Guano was noxious, “a beastly smelling-bottle sort of mess, looking like bad snuff mixed with rotten kittens,” as a Vermont paper put it. Virginia’s senator deemed it “the most odious and disagreeable material that can be imagined.” Its sharp, ammoniacal smell was notorious, perceptible from miles off. Sailors hauling guano could spend no more than fifteen minutes belowdecks with it.
