50 
EDIBLE SWALLOW NESTS* 
than two ounces and a half. There are two places 
in particular, near Batavia, where they are found in 
great numbers ; both in a range of high land, ex- 
tending towards the sea. There are, indeed, other 
places in the same district, or at a greater distance 
from the coast, which either produce a few, or are 
carefully concealed by the Javanese, who are un- 
willing that others should interfere with the profit 
they make by selling them to the Chinese, who are 
dhe chief purchasers. 
The two bird-mountains above alluded to, are 
insulated rocks, hollow within, and pierced with a 
great number of openings. Many of these openings 
are so wide that a person can enter them with ease ; 
others are attended with more difficulty, and some 
are too small to admit of intrusion ; in these, there- 
fore, the poor little birds are alone safe from robbery. 
To the walls of these caverns, the birds affix their 
small nests, in regular rows, and so close, that for 
the most part they adhere together. They construct 
them at different heights, from fifty to sixty feet, 
sometimes higher, sometimes lower, according as they 
find room; and no hole or convenient place, if dry 
and clean, is left unoccupied ; but, if the walls be in 
the least wet, or moist, they immediately desert 
them. At day-break these birds fly abroad from 
their holes, with a loud fluttering noise, and in the 
dry seasons rise so high into the atmosphere in a 
moment, as they have to seek their food in distant 
parts, that they are soon out of sight. In the rainy 
season, on the other hand, they never remoye to a 
great distance from their breeding-places. 
About four in the afternoon they again return, 
