Note 410 — Chapter LXXXII

The Peruvian quipus were of twisted wool, and consisted of a large cord, with finer threads fastened to it by knots. These fringes contained the contents of the quipu, which were denoted either by single knots or by artificial intertwinings. Sometimes the main cord was five or six yards long, at others not more than a foot. The different colours of the threads had different meanings; and not only was the colour and mode of intertwining of the knots to be considered, in reading a quipu, but even the mode of twisting the thread, and the distance of knots from each other, and from the main cord. The registers of tribute; the enrolment of tribes, distinguishing between taxpayers, aged, invalids, women, and children; lists of arms and troops; inventories of the contents of storehouses; all these were the primary uses of the quipus. But they were also made available for recording the most striking events, and thus supplied the place of chronicles. Acosta says that the ancient Peruvians, by their combinations of larger and smaller threads; double and single knots; green, blue, white, black, and red colours; could express meanings and ideas as innumerable, as we can by the different combinations of our twenty-four letters.

All attempts, in modern times, to decipher the quipus found in tombs, have failed; yet there are Indians of noble family, especially in the southern part of Peru, who know the secret of deciphering these intricate memorials, but guard it as a sacred trust transmitted from their ancestors. The quipu records referring to matters of revenue or registration were kept by officers called Quipu-camayoc; while the chronicles of events were recorded by the Amautas or learned men, and the poems and songs by Haravecs or bards. Garcilasso de la Vega distinctly states that the sole specimen of Quichua poesy preserved in his work, was obtained from an ancient quipu record by the missionary Blas Valera. See G. de la Vega, i, lib. vi, cap. 8. Acosta, lib. vi, cap. 8. Antiguedades Peruanas, cap. 5. Markham’s Quichua Dictionary, etc., p. 11.