GUANO 203 



Thus the islands stood for three centuries after 

 the coming of the white man, buried beneath a 

 hundred-foot blanket of guano, the true riches of 

 Manoa, neglected and disregarded. Then, with 

 the opening of the nineteenth century, the world 

 suddenly realized the true worth of what for so 

 long had merely awaited the wielding of a pick 

 and shovel. 



The first specimens of guano from the Chinchas 

 were brought to Europe in 1804, but forty more 

 years elapsed before its value as a fertilizer was 

 recognized by the people as a whole. Then followed 

 a rush comparable to the gold rush of a few years 

 later in America. But, instead of prairie- 

 schooners and oxen, the seekers employed sea- 

 going vessels and sails. Guano was the goal. 



Ships gathered about the Chinchas like bees 

 around a bowl of honey. Vessels of all nations 

 met there, loaded themselves to the gunwales, and 

 departed, to return as fast as the wind would drive 

 them to their home ports and back around the 

 Horn again. 



By the middle of the century the crush was at 

 its height. It was no uncommon sight to see 

 fifty vessels loading simultaneously around the 

 Chinchas. Hundreds of thousands of tons had 

 now disappeared from the islands. The deposits 

 seemed inexhaustible to the guano merchants. By 

 1872 about ten million tons had been extracted; 

 the height of one island had been lowered five 



