While the members of the expedition were rejoicing at the discovery of acorns, Chief Bihan Nyin was studying the salt brought by the outsiders. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"This salt tastes good. How are they going to be replaced? Chief Bihan Nyin asked.

"They said that such a jar of salt would be exchanged for two sacks full of grain that we had just had." Navi Normin replied. Honestly, the price is quite fair, at least in the eyes of the natives of the village. The two parties soon agreed on a deal, and the natives exchanged ten pockets of acorns for five jars of salt from the exploration team. Those who came to the rescue from other villages also offered that if the exploration team was willing to trade, their villages could also come up with a lot of food.

"Talk to them and ask them where these acorns came from." Hao Ren said to Lao He.

Hao Ren was also a little worried that the natives would keep this matter secret, but although the natives were savage, they were also simple, and when Lao He asked, Navi Normin replied indifferently: "Along the river, around the hill in front, there is a piece, but if you go a little further there, through the sacred woods, you will see very tall trees growing by the stream, and then a little higher than the trees, you will find a larger forest." ”

This passage attracted the attention of the exploration team members again, first of all, the "Divine Wood Forest" mentioned in this sentence. They don't know what a "Divine Tree" Hao Ren is, but what can be called a "Divine Tree" by Shengfan must be an unusual tree, and maybe it can come in handy. The second was the "very tall tree by the stream", which also caught their attention. Because these "very tall" trees may be able to be used to make masts. Because as far as the ship is concerned, the higher the mast, the larger the sail that can be hung, and the faster the speed of the ship, but the higher the mast, the higher the center of gravity of the ship, and the higher the requirements for the strength and elasticity of the mast. Generally speaking, trees that grow very tall in nature are often suitable for masts.

"If all goes well, we'll be able to find all the timber for the hull and mast in one go, which is great." Chen Guang said happily.

"You have to get to the place first, and you will know when you see it." Hao Ren said, "But I really hope that's it, so that we can just turn around and go back." After all these days in the woods, I'm almost a monkey. ”

The expedition team said a friendly farewell to the students, and then continued along the creek, and Chief Bihan Nyin even asked Navi Normin to show them the way. As for what they were going to do, the simple students never thought about it seriously.

Sure enough, after bypassing the hill, they saw a green wood.

"These trees are thick enough, the thickest one, I'm afraid two people can't hold it, right?" Chen Guang said excitedly. The others also came out into the woods, and took out their tape measures and the like to measure the DBH of the oak trees.

"What are you doing here?" Nawei Nuomin thought it was strange and asked Lao He like this.

"Look how thick this tree is, not as thick as the big tree we saw before." Lao He casually made up a reason.

"It's not that thick at all." When Navi Normin heard this, he felt that these people were rare and strange, "Compared with the sacred trees, these trees are as thin as small branches. ”

"What kind of divine wood is that, is it that thick?" Lao He was a little unconvinced.

"Of course." Seeing that Lao He didn't believe it, Navi Nuomin hurriedly defended, "You will see in a while, if these trees are as thick as fingers, then the sacred trees are as thick as thighs!" ”

By this time, the exploration team had already recorded the DBH of many of the green trees in this forest, and Bell also made this record in his notebook: "The average DBH of oak trees here is about 1.5 to 2 feet (about 46-60 centimeters), which is very suitable for shipbuilding, and the whole forest is about 50 acres (about 300 acres), according to the indigenous people, there is an oak forest several times larger than this in the upper part of the country." ”

After a short rest in the oak forest, the group continued on their way, and after about half an hour, they came to what Navi Normin called the "Sacred Wood".

"Oh my God!" Looking at the huge tree in front of him, even the well-informed Bell was speechless with his eyes wide open. These trees, these trees are unscientifically thick.

"This ...... This...... It would take dozens of people to hold these trees, right? Chen Guang was even more stupid, and it took a long time before such a sentence came out.

"If you dig a hole in the trunk of this tree, you can use it as a house." Hao Ren also praised it.

"Compared to this, those trees just now are really nothing, this is really worthy of a divine tree!" Lao He also naturally muttered to himself.

By this time, the well-informed Bell had recovered, and he first stepped forward to observe the bark, and then picked up the fallen leaves on the ground to examine them carefully, and then stretched out his hand, and broke off a small branch that grew from the root of the sacred tree, and then opened his backpack, and took out a book from it, and quickly turned it, turned to a certain page, and compared it carefully.

