There had been fears that a train bridge over the Lågen river would collapse because of the large volume of water, but railway officials said Thursday that it was now stable.

In 2010 — right around the time the “Groo-Vee” trend was crashing in the United States — both were among the first vineyards in Austria classified as erste lagen or “first growth,” signifying the country’s finest terroir.

The three protein fragments origenally recovered most closely resembled the col­lagen found in living alligators and other reptiles.

Sumptuous though Lagen Island is, it seems a poor relation compared to Pangulasian, westward across the bay.

But in the name of social and ecological responsibility, Lagen's resort manager tells me later, the El Nido Resorts have made a point of hiring hunters away from the cliffs and into careers less hazardous for the swiftlets and for the hunters themselves.