WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



downwards, and as you grope your way into the darkness 

 you have a curious feeling that, after all, you are going 

 to fall into the lower tunnel. Just outside the entrance 

 are the huts of the native nest gatherers. 



At first I tried to get some moving pictures of 

 the birds passing in and out, but the light was bad 

 on account of the heavy thunder-clouds, so I decided 

 to take some flash-light photographs of the interior. 

 Before entering, however, our guides warned us to 

 take off our boots, on account of the slippery nature 

 of the slope, a precaution which we found to be a very 

 wise one. Once we were on the level ground again, 

 however, it was a different matter, the ground underfoot 

 being quite soft. I had been told that I should find 

 a bed of guano ranging from one to four feet in depth, 

 but on examining the stuff I discovered it to consist 

 merely of the excreta of various insects, which must have 

 been accumulating there for countless generations. I 

 do not know how many species had contributed to 

 that amazing " carpet," but with the aid of an electric 

 torch I saw numbers of weird-looking grasshoppers, 

 whilst on one piece of rock alone I noticed some twenty 

 centipedes. 



At first the height of the caves seemed to be about 

 sixty feet. Thousands upon thousands of nests v/ere 

 plastered over the roof. I tried to get a flash-light 

 picture of these, after which we groped our way on for 

 about another four hundred yards, the cave getting 



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