(Heard in a Public-House at Rotherhithe)
The jolly English Yellowboy Is a ’ansome coin when new, The Yankee Double-eagle Is large enough for two. O, these may do for seaport towns, For cities these may do; But the dibbs that takes the Hislands Are the dollars of Peru: O, the fine Pacific Hislands, O, the dollars of Peru!
It’s there we buy the coconuts Mast ’eaded in the blue; It’s there we trap the lasses All waiting for the crew; It’s there we buy the trader’s rum What bores a seaman through. … In the fine Pacific Hislands With the dollars of Peru: In the fine Pacific Hislands With the dollars of Peru!
Now, messmates, when my watch is up, And I am quite broached to, I’ll give a tip to ’Evving Of the ’ansome thing to do: Let ’em just refit this sailor-man And launch him off anew To cruise among the Hislands With the dollars of Peru: In the fine Pacific Hislands With the dollars of Peru!
Tahiti, August 1888.