I loved the story of taking a mooring near the palace of the "King of Oudh" (unless I'm mistaken, Oudh is the region to the NE of Delhi, so it seems as if Bullen's ship had gone a very long way up the Ganges. Could this be right?).
Yes, it could be right. Isn't it mind-blowing though? There is a great historical novel that recently came out by A. Ghosh, SEA OF POPPIES, set in the 1830s. It describes ships coming from up river beyond Benares. I'd have to guess that maybe the "King of Oudh" at that time was in Allahabad. And to think that the chantey raised was "Johnny Come Down to Hilo." What a life!

I suppose nowadays we have to smile ruefully at the prejudices of Bullen and his friend Arnold, which seemed so obvious, so axiomatic at the time.
The language is indeed very quaint, but notably the stereotypes are very positive ones. Really, Bullen was probably the first early writer to really acknowledge the Black origins of chanteys. I mean, he really emphasizes it. His selection of songs, too, reflects that opinion, especially in the way that he clearly excludes the two really English-type songs from the category of "chanty."

It wasn't next until Hugill's text, I think, that the great contribution of Black chanteymen was again emphasized. But even his presentation had the affect of less emphasis than Bullen (...but this is a long, side topic).

Compare this with Cecil Sharp's ENGLISH FOLK-CHANTEYS, which came out in the same year as Bullen's. (One of the operative words is "English".) He was less enthusiastic when referring to "the vexed question of negro influence." He instead emphasizes a "stock of peasant tunes" that was supposed to be in the memory banks of "every country-bred sailor."