THE WEALTH OF THE GUANO ISLANDS
[Illustration: PREPARING GUANO FOR SHIPMENT.]
Whoever has made a voyage along the coast of Peru must have noticed the
thousands of birds that flock in the neighborhood of the Chincha
islands, near Pisco, on the Guañape banks, off the coast of Trujillo,
and around the two island groups, Lobos de Tierra and Lobos de Afuera,
west of the Department of Lambayeque. Sometimes, when disturbed by the
steamer’s whistle or other unaccustomed noises, they rise in a black
cloud and soar away out of sight, to return later, one by one, in an
apparently endless procession. These are the pelicans of this region,
the producers of its famous guano, which was, at one time, Peru’s most
valuable source of revenue, and which is likely again to become a mine
of wealth to the country. When one reads that “a hundred thousand tons
of guano were exported from Peru to the United Kingdom last year,” it
seems to indicate that the trade is of no small importance, even at the
beginning of its revival. Not only on the islands named, but all along
the coast, these birds have their haunts. From a distance, the islands
appear sometimes to be covered with a huge black mantle, which, on
closer examination, proves to be the plumage of the birds that have
congregated on its shores, huddling together in an immense company.
[Illustration: THE HOUR OF SIESTA FOR THE GUANO BIRDS.]
The return of the pelicans and the revival of this trade are of
particular interest to those who have followed the history of guano in
Peru. For several years past the birds have been coming back to their
long-abandoned haunts in greater numbers than ever. The trade is
reviving under the most favorable conditions, and the government has
undertaken measures by which to protect the welcome visitors, and ensure
their remaining permanently. It is believed that, by taking due
precautions in the extracting of guano, so that the birds may not be
frightened away or forced to leave their nestlings, the danger of their
again abandoning the islands may be avoided, and their number may be
greatly increased. It has been especially recommended that the
exploitation of the islands should be made by turns; that a few of them
should be closed to the trade for a number of years, leaving the birds
in undisturbed possession, while others are worked, this plan to be
followed in rotation; and the advisability of granting exclusive
concessions for each island has been recommended. Under the authority of
the government, investigations have been made as to the existing
conditions, and the reports of those who visited the pelicans’ haunts
show that the problem of prime importance is how to keep the greatest
number of birds on the islands and increase their number without
prejudicing the best interests of the government, the national
agriculture, or the exporters. It is urged that the birds should be
treated with the greatest consideration and care, so that they may be
perfectly secure in their chosen homes, migrating only from one to
another island at long intervals, and so remaining almost undisturbed in
their habits from year to year.
The advent of these old friends is looked upon as an augury of bright
import by the Peruvian people, in view of the period of great trial and
disaster that followed the decline of the guano trade in years past. It
is certain that the revival of the industry will find Peru better able
to profit by its blessings than formerly, when the possession of an
apparently inexhaustible treasure led to reckless expenditure and
resulted in the financial difficulties that an unlimited credit,
continually drawn upon, invariably produces. In Alejandro Garland’s
recent book on Peru, an interesting history of the guano trade is given,
which places particular emphasis on the evils that developed out of its
phenomenal growth and peculiar conditions.
[Illustration: THE PELICAN AT HOME.]
In 1840, when the sale of guano first began to figure in the government
receipts, the total revenues of the country did not exceed three million
dollars. Ten years later, the government revenue from guano alone was
more than five million dollars. The demand for the product increased in
all parts of the world, and the annual exports rose to two hundred
thousand tons. This rapid increase in the guano trade was largely due to
the activity of the consignees, in whose hands the government placed it
for sale, and their influence in the financial affairs of the country
became very great. Every financial difficulty that arose at that time
was met by mortgaging the future returns from the sale of guano; and
Peru, counting on the extraordinary and abundant revenue from this
source met all the demands of the government without recourse to
taxation,—a condition unheard-of elsewhere in the financial history of
the world.
[Illustration: GUANO ISLANDS OF LOBOS DE TIERRA.]
But guano, though it brought to the Peruvian treasury the enormous sum
of two hundred and twenty million dollars between the years 1840 and
1867, brought also such habits of extravagance in the government, that,
not only did the entire sum disappear without adequate recompense to the
country, but, at the time when General Mariano Ignacio Prado assumed the
dictatorship, with Don Manuel Pardo as his Finance Minister, the public
debt was forty-five million dollars, besides which, the government also
owed the consignees of guano fifteen million dollars. Don Manuel Pardo
sought to organize the finances of the nation on a more solid basis,
independent of guano, by establishing permanent resources in the form of
taxes and export duties; but the fatal glamour of wealth with which
guano had dazzled the nation, cast his labor into the shade, and the
existing evil was increased in the succeeding administration, though the
intention of the energetic and public-spirited statesman, President
Balta, was to put an end to the mismanagement of guano funds by
employing this resource in the construction of railways and other public
works.
In the meantime, nitrate, a powerful rival of guano, had been discovered
in the desert of Tarapacá, then the southernmost province of Peru. The
companies engaged in extracting nitrate, of which about five million
quintals were exported annually, were competing with one another so
closely that the low prices established by them threatened to ruin both
the guano and the nitrate business; and President Manuel Pardo, in order
to raise the selling price of both products, with a view to increasing
the revenues of the nation, put into force a government monopoly of
nitrate. As a result of the war with Chile which followed, the nitrate
fields of Tarapacá passed into the possession of that country. The evils
of competition again threatened to ruin the trade, until, under the
auspices of the Chilean government, a system of limiting the production
was adopted, which remains in force. What Peru lost in the nitrate
fields of Tarapacá may be estimated from the statistics of Chile, which
show the revenue from the export of nitrate and iodine (the latter
obtained in the preparation of nitrate) to be five million pounds
sterling yearly, nearly three-fourths of all Chile’s exports being from
the nitrate fields.
[Illustration: DIGGING GUANO ON THE CHINCHA ISLANDS.]
Peru lost the revenues from both guano and nitrate under the same
stroke, and during the years that immediately followed, the country
passed through the darkest period of its history. But, as this
experience served to direct the attention of the nation to the more
permanent riches of this great territory, the loss of its most
attractive possessions cannot be regarded as an unmixed evil. From an
abundance of wealth, Peru was suddenly plunged into great poverty. But,
as with individuals, so with nations,—the test of the spirit lies in its
strength to meet adversity and overcome the discouragement that follows
in its path; and this test the Peruvian people met by resolutely facing
the task of building up their shattered fortunes through the development
of the national industries. Their territory is rich in agricultural
products and minerals; the rubber and hardwoods of the forest are
treasures of immense value; and the people have grown to realize the
full importance of developing these unlimited resources. As a result,
the sun of prosperity has again risen over the land; and in the warmth
of his beams, the harvests shed ever-increasing blessings and the hearts
of the people expand with content.
[Illustration: A GUANO PORT, CHINCHA ISLANDS]
[Illustration: CALLE DE LIMA, CALLAO.]