New Shun 1730

As the ship slowly arrived in Honolulu, Meng Songlu, who was in self-doubt and self-deprecation, slowly regained some confidence.

Although the story of the three generations had long become a myth.

But the information left by the myth gradually corresponded to this primitive era.

He found his own confidence, but the infinitely beautiful faith of the three generations collapsed further.

When the ship arrived in Honolulu, the islanders here were already familiar with this kind of big ship and Dashun merchants. After seeing the big ship, many people drove small boats and approached the big ship, holding up taro, coconuts, pigs and other things.

And some people actually knew some simple, very awkward-sounding Chinese.

"Cloth".

"Scissors".

"Iron".

Obviously they wanted to use these fruits, vegetables and meat to exchange for some small things they wanted most, such as cloth and scissors.

The place where the ship docked was the best natural harbor nearby.

The natural harbors of this year were almost the same.

The water was deep enough.

In front of the port, there should be an island as a natural breakwater. Or there are mountains behind to block the trade winds.

It is best to have a freshwater river nearby, but the freshwater river cannot face the harbor directly, otherwise it will cause erosion and siltation.

Or it is in the bay.

The natural harbors or military ports of Dashun are basically like this; the military ports in Europe, including those of the Luosha barbarians, are not much different.

The people of Dashun call this place Honolulu.

The people on the island call this place Oahu.

The place that Dashun Whale Sea Company is interested in is not the deep-water port in front of it, but a port in the bay in the north where pearls are produced.

The reason why Whale Sea Company does not like the deep-water port in front of it and prefers Pearl Harbor is simple.

Because Whale Sea Company plans to use this place as a place for wilderness hunters who hunt fur to spend the winter.

The deep-water port in front of it has strong winds and waves in winter and small winds and waves in summer, which is suitable for trading; the port in the fjord where pearls are produced has strong northeast trade winds in summer, but it is calm in winter, which is very suitable for long-term wintering.

The previous expedition team searched around and found that there were only two suitable ports in the entire island group. After all, the world is materialistic, and it is inevitable that some places become ports.

There was also a person on the ship who understood the Honolulu language. He was the captain's "adopted son". The captain of this ship came here when he tested the lunar distance angle longitude method and drew sea charts. Not this island, but a nearby island.

At that time, there was a taboo called "Tabu" on the island. During the taboo period, coconuts were not allowed to be eaten. A child may be ignorant or just greedy, and ate a coconut. If caught, he would be executed. The child ran away and was rescued by the people on the ship.

The child who was rescued on the ship acted as a translator, and soon a boat approached the big ship.

The person on the small boat seemed to be an elder. He only had a circle of cloth around his waist, but also a simple cloak made of bird feathers behind him. They can also weave cloth. Although they don't have cotton, linen or wool, they use the fiber in the bark, and extract the fiber after it rots to weave cloth.

Although they don't have iron or bronze, the level of textile technology should be roughly at the level of the Shang Dynasty, not too bad. Of course, good and bad are always dynamic. In history, the Chinese who came to Honolulu commented that the weaving skills of the people here were too poor; while the Russians who came here exclaimed that their textile technology was very good and amazing.

After getting permission, the elders on the boat climbed onto the big ship with the help of a rope.

Along with him came a person who was not sure whether he was a slave or a close attendant.

He held a cut coconut shell in his hand, and the edge of the coconut shell was inlaid with human teeth, which looked very strange.

When the elder coughed, the slave or close attendant holding the coconut shell inlaid with human teeth lifted the coconut shell and asked the elder to spit into it.

There were people on the boat who had been here several times, so they explained to Meng Songlu and other people who were here for the first time that the teeth on the boat were all enemies of the tribe. After killing the enemies, they pulled out their teeth and embedded them in coconut shells, and spitted into them.

Meng Songlu felt a little disgusted. It was not that this behavior was barbaric, but that it was not aesthetically pleasing.

Since he had read history books, he naturally knew the stories of using the enemy's skull as a wine glass in history. There were many records in the history books inherited from Dashun.

But pulling out the teeth and spitting into it was like spitting into the enemy's mouth. It felt a little more disgusting than using the skull as a wine glass.

The captain quickly took out wine and some preserved fruits, cane sugar and other things. The elder did not refuse and drank with these people on the boat.

The child was competent for general communication.

Of course, general communication did not require the child, and there was no problem.

It was nothing more than exchange and barter.

And the child was not competent for a deeper communication.

The child didn't know how to translate some proper nouns, so he could only repeat them in transliteration, which was equivalent to not saying anything.

After drinking most of the wine, Meng Songlu seemed to understand what the elder said, and it seemed that he wanted to exchange some muskets or cannons.

There seemed to be no gold on the island, or very little.

But they could take out pearls, but the quality of these pearls was not very good.

