The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-21

them, and as you near the islands you
see them by the thousands seated on
the rocks. They seem to be sociable
creatures and they hunt in focks. They
are but little afraid of man, and as
you near the islands they seldom move
without you go right among them.
The guano Of the Lobos islands La
found in pockets covered with layers
or sand which often vary in thickness
from two to fifteen feet. The sand Is
shoveled off and the guano lis then
taken out. AS 1T is dug into strong
smell OF ammonia rises, and the men
generally wear iron masks over their
faces to keep the ammoniac dust out Of
their mouths, noses and lungs. The
STUFF is good deal like fine sand and
1t is very penetrating. The guano Is
first loaded on trucks and carried on a
tramWay to the shore. where it is
transferred to the ships. to be taken
to Europe or America. l am told that
a shipload of guano does not smell at
all badly after few days. The am
nlonia of the upper crust passes off and
you cannot notice the filthiness Of the
cargo without going down into the
hold.
AN AMERICAN CLAIM.
When Humboldt visited South Amer
lea, in 1904, he called attention to the
cha islands. They were then sixty
feet deep, and he said there was
enough manure on them to enrich the
worn out lands of the old world. The
deposits, however, were not thought to
be of value by the Peruvians until
nearly half a century later when a
Frenchman named Cochet called ait
teHtion to them and claimed one-t third
OF all the product by right of dis
covery. He Travelled from place to
place and picked out islands from
Which 1T is said that more than 81, 200,-
O00,000 worth of guano was sold. He
was declared by the Peruvian congress
as the true discoverer of the beds and
uses of guano, and in 1S49 a grant Of
6,DcO tons of guano was voted him. He
never got it, however, and, although
his claim by right Of discovery. which,
according to their Peruvian law, gave
the dtscoVerer one third, aggregated
over $500, SOC 600, he died in a poor house
In u Paris. Another discoverer Of some
of the guano islands was treated in the
same way by the Peruvian government.
This was a naturaliZed American cit
lien named Landreau. He discovered
guano deposits which were worth about
S40O, 100000, and according to the Pc
ruvian law, should have had $1SS,oO0.-
600 from them. 1t was, it Is said,
through his discoveries that Peru was
able to get a loan of Europe of $780,
100000, but when it came to the ques-
ton of paying Landreau he was cut off
without a cent. Just before the war
between Chile and Peru, a number Of
Americans had formed what was called
the Peruvian company. They had
bought up the rights of the heirs of
Cochet and Landreau and were at
tempting to make the Peruvian gov
eminent pay back something of the
enormous sums claimed by them as
heirs Of Cochet and Landreau. 1t is
from the prospectus Of this company,
which was given me before leaving the
United States by Col Dick Thompson,
our former secretary of the navy, that
the above statements are taken.
This prospectus was not intended to
be given to the newspapers, and the
extent of the scheme has, think, new
er been published. It's advocates
brought the matter before congress.
Secretaries Of State Fish and Evarts
both made reports upon it, and Presi-
dent Hayes, in one case, called the at
tention Of congress to 1t. 1t never
made any Roadway out here, and 1T Is
now, I suppose, dead, for the guano
Islands were given over to the PERU
Wan corporation, an English syndi-
cate, years ago as a part consideration
of it's assuming the Peruvian foreign
country, but when the claim was made
1T was rich, and the claimants expected
to get ait least a large part of the half
billion dollars to which they said they
were entitled under the law.
GUANO BEDS OF TO-DAY.
Guano is not worth so much today as
1t was years ago. The product Is now
comparatively nothing. Other fertlli-
zers have taken its place, and it's price
Is less than half what 1T was once.
There Nhave been times when this bird
manure was sold for 500 ton. Today
it can be bought, 1 am told, for $50
or $40 a ton. The first shipment to
Europe was made more than fifty years
ago. At that time twenty barrels Of
gu'ano were taken to Liverpool and
tried on farm near that city. The
result was such that orders were sent
back for more, and soon hundreds of
ships were employed in carrying g1Iano
to Europe. Often 200 ships would be
at the different islands at one time.
Chinese coolies were imported to get
out the guano They were horribly
treated, and today 1T is mott uncommon
to find dead Cinnamon mixed with the
new deposits. For a long time the
Guano islands gave Peru the greater
part of Its revenues, yielding about
SIS, 100000 q year for number of
years. Now they are practically ex-
Inausted, and Peru has fallen from
great riches tospoverty.
Frank q. Carpenter.