306 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS- 



of eclipses and of the precession of the sun along the ecliptic, and their division 

 of the year into 365 days. They were also able to transmit their ideas by certain 

 sculptures, and the so-called " written stones," representing animals, constella- 

 tions, various symbolical objects, and probably also signs of notation, are seen in 

 many parts of the country, and especially on the cliffs in the rainless zone not 

 exposed to weathering. 



According to Montesinos they were even acquainted with the art of writing; 

 but one of the Incas, after consulting the supreme god, had announced that letters 

 were the cause of all depravity and of all national misfortunes, consequently that 

 this diabolical invention should be abandoned under pain of the stake. But 

 however this be, the Quichuas were certainly ignorant of writing at the arrival of 

 the Spaniards, using as aids to the memory the so-called qnipos {qu/pptt), woollen 

 cords of varying length, which, by diverse combinations of knots, red, blue, white 

 and brown colours, were able to record events, even express a few simple thoughts, 

 and give the results of the official census. 



The Jesuit missionary Acosta tells us that the old men of his time could still 

 represent articulate sounds by arranging pebbles of various colours on the ground. 

 iSuch arrangements represented such prayers as the Fafer nosfcr, the Are Maria, 

 the words of which were recalled by observing the different disposition of the 

 pebbles. The couriers, however, charged with the transmission of news and 

 Government orders, do not appear to have been supplied with quipos, but had to 

 learn the messages by heart, passing them on from relay to relay till they reached 

 their destinations. At present the shepherds, fishers and workers on the planta- 

 tions still keep their reckonings by means of rudimentary quipos, like the abacus 

 of the Chinese and Eussian peasantry. 



The Quichuas had developed a national communistic system, which the Incas 

 would appear to have simply codified without contributing anything to its 

 formation. All inventions were, of course, attributed to various members of the 

 royal dynasty. But the will of a potentate is insufficient to inform the national 

 life ; he can but legislate to his personal aggrandisement in accordance with the 

 traditional usages. 



The land was divided into four equal parts, one for the labourers and their 

 fcimilies, one for the sick, widows and orphans, and the other two for the Inca and 

 the Sun, that is, for the political and religious administration. But being at once 

 emperor and high priest, the Inca was, in fact, the real owner of one-half of the 

 national domain. The alimentary crops were garnered in common, each person 

 receiving a share in accordance with his wants. Of the harvest attributed to the 

 Inca and to the Sun, a portion was also set apart to replenish the granaries reserved 

 for times of distress. 



The arable land was distributed in family allotments proportionate to the 

 number of members, and all field operations were carried on under Goverment 

 overseers. The lash was applied in public to idle or refractory toilers ; but they 

 were never deprived of their land— which, in fact, did not belong to them in 

 personal ownership. 



