishing net inward, and caught all the fish covered in it.

All the landlubbers of the Sky Clan were stunned to see the eel throwing a woven fabric full of holes into the river, and after a while, one or two fish were caught.

This is too easy!
The eel threw the caught fish into the fish basket, and the whole process was relaxed and freehand.

The fish basket is similar to ours... Xiao Xiao thought to himself.

Zhang and Lin paid more attention to the fishing net itself.

The weaving technique of the fishing net is excellent, the mesh size is uniform, and the diameter is basically about [-] to [-] centimeters. It is difficult for fish weighing more than half a catty to escape into the net, and there are stone net pendants of various shapes hanging on the end.

Lin Yu squatted down to observe these stone net pendants.

Stone net pendants are not a rare thing in modern archaeology. More than 1000 pieces have been dug out from the sand dune ruins in coastal areas alone. However, the feeling on paper is completely different from that on the spot. There seemed to be a different kind of magic in his hands.

As she knew, these stone net pendants are mostly used through notches, grooves or perforations that can be tied. The largest number is the girdle type stone net pendants. River pebbles, notched in the waist on one or both sides, don't need to be fancy, just to be able to tie a string.

Seeing that the sky witch and the witch doctor were interested in their fishing gear, the rice field eel was very happy, and happily described the process of making the fishing net: "Don't look at the ease of fishing with a fishing net, but it is not easy to make it! I have been making these stones all cold Net pendant, it takes even longer to weave this fishing net..."

Zhang Tian listened quietly without saying a word.

He knew how to weave fishing nets. When he first came across, the main reason why he didn't choose to make fishing nets but made fishing rods was because it was too time-consuming to make and couldn't solve the urgent need.

On the other hand, it was still cold at that time, and high-quality hemp fibers suitable for making fishing nets such as ramie and flax only grew in spring and summer, and the bark fibers were too thick and hard to be suitable.

The riverside tribes have lived by the river for a long time, relying on water for food, sitting on a unique natural environment and sufficient resources, and it will be a matter of time before they develop advanced fishing and hunting techniques.

In Zhang Tian's eyes, their fishing nets still have a lot of room for improvement. The treatment of hemp fiber raw materials is too rough, and the fishing nets are not soft enough, which greatly limits the size of the fishing nets and the water cutting speed, which in turn affects to fishing efficiency.

But in the eyes of Hutou and other hunters, this thing is too awesome!Let them open their eyes!

They naturally compared the fishing net with the fishing rod, which is also a fishing tool, and came to the same conclusion: the fishing net is better than the fishing rod!

This made the fishermen headed by Xiao feel very unhappy.

Xiao had to stand up and justify a few words: "Don't you think this is boring? I would rather stand by the river and fish for a day, it makes me happy."

His defense seemed weak and pale.

Xiao also had to admit that fishing with nets was boring but useful, and for the vast majority of people, usefulness was enough. As for fun, it was something that would only be considered after they were full and warm.

After introducing his beloved fishing gear enthusiastically, Huang eel sighed and said with emotion: "A long time ago, when our ancestors first invented fishing nets, there were at least a dozen fish in one net. Now...you may not be able to catch one even if you cast the net several times."

He adjusted the fishing net and lightly kicked the fishing basket beside him.

"There are only so many fish in the river, but more and more people are fishing. Naturally, everyone can catch less and less fish. I see, it won't be long before some people will be relocated..."

Zhang Tian understood what he meant.

When fishing nets first came out, they were bound to be invincible against the unbeaten and stupid creatures in this river, and he could imagine the scene of a good harvest like a pie falling from the sky.

Sufficient food brings population explosion. As more people fish, and the fish gradually learn to be clever, finally at a certain point in time, the daily fish catch cannot meet such a huge demand.So some of them chose to leave and live in other waters.

Originally, the Riverside Tribe only consisted of the Mother River Tribe, and both the Sister River Tribe and the Sister River Tribe moved out during this period.

However, the Sister River Tribe and the Sister River Tribe are already overcrowded, and there are no other waters nearby, so where should they move afterward?
As an experienced fisherman, Huang Eel really feels that the catch of fish is declining year by year.

Primitives did not understand family planning and lacked effective contraceptive methods. On the contrary, witches always encouraged everyone to have children and regarded mothers with many children as heroes, which led to rapid population growth in the tribe.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help feeling worried.

"The witch asked us to make the mesh as small as possible when weaving the fishing net. In this way, some small fish can't escape from the mesh, which can increase the harvest. But I don't think it's a good idea."

"It's really not a good idea." Zhang Tian said, "This will only make the fish you catch smaller and smaller, and it will not solve the problem fundamentally."

The eel showed a little surprise, thinking that the sky maiden had never caught fish, how could she make such a judgment?

