I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 589 Hawaiian Bread Tree

Hawaii, this name originally comes from Cantonese and is a literal translation of Cantonese.

In Xu Jishe's "Ying Huan Zhi Lue", Hawaii is called "Awai Xi", while in Wei Yuan's "Haiguo Tu Zhi" it is called "Awai Xi".

Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, when Li Hongzhang met with King Kalakaua of Hawaii in Tianjin, he still called Hawaii "Xia Weiren", also called the King of Honolulu.

Because there are so many sandalwood trees here, the Qing Dynasty even sent envoys to the island specifically for the sandalwood trees in Hawaii.

Of course, for a long time, Europe called Hawaii the Sandwich Islands.

In history, the British navigator who discovered the Hawaiian Islands was as lucky as Kang Zifei now, and they both happened to catch up with the island's indigenous people to celebrate the Longnuo Festival. And because the masts and other structures on the ship were similar to sacrificial vessels, they were regarded as messengers of the God of Longnuo, and were warmly received by the indigenous people.

Until the navigator ran out of water and food during his exploration route, he returned to Hawaii to replenish supplies... According to Hawaiian customs, the god Ronno will only come back during the festival of the following year, and returning at other times will only bring famine and drought.

Then, the navigator was "god-killed" by the angry natives and mummified.

The Alaiya sect and the priests have basically determined that Kang Zifei and the others are the envoys of Longnuo, and those big ships are the incarnation of Longnuo’s divine power. They quickly stepped forward in person to take the lead in worshiping: "God of Longnuo, here to welcome your return, We will prepare sacrifices, food, and beautiful music for you and your messengers.”

Ronnuo is the god of nature, representing agriculture, harvest and music, so he must also come up with music and food to welcome them.

Although Kang Zifei didn't understand, he was still familiar with the process. According to the previous communication method with the Indians, he first gave an iron ax and a silk weaving garment. The cotton cloth had been used up, and then used sign language to describe the use of these objects and express goodwill. .

The Aleiya faction seemed to understand, and stood up and sent an indigenous soldier forward.

The opponent first took the ax and slashed at his wooden spear, cutting it off immediately. He was immediately surprised by the power of the ax.

The indigenous soldier took the "exquisite" silk woven garment again, which seemed to be for the chief, and quickly ran back to deliver it respectfully.

Alayi Alapai took the knitted garment and stretched out his hand to touch it carefully: "It's such a soft garment, and it's so beautiful. It's even prettier than our clothes."

The priest on the side also said: "This must be a divine garment brought by the divine envoys from the Kingdom of God. Only the gods can wear it. Now they give it to you. This is the friendship of God Longnuo to our tribe. It has the divine power of God Longnuo." and Sanctuary, you can definitely defeat the chiefs on the other islands.”

When Kang Zifei saw these indigenous chiefs accepting the gifts, he immediately gestured with his hands and asked to trade supplies.

The supplies in Yinzhou were still sufficient, but many of them were corn and potatoes. These were also local specialties and were later brought to Asia and Europe by European colonists.

The crew ate corn and potatoes for a month and almost vomited.

The Alaiya faction quickly understood Kang Zifei's intention, and immediately ordered the indigenous soldiers to bring in all the excess food in the tribe and offer it to these envoys of the God Longnuo. Originally, these were also intended to be sacrificed to Longnuo. God's.

Among the food delivered, there were some weird-looking chickens (Hawaiian corncrakes), potatoes, and some unfamiliar fruits (breadfruit). Potatoes and that kind of fruit were the most abundant, but there were fewer chickens.

Kang Zifei did not ask for potatoes, but was very interested in the chickens and fruits. He did not doubt whether they were poisonous or not. He took out one of the fruits and took a bite: "This taste... is similar to those staple foods eaten by Westerners." The bread is quite similar, but it actually has this kind of fruit.”

The recording officer on the side interjected: "Since this fruit tastes like bread, how about calling it breadfruit? Or mantou fruit? And this chicken... it should be a chicken! It looks so weird, I don't know if it tastes good or not, but the taste what is the difference."

Kang Zifei said: "Let's call it breadfruit! Let's see if we can negotiate with the indigenous tribes here. This breadfruit tastes like bread and is edible. Maybe it can be introduced into the country as food. Even if it cannot be used as a staple food, it can be For a change, I still have these chickens, let’s see if I can take a few back to breed them.”

The bread tree was discovered by the Ming Dynasty forty years in advance. In another time and space, the unlucky British captain also discovered the bread tree. Then because of the anger of the crew (the captain was killed by the natives), he directly killed thousands of them. The saplings were thrown into the sea and were not brought back to Asia for transplantation by the British until many years later.

As for the Hawaiian rail, it is also a specialty of the Hawaiian Islands. It doesn’t matter how good it tastes, because this kind of chicken became extinct a few hundred years later. The reason is that the cats and dogs brought by European colonists became their natural enemies.

