PREHISTORIC MAN IN THE NEW WORLD 
miles south of Panama, where the Spaniards had been for a 
generation before they seriously undertook the conquest 
of Peru. Hence it seems just possible that the Peruvians 
got the idea of a sail from the Spaniards. Thirty years 
would seem time enough for it to have spread along a 
few hundred miles of coast. They may, however, have 
developed it quite independently. 
Yet with all this high state of civilization, the Incas 
lagged behind the Mayas and the Aztecs in one important 
respect. They lacked a system of writing. There is a 
single assertion by an 
early Spanish chronicler A&e Neamt RRR 
. . . (lark \ N ‘ N 
that in ancient times they ym fF NN 4K y 
Se ti 
had had one which was f ‘eel cla Waa \ 
; . 
later forgotten; but this 4 N N N \ 
Caer. 
statement lacks the sup- Was |} a iid apt 
: v" \) 
port of evidence of any ss Y VW 4 ae ‘ 
kind, and may almost cer- we Y Oy) SH ‘ 
5 A A 
tainly be disregarded. EXN Ways g J \ 
The place of writing was Nee Ne OS 
ken by th pe ee N He eG 
taken by the use 0 y \ y & 
knotted cords with which were oN y 
an  \ \ ins 
records of all sorts were SAIN go N Na 
Cas a 
kept. These, however, had w N “Se 
. . ' N N 75" 
the disadvantage, like the ) S. @ 
wampum belts of the ‘aia ON ies 
; : > YW G 
North American Indians, ap Ax @ 
of being legible to- spe- 
all ined | I Fic. 110. Portion of a Peruvian guipu of 
cially trained men on y- in knotted strings, by means of which records 
other words the knotted were kept, as writing was unknown. 
strings, or guipus, were fo alae 
only exceptionally elaborate aids to memory. We some- 
times use a knotted handkerchief for the same purpose 
(Fig. 110). 
That a people without writing should have a literature 
may seem strange. Yet the Incas had made great ad- 
vances in this direction. They composed elaborate his- 
[ 345 ] 
