Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 695 Across the Ocean ([-])

"This sugarcane is really sweeter than Brazilian sugarcane, and it's not so sweet." Liu Fubo said vaguely, chewing bagasse.

Zhang Jinhua took a peeled sugar cane from him and chewed it in his mouth.Indeed, it is much sweeter than the Maltese sugarcane imported from Brazil, but the sweetness is still not as sweet as the varieties that have been improved many times in later generations.If this kind of sugarcane is introduced to Xinhua Island, it should have a bright future. No matter the climate, precipitation or light, it is very suitable for the growth of this economically valuable tropical crop.The later French navigator Bougainville accidentally discovered this high-yielding, high-sugar sugarcane variety on the island of Tahiti, and then introduced it to Mauritius, and finally spread it to the Caribbean, and became popular throughout the tropics.It can be said that almost all the sugarcane varieties survived in later generations have the blood of Tahitian sugarcane, which shows its value.

"When we return to the voyage, we will also find some more to take away, and then introduce them to Xinhua Island. This will surely make our country's sugar industry climb to a new peak. Brazilian sugar cane, haha, will be beaten to pieces by us in the future " Zhang Jinhua said with a bold smile: "Lemons too, take them back. You can search carefully on the island to see if there are any other good things. I remember there is a kind of vanilla here. Forget it, don't be too greedy , try your best. Anyway, we have found high-yielding and high-sugar sugar cane, and our mission has been successfully completed. What we can harvest next depends on luck, and we cannot force it."

Everyone nodded, and then Liu Fubo spit out the bagasse in his mouth on the ground, pointed at the Tahitian natives and said, "Captain, what should they do? We met them in the wild, and we all restrained ourselves , and exchanged gifts with each other. Their attitude seems to be quite friendly, and they like the glass bottles, magnifying glasses and other gadgets that we handed over, but it’s a pity that they are poor, and they can get some coconuts, sugarcane and so on exchanged with us."

"Hmm..." Zhang Jinhua pondered for a while when he heard the words, and everyone was waiting for him to make a decision. The fate of the natives on Tahiti Island was completely up to him at this moment.Sergeant Brown even quietly opened the cowhide holster around his waist, holding the handle of the flintlock pistol in his hand, and there was a strange atmosphere in the surrounding air.

"Be friendly with them first." Zhang Jinhua seemed not to notice the strangeness of the people around him, and said slowly: "We can't wait here for too long, we will leave and return to Australia in July at the latest, and then continue to explore the route to Chile .After the 'Explorer' leaves, I will leave a group of people stationed on this island. At this time, it is necessary to maintain a good relationship with the natives."

Hearing what Zhang Jinhua said, everyone nodded in agreement, and then talked about raising some of the live animals on the boat (2 cows, 2 pigs, and 6 goats, which have been placed on the shore so far). At the same time, there are some corn, rice, and vegetable seeds on board, which can also be planted in the coastal plains. If you arrive here again in the future, you will have fresh food and vegetables to replenish.

Zhang Jinhua saw that everyone was chattering, and didn't stop him, so he looked at the natives in "extraordinary costumes", and those natives seemed to feel that he was the one talking here, so they immediately opened their mouths. He smirked.Zhang Jinhua looked at them with a smile, and waited until everyone around him had finished speaking, and then said: "Well, in the next few days, you can communicate more with these natives, and make contact with them. There must be a lot of natives on this island. , and most of them are based on the village as the natural unit, and there is no unified political power. Then we will use the natives we have come into contact with as a bond to collect more information about them and maintain a good relationship. When we come next time, There may be more than one boat. After a few boats transport thousands of immigrants and stand firm, the numerical advantage of these natives will be nothing. How should we deal with them at that time? Let's do this!"

Everyone responded with a bang, and soon someone specially assigned to make guesses with those natives.Zhang Jinhua was not interested in communicating more with these natives, but stepped aside to observe the direction of the wind.At this time, the power of the southeast trade wind is getting stronger and stronger, blowing the flags on the masts of the ships. It seems that returning to Australia from Tahiti will be very smooth, with smooth wind and smooth water. There is nothing more pleasant than this something happened.Of course, there may be a headwind when going south from the east coast of Australia, but it doesn't matter, this time is downstream, and there is also steam power to assist navigation, so there is no problem in maintaining a speed of about five knots.