Kang Zifei suddenly looked at the coconut trees on the islands again, and made two gestures with each other.

The Aleiapai were hesitant. The food in front of them could be dedicated to the god Longnuo, but coconuts belong to the incarnation of the goddess Laume in Hawaiian mythology. Would it happen if the god Longnuo eats the incarnation of the goddess Laume? What bad thing?

Kang Zifei did not force it, but ordered other crew members and soldiers to land on the island, and sent a message to the heads of other merchant ships, asking them to come to the island to exchange something with the natives, even if it was just a change of taste, and some potatoes in exchange for their Chicken is also available. Soon, more merchant ship crews also landed on the island. Because they saw that Kang Zifei's team was okay, they each brought some potatoes and corn from the ship to the island to exchange with the indigenous people for their meat and breadfruit. And fresh fish, these fresh foods.

In the past month, every day I had either potatoes, corn, or dried fish as side dishes. The nutrition was good enough, and there was even a meaty smell, but the taste was already too greasy.

The communication between the two parties was natural, and Kang Zifei also took out the few cigars he had on him, which were all leftover from smoking on the ship.

The chieftain, Alai'ala, was not used to it at first, but he soon became self-taught and began to vomit.

The priest on the side even smoked and said: "I feel that this can relax my mind. This must be a divine object given by God to us to communicate with Him."

With two cigars and the "magic" cannonball, Kang Zifei's fleet was allowed to suspend supplies on the island.

Kang Zifei doesn't know exactly how long he can stay, but it will definitely not be past February.

After all, the British captain who had learned from the past came back after February, angered the natives of Hawaii, and was personally sent back to the Kingdom of God.

After Kang Zifei stayed on the island for a few days, he summoned several officers on the ship and the record officer to have a private meeting.

The record officer was the first to speak: "I have been observing the indigenous people on the island these days. These indigenous people also grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, but potatoes and sweet potatoes were spread by Europeans from Yinzhou. How can they be found here? Could it be that they Their ancestors were also Yinzhou people. They came here a long time ago? And I found that they had many special tools similar to the masts and sails of large ships, which seemed to be used for sacrifices. This is very strange. They obviously only have small boats, and this This may be the reason why they didn’t attack us immediately when they saw our big ship.”

"I discovered that the indigenous people here not only raise pheasants, but also wild boars. There seems to be no wild boars native to Yinzhou." A camp officer named Wang Hu said.

"Stop talking about pigs. There are some indigenous languages ​​here, and I can actually understand some of them."

"Xiao Wu, what are you bragging about? The two adults can't understand, how can you possibly understand?"

"What I say is true. Don't believe me, two adults. Their language is very similar to the people I met when I was reclaiming wasteland in Taiwan. I also communicated with them specifically. It is indeed similar, but what they say is Soon, there will be many things that don’t match up.”

Now it’s interesting. This mysterious Pacific island not only has sweet potatoes and potatoes from Yinzhou, but also wild boars from Asia. Now even the language is so similar to that of Taiwan.

The record officer spoke at the right time and said: "According to calculations, the longitude and latitude here have been found, 158 degrees west longitude and 19 degrees north latitude. In other words, the distance from here to Luzon should only be two-thirds of the original distance."

Kang Zifei nodded: "I see, no wonder His Majesty insists on looking for this place. If we can build a port here as a fleet supply point, at least we can have more supplies for the fleet, and it can also accommodate and dock ships. Even if we have to go to war with the Spaniards here in Yinzhou in the future, it will be easier."

From this point of view, this island seems to be a strategic location in the Pacific Ocean. The most important thing is that it has not been discovered by the Spanish yet.

Of course they couldn't find it. According to the Spanish route, even if they sailed for another two hundred years, they would not be able to see Hawaii. The British also happened to find this unknown island in the Pacific because they were looking for the northern continent.

Kang Zifei then said: "However, since this island is so far away from Asia, it is actually closer to Yinzhou. Then why are there wild boars on the island that are not found in Yinzhou, and their language is also similar to that of Taiwan? People-to-people relations?”

What is going on with this big island?

Wang Hu, who had spoken before, thought for a while and said, "Sir, since this island is so important, why don't we occupy it directly by force, just like the previous Boxu Port."

The recorder objected: "No, there are too many indigenous people here, not to mention we have no exiles. If we occupy this place, who will be left to cultivate the wasteland?"

Wang Hu said: "No one wants to keep soldiers here if there are no exiles. Brothers who have humble positions and can lead the battalion stay. And they are just a group of natives on the island. If they don't accept it, they will be killed directly. Anyway, before We also cultivated wasteland in Taiwan and fought with headhunters."

It was simple and crude, but Kang Zifei was indeed a little moved.

Naturally, it is impossible to give up such a strategically important place for nothing. Even if you record the coordinates, what if it is accidentally discovered by the Spaniards next year and colonized?

(End of this chapter)