2 
Enderbury falls within the equator- 
ial dry zone and can not be expec- 
ted to have much more than 17 to 20 
inches of rain a year. Lack of 
fresh water on the island, its 
limited size, and its isolated po- 
sition have severely limited the 
number of plants and animals that 
it supports. 
Taking these facts into con- 
sideration it would seem that an 
intensive study of Enderbury would 
be dull indeed but such is not the 
case. This small and remote island 
has had a past full of human con- 
flict and international intrigue as 
well as being the home of some of 
the world's most interesting sea- 
birds . 
During the middle of the 19th 
century, the Central Pacific islands 
be-pame a center of commercial in- 
terest. When it was discovered 
that many of th^se islands contain- 
ed valuable deposits of guano (a 
combination of soil and bird drop- 
pings used as fertilizer) a number 
of companies formed intense rival- 
ries for rights to the islands and 
"Guano Wars" ensued. 
On December Jl, l 859 > the 
Secretary of State of the United 
States issued a proclamation grant- 
ing the guano rights of Enderbury 
to the Phoenix Guano Company. How- 
The Pacific Bird Observer is a 
bi-monthly newsletter distrib- 
uted to collaborators of the 
Pacific Ocean Biological Sur- 
vey Program of the Smithsonian 
Institution in order to promote 
the understanding of birds and 
their relation to man in the 
Pacific. 
ever, the U.S. Guano Company, head- 
ed by Alfred G. Benson, was at that 
time attempting to monopolize the 
guano islands in the Central Paci- 
fic. As a result of the efforts of 
this firm, there was some doubt as 
to the proper claim to Enderbury. 
Although it seems readily apparent 
now that the U. S. Guano Company 
claims were invalid, they tried to 
gain control of the island by force 
nevertheless, hoping to implement 
their position by means of the old 
adage "Possession is nine-tenths of 
the law" . 
The Phoenix Guano Company had 
already placed men on the island 
but Benson sent a ship under command 
of Captain John Gunn to gain con- 
trol of the island by force. Gunn, 
arriving at Enderbury in l86l, kid- 
napped the Phoenix Company agent, 
mounted cannons on the island, and 
left two men with explicit instruc- 
tions to fire upon anyone attempt- 
ing to land on the island. 
Unaware of the turn of events, 
officials of the Phoenix Guano Com- 
pany sent supply ships to Enderbury 
which were repulsed and forced to 
return to Honolulu. The agents of 
the Phoenix Company were quick to 
retaliate. They returned to the 
island armed with an official doc- 
ument stating their rights, and 
sufficient force to remove the 
squatters if they did not leave 
peacefully. They did. 
Several years later one of the 
guano ships which sailed from En- 
derbury was subject to a mutiny two 
weeks after it had left the island. 
Such dramas were not uncommon in 
those days of "wooden ships and 
iron men" . 
During the l 870 's guano digging 
operations on the island began in 
earnest. The original guano reserve 
was estimated at 100,000 tons and 
