Chapter 13

Raka commented, “My John always has long-term plans, but often he cannot use them as he doesn’t know enough about people or places or local customs. For example, he didn’t know that some tribes name the Great Mother as the Lord Father. Not knowing such details could upset one of his plans, I would guess.”

John responded, “Raka, you know me so well, my dear. However, I was thinking of something more immediate: how do we move the completed bicycles as a group to the fisher village for collection by the sea merchants?”

Raka’s eyes blinked as she suddenly had to sort this out.
“Oh, yes. We do have to move them. To do it right, we certainly need to move more than one at a time, as otherwise it would be a procession of people walking the machines all the way there then walking back alone. Can we link some bicycles together so that one person can manage to move them? Oh, dear.” She tailed off while she considered the problem.

John suggested, “Can we tie three or four together and still wheel them along the trail? Is the trail wide enough for the walker to hold the machines from the side?”

Raka’s face cleared.

“We could use straight branches and tie them from the following machines to a fixed part of one in front, making the three at the back act like a trailing unit. We could link these three close together. The walker can hold the front bicycle. The whole assemblage will be able to go along the trail and can get to the village effectively, for the bends in the trail are not that abrupt. The total length should be manageable.

That means one person with four bicycles at a time. I am sure we can get all the bicycles to the fisher village without too many people being needed.”

John smiled and clapped his hand on Raka’s shoulder.

“I knew you would come up with a solution,” he said. “Karma, that is the kind of thinking that a Maker has to offer. Do you believe you can think that way for Raka?”

Karma was still astonished at how quickly Raka had devised a solution to a practical problem, but said, “I am sure I can learn to think that way, High Chief. It seems to be that you look at the facts and see where the answers might lie. In this case, it was the restriction of the width of the trail and the limitation on people needed to move the machines. Raka thought about a configuration of the machines to keep them narrow and yet allow a person to be able to stand by one and hold it for moving forward. She added a fixture to link the three that could be fixed together, to the leading bicycle that the person could push along the trail with the other three following along. Clever, but simple in basic concept. I like her way of thinking.”

John smiled again. “You should fit in well, Karma. Now, the person wheeling the bicycles will not be able to protect themselves easily. How would you solve that question?”

Karma thought about it, then offered, “You need a warrior for protection, but if you could get several people each with four machines to follow each other, then one warrior should be able to offer protection to the whole group.”

“Excellent! Exactly what I wanted to hear: practical thinking. You are indeed a practical person, Karma. What do you say, Raka?”

Raka exclaimed, “Perfect for our needs, John. Whether she can make things or not, just solving problems by clear thinking like that will assist us tremendously.”

Karma asked, timidly, “I have a job with Raka, then?”

Raka told her enthusiastically, “Yes, you do. If I have enough time before my baby arrives, we can train you to watch over the work our team are doing. Good thinking is sometimes needed to ensure that the making continues properly when it hits a snag.”

“You can count on me, Raka,” Karma declared loudly.

John asked Raka if he could make up the first four-bicycle set for tomorrow. John had decided that he should visit the fisher village to arrange for secure storage of the collection of bicycles when they arrived. The village headman must be certain that he had full control over the bicycle storage until the sea merchants got there from their southern voyage. He walked back to Numa and explained his thinking.

Numa asked him, “What will you say about the widows of Mabana? You cannot take them back with you.”

“The truth, Numa; that they will become wives to me and Mabana’s children will formally become my children, in fulfillment of my promise to Shaman Mabana.”

“And what of the fact that the coming babies were fathered by you?”

“In my dealings with the fishers, these babies will always be known as children of Mabana. I can make no other claim and be true to Mabana’s memory. In the years to come, their parentage will gradually fade into insignificance as they become acknowledged as officially my children. It is a just ending.”

She agreed to his proposal, and he arranged to leave in the morning. He found Salla and Tula and gave them the news of his visit, asking if there was any message that they wanted passed on to relatives or friends. Tula seemed confused by the thought, but Salla confidently told him, “It is best that there is a clean break with the tribe. Just tell the Headman that we send him greetings and want him to know that we are settling in well at our new tribe. We will be happy to see any messenger who calls here, and give them up-to-date news.”

“Thank you, Salla. I will convey that message to the Headman of the village.”

