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an ingredient in soups, the name of which he had been unable to as- 

 certain, he had found imbedded in great abundance, round disks 

 precisely similar to those found in the guano. He had also found 

 them on another marine plant from the Mauritius (Thamnophora 

 Telfaria). From this he infers that these or similar plants inhabited 

 by these Infusoria are eaten by the birds, and as the shells, from their 

 siliceous nature, are not acted upon by the process of digestion, they 

 remain unchanged in the excrements of which the guano is almost 

 wholly composed. — J. W 



Observations on Guano. {Extracted from TschudVs Travels in Peru). 



" Guano (or according to the more correct orthography, Huanu),* 

 is found on these islands in enormous layers of from thirty-five to 

 forty feet thick. The upper strata are of a grayish brown colour, 

 which lower down becomes darker. In the lower strata the colour 

 is a rusty red, as if tinged by oxide of iron. The guano becomes 

 progressively more and more solid from the surface downward, a cir- 

 cumstance naturally accounted for by the gradual deposit of the 

 strata, and the evaporation of the fluid particles. Guano is found on 

 all the islands, and on most of the uninhabited promontories of the 

 west coast of South America, especially in those parts within the 

 tropics. I have often been assured that beds of guano, several feet 

 high, covered with earth, are found inland at some distance from sea; 

 but I never met with any, and I have some doubt of the correctness 

 of the statement. If, however, these inland strata really exist, I am 

 inclined to believe that they can only be found on hilly ground; and 

 in that case they afford strong evidence of a considerable elevation 

 of the coast. 



* The original word is Huanu, which is a term in the Quichua dialect meaning 

 ' animal dung ;' for example, Huanacuhana, (excrement of the huanacu). As the 

 word is now generally used, it is an abbreviation of Pishu Huana — ' Bird-dung.' The 

 Spaniards have converted the final syllable nu into no, as they do in all the words 

 adopted from the Quichua which have the like termination. The European ortho- 

 graphy. Guano, which is also followed in Spanish America, is quite erroneous, for the 

 Quichua language is deficient in the letter G, as it is in several other consonants. 

 The H, in the commencement of the word, is strongly aspirated, whence the error in 

 the orthography of the Spaniards, who have sadly corrupted the language of the 

 Autochthones of Peru. 



