Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 765 - 762: Into the Water

The canoe can truly be said to have blossomed all over the world.

From Bolivia to Mongolia, from New Zealand to North America, one can find the origins of paddling in many places around the world.

Ancient canoes have been found in the Ganges River Basin of India and the Nile River Basin of Ancient Egypt, and on the shores of the Euphrates River in Ancient Babylon, the tomb of an Arabian King was excavated, containing a small silver canoe and an oar, estimated to be six thousand years old.

The Indians of North America constructed canoes out of deer skin and birch bark, while the Egyptians used papyrus and the people of Borneo used wood.

In New Zealand, a war canoe exhibited by the Māori was 117 meters long and could carry more than 80 people.

In North America, canoes were so prevalent that the locals, with canoes outfitted with outriggers, discovered the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Today, the local populace still widely uses these small boats.

Even the Inuit people, living within the Arctic Circle, had their own unique canoes.

They assembled a skeletal framework of driftwood and whalebone, covered it with seal skin, and stitched it with gut lines and whale fat.

Their canoes were slender and lightweight, and the waterproof cover was designed to protect people from splashing waves, spray, rain, snow, and the cold.

The best quality canoes could be used to hunt marine mammals, waterfowl, and caribou and were quite silent in operation.

This type of skin boat is called "KAYAK," which means "man's boat" in Eskimo language.

Even in modern times, canoe enthusiasts still make traditional Eskimo canoes, but they no longer use seal skin; instead, they use synthetic fiber cloth.

In the Melanesian Islands of the South Pacific, the islanders even have a special coming-of-age ritual; to become a true Melanesian man, every young man in the tribe must sail out to sea alone in a canoe and manually catch a shark.

"So, crossing Nemo Point by canoe is not impossible, and one could even say it's quite hopeful," he said.

Bi Fang was holding a torch, roasting a palm tree.

He would coat the parts he did not plan to carve away with wet clay, then burn the uncovered parts with fire. Once they charred, he chiseled them away with tools, which made the looser charred layer easy to remove.

After repeating the process several times, he could create a relatively ideal shape.

Today was the third day, and the first palm tree he was working on was already taking the shape of a canoe.

By his side, a crowd had already gathered to watch.

There was even an amusing incident amongst them; after cutting down the palm tree on the first day, the manager of the Adventure Resort had invited him to stay, offering the most luxurious suite, which had puzzled him until he saw the managers of several other hotels also come running over.

All of them claimed that if Bi Fang would build a canoe at their place, they would present him with a VIP card and free lodging.

If he agreed, someone would immediately come over to drag the two trees away.

The manager of the Adventure Resort was getting anxious, but fortunately, Bi Fang didn't accept the offer.

Having cut down their palm trees, and then to go build a canoe on someone else's property didn't sit well with Bi Fang, so he politely declined.

In the evening, Bi Fang grilled meat in front of the campfire, using spices provided complimentary by the resort, and distributed it to everyone as a small campfire party.

However, since the island hardly had any game, just a richer variety of fish in the nearby ocean, a good cook can't work without rice, so the meat was also provided by the resort.

It must be said, Easter Island truly deserves its reputation as a tourist destination; no wonder so many people spend a lot of money to fly for days just to come here.

Apart from the town, there is no illumination on the island, and since it is deep in the South Pacific, the starry sky is very magnificent: Bi Fang even saw nearly a hundred stars in the Orion Constellation!

[Beautiful, my computer's wallpaper used to be the statues of Easter Island, I never expected the real scene to be even more beautiful]

[What a pity I have no money]

[+1]

"No worries, folks, crowdfund my trip and I'll travel on your behalf. I'll send you all a few photos (dog's head)"

Even during the day, Bi Fang wasn't solely crafting the canoe but also took several rides around on a sand motorbike.

There were a few nice sand beaches on the island with white sand, palm trees' shadows, and the blue sea, where slopes and statues stood silently in the distance.

Moreover, because Easter Island is isolated in the South Pacific, it offers extraordinary diving conditions.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

There is no pollution on the island and there are fewer floating organisms in the sea, so the underwater visibility is incredibly clear, sometimes reaching an astonishing 60 meters.

On the fifth day, the first canoe was nearing completion, looking almost completely different from the original tree.

Bi Fang crouched down, his fingers lightly running over the hull, feeling for any unevenness.

"Palm trees are quite special, their outer shell fibrous layer is very tough, but the material inside is rather loose, so even without resorting to the burning method, a normal metal tool can scrape it clean."

"However, roasting it does, on one hand, remove the moisture inside, saving the drying time later, and also makes the hull harder, waterproof, and lighter."

"Next, it has to be roasted again to turn the entire hull black; only then will it be considered complete."

After confirming the watertightness, Bi Fang lifted the hull and ran to the woods with an axe. He chopped down a tree, cut it into sections, and used them to prop open the canoe to prevent it from deforming during the next tanning process.

He then placed palm leaves inside and set them completely alight.

"The amount of fuel needs some experiential judgment; you have to ensure that the palm leaves are entirely burned without igniting the hull and complete the tanning process."

The small boat wasn't too big, its length a bit over four meters but less than five.

"Longer boats are harder to maneuver and more prone to capsizing in storms; a length just over four meters is just right."

After a brief explanation, the flames quickly extinguished.

Now significantly lighter, Bi Fang could drag the canoe by himself, tapping on the hull with his knuckles producing a solid thump.

"The sound seems to indicate good quality, but it remains to be seen how it will perform in the water."

To truly test the quality of a boat, one must see if it can be launched and how much weight it can carry.

Laying down rollers, Bi Fang slowly dragged the canoe toward the beach. Many tourists who had gotten the news dropped what they were doing and came to the shore to see the commotion.

Dragging the boat to the shore and looking at the rolling waves, Bi Fang wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath, and in the tense gaze of the crowd, pushed the hull slowly towards the seawater.

The beach deformed under the advancing boat, with sand spreading out to both sides under pressure, leaving behind a long trail.

The crowd's tension mounted, with many involuntarily clenching their fists.

"Here it comes, the big moment!"

"It's really big this time!"

"It's in, it's in!"

"It's that big and went in just like that?"

The bow touched the water first, followed by the hull and the stern, and buoyed by the sea, the canoe began to float bit by bit.

Bi Fang let out a long breath.

All went well.

Cheers erupted on the shore.