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 And the negro maids to Aves from bondage fast did

flee, To welcome gallant sailors, a-sweeping in from sea.

O sweet it was in Aves to hear the landward

breeze,

A-swing with good tobacco in a net between the trees, With a negro lass to fan you, while you listened to

the roar Of the breakers on the reef outside, that never

touched the shore.

But Scripture saith, an ending to all fine things

must be ; So the King's ships sailed on Aves, and quite put

down were we. All day we fought like bulldogs, but they burst the

booms at night; And 1 fled in a piragua, sore wounded, from the fight.

Nine days I floated starving, and a negro lass beside, Till, for all I tried to cheer her, the poor young

thing she died;

But as I lay a-gasping, a Bristol sail came by, And brought me home to England here, to beg

until I die.

And now I'm old and going I'm sure I can't tell

where ; One comfort is, this world's so hard, I can't be worse

off there:

If I might but be a sea-dove, I'd fly across the main, To the pleasant Isle of Aves, to look at it once again.

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