California's western coast stretched north, while cold, stern mountains rolled on endlessly to the east. Most of the time, the shore was all sheer cliffs, jagged rocks, and towering forests.
For the native peoples settled here, this was fertile land that was very hard to open up. Without suitable crops, the fields yielded little; without metal tools, the forests were difficult to cut down. And California's Mediterranean climate left the warm summers rainless for months, while the cold winters were filled with storms. Whether summer farming or winter fishing and hunting, everything became extremely difficult. Under such harsh conditions, the average lifespan of most tribes hovered around twenty years, and the passing down of knowledge was often broken.
So, even with towering mountains blocking the all-destroying cold waves from the north, the number of California natives still could not compare with the tropical tribes to the south. In this era, this fertile wilderness that would later hold a full forty million people had, at most, only several hundred thousand Indian tribesmen. And across the entire continent of North America, this tribal density already far exceeded the central and eastern parts of the continent, those lands of death forced to face the cold waves head-on!
Simply put, cold and bountiful North America was indeed a paradise in the industrial age, and a hell in the farming age.
The exploration fleet stayed only one day with the Salinan's Oak Tribe. Zuwaro brought his translators and, with a few Copper Axes, "fairly" exchanged for many acorn cakes, sea fish, and berries. Afterward, he led the fleet onward north, leaving the wary Salinan behind, and leaving only a group of Tribal Hunters marveling at the sharpness and toughness of the Copper Axes.
Past the Salinan coast, they were above 35 degrees north latitude. This