"It looks like a Japanese juniper." Bell said to himself, "It's just that Japanese cypress is so big?" It seems that in Japan, the wood of this tree is also the best choice for shipbuilding. So he tucked the branch into the book. He took out the rope and tried to measure the DBH of the trees.

At this time, some people have already started to do this work, and some people are still shouting: "Do you have a rope, my rope is not long enough!" ”

These "sacred trees" are the famous Taiwanese red cypresses. Endemic to Taiwan, China, this tree can grow to nearly 60 meters tall and has a trunk diameter of up to 6.5 meters, making it probably the thickest tree in Asia. The wood of this tree is excellent, and although the wood is not particularly hard, it has very good toughness and excellent corrosion resistance, so it is very suitable for making sea vessels. In the original history, after Japan occupied Taiwan, it used to cut down Taiwan's cypress on a large scale to replace teak to make the flight deck of warships, especially aircraft carriers. For this reason, the tree was almost cut down and planted.

"Today was a really pleasant surprise." Later, Bell wrote in his diary, "We found on the island of Taiwan a giant tree that no one had ever recorded before, a giant tree over 20 feet in diameter, I think, although the hundred-horse tree in Sicily was much thicker than they were." But they're probably the thickest trees in Asia. I'm sure that no European had ever seen this tree before me, and no book had written about it, and it was a miracle that I had a new species......"

The miracle did not end there, for after a quarter of an hour in the Sacred Wood Forest, and then after about an hour of busy surveying and recording, the exploration team began to move on, looking for the much larger green woods. Bell had already made all sorts of records, and he made leaf specimens, but unfortunately it was not the flowering season, so neither the flower nor the seed specimens could be made. He drew the basic shape of the giant tree, and even found a branch of a giant tree about two meters long and arm thick, which may have been struck by lightning and fell to the ground, and he rested it on the back of a donkey and brought it back to make a sample.

To everyone's amazement, Navi Normin was greatly satisfied, and he told Lao He that the Shenmu was the largest tree, but:

"With us, there are trees that are taller than the sacred tree. You'll see it a little bit earlier! Navi Normin said triumphantly.

The tallest of these red cypress trees is more than 60 meters tall, which is very tall among large trees. Is there a taller tree than it? Knowing this from the translator, Bell felt like he was in a dream.

"I've never heard of a tree this tall before, at least not in Asia." Bell thought, "Am I discovering a new species?" Ah, after the Grylls' giant juniper (this is the name Bell gave to the Taiwanese red juniper), is there another kind of Grylls's giant tree? ”

It wasn't long before Bell saw with his own eyes these tall and terrifying trees—some Taiwanese cedars growing along the streams. The trees grow in relatively flat areas, which gives Bell the opportunity to measure the length of the shadow of the tallest tree with a rope and then use his trigonometry knowledge to calculate its height.

"Two hundred and ninety-six feet! (about 90 meters) Oh my God! This cedar tree is definitely the tallest tree in Eurasia, and I'm going to record it, and I'll call it Grylls's giant sequoia! ”

Seeing the stunned behavior of the outsiders when they saw these trees, which he had become accustomed to, Navi Normin could only find it amused, and he did not understand the fate of letting these people see these trees would bring him and his tribe.

Now that the sun was about to set in the west, he had to urge those who were still giggling around the Taiwanese cedars or doing all sorts of things he couldn't understand to hurry up, so that he could get back to the village before dark.

"It's getting late," said Navi Normin, "if you want to stay here a little longer, I'll have to go back first." The green oka forest is a little above there, and you can already see it from here. Right there. ”

"Thank you, we saw it." Lao He replied, "I think we can already walk through it ourselves." Thank you so much for sending us all the way. I have a little more gift for you here. What do you want? ”

"Really? Can you give me that short spear of yours? Navi Norming's eyes lit up at once.

"Oh, no, that's a very valuable one." Lao He said.

"Is that what you use to make a fire?" Navi Normin had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.

"This," Lao He made a very embarrassed look, and said, "This thing is also very precious, but we are friends." If you tell us where there is a sacred tree, and a tree that grows food, and a tree that is so tall, I will give it to you. ”