Chapter 7 Making a Bone Plow
Now that we have a house, storing food becomes the top priority.
It is autumn now, and there are many wild fruits and vegetables in the mountains, as well as plenty of prey, so there is no need to worry about food.
But Jiang Xuan knew from his memory that it would snow in the Southern Wilderness.
Once winter comes and the mountains are covered with snow, it will become very difficult to find food.
If you don't prepare food for the winter in advance, you will face the risk of starving to death.
Therefore, it is necessary to store enough food in advance to cope with the coming cold winter.
Jiang Xuan thought for a long time and focused on digging plant tubers and fishing.
Plant tubers are durable in storage, and you can dig a pond and raise fish directly until winter. Once it snows, there is no need to worry about food spoiling.
Most importantly, these two foods are relatively easy to obtain and available in large quantities.
If you want to dig plant tubers and ponds, you must make a suitable digging tool. Otherwise, if you rely on a wooden stick and your hands to dig, how long will it take?
Jiang Xuan thought about it carefully and finally decided to make two bone hoes.
The bone hoe looks similar to a shovel and is a tool used by tribesmen to dig soil.
The materials needed to make a bone hoe include: the shoulder blade of an even-toed ungulate, a sharp stone for drilling holes, a straight wooden pole, and ropes for binding and fixing.
These materials are not difficult to obtain.
A few days ago, Chishao set a lasso trap and caught a green muntjac that looked like a deer but had very short horns. The meat had been eaten, but the bones were left, including two very wide shoulder blades.
The shoulder blade of even-toed ungulates is roughly triangular in shape and naturally looks like a shovel, making it the preferred animal bone for tribesmen to make bone hoes.
Jiang Xuan found the two shoulder blades, took them to the stream, and found a rough stone to grind them flat.
“Crack, crack, crack…”
By the stream, Jiang Xuan was grinding a shoulder blade with all his might, pouring some water into it with a bamboo tube from time to time to wash away the bone powder ground from the stone.
"Xuan, what are you doing grinding animal bones?"
Chishao walked over curiously and asked Jiang Xuan.
"Make a bone hoe."
"Can you make a bone hoe?" Chishao looked at him in surprise.
"I saw people in the tribe do it before, so I want to give it a try. If it works, it will be much easier for us to dig traps and pick wild vegetables in the future."
Jiang Xuan continued to grind as he spoke. The animal bones were quite hard and it would take a long time and a lot of effort to grind them flat.
Chishao saw that there was a shoulder blade next to Jiang Xuan, so he went forward to pick up the shoulder blade and said, "Let me help you grind this one."
"good!"
Jiang Xuan did not refuse. If he had to grind the two shoulder blades by himself, it would probably take him a whole day.
With the help of red peony root, the time can be shortened by more than half.
"Xuan, let's help too."
Uncaria rhynchophylla, stone loach and Arisaema confusa also came over, and everyone wanted to do their part.
Jiang Xuan said, "Nanxing, go and help me make some ropes. They need to be woven from tree bark, thin and strong."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Nanxing immediately ran to find a suitable piece of thin bark to make a rope. This was a job that children in the tribe had been doing since childhood and it was not complicated.
A ten-year-old child is at the age when he has the strongest desire to express himself, and he is happy to help others.
Jiang Xuan said to Uncaria and Stone Eel, "Go and help me cut down two small trees. Choose the types of trees that are used to make stone spears. The trunks should be as thick as three fingers."
"Okay, let's go cut it now."
There are many shrubs outside the bamboo forest, some of which are very tough and suitable for making spears or wooden handles for bone hoes.
Uncaria and Gnaphalium found some sharp-edged gravel by the stream and went to cut down trees.
With the efforts of the five people, half a day later, all the materials for making two bone hoes were prepared.
The shoulder blade has been ground flat, and the wide end has been ground very thin and sharp. Four holes have been drilled in the middle with a sharp stone, two on each side, for threading ropes to fix the wooden pole.
Nanxing has already made a thin rope woven from mulberry bark, and Jiang Xuan is very satisfied with the rope he has made.
