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but they sometimes stand at a distance, and send their offerings, 
by more pure hands: they seem to know nothing of a slate of 
future existence; but believe in evil spirits, who inflict diseases, 
and occasion other misfortunes/’ 
During our stay at Tellicherry, I spent an agreeable day at 
Mahie, a French settlement, a few miles to the southward, plea- 
santly situated on the banks of a river; trading chiefly in pepper, 
cocoa-nuts, and cardamoms. On sailing from Tellicherry to Ca- 
licut, we had a fine view of Mahie from the sea, from whence it 
appeared to greater advantage than on shore. 
Sailing southward, we passed near Sacrifice-rock, a small island, 
so called, from the crew of an English ship having been massacred 
there by pirates, the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is 
famous for the edible birds-nests, found in the clefts of the rocks, 
which are esteemed so luxurious a dainty in China, as to have 
become a considerable article of commerce: the greatest quantity 
are produced on the coasts of Malacca; they are also procured 
from Sacrifice-rock, and other unfrequented islands. These nests 
are three or four inches in circumference, and one in depth: 
formed by a bird of the swallow tribe, (hirundo, nidis edulibus), 
either with the spawn of fish, or a glutinous frothy scum, which 
the sea leaves on the rock; with this they construct those little ha- 
bitations, so highly prized by the Chinese epicure, and voluptuous 
Mahomedan, when stewed to a jelly, and seasoned with spices. 
Sharks’ fins are dressed in the same manner; they are dried in large 
quantities at the fishing-towns on the Malabar coast, and consti- 
tute a valuable article of trade to China. The drying of these fins, 
sardinias, and other fish, all along the Malabar coast, renders the 
2 t 
