MALLERY. | QUIPUS. 225 
lation is still practiced by the shepherds of Puna. On the first branch or string 
they usually place the number of the bulls; on the second, that of the cows, the 
latter being classed into those which were milked and those which were not milked; 
on the next string were numbered the calves according to their ages and sizes. Then 
came the sheep, in several subdivisions. Next followed the number of foxes killed, 
the quantity of salt consumed, and, finally, the cattle that had been slaughtered. 
Other quipus showed the produce of the herds in milk, cheese, wool, etc. Each 
list was distinguished by a particular color or by some peculiarity in the twisting 
of the string. 
Other accounts tell that the descendants of the Quiches still use the 
quipu, perhaps as modified by themselves, for numeration. They pierce 
beans and hang them by different colored strings, each of which repre- 
sents one of the column places used in decimal arithmetic. A green 
string signifies 1,000; a red one, 100; a yellow, 10, and a white refers 
to the 9 smaller digits. Thus if 7 beans are on a green, 2 on a red, 8 
on a yellow, and 6 on a white string, and the whole tied together, the 
bundle expresses the number 7,286, 
Before the time of their acquaintance with the quipus, the Peruvians 
used in the same way pebbles or maize-beans of various colors. The 
same practice was known in Europe in the prehistoric period. The 
habit of many persons in civilized countries to tie a knot in the hand- 
kerchief to recall an idea or fact to mind is a familiar example to show 
how naturally the action would suggest itself for the purpose, and per- 
haps indicates the inheritance of the practice. 
Dr. Andree (b) gives an illustration of a quipu (here reproduced as 
part of Pl. xv1), which he represents as taken from Perez, and states 
that the drawing was made soon after the exhuming of the object from 
an ancient Peruvian grave. 
Capt. Bourke (a) gives descriptions and illustrations of varieties of 
the izze-kloth or medicine cord of the Apache. A condensed extract 
of his remarks is as follows: 
These cords, in their perfection, are decorated with beads and shells strung along 
at intervals, with pieces of the sacred green chalchinuitl, which has had such a mys- 
terious ascendancy over the minds of the American Indians—Aztec, Peruvian, Quiche, 
as well as the more savage tribes like the Apache and Navajo; with petrified wood, 
rock crystal, eagle down, claws of the hawk or eaglet, claws of the bear, rattle of 
the rattlesnake, buckskin bags of hoddentin, circles of buckskin in which are in- 
closed pieces of twigs and branches of trees which have been struck by lightning, 
small fragments of the abalone shell from the Pacifie coast, and much other sacred 
paraphernalia of a similar kind. 
That the use of these cords was reserved for the most sacred and important ocea- 
sions I soon learned. They were not to be seen on occasions of no moment, but the 
dances for war, medicine, and summoning the spirits at once brought them out, and 
every medicine man of any consequence would appear with one hanging from his 
right shoulder over his left hip. 
These cords will protect a man while on the warpath, and many of the Apache 
believe firmly that a bullet will have no effect upon the warrior wearing one of 
them. This is not their only virtue by any means; the wearer can tell who has 
stolen ponies or other property from him or from his friends, can help the crops, and 
eure the sick. If the circle attached to one of these cords is placed upon the head 
it will at once relieve any ache, while the cross attached to another preyents the 
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