Two straight small trees have also been cut down, and the bark of the Uncaria rhynchophylla and the stone loach has been peeled, and the surface has been flattened with stones to make wooden poles.
Everything is ready, now it’s Jiang Xuan’s turn.
Will he be able to succeed? Chishao and the three boys are looking forward to it.
“Let’s get started!”
Jiang Xuan took all the materials into the bamboo house, rubbed his hands excitedly, and then began to make the bone hoe.
In fact, it is best to dry the two wooden poles in the shade before using them, so that they are less likely to crack and deform. However, they need to be dried in the shade for at least a month, and Jiang Xuan cannot wait that long.
He placed the wooden pole on the fire pit and used the flames to bake it quickly.
After the wood pole is burned, the moisture on the surface evaporates quickly and then carbonizes.
After the surface of the wooden pole was slightly charred, Jiang Xuan moved the pole away from the fire pit, took a look at the slightly bent parts, and straightened them while they were still hot.
After the wooden pole cools down, it is basically shaped and will not easily deform.
Next, Jiang Xuan used a sharp-edged gravel to shave one side of the bottom of the wooden pole into a flat surface so that it could fit better with the smoothed shoulder blade. On the other side, he cut two grooves to fix the rope.
If there were no grooves, the rope would easily shift and become loose if the bone hoe was used with a little force.
After processing the wooden pole, Jiang Xuan placed the flat side of the pole on his shoulder blade and continued to cut the uneven parts until it fit perfectly.
Then he used a twisted thin rope, passed it through the hole drilled on the shoulder blade, wrapped it around the groove on the wooden pole, and then tied it up layer by layer.
Every time he wrapped the rope around, the two ropes crossed each other. When he finished wrapping the ropes and tied the knot, the wooden pole and shoulder blades were tightly tied together.
"alright!"
Jiang Xuan held the bone hoe in both hands and tried to swing it a few times. It felt very smooth and he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
"Xuan, you are so amazing, you can do everything!"
Uncaria rhynchophylla, Gastrodia elata and Arisaema confusa, the three young men cast admiring glances at Jiang Xuan.
Jiang Xuan built a bamboo house, made a bamboo bed, and now he has made a bone hoe. It is really amazing.
Jiang Xuan was also quite proud of himself, and said modestly: "It all depends on your help, otherwise I can't do it alone."
“That’s not right…”
Chishao frowned slightly. She looked at the bone hoe made by Jiang Xuan and felt that something was missing.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Xuan put away his pride and asked in surprise.
Chishao pointed to the place a few inches above the connection between the shoulder blade and the wooden pole: "Here, there is still a short horizontal wooden pole missing. I remember that the bone hoe can be stepped on by foot, which saves effort."
Jiang Xuan thought about it and it seemed to be true. He said ashamedly, "I forgot about the horizontal bar. Thanks to my sister for reminding me. I will add it right away."
The small tree that Uncaria rhynchophylla and Gnaphalium spp. still had its end still there. Jiang Xuan used a sharp stone to cut it into two pieces, each about twenty centimeters long.
He peeled the two short poles and roasted them. He then flattened the side where the long pole and the short pole were in contact and made them fit together. He cut a groove on the other side and then tied the long pole and the short pole tightly together with a thin rope.
After finishing, Jiang Xuan checked it first, then handed the bone hoe to Chi Shao: "Sister, do you think there is anything missing?"
Chishao put the bone hoe on the ground and stepped on the short pole with her foot. With the help of the power of her foot, the shovel of the bone hoe quickly sank into the soil. She pressed down the long pole, and a piece of soil was easily pried up.
Chishao smiled with satisfaction and said, "Xuan, you did a great job. It's as good as the bone hoe I used to use in the tribe."
After getting his sister's approval, Jiang Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and a happy smile appeared on his face.
The three teenagers also took turns trying to use the bone hoe, and they admired Jiang Xuan even more, because in the tribe, those who could make these tools were often adult warriors.
Having learned from the experience of the first bone hoe, Jiang Xuan successfully completed the second bone hoe.
With these two bone hoes, Jiang Xuan could finally start his next plan - fishing.
Thanks to the book friend "Yan Ni'er" for the reward.
(End of this chapter)
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