THE INDIAN OCEAN. 35 1 



acquainted. As he proceeded, he found the roof of 

 the cave entirely covered with small nests, shaped 

 "like holy-water pots." Each of the nests con- 

 tained two or three eggs or young, which lay softly 

 on feathers, such as clothed the breast of the parents. 

 They were found to be glued firmly to the rock, but 

 having detached several, and brought them on board, 

 they were recognized to be the same w r ith those 

 which form so valuable an article of merchandize in 

 China. The sailor, profiting by this information, 

 preserved his portion, which he afterwards sold well 

 at Canton. The intelligent traveller, on the other 

 hand, took coloured drawings of his captures, and 

 speculated concerning the nature of the nest. He 

 conjectures, that it is composed of a gluey substance 

 often seen floating in those seas, which he considers 

 to be fish spawn. 



More recent accounts agree generally with this. 

 In a little island on the coast of Java, called the Cap, 

 Sir George Staunton found some caverns running 

 horizontally into the side of the rock, in which were 

 numbers of these birds'-nests. " They seemed to be 

 composed of fine filaments, cemented together by a 

 transparent viscous matter, not unlike what is left 

 by the foam of the sea upon stones alternately 

 covered by the tide, or those gelatinous animal sub- 

 stances found floating on every coast. The nests 

 adhere to each other, and to the sides of the cavern, 

 mostly in rows without any break or interruption. 

 The birds that build these nests are small grey swal- 

 lows, with bellies of a dirtv white. Thevwere flvingj 

 about in considerable numbers ; but they were so 



