243 
Some of our readers ma}' not, however, be aware of the origin 
of this substance, therefore tlie history of an article which 
is now become so important in commerce, and so useful in 
rural economy, should be known. The Spanish author, Antonio 
di Ulloa, published his voyage to South America, in 1748, and 
in 1758 an English translation appeared, in which a clear 
statement of the benefits enjoyed by the Peruvians from the use 
of Guano may be seen. These statements seem to have been 
lost sight of, till the celebrated traveller and naturalist. Von 
Humboldt, visited South America, and further described its 
abundance, its qualities, and uses; and from whose account 
most that we know has been collected. 
Its name. Guano, or Huana, in the language of central 
Peru, signifies manure; and, from the existence of this sub- 
stance over a certain district of that country, chiefly included 
between the fifteenth and twentieth degrees of south latitude 
inclusive, several places have taken their names. Guano is not, 
by any means, a newly-discovered manure ; its use, amongst 
the Peruvians, in the culture of maize and capsicums, on their 
sandy plains, is traced back five or six hundred years; and, 
without it, cultivation there would seem to be useless, — the 
land would be a mere arid expanse. Hence a regular trade, 
between the Guano islands of the South Sea, and the coast of 
Peru, has for centuries past existed. A vessel employed in 
this trade is called a guanero, and so offensive is the effluvia, 
arising from it, that it produces nausea and sneezing in the 
passengers of a ship merely sailing near it. Indeed, one 
small island, expressly called Islan di Guano, is said to emit so 
intolerable a stench, that vessels are deterred from approaching 
its shores. 
The excavation of mountains of this substance, where it has 
been found fifty or even sixty feet thick, gave rise to the belief 
that it was a peculiar sort of earth there deposited — that it was 
impossible for such an accumulation to have arisen from the 
droppings of birds; but that such is the fact is beyond doubt. 
This has given rise to much speculative opinion. It is asked, 
“Has it originated in the same islands where it is now found, or 
has it been accumulated there by some revolution of the earth ?” 
Does it point back to an era when the deluged globe was 
provided with a greater number of aquatic birds than at the 
222 . AUCTAEICM. 
