ch. xii.] Edible Swallows' Nests. 237 



be dashed to pieces on the rock-strewn shore below. 

 The nests thus obtained fetch as much as eighteen 

 dollars per catty, a weight equalling \\ lb. English. The 

 finest birds'-nests are clean and white, as if made of 

 isinglass ; the worst resemble dirty glue, to which 

 feathers and other impurities are attached, and between 

 these extremes there are all sorts of intermediate quali- 

 ties. These nests are obtained in rocky caves through- 

 out Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, but nowhere are they 

 obtainable finer in quality than here, at Sandakan Head. 

 Large quantities of small or seed pearls are obtained 

 here, also Bornean camphor, the produce of Dryobalanops 

 camphora, a large tree often one hundred to a hundred 

 and fifty feet in height. As a product, it is quite distinct 

 from the common camphor of commerce, which is 

 obtained from Laurus camphora by the Chinese of Hong 

 Kong, who send nearly all of it to our markets, while 

 they, in their turn, highly esteem the Bornean produce, 

 and pay high prices for it. It is obtained in the form of 

 tears and crystallised lumps from the trunk of the tree, 

 and in general appearance is so like the finer kinds of 

 " dammar " gum, that this latter is often used by the 

 collectors as an adulterant. The Chinese traders, how- 

 ever, are rarely imposed upon. The camphor, in its 

 pure state, resembles solidified spirit, and being extremely 

 volatile, it burns with a clear light flame. To detect 

 adulteration, the Chinese are said to spread a little on a 

 white cloth and set it on fire ; the pure camphor burns 

 cleanly, and does not soil the cloth, whereas the dammar, 

 if such is mixed with it, melts and sets the cloth on fire. 

 The people from the Teutong river, and the Kayans 

 on the Baram, collect large quantities of camphor and 

 caoutchouc, and prahus with a cargo of these products, 

 worth from one to two thousand dollars, visit Labuan, 



