The low sound of drums echoed in the wilderness by the sea, accompanied by the joyful singing of the crowd. The bonfire was burning, reflecting seemingly identical smiles on the faces of both parties.
Chihuaco, the old militiaman, had a smile on his face. He looked at Chief Callan's expression carefully and asked aloud.
"Hello, friend! Wow!... Where is that island with many seabirds?"
"Ah ha ha!"
Chief Kallan smiled warmly, but did not answer directly. He looked at the bronze spears of the Prepecha warriors and asked with interest.
"Friends, your spears seem different from ours... Can I take a look?"
Chihuaco's expression froze, and after a few breaths, he nodded with a smile.
"Good friend!"
After speaking, he shouted a few words to Puap. The gray earth warrior looked alert, holding the bronze dagger at his waist with one hand, and handed over a bronze spear with the other hand.
Chief Kallan took the bronze spear and looked at the gray warrior's bronze dagger nonchalantly. Then, he carefully observed the sharp edge of the bronze spearhead, and then slashed it with the stone knife at his waist. His expression immediately changed. He looked surprised and spoke eagerly.
"Friend, what is this spearhead made of? It's so fast and tough!"
"...This is made of a special kind of stone. My friend, tell me the location of the island. This spear is for you!"
Chihuaco took a step closer and tentatively extended his arm.
Chief Karan subconsciously wanted to dodge, but immediately held back. He also stretched out his arms, touched each other with the old militiaman, and held each other's shoulders.
"Ahaha! My friend, I will tell you everything I know about the flames of my ancestors! But I have a request, and that is to trade such fast and tough weapons with the Lake Tribe!"
"Huh? Trading weapons?"
Chihuaco was a little surprised when he heard this. He looked at Chief Karan's expression again and found no obvious murderous intent.
"This is not impossible. It's just that, friends, what do you have that you can trade?"
Chief Callan's eyes flickered and he thought for a moment. The tribe had corn, beans, fish, pottery, cotton cloth and salt, but the quantities were not sufficient. The only things that can be traded with the southern tribes are a few rich stones in the mountains. I heard that the southern tribes valued these useless things... He gave a few instructions in a deep voice, and a few personal guards left in a hurry and returned to the neighboring tribes.
"Friends, please be as patient as the rocks on the eastern mountaintops. The warriors return to their tribes and will be back soon."
Chihuaco became increasingly wary when he saw someone leaving. He lowered his voice and spoke in Prepecha dialect.
"Old Pu, go and greet the warriors and ask them to make preparations just in case. If a large number of warriors from the Yorem tribe arrive..."
Puap frowned and nodded slightly. He disappeared for a moment, and when he came back, he brought several of the most skilled warriors with him, vaguely surrounding Chief Kallan in the center.
Chief Kallan seemed unaware. He still smiled warmly and spoke.
"Friends, in fact, our area has luxuriant water plants, many trees, and there are always a lot of seabirds. Fishermen are fishing nearby, and the small islands are full of beautiful birds. But when it comes to the island with the most seabirds... It’s the big turtle island in the northwest sea!”
"The big turtle island in the northwest? How far is it?"
Chihuaco perked up and asked.
"Go out to sea from here and follow the coast all the way to the northwest, passing by the yoeme tribe of the Yaqui people, then the Guaymas tribe, and continue on until you encounter a aggressive tribe. The Seri people (seri). The big island in the sea is on the land of the Seri people, and their fishermen are also there."
Chief Kallan shook his head, and the deer head he was wearing also shook.
"The fishermen of the tribe have to row boats for more than ten days and dock several times in Yaqui villages to get there. But your boats are big and fast, so it may not take that long... The legend of Turtle Island is that it was transformed by a giant turtle. , inhabited by countless flocks of birds. The Sri people occupy the large island and the nearby water, and do not allow fishing boats from other tribes to pass."
"Hmm... Yaqi people? Sri people? Friend, can you tell me about their situation?"
"The Yaqui are our Mayo brothers. We worship the fire of our ancestors, grow the same corn, speak the same language, and bleed the same blood. As for the Sri..."
Speaking of the Sri people, Chief Kallan's expression turned slightly cold.
"What they said is completely different from the surrounding tribes. They have no blood from us! Their ancestors came from the northern desert and had an unclear relationship with the aggressive desert people. They hunted wild beasts and seabirds and went out to sea to fight. Fish often migrate to camps. They will also compete with various tribes to snatch prey and fish catches, and even harass the villages of various tribes... Friends, we need your sharp weapons to drive away these wandering tribes!"
"Okay, okay!...Friend..."
Chihuaco responded gently, thoughts flashing in his mind. The fleet arrived at the large island in the northwest. Going to the land of the Sri people might not be smooth sailing... He thought for a while and asked with a smile.
“Besides the big islands with sea turtles in the northwest, what else is there in the sea, islands with lots of seabirds?”
"Um..."
Chief Callan hesitated for a moment. This question is actually not a secret. If the tribe in the lake continues to go northwest, the Yome tribe and the Guayima tribe along the way will know the answer.
"Friends, due west of us, you only need to paddle for two days to encounter a long and narrow peninsula. The peninsula stretches all the way, very long, long... On the peninsula, there are many, many, many birds. There are also many, many small islands nearby... They are relatively dry and cannot support many people, and there are no large tribes. The central part of the peninsula is the land of the Cochimi people (í), and there is a small tribe that is relatively friendly. "
"Within two hundred miles to the west, there is a long, long peninsula. It is relatively dry, with many seabirds and many small islands... Cochimi people?"
Chihuaco lowered his head slightly, sorting out the precious information from Chief Callan. He was a little grateful for the other person's honesty, with a smile on his old face, looking into the other person's eyes, and nodding repeatedly.
"Good friend! Good friend!"
"Yeah. Friends, we are good friends!"
Chief Callan smiled, took the wooden bell, touched Chihuaco's bell, and stopped talking. The two laughed and remained silent until a dozen tribal warriors hurried to the chief's side carrying rattan baskets on their backs, and the atmosphere in the field changed again.
Puap quietly clenched his dagger, squinted his eyes, counted the number of people coming, and then slowly let go.
Chief Callan's expression remained unchanged. He thought for a moment, stretched out his hand, took the heaviest rattan basket, and dumped it directly on the ground. In an instant, the shining dark golden light came into everyone's eyes! Puap's expression suddenly changed, greed flashing in his eyes.
Piles of crudely refined gold ore were scattered at everyone's feet, some with the dark color of raw ore, like pieces of golden pebbles. And among the gold nuggets, there are more tiny gold particles, scattered like corn kernels, submerged in the grass and soil.
The gold and stones were scattered, but Chief Kallan didn't care. He just paid attention to the expressions of the messengers in the lake. Seeing the joy on everyone's faces, he felt confident and confident.
There are many of these golden stones in the nearby mountains, and they are also found in the creeks in the mountains. These gold stones are not only found on the land of the Mayo people, but also on the land of the Yaqui people, the land of the Sri people, and even the Opata people in the northeastern mountains! There are these gold stones on the land of the surrounding ministries, and they have no trading value. In fact, the entire coastal Sonora region is filled with mineral deposits, large and small. In the future, Mexico will be the largest producer of gold and copper mines, with a quarter of the gold production and more than half of the copper production!
"Huh? This..."
Seeing the dazzling gold nugget, the old militiaman's expression suddenly froze. After a while, he nodded with difficulty.
"Friend, good friend! This business is great!"
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