164 THE SEA. 



same end at last ; for the silex of their frastules is un- 

 alterable and indestructible. And here we obtain a 

 glimpse of the exceeding wonderful economy of crea- 

 tion ; we see with adoring admiration how strangely 

 wise and weU-arranged are His plans, the Lord of 

 Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in 

 working. 



Guano, that potent manure which has so increased 

 our crops, consists, as everybody knows, of the dung 

 of sea-birds. For ages before the discovery of 

 America the careful Peruvians had collected it, and 

 employed it in their fields and gardens. It was 

 guarded by rules of the most rigid economy. Laws, 

 sanctioned by the punishment of death, forbade 

 the killing of the young birds. The guano islands 

 were all enrolled ; each was put under the care of a 

 government inspector, and assigned to a certain pro- 

 vince. The whole tract of country between Arica and 

 Chancay, a distance of two hundred and forty miles, 

 was exclusively manured with guano ; and to a certain 

 extent these traditionary customs are still maintained 

 in Peruvian agriculture. 



To turn to European consumption, we find the 

 results not less important. From one island alone, a 

 stratum of guano, thirty feet in thickness, and cover- 

 ing an area of 220,000 square feet, has been entirely 

 removed within twenty-seven years. In one single 

 year (1854), the enormous amount of 250,000 tons 

 of this accumulated excrement was dug in the Chiricha 

 Isles, and the actual annual exportation doubles that 