The following days passed in such a monotonous and boring situation. Zhang Jinhua even went fishing in the offshore lagoon for this reason.But he was bored, but that didn't mean the group of people under him were also bored. With the help of some natives, these people went over mountains and mountains to find various plants unique to the island.Of course, there are also some suffocated sailors who use some gadgets on hand as rewards to have some well-known relationships with those scantily clad aboriginal women.

And when the end of June came, a group of sailors who had paddled out to explore elsewhere on the island came back with a lot of clamor.They brought back a few natives, and the leader excitedly handed over a dozen black beads to Zhang Jinhua's hands.

"This is..." Zhang Jinhua looked carefully at the round and shiny object in his hand, and then hesitantly said after a while, "Is this a black pearl?"

"Yes, Captain, this is the black pearl." An expedition member said excitedly, "We have made a fortune, these natives have accumulated a large amount of black pearls in their hands, we can use our 'white pearl' (that is, glass ball) to them, lol, that’s a great deal.”

"Is this the origin of black pearls?" Zhang Jinhua couldn't help talking to himself.

"That's right, Captain, these natives were obtained from the shells of some shellfish molluscs in the sea. That kind of creature is everywhere in the offshore lagoon. Although the chance of a single pearl producing is not high, the advantage is that the base is huge, and so After years of accumulation, it is not surprising that some natives of this island have a lot of black pearls in their hands." The expedition team continued to explain excitedly, "It seems that the environment around here must be very suitable for those shellfish that can produce black pearls. Breeding, captain, this may be a great treasure. We can even adopt the method of artificial breeding proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, artificially implanting nuclear surgery on these shellfish to stimulate them to produce black pearls."

In fact, the explorer was right.Tahiti is the main origin of black pearls in later generations, accounting for more than 95% of global production.The seawater temperature here (24-29°C) is very suitable for the growth and reproduction of the black-lipped oyster. Later generations of Tahitians obtained a large number of oysters through artificial breeding—place seedling traps on the seabed to catch oysters. pearl.These pearls have various shapes such as round, semi-circular, oval, button-shaped and even ring-shaped. The diameter is generally between 8-16 mm, and the color is not all black. various colors.

In the 19th century, this kind of pearl was fished in large quantities by Chileans and Americans, and then exported to East Asia and Europe, earning quite astonishingly huge profits.In Europe, it was originally used as buttons on clothes, while in China, it was used to inlay as part of jewelry. It is called South Sea black pearls, which are very expensive.

Expensive things will naturally attract the extreme covetousness of outsiders, so by the 20s, the resources of black pearls in the entire French Polynesian islands were almost completely exhausted.As a last resort, the local people began to cultivate pearls through artificial culture, that is, by implanting bead nuclei in the body of the black-lipped mother-of-pearl to stimulate the secretion of the nacre layer from the mantle of the shell to form pearls.

At this time, people on the east coast can certainly do the same, and there is no technical obstacle that cannot be solved.As long as you explore and experiment more, you will always find out a set of methods for artificially cultivating black pearls.

"Find a way to trade all the black pearls in the hands of the natives, and everyone can earn some extra money as compensation for this trip." Zhang Jinhua looked at everyone and said cheerfully, "In the future, we will completely occupy this place. Island! We will grow sugar cane, lemons, pineapples, bananas, and vanilla here, and we will also grow black pearls here. This island will definitely become the richest place in the entire East Coast Republic of China in the future. no doubt!"

On July 1648, 7, seeing that it had been delayed for a month in Tahiti, and almost all the things to be found were found, Zhang Jinhua ordered everyone to board the ship and return, preparing to go to Australia to rest.After they arrive in Australia, they will notify Jinshan Port to start sending a group of people and equipment to the island as soon as possible. This island is of great value, whether it is economic value or strategic value (in the southeast trade wind belt, it is the South Pacific circulation route The key link) are very huge, it is a pity to give up.In later generations, for the ownership of this island, several major powers fought for it, and finally the French took control of this crucial South Pacific island.

It was precisely based on this consideration that Zhang Jinhua did not evacuate everyone. He left 16 expedition members and 16 strong sailors on the island, and at the same time left weapons, supplies, livestock and all seeds to the island. Let them wait for a few months in the existing camp with peace of mind. At that time, a ship from Australia will send people to replace them.

After arranging all this, the "Exploration" expedition ship slowly left the lagoon with a large number of preserved sugar cane and lemon plants, and then sailed into the ocean, sailing towards Australia.

(End of this chapter)