The Indians of Tsetacol greeted them. More precisely, they greeted the Japanese warmly, and Keeps-Canoe-Off-Rocks and their Ohlone translator with considerably more reserve.
As Yoshimichi walked through the village, it was apparent that he was among a different group of Indians. For one thing, their huts were rectangular, while those of the Chumash were round. For another, when one of the samurai spotted a condor and aimed his bow at it, the Tsetacol tribesmen became extremely agitated, enough so that Yoshimichi ordered the bowman to stand down. Yet, in the Chumash village at Morro Bay, Yoshimichi had seen a condor sacrificed by a shaman. A twentieth-century anthropologist would have labeled the Tsetacol as Salinan.
Keeps-Canoe-Off-Rocks spoke some Salinan, which would have been more useful if Yoshimichi’s translator knew more Chumash. However, Yoshimichi felt fairly confident that the Tsetacol didn’t have any more jade, and that they got it by trading with villages farther north.
* * *
Beyond the Tsetacol were the Chaal, who lived between Cambria and San Simeon. When the Japanese boat approached the shore, the Chaal shot at them. The samurai were eager to shoot back, but Yoshimichi ordered them to hold their fire. A second and then a third volley of arrows came their way, and one struck a crewman.
“Return fire,” Yoshimichi ordered. The samurai were happy to oblige him.
They heard an Indian cry out, and Yoshimichi ordered “Desist!” His immediate purpose wasn’t to massacre the Indians, just to make sure they didn’t think the Japanese were patsies.
They tried to make contact again the next day. This time, they landed unopposed. However, when they cautiously ventured inland, they found that the Chaal had hastily abandoned their fishing camp. Clearly, if the Chaal had jade, Yoshimichi wasn’t going to find it this time around.
He decided that pursuing the Chaal with so small a force was a really bad idea, and the Japanese returned to their boat.
A turn of the weather brought fog to the coast, and they had to give a wide berth to Ragged Point, which lay a few miles north of San Simeon.
Not far north of Ragged Point, the terrain changed. The Santa Lucia Range marched beside the sea. There was mile after mile of sea cliffs, against which the waves beat furiously.
They would have to wait for better weather to make landings here, even if they were lucky enough to find a sandy cove.
Yoshimichi reluctantly gave the order to sail to Maruya. Perhaps First-to-Dance, who had been off on a mission to the Ixchenta when he had gotten Danzaemon’s message, could provide some guidance. Jade didn’t have the mystique in Japan that it had in China, but it was still valuable.
* * *
“I think this is made of the same material as your drill bit.” First-to-Dance handed over a green stone.
Yoshimichi pulled out a knife, and tried to scratch it. The knife had no effect; a good thing, since jade is harder than steel.
“Well, is it jade, Yoshimichi-san?” she demanded.
“Come outside with me.” He studied it in the harsh light of the afternoon sun, tilting it this way and that. “It is like the ocean, it has translucency, depth. I would swear that it is jade. Where did you find it?”
“One of the Ixchenta had it. They call this a warming stone; it is placed in the campfire, to heat it up, and then it’s carried along when you must go somewhere that’s cold.”
“Is it found on Ixchenta land?”
“I don’t think so. At least, this one came in trade from the Esselen. The Ixchenta say that the Esselen live on the cliffs of the coast to the south.”
“Great. I can go up and down this coast, year after year, until I am old and my teeth fall out. Unless you can show me on a map where the Esselen live.”
First-to-Dance wasn’t sure of the exact location—her tribe didn’t trade with the Esselen directly—but she thought it was the Big Sur country, somewhere between the mouth of the Carmel and the up-time town of Lucia. That narrowed the search area down a bit.
Yoshimichi swore. “All that time with the Tsetacol and the Chaal wasted.”
“I am sorry to add to your troubles, but you need to know about the Esselen. They are very shy, they are hard to find, and their language is difficult to learn.”
Yoshimichi swore again.
* * *
With some trepidation, Yoshimichi reported to Shigetsuna. The latter, fortunately for Yoshimichi, was willing to be philosophical about it: “If there’s a jade drill bit among the Chumash, and a jade warming stone among the Ixchenta, there’s certainly more jade in the Big Sur country, waiting for us to find it.”
When he in turn, reported to Date Masamune, they agreed that the best strategy was to show the finds to the commissioners and to be cautiously optimistic about the chances of finding the source.