p. 207

[underlined] Bird's-nest Soup. [end underline]

When in China I heard much of the famous
Bird's-nest Soup, so much sought after and esteemed
by the rich Chinese. Such an expensive luxury, I of
course could have no chance of tasting. It is an
extensive branch of trade, and it is said they are
paid for in a like weight of silver.

It is the nest of a bird of small size, that
builds and breeds among the rocks and cliffs of
many of the Islands in the Eastern seas. The material
of the nest are of a glutinous nature, and supposed
to be collected by the birds from the rocks, and perhaps
from the surface of the sea direct. Some say it is
from fish spawn, and some hold that it comes from
the seaweed. At all events the poor little bird's family
mansion that she has worked so hard to rear, is
mercilessly torn down wherever they can be reached
to feast the appetites of the rich, and the numbers
taken must be enormous to keep up the supply.

I was told the soup is tasteless and insipid
until other ingredients are added to it.

[clipping]
It is probable that many valuable records of naval disasters and other
incidents of sea voyages are carefully stowed away in sharks' stomachs.
Within the last few weeks no more than three of these voracious fish have
been captured off the Scotch coast by fishermen. The first caught was
eleven feet in length, and after being exhibited with no small profit by its
captors has been presented to the Dundee Museum. Last Monday after-
noon, in the presence of a numerous body of spectators, it was made the
subject of a post-mortem examination, when among other articles found in
it were a man's bonnet and a soda-water bottle corked and sealed with
red wax, and containing a note. The bottle was immediately broken, the
note taken out and read aloud to a deeply attentive audience. It was
as follows :--" On board the [italicized] Beautiful Star [end italics], Sunday, September 1, 1872.
We have crossed the line, and all's well. Last night the captain's lady had
a pretty little boy, Annette Gordon." A postscript to the note consisted
of some verses composed by the writer and "doing honour to her head
and heart." Some persons are sceptical enough to imagine that the bottle
and the note were swallowed by the shark after decease, but what can be
more likely than a large fish, taking violent exercise in salt water,
should in his delight at seeing what he conceived to be a bottle of soda-
water gobble it up at once without taking the trouble to uncork it. The
disappointment of the fish when he discovered that he had swallowed
nothign more exhilarating than a letter and a poem must have been as
painful as though he had snapped off an artificial leg in mistake for a real
one. [handwritten] Pall [underlined] Mall 29th [end underline] 1873.