It has been a difficult thing 
to obtain sufficient voluntary labor 
to work the great isolated mines 
and farm lands of Mars, 
which are all owned by 
the governments where they are located. 
Convicts, prisoners of war, 
delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors, 
unable to pay the high celibate tax, 
work off their debts to society
at these necessary labors.

When they had heard my story--
I omitted all reference to Dejah Thoris 
and the atmosphere plant--
they advised me to seek military service. 
One of them explained, 
"We are warlike people on Barsoom,
and save our richest favors 
for the fighting man."

The Ptors were the personification 
of cordiality and hospitality, and 
I stayed with them for several days, 
resting and recuperating from my long 
and arduous experiences.
 

This was my first opportunity
to study red Martian people
in their normal life, 
and I found the experience fascinating 
and extremely enjoyable.

Martian nights are --
 
 

-- very cold.

The farms,
situated on the canals 
which stretch from pole to pole, 
are necessarily located
in remote, isolated parts --

-- in wild stretches of
uninhabited country
peopled only by --

-- wild animals, some of which are --
 

-- extremely dangerous, --

Only courage --
 
 

-- sets one free.

They cut my hair 
in the prevailing fashion and 
equipped me 
with the metal and harness 
of the House of Ptor, 
and gave me a bottle of pigmented oil
to color my skin 
so that I might pass anywhere
as a Red Martian.

They also gave me 
a small sack of oval coins
to finance my journey onward, 
to be repaid 
when I was better established.