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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



semblance to sweet potatoes. The flesh 

 is crisp, juicy, and has a pleasant, sweet- 

 ish flavor, rather better than that of the 

 Jerusalem artichoke. The yacon and 

 ajipa (Cacara) are eaten raw, while all 

 other root crops are cooked. 



At elevations below 6,000 feet another 

 series of root crops is grown, consisting 

 of numerous varieties of rumu (Mani- 

 hot), uncucha (Xanthosoma), apichu 

 and cumara (two types of sweet pota- 

 toes), achira (Canna), and unguna (Cur- 

 cuma). 



THE HARVESTING, STORAGE, AND DISPOSI- 

 TION 0E THE CROPS WERE DIRECTED 

 BY THE GOVERNMENT 



According to the early Spanish histo- 

 rians, the Incas had complete control of 

 the land and of all of the agricultural 

 activities of the people, from the planting 

 of the seed to the harvesting, storage, and 

 disposition of the crops. An extensive 

 system of public storehouses was main- 

 tained, not only at the chief centers of 

 population, but along all of the principal 

 routes of travel and in the high passes 

 between the valleys. 



A complete system of accounts was 

 kept by means of quipus, or knotted 

 cords, with different kinds and colors of 

 knots to represent different quantities 

 and classes of objects. The system of 

 public accounting was used not only to 

 determine the taxes or contributions to 

 the government, but as a practical form 

 of insurance, a failure or deficiency of 

 crops in one section being made good 

 from other parts of the country, where 

 more abundant harvests had been se- 

 cured. When the country was devastated 

 at the time of the Spanish conquest the 

 same system of making good the local 

 losses was employed, "in order that all 

 might not be devastated," as we learn 

 from the account of Cieza de Leon,* 

 written probably about 1550: 



"So it was arranged, and as soon as the 

 Spaniards were gone the chiefs assem- 

 bled, the quipus were examined and 

 checked, and if one province had lost 



* Cieza de Leon, Pedro de. Second part. 

 Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. 

 Markham, London, 1883, pages 34-3^. Hakluvt 

 Ed. 



more than another, that which had suf- 

 fered less made up the difference ; so that 

 the burden was shared equally by all. To 

 this day these accounts are kept in each 

 valley, and there are always as many ac- 

 countants as there are lords, and every 

 four months the accounts are made up 

 and balanced." 



In like manner it is apparent from the 

 accounts of the early historians that the 

 recognized object of the religious system 

 was to secure favorable conditions for 

 the growth of the crops. Like many 

 other primitive peoples, the Incas had a 

 system of sacrifices or offerings to secure 

 the favor of the gods. Though not a 

 cruel or bloodthirsty people like the Az- 

 tecs, whose sanguinary deities required a 

 continual butchery of captives, there is 

 no longer any doubt that the Incas also 

 had a system of human sacrifices to se- 

 cure the favor of the deity for the Inca 

 and his people. A special religious caste 

 of vestals or Virgins of the Sun was 

 maintained at some of the chief religious 

 centers, and numerous burials of stran- 

 gled women have been reported by Uhle 

 at the great temple of Pachacamac, near 

 the coast south of Lima. The object of 

 these sacrifices, as stated in a passage 

 quoted by Uhle from Molina, was "that 

 the Creator might grant the Inca victory, 

 health, and peace." 



How thoroughly ingrained and instinc- 

 tive the Inca system was may be best 

 understood from the extent to which it 

 still persists, nearly four centuries after 

 the conquest. The need of "paying the 

 Incas," in order to be assured of good 

 crops and natural increase of the flocks, 

 is still felt by thousands of the rural 

 Indians and manifested in many ways. 

 In the native markets of all of the larger 

 towns there is an extensive trade in me- 

 dicinal and aromatic plants, the chief use 

 of which is for burnt offerings to the 

 Incas to avoid the risk of offending them 

 and thus inviting injury or loss. 



Other curious survivals of the ancient 

 system are seen in the little images of 

 metal, clay, or stone which are buried in 

 the ground for the benefit of the crops. 

 At Cuzco minute images are made of 

 metal, but at La Paz the same purpose 

 is served by carved stones, called mullo 



