The hunters even devoured the bones of the mice and wild birds. In the end, all that remained were the mice skins and bird feathers.
These didn’t go to waste. The feathers could be used to make accessories, and the skins could be used for mattresses and canopies.
In the afternoon, they found a new forest. The tree trunks were thick and solid. and the branches grew luxuriantly.
When the hunters found this forest, they started screaming with joy again. They ran into the forest, striving to be first and fearing to be last.
Cheeks was happy too. He patted Li Du’s shoulder and once again said, “Great guests bring great luck!”
“What did you find?” Li Du asked.
Brother Wolf said, “Those are blackboard trees. Their fruits can be a good source of food.”
Li Du responded, “But it’s winter now. Aren’t the fruits dried up already?”
Brother Wolf nodded, “Yes, but the fruit from blackboard trees can only be cooked when they are dry. They are more appealing dry than fresh.”
The hunters were experts at climbing trees. They climbed up and cut the long fruits with switchblades.
Li Du thought the luxuriant growth from the tree was the branch. After they cut these down, he realized they were actually the fruits of the blackboard tree. No wonder they were so long.
Looking at the trees, Brother Wolf had a strange expression on his face.
Li Du asked, “What’s the matter?”
“The Blackboard tree is tropical,” he answered. “It is only native to some island countries in the South Pacific region, such as Fiji, Polynesia, Tahiti, or Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and some tropical regions in China. But in South Africa? This is rare.”
Cheeks laughed, “Yes. This is really rare. Actually, we rarely see blackboard trees. But some of them do exist here. This is the wonder of nature.”
Godzilla had brought some beer and started craving one. As he heard this statement from Cheeks, he took out a can and raised it high. “Cheers to amazing nature.”
Gulp gulp. He joyfully drank the beer.
After harvesting the fruit, Cheeks took his men and they prepared for the return journey.
“We ‘ve gotten enough for today. We should be able to survive for two days with these,” Cheeks said happily. “Let’s go back early and get some rest.”
Li Du shrugged in agreement. The people of the Hadza tribe were not accustomed to storing food. This was their tradition.
Although the Hadza people did not store food, this did not mean that they lived spontaneously without planning for the future.
They used a different route for their return journey. They made a detour and walked on a whole new piece of land.
Along this was the return journey, they still looked for food and marked potential hunting spots so that they could come back the next day.
As they returned back to their tribe, the kids ran over excitedly and jumped around the hunters. They also curiously looked at the items obtained from hunting.
The hunters showed the items to the kids. They explained the hunting methods and passed on the knowledge to the next generation.
As Li Du sat down, he recalled the experience from today’s hunting trip. Then, he realized that the lives of the Hadza people were quite tough.
Their hunting method is to go out for a round and kill whatever animal they find. Then, they bring it back and feast with everyone.
He had the same though following Lion Hunter the previous day.
Of course, that hunting trip was much quicker because they had used vehicles. Abdullah, an expert in tracking, had also been with them. He was very familiar with this grassland and was able to identify the prey that existed in every water source.
The experience today was completely different. The Hadza’s way of hunting was very difficult. They were visitors in this grassland. They were very unfamiliar with it and fully relied on hunting by foot.
Cheeks walked over and asked, “What’s the matter?”
Li Du spoke honestly. “Your lives are pretty tough.”
“Yes, “Cheeks laughed,” really rough. Fortunately, we are all happy. Otherwise, I wouldn’t stay here in the tribe. I would go start a career in the big city.”
It was true that Cheeks could find a career anywhere. Every country in Africa lacked doctors. Cheeks was an outstanding student from UCLA, a school in San Francisco which provided an excellent education in the study of medicine. It was ranked five in America.
Cheeks was fully capable of getting a job in America, let alone in South Africa.
A kid ran over and passed him a few fruits. The kid laughed and said, “Delicious,” in English. The kids in the tribe were all the same: dirty from head to foot and barefoot without clothes.
However, Li Du felt a sense of purity and satisfaction from them that could also be found in the kids from China and America. It was certainly a strange feeling. The kids here were extremely naive, simple, and happy.
The girls were also as naughty as the boys. They would just start fights whenever they pleased. The boys were more obedient as they had to mature earlier. They could still have fun, but they had to learn about making weapons and hunting wild animals from their father at a very young age.
These fruits were all tiny berries. Cheeks said, “The children follow their mothers in the morning to gather berries nearby. Besides that, they also draw water, help with housekeeping, and other simple tasks.”
The dinner for the night was blackboard tree fruits and roasted meat. The meat was cut into chunks and there were still two huge legs remaining.
The meat tonight was from the porcupines they hunted from the previous day. Li Du asked, “Why do you not eat fresh food? Why keep the porcupines till today?”
Cheeks laughed, “For bigger sized foods, we usually dry them for a couple days. This will harden the texture of the meat. Thus, everyone can chew on their food. You know, devouring food ravenously will never fill the stomach and causes one to consume more.”
In civilized society, this was quite unnecessary. Just eat as much as you can. You can always lose weight when you become fat.
It was not easy for the Hadza people to get food. Thus, they could not afford to waste any food as their supplies were very limited. In fact, they were unable eat until full for most of the time and could barely sustain their hunger.
Li Du and his group did not eat much. Firstly, they understood that it was tough for the Hadza people to get food. Secondly, they struggled to eat this foods because it was much different from what they normally liked.
Li Du and his group were not unreasonable at all. They just could not eat like the Hadza people. The Hadza people gathered around the pot, scooped the fruits with their hands and put it into their mouths. Then, they would continue and eat the roast meat with salivas on them.
Li Du and his group respected them and ate some of them. Cheeks prepared a pork leg for them. They gnawed at it.
The day of hunting had come to an end. Li Du gave Cheeks a goodbye hug. Then, he returned back to Lion Hunter’s campsite.
Lion Hunter’s campsite had the addition of a lion—a dead lion.
He saw that Li Du and his group had returned. Then, he proudly said, “How is it? Look what I’ve got!”
They had excoriated the lion’s skin and made it into a specimen. They had removed the meat and thrown it away. Lion meat fibers were too big so the meat’s quality was awful. It was virtually inedible.
As Li Du eyed the lion meat, he thought of the Hadza people. Their difficulty obtaining food and their way of treating food. The difference between the two tribes was huge.