It seemed that the chief on the island believed that he was a shark in the form of land, so the ancestors and family war gods of all generations needed to use pearls from the sea during official sacrifices.

The best pearls are used for sacrifices.

The inferior pearls are actually not valuable.

Dashun pearls, whether sea pearls or eastern pearls, have the best channels.

For example, the eastern pearls of the Great Lakes of France.

For example, the sea pearls of Ceylon.

The good pearls of Honolulu are used for their own sacrifices, and because they are only used as sacrificial objects and are not involved in world trade, the quantity is not large.

After all, pearl mining requires professional manpower or a large amount of labor. But there was no trade before, and the productivity of the people on the island was insufficient, so naturally they would not go pearl mining on a large scale.

But "fortunately" this time this group of people came here not for trade, but to interfere in the politics of Honolulu.

Guns and cannons are all on the ship, and they are also provided as subsidies by the company.

However, who the guns and cannons are given to and who they support is another story. Who knows whether this tribe in front of us is worth supporting?

The elders' request to exchange muskets was shelved because they could not provide enough trade goods.

But after a warm reception, two mirrors, a piece of cotton cloth, and two bottles of wine, the elders happily invited these people to the island.

And soon lifted the temporary ban nearby, allowing women to approach merchant ships and do some transactions and exchanges with sailors.

It is definitely safe on the ship.

It is not certain to go to the island.

But at this time, Meng Songlu must take on the responsibility of a semi-official leader.

Before going to the island, the captain once again gave Meng Songlu some instructions.

"Brother Meng, the weapons on the ship need to be supported by a suitable person. You only have two months."

"If a large number of weapons are given to you, it will be unsafe. They may choose to rob or steal, and you have too few people. Moreover, once blood is shed, it will be very disadvantageous to the company. The company hopes to let some employees come here to spend the winter this winter. The death rate in the Arctic winter is too high, and the company cannot afford the cost of constantly pulling people and transporting people."

"Our ship will wait here for two to three months. It will not be until September, when the most violent trade winds have passed, that we will choose to sail to the northeast."

"During this period, the weapons will be placed on the ship and will be safe. September When the month arrives, we still have our own tasks, and we have to draw a map of the distant coastline and the longitude and latitude coordinates. "

"That is to say, you must figure out the situation on the island, the tribal disputes, and decide who to support within three months. "

"This is not the Central Plains, and there is no orthodoxy. You should not bring in the emotions of the Central Plains, but choose one person to support and educate him. Because everyone is a barbarian, you only need to consider it from the most realistic perspective. This is what the Duke of Xingguo asked me to convey. "

Meng Songlu was a little excited in his heart. For the first time, he experienced the feeling of needing to "decide", "take responsibility", and "decisions involving hundreds of thousands of people".

The pressure is on him, but it also has a different taste.

After agreeing, he took a dozen people, carrying muskets and short knives, and followed the elders to the island.

The people on the island first led them to visit their "temple".

Of course, it was too shabby, but apart from the shabbyness, it had some of the flavor of the ancient books of the pre-Qin period.

The god of war, carved out of simple stone, is fierce and evil, and is in the same position as Chi You. There are many offerings in front, and there are also two corpses of people used as offerings.

On the right is the god of spring, who is in charge of the revival of all things and may also be in charge of fertility.

On the left is the god of autumn, who is in charge of harvesting fruits. The offerings in front are richer. Bananas, coconuts, and roasted pigs.

These "evil gods" in Meng Songlu's view are surrounded by simple fences and stones. Just in terms of the workmanship of the statues, I am afraid that any temple in any county town is more delicate than this one.

As outsiders, they can only watch from a distance and cannot enter these sacrificial sites.

Not far after the sacrificial site is the "palace" of the local tribal chief.

Near a pond, there are six thatched houses, very simple ones, with leaves and branches as roofs.

But it seems that there is already a sense of hierarchy and direction.

The elder said that the largest one is the chief's dining room, where the chief eats.

The two rooms next to it are the bedrooms of the wives and concubines. Because men are superior to women, even the wives and concubines of the chief cannot eat at the same table with the chief, and they cannot eat coconuts or pork.

Next to it is a reception room. The chief will meet them here later, and will also meet other elders or receive envoys from other tribes in the reception room.

The remaining two rooms are the kitchen and the workshop.

Of course, from Meng Songlu's point of view, this house is not built in accordance with the etiquette.

Regardless of whether it is rough or not, the main house should face north and south, and the kitchen should be used as a wing, and the wives and concubines' bedrooms should be at the back and surrounded by a wall.

This is so open, what does it look like? Thinking about it again, this is just right. It is easier to make a clay figure with a ball of broken mud than to change the old clay figure into the desired clay figure bit by bit.