The next morning, John set off, complete with a four-set of bicycles that were ready to go. He expected that his enhanced hearing and other abilities would protect him from predators. He was right in that assumption, for he got there with no trouble, without even hearing a predator. He wondered if the predators were becoming fewer in number due to human action.
Arriving at the village, he wheeled his bike set to the Headman’s hut and requested an audience. The man’s wife rushed to find him, as he was not at home. She brought him back ten minutes later, and as he walked up he smiled at John and his contraption.

“Welcome, High Chief. What is this peculiar construction that you bring with you?”

“I greet you, Headman, as one Chief to another. This conglomeration you see is the first batch of bicycles requested by the sea merchants; the men who left us that large pile of bison hides. There are more of these bicycles to be delivered, so I have come to ask permission to store them somewhere in your village so that they will be kept safe for when the merchants get here from their voyage to the south.”

“Store them here? How many, and how much space will be required?”

“The number is as yet undetermined, but probably at least four hands of them. This is four of them, linked so as to make it simple for one person to deliver them here, so space for a hand of these sets at a minimum. Do you have a vacant hut, or do we need to make one for this purpose?”

“Mabana’s hut remains empty, as we have not yet found ourselves a new shaman. You have seen it, so do you think that will do?”

John considered, and swiftly saw that it would work, if there was a stronger door to be placed as a barrier.

“I think that would be perfect, Chief. I would need to install a solid door to the hut, as a deterrence to visits by mischievous young children or others who might interfere with the bicycles. It is a precaution that is probably not needed, but I would feel happier if we had such a door, fixed so that you could open it when more deliveries arrive. A simple high-level bar across the doorway would probably do as the protection for the door, with a daub of a sticky substance to show any unwanted attempts at entry. I will also place a curse on the door as an extra precaution.”

“Why such provision, High Chief?”

“The bicycles take much effort to make and so are valuable to us, and also valuable as trade goods that the sea merchants want to have from us.”

“That is a wise precaution, High Chief. I approve it.”

John got together with the closest they had to a village Maker, and they made and fixed a stout door for Mabana’s hut, then added wooden supports either side for a strong wooden bar across it at chest height. The Maker had a resin-based soft glue that could be used to make removing the bar a slow and sticky process, so they applied that once the bicycle set was placed inside.

That completed, John went back to the Headman and reported what they had done. The Headman grunted his approval then asked, “What of Mabana’s family? Are they safe?”

John explained that they had been safely delivered to his own tribe and were settling in. He passed on the message from Salla, and added that any visitor from the fisher village was welcome to visit with them at any time.

“That bit was to reassure their friends and relations that all is well with them. Their woman Cara who acted as carrier for their possessions decided she liked our tribe’s treatment of women and has elected to remain with them.”

“Ah, so we should not expect her to return. Pity. We are getting low on women for our men.”

John’s brow furrowed, and he said, “I should have thought it was the other way around, for she said something about losses of fishers at sea. I took that to mean a shortage of men.”

The Headman growled, “She speaks truth on that. I was trying to make it seem better, but fishing is a dangerous occupation. If a boat gets swamped, we usually lose all the men on board.”
John queried him, “Can’t any of them swim?”

“A few, but they wear protective clothing and if that gets wet, it usually pulls them under. They don’t have time to get out of the clothing and try swimming to another boat.”

John gave a quick thought to that matter and asked, “Do you have a maker who can design clothes for you?”

“We used to have, but he left for another tribe, and so we don’t have a Maker now. Why?”

“Because if the problem is clothing that gets wet too quickly once you are in the water, the fault lies with the clothes. A Maker should be able to design clothes that can be slipped off quickly if you fall into the sea. That way, you have a chance to swim to safety.”

“How could that be done?”

“Well, for a start there should be only closure knots that release with a pull of the end of it. Then the weaving of the clothes should be more open, so that the clothes can be opened easily in water. If any of the clothing is made of leather, then the joins between sections should be of thin threads that can pull apart with a sharp tug. A good Maker ought to be able to devise clothing that does all these things.”

“Oh.” The Headman sounded as if he had been accused of being stupid. “Do you think that some of our women who weave and sew our clothing might be able to do that?”
“It is possible. Why don’t you ask around, or better still, get your wife to do the asking. She should be able to judge who might have the necessary skills.”

“You make it sound so easy, High Chief.”

“It is because I was forced to learn how to react positively to any problem we encountered in my previous life. We had to think on the spot and find a workaround that would help solve our difficulties. Once you get into that mindset, you always automatically go into ‘solving the problem’ mode of thinking about such matters. That doesn’t make me a Maker, but it helps me see what might work, if someone else can do the Making.”

