Chapter 68 - 24: Brazilian Iron Tree (Part 2)
The aroma of cooking attracted the little gray cat, which circled the campfire twice, slightly parted its mouth, sniffed the peculiar scent carefully, and turned away towards the tent with a look of disdain.
"Even cooked, you can smell it’s your own kind?"
Holding a bowl, gazing at the grayish-white cat meat, Chen Zhou couldn’t help but realize the importance of "color" among color, aroma, and taste.
Even though the smell wasn’t unpleasant, just looking at the pale, boiled chicken breast-like color was enough to halve one’s appetite.
He tried a bite.
The taste was bland, and the texture was peculiar.
Perhaps because it was stewed for a long time, the fibers of the cat meat appeared extraordinarily delicate. Although there was neither a sour nor stinky smell, it wasn’t fragrant either, carrying a slight fishiness.
The saltiness didn’t seem to have fully penetrated the meat, only the surface had a faint salty taste. The more he chewed, the harder it was to swallow, ending up having to gulp it down. It was incomparable to the pork, beef, and lamb commonly eaten.
If in modern times, after two bites of such boiled meat, Chen Zhou would have unhesitatingly left a bad review for the vendor.
But here, despite being unsatisfied, he ate all the meat and even drank two bowls of soup.
It had been a long time since he had consumed high-quality protein, and Chen Zhou was well aware of what his body craved.
Skinning, burning the fire, and cooking, this meal took several hours.
After cleaning up the cooking utensils, gazing at the clear sky, Chen Zhou didn’t want to continue resting at the campsite.
So he called for Lai Fu, shouldered the matchlock gun, and took out the crossbow, preparing to go out for a stroll, searching for a suitable location to build a shelter.
While huddled in the tent to hide from the rain, he already had a rough idea of where the shelter should be located.
First of all, the shelter must be located high, if not on the mountaintop, then at least halfway up the mountain.
A high vantage point allows for wide view, which is convenient for observing abnormal situations on the sea around the island at the first instance, whether it’s natives or passing merchant ships, they all need to be visible.
Especially the natives, whose attitude towards other races is one of extermination, showing no mercy.
Living in a low-lying dense forest is indeed hidden, but the trees are both your barrier and the natives’ umbrella. Once they discover the shelter’s location, they can stealthily creep over, and it’s very likely to be caught alive and eaten.
Compared to passive defense, Chen Zhou preferred to have the initiative in his own hands.
The high ground is open, with no obstacles to block bullets.
As long as the lead bullets are prepared beforehand, the hundreds of meters of barren slope are the natives’ road of death. Even if thirty natives charge up together, Chen Zhou is confident he can break their morale before they reach his face.
But high ground doesn’t mean exposing the shelter to the enemy’s sight.
Considering the cooking smoke and traces left by human fire and construction, Chen Zhou plans to place the main body of the shelter on the backside of the mountain while building a charcoal kiln at the foot of the mountain forest to produce low-smoke charcoal.
This way, the natives won’t be able to observe the shelter directly from the sea. Through defensive facilities built on the mountain with the aid of a telescope, he can observe the beaches on both sides from afar to look for opportunities to capture or actively attack the natives.
As for the type of shelter, Chen Zhou thought the best choice would inevitably be a brick house.
However, he is a long way from being able to bake bricks, so he has to be realistic.
Facing the same anti-seismic issues, from the perspectives of building time, waterproofing, and concealment, the most suitable for him is digging a cave.
The wooden house has strong waterproofing but poor concealment and the building process is long, especially for a large wooden house; just chopping and transporting wood would take a whole year.
Earth pits are quick to excavate, highly concealed, but have poor waterproofing and easily turn into a swimming pool during the rainy season, only cave digging is simple and brutal.
But currently, there’s another issue—he doesn’t have a pickaxe, nor does he have a shovel or transportation tools for sand and gravel.
The furnace is nowhere near complete, relying on it is impossible, so Chen Zhou can only refer to Robinson’s solution, planning to find the trees known as "Brazilian Iron Trees", then cut down one and slowly carve a few pickaxes and shovels out of it.
Back in modern life, Chen Zhou had heard of iron wood chopsticks, iron wood cutting boards, and iron trees blooming, but he had never seen what an iron tree looks like.
Moreover, the "Brazilian Iron Tree" mentioned in Robinson Crusoe might not be the iron tree he knows.
In the vast sea of forests, finding specific trees is no easy task.
If anyone’s to blame, it’s Defoe, who didn’t describe the main characteristics and detailed location of the "Brazilian Iron Tree" in the book.
Chen Zhou only hopes his luck is good enough, like a blind cat finding a dead mouse, to find the Brazilian Iron Tree. Otherwise, he will have to expend much more effort building a wooden house.
To ensure the "tree-seeking journey" doesn’t go wrong, Chen Zhou specially brought two hand axes as "tree test tools".
According to the book, the branches of iron trees have some wood lesions, the wood is hard, and incredibly heavy, requiring the axe to chip off even a small piece.
If he wants to find it quickly, the best method is to chop a piece off every tree he sees until he encounters a tree that’s hard to cut.
The place where Robinson temporarily resided wasn’t far from this slope; whether walking inland or up the mountain, there were forests everywhere and countless trees.
Chen Zhou estimated that Robinson wouldn’t have gone far in search of wood and should have quickly found the iron tree by luck.
Even if his luck is not as good as Robinson’s, spending a few more days should eventually lead him to find one.
With beautiful fantasies about the future shelter in mind, armed with heavy weaponry, Chen Zhou plunged into the deep primeval forest.
It was noon, and the sun was bright.
Yet this ancient forest was dark as though it were dusk.
Layers of overlapping leaves blocked the light, covering the mountain from top to bottom with trees, from towering giants to low shrubs, from coarse vines to tendrils, various plants in different shades and forms dazzled Chen Zhou.
Some type of bird let out a melodious chirp in mid-air; a vigilant green parrot stood on a branch, tilting its head doubtfully at the unfamiliar visitor.
A woodpecker stuck to a trunk, its long beak poking into the tree wound like a pile driver, twitching wildly; squirrel-like creatures leaped back and forth high up, while insects in protective shades crawled slowly, lurking among the green leaves and flowers.
Each step revealed different plants, and each glance offered unexpected surprises.
After traveling several hundred meters without finding the iron tree, Chen Zhou first discovered a small tree bearing yellow fruit. Curiously, he picked one, peeled its tight skin, and sniffed it.
A strong citrus-specific sour aroma hit his nostrils.
Seeing the pointed ends and round middle shape of the fruit, Chen Zhou felt this should be a wild lemon tree.
Appreciating his own life, he didn’t recklessly taste this presumed lemon fruit but picked more to put in his pocket, intending to have his test rat try it first to confirm it’s non-toxic before consumption.