130 GUANO. 



anchorage hereabouts is dangerous, little busi- 

 ness is done. 



" The white Guano is considered the most 

 valuable as being fresher and purer. It is 

 found on nearly all the islands along the coast. 



<* These varieties of Guano have different 

 prices; the red and dark gray are worth 2^. Sd. 

 the cwt.; a higher price is given for the white, 

 on account of its greater scarcity; it is sold in 

 the Port of Mollendo at 3^. 6d. the cwt., and 

 at times, as for instance during war, it has 

 fetched as high a price as 125. 



*<It has been observed, that in the Isles of 

 Islay and Jesus, in those years when many 

 birds have assembled here, from 400 to 500 cwt. 

 have been taken away. Of late years there 

 has been a diminution in the supply, from the 

 birds having left these islands, owing to the 

 following causes; the excessive heat of the 

 late summers, the scarcity of food> and the 

 number of vessels in port at one time, which by 

 the noise occasioned, cannot fail to have driven 

 them away; on which account, the proprietors 

 of the Guano ground of Jesus, obtained sche> 

 dules from the court of Spain, to prohibit ves- 

 sels of war from touching at this port, since on 

 their arrival all the birds immediately disap- 

 peared, to the prejudice of the proprietors; and 

 since the opening of the port of Islay, the birds 

 have nearly deserted the adjacent inlets. 



"That careful and enterprising traveller, 

 Baron Humboldt, after his voyage to Peru, sent 

 a portion of Guano for analysis to the cele- 

 brated French chemists, Fourcroy and Vau- 

 quelin. 



