Kurland and his party first reported to the city hall, and after registering at the town hall, Kurland and several agricultural experts each obtained a property in the city of Soga.

Although he got a property for nothing, Kurland asked with some anxiety: "This house really doesn't need money?" So what about its quality? ”

"You can rest assured that housing allocation is a very routine operation in East Africa, and you, as a high-quality talent introduced by the East African government, will also enjoy better treatment than ordinary immigrants and even officials."

Hearing is believing, seeing is believing, and Blanco takes a few people on a tour of their new home.

"Each house is 140 square meters in size, with three bedrooms and one living room plus two bathrooms and a kitchen, and a small garden, and Soga is also a garden city, you see, in addition to the gardens of every house, there is this thing called green belt on both sides of the road, which is unique to our East African cities."

However, Kurland's focus was obviously not here, and he asked Blanco: "I always feel that you are a little too bold in the use of the land, and the walking path in front of the house is fine, is the road we came from too wasteful?" I used to live in Landshut and have been to Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and other cities, to be honest, the roads in Soga are a bit wide, and it is easy to understand that there are many people in Dar es Salaam, but there are no people in Soga, and the utilization rate is too low. ”

Blanco didn't care: "The road is not too wide, as for the low utilization rate, there will be more and more people coming to Soga in the future, don't worry about this, after all, the city is developing, and now the roads in European countries are much wider than before, although the improvement is not big." ”

That being said, Professor Kurland said, "You're a little too urban. ”

As he spoke, Kurland also noticed that Soga's street lamp seemed to be installed with electric lights, which also surprised Kurland.

"I now suspect more and more that the Kingdom of East Africa is not an African country, and that you have spread electric lights in the cities, which I am afraid can only be done in the capitals."

"Electric lighting is also rare in East Africa, only two cities in the capital and Soga have achieved widespread use, such as Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, only a small part of it is used, and as for other cities, only Nairobi and Mbeya, two industrial cities, use electric light, and in other areas, only a few government offices may use it."

Blanco opens the door and delivers Brand's luggage to the house.

You can see that the quality of these houses is very good, there is no cutting corners, just looking at the outside, the things that should be on the inside are not bad.

"Completely solid wood furniture, but considering your preferences, we have only prepared a few basic pieces of furniture, a desk, two chairs, and a bed, if there is a need, everyone can go to the furniture store to match their favorite."

"There is an electric light in every room, which is a pull switch, but I want to warn you that electricity is very dangerous, do not modify the circuit at will, or touch the wires and circuits with wet things including metal and hands, if there is a problem, go to the power bureau to find a professional to repair or change it."

This kind of popular science is very necessary, the second industrial revolution has just begun, and electricity, as a new thing in the second industrial revolution, is still relatively unfamiliar to many people in this era.

"The living room actually has a compartment that can be used for desks and bookshelves, facing the balcony, so it's very light."

"It's a toilet with a faucet, sink and toilet and bathtub with a 24-hour water supply."

"The kitchen, we are not too decorated, and the furniture, you can decorate according to your own ideas, but there is also a public canteen in Soga City, which can solve the problem of eating, the bad news is that you need to pay, the good news is that the price is very cheap, and the chef's skills are quite good, the current public canteen is configured according to the scale of seven hundred people, because there are not many people in Soga, so only one is enabled, just in the northwest corner of this block."

"There are three bedrooms in total, you can bring your European family to live in, otherwise it would be a little empty to live in such a big house alone."

Brand was quite pleased with the living conditions, but he quickly thought of a problem: communication with Europe.

"Is there a telegraph office in Soga?"

Blanco: "Of course, Professor Brand, the telegraph office, the shops, the canteen, etc., are all in the northwest of the community, and the telegraph here has direct access to Europe. ”

"That's great, I think I'll be able to call my family and friends over in a while." Brand said.

It's also great for East Africa, as the saying goes, like gathers like, people divide into groups, and Brand's circle as a biologist is not destined to be unknown.

However, Brand also said that it will take a while, because he is still in the research stage of East Africa, and the most important thing is that the working environment has not been carefully examined.

Soon, Blanco broke his doubts.

"This is the East African Rice Research Institute, the location is a little off, this is because considering that the experimental site is different from the general scientific research after all, so choose the suburbs, but this is not far from your residence, only less than two kilometers away, the follow-up government will distribute East African traffic rules notices and means of transportation to relevant personnel."

What kind of transportation! The answer is bicycles, bicycles are not a rare thing, but the Heixingen daily necessities company did not produce on a large scale, but took the luxury route, the main reason is that there is no large-scale mass production of rubber in East Africa, and the rubber used in European bicycles is imported from Brazil, and the production of rubber in Brazil is not high, as for Southeast Asia, there is no shadow of rubber now, and it was not until after 1876 that Britain began to introduce rubber to Southeast Asia. At present, East Africa is the only country in the world where rubber is grown on a large scale and ready for commercial rubber production.

And now the bicycle produced by the Heixingen daily necessities company is more strange, its tires are solid, only used for shock absorption, so that the bicycle is relatively easy to use on flat ground, and the off-road is much worse, which makes the bicycle a novelty completely enjoyed by the rich and nobles, because the practicality is too poor.

Hollow pneumatic rubber tires, of course, there are, the Heixingen consortium applied for a technology patent, but Ernst does not want to promote it on a large scale now, mainly because he does not want this money to be made by Brazil, Brazilian rubber is now a monopoly market, and the pricing power of raw materials is not in the hands of the Heixingen consortium.

However, this situation will change this year, because rubber is already ready to be put into production in the Great Lakes region, and in addition to the Great Lakes region, there are actually several small rubber growing areas in East Africa during the same period, mainly in Turkana province and the rainy areas at the intersection of the coastal plain and the highlands.

As for the larger rainforest region, the western side of the Mitumba Mountains, it will take a few years to plant it later. However, the production of the Great Lakes region, as well as a few small producing regions, is sufficient to meet the needs of the world's natural rubber market.

Heixingen did not let go of bicycle technology production in Europe, but used the form of squeezing toothpaste, and constantly stood out in appearance and decoration, after all, the bicycle is now a noble plaything, how to look at luxury.

When East African rubber matured, the company also planned to invest in the construction of a number of factories centered on the rubber industry in East Africa, and bicycle tires were one of them.

Blanco continued: "Of course, it's not that far, it doesn't take long to walk, and there's a public carriage to use. ”

"In addition to these, there is a library in the center of the city, where some non-special materials can be consulted, because the collection of books is not very rich because it has just been completed, but it is constantly being replenished."

(End of chapter)