XXXVII.
GUANO AND THE COOLIE TRADE.
GUANO AND ITS CHARACTER.—WHERE IT IS FOUND.—THE CHINCHA ISLANDS AND THEIR WEALTH.—NOVEL PLANS OF THE PERUVIANS.—HOW THEY DIG AND LOAD GUANO.—EFFECT OF GUANO ON A STRANGER.—JARVIS’S AND HOWLAND’S ISLANDS.—THE COOLIES AND THEIR LABOR.—STORIES OF HORRIBLE CRUELTIES.—HOW THE ASIATIC SLAVE TRADE IS CONDUCTED.—MUTINY ON SHIPBOARD.—MURDER OF THE CREW.—HUMAN MINCE MEAT.—TREATMENT OF COOLIES AT WORK.—EXTENT OF THE COOLIE TRAFFIC.—PROBABLE FATE OF MISSING SHIPS.
The exhausting effect of agriculture, in many localities, renders it necessary to furnish the soil with enriching materials. From time immemorial, use has been made of the excrement of animals, of deposits in bogs and swamps, where vegetable matter has decayed, and of various mineral substances known to contain ingredients nutritious to growing plants. An important ingredient of nearly all manures is the substance known as ammonia, which is contained in large quantities in the excrement of birds. Any farmer will tell you that the space beneath his hen-roost furnishes a material more valuable, pound by pound, than any other part of his barn-yard establishment. In some parts of the world the excrement of birds is found in large quantities, but these places are few in number, for the reason that they are only in districts where there is no rain. In localities subject to rain, although the birds may be numerous, the valuable material is washed away, or, at all events, is so greatly reduced in quality as to render it worthless or nearly so.
THE CHINCHA ISLANDS.
The great deposits of bird excrement, popularly known as guano, are in tropical regions, the most important of them being at the Chincha Islands, which are situated in the PacificOcean, near the coast of Peru, in latitude 13° 38´ south, longitude 76° 28´ west. They are three in number, and are small, rocky, and perfectly dry. They appear to have been formed by separate inundations of lava under great pressure, and are composed of a gray and reddish colored rock that in some places presents a perpendicular wall three hundred feet above the surface of the ocean. The islands have a wild and picturesque appearance. Immense flocks of sea-birds are constantly flying around them. The walls of the islands are full of caves and arches, some of them very high, and the beating of the waves in the caves and arches can be heard a long distance.
The islands are small, no one of them being more than a mile in length. The total amount of guano upon them is estimated at forty millions of tons. It has been accumulating during thousands of years. In some places the depth is estimated at more than a hundred feet, and over nearly all the extent of the islands it is rarely at a depth of less than sixty feet. The value of guano was well known to the Peruvians of ancient times, and these immense deposits were specially cared for by the government. By command of the Incas of Peru no person was allowed, under penalty of death, to visit the islands during the breeding season of the birds, and the same penalty was inflicted upon those who killed birds at any time of the year.
According to the histories, five hundred years were required for the formation of a single inch in thickness of guano; consequently, the time required for the formation of a layer of guano a hundred feet thick must be something more than the period of life allotted to Methusaleh, or any of his contemporaries.
FIRST IMPORTATION OF GUANO.
The attention of Europe was first called to guano in 1804, by the great traveller Humboldt. He caused the substance to be analyzed, and found that it was composed of phosphates of ammonia, lime, and urate and oxalate of ammonia, together with other organic matters not determined. A few years later further attention was called to it by Sir HumphryDavy, who suggested that it might prove valuable to farmers; and it was soon after tried at St. Helena. The first shipment ever brought to Europe was in 1840, and consisted of twenty casks. It was tried, and found useful; and the next year several cargoes were taken to England, and several more to the United States. The exclusive right of digging and shipping guano for the term of nine years was sold at this time, by the government, for forty thousand dollars; but it was repudiated soon after, as the increased demand for guano developed its immense value. The monopoly was, however, revived in a little while, one firm being allowed the exclusive trade with England, and another with the United States. The demand increased so rapidly that a great many ships went into the carrying trade, and sometimes as many as two hundred ships have been waiting at the Chincha Islands for their cargoes.