“Great Earth Mother! That is a useful ability to have. If you have no objections, can I ask my wife to do what you suggested?”

“Feel free to do so, my friend. Mabana might have come up with some ideas, if he was still around. I wish you well in finding replacements for your Maker and your Shaman.”

John stopped talking as an idea came into his head. He had a memory of a photograph of 19^th century fishermen wearing cork life-jackets on their boat.

“Sorry to change tack, but I suddenly though of a way to stay afloat: a flotation device made from tree bark. Do you know of any trees that have thick but soft bark?”

John was thinking of cork, but recalled that cork was obtained from a Mediterranean tree that was never found in the Americas. The nearest equivalent was the bark of the Douglas Fir and the Giant Sequoia, both of which were found in the area of California. There might be nothing else suitable in Central America.

The Headman pondered the question, but all he could come up with was that there was a tree which had bark that you could strip off and use part of it for making a writing surface for pictograms. He mentioned this to John, saying that it was the inner bark that was used. John asked him, “What happens with the outer bark of that tree?”

“I have never heard any mention of that stuff, so I suppose that it is just tossed away or burned on the tribal fires.”

John commented, “If it is thick and spongy, you possibly could tie some of it in layers, then fasten it front and back to a leather topcoat, so that the wearer has a chance to float with that device.”

“Won’t it get in the way when fishing?”

“Not if the arms are free to do the work of pulling your nets.”

“Nets? We do most of our fishing with long lines, so that you can get your hooks at all depths from the waves to the sea bottom. We have used some small nets when fishing in rivers, or for holding captured fish to keep it alive and fresh until we get home. What would be the point of larger nets?”

John was quick to point out a difference.

“A shoal of fish usually sticks close together, so if you have a large net in the water, you have a chance to collect a large number of fish all at the one time. A large net should be cone shaped, with the open end of the cone nearest the boat, and the end closed off to stop the fish escaping. Such a large net is best used between two boats sailing together, and so you have two crews to help pull up the net with all the fish trapped inside.”

The Headman stared at John, increasingly astonished at John’s knowledge. He asked, “Are you sure you haven’t done fishing before, High Chief?”

“No, my friend, but I have seen fishermen at work somewhere else and long ago. I always pay attention to what I see, for it often pays to know things. Anyway, do you know of any bark that floats well?”

“I don’t think so. It would need to be thick bark, I am certain. Why not use wood?”

John mused, “Most wood is likely to be too dense and heavy for a flotation measure. You would need to use something like balsa wood, as that is much less dense than water, so it should be good for a flotation device. Does it grow here?”

“I don’t know. That name means nothing to me. Can you describe it to me?”

“As far as I recall, it is a fast-growing tree with large leaves. It usually grows in patches where other trees have fallen, and it grows swiftly towards the light. Does that cause any memory in your head?”

“Not really, but I can get people to ask around. Someone ought to have encountered it. Perhaps a trader knows of it, for a very light wood would have uses other than floating. I expect some forest tribe will be using it.”

At that comment, John wondered if one of the artists in Numa’s tribe used balsa wood for carving. He would need to check that once he got home. If they did, he would have a clue as to where it was found.

He also decided to comment on the village.

“Chief, my observations of your village suggest more women than men, but none of them look prosperous. Is there a reason for this?”

The Headman’s eyes bored into John’s face, trying to work out what was going on in his visitor’s head.

He shrugged, saying, “Too many widows, High Chief. Widows have little to spare for anything but the basics. That is life.”

“Cannot some of your men who have only one wife, take on another to help her?”

The Headman told John, “That is fine in theory, but in practice the cost of having two wives is high for a fisherman in hard times for fishing. It is a practical problem that is not solved by a transfer of women and so transfer of costs. Sad, but there it is.”

John pointed out, “So it is an economic matter? Your economy is not large enough to pay for all the costs? You need to diversify, my friend.”

“Diversify? What is that, John?”

“New sources of income. You either find a better way of fishing, or do something other than fishing to have something to trade with. What resources are available to you, other than fish?”

“Well, there are shelled creatures like crabs and lobsters; creatures that crawl on the bottom of the sea. That is all.”

“You need to spread your thinking wider than the sea, Chief. There is the land, starting at the beach. Beaches tend to be awash with shells, don’t they? How about collecting intact shells and making the small rounded ones into necklaces? Gather the large scallop shells and market them to traders as drinking cups. Find the prettiest shells and stones on the beach and sell them to tribes like mine as material for making attractive art objects.