WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



II 



My next objective was the caves, one of the great 

 breeding-places of the birds which make the famous 

 edible nests, tens of thousands of which are collected 

 there every year and shipped to China. Before starting 

 on this trip, however, I put in a couple of days of 

 much-needed rest at the camp. 



When I did leave — my companion on this occasion 

 broke the sequence of " C.'s," his name being Bracken- 

 bury — I tried to make up for lost time, once more 

 travelling night and day. So far I had been fortunate 

 with regard to health, but about noon on the second day 

 my luck failed me — perhaps a medical man would 

 put it differently, and say I was the victim of my own 

 carelessness. At any rate, I narrowly escaped a serious 

 illness. It happened in this way : seeing a number 

 of butterflies drinking at a pool on a spit of sand 

 I told the boys to paddle inshore, as I wanted to 

 take a photograph. I got my picture certainly, a 

 marvellous one ; but, incidentally, I got something else 

 as well, a bad " touch of the sun," otherwise a form 

 of sunstroke due to the fact that, though I had my 

 helmet on, my clothing consisted merely of a sleeping 

 suit, there having been no chance of dressing in the 

 dug-out. 



30 



