use of quipus. I am unable to throw any new light on the extent to which this system could be made to record events, except that further evidence has been forthcoming that they were actually used for such purposes. For administrative work their utility cannot be doubted, and they served their purpose admirably. The quipu was a rope to which a number of strings were attached, on which knots were made to denote numbers – units, tens, hundreds, &c. The Peruvians had a complete system of numeration. The colours of the strings explained the subjects to which the numbers referred. The accounts were in charge of trained officials called Quipucamayoc, and by this method the complicated business of a great empire was conducted.
It is quite conceivable that, with a sufficient staff of trained and competent officials, such a system might be made to work efficiently. Indeed, we know that this was the case. The difficulty is to understand how traditions could be preserved and historical events recorded by the use of quipus. Blas Valera refers, as his authorities for various statements respecting rites and ceremonies, to the quipus preserved in different provinces, and even by private persons.[1]
There must, however, have been interpreters of the quipus, those who, with knowledge derived
- ↑ He refers to the quipus of Cuzco, Caxamarca, Quito, Huamachuco, Pachacamac, Chincha, Sacsahuaman, Cunti-suyu and Colla-suyu, and to those in the possession of Luis and Francisco Yutu Inca and Juan Hualpa Inca, as his authorities.
