On t?ie Guano f or Modern Coprolite. 127 



The term Huana (Europeans constantly substitute htia for 

 gua^ and u for o, according to Humboldt (Klaproth's Bei- 

 trtigen, u. s.) signifies in the language of the Incas dung^ 

 the substance used for manure. The verb to manure is luanus- 

 chani. All the aborigines of Peru believe the guano to be 

 the dung of birds ; it is only doubted by some of the Spa- 

 niards. The guano is only found on the coast, and on islands 

 and crags between latitude 13° and 21° S. ; and it there forms 

 beds 50 or 60 feet in thickness, which are wrought in the same 

 way as ochre pits. It is not found to the north or south of this 

 space, although the numbers of the cormorants, flamingos, and 

 cranes seem to suffer no diminution. The little Isla di Guano^ 

 in the vicinity of the town of Arica, exhales such an intolerable 

 odour, that, as Pere Feuille long ago remarked, vessels never 

 venture to come close up to the town. In Arica, large ware- 

 houses were built all along the shore, in which the guano is 

 laid up. 



When we consider, that, at the least, ever since the 12th and 

 ISth centuries, it has been the constant custom to manure the 

 land with the guano, for which purpose many millions of cubic 

 feet have been scattered over the sandy deserts of Peru (the 

 possibility of cultivation along the sea-coast depends entirely on 

 this precious substance), and that it has been constantly ab- 

 stracted in the same quantity, and that now, from repeated ex- 

 periments, it appeal's the birds of a whole island cannot produce 

 a few ships' cargoes ; what must be our astonishment at the long 

 succession of centuries, or the prodigious multitude of birds 

 which must have been requisite to accumulate these guano de- 

 posits. It is evident, however, from the observations of Fre- 

 zier, of feathers having been found at a considerable depth in 

 the mass, that its formation is entirely to be attributed to 

 birds. 



Under the empire of the Incas, the guano was regarded as an 

 important branch of state economy. It was forbidden on pain 

 of death to kill the young birds on the Guano Islands. Each 

 island had its own inspector, and was assigned to a certain pro- 

 vince.. The whole district between Arica and Chaitcay^ a dis- 

 tance of 200 nautical miles, was manured exclusively with gua- 



