208 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



than a quarter of a million tons was procured 

 for use in the United States. The island deposits, 

 however, were comparatively small, and by the 

 beginning of the present century they had been 

 worked out. (Laysan Island, several hundred 

 miles northwest of the Hawaiian group, alone of 

 them all still has a future in the guano industry, 

 but the island is small and its production of guano 

 is low. 



Peruvian Guano 



When the failure of her new plan became evi- 

 dent, the United States turned her attention back 

 to Peru. Her importations from that country 

 had never ceased, and now she sought to double 

 and quadruple them. But again her plans met 

 with a check. This time, however, there proved 

 to be no international complications involved. 

 The inexhaustible supply of Peruvian guano was 

 merely giving out! 



At the close of the war with Chile, Peru had 

 found herself deeply buried under a national debt. 

 She discovered that warfare is indeed a costly 

 pastime. Then, in a frantic effort to emerge from 

 under the burden, she had mortgaged the Chincha 

 and Lobos groups to private corporations. 



The results of this step are not difficult to 

 understand. Under the terms of contract the" 



