The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-10-27
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GunnO--ffs HistoYy.


Guano, ss most people understand, is i'm.
ported from the Islands Of the Pacific
mostly Of the Chincha group Off the coast Of
Peru, and under the dominion OF tliat Gov.
erhment "a daas bssag4o tES'b sat 34aa
ITS ssale is made monopoly, and the a.
walls, to great extent, 80 pay The British
holders or Peruvisif Government bonds, Civ
ing them to all intenis aud pnrposes,ga lieu
upon the profits of a. treasure intrlusicaiIy
more valuable than the gold masses Of Csl
ifornia.o There are deposits of thlsunsurs
passed fertilizer in some places to the depth
of sixty or seventy feet, and over large ex-
tents OF the surfaceI a The oguuno fields are
generally conceded to be the excrementso oi
aquatic fow Is whichliye and nestle in great
numbers around the islands They seen,
designed by nature to~rescue, at least in
part that untold damouhto Of fertilizing mate,
rOl which every fiver and brooklet is rolling
into the sea. The wash OF alluvial soils,
the floating refuse or the field and forests,
and above all the wasted materials of great
cities, are constantly being carried by The
tidal currents out to sea. These, to GER
tain extent at least, go to flourish, directly
or indirectly, submarine vegetable and ami
NAL life, which in turn goes tofeed the birds
whose excrements at our day are brought a.
way BY the ship load from the Chincha IS
lands. if.n, c.3 7r.-.i-ats saI .s -a..
The bird is beautifully arranged chemi-
Cal laboratory, fitted upto perform single
operation, yiz--to take the fish as food, burn
out the carbon by means Of its respiratory
functions, and deposit the remainder in the
shupe of an incompatible fertilizer. Blu,
how many ages have these depositions ol
seventy feet In thickness been accumulat-
ing! re3. haac'eg yaa4d .nsU',. ,e.5
There are at ths present day countless
numbers of the birds resting upon the 10.
lands at night; but, according to Baron
Humboldt, the excrements of the birds for
the space of three centuries, would not form
stratum Of over one-third of an inch in
thickness. By an easy mathematic calcu-
lation, it will be seen that ot this rate OF de-
position, it would take seven thousand five
hundred and sixty centuries, or seven hum
dred ana fifty six thousand years. to form
the deepest guano bed. ''' ~ ''.''' ..
Such a calculation carries us back vel
on towards former geological period, ulit
proves one and perhaps both, of two thing
--fIst, that in past ages an Infinitely great
er number OF these birds lowered over tn
islands; and secondly, that the materia
world existed at period long anterior t.
its fitness as the abode of man. Th
length Of mans existence is infnitesimal
compared with such ,a'cycle of years; an
the facts recorded on every leaf of the ma
terial universe ought, if it does not, to teac
us humility. That little bird, whose in
dividual existence is as nothing. should, j
its united action, produce the means o
bringing back to an active fertility who'll
provinces Of waste and barren lands, Is on
of thousand facts to show how apparentl
Insignificant agencies in the economy Of ma
ture, produce momentous. results. ..--Lonao
Formers. Masa7in ,-L. ... ....,..... -