Songs of the sea and lays of the land :: :: University of Virginia Library

CHARLEY BUFF

Oh Charley Buff was his parents' joy,
And as he always told,
He went to sea as a cabin-boy
Before he was one year old.

Chorus.

Now this is pretty bad,
But it's nothin' to what's a-coming:
Yet Charley he was a truthful lad,
And never indulged in humming.

And this Charley Buff allays said to me:
“To lie I cannot afford,
For you know I hev got more truth in me
Than all of the rest on board.

“I have seen in the isle of Barriboo
Such high-sized coco-nuts,
That the natives used to split 'em in two
And use 'em to make their huts.

“I hev seen the Kanaka women
Foller a ship'n full sail,
A thousand miles a-swimmin'
For a bottle or a tenpenny nail.

“I hev seen the eggs of the toodly-wang;
It's a bird in the Muldive Isles;
And when they hatch they burst with a bang
You can hear five hundred miles.

“From a Cariboo king named Jocko,
A man of cheerful life,
For only a fid of tobacco
I bought me a beautiful wife.

“One night she was gone, by gum!
But as soon as ever I missed her,
From the king for a glass of rum
I bought her younger sister.

“One evening for their tea
Her family broiled and ate her;
‘Never mind!’ says the king to me,
‘Just go and pick out a better.’”

Chorus.

Now this is pretty bad,
Yet it's nothin' to what's a-coming;
But I hear the old man a bawlin' like mad,
So I guess I will stop my humming.

“Wal,” answered Brown, “that comes it rather strong.
Now if you like I'll sing a pirate's song
Of which you all have heard at times a bit;
I've jined 'em into one to make 'em fit,
Like beads upon a string, altho' I fear
It's partly pirate and part mutineer.”