Yet we must be careful not to underrate the real value of the Peruvian system: nor to suppose that the quipus were as awkward an instrument, in the hand of a practised native, as they would be in ours.
The narrative, thus concocted, could be communicated only by oral tradition; but the quipus served the chronicler to arrange the incidents with method, and to refresh his memory.
Yet the quipus must be allowed to bear some resemblance to the belts of wampum - made of colored beads strung together - in familiar use among the North American tribes, for commemorating treaties, and for other purposes.
The quipus formed, as we have seen, an imperfect system of mnemonics, requiring constant attention, and much inferior to the Mexican hieroglyphics.
Although vain attempts to read the quipus have been made in the present day, Dr.
Among the ancient Peruvians and Mexicans there were many collections ofquipus in charge of official recorders.
The quipus form the clearest example, and the long history of knot amulets suggests that they may have been intended primarily to play precisely the same part that the various parts or chapters of the Book of the Dead played.
Most of the extant quipus have been found in graves.
That some analogies to this training in the keeping of books existed in the collections of mnemonic books is not merely inferred in general but found in the alleged training of keepers of quipus in the use and publication of these records.
The most interesting class, however, from our point of view is the large quantities of quipus which have been found in the Peruvian graves.
The most familiar examples of mnemonic books are the quipus or knotted cord books, the notch books, which include tallies and message sticks, the wampum belts of American Indians, and the abacus.
Yet we must be careful not to underrate the real value of the Peruvian system; nor to suppose that the quipus were as awkward an instrument, in the hand of a practised native, as they would be in ours.
Each quipus was in the care of a quiper-carnayoe, or keeper.
Most of the quipus here alluded to seem to be accounts of the population of particular towns or provinces, tax-lists, and information relating to the property of the deceased.
Other quipus showed the produce of the herds in milk, cheese, wool, &c.
All attempts made in modern times to decipher Peruvian quipus have been unsatisfactory in their results.
The quipus of the Peruvians were of twisted wool, and consisted of a thick cord, with threads more or less fine, attached to the main part.
The size of the quipus varies much, sometimes the main cord being five or six yards long, and at others not more than a foot; the branches rarely exceeding a yard in length, and being sometimes shorter.
Darius made a quipus when he took a thong, and tying sixty knots on it, gave it to the Ionian chiefs, that they might untie a knot every day, and go back to their own land if he had not returned when all the knots were undone.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "quipus" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
