After crossing the sea guided by the Bellman's map of the Ocean--a blank sheet of paper--the hunting party arrive in a strange land, and the Bellman tells them the five signs by which a Snark can be identified. The Bellman warns them that some Snarks are highly dangerous Boojums; on hearing this, the Baker faints. Once revived, the Baker recalls that his uncle warned him that if the Snark turns out to be a Boojum, the hunter will "softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again." The Baker confesses that this possibility terrifies him.

The hunt begins:

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

They pursued it with forks and hope;

They threatened its life with a railway-share;

They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Along the way, the Butcher and Beaver, previously mutually wary, become fast friends after the Butcher gives the beaver a lesson on maths and zoology. The Barrister, meanwhile, sleeps, and dreams of witnessing a court trial of a pig accused of deserting its sty.

During the hunt, the Banker is attacked by a bandersnatch, and loses his sanity after trying to bribe the creature.

The Baker rushes ahead of the party, and calls out that he has found a snark, but when the others arrive, he has mysteriously disappeared, leading the narrator to explain: "For the Snark was a Boojum, you see."

Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford, who lived from 1832 to 1898. Carroll lived with physical deformities, partial deafness, and an irrepressible tamer. His unusual appearance caused him to behave awkwardly around other adults, and his students at Oxford saw him as a stuffy and boring teacher. He held strict religious beliefs, serving as a deacon in the Anglican Church for many years. Beneath Carroll’s awkward exterior, however, dwelled a brilliant and imaginative artist. A gifted amateur photographer, he took numerous portraits of children throughout his adulthood. Carroll’s keen grasp of mathematics and logic inspired the linguistic humor and witty wordplay in his stories. Additionally, his unique understanding of children’s minds allowed him to compose imaginative fiction that appealed to young people.