BRITISH BORNEO, 67 
elevation of 300 feet above sea level, and the porch by which 
you enter them is about 30 feet high by about 50 wide. The 
floor slopes steeply downwards and brings you into an enor- 
mous cave, with smaller ones leading off it, all known to the 
nest collectors by their different native names. You soon 
come to a large black hole, which has never been explored, 
but which is said to communicate with the large guano cave 
below, which has been already described. Passing on, you 
enter a dome-like cave, the height of the roof or ceiling of 
which has been estimated at 800 feet, but for the accuracy of 
this guess | cannot vouch. The average height of the cave 
before the domed portion is reached is supposed to be about 
150 feet, and Mr. BAMPFYLDE estimates the total length, from 
the entrance to the furthest point, at a fifth of amile. The Simud 
Putih series are badly lighted, there being only a few “ holes” 
in the roof of the dome, so that torches or lights of some kind 
are required. There are large deposits of guano in these 
caves also, which could be easily worked by lowering quanti- 
ties down into the Simud Hitam caves below, the floor of which, 
as already stated, is on a level with the river bank, so that a 
tramway could be laid right into them and the guano be car- 
ried down to the port of shipment, at the mouth of the Sapa 
Gaia River. Samples of the guano have been sent home, and 
* have been analysed by Messrs. VOELCKER & Co. It is rich 
in ammonia and nitrogen and has been valued at £5 to £7 a 
ton in England. ‘The bat-guano is said to be richer as a man- 
ure than that derived from the swifts. To ascend to the top of 
Gomanton, one has to emerge from the Simud Putih entrance 
and, by means ofa ladder, reach an overhanging ledge, whence 
a not very difficult climb brings one to the cleared summit, from 
which a fine view of the surrounding country is obtained, in- 
cluding Kina-balu, the sacred mountain of North Borneo. On 
this summit will be found the holes already described as help- 
ing to somewhat lighten the darkness of the dome-shaped 
cave, on the roof of which we are in fact now standing. It is 
through these holes that the natives lower themselves into the 
caves, by means of rattan ladders and, in a most marvellous 
manner, gain a footing on the ceiling and construct cane 
stages, by means of which they can reach any part of the roof 
