170 THE INIIABITANTS OF TIIE SEA. 
forward with anxiety to the period when the guano will no longer 
suffice for the wants of husbandry. At the present day they use 
it chiefly in the cultivation of maize and potatoes. A few weeks 
after the seeds begin to shoot, a little hole is made round each 
root and filled up with guano, which is afterwards covered with a 
layer of earth. After the lapse of twelve or fifteen hours, the 
whole field is laid under water, and left in that state for about 
half a day. Of the guano blanco a less quantity suffices, and the 
field must be more speedilyand abundantly watered, otherwise the 
roots would be destroyed. The effect of this manure is incredibly 
rapid. In afew days the growth of the plant is doubled; if the 
manure is repeated a second time, but in smaller quantity, a rich 
harvest is certain;—at least the produce will be three times 
greater than that which would have been obtained from the un- 
manured soil. The uniformity of climate, along a coast where 
rain is never known to fall, contributes essentially to the superior 
quality of the Chincha guano, as atmospherical precipitations 
naturally dissolve and wash away many of the most fertilising 
salts, 
TLe consumption of guano in Western Europe, and particu- 
larly in England, increases with surprising rapidity. On the 
island of Iquique a layer thirty feet deep, and covering a space 
of 220,000 square feet, has been entirely removed within twenty- 
seven years. In the year 1854, 250,000 tons were dug in the 
Chincha Islands, and the actual annual exportation amounts to 
double the quantity. The digestive functions of the Sula and 
her companions thus bring in larger sums to the Peruvian 
Government than all the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco, and 
the transport of the guano employs larger fleets than ever Spain 
possessed at the brightest period of her power. 
“ The Chincha Islands,” says Castelnau (Hapédition dans lea 
Parties Centrales de TAmérique du Sud; Paris, 1851), “ are 
completely desert and devoid of vegetation; their granite soil 
is clearly distinguished by its colour from the thick  stra- 
tum of guano with which it is covered, and the surface of 
which looks at a distance like snow. The steep banks render 
landing difficult, Lut facilitate at the same time the shipping of 
the produce, as the vessels lie at anchor close to the pits. 
Digging takes place at three places, close to one another, and 
the traveller has only to compare the enormous deposits with 
