Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-06-17
The Guano Trade.

communicated to US some interesting informa
ton with respect to the trade. He has been
at the islands at three different times, and near
! ly six months in all. The last time he was
there vas in the fall and Summer of 1856. He
says that he found at times FIVE hundred sail
OF vessels together, loading with guano, gener
ally large ships. One ship was 4,200 tons
burden. Not less than three hundred sail of
vessels are now at the islands, loading for the
United States, Spain, Portugal, France, and
English aud German ports. Some cargoes are
sent to Constantinople and some to Russian
ports in the Black Sea This was before the
war in the Crimea. The Russian trade will
now open again, both from the Black Sea and
the Baltic FreightS are high SO los are
often paid per ton for Liverpool and Hampton
Roads. Generally ten shillings more ton
freight is paid to Europe. At the rate which
guano is now shipped from the Chincha Islands,
it will be exhausted in six or eight years-not
a ton will be left. Twenty thousand tons are
sometimes removed in a single day.
These islands are about one hundred miles
north from CaIIao. The longest Of the group
is two miles in length and quarter Of mile
wide, but contains only a small quantity Of
guano. The most northerly island is the small
est, being about mile in length by half mile
in breadth GuanO On this island is two hun
dred and fifty feet deep. The island contains
a Chinese settlement Of Coolies, about thou
sand in number, who are employed in digging
guano and loading the vessels. A task is Civ
en- them each day, and if the gang fail to get
out the given number Of wagon loads, of two
tons each, a day, their bondage is continued
lcnger period to make it up so many months
or days being added as wagon loads are want
ing.
The Coolies are cheated into the belief that
they are to be shipped from China to Califor-
ma and the gold diggingS, and are further de-
knowing Chinese, or Mandarins, ship them
The ship-master carries them to the coast of
Peru, and sells the cargo of living Chinese to
the Peruvian government for his freight money.
All this time the Cinnamon are kept in irons
and confined below in the hold of the ship
The Peruvian government purchases the cargo
of living Coolies, paying the Yankee or Elg-
ltsh captain a round sum for his care, diligence
and labor in stealing Cinnamon from their
homes to be sent into the guano mines of Peru
for life, or for five or seven years, and to be
held in bondage or peOnage to pay their pas
sage to the glorious land of the MlS
The guauo is hard and can only be broken
up with the pick-axe. 1t is then broken and
shovclled into the wagons, and rolled from the
shutes into the vessels.
No person can 90 upon or come away from
the island without pass, as they are guarded
by more than one hundred armed soldiers be.
longing to Peru.
The Peruvians send all their prisoners of
state into the guano mines, say about two or
three hundred where they are let out to work
by day, and at night shut up in their cells, with
only two meals per day These prisoners are
generally provided with wives or female com
panions, who have been permitted to 90 the
islands. and hire themselves ont for work and
prostitution. They are mostly Indians natives
of the country There is no fresh water on the
islands, and each vessel is compelled by law to
carry a ton of fresh water there for every hun
dred tons burden of the ship. The oldest cap
tain in the feet from each nation is appointed
Commodore and hoists his flag as such on his
ship, where all disputes are settled Indeed
the municipal laws of the islands and the feet
are decidedly of Yankee origin.
The islands are about ten miles from the
main land and are composed of new red sand
stone The guano is not at all bird dung, but
is largely composed of the mud of the ocean :;
that brought from Peru is 50, at least. When
anchors are hOiSted into the ship from the hold
ing ground of the vessels along the Peruvian
coasts, large quantities of mud, of greenish
white color, are brought up, and this mud,
when dried, makes guanO equally good with the
guano taken from the islands
The birds and seals come upon the island
when the people are not at work, but it does
not appear that their dung or decayed bodies
are more than foot deep on any Of the islands
Fish are taken in great abundance about these
islands, as are also seals, which come there in
large schools SEQ lions also abound The
composition taken from the islands, called gu
ano, is stratified, and lies in the same form it
did before it was lifted up from the bottom of
the ocean.
Our informant says that geological exam
ination Of the islands will satisfy any man that
the guano ships are bringing away from these
islands very different thing from the dung Of
birds or decompoSed animals
Gibbs & Bright, of Liverpool have lease
of the Guano Islands from the Peruvian gov
ernmeEt for FIVE years, which expired in 1851,
but hope to get their lease renewed. This house
pays the Peruvian government about 81 80 a
ton for the privilege of taking all the guano
from the islands, the government furnishes the
men to dig the guano.
The ships that load at the islands are mostly
ships chartered to carry a cargo, or are sent
there by the owners to take away a cargo,
bought OF Gibbs & Bright, who have the en-
tire monopoly of the trade.
Coon AND EvIL.-It is curious to observe
how good and evil are merely harmonious qu-
alites. Thus health is the regular and har
monious function Of every part of the physical
organization, while illness is morbid or ire
gular action Doing good is the result Of men
tai health, and in the same way, crime arises