WeenteredtheZambesiabouttheendofNovemberandfounditunusuallylow，sowedidnotgetuptoShupangatillthe19thofDecember。ThefriendsofourMazaromen，whohadnowbecomegoodsailorsandveryattentiveservants，turnedoutandgavethemaheartywelcomebackfromtheperilsofthesea:theyhadbeguntofearthattheywouldneverreturn。Wehiredthematasixteen-yardpieceofclothamonth——abouttenshillings\'worth，thePortuguesemarket-priceoftheclothbeingthensevenpencehalfpennyayard，——
andpaidthemfivepieceseach，forfour-and-a-halfmonths\'work。A
merchantatthesametimepaidotherMazaromenthreepiecesforsevenmonths，andtheywerewithhimintheinterior。Ifthemerchantsdonotprosper，itisnotbecauselabourisdear，butbecauseitisscarce，andbecausetheyaresoeageroneveryoccasiontoselltheworkmenoutofthecountry。Ourmenhadalsoreceivedquantitiesofgoodclothesfromthesailorsofthe\"Pioneer\"andofthe\"Orestes，\"andwerenowregardedbytheirneighboursandbythemselvesasmenofimportance。Neverbeforehadtheypossessedsomuchwealth:theybelievedthattheymightsettleinlife，beingnowofsufficientstandingtowarranttheirenteringthemarriedstate；
andawifeandahutwereamongtheirfirstinvestments。Sixteenyardswerepaidtothewife\'sparents，andahutcostfouryards。Weshouldhavelikedtohavekeptthemintheship，fortheywerewell-
behavedandhadlearnedagreatdealoftheworkrequired。Thoughtheywouldnotthemselvesgoagain，theyengagedothersforus；andbroughttwiceasmanyaswecouldtake，oftheirbrothersandcousins，whowereeagertojointheshipandgowithusuptheShire，oranywhereelse。Theyallagreedtotakehalf-payuntiltheytoohadlearnedtowork；andwefoundnoscarcityoflabour，thoughallthatcouldbeexportedisnowoutofthecountry。