IN THE PACIFIC. 35 



The railway between Arequipa and Mollendo is 

 the work of Mr. Henry Meiggs, the railway 

 king of Peru, and is among the most successful 

 of his operations ; it was commenced in 1868, 

 and completed in two years. 



After a very short stay at Islay we proceeded 

 to the Chincha Islands, off which we stopped for 

 a few hours only, as there is no good anchorage. 



These islands, once so celebrated for their 

 guano deposits, are now nearly exhausted ; the 

 late discoveries of enormous quantities of guano 

 on the mainland, as well as on the Guanape, 

 Lobas, and Macabe Islands, have somewhat 

 tended to raise the credit of Peru; and in 

 December, 1873, a commission was appointed to 

 inquire into the matter. 



The result of their investigations, which were 

 subsequently verified by Captain Cookson, of 

 H.M.S. "Petrel," proved that the amount of 

 guano estimated to exist was nine millions of 

 tons, of the value of 55,000,000 ; the greater 

 portion of which was considered to be quite as 

 good as that of the Chincha Islands. 



D 2 



