Saltpetre for 3f((mire. — Scarcity of Water. 343 



weight (50,000 tons) are exported annually to England, 

 North America, and Germany, in which comitries it is ex- 

 tensively and beneficially used for manure.* Here we found 

 lying at anchor a large merchantman, the Victorine of Bor- 

 deaux, 3000 tons burthen, which was taking in a full cargo, 

 exclusively, of this valuable product. The saltpetre is found 

 between beds of clay from one to six feet below the surface, 

 boiled in large vats to free it from impurities,! and dried in 

 the form of cakes, which are packed for shipment in sacks of 

 250 lbs. It is worth, if purified, 21 reals (about lis. 4t7.) per 

 cwt. on the spot, and fetches £16 to £17 per ton in England. 

 Upon a rough calculation, the quantity of saltpetre along the 

 coast of Peru at an average breadth of 30 miles amounts to 

 60,000,000 tons, enough to maintain the existing supply J 

 for at least another thousand years. The rate of wages of 

 the men engaged in the trade, owing to the scarcity of labour, 

 is from two to three dollars per diem ! The scarcity of 

 water at Iquique is so great, that the town has to be supplied 

 by means of a distilling apparatus, an undertaking the gross 

 daily receipts of which are six himdred dollars! For the 

 precious element has to be purchased not merely for men but 



* See " On the Source and Supply of Cubic Saltpetre, or Nitrate of Soda, and its 

 use in small quantities as a Restorative to Corn-crops, by Philip Pusey." London, W. 

 Clowes and Sons, 1853. 



t The proportion as found along the coast is 93 to 95 per cent, of saltpetre, to 7 

 to 5 per cent, of earth. 



X The export, however, is constantly increasing. In 1858 it amounted to 61,000 

 tons, in 1859 to 78,000, of which 22,500 tons went to England, 15,200 to France, and 

 the remainder to Germany. 



