The Snark Hunters' Blank Map, an illustration by JVL in Lewis Carroll's
The Hunting of the Snark, Artists' Choice Editions, 2006.
The text:
23
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!
24
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.
25
"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!
26
"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!"
27
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.
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