Chapter 177 Grazing
After eating, Hornfeth stretched and then started to pack the equipment, while Maria was cleaning up the dishes.
Hornface squatted in front of the bed, tied the laces of his riding boots, took out a wooden box from the bottom of the bed, opened the lid, and inside was a buttered musket. He checked the status of the gun. .
Put on your coat, tighten your belt, check the amount of ammunition, and put it in your pocket.
Then he wrapped the gun with a cloth tape, carried it on his back, came to the wall, and took off the straw hat from the wall.
"The water bag has been filled, and I have put dry food and a raincoat in the bag." Maria handed over a brown leather bag.
Hornfeth kissed Maria's forehead and said, "My dear, I'm leaving."
Maria snuggled into Hornfeth's arms and said, " I will prepare dinner, but be careful when you go out and don't be too anxious when riding."
"I know, I will be careful," Hornface promised.
The two walked out of the house together. Hornfeth came to the stable, took off the whip from the wooden stake, held it in his hand, fixed the saddle, stepped on the stirrup, stood up and jumped onto the horse's back. superior.
"Wait until I come back!" Hornfeth said to his wife, and then drove his horse to meet his colleagues.
The village where Hornface is located has not many people, just a dozen households, and soon all the villagers gathered.
The village chief Karl counted the number of people, and after confirming that they were correct, he said: "Go to the cattle pen and drive out all the cattle."
The cattle pen was built next to the village. It is not small in scale, with a total of more than 300 cows. .
Hornfeith and his colleagues opened the cattle pen and drove the cattle out. A dozen people drove the cattle toward the pasture.
"Drive."
......
East Africa is a large natural pasture. Hornfeth and his team drove the cattle to a place with abundant water and grass, and then began to graze.
The cattle in northern Kenya are not the ones Ernst imported from the Netherlands, but domestic cattle native to Africa. They are mainly used for livestock power and later food, and the cows in the Netherlands are all in the upper coastal areas. Keep them in captivity, after all, they are more delicate, so it is better to be careful.
These native cattle in East Africa were naturally snatched from the hands of the indigenous people, and then concentrated by the East African colonies to be raised on pastures here in Kenya.
There are very few domesticated animals in Africa, but they are not without them. For example, the domestic donkey is said to be domesticated from two subspecies of African wild ass in East Africa, the Nubian donkey and the Somali donkey. Today, there are still these wild donkeys in Somalia and Ethiopia. Donkeys Alive, of course, is a masterpiece of ancient Egypt and has little to do with sub-Saharan natives.
The origin of African cattle is somewhat controversial. There are three theories. Early archaeological research believed that African cattle were not domesticated locally, but Asian and European cattle passed through the Nile River Basin and East Africa (Somali Peninsula). spread.
In the late 20th century, the archaeological community began to propose that African domestic cattle were domesticated from African native bison.
Later, it was said that the western desert area of Egypt was the third place of origin for domesticated cattle. Of course, Ernst was inclined to the theory of multiple domestication. After all, there are records of domesticated cattle in many parts of the world (America, Australia) , except Oceania).
No matter what, the existing domestic cattle in East Africa are now trophies of East African colonization. In addition to African domestic cattle, the East African colonies also have a group of African zebu, which were mainly brought to East Africa from the Indian Peninsula by Arab and Indian traders in the Middle Ages. They are distributed in many places in East and Central Africa.
Currently in East Africa, the two are grazed together in the grasslands of northern Kenya.
Across northern Kenya, the number of cattle currently registered in the East African colonies is about 130,000. Many cattle are also raised in other areas of the East African colonies, but the scale is not as large as in northern Kenya, and they are mainly used for livestock power.
Hornface was riding a horse and observing the surroundings. Although the East African colonies had carried out extermination activities against large wild animals in northern Kenya many times, it was inevitable that some fish would slip through the net.
So Hornfeth and other cattle herders are armed to graze in response to emergencies.
