THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



37 



are that the setUers in Canada will never forget Old 

 England. 



To conclude, in the words of Professor Wilson : 

 "The motto of Canada is, ' Indnstry, Intelligence, and 

 Integrity,' and her emblem is the Beaver. These three 

 qualifications are required by all who desire to make 

 speedy and honourable progress in life, and, when pos- 

 sessed and exercised, they cannot fail, humanly speak- 

 ing, to command success in Canada. There arc no 

 monopolies, exclusive privileges, or great and im- 

 passable barriers between grades of society, such as 



exist at home, to check or arrest the progress of the 

 honest and industrious, but poor man. Canada is 

 essentially ' a land of hope not to bo disappointed,' the 

 more especially for labour, whether skilled or un- 

 skilled — a land where thero is ' work and bread for all,' 

 and where the certain prospect of prosperity never failg 

 to lessen daily toil, and cheer the heart which has the 

 courage to trust in itself, and believe in its right and 

 power to acquire an honourable position among man- 

 kind, with a full share of the blessings and privileges 

 which justly belong to a free and honest lile." 



THE ORIGIN OF GUANO 



It has always been ouf opiuirju, from many cousidcralionp, 

 that giiaiio is not principally furrueJ from the excrements of 

 sea-fowls; siud we have that suspicion streugtheued hy the 

 commuuicatiou with which we ihall close thcic uotes. 



We have never felt satisfied that birds would congregate in 

 Buch countless nm'titudes as to form these accuraulatious of 

 guano; and we always raised the inquiry — Why do the birds 

 flock there? Certainly, not merely for the purpose of depo- 

 siting their excteracnts ! 



Then we also observed that the analysis of guano, and its 

 very appearance, agree better with the suppositiou that it is 

 the remains of decayed fat and flesh, than of the same organic 

 products after being digested. 



Tne foUowiug is the analysis of some guano from the Chiii- 

 cha Islands, presently to be meutioiieJ : — 



Water 8 5 



Sulphate of potash 6 



Muriate of ammonia 3.0 



Phosphate of ammonia 14.2 



Sesqui-carboiiate of ammonia 1.0 



Sulphate of ammojia 2.0 



Oxalate of ammonia 3.3 



Organic matter 18.5 



Silica 1.2 



Urate of ammonia 14.8 



Oxalate of lime 1.0 



Subphosphate of lime 22 



Phosphate of magnesia and ammonia 4.5 



100.0 



We have only further to observe, that Captain Bulford is a 

 person perfectly trustworthy, and is well known to us. 



" Guano, or Iluouo, is composed of the decomposed bodies 

 of seals, aquatic birds, and their deposits. The birds are pen- 

 guins, pelicans, Sa'iau geese, auJ a small bird resembling the 

 divers seeu in our channels. There are other kinds, but those 

 I have mentioned are the most numerous. Periiaps, were I 

 to describe the present state and appearance of one of the 

 islands that, as yet, is undisturbed, it may better convey an 

 idea how guano has been formed than anythiug else I could 

 write. 



"The Chincha Islands are three in nuraber, extending about 

 seven miles in a north and south direction, about twelve miles 

 to the west of the town of Pisco, on the coast of Peru, and 

 about 120 miles to the jouth of Lima. The north and middle 

 islands are those from which all Peruvian guano has been, and 

 is yet being taken. The south island is untouched, and 

 remains in its natural a'ate. I landed several times on thia 

 island, for the purpose of getting birds' eggs. It is abtut 

 three miles in circumference, and the middle and highest part 

 is about seventy feet above the level of the sea, with a depoiit 



of guano of twenty five feet at its greatest depth. Like the 

 oth.tr two islaadj, there is no vege.atiou of any kind on it; 

 ar.J, lro;a the inuntaerable bird holes in the guano, it has the 

 appearance of a rabbit warren. These holes run about a foot 

 or two feet from the surface, in every possible direction, and 

 as ihey are from five to ten feet long, frrquently ruuiiirig into 

 each other, the guano for two or thne ftet from the surface is 

 perforated like a honeycomb. In each of these holes are birds 

 like diverj sitting on their eggs ; and, in turning up the 

 guauo to get at the ej^gs, we ottej turned up dead birds, old 

 ones, that had, doubtless, crawled into these holes to die, and 

 would in all probability, if we had not disturbed thera, added, 

 in the course of ages, to the stock of guano. 



" I believe it is well known to naturalists that seals gene- 

 rally congregate to one place in common, to die ; and ob- 

 servation on this island goes to establish that fact, for 

 although thousands of seals are aecu on it, in every stage of 

 decomposition, none are seen on the main land. TUe general 

 opinion is, that the seals, when ill, have crawled up as high on 

 the island as they could. The guano being soft, from the 

 innumerable perforations, they soon work a bed for themselves, 

 which may account for their being found g-enerally half buried, 

 and prevented from decomposing as fast as they would on 

 rocks, sand, or any other substance ; for guauo is well known 

 to preserve dead bodies from putrefaction. I have seen many 

 dead seals on the south island, iu a dried state, like mummies; 

 the skeletons of otl:er?, that a kick would sei.d into dust ; 

 and parts of skeletons, fins, &c., bodies of pelicans and other 

 birds in the same state, which, in my opinion, all goes to 

 prove that guano is composed of the bodies of seals and birds, 

 more than the excrements of birds. My friends told me it 

 was ten years since they first visited the islands, and that the 

 south one had undergone no change. The bodies of the seals 

 were thou as tbey now are, which proves decomposition of 

 bodies in and on guauo takes a long time. Eggs, in a sort of 

 petrified state, are frequently found many feet deep in guano. 

 Much sal-ammoniac, in pieces from the size of a marble to a 

 man's fist, is also found some ten to twenty feet from the sur- 

 face. I have some now iu my possession, tlie scent of which 

 is as powerful as any sal-volatile I ev<>r smelt. 



" When last I was at the Chiuchas, in October, 1857, thfy 

 were shipping 40,000 tons of guano monthly to Europe and 

 Amerlcii, and, at that rate, it was expected to Ust light years. 

 The guauo on the north and middle islands is about half done. 

 Tlie greatest depth on the north island is fifty-five feet, and 

 on the middle about forty-five. The south has the least — 

 twcuty-five. The ba-^c of the three is the same, v;z , rocky ; 

 of what kind I cannot say, but the same as the rocks on the 

 south coast of Ireland. On each of the islands that are 



