4C0 THE INITABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
Who can explain the instinct which prompts the birds to giue 
their nests to the high dark vaults of those deep, and apparently 
so inaccessible, caverns? Did they expect to find them a safe 
retreat from the persecutions of man? Then surely their hopes 
were vain, for where is the refuge to which his insatiable avidity 
cannot find the way? At the cavern of Gua-gede, the brink 
of the precipitous coast lies eighty feet above the level of the sea at 
ebb-tide; the wall first bends inwards, and then, at a height of 
twenty-five feet from the sea, throws out a projecting ledge which 
is of great use to the nest-gatherers, serving as a support for a 
rotang ladder let down from the cliff. The roof of the cavern’s 
mouth lies only ten feet above the sea, which, even at ebb-tide, 
completely covers the floor of the cave, while at flood-tide the 
opening of the vast marine grotto is entirely closed by every wave 
that rolls against it. To penetrate into the interior is thus only 
possible at low water, and during very tranquil weather ; and even 
then it could not be done, if the rugged roof were not perforated 
and jagged in every direction. The boldest and strongest of the 
nest-gatherers wedges himself firmly in the hollows, or clings to 
the projecting stones, while he fastens rotang ropes to them, which 
then depend four or five feet from the roof. To the lower ends of 
these ropes long rotang cables are attached, sothat the whole forms 
a kind of suspension bridge throughout the entire length of the 
cavern, alternately falling and rising with its inequalities. The 
cave is 100 feet broad and 150 long as far as its deepest recesses. 
If we justly admire the intrepidity of the St. Kildans, who, let 
down by a rope from the high level of their rocky birthplace, 
remain suspended over a boisterous sea, we must needs also pay a 
tribute of praise to the boldness of the Javanese nest-gatherers. 
Before preparing their ladders for the plucking of the birds’ nests, 
they first offer solemn prayers to the goddess of the south-coast, 
and sometimes deposit gifts on the tomb where the first dis- 
coverer of the caverns and their treasures is said to repose. 
Thus in all zones and in every stage of civilisation, man is 
directed by an inward voice to seek the protection of the invisible 
powers when about to engage in a great and perilous undertaking. 
As I have already mentioned, the Salangana builds her nest of 
sea-weeds, which she softens in her stomach and then disgorges. 
During its construction new layers, which soon grow hard in 
the air, are continually deposited on the margin, until it has 
