Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-01-31
GUANO ISLANDS.
ONE OF THE LEADING SOURCES
OF THE WEALTH O! PERU.
How the Birds of the South Pacific
Renew the Worn Out Lands OF
Europe-What These Birds
Look Like.

In the Bay Of Pisco. about 100 miles
south of Callao and twelve miles ost
from the main land, lie the celebrated
Chincha Islands, three in number,
whereon the guano is found that has
been such an enormous source Of wealth
to Peru. To form some idea of the ex-
tent of the deposit and the magnitude of
the industry it may be stated that be-
tween the years 1853 and 1873 nearly
5000, 900 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 plunder stolen from the Incas The
known exports have amounted to fully
$50, 900, 900, and, this for country
which never contained more than =, 0OO,-
900 people, two-thirds Of whom were
The word guano is corruption of the
Quichua Huano, meaning fish manure.
The enlightened Incas understood we'll
its value as 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 OF who killed one Of
them at any time, either on the islands OF
elsewhere. With such care were the
Chinchas protected that it was not lawtul
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 particular province and the gnano was
carefully divided, every village receiving
its fair proportion.
The legitimate guano bird Is kind of
tern. It's 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 is white, with a long, whlsker-llk
feather curling from under each ear. The
BODY is dark slate color and its length Is
about ten inches. Divers. pelicans and
a variety of sea gulis also visit the islands
and the guano is mixed with their eggs
and the remnants Of shells and also with
the decayed flesh and bones Of thousands
truth do not know. that when a seal is
about to die it will invariably climb TO
the highest point on the nearest rock.
At any rate the Chincha Islands are Gov
cred with their remains, although they
have been hunted 50 much he,eabouts
during recent years that they now add
little to the deposit, which makes the
puano all the better for commercial pur-
poses, that of Bahia de Ferrol being so
| full Of seal bones as TO be worthless for
export.
To form some idea Of the accumule-
| ton one must understand that an ordin
ary little gull will deposit from four to
| six ounces of guano every day, which
| during the ten weeks Of the breeding
season, amounts 10 not less than4S enty-
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 con
/; tain. Lying within the rainless belt o.
| the Western coast none Of the deposi
!! has been washed away and when Hum
boldt first brought the Chincha Island
to the attention Of Europe, In 1904, b
said they were covered with pure guanc
I to the depth Of more than sixty feet an
were capable Of enriching all the worn
out lands Of the world.
To visit the guano fields one must G
out from Pisco in 4 row boat and land b.
means of a steep ladder which leads TO
wooden platform buils high up on PEI
pendicular cliff The northern island
which is abou; 400 yards long By 90
wards wide, Is still covered with guauo
though not 10 any great depth Tn
| beds have been worked downward. III
material being removed in layers an
! placed IN fat Trucks then conveyed b
tramway to the edge q the cliff, whene
i il run down in chutes into barges .aai
ing below and transferred b. the latte
to vessels which lie OF the islands. III
/ principal cutting is about one Laadre
wards from the brink Of preciplce aud
fully seventy FIVE deep deep. shown
the erea. amour. of Labor that hAs zee
ACCOMPLISHED A small steam engine I
,welvs.L horse power i used II siiggi1
gu. tie guaao and also Tor leading Il