COLLECTING THE NESTS 



bigger all the time. Then, to my amazement, I saw 

 what seemed to be little specks of Hght at least a 

 hundred feet above the floor. Each of these lights, 

 I found, represented a native collecting nests. 



Naturally I asked how those natives got there, and 

 was told that there were ladders of " rotan," the jungle 

 rope, suspended from the roof. But though I was also 

 informed that these ladders had to be renewed from 

 year to year, no one could explain how, or when, 

 the first ladder was fixed. Needless to say, the work 

 is dangerous. Many a native has been carried out of 

 those caves limp and horrible, with every bone broken. 

 Sometimes it had been a ladder that had given way, 

 sometimes a sudden dizziness had been the cause. 

 The nest collectors themselves say that they could 

 not do their work in the daylight, any more than they 

 can climb the great jungle trees to collect honey in 

 daylight. They dare not risk looking down from 

 such a height. Doubtless an English steeplejack, or 

 an American used to working on the framework of a 

 skyscraper, would laugh at the idea of a mere hundred 

 feet, but the native of Borneo knows his limitations, 

 and avoids the risks by working in the dark. 



I made a number of exposures in the cave, then 

 scrambled back to the entrance, only to find that 

 the seemingly inevitable thunder-storm was raging. 

 Really, I had begun to lose count of the big storms 

 now, it was almost easier to remember the occasions 



37 



