From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 50 Tanning Fur
He returned to the cave with a box of bottles and cans and two seal heads, set up an iron kettle to boil water, and scooped out the brains one spoonful at a time and put them into high-temperature sterilized glass jars.

It was almost dawn when I finished all this.

I got up at dawn on the 27th, checked the crops, went to the beach to pick up rewards, and then killed the seals, dissected them, skinned them, and removed their bones...

Chen Zhou worked almost non-stop for more than twenty-six hours.

After loading the brain, he felt his head was heavy and his mind and body were extremely tired. Even if he wanted to force himself to continue working, he couldn't do it.

Wash off the mud and blood on your hands, take off your clothes and hang them by the campfire to dry.

Feeling exhausted, he fell on the bed, closed his eyes, and soon snoring sounds came from his mouth and nose.

……

This sleep was a complete black sleep.

When I woke up, it was already the evening of the 28th.

Feeling extremely thirsty, Chen Zhou rubbed his aching head, changed into new clothes and walked into the kitchen.

More than ten hours passed in a trance.

Looking at the dimly lit cave and the bonfire that had long been extinguished, he couldn't help but feel as if he was traveling through time.

Since arriving on the isolated island, Chen Zhou's daily routine has been very stable and his concept of time has always been clear.

This was the first time that he had difficulty telling the passage of time, and he didn't even know whether he had slept for one day or two days and one night.

After drinking a glass of water and washing his face with cold water, Chen Zhou felt a little more awake. He then went to check the jar containing the brain matter.

Glass jars in the 17th century did not have screw caps, and the lids used were similar to the corks on wine bottles, which were not tightly sealed.

But the brain has not been in there for long, so it is only slightly yellow in color, with a thin layer of oil floating on the surface, and the smell is still normal. There is no possibility of it deteriorating in a short period of time.

Putting several glass jars on a wooden shelf deep in the kitchen, Chen Zhou added some food to Xiao Huihui, Grapes, and the chinchilla, then reignited the campfire and prepared to cook himself a meal.

After filling his stomach, he had to deal with the seal blubber and seal meat in the camp at the foot of the mountain as quickly as possible.

While waiting for the rice to cook, Chen Zhou freed up two large glass containers.

Those were once the captain and the first mate's personal supplies for storing clean drinking water. Each glass container had a capacity of about 2.5 liters. He planned to use these two glass containers to store oil.

Wash the glassware and place it near the campfire.

Chen Zhou returned to the bedroom and took out the notebook that recorded the technical guidance from the brother on the forum.

On the second day of the challenge, he found paper and pen and immediately wrote down the information, regardless of whether it was true or false.

It has been 119 days since then. If I had relied solely on my memory, all this information and techniques would have been forgotten long ago.

A good memory is not as good as a good pen, and the habits he developed during his school years once again helped him.

Sit by the campfire and take a closer look at the fur tanning process.

Chen Zhou was the first to check the tools and resources needed for tanning.

All the tools mentioned by the guy on the forum can be made by hand, and the resources are also very common. The only special ones are animal fats and wood ash. He has all these things, so it seems that tanning fur will not be too difficult.

After roughly writing down the specific steps, Chen Zhou put this precious survival manual back into the drawer of the bedside table.

The rice is almost hot.

……

After dinner, Chen Zhou observed Ti Zi's injuries.

The wounds on the exposed flesh on its hind body had already scabbed over and no longer needed to be disinfected. The hair on the upper and lower buttocks where the bag was tightened had all fallen off, making it look very ugly.

Being locked in the wooden box all day, Tizi felt a little depressed.

However, its physical condition has recovered well. It can now stand up and move freely. It is expected that it will be tied to the kitchen and serve as a "security guard" in two days.

Before going out, Chen Zhou carried half a bucket of water to give to the mother goat and her baby goat. At the same time, he walked around the fields to see if the crops were affected by the heavy rain.

