“They prepare their nests with the more solid parts of their food, and by no means with the froth of the sea or marine plants, as has been asserted[1]. This opinion is the more founded in probability, as it is ascertained by experience that those birds which build on the rocks, already mentioned, have never been seen on the coast, and that they could not repair thither and return in any reasonable time on account of the lofty chains of mountains they would have to traverse, and the tempestuous winds which prevail there. The great difference, then, in the colour and value of these nests, is a proof that their quality depends solely on the nature and abundance of the insects which form their food; perhaps, likewise, on the more or less perfect solitude of the places they resort to for it.
“The nests collected in the territory of Calappa-Nongal and of Goadja are quite grey, and are of one-third less value than those of the territory of Sampia. These last again are in far less estimation than the excellent sort sent every year from Ternate and Passir, or those found in the islands immediately adjoining, and on that of Borneo in particular.
“These birds require two months to prepare their nests; they immediately after lay their eggs, and sit fifteen or sixteen days. As soon as the young take flight, the gathering of the nests commences, and is repeated every four months: it is the harvest of the proprietors of those rocks. This is performed by men accustomed from their infancy to clamber among these precipices: with reeds and bamboos they provide themselves with ladders, with which they mount up to the holes; but when the depth of the caves is too great, they have recourse to ropes.
“When at the bottom of these caverns, they place against the inside notched bamboos, which answer the purpose of ladders, to enable them to reach the nests, and if these are beyond their immediate reach, they detach them with bamboo poles; there are likewise holes, but in very limited numbers, which may be got at by means of ladders of bamboo.
“This employment, which is attended with very great risk, costs the lives of many human beings, and particularly of those who attempt to steal the nests. For their preservation, guards are placed here and there.
“The mountaineers usually employed in collecting the nests never undertake it till they have sacrificed a buffalo, the usual prelude, with the Javanese, of all their enterprizes; they mutter a few prayers, anoint their bodies with aromatic oils, and fumigate the caverns with incense, a precaution, according to them, absolutely necessary. The principal of these caverns lie in the island of Java, where a female deity, under the appellation of Raton laut Ridaud, or Princess of the South Sea, is held in high veneration. A small hut, containing a covered bed, is prepared for her, together with several elegant dresses, and which no person but a Princess dare approach. Every Friday, during the period of collecting the nests, incense is burnt in it, and the bodies and clothes of all those who propose to mount the rocks ought to be exposed to this fumigation. The rest of the Javanese are not so superstitious, and attach much less importance to ceremonies. These caverns are lighted, on such occasions, by torches made with the rosin of a large tree, called the cavet, and of the inner bark of the areka.
“The collection of the nests does not last more than a month, and, as has been said, may be repeated three times annually. Some think that it might even be extended to a fourth, but that is not very probable, as all the people employed in this work affirm that a nest, as long as it remains entire, is constantly augmented or thickened by the bird, which never totally abandons it till it becomes dry and woolly in the inside.
“After the nests are gathered, nothing remains to be done but to dry and clean them, and they are then packed in baskets and sold to the Chinese. The price varies, as depending on their whiteness and degree of perfection; some are grey, and others reddish, while those of the best sort are extremely rare. They are sold on the spot for from eight hundred to one thousand four hundred rixdollars for one hundred and twenty-five pounds weight. This price, and the insatiable avarice of the Chinese, often produce cheating, and an adulteration of the article. They have no hesitation in corrupting the guards with money, opium, or clothes; and deceits are practised, against which the most extreme vigilance is often unavailing.
“The two places we have already mentioned, Calappa-Nongal and Sampia, belonged formerly to the Dutch East India Company, but as the advantages resulting from the possession of them were partly unknown, or diminished in value by the dexterity of the Javanese, the company formed the resolution of letting them by public auction, and nearly one hundred thousand rixdollars is drawn from them, a sum far exceeding their utmost expectations. In the same range of mountains there are besides these other places of the same description, but of less importance. There are likewise two or three in the interior, and some others, which are concealed with great care.
“There are in the government of Samarang, in the island of Java, three mountains celebrated for their birds, called Goadaher, Gede, and Nangasari. The sea washes their base, and flows so far into the interior of the latter, that it may be said they can catch fish in the body of the mountain. The nests in these districts are of an excellent quality, but very difficult to collect, on account of the precipitous nature of the rocks, and the violent beating of the surge against them, which renders it necessary for those employed to suspend themselves from the top by ladders of bamboo. In the island of Java, about twenty-five quintals of these nests are collected annually.