156 



GROWTH AND DECLINE OF CULTURE. 



single knot meant ten, a double one a hundred, a triple one a 

 thousand, two singles side by side twenty, two doubles two 

 hundi'ed. The distances of the knots from the main cord were 

 of great importance, as was the sequence of the branches, for 

 the principal objects were placed on the first branches and near 

 the trunk, and so in decreasing order. This art of reckoning, 



I 



Fig. 15. 

 continues Yon Tschudi, is still in use among the herdsmen of 

 the Puna (the high mountain plateau of Peru), and he had it 

 explained to him by them, so that with a little trouble he could 

 read any of their quipus. On the fii'st branch they usually 

 register the bulls, on the second the cows, these again they 

 divide into milch-cows and those that were dry; the next 



