The last of the crew needs especial remark,
     Though he looked an incredible dunce: 
He had just one idea—­but, that one being “Snark,”
     The good Bellman engaged him at once.

He came as a Butcher:  but gravely declared,
     When the ship had been sailing a week,
He could only kill Beavers.  The Bellman looked scared,
     And was almost too frightened to speak: 

But at length he explained, in a tremulous tone,
     There was only one Beaver on board;
And that was a tame one he had of his own,
     Whose death would be deeply deplored.

The Beaver, who happened to hear the remark,
     Protested, with tears in its eyes,
That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark
     Could atone for that dismal surprise!

It strongly advised that the Butcher should be
     Conveyed in a separate ship: 
But the Bellman declared that would never agree
     With the plans he had made for the trip: 

Navigation was always a difficult art,
     Though with only one ship and one bell: 
And he feared he must really decline, for his part,
     Undertaking another as well.

The Beaver’s best course was, no doubt, to procure
     A second-hand dagger-proof coat—­
So the Baker advised it—­ and next, to insure
     Its life in some Office of note: 

This the Banker suggested, and offered for hire
     (On moderate terms), or for sale,
Two excellent Policies, one Against Fire,
     And one Against Damage From Hail.

Yet still, ever after that sorrowful day,
     Whenever the Butcher was by,
The Beaver kept looking the opposite way,
     And appeared unaccountably shy.

Fit the Second

The BELLMAN’S speech

The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies—­
     Such a carriage, such ease and such grace! 
Such solemnity, too!  One could see he was wise,
     The moment one looked in his face!

He had bought a large map representing the sea,
     Without the least vestige of land: 
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
     A map they could all understand.

“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
     Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry:  and the crew would reply
     “They are merely conventional signs!

“Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes! 
     But we’ve got our brave Captain to thank: 
(So the crew would protest) “that he’s bought us the best—­
     A perfect and absolute blank!”

This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
     That the Captain they trusted so well
Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
     And that was to tingle his bell.

He was thoughtful and grave—­but the orders he gave
     Were enough to bewilder a crew. 
When he cried “Steer to starboard, but keep her head larboard!”
     What on earth was the helmsman to do?