California's west coast stretches to the north, while rugged mountains stretch to the east. Most of the time, the coast is lined with steep cliffs, jagged rocks, and towering forests.
For the indigenous people who settled here, this was a fertile land that was difficult to cultivate. Without suitable crops, fields have low yields; without metal tools, forests are difficult to clear. California's Mediterranean climate means warm summers with few rains and cold winters full of storms. Whether it is farming in the summer or fishing and hunting in the winter, it has become very difficult. Under such difficult conditions, the average life span of most tribes is around twenty years old, and the inheritance of knowledge is often interrupted.
Therefore, even though there are towering mountains that block the cold wave that destroys everything in the north, the number of California's indigenous people is still not comparable to that of the tropical tribes in the south. In this era, this fertile land, which in later generations had a population of 40 million people, could only be counted as hundreds of thousands of Indian tribes at most. In the entire North American continent, this kind of tribal density has actually far exceeded that in the central and eastern parts of the continent, the places of death that are forced to face the cold wave!
To put it simply, the cold and fertile North America was indeed a paradise in the industrial age and a hell in the agricultural age.
The exploration fleet only stayed at the Salinan Oaks for one day. Zuvarro, armed with an interpreter and a few copper axes, exchanged "fairly" a lot of acorn cakes, sea fish and berries. Then, he led the fleet to continue northward, leaving the vigilant Salinan people behind, leaving only a group of tribal hunters who marveled at the sharpness and tenacity of the copper axe.
After passing the Salinan coast, it is above 35 degrees north latitude. This is already the place where His Majesty predicted that the land of Golden Bay may appear at any time. The further north the fleet goes, the more it feels the temperature continues to drop. Fortunately, after passing a certain coast, the southward ocean current that was originally going against it suddenly disappeared. Then, a sudden northward ocean current took the entire fleet and sailed northward quickly. And with this ocean current that doesn't stop day and night, the speed of the fleet has more than doubled!
Two days later, the cliffs along the coast suddenly dropped, turning into rolling hills, and then into flat forest fields. And a vast bay suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
"Ah! Huge bays, flat land, and many rivers flowing into the sea..."
Exploration leader Zuvalo looked at the east coast and saw several rivers flowing into the coast, as well as the flat fields beside the rivers and the blooming torch flowers. Those tall flowers have long spikes standing upright, swaying like torches, and like colorful corns. The colors of those flowers are bright red, yellow and orange, just like Zuvalo's excited mood at the moment. He danced excitedly, took out a few pieces of water chestnuts exchanged from the oak tree, and chewed them in his mouth for the first time.
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"Well, it's delicious! So beautiful! ...The bay where flowers bloom by the river...I must give this place a resounding name!"
Mickey, the knowledgeable man next to him, suppressed the excitement in his heart and remained calm. He stretched out his finger, pointed to the cultivated farmland at the mouth of the river, and the large looming dome huts, and said in a deep voice.
"Zuaro, this bay has been occupied by a tribe! Looking at the size of these huts and farmland, I'm afraid it will be a large tribe. The larger the tribe in the north, the more knowledge they will pass on, and they will have more knowledge about the distant lands. The better we understand the situation... Let’s dock first and ask them about it!”
The tribes on the shore were the Costanoans, a later name. In this era, they called themselves "residents of the seaside" and the tribes of the seaside. Occupying this fertile bay is a powerful coastal tribe, the Kono Tribe.
The large Kono tribe has a population of about two to three thousand people, with five to six hundred tribal warriors, as well as tribal priests who pass on beliefs and myths. This kind of tribe can be considered powerful in the entire Bay Area!
The Konobe totem pole is inserted in the bay, with the sky and sea, the god of heaven and the god of the sea engraved on it. Seeing this familiar painting, Kumeya's translator Lu Chong became excited. And when he talked with the local tribal elders, he was surprised and pleasantly surprised to find that the languages of the two sides actually had many similarities, and it was not difficult to communicate.
Maybe it's because they can communicate, or maybe the Kono tribe is strong enough, and the seal chief of the Kono tribe is quite friendly to the arrival of the fleet. He held a small dinner to entertain several leaders of the fleet, and happily accepted the small bag of "gems" presented by Zuvallo.
Seeing the other party's happy expression, exploration captain Zuvalo also breathed a sigh of relief. When he gave the Salinan tribe elders the gems in the lake before, they almost didn't care and just stared at his axe. He also thought that the tribes further north were no longer interested in the bright lake gemstones, so the kingdom would be missing an important trade product.
But now it seems that it is just that the oak tree of the Salinan people is too small. They pay more attention to practical survival tools and put down the pursuit of "luxury goods". As long as the tribes in the north are larger and no longer worry about survival, bright and pure gems can still be used as trading goods in exchange for a large amount of food supplies.
"Praise the Lord God! The food of the seaside tribes is so delicious!"
Mikey the Knowledgeable was sitting cross-legged in the chief's domed longhouse, eating the food in front of the campfire and exclaiming in admiration.
Tonight's dinner was very sumptuous, including dried seal meat, grilled rabbit meat, stewed salmon, grilled juicy lobster, and strange grilled insects. These meats are all specialties of the California coast, especially fur seals and salmon, and they are easy to catch. As for vegetables and grains, it's pumpkin puree, kidney beans, acorn cake, and a handful of corn tortillas.
"Being able to catch enough fish, Nakono's boat-making technology and fishing ability are both good. And judging from the hunting situation, the hunting bow is also okay... Well, there are not many pumpkins and kidney beans, and there are more tortillas. Few. Then their agricultural technology is still the same as other tribes in the North, which are relatively primitive..."
Mikey the Knowledgeable was thinking in his mind as he ate. He looked at the items in the chief's longhouse, and indeed saw large hunting bows, flint spears, digging sticks for farming, stone axes for logging, fish cages woven from vines... and the most obvious, painted inscriptions of gods and gods. Poseidon's plank.
"Hmm... It is a large tribe with polytheistic beliefs and is relatively mature. I don't know if there is a chance to persuade the chief sea dog to convert to the main god..."
While Mickey was thinking, Zuvalo next to him suddenly became excited. He widened his eyes, grabbed Chief Sea Dog's arm, and asked in disbelief under Lu Chong's translation.
"You said that according to tribal records, there are many shining golden rocks in the mountains hundreds of miles away to the east?"
The chief seal wore warm clothes of seal skin, a necklace of seal teeth around his neck, and a pointed hat of seal skin on his head. He blinked, looked at the tribal leader coming from the sea in confusion, and said a few words in a deep voice.
"...Huh? You said that in the mountains in the north, there are more, more, more golden rocks? They are even connected into many shining hills?"
Hearing the translator's words, Chief Sea Dog smiled and nodded. He said a few more words, and Zuvalo couldn't sit still at all.
"What?! Five or six days' walk to the north, that place where the Miwok people live is a huge, deep lake, very broad, all the way to the sea?"
Hearing this, the knowledgeable Mickey was also startled, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"A huge, deep lake, very vast, all the way to the sea...Isn't that a big bay?"
"The golden rocks are connected into hills...could they be Jinshan?"
"Great Bay and Jinshan...ah! That is the land of Jinwan predicted by His Majesty, just in the north!"
