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4 - Cormorant Shit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2026

Gordon McMullan
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

Four: I turn from the cormorant itself to the bird’s natural product, guano, a resource that in the nineteenth century brought the Pacific into the global economy, profoundly affected the environment worldwide and enriched Europeans through the de facto slavery of thousands of Chinese indentured labourers on the Peruvian guano islands. Beginning with the filthy riches made from the guano trade by the UK-based Gibbs family, I outline the chemistry of guano, the European capitalisation of guano, and the conditions of labour of the guano workers. I then turn to the James Bond novel Dr No, locating Ian Fleming’s interest in guano and his transposition of the guano trade from Peru to the Caribbean in his banking family’s close connection with the Gibbses. I conclude with a discussion of the origins in the history of guano of the idea of dirt as ‘matter out of place’.

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  • Cormorant Shit
  • Gordon McMullan, King's College London
  • Book: Cormorant
  • Online publication: 14 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009652995.005
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  • Cormorant Shit
  • Gordon McMullan, King's College London
  • Book: Cormorant
  • Online publication: 14 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009652995.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Cormorant Shit
  • Gordon McMullan, King's College London
  • Book: Cormorant
  • Online publication: 14 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009652995.005
Available formats
×