202 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



however, and in the Lobos its numbers have in- 

 creased enormously under protection. 



Historical Significance of Guano 



The first available knowledge of guano being 

 utilized as a fertilizer comes down to us from the 

 legends of the early Incas of Peru. The then 

 apparently exhaustless beds of the Chinchas were 

 worked at that time, and the plantations of the 

 Incas throve under the impetus given the crops 

 by the manure. So valuable did the Indians con- 

 sider the deposits that the penalty of death was 

 imposed upon any one caught destroying guano- 

 producing birds. 



Upon the arrival of the Spaniard the great Inca 

 Empire was shattered. The natives were con- 

 quered, their fields despoiled, and as slaves they 

 were driven to the mines. The Spaniard wasted 

 no thought on paltry fertilizer; his eyes^ were 

 sharpened only for a sight of that glowing metal, 

 gold. From the saltpeter beds he manufactured 

 gunpowder with which to advance his conquests, 

 but of guano he had no knowledge — or inclination 

 to use that knowledge, if he had it. He was a war- 

 rior, not a guano burrower. To him the Indians 

 were God-sent slaves especially created to labor in 

 the mines, not to pass the time on the -filthy Chin- 

 chas. 



