Following the excited hunters, Li Du ran to a patch of gra.s.s looking like small
drumsticks.
It was a strange-looking weed, somewhat resembling a lollipop, but the stick was
shorter and bulkier, so it really looked more like a drumstick.
The gra.s.s was soft and had many s.p.a.ces, and hunters crouched down to dig it up,
using their bows.
The hunters were very quick. They opened the hole wide, and soon there was a pile of
earth next to it.
Li Du said in a depressed manner, "Rat again?"
"It"s good enough to find prairie mice. Sometimes we only catch a few birds a day, and
go back to eat stocked food," said Cheeks.
The prairie rat enjoyed life. Their burrows were wide and deep, with lots of s.p.a.ce.
If a prairie rat didn"t escape in a panic, hunters wouldn"t be able to get to the bottom of
its burrow easily.
Looking at the size of the burrow, Li Du showed Crispy Noodles the way in and told him
to catch the wild rat.
As Ali grew up, Crispy Noodles was the smallest of the animal family. His body was only
about half a meter long. Ah Meow grew into a big cat, more than a meter long.
Therefore, he couldn"t get inside the barrow.
Crispy Noodles was more than capable enough to catch a prairie rat. He got in and
quickly withdrew. It dragged out the unconscious rat by its tail.
Seeing this, the hunters let out a cheer. "Hola!"
Li Du guessed it meant something like "hooray," or "amazing" but every time he heard it,
he got the impression these people were saying, "very spicy" (in Chinese).
In this manner, hunters looked for the burrows of prairie rats. Ah Ow and Ah Meow
helped to dig out the hole, Crispy Noodles went in and dragged out the rat. Ali was
waiting outside. If the rat was still struggling, Ali would go up and beat it unconscious.
The four little ones again launched a.s.sembly line cooperation, digging out one rat after
another to the cheering of the hunters.
Seeing that the hunters found the rat burrows with apparent ease, Li Du was curious
and asked, "How do they find them?"
The prairie rats were cunning enough to dig their holes amidst the thick gra.s.s, which Li
Du had to pull away to look for the burrows, but the hunters seemed to be able to spot
them by simply looking at the gra.s.s.
Pointing to the ground, Cheeks said, "If you look closely, there will be some traces of
fresh soil around the rat hole. This is because the rats keep coming in and out of the
burrow and bringing fresh soil out."
The marks outside the rat hole were so faint that Li Du had to look closely to find them,
but the hunters could tell at a glance.
The Hadza hunting trip was very boring. They kept digging up rat burrows until they
could no longer find any. By that time, it was afternoon.
Then came the time for lunch, which they did not eat at a fixed time, but according to
the pace of their hunt and the degree of their hunger.
"If the hunt is good, people will eat when they are hungry. If it isn"t going very well,
people tend to skip lunch and have dinner together in the evening," explained Cheeks.
Li Du looked at the skinny hunters, thinking that their body size may be due to hunger
rather than exercise.
Someone made a bonfire. They collected dry shrubs and gra.s.s along the way and
sprinkled some gasoline on the pile.
The hunters nodded to the fire and said something. Li Du thought it was a ceremony,
but Cheeks told him they were just saying that petrol was great.
The Hadza ate a rugged meal of plucked wild bird and skinned, gutted rats, which were
baked over a bonfire.
Cheeks said, "I"ve corrected their habits. It was the result of many efforts. They used to
eat all the inner organs before."
Hunters chatted casually together. People took turns to cook food, while others rested
to gather strength for the remainder of the hunting trip.
A characteristic of the Hadza people was that they did not store food and liked to eat it
fresh.
If they had a successful day"s hunt, they celebrated with a festival on that day itself, and
everyone had more to eat. If they didn"t manage to get that much food for the day, they
would go hungry.
What if food was unavailable for a long time? The Hadza were not afraid because the
African savannah was too rich to keep them hungry for long.
Looking at the b.l.o.o.d.y birds and mice, Li Du couldn"t eat them. G.o.dzilla had brought a
lot of food. He took out some meat cans and divided them among the party.
"I"m used to eating freshly baked food. It may not be as tasty, but it"s healthier," said
Cheeks.
Li Du said, "There is a lot of bacteria in it, isn"t it dangerous?"
"When I first came back to the tribe, I collected the feces of the people and had them
checked for bacteria. The intestinal environment of the people was very good. I think it
is because of their dietary habits," said Cheeks.
He collected some data and said that he would send it to Sophie when he went back so
that Sophie would study it and see if it could be published, which might possibly help
people with gastrointestinal function problems in the city.
"Have you ever thought about teaching your people farming or craftsmans.h.i.+p? Now
people are doing more and more serious damage to the environment. The prey will
inevitably get scarcer. "
"You"re right, Li. We have fewer prey and fewer places to hunt, but my people can"t
learn to farm," Cheeks said helplessly. "Once, I figured that there"s a market for honey
among the tribes, so I taught them to raise bees and collect honey. Guess what?"
Li Du guessed, "They ate it themselves?"
"No, they didn"t take care of the hive. They just weren"t in the mood for it. For my
people, the joy of life is to run into honey on the way as they hunt and enjoy the gift of
heaven with surprise," said Cheeks, laughing.
The birds and the wild mice were roasted until they were partially cooked, and the
hunters began to share their food with shouts of joy.
The Hadza shared their food fairly. No matter how much food they had, they started
with a single piece. Someone would pick up a bird, nibble at it and pa.s.s it to the next
person.
Looking at the smiles on their faces, Sophie said thoughtfully, "Maybe we transfer too
much of our perception to others, Li. We think of the Hadza as poor, but they live a
good life."
"I agree, Madame. You are right. They won"t starve to death on the African gra.s.slands.
They have a lot of leisure time, can be together with their families, have plenty of rest,
and always laugh, which is much better than the life of city people," said Big Quinns.