Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 762 - 759: There are two trees in front of the door, one is...

The rise and fall of Easter Island seem extremely objective to the whole of human society, so objective that it's almost indifferent.

This isolated island became an excellent "experimental field."

Before modern times, no outsiders had ever set foot on Easter Island. On this remote island, the sediments at the bottom of the ponds were completely undisturbed—the topmost layer being the closest to the present day, and the lowest layer being the farthest from it.

In the nineties, the latecomers of the technological boom, after exploring and studying the distribution of plant pollen in the sediments at the bottom of the island's ponds, coolly and clearly saw the entire course of over a thousand years.

Before all such evidence, it was like sitting in front of a TV, watching the entire island transform from a lush forest into a sparse grassland.

What the islanders ate was equally clear. By analyzing the island's garbage dumps, designated for waste and skeletons, one could find the most direct evidence. To ascertain that a bone belonged to a dolphin, it wasn't necessary to find a complete skeleton; sequencing was enough to determine the animal.

It was the use of this modern technology that gradually stripped the mysterious island of its mystery, revealing it to be cursed with ill fate.

With no metal, the native islanders had to make do with Stone Age tools, so for 1300 years, more advanced agricultural tools, weapons, and boats could not emerge, and expansion beyond the island was out of the question.

The blind worship of the moai statues on Easter Island consumed vast resources and accelerated the complete collapse of the island's social structure.

"Perhaps one could say that once a closed ecological system begins to decline due to human consumption, there's no chance for it to rise again, it just keeps falling, caught in a vicious cycle."

Bi Fang stopped walking and looked at the stone statue beside him.

"Many anthropologists, sociologists, and environmentalists are now very interested in the history of Easter Island, because they feel it may presage the future of humanity."

Is this alarmism?

No one knows the answer.

From another perspective, if we magnify Easter Island's area by 1000 times and increase the population by a million times, it would be comparable to Earth.

If later observers also viewed it from God's perspective, if there were intelligent life on 'Earth Island.'

Does its development also depend on critical geographical conditions that are lacking?

Aren't its natural resources limited?

Isn't it also suspended alone in the cosmic ocean?

Isn't there also no exchange of resources with other planets?

Then, isn't its future just an enlarged version of Easter Island?

[Terrifying when you think about it!]

[My brain can't handle it, the doctor told me to eat, drink, and not overthink]

[Such huge mental pressure isn't something a primary student like me should bear; let sociologists worry about these things (Dog's head)]

[I'm only going to think about what to eat tonight]

[I can't polish or wax satellites, nor design planets. I can't maintain and care for the global oceans, repair and reinforce the melting glaciers at the Arctic and Antarctic, nor renovate nuclear warheads. But it's Thursday, Brother Fu owes me 50, I'll eat KFC for you]

"Yes, let's leave such problems to anthropologists and sociologists to worry about. I just want to chop down a suitable tree to make a boat, that's all."

Bi Fang smiled.

In fact, the disaster that befell the inhabitants of Easter Island was far from over. In 1862, eight pirate ships visited the island, capturing all the natives fit for slavery and boarding them onto ships. They took away a total of one thousand people, which was half the population.

All one thousand were men, including the Chieftain himself and his children. None were spared.

Moreover, at that time, the smallpox virus was rampant, and like the Indians, the natives here also had no immunity. By 1865, when a French missionary arrived on the island, he counted the population and found less than 500 people remaining on Easter Island.

In the following 10 years, many of those who remained moved to Tahiti with the merchant fleets to make a living.

By 1877, just 15 years after that massive slave tragedy, the population on the island was counted again, and there were only 111 people left.

The population of Easter Island plummeted in this manner: from over 20,000 to over 2,000, to over 1,000, to less than 500, and finally to just 111 people.

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It was not until April 5, 1888, which was also Easter Sunday, that the government of Chile declared its occupation of Easter Island. What followed was continual immigration, development, and farming, until today, when an Easter Island focused on tourism presents itself before the world.

An island separate from the world might not necessarily display the idyllic scenes described in "The Peach Blossom Spring": "a broad expanse of land, neat houses, fertile fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees, and bamboo. Paths crossed each other with chickens and dogs being heard from one family to another."

More likely, it might repeat the tragedy of Easter Island.

"The trees on the island now almost all arrived after the late 20th century when the tourism industry began booming. At most, they might have not been growing for thirty years, so naturally there would be no giant trees."

"However, there are some trees that were transported here precisely because they were big enough..."

Bi Fang stopped in his tracks, looking at the resort in front of him.

As a well-known tourist destination, Easter Island naturally has numerous luxury hotels. Many of their packages cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, after all, visitors willing to spend tens of thousands on flights wouldn't care about spending a bit more to enjoy top-notch services.

If it were cheaper, this crowd might feel it wasn't worthwhile.

The reason Bi Fang stopped here was that this resort was a bit different.

At its entrance stood two big trees, one a palm tree, and the other also a palm tree...

Could these two be cut down?

Bi Fang was somewhat tempted.

Having walked around the island for a bit, it was impossible to find naturally grown large palm trees. One could only look for those which were transplanted mature trees.

There was no doubt the two trees at the entrance to the resort had been transplanted. They were quite tall, at least over fifteen meters. Typically, a ten-meter palm tree would need nearly twenty years to grow, and for fifteen meters, one shouldn't even think about it without an age of thirty years or more.

Moreover, given Easter Island's remoteness, transplanting trees here, not to mention the price of the trees themselves, would mean the transportation costs alone were extremely high, indicating that the resort did quite well.

So many short trees on the island, yet only the two towering ones in front of the resort offered a refreshing sight, while also adding a touch of grandeur, much like the Welcoming Guests Pine on Mount Huang.

Such fine material!

Bi Fang reached out to touch the bark, rough and wide, with shady leaves and a pleasingly vigorous growth, obviously well-cared-for.

Recalling what an official in Santiago had assured him, patting his chest, "Want to use the island's trees to build a boat? No problem, cut down any you want, if it's on the island, cut them all down, no issue!"

People can't just go back on their word, can they?