from the main cord. These groups of knots are arranged roughly in rows across the quipu. (See pl. xxiv, and compare with Vega, I, vi, 8-9, p. 181 et seq.)
4. In nearly all of the ancient quipu short subsidiary cords are attached to the pendent strands, upon which are indicated numbers that disturb the main count of the quipu.[1] The mode of attaching is seen in pl. xxi, l. The subsidiary cord is not found in the specimen discussed in this paper, except that there is an indication of such attaching in cord b4, pl. xxiii, where there is a discrepancy in the count of the cord.
5. Character of the knots. Plate xxi shows the forms of the knots and the mode of tying which exist in specimens studied. The single or overhand knot (i, j), indicates 1 if it is in the row farthest from the main cord, 10 if it occurs in the next row, 100 in the next row, etc. Not more than nine single knots are found in one group, the number system being strictly decimal.
The long knot, used to express the repetition of units of the same order in place of a cluster of single knots, was likened by Mr Frank H. Cushing to the appearance of the closed fist. (See pl. xxi.) It is formed by tying the overhand knot and passing the end through the loop of the knot as many times as there are units to be denoted. (See pl. xxi, e, f.) One end is then drawn taut, thus coiling the other about it the required number of times. There seems to have been no fixed practice as to which end is drawn taut, the upper fixed end, or the lower pendent end. As this would lower or raise the knot on the cord, it is possible that the device was used to keep the knots of one order relatively the same distance from the main cord. The loop has apparently no numerical significance, but from the manner of its appearance on the specimens examined it may have had some such use as the red line used by bookkeepers in closing an account.
- ↑ Algunos destos hilos tenian otros hilitos delgados del mismo color, como hijuelas, ò eccepciones de aquellas reglas generales, como digamos en el hilo de los hombres, ò mugeres de tal edad, que se entendian ser casados, los hilitos significavan el numero de los Viudos, ò Viudas, que de aquella edad avia aquel Año. — Vega, I, vi, 8, p. 181. Cf. Bastian, loc. cit., and Uhle, loc. cit.
