Chapter 775: No More Than a Seagull with No Fixed Abode on Earth Prowling the Skies
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du loved the island and wanted to name it.
Snake Island was the most natural name, but he didn't like it. First of all, the name was too common. Secondly, snakes were too evil to make a good name for the island.
He was thinking that Sophie had come to take him to the reef to look for scallops and oysters. There would possibly be a large number of sea snakes, as there were many shellfish on the rocks around the island.
Some people may not have understood the relationship, but it was quite simple. Some shrimp and crab species liked to eat shellfish, while sea snakes didn't like them because they couldn't digest the shells.
However, they could digest shrimp and crabs, and they could attack the sea animals they met. Unlike humans, sea animals had no intelligence, and they didn't know that they should retreat from the sea snakes. Instead, they rushed up to attack.
In this way, when a sea snake saw that it was under attack, what else could it do but call on its own species to come over in defense!
After this happened several times, fewer animals dared to come to the area, so there were fewer shellfish predators. With fewer predators, they naturally multiplied and grew in large numbers.
Standing on the rocks, they could see nothing but the vast, undulating sea, and there seemed to be nothing between heaven and earth except the sea and the blue sky.
Sophie let out a cry with her arms outstretched, then giggled.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Li Du.
Sophie did not answer. Instead, she asked, "There is a poem learned a long time ago, but I can't quite remember now. It's the poem your poet master Du Fu wrote as if to say, 'No more than a desert with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies.'"
"No more than a desert with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies?" Li Du wondered if Du Fu had written such a poem.
He thought hard, and then asked tentatively, "'I've been roaming without much of a purpose, what says that of me? No more than a gull with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies.'"
Sophie shook her little fist hard and cried excitedly, "Yes, that's it!"
Li Du did not know whether to cry or to laugh. "It is, 'No more than a gull with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies,' not, 'No more than a desert with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies.'"
At this point, he had an idea and thought of the name of the island: Seagull Island.
The name was a bit ridiculous because there were no gulls around the island, but the island was so much like the poem!
There were no gulls around the island, but there were many other seabirds and some sea snakes, which stayed by the beach to lay their eggs.
In addition, the situation and temperament of the island was also in accord with this poem, "I've been roaming without much of a purpose, what says that of me? No more than a gull with no fixed abode on earth prowling the skies."
So wasn't it a good idea to call it Seagull Island?
He was satisfied with a lot of things on the island, but he was not satisfied with some, such as the snakes and the black gold abalone, which was too far away from the island and was not easy to harvest.
However, they had to sell the abalone, and it would die if they kept it too long, which made it much less valuable.
After consulting with several of his men, Li Du eventually found a solution. He would sell abalone on the relatively close island of Tasmania and bring Lu Guan with him.
They had made a name for themselves on King Island, and many people wanted to buy their black gold abalone, so they had exchanged contact information.
Subsequently, he asked Lu Guan to contact those interested parties and sell the abalone in a central district, the town of Herrick in Tasmania.
As long as the other party was willing to come to Herrick, Li Du was willing to lower the price. Here, he was close to Herrick and could catch more black gold abalone.
In addition to dealing with the black gold abalone, he had Brother Wolf take Hannah and the others to Tasmania.
Li Du and Hans were harvesting the black gold abalone around the island, but it was not interesting for the rest of them. The island was beautiful, but it wasn't developed. Also, there were a lot of snakes.
After two or three days on the island, the children and Hannah and others were so tired of it that they might as well travel to Tasmania.
At the same time, he gave Brother Wolf a shopping order and asked him to bring some items back.
Everything went well. The island was only three hours away from Herrick. After leaving the island after breakfast, the yacht returned after lunch.
Brother Wolf resupplied the yacht, stocked it with diesel and gas, and went ashore to buy a small diesel generator that would provide light at night.
When the yacht came back, Li Du first went out to it to pick up a portable toilet, which was the first thing he had asked Brother Wolf to buy.
These days the group was embarrassed about dealing with personal problems. There were poisonous centipedes on the island. Li Du was afraid that something might enter his anus, so he had to keep an eye on his backside.
That meant that he would constantly inspect his own excrement.
In addition, Brother Wolf also took advantage of his expertise to purchase a large amount of equipment suitable for survival in the wild, most of which consisted of insect and snake repellent.
He also bought some raw materials and prepared some of the snake repellant powder himself. The powder was sprinkled on the ground, which would effectively prevent snakes from approaching for a long time.
Now well equipped, Li Du wanted to take a look around the island, since he might have to stay there longer.
They sailed around the island, knowing that it was not big. It was about ten kilometers long, four kilometers wide, and 30 kilometers in circumference.
Instead of continuing to sail, they put on a full set of wildlife-exploration gear and prepared to circle the island on foot to see the island on land.
According to Brother Wolf's estimation, the most dangerous thing on the island should be snakes, so they were equipped to prevent snakes and insects from biting.
Brother Wolf made smoke bombs. He distributed them to everyone. He told them to use the snake spray if they met a lone snake, but if they met a number of snakes together, throw the bomb.
"What's in this?" asked Li Du.
Brother Wolf said, "Gunpowder, sulfur, some medicine. It will make a small explosion if it hits the ground, and then the sulfur and medicine will burn quickly to form smoke, which will disperse the snakes."
With some preparation, they set off.
Brother Wolf was a careful man. When he went to Tasmania, he had stopped by to investigate the situation regarding Seagull Island and got some information.
According to the Australian geological survey, the island was born more than four million years ago, when it rose from the sea to become a huge volcano as the earth's crust moved.
Hundreds of thousands of years later, the volcano erupted, spewing out huge amounts of volcanic rock and ash that formed the outer edge of the island. It attracted a lot of life because the ash was rich in nutrients.
The coral around the island was made from volcanic ash. The coral absorbed calcium from the shallow tropical seas, slowly forming lime shells and gradually forming coral reefs.
Later, as the ocean floor cooled, the volcano began to sink, but the reefs continued to grow, forming what was now the island's terrain.
Li Du had speculated that there must be something volcanic around, otherwise, there wouldn't be so many black gold abalone living there.