Note 81 — Chapter VII · ÁCOMA IN THE PUEBLO REVOLT
Reading edition
This method of reckoning time has been observed in many countries and in all ages. Herodotus describes it as a device of Darius for the Ionian chiefs: Boturini found it among the relics of ancient Mexico, and in the Polynesian islands it has not yet altogether disappeared. According to Fiske, the Spaniards were “astonished at seeing how many things the Peruvians could record with their quipus (knotted cords).” Discovery of America, Vol. II, pp. 298-300.