Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-08
THE GUAN0 ISLANDS.
One Of the Principal Sources of the
Wealth of Peru,
AN UNSAvORY INDUSTRY,
How the Birds 0f the S0ush Pacific Re-
new she Worn-Out Lands Of Europe
what These Birds Look Like-Ex,sns
ofShs Traffic In the Fertilizer.
From In. Stars Travelling Correspondent

From TEE srAa's Travelling Correspondent
Orr THE PERUVIAN COAST. Sept Is
n N THE BAY OF PISCO. about 100 miles
lM south of Callao and twelve miles out
from the main land lie the celebrated
ARChincha Islands, three in number.
AW vhereon the guano is found that has
been such An enormous source Of wealth to
Peru. To form some idea Of the extent of the
deposit and the magnitude of the industry it
may be stated that between the years 1858 and
1878 nearly S,OOO.O0O tons OF guano were shipped
from here. The amount Of money which Peru
has derived from this one source of revenue
cannot be any more accurately estimated than
the value Of the plumber stolen from the Incas.
The known exports have amounted to fully
$S0, OO0, 600, and this for q country which never
contained more than 2,OOO.O 600 people, two
thirds OF whom were Indians, who had no share
in the profits.
AHEAvY DEBr.
Yet in the midst of its prosperity the i'm
provident country managed somehow TO incur
debt Of $3.50. 000. 600, which could never have
been paid but for the saving Grace Donongh-
more convention. This treasure-trove of the
Chinchs Islands. which when first discovered
had been accumulating in an exhaustless de-
post Tor unnumbered centuries, was even more
easily available than the gold and silver which
had made the Inca land the Ell Dorado of the
world and contributed as much toward its
downfall, for the iatter-day republic is now
about the poorest in South America. When
plenty OF money came without effort to
generation after generation, the careless arsto-
Gratis took no steps toward improving or pre-
serving the source OF their revenues, and when
at last these springs ran low and the country
was pillaged during the late war Of everything
valuable that remained, the helpless people,
reared in the idea of their ancestors that it had
been ordained from the beginning of the
world that they were to have no part in the
degradation OF labor, did not know how TO set
themselves at work.
THEIR LACK OF sAGAc1TY.
In the matter of their guano the Peruvians
have shown far less sagacity than the Indians
OF the olden days, but have acted as IL the sup
ply we're literally without end. They abolished
taxes and relied entirely upon guano for all the
money required by the government, including
enormous sums expended in railways. When
the Chinchas were nearly exhausted they turned
their attention to other groups but none of
them proved SO rich ana extensive as the
original source OF supply. which their ances-
tors so carefully protected.
The word guano is corruption of the
Quichua Huano, meaning fish manure. The
enlightened 1ncas understood we'll its value as
q fertilizer. History tells us that it was not
only extensively used throughout their empire.
but that the punishment OF death was inflicted
upon any one who disturbed the birds during
the breeding season or who killed one of them
at any time, either on the islands or elsew
With such care were the Chinchas protected
that it was not lawful to land upon them at any
time under pain Of death, lest the birds should
be driven away and frightened from the coast
Each island was set apart for the use of a par
ticular province and the guano was carefully
divided, every village receiving its fair proper
ton.
Considerable guano lie yet found in the Tara
copa Islands, the Lobos and Guenope groups,
the Vieja Islands of Independence bay, the
Lobillo and Huonillo groups in Cheopana bay
and others at Punta Alba and Pabellion de
Plea. The best of them, however, all the work.
ings of Pabellion. Limos and Huanellos, 20 to
the railroad bondholders under the Grace-Do-
nonghmore contract
THE aUANo BIRDS.
The legitimate guano bird is kind Of tern.
Its bill and legs are red, the top Of the head
and tip of the tail and wings are black, while
the lower part of the head il white, with a
long, whisker-lke feather curling from under
each ear. The body is dark slate color and its
length is abont ten inches Divers, pelicans
and . variety of sea gulls also visit the islands
and the excrement is mixed with their eggs
and the remnants Of shells and also with the
decayed flesh and bones of thousands Of seals
1t ID asserted, but with what truth l do not
know, that when q seal is about to die it will
invariably climb to the highest point on the
nearest rock. At any rate the Chincha Islands
are covered with their remains, although they
have been hunted SO much hereabouts during
recent years that they now add little to the de-
posit which makes the guano all the better
for commercial purposes, that OF Bahia de
Ferrol being SO full Of seal bones as to be
worthless for export.
To form some idea Of the vast accumulation
L.
gull will deposit from four to six ounces of
guano every day, which during the ten weeks
OF the breeding season amounts to not less than
twenty-eight pounds per gull. Multiply this
by millions and then date the account back
through thousands of years and one may begin
to realize what these islands contain. Lying
within the rainless belt Of the western coast
none Of the deposit has been washed away; and
when Humboldt first brought the Chincha
Islands to the attention of Europe, in 1904, he
said they we're covered with pure guano to the
depth Of more than sixty feet and were capable
world
FORMATION OF THE ISLANDS.
The islands are all OF the same formation, q
briRht-hued granite, composed Of red felspar
and white quartz, mixed with a little mica. As
felspar il decomposed by tho action of the air.
all the shores have become frayed and ragged.
being indented by many caverns, which in
process OF time fall In and thus diminish the
size of the Islands. The chemical force of de-
competition and the mechanical action Of the
waves have parted into three pieces that which
once was doubtless one island and in times
yet more remote Chincha was probably con-
nectsd with the coast, az shown by a chain Of
rocks which intervene betwe en- them and
hill near the village OF Pisco. Being of vol
canic origin the group may one day disappear
beneath the waves, as islands have done in
various parts of the world.
TO VISIT THE aUANo FIELDS
one must 20 out from Pisco in q row boat and
land by means Of q steep ladder which leads to
q wooden platform built high up on q perpsn-
dicular cliff. The northern island. which is
about l, 400 yards long by 600 yards wide, is
still covered with eXcrement, though not to
any great depth. The beds have been worked
downward, the material being removed in lay.
ers and placed in fat trucks, then conveyed by
tramWay to the edge of the cliff, whence il ia
run down in chutes into barges waiting below
end transferred by the latter to vessels which
Lilo Of the islands. The principal cutting is
about one hundred yards from the brink of the
precipics and is fully seventy five feet deep,
showing the great amount of labor that has
been accomplished. A small steam engine Of
twelve-ho power is used in digging out the
guano and also for loading the trucks. A crane
projects from the engine and from its chains
Is suspended an iron trough, like q huge coal
hod, with six gigantic teeth at the edges. BY
n