But things are never as bad as you think they are. After two years the farm produced enough food for me to sell, and after four years in Brazil, I'd learned Portuguese and made several friends among the local farmers. By this time I also had three men to help me on the farmers, but there was still too much work. I definitely needed more help. One day some of my friends came to me and said they were planning to send a ship to Africa to bring back slaves for their farms.