316 EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS. 



cries were pitiful, and he had nearly fallen, but saved 

 himself by catching hold of the leg of one of his 

 brothers, who brought him safely down, in addition 

 to the bees' nests and basket with which he was 

 burdened. On reaching the bottom, the boys were 

 swollen all over from the effects of the stings; but 

 no cry or complaint had been uttered by them, and 

 they, together with their father, who waited below 

 quietly, began to separate the honey from the wax, and 

 place the former in the bamboo. 



The honey produced by the Lanyeh is very fine and 

 rich, equal to the honey of Europe ; but the nests con- 

 tain but very little of it. A smaller bee, called Nuang, 

 by the Hill Dyaks, and which is sometimes domes- 

 ticated in hives of bamboo, or bark, about their houses, 

 makes very little wax, but gathers abundance of honey, 

 which is, however, of a very inferior quality. It is 

 very plentiful along the coast, and at Hoya, Egan, and 

 Mocha, is sold very cheap, a gantang being procurable 

 for a shilling. In its wild state the Nuang, of which 

 there are several varieties, builds its nest in the holes of 

 decayed trees. 



The edible nests of the little swallows are all of the 

 black kind, the beautiful white ones being only found 

 in the rocky caves on the borders of the ocean : they 

 are built by two different and quite dissimilar kinds of 

 birds, though both are swallows. That which produces 

 the white nest is larger and of more li vely colours : its 

 belly is white, but as these birds are very rare in Sarawak, 

 I could not get specimens, though, on one occasion, 



