The Hunting of the Snark is a nonsense poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll, telling the story of ten characters who cross the ocean to hunt a mysterious creature known as the Snark. The poem was published in 1876 with illustrations by Henry Holiday. This is the tenth plate from his illustrations, accompanying "Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing", in which things end badly for the Baker, one of the hunters:
Illustration credit: Henry Holiday; restored by Adam Cuerden
In the midst of the word he was trying to say
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.