COCHIN-CHINA. 67 



above is then to be ftewed in a pot with a fufficient quantity of 

 water, and left on the coals the whole night. The beft kinds 

 which are white, and quite j)ure from dirt, are diflblved in broths 

 in order to thicken them, and to give them tliat flavor the 

 Orientalifts fo much admire. Of the black and foul nefts is made 

 glue. 



Mr. Latham * gives the following account : " It weighs about 

 *' half an ounce, and is in fhape like half a lemon, or, as fome 

 *' compare it, to that of a faucer, with one fide flatted where it 

 ** adheres to the rock. The texture of it is fomewhat like Ifin- 

 *' iW^t or rather more like fine Gmn-dragon-, and the feveral 

 *' layers of the matter it is compofed of very apparent ; being 

 ** fabricated from repeated parcels of a foft flimy fubftance, in. 

 " the fame manner as the martins form theirs of mud. Authors 

 ** differ much as to the materials of which it is compofed ; fome 

 " fuppofe it to confift oi Jea-'-joorms of the Mollufca clafs ; others 

 " of x.\\efea-qualm (a kind of cuttle fifli) or a glutinous fea- plant 

 *' called Agal Agal. It has alfo been fuppofed that they rob 

 ** other birds of their eggs, and, after breaking the fhells, apply 

 ** the white of them for that purpofe. 



" These nefts are found in vaft numbers in certain caverns in 

 *< various ifles in the Soolo Archipelago^ fituated between Longi- 

 ** tude 117° and 120', Lat. 5 and 7 ; particularly in three 

 ** fmall ifles or rather rocks, in the caverns of which the nefts 

 *• are fovind fixed to the fides in aftonifliing numbers. They 

 ** are alfo found in amazing quantities on a fmall ifland called 



• Vol. ii. 579. 



K a « roc, 



