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It was on a pleasant evening in the lovely month of June,
I took a walk from camp, my boys, all nature was in bloom;
I took a walk from camp, my boys, to view the scenery 'round,
And 'twas there I spied an Indian girl a-sitting on the ground.
She did not seem to notice me until I drew quite near,
I said, "My pretty Indian girl, what are you doing here?
You do surprise my very eyes although you are a squaw,
Tell me why you're so lonely on the banks of Panama."
"Draw near to me, kind sir," she said, "and I will tell you all,
My brother and my sister died when I was very small;
My brother and my sister died, likewise my paw and maw,
And that's why I'm so lonely on the banks of Panama.
"And that was not the worst of all, a sweetheart he was mine,
He was the greatest scout that rode the British borderline;
He courted me, he flattered me, he said I was his squaw,
Then he left me here heart broken on the banks of Panama."
I said "My pretty Indian girl, come along with me,
I'll take you to a happy home in a paleface counteree;
I'll dress you up in silks so fine, the best you've ever saw,
And no more you'll need to wander on the banks of Panama."
"Oh, no, no, no, kind sir," she said, "it's a thing I'll never do,
I made a vow to live and die with the reindeer and the doe;
Since my paleface broke his oath and I am but a squaw,
I made a vow to live and die on the banks of Panama."
A lumber camp song sung by Pattie Maher (b.1893) of Flatrock, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA). A variant was also collected in 1960 from Leonard Hulan of Jeffrey's, NL, by Ken Peacock and published as The Banks Of Penmanah in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.424-425, by The National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
MacEdward Leach also collected a variant published as #95, Banks Of Panama, in Folk Ballads And Songs Of The Lower Labrador Coast by the National Museum of Canada (Ottawa, 1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
