VITA SINE LITEEIS. 25 



syllabic sign, and the alphabetic sign or letter. The first of these, and probably the second, 

 was reached in far-off prehistoric times. The ingenuity of several nations has brought 

 them to the first of the phonetic .stages ; the victory of invention, by which transition from 

 the verbal to the syllabic phonogram was effected, fell to the lot of few ; while fewer still 

 achieved the ultimate triumph of the alphabetic form. 



One of the most primitive mnemonic contrivances was, strange to say, common to both 

 extreme East and extreme West. In Pauthier's " Chine Moderne " is given an extract from 

 the Commentary of the illustrious Khoung-Tseu, which reads thus : " In high antiquity 

 knotted cords were used in the administration of affairs. During succeeding generations, 

 the holy man (Fou-Hi) substituted writing for them." This mode of keeping records must 

 have closely resembled the (juipii of the Peruvians, which, as Prescott informs us, " was a 

 cord about two feet long, composed of different coloured threads, tightly twisted together, 

 from which a c[uantity of smaller threads were suspended in the manner of a fringe. The 

 threads were of different colours and were tied together into knots ; the word quipu, indeed, 

 signifies ' a knot.' The colours denote sensible subjects ; as, for instance, white represented 

 sih^er, and yellow, gold. They sometimes also stand for abstract ideas ; thus white signi- 

 fies ' f)eace,' and red, ' war.' But the quipus were chiefly used for arithmetical purposes, and 

 could be combined in such a manner as to represent numbers to any amount they required." ' 

 But though the quipus greatly aided in the performance of caknrlations and assisted the 

 memory in other ways, they could not be expected "to represent the manifold ideas and 

 images which are expressed by writing." Prescott, indeed, places them far below the 

 hieroglyphics of Central America or the picture-writing of the Aztecs, and regards the 

 ignorance of the Peruvians of those superior systems as evidence that the two civilizations 

 were quite distinct. Dr. Wilson, while taking the same view as to the inferiority of the 

 quipu to the northern iuA'entions, hesitates, on the authority of Valencia and Humboldt, to 

 ascribe to the Peruvians an entire unacquaintance with any better method of recording 

 eA-ents.- But even A^aleucia admits that the Peruvian picture-writing was less meritorious 

 than that of the Mexican. Rivero and Tschudi believe that there are still, in the Southern 

 provinces of Peru, Indians able to decipher those intricate memorials, though they guard 

 their knowledge as a secret inherited from their ancestors.^ The attempts of the learned 

 to penetrate their mystery have hitherto failed.* 



With the knotted cords of the ancient Chinese and the quipus of the Peruvians, may 

 be compared the wampum of the North American Indians, composed of variously coloured 

 beads woven into a belt. According to some authorities, Hiawatha, the patriotic founder 

 of the Iroquois League, was the inventor of wampum. But Mr. Horatio Hale is convinced 

 that the honour is not due to his hero. "The evidence, of sepulchral relics, shows," he 

 says, " that wampum was known to the mysterious Mound-builders, as well as in all 

 succeeding ages." ' From the account given by Mr. Hale, all through his valuable work, 

 of the uses assigned to wampum, it is evident that it was intended to assist the memory 

 in the same way as the quipus served that purpose. The whole subject is admirably and 



' Conquest of Peru, ch. iv. - Prehistoric Man, ii. 72, footnote. 



' Peruvian Antiquities, translated by Hawks, p. 112. 



* Knotted strings are used l)y tlie Pelew islanders in the present day for mnemonic purposes and as a meang 

 of communication. Bell's System of Geography, vi. 490. 

 '" Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 24. 



Sec. II., 1885. 4. 



