2. Drawings of supposed quipu. Some of these are without question apocryphal, while those that are genuine are drawn with little attention to the details which are necessary to a satisfactory study.
3. Specimens of ancient quipus exhumed from Peruvian graves and now in the collections of various museums.[1]
4. Specimens of present day quipu.[2]
5. A compilation of statements of explorers and ethnologists from the time of the Conquest to the present relative to the continued use of the quipu.
The characteristics of the ancient quipus, both as described by the Spanish writers and exemplified in extant specimens, are:
1 . A main cord varying in length from a few centimeters to a meter or more.
2. Attached to the main cord are pendent cords seldom exceeding 0.5 meter in length. These vary in number from one or two to a hundred or more in existing specimens. The manner of forming the cords is to spin a cord of twice the length desired, then double it with a loop at one end as seen in pl. xxi, b, and twist the two strands together. Usually a knot is tied at the end of the cord, and in most cases the cord tapers off at the end, indicating the running out of the material in spinning. Both cotton and wool were used, natural white and buff being available in both materials.
The pendent strands are attached to the main cord by passing the free end over the main cord and through the loop formed by doubling and then drawing it taut. See pl. xxi., b, c. They are variously distributed along the main cord, sometimes with short spaces between the groups, and in other cases placed close together.
3. Knots are tied in the pendent cords at varying distances
- ↑ The American Museum of Natural History in New York City possesses a very extensive collection from the Peruvian expedition conducted by Mr Bandelier during the ten years following 1892. Through the courtesy of Mr C. W. Mead the writer has been furnished abundant facilities for making a detailed study of this collection.
- ↑ Cf. Bastian, Ethnologisches Notizblatt, 1895. Uhle in Bulletin of the Free Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1897.
