Ah! how the crew praised God to see
The welcome green of grass and tree;
And, oh, how pleasant was the sight
Of shady streets and houses white!
A boat was manned, and brought a score
Or so of invalids ashore;
With fever pale, with scurvy black,
Or yellow with the Yellow Jack.
Some went where by the old canal
Stood Van der Stel's sick hospital;
But one, of gentle birth and mien,
Was by the lady's father seen,
And lodged and nursed a month or so
Within their house in Bromner's Row.
(Old English travellers agree
To praise Cape hospitality.)
She nourished him with jellies fine,
Custards and rich Constantia wine;
And when he went to take the air,
She used to walk beside his chair.
He told her stories of the East,
Of savage man and savage beast;
Of palms that waved o'er coral isles,
And rivers full of crocodiles;
Of marble tombs with gems inwrought,
And sacrificial Juggernaut;
Of jewelled Begums and Bashaws,
Rodgers, Nabobs, and Sabberdaws;
Of pirate Angria and the fray
'Twixt Great Mogul and Grand Sedey;
