The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-08
BORNBO's BATS AND SWALLOWS.
MyriadS Occupy n Cave Together, But
Are Not Home at the Same Time.
From the New York Times

From the New ork Times.
Sandakan, North Borneo, Aug. 10.-One
should by no means fail to make a trip to
the Gomanton Caves while staying at this
delightfully."- hospitable station of the Brit
ish North Borneo Trading Company. The
trip to the caves is of interest to the
sportsman. for en- route you can get shot
now aud then at a wild pig, the meat of
which is exceedingly savory; then, too, You
stir up an occasional alligator and nave
chance for a display of craftsmanship.
Tracks of wild cattle show stll larger
game is 10 be had, while pigeons innumer
able help the harder out most agreeably.
The great things TO be avoided are the
| IeecheS those pests of the land that make
hunters life anything but 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-
pal 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 n guano.
The esculent nests of these swallows
consist of marine fucus-a species Of
seaweed in other words-elaborated by the
bird. The Japanese are said to have dis
covered means of preparing the seaweed
by hand so as to exactly initiate the con-
sistency of the nest. The nests are found
throughout the islands in this section OF
lne archipelago and are often sold in the
markets They make an 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 swarTns of bats
every evening from the Semud Hitam is
decidedly a unique sight. Looking from the
entrance to the place in which some of the
nest collectors live, we had fine chance
TO see this migration and were amply re-
maid for whatever hard work we had been
through. We viewed the entrance TO the
cave over a yawuing 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 or so before
sunset the first column of bats appeared,
and after whirling around from left TO
right in a dense cheese-shaped mass, the
head of the column wheeled 10 the right
almost over our heads, and went down the
valley followed by the rank and file in
a long coil winding over The ireetops in
wonderfully close and regular order
E,o,r ar five hawks appeared and dashed
voraeiously into the thick of the bats. In
half a minute the second column issued,
and after a preliminary revolution, fol-
lowed the first, disappearing in the dis
lance like wreath of smoke. In forty
minutes by the watch, forty-seven dis
fnct columns We're counted each about
600 feet long by ten feet thick. A rough
estimate of 10000 bats TO each column
would give a total of not far from half a
million bats, not one of which went away
without a preliminary gyration 60 stretel
Inc wings The last two .ots were some
what 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 a yellowish hue APP
reared with the first Of the bats, but as
Gar as we could see, did moi have any
luck in catching a bat.
The swallows appeared close upon the
departure of the last winged battalion.
and All night long there was a ceaseless
whirr of wings The attendants, by wav.
ing sticks knocked down two swallows.
whose diet had evidently been ants of the
winged species. NeXt morning shortly
after dawn. the ha.f-million bats returned
and literally rained into the horseshoe
space in open order, with az the same
time. cross-fre 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 po.es, and quietly dropping them into
baskets suspended under the ladders.
couple of rattans dangling from the tad
derS afford a means Of swinging to more
distant places. where they hold on IN some
mysterious 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.
.-Taste.-''What execrable taste she
showed in buying aneestors"'
Yes, indeed! Such a lot OF flights as
sno ..elnnfnd -1lafrnif InIirnaI