Chapter 89 – The fish fence (2/2)

Did the river travel to the ocean?!

Shao Xuan memorized the two hunting trips he had experienced, and roughly speculated the positions and terrain. He figured out that the lords of the water were probably swimming in the downstream direction. Well, if the river did travel to the ocean, then why would the lords of the water swim to the ocean during the rainy seasons?

Many kinds of fishes would have periodic directional round trips due to various of reasons such as reproduction, food or seasons. It was the so-called migratory instinct. So, were the lords of the water having similar migratory habits?

Shao Xuan shook his head. All was speculation. He won’t get any answer from Lang Ga and the others, for they had no idea what the ocean was.

Doesn’t matter whether those lords of the water were migrating during the rainy season, Shao Xuan could do nothing given the circumstances right now. However, later when he returns, he will record all the phenomenons he has observed into his own “notebook”.

Shao Xuan had already collected and gathered some animal skins which were good for writing. He used them to take records, including the pictures that he saw in the orphan cave. He pictured them based on his memories. If the animal skin doesn’t last long, he will carve them on stone plates in the future.

Shao Xuan turned his gaze slowly from the vague giant figures afar, and looked at the riverside for a while. Suddenly, he said, “Lang Ga, what do you say if we make a few fish fences here?”

Lang Ga was thinking about how much food he would be able to collect during this rainy season, but immediately he was brought back by Shao Xuan’s question. He asked curiously, “Fish fence? What’s that?”

“So, we use wood sticks and nets to make something to block the fish.” Shao Xuan briefly described the fish fence he had in mind, and continued, “I’m thinking, that perhaps we can set a simple trap by making those fish fences.”

“Traps?” Lang Ga instantly had sparkles in his eyes.

“In fact, it’s something simple….” Shao Xuan took out the stone knife that he brought with him, and began to draw on the ground.

Lang Ga was also quite obsessed with setting traps, and as soon as he heard about Shao Xuan’s explanation, he could imagine Shao Xuan’s whole image with the help of the pictures he drew on the ground.

Lang Ga tapped on his head, and said regretfully, “Why hadn’t I thought of that!”

What Shao Xuan wanted to make was a fish-fence-like simple trap. It was not difficult to make, and no other precise setting was needed. It was the same as setting a fish fence. Wood or stone pillars would be made into a fence, set up around a region.

The fish fences would coil around like a mosquito coil. Some of them were circular, while others were square. Shao Xuan wanted to see what different effects different shapes would make. The entrance of the fish-fence-like trap would be in the direction of the river.

Or, he could use the fish fence to make a space, like the capital word omega “Ω”. Unlike the first two types, this trap’s entrance would be facing the bank. So, during ebb, the fish swimming inside the trap would be blocked inside.

Unless the fish trapped had really high IQ, they would not be able to swim out on their own. Shao Xuan had tried it in his former life, and it always worked.

However, since Shao Xuan did not participate in the tribal patrolling duty in the past, he was not sure whether such equipment could be set up now. Hence he asked Lang Ga about it.

“Yes, totally doable! No problem!” Lang Ga looked at the river surface which was not rising rapidly. He called on Shao Xuan, “Now, let’s find the proper stones as soon as possible, and set the trap while the water’s not rising!”

Something in the river would eat timber, so they could not use wood when setting the fish fences. The only material that they could use was stone. Now it was not the time to care about the stone’s material, so the stone pillars for the fish fence were not so hard to make.

So, when Mai took the first batch of warriors to came here for patrolling, they saw Shao Xuan and Lang Ga being busy doing something along the riverside. From the riverbank to the stone line that was set by the tribe, there were quite a few fish fences standing there in the distance.