Then he thought that he could get the guidance of the sky, which must be the sky told him, and he was relieved.

"I think so too." Eel said, "The wizard also thinks it's wrong. He asked the hunters to expand the hunting range, increase the source of food, and make up for the lack of fish. But recently, the wild beasts in the forest have been extremely ferocious. Hunting has become more and more dangerous and difficult."

The rain praying wizard who hasn't shown up yet is pretty reliable, at least he knows how to open source... Zhang Tian thought to himself.

However, even if the beasts in the forest are not mad, this method still cannot fundamentally solve the problem.

Everyone in the Swamp Eel and the Riverside Tribes got the essence of the problem wrong. It wasn't that the fish catch had decreased, but that they had once again reached the upper limit of their population, or even exceeded it.

There are only two ways to fundamentally solve this problem.

Either it is a good idea to control the population from now on, and it is actually a good idea to relocate some people.

Or carry out another technological innovation like the invention of fishing nets before, but this time, no matter how superior the tool is, it will not work. If you want to continue to develop, you can only change from a resource predator to a producer.

The right way in the world is farming.

The eel kindly reminded: "You better be careful when hunting. I heard from hunters and rock castle people that a group of extremely cunning wolves suddenly appeared in the forest, and they only picked out those who are alone."

Zhang Tian raised his eyebrows: "So the beasts that attacked the people of Rock Castle were wolves?"

"No, wolves are just one of them. The most terrifying one is the elephant herd. There is also a kind of black and white bear, which is also very powerful. I heard that most of these bears live in the bamboo forest near the rock castle tribe. The rock castle people call it Black and white bear, I have never seen..."

"Black and white bear……"

Lin Yu's eyes lit up after listening to Zhang Tian's translation.

Zhang Tian asked: "Does the black and white bear have a white face and black around the ears and eyes?"

"I don't know..." Eel said. "Ask the people of Rock Castle. They are the only ones who have seen this kind of bear. Have you seen black and white bears before? Are there such bears in the far north?"

This is a reasonable guess. If you hadn't seen a black and white bear with your own eyes, how could you describe it in such a specific way?
"Hmm... not in the far north. I have seen this kind of bear in my dream. I think this must be the guidance of the sky. The sky has predicted such a day long ago."

Zhang Tian originally wanted to follow the other party's words and nod in agreement, but changed his mind when the words came to his lips, and decided to take the opportunity to fool around.

He said seriously: "The guidance of the sky is usually presented in the form of dreams. As long as you look up at the sky, everyone has the opportunity to get the guidance of the sky."

"I used to be fascinated by the sky, especially the sky at night. It's so beautiful. But that was when I was a child."

Huang eel suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly asked: "Speaking of which, I often dreamed when I was a child. Could it be that at that time, I had actually been guided by the sky?"

Zhang Tian smiled approvingly, he likes this kind of "little clever ghost" who knows how to make up his own brain.

"Very likely. If you often look up at the sky at night, then you may be getting guidance from your ancestors."

"The guidance of the ancestors?"

"The night sky is beautiful because of the twinkling stars. Do you know why there are countless stars in the sky?"

Eel shook his head blankly.

Zhang Tian said in a very serious tone: "Because it was transformed by our ancestors. Every clansman who leaves us will become a star in the sky, watching us forever, and watching us when danger is approaching. Give us guidance. If you have guidance, explain..."

The sky maiden didn't finish speaking, but the keen eel already understood what he meant, and let out an exclamation of "ah".

Even though it was the first time he had heard it, he believed it almost automatically.

Because obviously, the danger that the sky maiden said has surfaced!Whether it is the reduction of fish catch or the wild beasts in the forest, it is a sign of the imminent danger!

Thinking that he may have missed the important guidance from his ancestors, Huang Eel couldn't help but beat his chest and felt very annoyed.

Zhang Tian immediately said: "Fortunately, it's not too late. The sky is there all the time. Clouds can block our sight, but they can't stop our urge to look up at the sky. Do you still have such an urge now?" ? Can you still look up at the sky with no distractions and sincerity like you did when you were a child?"

The ricefield eel raised his expression and nodded vigorously.

"very good."

Zhang Tian praised, and then changed the topic: "However, not everyone can be guided by the sky. In order to ensure that some people are guided, it is best to let more people look up to the sky."

"I understand!" the eel said eagerly, "I'll tell my people right now!"

As soon as the voice fell, he hurriedly ran towards the camp.

Zhang Tian looked at the back of the eel leaving in a hurry. He knew that the eel, a prehistoric courtesan, was familiar with most people in the riverside tribe.

Thinking of Jay's idiot, he couldn't make him understand that seeing the sky and looking up at the sky don't conflict with him, and he is still a smart guy, so much more foolish...

(End of this chapter)