54 



THAT'S IT; 



which long prevailed respecting 

 this isthmus was the jealousy of 

 its Indian population, who, re- 

 membering the maxim that " the 

 white man's foot is the Indian's 

 grave," have ever been on the 

 watch to prevent intrusions into 

 their country. But even here, 

 under the torrid zone, the march 

 of civilization has found its way, 

 and a railway now connects the 

 two great oceans of the western 

 hemisphere. 



Upon the coasts of the South 

 American continent, in the South 

 Pacific Ocean, there are nume- 

 rous small islands, which, for ages 

 past, have been the resort of sea- 

 birds, 19. In 1804, Baron Hum- 



boldt brought to Europe some 

 fine earth, which he found lying 

 upon the islands to the depth of 

 fifty or sixty feet, and which has 

 been since found in other islands, 



as many as two hundred feet deep. 

 This proved to be the deposit 

 of marine birds, and was ascer- 

 tained to possess great fertilizing 

 qualities. Huano, in the Spanish 

 language, means manure; and 

 the substance is now known 

 throughout Europe as guano ; the 

 islands from which it is brought, 

 are called the Guano Islands * 

 The most important of them lie 

 off the coast of Peru, and so great 

 is the accumulation of this mat- 

 ter, that the supply is said to 

 be inexhaustible. Upon the 

 islands known as the Chincha 

 Islands, it was estimated that 

 there were about 40,000,000 

 tons. Our gardens and fields 

 are thus being rendered beau- 

 tiful and fertile by a substance 

 which, for ages, has been stored 

 upon the rocky tables of the 

 Pacific Ocean, and the bodies of 

 fishes and marine plants, which 

 fed the winged creatures of the 

 sea, probably before gardens and 

 fields were known in this island, 

 are now made to enrich the soil 

 from which flowers and fruits are 

 obtained for the pleasure and 

 support of man ! 



On the north-eastern extremity 

 of South America, lat. 0° 40' to 

 8° 40' N., and long. 57° to 61° W., 

 lies the district of Guiana, one 

 of the earliest settlements of the 

 New World. The population are 

 a mixture of English, Dutch, Eu- 

 ropeans, Africans, and their de- 

 scendants, and numerous tribes 

 of Indians. Here the vegetation 

 becomes exceedingly vigorous, 20, 

 under the tropical heat ; the fo- 



* Guano is now brought also from nnmeroui 

 islands on the coasts of Africa, British East Indies, 

 Brazil, etc. etc. 



