The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-07-24
PERU'S IMMENSE WEALTH.
HOW AN EMPIRE WAS RUINED ny
ITS RICHES.
The Gold and silver, Cuano, Nitrate,
the Cinchona Trees, and the In
dIgO Fields Ruin The Cnuutry-

lncas, and we know it was enough to
restore financial prosperity to Spain, and
give every cutthroat who came to the
coast fortune. The name of Peru was
synonymous for boundless riches, and this
country was the only FL Dorado which
the Spanish Adventures ever succeeded
in finding.
After they had expended the wealth
they found in the hands of the Indians,
the Spaniards worked the mines of
Potosi and Ccrro del Pasco, and found
them wonderfully productive. Millions
after millions were secured from each OF
these deposits, and they were abandoned
only when as great source of wealth
was discovered in the guano islands of
the sea. This was so much more readily
obtained and paid such an immensely
greater profit that the silver mines in the
Andes, 10, 900 feet above the sea, were
LETT for the patient, plodding Indians,
and Peru commenced to sell fcrtilizing
material to the world.
Guano is only found in rainlcss re-
gions, and while there is said to be some
on the coast of Mexico and in the islands
of the Gulf of California, it is only along
the arid deserts west of the Andes, where
the clouds never precipitatc moisture,
that the deposit has been a source of
wealth. Guano is mixture of the ex-
cremcnt Of birds and seals, the decom-
posed bodies Of both, and the bones Of
the fishes which they have taken upon
the land for food. Along the coast of
Peru are to-day, as there have been for
centuries, myriads of sea birds. The sky
is often darkencd with them, and their
hpouv cb I'D foil Ia
face as they fly from one to another of
the islands upon which they roost and
breed These islands arc swarming with
sea lions also, and the rocky shores arc
fringed with them in multitudes hevond
the power Of man to number. They live
on the islands with the birds. Here both
live, die, and decay with the other ami
NAL life they bring from the ocean, and
the guano Of commerce is the filth they
have left upon the rocks. There has
never been any rain 10 wash it away, and
the wind scarcely ever rises above a
gentle breeze, so it has been allowed to
accumulate for countless ages, until it is
in some places hundreds of feet deep,
dried and baked by tropical sun.
The amount of money which Peru has
made from her guano deposits cannot be
estimated any more accurately than the
plunder stolen from the Incas. The OK
ports have continued from 1916 to the
present day, and the annual shipments
have amounted to millions of tons, valued
between $50, 600, 600 and $50, 900, 600,
and this to the profit of n state whose
population has never reached 1900, 000
three-fourths of whom were Indians who
have had no share in its benefits. The
exhausted lands OF the old world required
this manure to revive them, and their
owners paid high prices for what cost
Peru nothing. The result of this
revenue was to continue the extravaganza
among the people which was p,actced
by their forefathers when the mountains
poured out streams of silver. 1t was
al epidemic of riches, and instead of
wisely boarding this source of wealth
and protecting it, the government of
Peru plunged into system of reckless
expenditure, until the end Of the war
found its revenues cut of and the country
burdened with debt Of $3.50, 900, 900,
which it can never pay
But even if Peru had been robbed Of
all her guano, the deposits of nitrate of
soda, in the deserts along her southern
coasts would have made her rich again,
but Chilli has stolen these also. The
whole coast. from the twcnty-thrd to
the twenty fifth parallel of latitude, APP
pears to be one solid mass Of this valuable
mineral fit for a hundred different uses,
and worth in the market from forty to
sixty dollars a ton. 1t was discovered in
1888 by an accident, the hero of the
discovery being q forlorn old English
man by the name of George Smith. There
is no telling how much lies in these
mines, but IL is the opinion of those who
have explored the country that at
the present rate of excavation it will
take eight or ten centuries to dig it
away.
Under the surface Of drifting sand is q
crust Of clay three to five inches thick
This crust covers bed of crude nitrate
from three to six feet deep, the limits of
which have not been measured. Years
ago, when its value was not fully rccog-
nized, private parties, mostly English
men and Germans, went into the nitrate
beds, and by the selfenacted laws which
exist among all mining settlements each
was allowed his claim. Then the gov
eminent of Peru and Bolivia stepped in
and prohibited further locations, but not
ply the market for the rest of this cen
fury. The cost of mining is not much
greater than the cost of digging a ditch
in ordinary clay, and the deposits arc
fifteen and twenty miles from the sea.
ports.
The nitrate is shipped crude to the
market for fcrtil;zing purposes, but there
are factories along the coast in which the
raw product is purified for chemical uses.
This publication is accomplished by boil,
ing in water. The impurities rise to the
surface, and are removed by skimming,
and the heavy nitro settles at the bottom
Of the vat and crystallizcs at n certain
degree of heat. Then the water is drawn
off and distilled, producing the iodine oil
commerce. an article so valuable as to be
measured by the ounce and selling at S.
orSl.
The nitre is shipped in bags of 1OC
pounds each and the iodine in cask,
made of hard wood, which are protected