Explorations were made for other deposits, and some rich ones were found on the Lobos Islands, off the north coast of Peru. A great many smaller islands were found to be covered with guano, and in various parts of the Pacific Ocean there are extensive deposits. The most important of these are upon Jarvis’s, Baker’s, and Howland’s Islands, situated in the South Pacific Ocean, belonging to a New York company, and named after American merchants interested in them. Jarvis’s Island was estimated a few years ago to contain nearly four millions of tons; the quantity on Baker’s and Howland’s Islands was not determined.
To show the rapid increase in the demand for guano, it may be mentioned that, in the year 1841, six thousand five hundred tons were exported from the Chincha Islands, and in the five following years, one hundred and twenty-seven thousand tons were exported,—or an average of more than thirty-five thousand tons a year.
In 1849 the exports of guano were nearly a hundred thousand tons, and from 1852 to 1857 the yearly average was more than two hundred thousand tons.
NATURE OF GUANO.
The value of guano varies according to the demand, but isordinarily fixed at about seventy dollars a ton. It is sufficiently valuable to induce enterprising men to adulterate it; and more than half the guano sold in England and the United States is said to be mixed with inferior substances before it reaches the consumer. Nearly all dealers who purchase large quantities require a careful analysis of samples before they close their bargains. The analysis of guano is very desirable for the farmer, in order to indicate the best method of applying the fertilizer, and to ascertain for what crops and to what soils each kind is best adapted. For example, some soils might be most benefited by the Peruvian guano, which contains large quantities of ammonia; while others would be most benefited by the cheap qualities, which contain larger quantities of phosphate. Full details respecting the guano trade and the use of guano are contained in the document accompanying the message of the President of the United States to the Senate, February 5th, 1859.
Another locality where guano is found is in the Caribbean Sea, near the coast of Venezuela; but the islands containing this guano are in the region of tropical rains, and consequently the substance formed there is quite different in character from the dry, pulverized guano of the Chincha Islands. Some of these Caribbean islands are low, and covered with sand, shells, and other substances, in which the birds lay their eggs. Others rise in peaks to the height of several hundred feet; and on these peaks there are rocky layers which have been formed from guano. These rocky layers contain large quantities of phosphate and carbonate of lime. Other layers contain very little carbonate and a larger proportion of phosphate. Another variety is a solid rock, which forms a crust sometimes two feet thick, and consists mainly of phosphate and sulphate of lime. The evaporation of the ammonia and similar substances renders this rock porous, and has led many to believe that it was of volcanic origin. The heat and moisture of the surface have made wonderful changes in the organic substances or deposits of these islands; though the formation of these rocks can be directly traced to the excrement of birds andthe remains of the birds themselves, all vestiges of animal life have disappeared, and the substance presents all the characteristics of a metamorphic rock, dug from the base of a volcanic mountain.
The work of handling guano is not the most delightful in the world; especially is this the case at Chincha Islands, where the air is dry, and the guano is in the form of dust, or of a hard material which easily separates into dust. Guano has a very pungent character, and causes the eyes to inflame, and sometimes deprives them altogether of the power of sight.
NORTH, SOUTH, AND MIDDLE ISLANDS.
As before stated, the Chincha Islands number three only, and are known as North Island, South Island, and Middle Island. The Middle Island is the most important, not only for having the largest quantity of guano upon it, but also for being the residence of the commander and deputy commander of the three islands. The palace of the commander is rather an imposing building of its character; and at a little distance stands that of the deputy commander. This is more modest and unpretending in architecture, being nothing more nor less than what Americans would term a flat-roofed shanty, constructed of cane and rush matting.
The average height of the rock which is the sub-strata of the island, is from one hundred and fifty to two and three hundred feet; and upon these rocks lie the guano as upon a scaffolding or platform rising out of the sea. The guano on this island lies on what may be termed a smooth, rounded mound, and is in some parts about one hundred and sixty feet thick. More than forty acres have been cut away from the side of the hill nearest to the vessels on which the guano is shipped. The birds which live and die upon these islands are principally of the Photo-Huenco species, and resemble blue and white pigeons with red bills. The white birds keep themselves separate from the blue, and hundreds of acres of land are completely covered with them. In addition to these, there are a number of sea-lions also to be found on these islands, which contribute somewhat to the quantity of ammonia created by the birds. Eggs and wings of birds, and teethof sea-lions, are seen in abundance changed into ammonia in each and every part of the islands.
WALKING IN GUANO.
