We climbed down
into the depths on a straight, swaying ladder, which required a good
grip, and then, after a climb over slanting, slippery rocks, we found
ourselves in the large cave, on a sort of ledge, within perhaps sixty
feet of the roof. We were told that we were the first Europeans who
had ever descended on to this ledge. From here we watched the natives
collecting the nests. In a short account of this description it is
impossible for me to detail all the wonderful methods the natives
had for collecting the nests, but the chief method was by descending
rattan ladders, which were let down through the hole on the top of
the cave. It made one quite giddy even to watch the men descending
these frail swaying ladders with over five hundred feet of space
below them. The man on the nearest ladder had a long rattan rope
attached low down to his ladder, with a kind of wooden anchor at
the end of it. At the second attempt he succeeded with a wonderful
throw in getting the anchor to stick in the soft guano on the edge
of the slanting ledge where we were. It was then seized by several
men waiting there; by these it was hauled up until they were enabled
to catch hold of the end of the ladder, which they dragged higher and
higher up the steep, slanting rocks we had come down by.
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