Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-11
BATS AND SWALLOWS.
Myrtads Occupy Cave Together in
North BOrneO.


North BOrneO.
Correspondence New York Times
One should by no means fail to make a
trip to the Gomanton Caves while staying
at the hospitable station of the British
North Borneo Trading Company at San
dakan. The trip to the caves is of inter-
est to the sportsman. for en- route you can
get shot now and then at a wild pig, the
meat or which is exceedingly savory; then,
TOO, you stir up an occasional alligator and
nave fine chance for display of marks
manship. Tracks of wild cattle show still
larger game is to be had, while pigeons in
Vulnerable help the larder out most agree
ably. The great things to be avoided are
the leecheS, those pests of the land that
make hunters life anything but a happy
one.
A trip through the heavy jungle, after
leaving our boats at the rivers bank,
brought us at the end Of brisk walk to
Semud Hitam, the lower cave, the princi-
pa tenants of which are swallows and
bats, living in style very much like the
little man and the little woman who form
the weather sign-when the woman is in
the man is out, and vice versa. In the case
in point the swallows occupy the cave at
night and the bats by day. Rent is col
lected from the swallows in the shape OF
edible birds nests, while the bats are pre-
pared to pay up arrears IN guano.
Inc esculent nests of these swallows con-
SlSl VI d HldTlii6 luCuS-a species OIL sea-
weed In other words-elaborated by the
bird. The Japanese are said to have dis
covered a means OF preparing the seaWeed
by hand so as to exactly initiate the con-
sstency of the nest. The nests found
throughout the islands in this section OF
the archipelago and are often sold in the
markets. They make excellent soup
without any very decided taste beyond that
OF gelatine. The birds weave them with
much patience and ingenuity in spite OF
the continuous depredationS made upon
them
The exit of the immense swarms of bats
every evening from the Semud Hitam is de-
cdedly unique sight. Looking from the
entrance TO the place in wh.c CHI some of the
nest collectors live, We had a fine chance
to see this migration and We're amply re-
paid for whatever hard work we had been
through. We viewed the entrance to the
cave over a yawning gulf some 100 yards
across and of a shape closely resembling
that of a horseshoe, in which space the
bats go through their wonderful circumro-
tations. About a half hour 50 before
sunset the first column of bats appeared,
and after whrlnS around from left to
right, in dense cheeSe-Shaped mass, the
head of the column wheeled to the right,
almost over our heads, and went down the
valley followed by the rank and file in
long coil winding over the treetops in Won
derfully close and regular order
Four or five hawks appeared and dashed
voracIousy into the thick of the bats. In
hat a minute the second column issued, ana
after preliminary revolution, followed the
first, diSa appearing in the distance like
wreath of smoke. In forty minutes by the
watch forty-seven distinct columns were
counted, each about 600 feet long by ten
feet thick. A rough estimate of 10000 bats
to each column would give total or not
far from half million bats, not one OF
which went away without a preliminary
gyration to stretch the wings. The last
Two lots were somewhat smaller than the
others, and We're perhaps, fatigue parties
left behind to put things away so that they
would not be swallowed. Snakes of yell
lowsh hue appeared with the first of the
bats but as far as we could see did not
have any luck in catching bat.
The swallows appeared close upon the de-
parture of the last winged battalion. and all
night long there was ceaseless whlrr OF
wings. The attendants by waving sticks,
knocked down two swallows, whose diet
had evidently been ants of the winged
species. Next morning, shortly after dawn,
the half million bats returned and literally
rained into the horseshoe space In open
order with at the same time a cross-tre
Of swallows Issuing from the cave.
The men who collect the nests are a
short thick-set race, and have probably
inherited the vocation. They lie on their
backs on rattan ladders some 100 feet,
more or less overhead, calmly smoking
cigarettes, while detaching the nests with
long poles. and quietly dropping them INTO
baskets suspended under the ladders. A
couple of rattans dangling from the ladders
afford means of swinging to more distant
places, where they hold on In some mysteri-
Gus manner while driving pegs of wood IN
some hole or Granny to secure the rattan
to- Lives are often lost. but on this subject
we couldn't get the collectors to say much.