134 AVES ISLAND. 



wharves and other conveniences in the establishment that Captain 

 Gibbs had charge of there, and labor sufficient to get it — at least $15 

 a ton on the island. It costs but $7 or |8 to fetch it to the United 

 States, and the lowest that the best of it ought to bring in the United 

 States was $35 per ton. There was at least 75,000 tons, or more, of 

 the best quality on the island, in his opinion. He says he staid on 

 the island till November 21, 1854, and knows all that occurred pre- 

 viously. What he got off was mostly inferior, as they had to clear 

 away as they went, and take the nearest the wharf, in order to get at 

 the best. He says that he thinks the wharf built by Captain Gibbs 

 was worth there — and he means by worth its cost at the island when 

 finished — at least six thousand dollars, adding in freight and time 

 lost to vessels, and the labor and expenses of all kinds there. We 

 had twenty-eight men besides the sailors on board the John K. Dow, 

 (and the crew were twelve or fifteen more,) and Lang or Captain 

 Wheeler's company and ours helped each other fix the wharves. Ours 

 was prepared in Boston, and ironed, and was of good solid timber, 

 and was built in fourteen feet water at its out end, and extended eighty 

 feet from the land, and was about twelve feet wide, and laid on horses 

 kept firm by being surrounded with heavy rock sunk round each one. 

 Captain Gibbs had seven houses, besides several sheds, which were 

 framed in Boston ; and I think the houses cost, to put them up out 

 there, $750 or $800 a piece. They were framed to stand the West 

 India hurricanes. The sheds cost considerable to get them there ; I 

 suppose a thousand dollars would pay for them. We generally had 

 at least thirty-five men in our party on the island, and our supplies 

 came out from time to time on different vessels from the United States, 

 and we caught some fish there, though the time lost was as much 

 as they were worth. Captain Gibbs always had a plentiful supply of 

 stores there, such as provisions, and sometimes exchanged with his 

 vessels there. All his water had to be brought there in casks. He 

 kept an ample supply ; he had not less than ninety or one hundred 

 large casks generally on hand, and the vessels took away casks nearly 

 every trip, which were returned filled. Captain Gibbs also had plenty 

 of implements — tools of all kinds, barrows, and everything necessary 

 for such an establishment — all of which must, at the island, have stood 

 the owners in at least ten thousand dollars. I do not think his outfit 

 on the island could have cost less there. I do not mean to include 

 in this the wharf, or houses, or sheds, or the extra cables and anchors 

 for moving the vessels which were kept there, or his extra launches or 

 boats, of which there were two launches that must have cost several 

 hundred dollars, used for lading the guano, but I mean only his stores, 

 provisions, medicine, implements, barrows, tools, and the like. He 

 further says he believes the stock was kept up, and was particularly so 

 towards the last of the time, as it was intended to push the business 

 that winter, and he thinks there was more than ten thousand dollars' 

 worth there. He says he never saw a list of them, but has a general 

 recollection of them, and a general knowledge of the cost of such things 

 in the United States, and there was generally supplies for a couple of 

 months ahead for thirty-five or forty men, besides the implements, &c. ; 

 and besides that, there was the cannon and sundry small arms, and 