The guano, when exposed to the air, is of a reddish brown-yellow color, which covers the whole of the three islands, and nothing else is to be seen but the rocks on which it rests. In substance it is like light, dry earth, and is very difficult to walk upon. Frequently one finds himself sinking ankle and knee deep; and should you attempt to hurry, you are almost sure to lose your footing. Should you fall and get covered with this ammonia, it matters but little, as it is pure, and contains no animal substance to make it disagreeable. If you penetrate a few feet below the surface of the ammonia, it is found to be perfectly compact, and not unlike castile soap.
The men employed to dig the guano are Chinese. They have a very hard time of it; and in addition to being hard worked, they are very badly treated. Close to the residence of the deputy commander a number of the coolies are engaged digging out the guano for shipment. The gang is superintended by the most unfeeling task-masters, who apply the lash very freely to the naked backs of the workmen on the slightest pretence. It is by no means an unfrequent occurrence to see half a dozen coolies lying about the scene of operations dead, or in their last throes of agony; and not the slightest sympathy is extended to them in their suffering. Bodies are left exposed all day in the open sun, where they may be found covered with flies or vermin; and sometimes in a few hours there are large holes in these bodies, pecked by hundreds of birds.
At the edge of the principal cutting on Middle Island, coolies are found working with their pickaxes, while others convey the guano in barrows to the side of the cliff where the vessels are in readiness to receive it.
There are about fifteen hundred men constantly engaged in cutting out the guano. As above stated, these men are coolies, and the overseers are negroes, stationed at short distances apart, and provided with heavy whips. The coolies work with no other covering than a thin pair of pantaloons.As they are lashed by their task-masters, their cries are painful. The officers are frequently eye-witnesses of these tortures, but give them very little attention.
TASKS OF THE COOLIES.
As soon as the guano is dug up, it is carted to the depot or open enclosures called the Margueras, and thence to the launches or vessels. These margueras are made of strong canes, resembling a palisade round a prison, and are supported by chain cables. In some parts of the islands, when the distance is far from the depot, the guano is conveyed there in cars drawn by donkeys, but generally the coolies have to wheel it themselves. Each man is expected to dig and wheel five tons of guano per day, and if he does not do this amount of work, he is severely flogged in the presence of his fellow-workmen at the close of the day’s labor. The extent of punishment is always left to the discretion of the task-masters, who appear to be destitute of mercy. The men are paid one real (twelve and a half cents) per day, and their rice; but should their task not be completed, in addition to the flogging, the defaulter has part of his wages deducted.
While at work they are compelled to wear thick bandages over their mouths, owing to the strength of the ammonia. When the guano is wheeled to the depot, it is pushed down to the lower end of the margueras, where there are a number of openings connected with shutes, or long canvas pipes. These shutes are about the size of an ordinary barrel, and lead down to the base of the hill or cliff, and then into the vessels.
Sometimes the ships are loaded from the side, the guano being hoisted in bags; but this process of loading occupies too much time, and is never resorted to except in cases of necessity. When the guano is poured directly into the hold, a vessel can be loaded in a day or two; whereas, by hoisting it in, it occupies as long as two or three weeks to make up a cargo.
While the ships are being loaded,—and generally there are a large number at the same time,—they present a very interesting appearance. An ordinary visitor would at first imaginethat they were on fire, owing to the yellow smoke or dust which rises during the loading.
The air is so thoroughly impregnated with the ammonia that at times one might reasonably think he had a bottle of strong hartshorn under his nose, and most people suffer much from the effect it has upon their eyes and lungs. It has often been the subject of remark how the coolies can stand this great tax upon their eyes and lungs daily, particularly when they are so hard worked. The digging of guano is much harder than that of ordinary railway digging and mining work.
When a vessel has received its full cargo, there is a little rejoicing, and the men are permitted to leave their work for a short time. One of the crew of the loaded vessel goes to the yard-arm in a tub; three cheers are given by all the other ships, and their guns are discharged.
HOURS OF LABOR.
The coolie laborers are required to work every day in the week, Sundays included, excepting those laborers under the immediate charge of the commander. If there is a rush in getting the vessels loaded, and it becomes necessary for his men to work on Sunday, he pays them extra for their labor; but it is not so with the other laborers.
ATTEMPT TO BURN A COOLIE SHIP.
ATTEMPT TO BURN A COOLIE SHIP.