Before the development of the East African colonies, the number of cattle in East Africa was much more than it is today, but the number snatched from East Africa itself was not large. For example, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, the Kingdom of Buganda and other large breeding companies were only driven away by East Africa. Cattle were used as Most of their important assets were taken away during their escape.
These domestic cattle in the East African colonies mainly come from nomadic peoples on the East African grasslands, such as the Maasai and other nomadic peoples. After robbing their assets, some were turned into slaves in East Africa, and some were expelled westward from East Africa.
In addition to domestic cattle, East Africa itself has a large number of African wild buffalo. However, wild buffalo are not welcomed in East Africa. In the early days, they were used as food rations by East African immigrants. After the development of food cultivation, the problem of eating for immigrants was solved. , the African wild buffalo has fallen into the same fate as lions, hyenas and other beasts. Most of them were killed in the developed areas of East Africa. Now they only live in the Serengeti grassland, the East African Rift Valley, the Mazaro Mountains or other remote mountain forests. .
It was at the end of the rainy season, and it began to rain lightly. Hornfeth and others put their raincoats on their bodies. This light rain season is when the water and grass are luxuriant and suitable for grazing, so a raincoat is a must-have item. .
The life of herding is generally boring, but it is also relatively leisurely, especially for grazing in fixed areas like East Africa. Cattle herders do not need to travel around like cowboys in the American West, because East Africa is not like the United States. Huge consumer market.
At the same time, the current cattle herd in East Africa is not large, and exports are not very effective. In recent years, cattle breeding has been the main focus.
I don’t know how long it took, but the light rain stopped. It was almost noon, and Karl invited everyone to sit around and have lunch.
“Oh, I really wish time would pass by quickly. Every day when I eat big cakes, I miss home the most. Village chief, aren’t you from the Far East? Tell us the story of your hometown!” said Schubert, a young man from Bavaria.
Yes, the village leader Karl is a Chinese. Although his name sounds completely European, he was actually given it in Europe. He was an early student of the Hechingen Military Academy. Later, due to poor speaking skills , he was sent to an internship in a company in Berlin, and gradually he learned a pure Berlin accent.
Karl seemed to recall his days in the Far East and said: "Let's talk about my hometown! The climate there is very similar to East Africa, but the life is similar to Europe. There are also endless wheat fields, and every village There are many people.
But the houses in our villages are very different from those in Europe, and the roads are similar to those in East Africa. Before coming to Europe, I had almost never seen a city. I grew up in a village and only saw a city once before I was taken to Europe. What does it look like? On the day I went to sea for the first time, the team leader told us that the port city was called Jiaozhou, which is a big city in the Far East. It was from there that I went to sea to Europe..."
"Village Chief, you Don’t talk about Europe! We are mainly interested in the Far East. My wife heard that she is from you, so I would like to hear more about the situation in the Far East. "Schubert said.
"The Far East is very big, and I don't know if your wife and I are from the same place. Later, the world map I saw in Hechingen, our place is almost the same as the whole of Europe. The language may be different in many places. Many of my classmates at that time came from the same place as me, but I couldn’t understand the dialects of many people. I guess the difference is about the same as German and French. How do I know which province your wife is from? Moreover, I never went to school in the Far East. I only remember the name of my old village and the seaside place in Jiaozhou. I don’t know much about many places in the Far East. I only heard some place names when listening to village operas, but I didn’t know them. Where are those places. "Karl said.
Maybe in this life these villagers will not know that their wives and Karl are not from the same country at all. They only know that their wives are from the East, but where exactly? In this closed era, there is no After studying knowledge and culture, I have never been able to figure it out in my life.
Even Karl only knew what his country looked like through the world map at Hechingen School. Many rural people may have never visited it once in their lives. County town, trapped in the countryside all his life.
The wives of the villagers come from all over Southeast Asia. They are just as ignorant as before Carl went to school. They may not even know where their own country is.
(End of this chapter)