"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.