On the islands there are several rude huts, where reside doctors, overseers, and nondescripts of various sorts. There are also several groceries, cooking stores, candy shops, and various sheds, which present a picture of a small village of hovels.
The men complain that they have no protection afforded them, and their emaciated appearance goes to show that they are not over fed, and are badly used.
There is hardly a laborer to be found on the whole islands without large welts on his back, made by the thongs of the task-master. The men present a striking similarity to a used-up horse, their bones almost protruding through their skin. The small pittance that these coolies earn is kept from them, and when one of them has served the time mentioned in his contract, he finds his master has a claim against him for luxuries supplied during his term of service, and being unable to pay him, he has to resume work, as before.
Few get any rest whatever, and they may be said to live and die like dogs. No women are allowed among them, and being thus deprived of feminine society, in addition to their other sufferings, many commit suicide, believing that their spirits will wake in their native land.
INCEPTION OF THE COOLIE TRADE.
The history of the coolie trade may be found interesting in this connection.
In the year 1847, a Portuguese vessel, named the Don Pedro, was in the port of Macao, China, waiting for a cargo. The captain found that it would be several months before a new crop of tea would come in, and consequently he would be obliged to wait some time before his ship could be loaded. While loitering about Macao he fell in with a Spaniard who had come over from Peru on business, and the conversation happened to turn on the cheapness of labor in China. It occurred to the Spaniard that it would be a good thing to take a thousand Chinese to Peru, and finally it was decided to attempt to load the Don Pedro with these men. Whether they made any contract with the coolies is not known, and probably will never be ascertained. Three hundred men were engaged ostensibly for Java, and on the 1st of June, 1847, they sailed from Macao, supposing they were going to Java, but really destined for Peru.
The ship was steered across the Pacific, and after a voyage of more than a hundred days, with a great many vicissitudes, on very short allowance of food and water, the coolies were landed in Peru. Owing to some misunderstanding and some difficulty about the contract, this first consignment was not taken to the Chincha Islands, but was placed on a plantation near Callao. They had been secured for five years’ labor, and the Spaniard who brought them from China disposed of his merchandise to such good advantage that he immediately returned for another cargo. Not only did he go for another cargo, but for several cargoes, and the story of his success, and the advantages to be obtained by coolie labor, spread rapidly through South America, Australia, and other parts of the world.
HOW THE TRADE WAS CONDUCTED.
The trade increased with wonderful rapidity. Rumors went about in China that the coolies were taken to the other side of the world, and were murdered as soon as their labor contract was ended. In consequence of this rumor it was difficult to obtain men voluntarily, and the dealers were obliged to buy or steal men. A system very much like the African slave trade, with a few additional horrors, speedily grew up.
The Portuguese and Spanish traders at Macao established slave pens, like those in Africa, and bought men and women just as they might buy cattle. Bands of robbers went into the country, seized the men at work or at their houses, bound and forced them into boats, took them to Macao, and sold them. Robbers infested the mountains, stealing men in preference to anything else. Sometimes fathers and mothers sold their sons, and sometimes an enterprising youth brought his able-bodied father to market, sold him to a trader, and went home with a fortune of ten dollars in his pocket.
The price varied from five to ten dollars a head. Sometimes there was a scarcity in the market, and prices advanced; and then again would come a “bear” movement; large quantities would be offered, and prices went down.
Chinese junks, known as lorchas, were sent up the bays and rivers to bring away the marketable inhabitants of the rural districts. From Macao the traffic was carried to other ports, so that five years after the first voyage of the Don Pedro, vessels were waiting for cargoes of coolies at half a dozen ports.
A writer on China says, that about this time “the coolie trade caused a civil war in some of the provinces, just as the slave trade causes a constant warfare between various tribes in Africa.” During the most prosperous years of the coolie trade the mandarins and village chiefs used to connive at the robberies, and sometimes they sent their personal attendants to assist in the capture of citizens of their own town.
If they had a spite against any one, or considered that he ought to be out of the way, they combined business with pleasure by assisting to sell men to the coolie traders.
In 1854 the extensive traffic and the cruelties practised came to the ears of various governments; one after another the civilized ones forbade their ships to engage in it, and from that time the business declined, though it by no means entirely died out. The wholesale capture and sale of men have been greatly restricted, and at the present time the traffic is confined to Macao, where prisoners taken in the civil war are sold, and where certain captives taken by the lorchas find a market.
