Part 3 — XCIII.
Reading edition
Another chorus tune of the same kind is:—
[Listen] [XML]
The gal over yonder carry banana, gal oh! gal oh! carry banana. A nine-hand banana, carry banana, a Chiney banana, carry banana. You find the banana? carry banana. You tief the banana? carry banana.
The girl is supposed to be carrying a bunch of bananas on her head, and the singers are commenting upon it and asking the girl questions, as they do here at a distance of half-a-mile. "Look! It is a nine-hand banana. No, a China banana. Did you find it? Did you steal it?"
Banana bunches are reckoned by the number of hands they contain, the separate bananas being called fingers. Nine-hand is a convenient market size. The China banana is a stout low kind which withstands wind: the fruit is, however, coarse.
The signal for taking a partner is given by the words "You find the banana?"