10 



Curious discovery of a Guano Island. 



Vol. IX. 



this coast were opened up to the enterprise 

 of British merchants, is both curious and 

 interesting, and the following recital of it 

 is, we believe, the correct one. An Ameri- 

 can trader having observed the interest 

 which the importation of Peruvian gnano 

 was creating in Britain, was reminded of 

 the circumstance that he had seen large 

 deposits of a similar substance on the coast 

 of Africa, and he published a short narrative 

 of his observations in an American journal. 

 Tiiis account fell under the notice of an 

 English captain, who transmitted it to his 

 relatives in Liverpool, and by them an ex- 

 pedition of, we believe, five ships, was fitted 

 out in the close of 1842, for the purpose of| 

 being loaded with the African guano for the 

 British market. Tlie instructions, however, 

 which were given to the masters nmst have 

 been of an imperfect kind, for four of them 

 returned without having succeeded in the 

 object of their search, and the fifth, viz: 

 the Ann, was nearly in the same position, 

 when accident revealed the El Dorado, 

 which was destined to exert such a potent 

 influence in fertilizing our soil. Captain 

 Farr happened to be at Cape Town, and one 

 morning stepped into a coffee-room for break- 

 fast, q,nd while partaking of his repast, en- 

 tered into conversation with the master of 

 an American whaler, to whom he explained 

 the regret he felt at being likely to return 

 to England, without being able to fulfil the 

 object of his mission. The American stated 

 that he had been on shore on some islands 

 of the exact dpscription which the other 

 was in quest of; and gave Captain Farr 

 such information as enabled him to find out 

 the island of Ichaboe, and take the first 

 cargo from a deposit which may have been 

 in the course of accumulation from the ear- 

 liest ages in the world's history. With this 

 cargo he sailed for England, and having put 

 in at a port on the coast of Ireland, in July, 

 1843, he there found instructions awaiting 

 him, which directed him to proceed to Dum- 

 fries, and unload : and he accordingly pro- 

 ceeded to Carsethorn, on the Solway, where 

 the Ann was discharged, and tlie guano car 

 ried to Liverpool in lighters. Notwithstand 

 ing the secrecy with which tliese proceed 

 ings were managed, some hints respecting 

 them reached the ears of the firm of Alex- 

 ander & John Downie, of this city, who de- 

 spatched their manager, Mr. Moncrielf, 

 with the view of obtaining such information 

 as would open the African guano stores 

 more generally to British industry. A ne- 

 gotiation was accordingly begun at Dum- 

 fries, and terminated at Bristol, the result 

 of which was that Captain Farr agreed to 

 proceed again to Ichaboe, and at the same 



time point out the way to a fleet which was 

 despatched by Messrs. Downie, with sealed 

 instructions, in the autumn of last year. 

 Already several of these ships have arrived 

 in Scotland, while one of them has dis- 

 charged a cargo in the West Indies, and 

 the matter being no longer a secret, a num- 

 ber of vessels were, at the date of the last 

 advices, loading at Ichaboe for various ports 

 in Great Britain. Guano is also obtained at 

 Angra Pequena, 40 miles south of Ichaboe, 

 but it is not by any means, held in such 

 high favour as the product of the latter. At 

 the time of Captain Farr's first visit, the 

 island was covered with penguins, gannets, 

 &c., but principally the former, in numbers 

 which altogether defied calculation. They 

 seemed to have no acquaintance with, nor 

 fear of man, and in fact, offered a resistance 

 to his encroachment on a domain which had 

 been peculiarly their own for thousands of 

 years. Since the crews of so many ships, 

 however, were located at the island, the 

 birds have almost entirely deserted their 

 former territory, and retired to fulfil the 

 purposes of their nature to more remote and 

 inaccessible shores. The specimens of the 

 penguin from Ichaboe, which we have seen, 

 are about two feet in height, and as a great 

 portion of their time is spent in the sea, 

 they are furnished with small flaps or pad- 

 dles, instead of wungs, which enable them 

 to progress through the water with great 

 velocity, though they are unable to fly. 

 The female lays and sits upon one egg at a 

 time, and a hole scratched in the deposit 

 subserves all the purposes of a nest. In 

 this way a succession of incubations go on 

 tor several months in the year, the young 

 bird making its way to the sea as soon as it 

 is able. It is the opinion of the seamen, 

 that vast numbers of them never reach their 

 destined homes in the waters, but are crushed 

 to death in their progress to it, by the dense 

 battalions of birds which have almost to 

 maintain a struggle for bare standing room ; 

 and in this way the guano heaps are in- 

 creased, as well by the bodies of tlie birds as 

 by their droppings. The bodies of seals are 

 also found on the surface of tlie guano de- 

 posits, which leads to the belief that they 

 may occasionally have taken shelter there 

 from a storm or hurricane, and having been 

 overpowered by the potency of the ammo- 

 niacal vapor, have been unable to return to 

 the water, and died where they lay. The 

 guano whicli is brought to this country, is 

 found under a loose covering of decayed 

 birds, recent dung, &c., and is so firrtily im- 

 bedded, that it requires to be dug out by the 

 laborious operations of the pick-axe. When 

 thus disengaged it is put into bags, and 



