Omaha daily bee., 1898-08-21
was taken off in the Duke. priva-
teer, 18th February, 1908
He died Lieutenant of II. NJ S. Weymouth
A. D. 1928, aged Al years.


This tablet is erected near selkirks lookout
BY Commodore Powell and the officers
OF H. n. 8. Topaze, A. D., 1868.
The uninhabited Galapagos islands, off the
coast Of Ecuador, have more recently had
an Alexander Selkirk. This man was de-
! serted by his companions and when found
years afterward he was quite naked and was
carrying pig on his back. He had lived
upon fruits and roots and had caught wild
cattle in traps and had killed them with
spear made Of a pocket knife tied to a stick.
His hut was made of the hides OF such
cattle, Of which there were a number on the
island, having been left there years ago,
when the place was used as a penal colony
for Ecuador.
Billion Dollars from n DunEhiN.
Other interesting islands are found in
the great archipelago which lies between
here and Cape Horn. These l shall travel
| among on my way around the southern end
| OF South America. The most interesting Of
all the Pacific islands, however, are the
Guano islands. They are, in proportion to
their size, the richest islands Of the world,
for they have already added more than
| 81, 900, ,O00, 900 to the worlds wealth. Think
Of pulling $1,000, ,0OO,O 900 out of dunghill
That Is what Peru has dug out Of its Guano
out Of ttem today, although nothing like the
enormous sums realized in the past. These
guano islands are scattered all along the
| coast of Peru. I first saw them north Of
Lima, near the shores Of Salavary, and at
Pacasmayo guano ship from the Lobos
| islands came in for mail and provisions
| OF the Bay of Pisco, Peru, / saw the
famous Chincha islands. which have pro-
duced more than 100000 tons OF this bird
manure, and have brought into the Peruvian
treasury millions upon millions of dollars.
The shipping Of guano is going on from these
islands today, although the deposits are to a
large extent exhausted. The American firm
of Grace & Co. of Lima has the contracts
for loading the ships and they have docks
and machinery at the various islands for
getting the guano out of the earth and on to
the vessels l am told that the shipments
Of the current year will not probably ex-
coed 10000 tons.
| The Guano islands are merely masses OF
volcanic rocks which have risen up out of
| the ocean. They have not a blade OF grass
| nor any green thing on them, and are
merely rocky islands covered with rag
! ged white deposit. 1t never rains upon
them, and for thousands Of years the manure
upon them lay and grew in quantities from
age to age. For some reason or other the
! pelicans sea gulls and other birds which
feed by the millions in the waters Of these
parts of the world have chosen these
islands as their nightly roosting places.
They pick out certain Of them and age
after age, year after year, and night
after night they fly to them by thousands
and there rest. There are often other
islands near which to all appearance are
quite as desirable. but which are un-
touched. Even the disturbance caused by
the removing Of the guano does not seem
to prevent the birds returning to their
roost On the Chincha islands, which were
supposed to be entirely exhausted, fresh
deposits Of guano have recently been made
and in 1894 10000 tons Of new guano was
actually shipped.
Whore the GuanO Comes From.
Nearly every one knows that guano is the
excrsment Of birds. A sea gull which IL
one Of the smallest OF the guano- producing
birds. will drop from four to six ounces Of
excrement a day. and In the breeding sea-
son of ten weeks about twenty eight pounds
Other birds produce more. and the many
little deposits throughout the ages have
made these vast quantities. Guano has
however, other things mixed with It, The