GUANO 



743 



parts of these islands, however, the deposit does not exceed 3 or 4 feet in thickness. 

 In several places, where the surface of the guano is 100 feet or mere above the level of 

 the sea, it is strewed here and there with masses of granite, like those from the Alpine 

 mountains, which are met with on the slopes of the Jura chain. These seem to indi- 

 cate an ancient formation for the guano, and terraqueous convulsions since that period. 

 No such granite masses are found imbedded within the guano, but only skeletons of 

 birds. 



The accompanying wood-cut,/^. 1124, shows the nature of the formation. 



The export of the guano has not increased during the last few years: between 

 200,000 and 400,000 tons are the annual amount, which is effected by the aid 

 of 900 working hands, 320 of them being Chinese, who enter into contracts to 

 serve their employer (the Government contractor), for about 4 dollars a month, 

 renewing it, if they choose, with the increase of 4 dollars monthly, and a bonus 

 of 120. Those who work on their own account are paid 8 and 10 rials, 4 and 5 

 shillings, for each cart that they load. They live in a collection of dirty huts made 

 of bamboo and mud ; they, nevertheless, appear to be happy and contented, and in 

 general are well conducted. The men with pickaxes work their way into the guano, 

 leaving a sort of wall on either side ; here it is so hard that it requires a heavy blow 

 to remove it. It is then conveyed in wheelbarrows, either direct to the mouths of 



1125 



m 



the shoots on the edge of the cliffs, or to the huge carts running on tramways for the 

 same purpose. The colour varies very much in some parts being as dark as warm 

 sepia, and in others as light as that of a Bath brick. 



The smell of ammonia is said to be very powerful, so much so, in fact, as to affect 

 the eyes of the workmen ; crystalline deposits of various ammoniacal salts are also 

 found amongst the guano. The guano heaps are surrounded by a high fence to pre- 

 vent its being blown away by the wind, near the mouths of the canvas tubes or shoots, 

 which are sometimes 70 feet long, through which it is conducted to the boats. See 

 fg. 1125. 



As in Peru, the surface of the guano is covered with skeletons of birds and bones 

 of seals. It is also perforated by numberless holes, running in every direction, like a 

 rabbit-warren. These are made by a bird about the size of a pigeon, which remains 

 hidden during the day, sallying forth at dark to fish. Gold and silver ornaments are 

 also discovered occasionally, having been buried by the ancient inhabitants more than 

 three centuries ago. 



It is quite unnecessary here to insist on the value of guano as a manure. This is 

 a. point established beyond all question by nearly every agriculturist in the kingdom ; 



