v.] THE ''BIRDS' -NEST SWALLOW." 99 



and seas of the Company's territory is, with the exception perhaps 

 of gutta, practically inexhaustible. But of all the exports the 

 edible birds' nests are by far the most important. The Gomanton 

 Hill, in the neighbourhood of the Sapugaya Eiver, alone produces 

 enormous quantities, — to the annual value, indeed, of over £5000. 

 The caves of Bodmadai in Darvel Bay are reported to be nearly 

 as valuable, and there are eight or ten others which are for the 

 most part either indifferently worked or as yet unexplored. The 

 nests are di\T.ded, according to their colour and purity, into three 

 qualities, puti, manas, and itam (white, medium, and black), which 

 at a low estimate are severally worth about eleven hundred dollars, 

 two hundred dollars, and ninety dollars per ])icul of one hundred 

 and thirty -three pounds. That the value of this article of 

 commerce is considerable may be judged from the fact that for the 

 half-year ending June, 1882, the duties on birds' nests exported 

 from Elopura at five per cent amounted to a sum of eleven 

 hundred dollars. On the 1st of January, 1883, the duty was 

 raised to ten p^ cent. 



The "Birds' -nest Swallow" is essentially a gregarious bird, 

 roosting and building in huge caves which it shares with vast 

 quantities of bats. It does not invariably breed thus, for I have 

 seen a couple of nests built close together on the face of a small 

 cliff barely ten feet from the sea-beach, exposed to the full glare of 

 daylight. Such instances, however, are exceptional. In the vast 

 majority of cases the nests are placed on the sides and roofs of 

 caves where the light is generally dim, and often entirely absent. 

 We were unable to visit the Gomanton Hill as we had intended, 

 but I am indebted to my friend ]\Ir. Bampfylde — one of the few 

 Europeans who has explored it — for the following account of the 

 method of collecting : — 



" The nests being situated in sucli awkward positions, at a great height, 

 much skill and ingenuity is employed, and only skilled collectors can collect. 

 The rule is to have one head-collector (Tukang) for each cave, wdth three or 

 four coolie collectors to assist him, though all the caves cannot require so 



