New Theorij of the Edible Swallow-nests. 59 



the rest of the Sunda Islands, are here scarcely worth 

 naming. 



It has been long disputed whence this industrious little 

 warbler obtains the material for his nest, and it was in all 

 probability the circumstance that it was generally believed 

 to consist of particles of sea-weed, fish-roe, and marine ani- 

 malculse of the medusa class, which secured for these nests 

 such a celebrity among Chinese gourmands. A German 

 naturalist, Professor Troschel of Bonn, affirms however, on 

 the strength of an analysis of these nests, that the notion 

 hitherto prevalent as to the component parts of these nests 

 is entirely erroneous, as they consist of nothing else than a 

 thick, glutinous slime, secreted from the salivary glands, 

 which, at the period when the Indian swallow builds its nest, 

 swell out into large whitish masses. This slime, which is 

 susceptible of being drawn out in long filaments from the bill 

 of the animal, is quite analogous to gum Arabic. Whenever the 

 bird is desirous of constructing its nest, it causes this salivary 

 substance, which at that period is copiously secreted, to ad- 

 here to the crags, till its elegant nest is finished. 



One of the days during which the frigate lay in Nangkauri 

 harbour, the geologist of the Expedition made an excursion 

 in a native canoe along the coasts of Kamorta and Tringkut, 

 as these islands at the points where the shores are precipitous 

 furnish the only possible geognostic facilities, the forest or the 

 thick covering of vegetation in the interior of the island 

 quite concealing the geological conformation. Our Chinese 



