PERU'S WEALTH-PRODUCING BIRDS 



id 



GUANO BEING CONVEYED FROM MIDDLE ISLAND OF THE BAEEESTAS BY AN 



AERIAL TROLLEY 



The trolley is simple in construction, consisting of two stout wire cables suspended 

 from a frame (see illustration on preceding page) at the top of the island and running to a 

 convenient rock near the shore. A lighter is rowed to a point beneath the lower end of the 

 cables to receive the guano, which is lowered by means of pulleys and windlass. 



Some small islands are inaccessible in 

 very rough weather, and the writer has 

 passed entirely around islets that rose 

 out of the surf like big chimneys, with 

 sheer walls of some hundreds of feet, 

 without finding a single place of access 

 by available means. One of these ap- 

 parently had never been scaled; but, it 

 its small table top contains a few hundred 

 tons of the valuable guano, the eager 

 and intrepid workers will find a means 

 of ascending its walls, and, this once 

 done, the embarkation of the guano will 

 present no extraordinary difficulty. 



Once on the islands, the guano is found 

 to be baked into a hard, dry crust under 

 the tropical sun, and the fresh, dry breeze 

 rarely carries the trace of an odor. 



Unless one is enslaved to the fresh- 

 water bath and other "comforts of civili- 

 zation," a camping experience upon any 



one of the Peruvian islands is never to 

 be regretted. The dependable breeze 

 keeps the air fresh and sweet. By day 

 there are hills to climb, cliffs to descend, 

 and perhaps caverns to explore ; there 

 are fish to capture, and the bird-life to 

 study is always too varied for the at- 

 tention to weary. The night brings its 

 own peculiar charms. Let us cite a par- 

 ticular instance. 



A NIGHT SCENE 



Lodged upon the side of the North 

 Ballestas Island about ioo feet above the 

 water, *he open front of our tent looked 

 directly down upon the silvery glaze of 

 the rising moon, showing broadly and 

 brilliantly on the sea for many miles. 

 Yet there was no stillness to the night. 



About us and beneath us were the 

 varied sounds of the surf, roaring against 



