Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania

by Jewett C. Gilson

The roofs of some of the caves frequented by these swallows are several hundred feet above their floors, and to reach the nests, scattered over the curved roofs and sides, it is necessary to construct ladders and stages. These are made out of rattan and bamboo and are fastened by pegs driven into the limestone walls. Crawling up on these slender supports with a candle and forked bamboo pole, the native proceeds to detach the nests, which he passes to a companion below. When the nests are built in caves and crevices, near the top of cliffs, a swinging ladder is dropped from above.

There are two kinds of nests, the clear yellowish-white ones, and the dark ones. The former bring a price as high as twelve dollars per pound; the latter only one-tenth as much. The best nests are found in the darkest caves.

Bird-nest gathering is a perilous calling, and serious accidents are not infrequent. The nests are gathered two or three times a year.

The northern part of Borneo is British territory, and the British also control the States of Sarawak and Brunei; the rest of the island is a part of the Dutch East Indies. The British are more interested in the minerals and jungle produce, such as gutta-percha, rattan, rubber, and birds' nests, than in the cultivation of plantations. The Dutch, on the other hand, are trying to establish the great plantations there that have made Java famous. Already these are producing great quantities of sago, tobacco, and sugar.

There are no large cities and only a few ports with good harbors, but German steamships make the rounds of the ports and carry the produce to Singapore, the clearing-house of the East Indies.

Scarcely one hundred and fifty miles north of Australia lies Papua, or New Guinea. Next to Greenland it is the largest island in the world, and in many ways it is the world's wonderland. It was one of the first large bodies of land discovered after the discovery of America, and one of the last to be settled by Europeans. Most likely dry land at one time connected Australia and New Guinea, for the animal and plant life of the two are much the same. Even the Great Barrier Reef that skirts the east coast of Australia extends part-way around New Guinea.

Of all the islands southeast of Asia, New Guinea is the most interesting. It is rich beyond measure with things useful and beautiful. Sugar-cane grows wild from sea to mountain; wild oranges, lemons, and limes can be had for the picking; and land adapted for growing rice, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cocoanuts, and cinchona is plentiful. There are mountain summits clad in everlasting snow, healthful plateaus abounding in delightful scenery, and dank coast plains in which lurks the deadly jungle fever.

Dense forests cover most of the island, but the forest trees of the East Indies are not to be found except here and there in the northwest neck of the island. The famous eucalyptus abounds in the lowland regions; so also does the nipa-palm. Pines, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand, grow in the high plateaus. Most singular of all, in the high mountain regions one may find the alpine plants of Europe, New Zealand, the Antarctic islands, and the Andine heights of South America. Still another strange feature is to be found: while the forest trees are Australian kinds, the plants that make the forests a thicket are the rattans and other jungle plants of India!

New Guinea is noted for birds of beautiful plumage, especially birds of paradise, of which there are many kinds. Among the insects is one commonly known as the "praying" mantis. It is related to the grasshopper and is found also in many other parts of the world. In New Guinea the praying mantis is three or four inches long and at first sight seems to be nothing but a broken twig. In various parts of the world it is known as "preacher," "nun," "soothsayer," and "saint." It has received its name from the fact that it rests in a sort of kneeling position, holding its forelegs in a devotional attitude.

Its character, however, is anything but saintly; it is a most vicious wretch that may well be called the tiger of the insect world. The devotional attitude is the position in which it can best seize its insect prey; for when an unsuspecting insect lights on what seems to be a green twig, snap!—those blade-like forelegs armed with sharp spikes come together like scissors, and the unlucky victim is cut to pieces in an instant.