The natural downward slope of the hillside drains away excess water, while the ridges retain their intact raised shape.

The tender green rice seedlings stood proudly on the ridges. After a heavy rainfall, they grew stronger and stronger. Chen Zhou even felt that they had grown a little taller in just over a day.

Although barley and wheat do not like water as much as rice seedlings, they did not cause any problems, which gave Chen Zhou peace of mind. Due to his lack of experience in farming, he had always been unsure whether the fields he cultivated could withstand floods.

This rainstorm made him realize that as long as he strictly followed the old farmer's method, the fields would be fine no matter where he was.

Maybe this is the wisdom of five thousand years of agricultural civilization!
He carried a bucket of water to the edge of the field, straightened the rabbit-skin flag that had been blown down, and sorted out the tangled strips of cloth on the scarecrow.

After feeding the mother goat and her baby goat, Chen Zhou began to carry the seal meat up the mountain.

……

Early in the morning of the 28th, Chen Zhou returned to the cave with the seal head, led Lai Fu away from the beach, and tied him in front of the tent where the meat was stored.

It took more than ten hours to tie it up, and Lai Fu was already impatient to wait.

When it saw Chen Zhou, it jumped and screamed, pulling the rope around its neck straight, as if it wished it could grow wings and fly into its owner's arms.

Of course Chen Zhou also felt sorry for Lai Fu.

From a personal perspective, he really wanted to untie the rope, give Lai Fu freedom, and let it travel up and down the mountain.

But from a rational point of view, the best option is to let Lai Fu stay in the camp at the foot of the mountain to guard the seal meat.

There were many wild cats in the woods along the hillside. If Lai Fu hadn't been watching over them, they would have smelled the meat and would have found ways to get into the tent and destroy the piles of meat.

He put his arms around Lai Fu's neck, calmed him, played with him for a while, and then took out a few pieces of seal meat from the bucket for him to eat.

While Lai Fu was eating happily, Chen Zhou started the moving work.

He woke up very late on the 28th, and in order to avoid completely disrupting his daily routine, he only moved two loads of meat.

On his last trip, he carried seal skins.

Tanned furs cannot be dragged on, the climate on the island is hot and every day that passes increases the risk of the material becoming rancid.

……

The night is deep.

There was still flickering fire in the cave.

As he slept too long during the day and couldn't fall asleep after tossing and turning in bed, Chen Zhou could only find something to do to kill time.

By the light of the campfire, he took out a ruler and measured the length and width of the entire seal skin. Then, based on the size, he took several thick branches and nailed them into a frame slightly larger than the seal skin.

Then, Chen Zhou made seven small holes on the edge of the fur.

The small holes are used to pass thin ropes, tied to the frame, and tighten the seal skin.

Then he took out a dull iron knife and began to scrape the fat and meat from the skin.

This is a delicate job that requires a lot of eyesight, especially in the dimly lit cave with flickering flames.

After working for nearly two hours, the large seal skin was finally cleaned.

Sitting by the fire, Chen Zhou dozed off due to the heat.

Controlling his upper and lower eyelids that were eager to kiss each other, he scraped off the last piece of flesh, tightened the thin ropes on the frame, and found some cool wood ash to smear on the inside of the fur - this would help the moisture evaporate.

After the wood ash was evenly applied, the frame covered with seal skin was taken to the depths of the kitchen.

The first step in tanning fur, cleaning the fur, is already done.

The second step is to dry the fur.

During this process, the fur needs to be stretched out and stretched as tight as possible, and it must not be exposed to rain or dew, or even moisture.

Until the fur is completely dry, it will not rot.

This step usually takes a week. If you are in a hurry, you can also use fire or smoke to roast it.

Chen Zhou wanted to put the fur by the fire to roast for a while, but he was too sleepy.

After moving the tanned leather frame, he walked to the bed in a daze, rubbed his sore and swollen eyes, and fell asleep.

(End of this chapter)