The rocks were covered with ghost seabird colonies miles of stony ledges covered in guano deposited over millennia, with hardly a bird to be seen.
Gastronomy has become an export industry: several hundred Peruvian restaurants, many of them franchises, have been set up across the world in the past decade, according to Apega, the industry lobby.From guano in the 19th century to copper and gold today, Peru has long been known as a commodity exporter.
By the twentieth century depleted stocks of the island's 12 species of sea bird remained only on inaccessible cliffs, spires of rock and Boatswain Island, a rat- and cat-free knoll knee-deep in guano off the island's eastern tip.
In the dry uplands of Chile, rich mineral nitrate deposits were then found, and gradually took the place of guano in the late 19th century.
Today the guano is long gone, but the pile of money remains.
In the original book, Dr No, who had grand plans of his own, saw them thwarted when he was buried alive under a heap of bird guano.
By 1850, Ichaboe, minus 800,000 tonnes of guano, was deserted again.Between 1840 and 1880, guano nitrogen made a vast difference to European agriculture.
The data can distinguish between different kinds of penguin because the infrared signature of the guano varies between species.
The development of synthetic fertilisers all but killed the guano trade, and the islands were subsequently claimed by other nations.
One was found in the islands' accumulated guano, which is rich in phosphates, nitrogen and potassium.
Other shipments have been found in planks of wood, carrots, guano and even votive candles.Peru's government says it wants to eradicate all but 10,000 hectares of coca, which are reserved for traditional use, by the end of 2006.