One mode of obtaining men is by coaxing them into gambling-houses, and inducing them to play for money until they have lost an amount beyond that they have about them. They are then required to sign bonds which hold them as securities for their debts. With these bonds they can be turned over to a coolie-trader, who has a depot or private jail of his own, where he locks up his human securities. When a sufficient number is accumulated, the men are sold to the exporters.
NUMBER OF COOLIES STOLEN.
From 1847 to 1870, the number of coolies or forced laborers taken from China to Cuba was one hundred and thirty thousand, to Peru two hundred thousand, and to Australia, Java, and other parts of the Indian Ocean, about fifty thousand. These do not include voluntary emigrants, nor any of the coolies taken to India or the Sandwich Islands; neither does it include a good many ship-loads known to have been sent away, but of which no record exists. Together not less than half a million coolies—and some persons, familiar with Chinese affairs, say nearly a million—have been taken away by this Asiatic slave trade. The men are bound by contracts to a service of eight years, the contract stipulating that at the end of that time they are free to return to their homes, that they shall receive a certain amount of money, and their return passage shall be paid; but such are the cruelties practised in Peru, Cuba, and other countries, that not one man in five hundred ever returns to China.
The treatment of the coolies on shipboard is quite as severe as that of African slaves. They are crowded denselytogether. Frequently they are chained or loaded with irons, and the food and water which they receive are in very small quantities. Hundreds of them die on the voyage, and hundreds and thousands more live but a short time after arriving at their destination, especially at the Chincha Islands, where they are, or were until quite recently, made to perform tasks which speedily drove them to despair. They were cruelly whipped, and to escape their tortures thousands put an end to their lives. Many committed suicide by jumping into the sea. One day in 1856, three hundred and forty-two coolies committed suicide in this manner. Two hundred of them walked into the sea together, and were drowned. It can be readily understood that the treatment they received was of the severest character, to drive them to kill themselves.
MUTINIES ON COOLIE SHIPS.
Several coolie ships were never heard from after their departure from China for Peru. Sometimes it happened that the coolies mutinied; and when defeated in the attempt to take possession of the vessel, the entire party jumped overboard, and were drowned in the sea.
In several instances the attempted mutiny was successful, and the vessels were burned, sunk, or abandoned, at some of the islands.
In 1857 a cargo of coolies murdered the officers and crew of the ship, and then drifted helplessly about the ocean until two thirds of them were dead through starvation, and the remainder were scarcely alive. The vessel was stranded on a sand-bar, near one of the Fiji Islands. Another ship was captured by the coolies and carried southward, where she went ashore on one of the islands, and all that remained alive on board at the time of her destruction were eaten up by cannibals. Horrible stories are told of the fights between the coolies and crews of ships. In case of a mutiny both sides fight with desperation, as they know it is a matter of life and death. If the coolies are overpowered they are killed or commit suicide. If the officers and crew are overpowered, they are killed, and their bodies thrown into the sea.
HUMAN MINCE MEAT.
In one instance the bodies of officers and crew of a coolie ship were literally cut into mince meat before being thrown overboard. One of the survivors afterwards stated that there was not a piece of any one of the murdered persons that weighed more than two or three pounds, when the mutiny was ended.
COOLIES PLANNING A MUTINY.
COOLIES PLANNING A MUTINY.
MUTINY ON THE LOWER DECK.
MUTINY ON THE LOWER DECK.
On one occasion a ship sailed from Macao, and had made nearly two thirds of the voyage to the Chincha Islands when a mutiny occurred. The fight was long and severe. A part of the crew were surprised and killed on deck, the remainder were below and suffered great torture for several hours. The coolies obtained complete possession of the ship, and one by one the prisoners below were brought up and murdered.
When this work was ended the men turned the ship’s head to China, and for days drifted in a helpless sort of way, knowing nothing about navigation, and allowing the sails to be blown to pieces, and the ship rendered helpless.
After nearly two months floating about, they finally arrived in one of the ports of Japan. On the voyage they had several times quarrelled among themselves, and their quarrels had led to bloodshed, in which many of their number were killed. The survivors were arrested and taken to prison by the Japanese. They were finally sent back to China, to be dealt with by their own authorities. Some of them were executed, and others were imprisoned for various periods.