, 1885-08-14
a ElcIuns q nEsoLArlon.
The raeinr Coat OF sauth America
>aitpcier aud cusno Bed.

1000 miles. The vessels steaming up
n down always hug the shore. within
hearing Of the bark OF the sea lions and
the screams of the water birds. millions
of which haunt the coast, an have Gov
cred the rocks with the guano that 80
long enr ched Peru. howhere ara lirds
and seals so numerous, ami their bones
and g crement, with the decayed fish
they have carried upon the rocks. are
often found in masses, hundreds of feet
deep. baked hard like CLAY. in n region
where the sun shines twelve hours each
day and rain never falls. This Is the
guano Of commerce, millions OF ions of
which have been shipped to Europe to
enrich tho impoverished soil Of that
continent.
Within the cost from ten to fifty
miles anil stretching for hundreds OF
miles, are the famous beds of nitrate of
soda, which purified is saltpeter, teing
in themselves an i~neXhaustible source o.
revenue to their owners, and containing
enough OF the material to supply the
word for 900 years. These deposits.
more profitable than silver or guano.
were discovered accidentally by n va
grant knglishman named george Smith.
but were not operated TO an extent
until recent ears ow nitrate having
been found "A yalual lie component Of 81
chemical forms is in demand the world
over, aud millions of dollars worth is
shipped from the por.s along the coast
annually. Fefore its value was fully
known Il number Of far-sighted men 10.
Gated claims. after the fashion in
vogue in mining camps everywhere, and
then tho government stepped in.
and forbid any further presumption.
But the original locations cover enough
of the deposit to supply the market for
n century or two, and TO keep up prices
they have formed a pool, a monopoly
combination, under which they charge
from 50 TO SO per cwt. for what costs
them about L. cents. These owners
live in London and Paris, and count
their profits. while the mines are worked
by superintendent or administrators.
There is apparently no limit to the
stuff, the bed stretching up and down
the coas rom . 0 TO 40 miles The
surface OF the country is as complete a
picture OF desc alton AS nature ever
framed. tn one side Is the Pacific
ocean, with its great swells sweep
ing almost aroun the gloi e, as
regular and constant as the throb-
bings OF the human pulse. Tn
the other side the impenetrable
Andes rise in a range whose altitude
averages 1900 feet, and whose peaks
tower 20, 900 and -, 600 feet above tho
sea. Between the ocean and the noun
tains for 900 miles, with a varying
width from twenty to fifty miles, lies a
strip Of dri ting sand which no rivers
water and where rain never falls. All
the water used by the inhabitants is
taken from the ocean. hat tor me-
ehanical purposes being used in its nat
ural condition, and that used for food
being condensed into steam and purged
of its salt by machinery. There is not
a well or a spring along the coast, and
drinking water is m article of merchan-
disc like ice or flour, costing about !
cents a gallon to the consumers.
nder the sand of this desert, which
drifts before the wind like snow, nature
has laid the ed of nitrate. No one
knows how it was formed, and man has
not attempted TO measure its extent.
The sand is first shoyeled oil, and then
n crust of sum- urnt clay from four to
twell Q inches thick is removed This
discloses a ed of white material that
LOOKS like melting marble full Of mois
ture, and as SOFT as cheese. The strata
is often four or five feet thick, ami aver
ages two or three feet. 1t is broken
up by crowbars and shoveled into carts,
in which 1t is taken to crushers, which
grind IL up into particles rs large as
pebbles. .hese are lifted by elevators
into great watts. where It is boiled I'M
til dissolved in ordinary sea water.
Then the solution Is run o into a series
OF shallow iron watts exposed to the
air. which being m~oistureless, and
heated 10y constant sunshine, causes
RAJ id evaporation. The salt from the
water mixed with the nitrate causes
cryslalii alton, aud after a certain Pc
Rod OF exposure 10 the air and sun the
watts are found 10 Ue covered Il on the
bottom and sides tn white spark NJ
crystils. like alabaster. under a blush,
yelowlsh liquor. This Ii uor is care
fully drawn off. for Il IS even more valu-
able than tie saltpeter, and is condu ted
by pipes to another orucible where 1t Is
boiled aud chemically treated until it
produces the iodine of commerce., useful
for a hundred medical and chemical
purposes aud costing as much per ounce
as the saltpeter Lrings per 100 weight.
The liquor having Teen withdrawn
the saltpeter is shoveled upon drying
boards where it is c posed to the sun
for awhile, then put into bags and
shipped to Europe and America, II is
graued like wheat and corn, according
to uality The highest grade goes to
the powder mills, the ne I to the chem
ical works, and the third to the fertl-
/ er factor es, where it is made into
manure The 10 line is packed in little
casks and covered with green hides,
which shrink with drying until they are
as tight ms a drum-head, and keep out
mn sfurp