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Show 1888.] EDIBLE BIRDS'-NESTS IN BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. Ill No. 2. THE MADAI CAVES, Darvel Bay, East Coast. In July 1884 I visited these caves in company with Governor Treacher. The approach to the shore in a steam-launch was intricate work, as many coral patches obstructed the entrance. Having anchored at the mouth of the Tucgabuah River, we paddled up for about an hour and landed. A three-mile jungle-track, much broken up by Elephants, Rhinoceroses, wild Cattle, and wild Pigs, brought us to the entrance of the caves, which is on a level with the surrounding country. The limestone walls rose rugged and precipitous, and glittered in the light of the morning sun. As we entered, there were flights of Swifts whizzing and flitting past our heads, and we found many of the young birds, tied together by the wings, lying on the floor ready to be carried away for food by the collectors. These men belong to the Erahan tribe, and we found some twenty of them living on stages inside the caves. They handed to us torches and bees'-wax tapers, which were most welcome as w e clambered in the murky darkness over the slippery limestone boulders. In the hollows of the floor there were thick layers of guano, which was saturated with the rain-water that percolated through the limestone ceiling ; the result was that we were frequently immersed up to our middle in these offensive deposits. Unlike Gomanton, which boasts one monster cave, Madai presents a series of chambers, about 150 feet in height, connected with each other by narrow passages. There are very few Bats, the Swifts having taken possession of the most advantageous nest-building sites and being evidently too numerous for the unremunerative mammalia to lead a peaceable existence. As we walked through the six caves, the collectors pointed out to us 23 " lobangs," as they are called by the natives. These are domes or vaults, each one of which is owned by a separate proprietor. The natives say that 20 of these vaults contain black nests only, and that three vaults only hold white nests. This would denote, as native information frequently asserts, that there are two kinds of Swifts, viz., one that builds black nests and the other white nests. In fact some natives maintain that there are as many as four different kinds of Swifts. Further investigation is required to clear up this question. There are three collecting-seasons in one year ; the last season yields nests of an inferior quality to the other two. The total harvests of both black and white nests are valued at $15,000 per annum. No. 3. T H E S I G A L O N G C A V E S , Darvel Bay, East Coast, are situated about 21 miles S.E. from the Madai Caves, and are approached through coral reefs. The chambers are low, and the openings are small and difficult to enter for Europeans. The native collectors enter some of these limestone caves by loopholes from the summit, which is about 250 feet above the surrounding country. There is a preponderance of Bats over Swifts, but the deposit of guano is not so large as in the Gomanton and Madai Caves. I |
