EDIBLE S WALL O W NES TS. 249 



abroad from their holes, with a loud fluttering noise, and in 

 the dry season rise so high into the atmosphere in a moment, as 

 they have to seek their food in distant parts, that they are soon 

 out of sight. In the rainy season, on the other hand, they 

 never remove to a great distance from their breeding places. 



About four in the afternoon they again return, and confine 

 themselves so closely to their holes, that none of them are seen 

 any more flying, either out or in, but those which are hatching. 

 They feed upon all sorts of insects which hover over stagnant 

 waters, and these they easily catch, as they can extend their 

 bills to a great width. They prepare their nests from the 

 strongest remains of the food which they use, and not of the 

 scum of the sea, or of sea-plants, as some persons have supposed. 

 They employ two months in preparing their nests ; they then 

 lay their eggs, on which they sit for fifteen or sixteen days. 

 As soon as the young are fledged, people begin to collect their 

 nests, which is done regularly every four months ; and this 

 forms the harvest of the proprietors of these rocks. 



The business of taking them down from the rocky ledges on 

 which they are placed, is performed by men who have been 

 accustomed from their youth to climb amongst these dangerous 

 places. They construct ladders of reeds and bamboos, by 

 which they are enabled to ascend to the holes ; but if the 

 caverns are too deep, they employ ship-ropes. When they 

 have got to the bottom of a cavern, they place bamboos, with 

 notches in them, against the wall, if these be sufficiently long 

 to reach the nests, but if not they stand on the ladders, and 

 pull the nests down with poles of bamboo made for that 

 purpose. This employment, which is very dangerous, sacrifices 

 the lives of a great many men, and particularly of thieves, 

 while attempting to rob the caverns at improper seasons. 

 For this reason, small watch-houses are everywhere built in 

 the neighbourhood. 



The mountaineers, who are the persons chiefly accustomed 

 to this employment, never undertake their labour till they 

 have slaughtered a buffalo as a propitiatory sacrifice, which is 

 the usual preparation made by the Javanese for all their under- 

 takings. On such occasions they mutter over a few prayers, 



