122 HANDY BOOK OP 



flying in and out with lightning speed. While, at a short dis- 

 tance from the coast, the blue sea is quite calm, it never 

 ceases to boil and roar at the foot of the rocky walls. The 

 most beautiful rainbows are reflected from the incessantly 

 rising spray. 



"What marvellous instinct can have induced the birds to 

 attach their nests to the high, arched, gloomy roof of these 

 caves ? Did they, perchance, hope thus to escape the pur- 

 suit of man ? If they did so, their hopes were vain ; for 

 his avarice teaches him how to gain access to the most 

 inaccessible things. At the Guagede Cave, the ridge of the 

 coast wall is 80 feet above the level of the sea at ebb-tide : 

 the wall bends concavely inwards, but forms a promontory 

 25 feet above the sea, which excellently assists the nest 

 collectors ; for they let down a ladder, made of ratan cords, 

 perpendicularly from its edge. The roof of the entrance to 

 the cave is only ten feet above the sea, which covers the 

 whole of the bottom even at ebb-tide, while at the flood the 

 opening of the cave is closed by every rolling wave. The 

 interior can only be reached at ebb-tide with a perfectly 

 calm sea, and even this would be impossible were not the 

 roof perforated by a number of holes. On the projecting 

 points in these holes, the boldest and strongest of the 

 collectors stands, and attaches ratan cords to them, which 

 hang down from the roof from four to five feet. To the 

 lower end other long cords are fastened, so that it forms a 

 hanging bridge all along the cave, following the inequalities 

 of the roof. The cave is 100 feet wide, and 150 feet long 

 to the extreme northern point. Other caves are 500 feet 

 long. If we have admired the daring of the cragsmen of 

 St. Kilda, who oscillate in the air, we must not pass by the 

 courage of these Javanese cave-plunderers. Before they 

 hang down the ladders to collect the birds' nests, a solemn 

 prayer is addressed to the goddess of the South Coast, and 

 at times a sacrifice offered at the grave where the first dis- 

 coverer of the bird-nest cave is said to lie. Thus, in all zones 



