THE SWALLOW. 



163 



The swallow usually lays from five to six 

 eggs, of a white colour, speckled with red 

 and sometimes breeds twice a year. When 

 the young brood are excluded, the swallow 

 supplies them very plentifully, the first brood 

 particularly, when she finds herself capable of 

 producing two broods in a year. This hap- 

 pens when the parents come early, when the 

 season is peculiarly mild, and when they be- 



fin to pair soon. Sometimes they find a dif- 

 culty in rearing even a single nest, particu- 

 larly when the weather has been severe, or 

 their nests have been robbed in the beginning 

 of the season. By these accidents, this im- 

 portant task is sometimes deferred to the mid- 

 dle of September. 



At the latter end of September they leave 

 us; and for a few days previous to their de- 

 parture assemble in vast flocks, on house-tops, 

 as if deliberating on the fatiguing journey 

 that lay before them. This is no slight un- 

 dertaking, as their flight is directed to Congo, 

 Senegal, and along the whole Morocco shore. 

 There are som r however, left behind in this 

 general expedition, that do not depart till 

 eight or ten days after the rest. These are 

 chiefly the latter weakly broods, which are 

 not yet in a condition to set out. They are 

 sometimes even too feeble to venture till the 



those of the first quality, 35 parts of those of the second, 

 11 7- 10th parts of those of the third. The common 

 prices for birds' nests at Canton are, for the first sort, 

 3,500 Spanish dollars the picul, or 5. 18s. l.fd. per 

 pound ; for the second, 2,800 Spanish dollars per picul ; 

 and, for the third, no more than 1,600 Spanish dollars. 

 In the Chinese markets a still nicer classification of the 

 edible nests is often made than in the island. The 

 whole are frequently divided into three great classes, 

 under the commercial appellation of Paskat, Chikat, and 

 Tung-tung, each of which, according to quality, is sub- 

 divided into three inferior orders,, and we have, conse- 

 quently, prices varying from 1,200 Spanish dollars per 

 picul to 4,200. These last,, therefore, are more valu- 

 able than their weight of silver. Of the quantity of 

 birds' nests exported from the Indian islands, although 

 we cannot state the exact amount, we have data for 

 hazarding some probable conjectures respecting it. From 

 Java there are exported about 200 piculs, or 27,000 

 Ibs., the greater part of which is of the first quality. 

 Thfc greatest quantity is from the Suluk archipelagos, 

 and consists of 530 piculs. From Macassar there are 

 sent about 30 piculs of the fine kind. These data will 

 enable us to offer some conjectures respecting the whole 

 quantity; for the edible swallows' nests being univer- 

 sally and almost equally diffused from Junk, Ceylon, to 

 New Guinea, and the whole produce going to one mar- 

 ket, and only by one conveyance, the junks, it is proba- 

 ble that the average quantity taken by each vessel is not 

 less than the sum taken from the ports just mentioned. 

 Taking the quantity sent from Batavia as the estimate, 

 we know that this is conveyed by 5,300 tons of ship- 

 ping, and, therefore, the whole quantity will be 1,818 

 piculs, or 242,400 Ibs., as the whole quantity of Chinese 

 shipping is 30,000 tons. In the archipelago, at the 

 prices already quoted, this property is worth 1,263,519 

 Spanish dollars, or 284,290. The value of this im- 

 mense property to the country which produces it, rests 

 upon the capricious wants of a single l>eoj>le. From its 



setting in of winter ; while their parents vainly 

 exhort them to efforts which instinct assures 

 them they are incapable of performing. Thus 

 it often happens that the wretched little fami- 

 lies, being compelled to stay, perish the first 

 cold weather that comes ; while the tender 

 parents share the fate of their offspring, and 

 die with the new-fledged brood. 



Those that migrate are first observed to ar- 

 rive in Africa, as Adanson assures us, about 

 the beginning of October. They are thought 

 to have performed their fatiguing journey in 

 the space of seven days. They are sometimes 

 seen, when interrupted by contrary winds, 

 wavering in their course far off at sea, and 

 lighting upon whatever ship they find in their 

 passage. They then seem spent with famine 

 and fatigue ; yet still they boldly venture, 

 when refreshed by a few hours* rest, to renew 

 their flight, and continue the course which 

 they had been steering before. 



These are facts proved by incontestable au- 

 thority ; yet it is a doubt whether all swallows 

 migrate in this manner, or whether there may 

 not be some species of this animal that, though 

 externally alike, are so internally different as 

 to be very differently affected by the approach 

 of winter. We are assured from many, and 

 these not contemptible witnesses, that swal- 



nature, it necessarily follows that it is claimed as the 

 exclusive property of the sovereign, and everywhere 

 forms a valuable branch of his income, or of the revenue 

 of the state. This value, however, is, of course, not 

 equal ; and depends upon the situation and the circum- 

 stances connected with the caverns in which the nests 

 are found. Being often in remote and sequestered 

 situations, in a country so lawless, a property so valuable 

 and exposed is subject to the perpetual depredations of 

 freebooters; and it not unfrequently happens that an 

 attack upon them is the principal object of the warfare 

 committed by one petty state against another. In such 

 situations, the expense of affording them protection is so 

 heavy, that they are necessarily of little value. In si- 

 tuations where the caverns are difficult of access to stran- 



ers, and where there reigns enough of order and tran- 

 quillity to secure them from internal depredation, and to 

 admit of the nests being obtained without other expense 

 :han the simple labour of collecting them, the value of 

 ;he property is very great. The caverns cf Karang-bo- 

 ang, in Java, are of this description. These annually 

 afford 6,810 Ibs. of nests, which are worth, at the Ba- 

 tavia prices of 3,200, 2,500, and 1,200 Spanish dollars 

 ,he picul, for the respective kinds, nearly 139,000 

 Spanish dollars; and the whole expense of collecting^ 

 curing, and packing, amounts to no more than 11 per. 

 cent, on this account. The price of birds' nests is of 

 :ourse a monopoly price, the quantity produced being by 



ature limited and incapable of being augmented. The 

 value of the labour expended in bringing birds' nests te 

 market is but a trifling portion of their price, which 

 consists of the highest price which the luxurious Chinese 

 vill afford to pay for them, and which is a ta^ paid by 

 hat nation to the inhabitants of the Indian islands. 

 There is, perhaps, no production upon which human in- 

 dustry is exerted, of which the cost of production bears 

 o small a proportion to the market price." Crauford'i 

 r ndian Archipelago. 



