The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-12-06
CARGO OF PERUVIAN GUANO.
10000 Miles With a Cargo of 1900 Tons
of Peruvian Guano.

10000 Miles With a Cargo of 1900 Tons
of Peruvian Guano.
After a journey of 10, 600 miles, with
1900 tons of Peruvian guano aboadr,
the British ship Coya, Capt. Thomas,
put into this port early yesterday morn
ing and is now discharging her cargo at
the Columbus street wharf.
Capt. Thomas is we'll known among
the seafaring men of this city. A few
years ago he came to Charleston in a
vessel loaded with Peruvian guano, and
on the deck was a thick coating of vol
canic ashes, which had been accumu-
lated in passing Mount Pelee, Isle of
Martinique, while in eruption just after
the destruction of st. Pierre.
The present cargo is consigned to the
Coe-Mortimer Company. The cargo
will be discharged at the dock and will
at once be put into 200-pound bags
made by the Royal Bag and Yarn Fac
tory, of this city, and will be ready for
shipment Immediately after the bags
are sewed up securely.
Peruvian guano is generally regarded
as n of the most valuable fertilizers
on the market and ranks very high
among farmers and gardeners of this
and other States.
When the matches of the Coya were
opened yesterday the oder of ammonia
was very strong. Last spring, when a
vessel loaded with Peruvian guano was
in port, it became necessary to supply
the men below with air through a long
funnel, and even then it was necessary
to bring the men to the deck every few
minutes; the hot weather prevailing at
that time augmented the discomfort of
the men below. With cold weather,
however, it is thought that the cargo
can be discharged without discomfort
to the laborers.
AS is we'll known, Peruvian guano is
brought from islands about 40 miles off
the coast of Peru, South America. Hun
dreds of thousands of pelicans, sea
gulls and other sea birds subsist in that
vicinity, and when night falls they
roost on these barren isles. For count
less years these immense focks of birds
have been roosting and Nesting on these
islands and the accumulated excreta is
now very deep, so deep in fact that it
is dug out like coal.
In attempting to convey some idea of
the multitudes of sea birds that live in
the vicinity of these barren isles, one
writer says, their number is legion;
they completely cloud the sun when
they rise from their resting place in the
morning in flocks of miles in length"
The pelican, like the pigeon, builds
his second nest on the remains of the
first, and the young add to the deposit.
For years and years these inconceivably
large flocks of sea birds have been
nesting, roosting and dying on these
islands, and ships are bearing the guano
to every part of the world. In the
guano n frequently sees petrifed
eggs, bones of sea birds, feathers, egg
shells and other reminders of the birds.
Capt. Thomas said yesterday that
one could not form any idea of the
number of birds that roost nightly on
these islands unless one actually saw
them as they came there in the eve
ming.
1t would seem that nature herself I'M
derstood something of the value of these
deposits, and that she has done what
she could to preserve them. Rain never
falls in that part of the country. In the
past sixteen years only once has the
rain descended. So none of the guano
is washed into the sea. The birds live
almost altogether on fish, and when
they catch a denizen of the deep, they
carry him to an island and there devour
him. In this way the ish-scrap becomes
a part of the deposit and is one of the
valuable ingredients of the fertilizer.
MIR. Edmund Mortimer, of Coe-Morti-
mer Company, recently visited the is
lands himself and gives interesting ac-
counts of the birds and their move
ments. Capt. Thomas stated yesterday
afternoon that the deposits are by no
means exhausted. He said that his cargo
came from an isle that had never been
touched save once. He left the isles on
September 18 and encountered good
weather during the voyage. He said
that when he left Valparaiso probably
one-third of the population was smitten
with smallpox, though none of the
better class were afflicted with the dis
ease. His voyage was a successful and
pleasant one, and his bill of health is
clean. Several days will elapse before
the cargo is discharged. : News and
Courier, Oath inst.