The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-04
BIRDS, NEsTS.souP.

The reader, by this time, is hungry.
Let us then, partake together, of Chi
nese report, of Birds Nests, admirably
Ydished'} by the New York Journal Of
Commerce of Saturday :es m
nj There is one luxury i'm the matter Of
food which has not yet been introduced
into this country, excepting on the Pa
cific coast, but in the growing fancy for
rare and foreign productions which pre-
walls among us, and especially when ex-
! travagance in every department of living
seems to be the ruling principle with 50
many, we should not be surprised at the
early introduction of BIRDS nests as an
article of diet. 1t will perhaps hasten,
instead of deferring their Introduction,
when the enormous price of this delicacy
becomes known. There is a large class
of persons, not the most sensible class Of
course, who value everything in proper
ton to thep price that is put upon it. Such
persons would be delighted to know that
birds nests could never become an ar
ticle of food with the vulgar, inasmuch
as they cost ut retail in China, the prin-
cipal market for them, not less than
twenty five or thirty dollars pound,
and sometimes more than this. A dish
of birds nest soup, therefore, could only
be indulged in by those who would pay
for a dish of strawberries out Of season
at the rate Of fifty cents q berry.
| Although the taste for this expensive
article is Mined almost exclusively to
the Chinese, it is not production Of
| China, as is generally supposed. but
of the Indian islands, and is princi-
! pally found in Java, in caverns that ara
| most frequently situated on the sea-
coast. The nests are made by a species
| of swallow peculiar to those islands,
| known in natural history as IsirusaolO esctl-
lenta. They are made in the same form as
the nests of otherswallows. but instead of
mud they are made of a gltinous sub
stance, strongly resembling isinglass in
appearance and in texture. What the
substance is does not seem to have been
fully ascertained, some maintaining
that il is composed of sea foam or other
marine products, while Others suppose
that it is exuded from the mouth of the
bird and is the product of its own food
, which has been wholly or partially di-
! gested. The nests are not obtained with
: out considerable labor. Being usually
: found in deep caves along the coasts,
: they are often inaccessible excepting by
: the use of ladders from below or above.
: The most remarkable and productive
1 caves are situated on the south side of
v the island of Java and are only to be ap-
0 preached by perpendicular descent Of
: many hundred feet by ladders made Of
r bamboo and rattan overhanging the sea.
! which dashes itself violently against the
t shores in which the caves are found.
The caverns are SO dark that they must
be entered with torches, and great care
; is required to prevent precipitate pas
: sage into the raging surf below. There
are difierent qualities of the nests. The
pest are those which have not been occu.
|, pied by thebirds, being only just complet.
! ed. They are quite clean and white, and
in this state are very like masses of pure
isinglass. Those which have been used
by the birds for laying their eggs and
: Matching and rearing their young, are
? OF course impure, and do not bring sc
high price in the market. The nest.
. require appropriation excepting that O
: drying, after which they are assorted
!. into first, second, and third qualities
: packed in boxes and taken to China, the
: only country affording a market fo
u them The Japanese have no taste fo
Q the article, and even in Javawhere they
q are chiefly produced, they are not helC
in any estimation for domestic con