The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-03-04
The Guauo Trnde.

We would call the attention of shipowners and
masters to the advertisement in this paper for the
chartering of vessels to load with guano. The
advices received from New York by the last mail
place the Jarvis Island guano trade in a more
tangible shape than ithas heretofore assumed, the
agent at this port, DR.. Judd, being fully author
lied to enter into contracts for the loading of
ships. The ship John Marshall, which had been
detained some days from adverse winds, sailed on
Saturday last for Jarvis Island, fully equipped
with anchors, chains and buoys to be stationed
off that island. 1t is thought that when buoys
are placed, ships can lie and load with perfect
safety. The clipper ship Aspasia, which is looked
for from New York in three or four weeks, is ex-
pected to load the first cargo of guano, in case she
finds no oil freight at this port. Further analyses
and experiments with this guano in Baltimore
and other places 60 to prove its value as a fertil-
izer, and we are glad to see that the efforts of the
Company will soon result in placing this article
in the market in competition with other guanos
which, though conceded to be inferior, are a mer-
charitable article. If the statements already
made in this paper are correct, and they remain
yet to be disproved, it will not be twelve months
before the American public will condemn the acts
and reports of Com. Mervine and Capt. Davis, as
a disgrace to the American Navy.
In an article on this subject in the Washington
Era of Dec. "a, W find the following remarks in
relation t. the guano sent to the United States
from the schooner LihoHho and from Capt. Davis
of the 81. Marys:
"On the receipt of four tons Of this guano in New
York, by way of Panama, it was placed in possession
of the Agricultural Bureau of the Patent Office, and
has been distributed in bags of four pounds each to
scientific agriculturists Of the United States, and we
are told the results are everywhere alike satisfactory,
for, though not so rich in ammonia as the Peruvian
guano, it contains more than seventy-fve per cent. of
phosphates of lime, for want of which cereal crops
cannot be grown. This guano has been analysed by
the most eminent analytic chemists, for the Company
and for the State Of Maryland, and the superiority
of the American Pacific island guano over the Peru
Wan is unquestionable.
Commander Davis has just returned, and reports
the islands accessible, and the guano which covers
them to be, not Jird-ime, which is an article of
manufacture, but 6ird-dung. or guano, which he re-
ports is worthless, on account of the heavy rains that
fall in that region. So much for the sympathy shown
by a for his superior officer. Sam
Piles of this worthless guano have been sent to the
Navy Department, and we hope will be submitted by
the Secretary Of the Navy to competent analytical
chemists of the United States.
IF these islands prove to be deposits of guano, as
claimed to be, and which we believe they will prove
to be, their value to our country cannot be estimated
and the country will have little reason to be grateful
for the aid of the navy in securing the benefits Of this
great discovery"