Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1852-11-13
Flom The Moth American, and U. s. Gazette.
rrh ,u,po Minea<s,5


A CORRESPONDENT of the London Times, in alate
communication TO that paper, relative to the Qua
no Islands. estimates the Gnnno found on them,
to amount at least to two hundred and nifty NIL
lions of tons To remove this deposite, at theta
of million oftons per annurn, would require two
hundred and Fifty Yeas, and employ fol that time
thousand ships al thousand tons capacity each
This calculation leads the writer to speculate as
to the number ofyeafs 1t took for the accumuia-
ton of sovast quantity of matter by the Drds In
l,abitns the region; and. like many other philoso-
pliers wko are more eager to lay their doubts by
some plausible dissolution, than to SATISFY
SON where II is baffied by problems beyondl pow
er and knowledge, he complacently remarks ina, !,
con every hand, there are evidences oil the wotId
being much older externally, than men have Deen
accustomed to hold it, or than men have bad any
authority for SO holding it by revelation
. Calculations and conjectures OF this KIND, how
ever, have long ceased TO be current among men
of solid sense, aud Chose of. sound Iniorma-
lion The fancy of computing the age oil the
earth from particular accretions and layers-as
from the deposits Of rivers-has been out oil lash
ion ever since il was proved, from calculations
connected with the deposits OF the Nile, that the
kingdom Of tie Pharoahs must have endured some
hundreds OF thousands, or Millions OF years, and,
Immediately afterwards, proved second time that
the calculations were themselves utterly unfound-
ed and Ridiculous In all such computations.
there is in reality, nothing but assumptions TO stand
on: It's of more interest, in resardto the guano
tty, which, are, undoubtedly, the subject OF more
or less operation and lniscalculation, than to
guess by hap hazard, at the time required TO pro-
duce them. -.,-,.s.t' -....s..
tits, nevertheless, pretty certain that there are
tleposites, occupying groups ofislet rocks stretch
ing along almost the entire coast of cru, are vast
enough both to indicate great age and prodigious
value. A Mr.. ThiIwalb an Englishman, whoyis-
tied the Western coast of South America, some
tine since, describes q small island, about three
miles in circumference, in l3 deg. 44 m. S. lati-
tude, on which he says, the guano lies IN a solid
mass two hundred feet in depth. Surprising any
reliance on the calculations OF quantity, the two
hundred andf fifty millions OF tons, as aforesaid,
would at forty dollars the ton, (Which is, we be-
lieve, below the market price for Peruvian guano)
be worth the enormous sum of ten thousand mil
lions of dollars. In comparison with this, even
the treasures of California seem of diminished I'M
portance; snd when it is considered that in addi-
ton to the saeable value of guano, it possesses the
highest virtues as a manure, that It enriches the
soil and increases, in large measure, the profits
Of agricultural industry, its superiority IN point OF
practical and beneficent utility over any nine oil
gold or silver is sufficiently obvious. II can boast
an inherent productive power which no precious
metal can claim, and while an abundance of the
latter vouched safe to State for the mere digging
of il from the earth, might prove rather curse,
than blessing; an exhaustlesS bed OF guano.
would supply a stimulous to labor, and largely aid
in promoting the improvement and prosperity OF
husbandry, and the general happiness OF a comuu-
nifty. 4ret- I'd. s-r--sgsl# 80 b. sC-s-s