_Saldana Bay Guano._--Considerable quantities of guano under this name have been taken to England, and upon land and crops requiring phosphates more than ammonia, has been pronounced a superior article. But the fact is, it is found in a climate similar to the Patagonian, and, consequently, like that, must have a great portion of its ammonia washed out, leaving almost its only value as fertilizer, in its phosphates; which undoubtedly exist in large proportions, but not as cheap as may be procured from other sources. The foregoing comprises all the kinds of guano known in commerce, except the Peruvian, to which we shall devote an entire chapter. PERUVIAN GUANO--ITS LOCATION--OWNERSHIP--QUANTITY--VALUE--HOW PROCURED. This is not only the most valuable, but is found in the largest quantities of any other guano known. That which has been sent to this country and England, in such quantities within the last ten years, was taken from the Chincha Islands, which are situated between latitude 13 deg. and 14 deg., and at about twelve miles from the coast of Peru, in the bay of Pisco. The great value of the Peruvian guano, arises from the fact, _that rain never falls upon the islands where guano is found_. The air is always dry, and the sun shines with intense power, sufficient to evaporate all the juices from flesh, so that meat can be preserved sweet without salt. The waters surrounding these islands may be said to be literally alive, so full are they of fish. Almost as numerous as the fish, are the birds which satisfy their voracious appetites upon this finny multitude, until they can gorge no more, when they retire to the islands to deposit their excrement, composed of the oily flesh and bones of their only food, until the mass which has been accumulating for thousands of years, is so great as almost to exceed human belief. Humbolt, in his history of South America, states, some of these deposits are 50 or 60 feet thick. Many have thought this the "romance of history," but the actual surveys made by the Peruvian government five or six years ago, have proved that the guano in many places is more than twice that depth; and as there is good reason to believe, and as may be seen by the diagram on page 79, it is probably 300 feet thick in some of the depressions of the natural surface. And this has been accumulated by an annual aggregation, so slow as to be scarcely visible from year to year, until the quantity now exceeds 20,000,000 of tons. As before stated, the Chincha islands are three in number; the Lobos islands two; these are situated off the north part of the coast of Peru.