THE SEA-SHORE. 173 



from sea-weed. They are occasionally brought to 

 England, but are too highly prized in China, 

 where they are imported in great quantities, to 

 become an important article of commerce; the 

 purest being frequently sold for their weight in 

 gold. " The collecting of birds' nests appears, 

 from Mr. Crawford's account, to be as perilous a 

 toil as our fearful trade of gathering samphire ; 

 for, he says, the nests are obtained in deep and 

 damp caves, and are most esteemed if taken before 

 the birds have laid their eggs. The coarsest are 

 those which are collected after the young have been 

 fledged. The finest nests are the whitest, that is, 

 those that are not defiled by the young birds. 

 They are taken twice a-year, and if regularly col- 

 lected, and if no unnecessary injury be offered to 

 the caverns, the produce is very equal, and the 

 harvest very little, if at all, improved by being left 

 unmolested for a year or two. Some of the 

 caverns are extremely difficult of access, and the 

 nests can only be collected by persons accus- 

 tomed from their youth to the office. In one 

 place, the caves are only to be approached by a 

 perpendicular descent of many hundred feet, by 

 ladders of bamboo and rattan, over a sea rolling 

 violently against the rocks. When the mouth of 

 the cavern is attained, the perilous office of taking 

 the nests must often be performed by torch-light, 

 by penetrating into the recesses of the rock, where 

 the slightest trip would be instantly fatal to the 

 adventurers, who see nothing below them but the 

 turbulent surf, making its way into the chasms of 

 the rock." 



The fresh-water Algae, besides supplying fish 

 with an inexhaustible stock of food, are of great 



