Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-11-17
From The NORTH .9iaericm and U. S. Gazette.
Y'hc Gslnno Wines.

A correspondent of the "London Times, I"
in late communication to that paper rela-
tive to the Guano Islands, estimates the
Guano, found on them to amount at least
to two hundred and fifty millions of tons.
To remove this deposit, at the rate OF a
million OF tons per annum, would require
two hundred and fifty years, and employ,
for that time thousand ships Of :hou-
sand tons capacity each. This calculation
leads writer to speculate as to the num-
Der of years it took for the accumulation OF
so vast quantity Of matter by the birds IN
habiting the region and, like many other
philosophers who are more eager to lay their
doubts by some plausible solution, than to
satisfy their reason where it is baffled BY
problems beyond its power and knowledge,
he complacenty remarks that son every
hand there aie evidences of the world be-
ing mach older externally than men have
been accustomed to hold it, or than men
have had any authority for so holding it by
revelation"
Calculations and coniectures of this kind,
however have long ceased to be current
among men of solid sense and sound infor-
nation. The fancy of computing the age
of the earth from particular accrehons and
layers-as from deposits ofrivers-has been
out of fashion ever since it was proved
from calculations connected with the de-
posts of the Nile, that the kingdom of tht
Pharaohs must have endured some hun
dreds of thousands, or millions, Of years
and, Immediately afterwards, proved Sc
cond time that the calculations were them
selves utterly unfouuded and ridiculous
In all such computations there is, in reality
nothing but assumptions to stand on. 1t is
of more interest in regard to the guano de-
posts, to ascertain their real extent anc
quantity, which are, undoubtedly, the sub.
feet of more or less exageration and miscal
culation, than to guess, by hap-hazard. a
the time required to produce them.
II is, nevertheless, pretty certain tina
there are deposits occupying groups OF isle
rocks stretching along almost the entire
coast of Peru, vast enough both to indi
cate great age and prodigious value. A
Mr.. Thirwall, an Englishman, who visitet
the western coast of South America some
time since, describes a small island, abou
three miles in circumference, in Is deg. A.
m. S. latitude. on which he says the guau(
lies IN solid mass two hundred feet il
depth. Surprising any reliance on the cal
culations Of quantity, the two hundred anC
fifty millions of tons, as aforesaid, would a
forty dollars the ton (Which is, we believe
below the market price for Peruvian guano
be worth the enormous sum often Thousand
millions Of dollars. In comparison will
this, even the treasures Of California seen
of diminished Importance: and when it i:
considered, that, in addition to the saleablt
value of guano, it possesses the highest vir'
tues as a manure, that it enriches the sol
and increases, in large measure, the prof
its of agricultural industry, its superiority il
point Of practical and benefcent utility ovel
any mine of gold or silver is sufficiently OBJ
vious. 1t can boast an inherent productive
power which no precious metal can claim
and while an abundance ofthe latter, vouch'
safed to q State for the mere digging OF i
from the earth, might prove rather curse
than blessing, an eXhaustless bed of guanC
would supply stimulus to labor, and large
ly aid in promoting the Improvement and
prosperity of husbandry and the general
happiness Of a community.