While riding back to Tjipannas we remarked amid the smiling rice fields several poles with hangings of various kinds, resembling those erected on the shore in front of their huts by the superstitious natives of the Nicobar Islands, in order to keep his Satanic Majesty at a distance. The natives call these poles Tundang-Setan (talisman against the devil), and believe they can by their aid frighten away the evil spirits, while they are gathering the crop from their rice fields.
From Tjipodas the excursionists proceeded to Tjiangoer,[52] the present capital of the Preanger Regency, containing about 15,000 inhabitants, where some days were to be spent in excursions, collections, hunting, and other amusements, after which we were compelled by the limited time available to return to Buitenzorg and Batavia. Two members of the Expedition, Drs. Hochstetter and Scherzer, penetrated a little further into the interior, with the purpose of paying a visit to Dr. Junghuhn, to whose researches in the Natural History of Java we are so
much indebted. The following few pages are devoted to an account of this interesting excursion.
Towards 5 P.M. we arrived at Tjiangoer, in company with Dr. de Vrij and M. Vollenhoven, and immediately set out on our journey to Bandong, so as to reach the same evening that neat little town, whose singularly favourable position, almost exactly in the centre of the Regency, makes it a dangerous rival to Tjiangoer as the seat of government. En route we passed Tjisokan, a small village, most of whose inhabitants are engaged in procuring edible swallows'-nests, which are found in great quantities at a chalk mountain about twelve miles distant, known as Radjamandula.[53] The spots at which the edible nests of the Hirundo esculenta are found are anything but grottoes peculiar to this product, as is usually alleged, but steep, almost inaccessible, cliffs, crannies, and fissures in the rock, in which the swallows build their nests, and which can only be reached by the utmost exertion, frequently accompanied by danger to life. They are met with partly upon the south coast, close above the raging surf, partly deep in the interior, about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, distant several hundred English miles from the nearest part of the sea-shore; and while the inhabitants of Karangbólong have to scale the almost perpendicular coast-wall by means of
ladders[54] of Rotang (Calamus Rotang) and Bamboo, ere they can reach the entrance of the cavern, the natives of Bandong,
on the contrary, are compelled to climb up to a yet greater elevation among the precipices and rocks, ere they are able to reach the openings that lead to the various hollows.
While the birds are breeding, or if they have their young, which happens four times each year, one half remain in the cavities, and both males and females take their turns in sitting to brood, every six hours. Each nest is inhabited by a pair of swallows, so that if 1000 nests are found in a cave, they are inhabited by 2000 grown swallows (half male, half female). The fecundity of this bird is so great, that, although the nests are gathered four times a year, and that somewhere about a million of their progeny is at each plucking wasted or destroyed by the collectors, they never seem to diminish. The six caves at Bandong give yearly about 14,000 nests, that at Karangbólong about 500,000: one hundred nests weigh about one catty (1 1⁄4 lb.), and one hundred catties (125 lbs.) make one picul.[55] For each picul of these nests, which they look upon as a special delicacy, the Chinese pay from 4000 to 5000 guilders (£350 to £420). The nest-gatherers are apparently a special class, whose occupation is handed down from father to son.
Close to the village of Tjisokan, a very elegant wooden bridge, constructed on the American system, but entirely erected
out of the resources of the colony, has been thrown over the Tjisokan river. The roads, although broad and kept in excellent order, nevertheless lead occasionally over hills so steep, that to descend them in a heavy carriage, especially considering the rapidity with which the Javanese drive, is exceedingly uncomfortable, and even dangerous, although the wheels are in such cases provided with a solid "sabot," and where this seems likely to prove inadequate, a number of natives hang on to the wheels behind, who for a small gratuity control the rate of descent by means of ropes.
At last, about midnight, shortly before which we passed the river Tji-Tarum by a ferry, we reached Bandong, and on gaining the residence of the Javanese Regent, Raden Adipati Wira Nata Kusuma (spelt by the Dutch Koesoema, but pronounced as spelt in the text), were received, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, in the most hospitable and friendly manner. Here we found everything, even to the minutest detail, managed in the European fashion; and no guest would imagine that he was in the house of one of the Mahometan princes of Java, were he not reminded of the fact by the rich Oriental costume of his host and his family, as also by the Javanese domestics, bearing elegant richly-adorned Siri, or betel-boxes, of gold or silver, and invariably tendering their services to their masters in a stooping posture, or rather sliding after them upon their knees. For the Javanese, too, greatly affect the leaf of the betel, mingled with powdered areca-nut, powdered coral, or pearl chalk, and