100 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. [chap. 



many, and I fancy, Avitli a proper dmsion of labour, ten head-men with fifty 

 coolies would be sufficient to collect at Gromanton. The higher the nests are 

 situated the better they are, being drier and freer from dampness. For taking 

 the nests situated lower do^^^l, and for getting those out of arm's-reach, a very 

 long bamboo, spiked, and with a candle near the spiked end, is used ; with 

 this they can see and detach the nests. Those situated higher up, and 

 consequently the most valuable, being the majority of them situated in such 

 dizzy heights (up to 600 feet), are taken by means of rattans or rattan-ladders 

 lowered down between holes and small outlets, some of them too small to 

 permit a man to pass through, of which there are many. Where a man can 

 pass through, they employ a rattan or ladder long enough to reach do^^^l to 

 the nests, otherwise a ladder long enough to reach the ground is let do-wn, so 

 that the collector can ascend. By using sticks and bamboos inserted in 

 cre\ices and holes they can, in a most extraordinary manner, work their way 

 along the faces of these precipices to a recjuired point, and in one or two 

 places I have seen stages fixed right on to the roof, where it would seem 

 utterly impossible for a man to work his way. One I noted about 300 

 feet from the ground, with no outlet close to it, and situated equidistant from 

 the walls, right in the middle of the roof, to get to which, by means of 

 rigging a stage or up the walls, would seem to be impossible. 



" Long bamboos with steps up them, and secured by rattan stays, wdth 

 sitting stages, are also employed to work from the ground. The caves can 

 be worked equally as well by night as by day, without any fear of scaring 

 the birds. 



" The natives collect in a slovenly manner, and not always in the proper 

 season. Great care should always be taken after detaching the nests to sweep 

 the various lodgments so as to remove all mess and feathers, which would 

 otherwise adhere to the next lot of nests, and deteriorate them in value. 

 This is invariably done by the Sarawak Land Dyaks, and owing to superior 

 knowledge on the part of the collectors, and more careful management, the 

 nests from the caves on the Sarawak River are very valuable, though the 

 caves, and consequently the amovmts produced, are greatly inferior to those 

 of Gomanton. 



" For some years back there appear to have been only two seasons for 

 collecting, ^iz. the Papas and Kampala; one about March, and the other 

 about two months later, I am, however, informed, on the authority of 

 experienced collectors and others, that the most remimerative way is to divide 

 the year into four seasons, as formerly done. Xo fixed date can be given for 

 these seasons, and the gathering depends on the laying of the eggs, and when 

 this commences the nests must be taken. The natives say that the birds will 

 lay four times a year if four collections are made, but if there are only two 



