126 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



same appearances are common along the coast, and I 

 soon afterwards ascertained that they are produced 

 by the droppings of sea-birds — the same which, when 

 accumulated in large masses, form the guano deposits 

 of the detached rocks and islets of the coast. 



In the afternoon we reached Iquique, which is, I 

 believe, the largest of the unnatural homes of men on 

 this coast. Some one who had gone ashore here 

 returned, bringing copies of two newspapers, by which 

 the public of Iquique are kept informed as to the 

 affairs of the world. I had already seen with surprise, 

 and had many further opportunities for observing, 

 the extent to which the newspaper press in South 

 America has absorbed whatever literary capacity 

 exists in the country. Of information there is not 

 indeed much to be gathered from these sheets ; but 

 of grand sentiments and appeals to the noblest 

 emotions the supply seems inexhaustible. I regret to 

 own that experience in other parts of the world had 

 already made me somewhat distrustful of such appeals ; 

 but the result of my study of South American news- 

 papers culminated in a severe fit of moral indigestion, 

 and I do not yet receive in a proper spirit any appeal 

 to the noblest sentiments of my nature. 



I am far from supposing, however, that with those 

 who read literature of this kind the debilitating effect 

 attributed to it by some critics necessarily ensues. 

 Some at least of the heroic virtues have survived. 

 For a man to die for his country may not be the 

 highest form of heroism, but in every age it has 

 drawn forth the instinctive admiration of his fellows ; 

 and it is not at Iquique that one should think of 



