Hearing what Su Bai said, all the audience began to concentrate on observing the bamboo umbrella that Su Bai was making.
This umbrella is very small and can barely cover an eight-year-old child. Adults cannot hide under it to avoid the rain.
The two bamboo strips are bent into two bamboo rings, one large and one small, under the influence of charcoal heat.
Eight shallow grooves are carved into the front of the ring, and fish bladder glue is applied to them.
Eight bamboo pieces are arranged in rows and fit together with these two large and small rings to form a simple umbrella-shaped structure.
There was a tiny gap left at the tip. Su Bai tried and was able to pass a small bamboo pole through.
After finishing the structure, Su Bai cut two pieces of alkali-washed fish skin and carefully pasted them on the front with fish bladder glue to form an umbrella.
Although the fish scales fell off during the drying process, there are still a lot of wrinkles on the front of the growing scales, which are attached to the bamboo sheets.
The flat and smooth back of the fish skin is exposed on the outside.
Barrage:
【……】
[Sorry for my poor eyesight...how is this thing used???]
[How can a fish skin umbrella collect dew? 】
【I don’t understand.】
Zhao Xinqing also had a puzzled look on her face.
Su Bai chuckled and said:
"Watch."
After that, he reached out and dug a hole in the soil.
Using a small bamboo tube to measure the depth of the pit, Su Bai began to adjust the width of the pit again when the entire bamboo tube had not penetrated the surface of the pit.
When the diameter of the pit was slightly smaller than that of the fish skin umbrella, Su Bai placed the fish fillet umbrella face down on the pit.
Zhao Xinqing and Danmu watched Su Bai's operation and fell into silence for a while.
Barrage:
【……】
【What kind of cerebral palsy operation is this?】
【Dig a well?】
[I know, this is collecting rainwater! Su Bai is awesome!]
[Wait a minute, didn’t Su Bai say before that he was collecting dew???]
Zhao Xinqing looked at it for a while, seemed to remember something, and suddenly said:
"Is it possible to use the structure of the umbrella surface to collect water that evaporates from the ground?"
"This water vapor will condense into dew on the umbrella surface, and then converge along the center of the umbrella surface."
"When the water droplets flow to the center of the umbrella, they will fall into the bamboo tube."
Su Bai nodded and said:
"Yes, my family is still smart."
"This device uses the transpiration effect of soil to collect dew."
"Water from the earth evaporates into the air all the time, and rises together with water vapor from other channels to form clouds."
"We can't see it, but this water does exist. If it can be utilized, it can definitely solve more than half of our water source problems."
Su Bai said, pointed at the fish skin umbrella and said:
"After the moisture in the pit evaporates, it will condense on the inside of the umbrella surface."
"The free moisture in the air will also sink and fall on the outside of the umbrella surface, condensing into dew. Using the same principle, it will pass through the hole in the middle and slide into the bamboo tube."
"This way, dew can collect on both sides of the fish skin."
"Of course, the big head is still on the inside."
Barrage:
【……】
【emmmmm...the principle is this.】
[But this is not very reliable, right?]
【How much dew can this small device collect? 】
Su Bai continued to explain:
"If it's daytime, about five to six hundred milliliters of water can be collected."
"But we have to travel during the day, so we can only collect at night."
"Without sunlight at night, the transpiration will be weakened, so it's only about 300 milliliters."
"If there are ten of them, three liters of water can be collected."
"Even though such a device is inconspicuous, if there are ten of them, it is not light in weight and not small in size. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to carry it through the wilderness. You can only carry three or five at most."
"However, we have snacks here, and the load-bearing capacity is very strong."
"Bring twenty of them. When setting up the camp every night, you only need to dig twenty holes. When you wake up, you will have six liters of dew."
"And these twenty umbrellas, stacked together, would only take up half of the bamboo basket prepared for snackers."
"The remaining twenty small bamboo tubes may take up a lot of space, but they are also very cost-effective."
Zhao Xinqing hesitated and said:
"Wait a moment……"
"Six liters of water... isn't enough."
"At least ten liters of water should be prepared for snackers."
"We also need to drink at least one liter each."
"The daily bottom line is twelve liters."
"This is only half..."
Su Bai smiled brightly and said:
"It's not the only way to get water."
"We can also obtain daily drinking water from other sources to fill the remaining gap."
Zhao Xinqing nodded repeatedly:
"You have so many ideas!"
"What else can I do?"
Su Bai brought two bamboos, chopped them into pieces, and said:
"We'll talk about it later."
"First make these twenty dew collection devices."
"This device is very stable and is almost not subject to any environmental restrictions."
"Other methods, more or less dependent on the specific conditions of the surrounding environment, may not be effective."
The two worked together and worked together to make the umbrella cover of the dew collection device using bamboo and collected fish skins.
After it is done, place it in the sun and use the sun to speed up the drying process of the fish bladder glue.
This thing doesn't seem to be difficult, but in fact it requires two people to devote their energy to making it carefully. They can't make too many mistakes, otherwise once wrinkles appear on the fish skin, it will greatly affect the efficiency of absorbing water.
Not to mention using the heat of charcoal to bend the bamboo to form a ring, which is also a very delicate job and cannot allow the two of them to relax.
It took them until 4:30 in the afternoon to finish fifteen umbrella covers.
The snow leopard had actually stayed in the camp of the two men until this moment, which made Zhao Xinqing dumbfounded.
This snow leopard had been squatting next to the fish pond for half an hour before catching a fish. It ran up to Zhao Xinqing and "purred" while rubbing Zhao Xinqing's legs, as if asking for credit.
The barrage made me laugh out loud.
【Pfft hahahaha...】
[How long does it take you to catch a fish? Don’t you know how long it takes you to catch a fish? 】
【This is too bad!】
[You have the nerve to come here and ask for credit...]
Zhao Xinqing laughed along with the barrage for a while, then while stroking the back of the snow leopard's neck, she said:
"Don't underestimate her too much."
"The long wait is due to felines' cautious nature."
"But the current success rate of snow leopards catching fish is 100%."
"For a snow leopard who has never caught fish before, this success rate is amazing!"
Su Bai nodded and said:
"This is the patience I have always emphasized with you."
"Successful flowers take time to water."
"You can catch it accurately every time. This is amazing."
"And as time goes by, snow leopards will become more and more skilled, and the preparation time for catching fish will definitely become shorter and shorter."
The snow leopard squatted at Zhao Xinqing's feet and finished the fish he caught. Feeling that he was not full, he returned to the fish pond and squatted to catch the fish himself.
Zhao Xinqing and Su Bai ignored her and let her enjoy herself.
Unexpectedly, until 4:30 in the afternoon, when the two of them were ready to call it a day, the snow leopard hadn't left yet...
"I really don't want this kid anymore???" Zhao Xinqing rubbed her brows with a headache.