"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. "There are likewise swallow caverns in the island of Bantam, and in Sumatra; but the inhabitants of the former are so indolent, and the government so detestable, that they are not even at the trouble to sow rice, nor do they cultivate any one article which contributes to human existence. The Chinese have never attempted to penetrate into the interior of this kingdom, and they have no commerce whatever with the mountaineers; indeed they have very little intercourse even with the coast. "The Javanese and Europeans established in India eat even the birds themselves when young, but it is difficult to procure them; they are considered as a very luscious food. The nests, on the contrary, when stewed as a soup, and afterwards exposed to the dew, and sweetened with sugar, are said to be highly cooling, and the Javanese administer them successfully in violent fevers. The author of this memoir has had occasion to observe that, prepared in the manner which will be subsequently mentioned, they have been useful in disorders of the throat, and in hoarseness. Most probably this remedy has been borrowed from the Chinese, who (according to information furnished to the author by a man who was in the habit of dealing largely in these nests) use them most generally in the winter, because disorders of the throat are very common at that season in the southern regions of the empire, on account of the habits the Chinese are in of indulging themselves over the fire. "But though the author has repeatedly eat these nests, prepared in various ways, he has not been able to bring himself to put much faith in the very nutritive and strengthening property attributed to them. He has had them analyzed by good chemists, but the result has been only a gummy solution, of rather a disagreeable taste, which might, however, be of service in certain disorders of the chest. "These nests are, in fact, only articles of luxury or ornament on the tables of the rich. The Chinese are passionately fond of them: after well soaking and cleaning them, they are put with a fat capon or a duck into an earthen pot, closely covered; they are simmered for twenty-four hours over a small fire, which is called timmen; thus prepared, this eatable acquires a relish infinitely more rich, and a more nourishing quality.