June 1875.
East Africa Kingdom, Central Province, Mikumi area.
Mikumi is a transitional area between plateau and plains in the Central Province, where mountains, hills, and plains meet, and forest and savannah intersect.
The rainy season just ended, leaving the soil still moist, with a hazy mist lingering among the mountains and forests. The Central Railway passes through here, resembling a steel dragon slowly disappearing from the coastal plains into the East African highlands.
On both sides of the railway are East African villages and fertile fields. However, this year the villagers witnessed quite a spectacle: the Kingdom's army conducted a grand military exercise in Mikumi. From five in the morning, the rumble of guns and artillery broke the region's peace, and even smoke from gunfire could be seen rising halfway up the hills from the fields on the plains.
